This episode contains descriptions of self-harm and alleged sexual abuse.

When Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a federal jail, dozens of his alleged victims lost their chance to bring him to justice.

But the trial of his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, on charges that she recruited, groomed and ultimately helped Mr. Epstein abuse young girls, may offer an opportunity to obtain a degree of reckoning.

We look into how Mr. Epstein was allowed to die, and ask whether justice is still possible for his accusers.

Guest: Benjamin Weiser, a reporter covering the Manhattan federal courts for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Testimony at Ms. Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial revealed a key question in the case: Were Ms. Maxwell and Mr. Epstein partners, or partners in crime?
• During the second day of the trial, a woman accused Ms. Maxwell of befriending her when she was a 14-year-old girl, only to join in the sexual abuse that followed

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In her book, “My Body,” Emily Ratajkowski reflects on her fraught relationship with the huge number of photographs of her body that have come to define her life and career.

Some essays recount the author’s hustle as a young model who often found herself in troubling situations with powerful men; another is written as a long, venomous reply to an email from a photographer who has bragged of discovering her. Throughout, Ratajkowski is hoping to set the record straight: She is neither victim nor stooge, neither a cynical collaborator in the male agenda, as her critics have argued, nor some pop-feminist empoweree, as she herself once supposed.

To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Stephen Sondheim died last week at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 91.

For six decades, Mr. Sondheim, a composer-lyricist whose works include “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods,” transformed musical theater into an art form as rich, complex and contradictory as life itself.

“For me, the loss that we see pouring out of Twitter right now and everywhere you look as people write about their memories of Sondheim is for that person who says yes, devoting yourself to writing or to dancing or to singing or to composing — or whatever it is — is a worthwhile life,” Jesse Green, The Times’s chief theater critic, said in today’s episode. “And there really is no one who says that as strongly in his life and in his work as Sondheim does.”

Today, we chart Mr. Sondheim’s career, influence and legacy. 

Guest: Jesse Green, the chief theater critic for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• With a childlike sense of discovery, Stephen Sondheim found the language to convey the beauty in harsh complexity.
• Mr. Sondheim was theater’s most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century, and he was the driving force behind some of Broadway’s most beloved and celebrated shows.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard a case that was a frontal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year-old decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.

The case in front of the justices was about a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

For the state to win, the court, which now has a conservative majority, would have to do real damage to the central tenet of the Roe ruling.

We explore the arguments presented in this case and how the justices on either side of the political spectrum responded to them. 

Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• After oral arguments, the Supreme Court seemed poised to uphold the Mississippi abortion law. Whether it will overrule Roe v. Wade remains unclear.
• Here’s what to know about the Mississippi law.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Amazon is constantly hiring. Data has shown that the company has had a turnover rate of about 150 percent a year.

For the founder, Jeff Bezos, worker retention was not important, and the company built systems that didn’t require skilled workers or extensive training — it could hire and lose people all of the time.

Amazon has been able to replenish its work force, but the pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of this approach.

We explore what the labor shortage has meant for Amazon and the people who work there. 

Guest: Karen Weise, a technology correspondent, based in Seattle for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Each year, hundreds of thousands of workers churn through Amazon’s vast mechanism that hires, monitors, disciplines and fires. Amid the pandemic, the already strained system lurched.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The story of the Omicron variant began a week ago, when researchers in southern Africa detected a version of the coronavirus that carried 50 mutations. 

When scientists look at coronavirus mutations, they worry about three things: Is the new variant more contagious? Is it going to cause people to get sicker? And how will the vaccines work against it? 

We explore when we will get the answers to these three questions, and look at the discovery of the variant and the international response to it. 

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a reporter covering science and global health for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• South African scientists have said that while they need more data to be sure, existing treatments and precautions seem to be effective against the Omicron variant.
• Mutations can work together to make a virus more fearsome, but they can also cancel one another out. This phenomenon, called epistasis, is why scientists are reluctant to speculate on Omicron.
• Almost two years into the pandemic, finger-pointing, lack of coordination, sparse information and fear are once again influencing policy.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language. 

Heading into deliberations in the trial of the three white men in Georgia accused of chasing down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man, it was not clear which way the jurors were leaning. 

In the end, the mostly white jury found all three men guilty of murder. We look at the prosecution’s decision not to make race a central tenet of their case, and how the verdict was reached. 

Guest: Richard Fausset, a correspondent based in Atlanta. 

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Background reading: 

• How a prosecutor addressed a mostly white jury and won a conviction in the Ahmaud Arbery case.
• “It’s good to see racism lose”: The murder convictions were praised by many. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

After a landslide re-election in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s control over India seemed impossible to challenge.

But a yearlong farmers’ protest against agricultural overhauls has done just that, forcing the Indian prime minister to back down.

How did the protesters succeed?

Guest: Emily Schmall, a South Asia correspondent for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• The protesters received foreign and domestic financial support, kept their camps organized and looked for ways to be seen while trying to avoid violence.
• How a bungled response to Covid and a struggling economy have hurt the governing party’s standing in India.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In the 1950s and ’60s, the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, one of the oldest African-American neighborhoods in the United States, was a vibrant community.

But the construction of the Claiborne Expressway in the 1960s gutted the area.

The Biden administration has said that the trillion-dollar infrastructure package will address such historical wrongs.

How might that be achieved?

Guest: Audra D.S. Burch, a national correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Generations of New Orleans residents have dreamed of the day when the Claiborne Expressway might be removed. President Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package could eventually make that possible.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

On Aug. 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager, shot three men, two of them fatally, during street protests in Kenosha, Wis., over the shooting of a Black man by a white police officer.

Mr. Rittenhouse’s trial, which began on Nov. 1, revolved around a central question: Did his actions constitute self-defense under Wisconsin law?

Last week, a jury decided that they did, finding him not guilty on every count against him.

We look at key moments from the trial and at how the verdict was reached.

Guest: Julie Bosman, the Chicago bureau chief of The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Mr. Rittenhouse’s acquittal pointed to the wide berth given to defendants who say they acted out of fear.
• The trial highlighted the deep division over gun rights in the United States.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

As the novel coronavirus spread and much of the world moved toward isolation, dream researchers began rushing to design studies and set up surveys that might allow them to access some of the most isolated places of all, the dreamscapes unfolding inside individual brains. The first thing almost everyone noticed was that for many people, their dream worlds seemed suddenly larger and more intense.

One study of more than 1,000 Italians living through strict lockdown found that some 60 percent were sleeping badly — before the pandemic, only a third of Italians reported trouble sleeping — and they were also remembering more of their dreams than during normal times and reporting that those dreams felt unusually real and emotional and bizarre.

Even social media sites, researchers found, were full of people surprised at how much more active and vivid their dream lives had become. “Is it just me?” many of them asked. It was not.

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

For three decades, President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, a former Soviet nation in Eastern Europe, ruled with an iron fist. But pressure has mounted on him in the past year and a half. After a contested election in 2020, the European Union enacted sanctions and refused to recognize his leadership.

In the hopes of bringing the bloc to the negotiating table, Mr. Lukashenko has engineered a migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border, where thousands from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have converged.

What are the conditions like for those at the border, and will Mr. Lukashenko’s political gamble reap his desired results? 

Guests: Monika Pronczuk, a reporter covering the European Union for The New York Times; and Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Poland massed thousands of troops on its border with Belarus to keep out Middle Eastern migrants who have set up camp there, as Western officials accuse Belarus’s leader of intentionally trying to create a new migrant crisis in Europe.
• Belarusian authorities on Thursday cleared the encampments at the main border crossing into Poland, removing for the moment a major flashpoint that has raised tensions across the continent.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The U.S. economy is doing better than many had anticipated. Some 80 percent of jobs lost during the pandemic have been regained, and people are making, and spending, more.

But Americans seem to feel terrible about the financial outlook.

Why the gap between reality and perception?

