Monday, Apr. 2, 2018

As the war against Hamas enters a seventh week, Israel finds itself under intense pressure to justify its actions in Gaza, including the raid of Al-Shifa Hospital, which it says is a center of Hamas activity. Hamas and hospital officials deny the accusation.Patrick Kingsley, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The Times, was one of the reporters invited by the Israeli military on an escorted trip into the enclave.Guest: Patrick Kingsley, Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Traveling into Gaza with an Israeli military convoy, Times journalists saw houses flattened like playing cards and a city utterly disfigured.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

21 Nov 202339min

By working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown this past week, Speaker Mike Johnson seemed to put himself on the same path that doomed his predecessor. Or did he?Catie Edmondson, who covers Congress for The Times, explains why things could be different this time.Guest: Catie Edmondson, a reporter in the Washington bureau of The New York Times.Background reading: Congress prevented a shutdown, but the spending fight is far from over.Almost all Democrats and a majority of Republicans overcame the opposition of G.O.P. conservatives to approve the bill under special expedited procedures. But that approach, hatched by Mr. Johnson in his first weeks as speaker, is a gamble.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

20 Nov 202327min

The Space Force, the sixth and newest branch of the U.S. military, was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in December 2019. The initiative had been shaped within the armed forces and Congress over the previous 25 years, based on the premise that as satellite and space technologies evolved, America’s military organizations had to change as well.From the start, the Space Force had detractors. Air Force officials wondered if it was necessary, while some political observers believed that it signified the start of a dangerous (and expensive) militarization of another realm. What seemed harder to argue against was how nearly every aspect of modern warfare and defense — intelligence, surveillance, communications, operations, missile detection — has come to rely on links to orbiting satellites.The recent battles in Eastern Europe, in which Russia has tried to disrupt Ukraine’s space-borne communication systems, are a case in point. And yet the strategic exploitation of space now extends well beyond military concerns. Satellite phone systems have become widespread. Positioning and timing satellites, such as GPS (now overseen by the Space Force), allow for digital mapping, navigation, banking and agricultural management. A world without orbital weather surveys seems unthinkable. Modern life is reliant on space technologies to an extent that an interruption would create profound economic and social distress.For the moment, the force has taken up a problem not often contemplated outside science fiction: How do you fight a war in space, or a war on Earth that expands into space? And even if you’re ready to fight, how do you make sure you don’t have a space war in the first place?This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

19 Nov 202334min

One of the most highly anticipated diplomatic events of the year took place this week in a mansion outside San Francisco. President Biden and Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, met to repair their countries’ relations, which had sunk to one of their lowest points in decades.Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times, discusses the effort to bring the relationship back from the brink.Guest: Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Both American and Chinese accounts of the meeting indicated scant progress on the issues that have pushed the two nations to the edge of conflict.China’s depiction of Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit reflected his sometimes-contradictory priorities: to project both strength and a willingness to engage with Washington.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

17 Nov 202325min

A little over a year ago, at President Biden’s urging, congressional democrats passed a sweeping plan to supercharge the production and sale of electric vehicles.Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, explains whether the law is actually working.Guest: Jim Tankersley, an economic policy correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: President Biden’s 2022 climate act spurred big investments in U.S. battery factories, but it has not similarly boosted E.V. sales.Growth is brisk but slower than expected, causing automakers to question their multibillion-dollar investments in new factories and raising doubts about the effectiveness of federal incentives.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

16 Nov 202325min

A historic set of new lawsuits, filed by more than three dozen states, accuses Meta, the country’s largest social media company, of illegally luring children onto its platforms and hooking them on its products.Natasha Singer, who covers technology, business and society for The New York Times, has been reviewing the states’ evidence and trying to understand the long-term strategy behind these lawsuits.Guest: Natasha Singer, a reporter covering technology, business and society for The New York Times.Background reading: Meta was sued by more than three dozen states that accuse it of knowingly using features on Instagram and Facebook to hook children.Industry lawsuits are stymying new laws on children and social media.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

15 Nov 202333min

To much of the outside world, Hamas’s decision to murder hundreds of Israelis and trigger a war that has since killed many thousands of its own people looks like a historic miscalculation — one that could soon result in the destruction of Hamas itself.Hamas’s leaders, however, say that it was the result of a deliberate calculation.Ben Hubbard, the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times, has been reporting on their decision, and what went into it.Guest: Ben Hubbard, the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Behind Hamas’s bloody gambit to create a “permanent” state of war.It took American and Qatari diplomacy, and self-interested decisions by Hamas, to bring two hostages safely back to Israel.Here’s the latest on the war.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

14 Nov 202334min

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of injuries and death.As Israel’s war on Hamas enters its sixth week, hospitals in Gaza have found themselves on the front lines. Hospitals have become a refuge for the growing number of civilians fleeing the violence, but one that has become increasingly dangerous as Israel’s military targets what it says are Hamas fighters hiding inside and beneath them.Today, three doctors working in the Gaza Strip describe what the war looks like from inside their hospitals and what they are doing to keep up with the flood of patients.Guests: Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, Dr. Suhaib Alhamss and Dr. Ebraheem Matar, three doctors working in the Gaza Strip.Background reading: Gazans under bombardment have described a surge of severely injured children entering hospitals, doctors operating without anesthesia and morgues overflowing with bodies.Israeli officials say that Hamas has built a complex under Al Shifa, a major Gaza hospital. Hamas denies that it is operating from beneath the hospital, whose patients face dire conditions amid power cuts.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

13 Nov 202337min