Guest: Ben Casselman, a reporter covering economics and business for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• American consumers express worry about inflation and are pessimistic about the direction of the country in general. But none of that is keeping them from spending.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

In Bucks County, Pa., what started out as a group of frustrated parents pushing for schools to reopen devolved over the course of a year and half into partisan disputes about America’s most divisive cultural issues.

But those arguments have caused many to overlook a central role of the Central Bucks School District’s board: providing quality education.

In Part 2 of our series on school board wars in the U.S., we look beyond the fighting and examine the pandemic’s harsh effects on teachers and pupils.

Guest: Campbell Robertson, a national correspondent for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Republicans are heading into the 2022 midterm elections aiming to capitalize on the frustrations of suburban parents still reeling from the devastating fallout of pandemic-era schooling.
• The F.B.I. has begun to track threats against school administrators, teachers and board members to assess the extent of the problem.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

A new battleground has emerged in American politics: school boards. In these meetings, parents increasingly engage in heated — sometimes violent — fights over hot-button issues such as mask mandates and critical race theory.

Suddenly, the question of who sits on a school board has become a question about which version of America will prevail.

We visit the school board meeting in Central Bucks, Pa., an important county in national politics, where the meetings have been particularly wild.

Guest: Campbell Robertson, a national correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Since the spring, a steady tide of school board members across the country have nervously come forward with accounts of threats they have received from enraged local parents.
• Republicans are heading into the 2022 midterm elections with what they believe will be a highly effective political strategy capitalizing on the frustrations of suburban parents still reeling from the devastating fallout of pandemic-era schooling.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

In March 2019, workers inside an Air Force combat operations center in Qatar watched as an American F-15 attack jet dropped a large bomb into a group of women and children in Syria.

Assessing the damage, the workers found that there had been around 70 casualties, and a lawyer decided that it was a potential war crime.

We look at how the system that was designed to bring the airstrike to light, ended up keeping it hidden.

Guest: Dave Philipps, a national correspondent covering the military for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The military never conducted an independent investigation into a 2019 bombing on the last bastion of the Islamic State, despite concerns about a secretive commando force.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In 1980, when few Americans knew the meaning of toro and omakase, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, spoke to dozens of his followers in the Grand Ballroom of the New Yorker Hotel.

It was said Moon could see the future, visit you in dreams and speak with the spirit world, where Jesus and Buddha, Moses and Washington, caliphs and emperors and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and even God himself would all proclaim his greatness.

“You,” Moon later recalled telling his followers in the ballroom, “are the pioneers of the fishing business — the seafood business. Go forward, pioneer the way and bring back prosperity.” They did. Today a business they grew and shaped is arguably America’s only nationwide fresh-seafood company of any kind. It specializes in sushi, and its name is True World Foods.

One of Moon’s daughters, In Jin Moon, once asked in a sermon whether their movement really made a difference. “In an incredible way, we did,” she said: Her father created True World Foods. “When he initiated that project,” she went on, “nobody knew what sushi was or what eating raw fish was about.” Her father, she concluded, “got the world to love sushi.”

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, described the current status of the pandemic in the United States as a “mixed bag” that is leaning more toward the positive than the negative.

But, he said, there is still more work to do.

In our conversation, he weighs in on vaccine mandates, booster shots and the end of the pandemic.

Guest: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases. 

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Background reading: 

• In a turnaround, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant Pfizer’s request to expand booster shot eligibility to all adults before the winter holiday season.
• This week, the Biden administration argued that the federal government had all the power it needed to require large employers to mandate vaccination of their workers against the virus — or to require those who refuse the shots to wear masks and submit to weekly testing.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

When the coronavirus hit the United States, the nation’s public health officials were in the front line, monitoring cases and calibrating rules to combat the spread.

From the start, however, there has been resistance. A Times investigation found that 100 new laws have since been passed that wrest power from public health officials.

What is the effect of those laws, and how might they affect the response to a future pandemic?

Guest: Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• State and local public health departments have endured not only the public’s fury, but also widespread staff defections, burnout, firings, unpredictable funding and a significant erosion in their authority to impose the health orders that were critical to America’s early response to the pandemic.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Over the past year, a record 2,000 migrants from Africa have drowned trying to reach Spain.

Many of these migrants make the journey in rickety vessels, not much bigger than canoes, that often don’t stand up to strong currents.

What happens, then, when their bodies wash ashore?

This is the story of Martín Zamora, a 61-year-old father of seven, who has committed himself to returning the bodies of drowned migrants to their families. 

Guest: Nicholas Casey, the Madrid bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Martín Zamora, the owner of a funeral parlor near Gibraltar, has found an unusual line of business among the relatives of migrants who drown trying to reach Europe: He collects the bodies of those who don’t make it to Spain alive. Read this article in Spanish here.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In a bipartisan win for President Biden, Democrats and Republicans have passed a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. Now comes the difficult part — trying to win approval for a $2 trillion social spending bill.

For more moderate Democrats in swing districts, the vote will be among the toughest of the Biden era — and one that some fear could cost them their seats in next year’s midterms.

To gauge their concerns, we speak to one such lawmaker, Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia.

Guest: Representative Abigail Spanberger, Democrat of Virginia.

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Background reading: 

• After the Democrats’ poor performance in last week’s elections, Ms. Spanberger was critical of Mr. Biden’s sweeping agenda. “Nobody elected him to be F.D.R., they elected him to be normal and stop the chaos,” she said.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The U.S. Supreme Court is gearing up to rule on an area of the law that it has been silent on for over a decade: the Second Amendment.

The case under consideration will help decide whether the right to bear arms extends beyond the home and into the streets.

The implications of the decision could be enormous. A quarter of the U.S. population lives in states whose laws might be affected.

Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• A New York law, which imposes strict limits on carrying guns in public, faced a skeptical reception from the Supreme Court last week. Their questions suggest that the law is unlikely to survive.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Like many other Americans, Jamie Lauren Keiles, the author of this week’s Sunday Read, bought their first motorcycle during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I thought I was just purchasing a mode of transportation — a way to get around without riding the train,” they wrote. “But after some time on the street with other riders, I started to suspect I’d signed up for a lot more.”

Jamie was aware of biker culture, but had decided that these tropes — choppers, leather jackets — “were all but contentless by now, mere tchotchkes on the wall in the T.G.I. Fridays of American individualism.”

However, Jamie was shocked to discover that not only did this strain of biker culture still exist, but that they existed within it. So, curious about what remained vital at its heart, Jamie set out for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains strong language and scenes of violence.

Last summer, as the country reeled from the murder of George Floyd, another Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by police in Kenosha, Wis. People took to the streets in Kenosha in protest and were soon met by civilians in militia gear — a confrontation that turned violent.

On the third night of protests, a white teenager shot and killed two people, and maimed a third. The gunman, Kyle Rittenhouse, became a symbol of the moment, called a terrorist by the left and a patriot by the right. Now, he’s on trial for those shootings.

Guest: Julie Bosman, the Chicago bureau chief of The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Here are some of the takeaways from the trial so far.
• These are the events that led to Mr. Rittenhouse, now 18, standing trial in the fatal shootings of two men and the wounding of another in Kenosha, Wis.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On a major night of elections across the United States on Tuesday, the Republican Glenn Youngkin claimed an unexpected victory over his Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, to win the governor’s race in Virginia.

As the night went on, it became clear that the contest in Virginia was not a singular event — Republicans were doing well in several unlikely places.

What do the results tell us about the current direction of American politics?

Guest: Alexander Burns, a national political correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Reeling from a barrage of unexpected losses, an array of Democrats have pleaded with President Biden and his party’s lawmakers to address the quality-of-life issues that plagued their candidates in Tuesday’s elections.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In a giant conference hall in Glasgow, leaders from around the world have gathered for the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention, or COP26. This is the 26th such session.

Many say this may be the last chance to avoid climate disaster. Will anything change this time?

Guest: Somini Sengupta, the international climate reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The opening day of the COP26 summit was heavy on dire warnings and light on substantive proposals.
• We have a live briefing from the conference, where the focus is now turning to behind-the-scenes talks and how to finance the different proposals to combat climate change.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Inflation in the United States is rising at its fastest rate so far this century. At 4 percent, according to one index, it is double the Federal Reserve’s target.

We look at why prices are on the rise and at the tense political moment they have created.

Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Supply chain disruptions, a worker shortage and pain at the gasoline pump have made inflation an economic and political problem for the White House.
• Pressure is on the Federal Reserve and the Biden administration as they try to calibrate policy during a tumultuous period.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language and scenes of violence. 

Over the past five years, police officers in the United States have killed more than 400 unarmed drivers or passengers — a rate of more than one a week, a Times investigation has found.

Why are such cases so common, and why is the problem so hard to fix?

Guest: David D. Kirkpatrick, a national correspondent for The New York Times. 

Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join the beta.

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Background reading: 

• Officers, trained to presume danger, can react with outsize aggression during traffic stops — sometimes with fatal consequences.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Over the past decade, the waters around Cape Cod have become host to one of the densest seasonal concentrations of adult white sharks in the world. Acoustic tagging data suggest the animals trickle into the region during lengthening days in May, increase in abundance throughout summer, peak in October and mostly depart by Thanksgiving.

To conservationists, the annual returns are a success story, but the phenomenon carries unusual public-safety implications.

Unlike many places where adult white sharks congregate, which tend to be remote islands, the sharks’ summer residency in New England overlaps with tourist season at one of the Northeast’s most-coveted recreational areas.

What will it take to keep people safe?

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

President Biden and Democratic leaders say they have an agreement on a historic social spending bill that they have spent months negotiating. But liberals in Congress demanded assurances that the package would survive before they would agree to an immediate vote on a separate $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Today, we explore why compromise remains a work in progress.

Guest: Emily Cochrane, a correspondent based in Washington.

Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join the beta.

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• Congressional Democrats’ decision to delay a vote on the infrastructure bill left Mr. Biden empty-handed as he departed for Europe, where he had hoped to point to progress on both measures as proof that American democracy still works.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In the coming days, a trial will begin to determine whether the fatal shooting of Amaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man, by two armed white men is considered murder under Georgia state law. Today, we explore why that may be a difficult case for prosecutors to make.

Guest: Richard Fausset, a correspondent based in Atlanta who writes about the American South.

Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join the beta.

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• Here’s a look at the major moments between Mr. Arbery’s killing in a Georgia suburb and the trial of three men charged with murder.
• A year after his killing in Georgia, Mr. Arbery’s death has sparked a bipartisan effort to remake the state’s 158-year-old citizen’s arrest law. But a potentially divisive trial awaits.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

As congressional Democrats dramatically scale back the most ambitious social spending bill since the 1960s, they’re placing much of the blame on moderates who have demanded changes.

One senator, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has played an outsized role in shaping the bill — but has remained quiet about why. Today, we explore what brought her to this moment.

Guest: Reid J. Epstein, who covers campaigns and elections for The New York Times.

Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join the beta.

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Background reading: 

• How Senator Kyrsten Sinema has undergone a political metamorphosis.
• Progressive activists have adopted more aggressive tactics against Ms. Sinema and other centrist holdouts as they have blocked aspects of President Biden’s agenda.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When Democrats first set out to expand the social safety net, they envisioned a piece of legislation as transformational as what the party has achieved in the 1960s. In the process, they hoped that they’d win back the working-class voters the party had since lost.

But now that they’re on the brink of reaching a deal, the question is whether the enormous cuts and compromises they’ve made will make it impossible to fulfill either ambition.

Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a congressional correspondent for The Times.

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Background reading: 

• As Democrats ponder cutting a $3.5 trillion social safety net bill down to perhaps $2 trillion, a proposal to limit programs to the poor has rekindled a debate on the meaning of government itself.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Every once in a while a company grows so big and messy that governments fear what would happen to the broader economy if it were to fail. In China, Evergrande, a sprawling real estate developer, is that company.

Evergrande has the distinction of being the world’s most debt-saddled property developer and has been on life support for months. A steady drumbeat of bad news in recent weeks has accelerated what many experts warn is inevitable: failure.

But will the government let the company fail? And what would happen if it did?

Guest: Alexandra Stevenson, a business correspondent based in Hong Kong covering Chinese corporate giants.

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Background reading: 

• The property giant’s success mirrored the country’s transformation from an agrarian economy to one that embraced capitalism. Its struggles offer a glimpse of a new financial future.
• Evergrande isn’t the only Chinese real estate developer in trouble — another, Fantasia Holdings Group, recently missed a key payment to foreign bondholders, heightening the persistent fears of a coming crisis in China’s real estate sector.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On June 24, 2015, Dawn Dorland, an essayist and aspiring novelist, did perhaps the kindest, most consequential thing she might ever do in her life. She donated one of her kidneys — and elected to do it in a slightly unusual and particularly altruistic way. As a so-called nondirected donation, her kidney was not meant for anyone in particular, but for a recipient who may otherwise have no other living donor.

Several weeks before the surgery, Ms. Dorland decided to share her truth with others. She started a private Facebook group, inviting family and friends, including some fellow writers from GrubStreet, the Boston writing center where she had spent many years learning her craft.

After her surgery, she posted something to her group: a heartfelt letter she’d written to the final recipient of the surgical chain, whoever they may be. Ms. Dorland noticed some people she’d invited into the group hadn’t seemed to react to any of her posts. On July 20, she wrote an email to one of them: a writer named Sonya Larson.

A year later, Ms. Dorland learned that Ms. Larson had written a story about a woman who received a kidney. Ms. Larson told Ms. Dorland that it was “partially inspired” by how her imagination took off after learning of Ms. Dorland’s donation.

Art often draws inspiration from life — but what happens when it’s your life?

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Before the Arab Spring, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the second son of the Libyan dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, was establishing himself as a serious figure internationally. Then, the Arab Spring came to Libya.

His father and brothers were killed and Seif himself was captured by rebels and taken to the western mountains of Libya.

For years, rumors have surrounded the fate of Seif. Now he has re-emerged, touting political ambitions, but where has he been and what has he learned?

Guest: Robert F. Worth, a contributor to The New York Times Magazine. 

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Background reading: 

• In his first meeting with a foreign journalist in a decade, Seif al-Islam Qaddafi described his years in captivity — and hinted at a bid for Libya’s presidency.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Chicago is in the midst of a crime wave — but there is also a question about whether police officers will show up for work.

That’s because of a showdown between the mayor, Lori Lightfoot, and the police union over a coronavirus vaccine mandate.

Some 30,000 city workers are subject to the mandate, but no group has expressed more discontent than the police.

Guest: Julie Bosman, the Chicago bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The clash over coronavirus shots in Chicago intensified last week, when the city filed a complaint against the police union.
• Across the United States, there is friction between city governments and law enforcement unions over vaccinations. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The Clean Electricity Program has been at the heart of President Biden’s climate agenda since he took office.

But passage was always going to come down to a single senator: Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

With Mr. Manchin’s support now extremely unlikely, where does that leave American climate policy?

Guest: Coral Davenport, a correspondent covering energy and environmental policy for The New York Times. 

Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join the beta.

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Background reading: 

• Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia, has told the White House that he is firmly against one of the most powerful parts of President Biden’s climate agenda.
• Faced with the likely demise of the program, the White House and outraged lawmakers are scrambling to find alternatives.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Colin Powell, who in four decades of public service helped shape U.S. national security, died on Monday. He was 84.

Despite a stellar career, Mr. Powell had expressed a fear that he would be remembered for a single event: his role in leading his country to war in Iraq.

We look back on the achievements and setbacks of a trailblazing life. 

Guest: Robert Draper, writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of “To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq.”

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Background reading: 

• Colin Powell was emblematic of the ability of minorities to use the military as a ladder of opportunity — one that eventually led him to the highest levels of government. He died of complications of Covid-19, his family said.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In 2020, Virginia epitomized the way in which Democrats took the White House and Congress — by turning moderate and swing counties.

But President Biden’s poll numbers have been waning, and in the coming race for governor, Republicans see an opportunity.

Guest: Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Republicans in Virginia are saying what their nominee for governor, Glenn Youngkin, will not: The governor’s race is a proxy for Donald Trump’s grievances.
• Though Virginia is getting bluer, the former governor Terry McAuliffe is straining to motivate Democratic voters for his comeback attempt.
• After months of closed classrooms and lost learning time, Republicans are making schools the focus of their final push.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When the Hirshhorn Museum told Laurie Anderson that it wanted to put on a big, lavish retrospective of her work, she said no.

For one thing, she was busy and has been for roughly 50 years. Over the course of her incessant career, Ms. Anderson has done just about everything a creative person can do. She helped design an Olympics opening ceremony, served as the official artist in residence for NASA, made an opera out of “Moby-Dick” and played a concert for dogs at the Sydney Opera House. And she is still going.

On top of all this, Ms. Anderson had philosophical qualms about a retrospective. She is 74, which seems like a very normal age to stop and look back, and yet she seems determined, at all times, to keep moving forward.

This story was written by Sam Anderson and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Throughout the pandemic, businesses of all sizes have faced delays, product shortages and rising costs linked to disruptions in the global supply chain. Consumers have been confronted with an experience rare in modern times: no stock available, and no idea when it will come in.

Our correspondent, Peter Goodman, went to one of the largest ports in the United States to witness the crisis up close. In this episode, he explains why this economic havoc might not be temporary — and could require a substantial refashioning of the world’s shipping infrastructure.

Guest: Peter Goodman, a global economics correspondent for The New York Times.

Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join the beta.

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Background reading: 

• An enduring traffic jam at the Port of Savannah reveals why the chaos in global shipping is likely to persist.
• This week, President Biden announced that major ports and companies, including Walmart, UPS and FedEx, would expand their working hours as his administration struggles to relieve growing backlogs in the global supply chains.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language and descriptions of violence.

A Times investigation has uncovered extraordinary levels of violence and lawlessness inside Rikers, New York City’s main jail complex. In this episode, we hear about one man’s recent experience there and ask why detainees in some buildings now have near-total control over entire units.

Guest: Jan Ransom, an investigative reporter for The Times focusing on criminal justice issues, spoke with Richard Brown, a man detained at Rikers.

Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join the beta.

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Background reading: 

• Here’s more reporting on how a staffing emergency has disrupted basic functions of the jail system, giving detainees at the Rikers Island jail complex free rein inside.
• Now, amid the chaos, women and transgender people are expected to be transferred.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains descriptions of violence and a suicide attempt.

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August, our producer started making calls. With the help of colleagues, she contacted women in different cities and towns to find out how their lives had changed and what they were experiencing.

Then she heard from N, whose identity has been concealed for her safety.

This is the story of how one 18-year-old woman’s life has been transformed under Taliban rule.

Guest: Lynsea Garrison, a senior international producer for The Daily, spoke with N, a young woman whose life changed drastically after the fall of Kabul.

Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join the beta.

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Background reading: 

• “When we think about our future, we can’t see anything.” This is what some Afghan girls said when they were asked about life under the Taliban.
• Four Afghan women who sought refuge in the United States talk about their lives now and everything they gave up.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Many Americans pay more for child care than they do for their mortgages, even though the wages for those who provide the care are among the lowest in the United States.

Democrats see the issue as a fundamental market failure and are pushing a plan to bridge the gap with federal subsidies.

We went to Greensboro, N.C., to try to understand how big the problem is and to ask whether it is the job of the federal government to solve.

Guest: Jason DeParle, a senior writer for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Democrats are moving to bring in the most significant expansion of the U.S. social safety net since the war on poverty in the 1960s, introducing legislation that would touch virtually every American’s life, from cradle to grave.
• Some fear the plan would raise taxes and create additional red tape on private services. Here’s more information about what the bill proposes.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

An enormous infusion of money and effort will be needed to prepare the United States for the changes wrought by the climate crisis.

We visited towns in North Carolina that have been regularly hit by floods to confront a heartbreaking question: How does a community decide whether its homes are worth saving?

Guest: Christopher Flavelle, a climate reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• For the first time, there is bipartisan acknowledgement — through actions, if not words — that the United States is unprepared for global warming and will need huge amounts of cash to cope.
• Homeowners in the Outer Banks of North Carolina are facing a tax increase of almost 50 percent to protect their homes. Is this the future of coastal towns?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Over the past decade, Eric Coomer has helped make Dominion Voting Systems one of the largest providers of voting machines and software in the United States.

He was accustomed to working long days during the postelection certification process, but November 2020 was different.

President Trump was demanding recounts. His allies had spent months stoking fears of election fraud. And then, on Nov. 8, Sidney Powell, a lawyer representing the Trump campaign, appeared on Fox News and claimed, without evidence, that Dominion had an algorithm that switched votes from Trump to Joe Biden.

This is the story of how the 2020 election upended Mr. Coomer’s life.

This story was written by Susan Dominus and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

The C.I.A. sent a short but explosive message last week to all of its stations and bases around the world.

The cable, which said dozens of sources had been arrested, killed or turned against the United States, highlights the struggle the agency is having as it works to recruit spies around the world. How did this deterioration occur?

Guest: Julian E. Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Counterintelligence officials said in a top secret cable to all stations and bases around the world that too many of the people it recruits from other countries to spy for the U.S. are being lost.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The coronavirus seems to be in retreat in the United States, with the number of cases across the country down about 25 percent compared with a couple of weeks ago. Hospitalizations and deaths are also falling.

So, what stage are we in with the pandemic? And how will developments such as a new antiviral treatment and the availability of booster shots affect things?

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The authorization for booster shots applies to groups of people in the United States fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but about 45 percent of the country’s fully inoculated people received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson doses.
• Merck said it would seek authorization for molnupiravir, an antiviral pill that the company says is effective against Covid. Experts said such treatments could be a powerful tool against the virus.
• Despite a fall in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, public health officials said the pandemic remained a potent threat.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Senate testimony of Frances Haugen on Tuesday was an eagerly awaited event.

Last month, Ms. Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, leaked internal company documents to The Wall Street Journal that exposed the social media giant’s inner workings.

How will Ms. Haugen’s insights shape the future of internet regulation?

Guest: Sheera Frenkel, a technology reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Ms. Haugen told how Facebook deliberately made efforts to keep users — including children — hooked to its service.
• Here are other key takeaways from her testimony.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The latest term of the U.S. Supreme Court will include blockbuster cases on two of the most contentious topics in American life: abortion and gun rights.

The cases come at a time when the court has a majority of Republican appointees and as it battles accusations of politicization.

Why is the public perception of the court so important? And how deeply could the coming rulings affect the fabric of American society?

Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The Supreme Court’s highly charged docket will test the leadership of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who has said that he prefers to guide the court toward consensus and incrementalism.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Ivermectin is a drug that emerged in the 1970s, used mainly for deworming horses and other livestock.

But during the pandemic, it has been falsely lauded in some corners as a kind of miracle cure for the coronavirus.

What is fueling the demand for a drug that the medical establishment has begged people not to take?

Guest: Emma Goldberg, a writer for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Public health warnings against using the anti-parasitic ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19 appear to have made little progress in stemming its popularity in parts of the United States.
• Veterinarians, ranchers and farmers say they are struggling with the effects of the surging demand for the drug.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Jon Mooallem, the author of today’s Sunday Read, had a bad pandemic.

“I began having my own personal hard time,” he writes. “The details aren’t important. Let’s just say, I felt as if I were moldering in place.”

Then, The New York Times Magazine offered him the opportunity to fly somewhere for its travel issue — at that point he had spent 17 months parenting two demanding children. So, he asked: “What if I drove to Spokane?” Jon had been curious about it for years.

Spokane, Wash., is the birthplace of Father’s Day, the hometown of Bing Crosby and a city with a sequence of wide, rocky waterfalls pouring through its center like a Cubist boulevard.

“I also knew that Spokane was a city with a history of minor-league baseball that stretched back more than a hundred years,” Jon writes. “A minor-league game felt like a manageable, belated step into the mid-pandemic lifestyle that people were calling post-pandemic life.”

This story was written and narrated by Jon Mooallem. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains strong language.

A month ago, Texas adopted a divisive law which effectively banned abortions in the state. Despite a number of legal challenges, the law has survived and is having an impact across state lines. 

Trust Women is abortion clinic in Oklahoma just three hours north of Dallas — one of the closest clinics Texas women can go to. 

On the day the Texas law came into effect, “it was like a light had been flipped,” said one of the workers who staffs the clinic’s phone lines. “We had everyone’s line lit up for almost eight hours straight.” 

We visit Trust Women and speak to workers and patients about the real-world impact of the most restrictive abortion law in the country. 

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Background reading: 

• The new Texas law prohibits abortions after about six weeks, a very early stage of pregnancy. Many women are now traveling out of state for the procedure.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The first year of a Congress is usually the best time for a president to put forward any sort of ambitious policy. For President Biden, whose control of Congress is fragile, the urgency is particularly intense.

But now members of his own party are threatening to block one big part of his agenda — his $1 trillion infrastructure plan — in the name of protecting an even bigger part.

We speak to Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, the chairwoman of the  Progressive Caucus, about why she is willing to vote no on the infrastructure bill.

Guest: Emily Cochrane, a correspondent covering Congress for The New York Times; and Representative Pramila Jayapal, the chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus.  

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Background reading: 

• Democrats prepared legislation on Wednesday to avert a government shutdown, but they were desperately trying to salvage President Biden’s domestic agenda as conservative-leaning holdouts dug in against an ambitious $3.5 trillion bill that carries many of the party’s top priorities.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Britney Spears is one of the biggest celebrities on the planet — she makes millions of dollars performing, selling perfumes and appearing on television. At the same time, however, her life is heavily controlled by a conservatorship, which she has been living under for 13 years. 

Soon, a court will decide whether to remove Mr. Spears as conservator or terminate the conservatorship altogether. 

We explore the details of Ms. Spears’s conservatorship, the security apparatus that has surrounded it and its future. 

Guest: Liz Day, a reporter and supervising producer for the documentary television show, “The New York Times Presents.” 

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Background reading: 

• A former employee of the security team hired by Ms. Spears’s father gave the most detailed account yet of the singer’s life under 13 years of conservatorship.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

Brig. Gen. Khoshal Sadat, a former Afghan deputy minister for security, has held some of the highest ranks in the Afghan security forces and government. 

From the moment Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, the United States has put much of the blame of Afghan security forces — a force that President Biden said gave up without a fight.

“The reality is that we’re not cowards,” said General Sadat. “We did not lay our arms, we would not lay our arms based on military pressure.”

We speak to General Sadat about growing up under the Taliban, his career in the military and the future of Afghanistan. 

Guest: Brig. Gen. Khoshal Sadat, a former Afghan deputy minister for security.

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Background reading: 

• When General Sadat became the highest-ranking police official in Afghanistan, he tried to overhaul the country’s police with the American way of war. Read a profile of him from 2019. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Increasing numbers of Haitian migrants have been traveling to the border town of Del Rio, Texas, recently, in the hope of entering the United States.

Border Patrol took action — in some cases, sending the migrants back to Haiti; in others, taking them into custody or releasing them as they await trial.

Why did so many thousands of Haitians come to the border in the first place? And what was behind the Biden administration’s reaction?

Guest: Michael D. Shear, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The U.S. is flying migrants back to Haiti and other countries as President Biden struggles to manage an immigration system already buckling under record migration.
• Haitians who lived abroad for years have been returned to a country that they barely recognize — often, they say, without a hearing.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Throughout 2020, multiple strangers came at Monthanus Ratanapakdee seemingly out of nowhere. An old man yelled at her in Golden Gate Park — something about a virus and going back to her country. When she discussed these incidents, her father would ask, “Is it really that bad?”

Her father, Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, was a lifelong Buddhist, the kind of person who embraced the world with open arms. During the coronavirus pandemic, he usually left the house before 8 a.m. and made it back before his grandsons started their Zoom classes.

This year, on the morning of Jan. 28, he headed out. A surveillance video captured what happened next. A tall figure suddenly darts across a street and slams into a much smaller one; the smaller figure crumples onto the pavement and doesn’t get back up.

Mr. Ratanapakdee's death helped awaken the nation to a rise in anti-Asian violence. For his grieving family, the reckoning hasn’t gone far enough.

This story was written by Jaeah Lee and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

After 16 years in power, Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, is walking out of office one of the most popular politicians in the country.

In those years, Ms. Merkel has not only served as the leader of Germany, but also as a leader of Europe, facing down huge challenges — such as the eurozone and the refugee crises — all while providing a sense of stability.

As Germans head to the polls this weekend, the question is: who can lead Germany and Europe at a time when the world faces no fewer crises?

Guest: Katrin Bennhold, the Berlin bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The race to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel after 16 years in office is the tightest in years. But the two leading candidates are anything but exciting, and that’s how Germans like it.
• Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat who is modeling himself as the candidate of continuity, has a fair shot at being Germany’s next chancellor.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

New York, like many other states, is enmeshed in the process of redrawing legislative districts.

The outcome of the reconfiguring could be crucial in determining which party takes control of the House of Representatives next year.

Clearly aware of the stakes, New York Democrats are considering a tactic that is usually a preserve of the Republican Party: gerrymandering.

Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a political correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• A bipartisan commission will examine two competing proposals for the redistricting of New York State. The failure to compromise may pave the way for Democrats to step in and knock out Republican congressional seats.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The recent U.S.-British deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines might look relatively inconsequential. But it signifies a close alliance between the three countries to face off against China.

It is also notable for another reason: It has greatly angered the French. Why?

Guest: Mark Landler, the London bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• President Biden’s announcement of a deal to help Australia deploy nuclear-powered submarines has strained the Western alliance.
• The U.S. pact with Australia and Britain has put Europe closer to a question it has tried to avoid: Which side are you on?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When he visited the site of an American drone strike in Kabul, Matthieu Aikins, a Times journalist, knew something wasn’t adding up. He uncovered a story that was quite different from the one offered up by the United States military. 

We follow The Times’s investigation and how it forced the military to acknowledge that the drone attack was a mistake.

Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afghanistan for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• U.S. officials said a Reaper drone followed a car for hours and then fired based on evidence it was carrying explosives for ISIS. But in-depth video analysis and interviews at the site cast doubt on that account.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Annie Correal, a reporter for The Times, has family in Indian Valley, in Northern California, roots which extend back to the 1950s.

This summer, as wildfires closed in on the area, she reported from her family’s property as they sought to fend off the flames — and investigated the divided opinions about what had caused the devastating blazes.

Guest: Annie Correal, a reporter covering New York City for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• A beloved ranching community in Northern California faces destruction by America’s largest wildfire.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

You have almost certainly heard Nicholas Britell’s music, even if you don’t know his name. More than any other contemporary composer, he appears to have the whole of music history at his command, shifting easily between vocabularies, often in the same film.

His most arresting scores tend to fuse both ends of his musical education. “Succession” is 18th-century court music married to heart-pounding beats; “Moonlight” chops and screws a classical piano-and-violin duet as if it’s a Three 6 Mafia track.

Britell’s C.V. reads like the setup for a comedy flick: a Harvard-educated, world-class pianist who studied psychology and once played in a moderately successful hip-hop band, who wound up managing portfolios on Wall Street.

That is until he started scoring movies, and quickly acquired Academy Award nominations.

“What I’ve found in the past,” said Jon Burlingame, a film-music historian, “is that people have found it impossible to incorporate such modern musical forms as hip-hop into dramatic underscore for films. When Nick did it in ‘Moonlight,’ I was frankly stunned. I didn’t think it was possible.”

This story was written by Jamie Fisher and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains strong language. 

“Six,” a revisionist feminist British pop musical about the wives of King Henry VIII, was shaping up to be a substantial hit on Broadway after finding success in London.

On its opening night, however, in March 2020, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a shutdown of theater that would wind up lasting a year and a half.

We speak to the cast and crew of “Six” about the show’s path back to the stage and explore what it tells us about the trials of Broadway during the pandemic.

Guest: Michael Paulson, a theater reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Determined to reopen, Broadway’s crews are dusting off spotlights, dancers are relearning steps, and everyone is testing for the coronavirus as theater seeks to rebound from the devastating pandemic.
• “Six” is a poignant example of what is at stake as New York theater reopens. Last year, Michael Paulson wrote about the making of the musical. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos, the blood testing start-up, she was held up as one of the next great tech innovators.

But her company collapsed, and she was accused of lying about how well Theranos’s technology worked. Now she is on trial on fraud charges.

The case against Ms. Holmes is being held up as a referendum on the “fake it till you make it” culture of Silicon Valley, but it’s also about so much more.

Guest: Erin Griffith, a reporter covering technology start-ups and venture capital for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The trial of Ms. Holmes will cap a saga of Silicon Valley ambition and deception.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a major turn of events in Mexico, which has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, its Supreme Court last week decriminalized abortions.

The Supreme Court ruling is a milestone for Mexico’s feminist movement. But change might not come quickly: Abortion law is mostly administered at the state level in Mexico, much of the country remains culturally conservative, and many Mexican medical workers are morally opposed to abortion.

In a country where polls indicate most people don’t believe that abortion should be legal, what effect will the ruling have in practice?

Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, a correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The Supreme Court’s decision to decriminalize abortion set a legal precedent for the nation. But applying it to all of Mexico’s states will be a long path. Read this article in Spanish here.
• Abortion may no longer be a crime, but a battle looms over whether public hospitals will be required to offer the procedure. Read this article in Spanish here.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For decades, the law has sought to restrain nursing homes from trying to control the behavior of dementia patients with antipsychotic drugs, which are known to have adverse health effects. 

An alarming rise in schizophrenia diagnoses suggests some homes have found a way to skirt the rules.

We hear the story of David Blakeney, a dementia sufferer whose health declined rapidly after he was placed in a South Carolina nursing home.

Guest: Katie Thomas, a reporter covering the business of health care for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• A Times investigation into the widespread use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

As recently as a month ago, President Biden appeared to be skeptical about imposing coronavirus vaccine mandates. Now that skepticism has given way to a suite of policies that aim to force the hands of the unvaccinated.

What has changed?

Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• President Biden’s new vaccination efforts reflects the continuing and evolving threat the coronavirus pandemic poses to the economic recovery.
• Will Mr. Biden’s measures turn back a surging pandemic? The answer: Yes, in the longer term.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Two planes hijacked by Al Qaeda pierced the north and south towers of the World Trade Center. A third slammed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. A fourth crashed in an open field outside Shanksville, Pa. All in less than 90 minutes.

What, exactly, do you remember? What stories do you tell when a casual conversation morphs into a therapy session? What stories do you keep to yourself? And what instantly transports you back to that deceptively sunny Tuesday morning?

In a study of more than 3,000 people, what distinguished the memories of Sept. 11, when compared with ordinary autobiographical memories, was the extreme confidence that people had developed in their altered remembrances.

Dan Barry, a longtime Times reporter, remembered “the acrid smell of loss drifting uptown through the newsroom’s open windows. The landfill. The funerals.” Today, he shares an essay about the effects of time on those memories.

This story was written and narrated by Dan Barry. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

On the internet, there are bizarre subcultures filled with conspiracy theorists — those who believe the coronavirus is a hoax or that the 2020 election was stolen, or even that Hillary Clinton is a shape-shifting lizard. It’s a way of thinking that can be traced back to the first real internet blockbuster, a 9/11 conspiracy documentary called “Loose Change.” Today, we explore the film’s impact.

Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Twenty years after 9/11, “Loose Change,” a landmark film for conspiracy theorists, still casts a shadow over our information landscape.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains strong language.

Terry Albury joined the F.B.I. just before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, drawn in by the bureau’s work fighting child exploitation. His role quickly changed after 9/11 however, and he subsequently spent over a decade working in counterterrorism.

Around 2015, he began to deeply question his work. “This is not what I joined the F.B.I. to do,” he recalled thinking.

His doubts about the bureau’s workings led him to leak classified information to journalists. Today, we hear his story.

Guest: Janet Reitman, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. 

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Background reading: 

• Here’s Janet Reitman’s profile of Mr. Albury, the first F.B.I. special agent since Robert Hanssen in 2001 to be convicted under the Espionage Act.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This summer was supposed to be, in the words of President Biden, the “summer of freedom” from the coronavirus. What we saw instead was the summer of the Delta variant.

The surge driven by Delta — which has seen rises in cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the United States — has underlined that we are far from being done with the pandemic.

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• The Delta variant retreated unexpectedly in Britain and India but has begun to rebound. The United States may take an even bumpier path, according to scientists.
• Here’s what we know about booster shots — why Americans may need them and when they should get them.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Since the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, last month, many have wondered what kind of rulers they will be.

The memory of the Taliban of the 1990s — the public executions, the whippings in the streets and the harsh rules preventing women from leaving the house unaccompanied — has filled some with fear.

This time around, what will their rule mean for ordinary Afghans?

Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afghanistan for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Since the fall of Kabul, Taliban officials have been scrambling to take up the functions of government.
• When the last of the American troops left Afghanistan, the Taliban celebrated victory. But the scenes of triumph were clouded by the prospect of famine and financial collapse.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a way, the new Texas law that has effectively banned abortions after six weeks is typical — many other Republican-led states have sought to ban abortions after six, 10 or 15 weeks. 

But where federal courts have routinely struck down other anti-abortion laws, the Texas legislation has gone into effect with the Supreme Court’s blessing. 

How has this law survived so far, and where does it leave abortion providers in the state?

Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• A Texas law that prohibits most abortions after six weeks was drafted with the goal of frustrating efforts to challenge it in federal court.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

After Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans, leaving destruction in its wake, comparisons with Hurricane Katrina were made.

There are, however, big differences between the two disasters — namely that the city, in the 16 years since Katrina, has heavily invested in flood defenses. But on the ground, there is little cause for celebration.

What has happened in the aftermath of Ida and what does the increasing frequency of climate extremes mean for a city like New Orleans?

Guest: Richard Fausset, a correspondent covering the American South for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Hurricane veterans were stunned by Ida. “It’s never been as bad as it is this time,” said Jesse Touro, who was rescued from Jean Lafitte after riding out storms in town for the past 12 years.
• As hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana faced the prospect of punishingly hot weeks ahead without electricity, officials have urged those who had fled before the onslaught of Hurricane Ida to stay away indefinitely as the long slog of recovery begins.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The closure of schools because of the pandemic and the advent of widespread virtual learning has impacted students of all ages — but particularly the youngest children.

Research suggests that the learning missed during this period could have lasting impacts.

What is the educational cost of pandemic learning and how are schools trying to get children back to class amid the Delta variant?

Guest: Dana Goldstein, a national education correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• What was supposed to be a new, relatively normal year has become a politicized, bewildering experience for many parents, students and educators.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Monday night, after a 20-year war that claimed 170,000 lives, cost over $2 trillion and did not defeat the Taliban, the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

As the last of the American forces left under the cover of darkness, there was celebratory gunfire from the Taliban. The moment of exit, a day earlier than expected, was both historic and anticlimactic.

We explore what happened in the last few hours and days of the American occupation, and look at what it leaves behind. 

Guest: Eric Schmitt, a senior writer covering terrorism and national security for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The last American flight from Afghanistan left behind a host of unfulfilled promises and anxious questions about the country’s fate.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Almost from the moment Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California, there were attempts to remove him from office. Initially, a recall election against him seemed highly unlikely — but the pandemic has changed things.

What is behind the recall effort against Mr. Newsom, and what happens next?

Guest: Shawn Hubler, a California correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Some 22 million ballots have begun landing in the mailboxes of California voters ahead of the Sept. 14 election. Here’s what to know about the recall election.
• Can Mr. Newsom keep his job? The recall vote is expected to come down to whether Democrats can mobilize enough of the state’s enormous base to counteract Republican enthusiasm for the governor’s ouster.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Jeanne Calment lived her entire life in the South of France. She filled her days with leisurely pursuits, enjoying a glass of port, a cigarette and some chocolate nearly every day. In 1997, Ms. Calment died. She was 122.

With medical and social advances mitigating diseases of old age and prolonging life, the number of exceptionally long-living people is increasing sharply. But no one is known to have matched, let alone surpassed, Ms. Calment’s record.

Longevity scientists hold a wide range of nuanced perspectives on the future of humanity. Some consider life span to be like a candle wick, burning for a limited time. While others view it as a supremely, maybe even infinitely elastic band.

As the eminent physicist Richard Feynman put it in a 1964 lecture, “There is nothing in biology yet found that indicates the inevitability of death.”

This story was written by Ferris Jabr and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

For days, many dreaded an attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, as Western forces scrambled to evacuate tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan. On Thursday, those fears were realized — amid the large crowds outside the airport, terrorists carried out two suicide bombings. The attacks killed at least 60 people, including 13 United States service members.

ISIS-K, a branch of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, has claimed responsibility.

Will these attacks be the effective end of the U.S. evacuation effort and where does this leave the Afghanistan mission?

Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afghanistan for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The U.S. and its allies waged war for 20 years to try to defeat terrorists in Afghanistan. A double suicide bombing demonstrated that they remain a threat.
• A map of where the bombers struck at the airport in Kabul.
• President Biden said the evacuation of U.S. citizens and allies from Afghanistan would continue, even after the attacks. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Early on in the Biden administration, it rolled out a two-pronged migration plan: A reversal of the most punitive elements of Donald Trump’s policy and rooting out the causes of migration from Central America, namely corruption.

There is, however, a conflict at the heart of this approach. Calling out corrupt leaders could destabilize nations and encourage migration in the short term.

We explore the calculus of the Biden administration’s migration policy. 

Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, a correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• President Biden promised to attack corruption in Central America head on, but that goal has taken a back seat to cooperating on stopping migrants from the region.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last week, everything and everyone has been focused on Hamid Karzai International Airport and the massive military operation to get thousands of Americans and Afghan allies out of the country.

It is a monumental challenge — one of the biggest and most complicated military operations the Pentagon has had to deal with in decades.

We explore these complexities and the challenges being faced by the U.S. as it attempts to evacuate the city. 

Guest: Eric Schmitt, a senior writer covering terrorism and national security for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The American withdrawal has coincided with a threat by the Taliban to stop Afghans from traveling to the airport, an ominous sign that the window may be slamming shut for thousands of people desperate to leave.
• The military has ramped up evacuations, increasing the number of flights out of Kabul, but questions remain about whether the military can sustain the pace as the deadline to end the operation draws near.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For years, Mexico has been gripped by horrific violence as drug cartels battle each other and kill civilians. In the last 15 years alone, homicides have tripled. The violence, the Mexican government says, is fueled, in part, by American guns. 

Now Mexico is bringing a lawsuit against 10 gun manufacturers in a U.S. federal court, accusing them of knowingly facilitating the sale of guns to drug cartels in the country. 

How did the situation get to this point, and what arguments are being mounted by the Mexican government?

Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, a correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• For years, Mexican officials have complained that lax U.S. gun control was responsible for devastating bloodshed in Mexico. Earlier this month, they moved their campaign into American courts. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

As the number of coronavirus infections in the United States surges, and school districts begin to reopen for in-person learning, some parents are apprehensive and full of questions.

Recently, The Daily asked parents to send in their queries about children and Covid. We received about 600 responses.

With the help of Emily Anthes, a reporter who covers the coronavirus, we try to provide some answers.

Guest: Emily Anthes, a health and science reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• With the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, classrooms are opening their doors to a different pandemic. Here is how to think about risk.
• What was supposed to be a new, relatively normal year has become a politicized, bewildering experience for many parents, students and educators.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In 2002, a survey revealed there were just 1.6 Sumatran tigers per 100 square kilometers in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, one of the last habitats for the critically endangered animal. In the fall of 2015, however, research suggested that the numbers had significantly improved: 2.8 tigers per 100 square kilometers.

When Matt Leggett, a newly hired senior adviser for the Wildlife Conservation Society, looked at the data sets, satellite maps and spatial distribution grids, he couldn’t help noticing the forest. It seemed to be getting smaller.

Matt wondered: Were the people looking at the same maps he was? Was he crazy? He was not crazy.

This story was written by Wyatt Williams and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Two years ago, a multipart Times investigation highlighted an epidemic of child sexual abuse material which relied on platforms run by the world’s largest technology companies.

Last week, Apple revealed its solution — a suite of tools which includes an update to the iPhone’s operating system that allows for the scanning of photographs.

That solution, however, has ignited a firestorm over privacy in Silicon Valley.

Guest: Jack Nicas, a technology reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Are Apple’s new tools against child abuse bad for privacy? The backlash to the company’s efforts shows that in the debate between privacy and security, there are few easy answers.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

Weeks ago, as the Taliban undertook a major military offensive in Afghanistan, the U.S. accelerated its evacuation of Afghans who aided them and feared retribution. 

Many, however, remain in the country. 

“I hope we do right by these people, but I hope we do it quickly,” Andrew Vernon, said a former Marine who has sought help for an interpreter he worked with. “But I am fully prepared to be fully disappointed as well.”

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Background reading: 

• Through WhatsApp and Facebook messages, Afghans who served as interpreters are asking former colleagues in America to get them out as the Taliban close in.
• Many of those who worked alongside U.S. troops have waited years for visas to come to the United States. The speedy withdrawal of forces left most of them behind.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This weekend, a major earthquake hit Haiti. It is the second crisis to befall the Caribbean nation is just over a month — its president was assassinated in July.

The earthquake’s aftermath has been dire, with little help getting through to those most affected. 

We hear what life has been like for Haitians reeling from the destruction. 

Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, the bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday morning was stronger than the one that devastated the country in 2010. Here’s what to know about the quake.
• For many Haitians, their only source of aid throughout their lives has been the church. After the earthquake, many of those churches are in ruins.  

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The last few days in Afghanistan have been chaotic as the Taliban retake control of the country.

The debacle can be traced to a number of assumptions that guided the execution of the U.S. withdrawal from the country after two decades of war.

How could those assumptions have proved so wrong, so quickly?

Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• An Afghan military that did not believe in itself and a U.S. effort that President Biden, and most Americans, no longer believed in brought an ignoble end to the United States’ longest war.
• A takeover of the whole of Afghanistan was all but absolute as the government collapsed and the U.S. rushed through a frenzied evacuation.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language. 

On Sunday, the president of Afghanistan fled the country; the Taliban seized control of Kabul, the capital; and the American-backed government collapsed.

One outspoken critic of the Taliban — a 33-year-old Kabul resident who asked that we refer to her by the initial R for fear of retaliation — shared her experiences as the insurgents closed in.

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Background reading: 

• Kabul fell to the Taliban far faster than many had imagined it would, leaving most Afghans with no way out.
• The Afghan military was built over 20 years. How did it collapse so quickly?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In 2019, Emily Bazelon, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, began communicating with Yutico Briley, an inmate at a prison in Jackson, La.

Mr. Briley first reached out to Ms. Bazelon after hearing her on the radio talking about “Charges,” her book on how prosecutors have historically used their power to increase incarceration.

At age 19, Mr. Briley was imprisoned and sentenced to 60 years without the possibility of parole, in part, for a robbery he said he did not commit.

Ms. Bazelon decided to become involved in his case in a way that she had never done before.

This story was written by Emily Bazelon and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains strong language. 
 

A major new United Nations scientific report has concluded that countries and corporations have delayed curbing fossil-fuel emissions for so long that we can no longer stop the impact of climate change from intensifying over the coming decades. In short, the climate crisis has arrived, and it’s going to get worse before it can get better.

In this episode, we explore the main takeaways from the report — including what needs to happen in the narrowing window of climate opportunity to avoid the most devastating outcomes.

Guest: Henry Fountain, a reporter covering climate for The New York Times

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Background reading: 

• Here are the key takeaways from the report, including how we know human influence has “unequivocally” warmed the planet.
• For the next 30 years or longer, there will be more, hotter heat waves, longer and more intense droughts, and more episodes of heavy downpours that result in flooding.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On Tuesday, the United States Senate approved a $1 trillion infrastructure bill — the largest single infusion of federal funds into infrastructure projects in more than a decade. It was a bipartisan vote, with 19 Republicans voting alongside the Democrats. 

Soon after, the Senate passed a more expansive budget plan  — this time along party lines. 

What do these two votes tell us about how Washington is working today?

Guest: Emily Cochrane, a reporter covering Congress for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Approval for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill came after months of negotiations and despite deficit concerns, reflecting an appetite in both parties for the long-awaited spending package.
• The blueprint for a $3.5 trillion budget, with scope to expand health care, provide free preschool and community college and fund climate change programs, passed along party lines and faces an arduous path ahead.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced yesterday that he would resign from office, exactly one week after a searing report found that he sexually harassed 11 women.

What convinced him to step aside, how did the scandal bring about such a rapid and astonishing reversal of fortune for one of the nation’s best-known leaders, and what happens next?

Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Last week, the release of a 165-page report by the New York State attorney general prompted multiple calls for Mr. Cuomo to resign, including from President Biden, a longtime ally of the governor.
• Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, will be sworn in to replace Mr. Cuomo, becoming the first woman in New York history to occupy the state’s top office.
• Read the transcript of Mr. Cuomo’s resignation speech, and follow the latest updates since his announcement.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The Taliban have made big moves in the last few days in their bid to take control of Afghanistan. 

This weekend, they seized several cities and suddenly claimed a lot of the north. On Monday, they took another provincial capital. 

What is the Taliban’s strategy, what will the United States do, and where does this leave the Afghan government?

Guest: Carlotta Gall, the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times. She previously reported from Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2001 to 2011. 

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Background reading: 

• The seizure of five Afghan capitals has amplified fears about the nation’s future after the U.S. withdrawal.
• What to know about the war in Afghanistan — how it started and how it is ending.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

To ensure students’ safe return to in-person learning amid a surge in the Delta variant of the coronavirus, some school districts plan to institute mask mandates.

Yet that move isn’t necessarily straightforward — several of the country’s hardest-hit states have banned such mandates.

We look at how this conflict is playing out in Arkansas. 

Guest: Richard Fausset, a correspondent covering the American South for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas signed a law banning mask mandates early this year. Now, he wants to unravel it, reflecting a dilemma for Republican governors across the South, where the health crisis has deepened.
• School officials in Florida and Arizona say they intend to require students and teachers to wear masks in school, despite statewide bans on such policies.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For much of America’s history, a person with a disability had few civil rights related to their disability. That began to change when, in the 1980s, a group of lawmakers started to agitate for sweeping civil rights legislation.

The result of their efforts was the Americans With Disabilities Act, or A.D.A.

Albert Dytch, a 71-year-old man with muscular dystrophy, has filed more than 180 A.D.A. lawsuits in California. Is it profiteering — or justice?

This story was written by Lauren Markham and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Don, a 38-year-old single father from Pittsburgh, doesn’t want to be lumped into the “crazy anti-vax crowd.”

Jeannie, a middle school teacher, has never vaccinated her teenage son and says she won’t start now.

Lyndsey, from Florida, regrets having not had her late grandmother vaccinated against Covid-19.

With the Delta variant of the coronavirus raging, we hear from some Americans who have decided not to get vaccinated. 

Guest: Jan Hoffman, a reporter covering behavioral health and health law for The New York Time; and Sophie Kasakove, a reporting fellow for The Times’s National Desk. 

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Background reading: 

• Who are the unvaccinated in America? There’s no single answer.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains descriptions of sexual harassment.

After accusations of sexual harassment against Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York surfaced early this year, an independent investigation was begun.

And while people around the governor — and his critics — expected the ensuing report to be bad, what came out this week was worse.

There have been widespread calls for Mr. Cuomo to resign, but will he go?

Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Investigators into sexual harassment by Mr. Cuomo said they had corroborated the claims of 11 women who accused the governor of inappropriate behavior, including suggestive comments and instances of groping.
• A new account of sexual harassment by Mr. Cuomo from a state trooper bolsters a meticulous new report on his misdeeds — and how his inner circle allowed such conduct to fester.
• In the wake of the report, the New York governor has been met with consequential defections from core constituencies, including labor, white suburban lawmakers and Black political leaders.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Tunisia was supposed to be the success story of the Arab Spring — the only democracy to last in the decade since revolutions swept the region.

Recently, after mass protests, President Kais Saied appears to be taking the reins of power for himself.

What happened? We hear from Mr. Saied and citizens of Tunisia on the ground. 

Guest: Vivian Yee, the Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Why is Tunisia’s promise of democracy struggling to bear fruit?
• In the days since their president staged a power grab, threatening their young democracy, many Tunisians are banking on the hope that things cannot get much worse.
• “Why do you think that, at 67, I would start a career as a dictator?” In a conversation with Vivian Yee, President Kais Saied vowed to preserve hard-fought rights.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language. 

Bartenders, sous chefs, wait staff — at the moment, managers in the U.S. hospitality industry are struggling to fill a range of roles at their establishments.

Managers blame pandemic unemployment benefits for the dearth of talent. Employees say that the pandemic has opened their eyes to the realities of work.

We spoke to workers and managers about why it has become so hard to get some staff back to work.

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Background reading: 

• Why is it so hard to hire right now? Experts weigh in on what’s going on in the labor market — and what companies can do to attract workers.
• The sharp rebound in hiring, especially in service industries, is widening opportunities and prompting employers to compete on pay.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Recent data from the C.D.C. has found that not only can vaccinated people get infected with the Delta variant of the coronavirus, though instances are rare, but they also can potentially spread the virus just as much as an unvaccinated person.

What are the practical implications of this new information?

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• A recent report from the C.D.C. strongly suggested that fully immunized people with so-called breakthrough infections of the Delta variant can spread the virus to others just as readily as unvaccinated people.
• According to an internal C.D.C. presentation, the Delta variant is much more contagious, more likely to break through protections afforded by the vaccines and may cause more severe disease than other known versions of the virus.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Activists slammed the TV show “In the Dark” for casting a sighted actress in a blind lead role. But what if blindness is a performance of its own?

This story was written and narrated by Andrew Leland. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

You’ve heard the 1619 podcast right here on The Daily. And we’ve covered the backlash to the 1619 Project and the battle over critical race theory that followed. In this interview, Ezra Klein, an Opinion columnist at The New York Times and host of The Ezra Klein Show, speaks with Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates about these skirmishes, and how they have gripped our national discourse. At the heart of the conversation in this episode is the question: How do we understand American history?

Each Tuesday and Friday for New York Times Opinion, Ezra Klein invites you into a conversation on something that matters. Subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. 

This episode contains mentions of sexual abuse.

Simone Biles, 24, showed up on the national stage at 16, when she competed in and won the national championships. She equally impressed at her first Olympics, in 2016 in Rio.

Going into the Tokyo Games this year, Ms. Biles — who is considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time — was expected to win the all-around. So she shocked many this week when she pulled out of the competition.

What prompted her decision?

Guest: Juliet Macur, a sports reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Ms. Biles was widely embraced as the latest elite athlete who had the courage to acknowledge her vulnerability. In pulling out of the Olympics, she rejected a long tradition of stoicism in sports.
• By withdrawing from competition citing concerns over her mental health, Ms. Biles showed that resisting expectations could be more powerful than persisting through them.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For decades, nuclear weapons did not figure prominently in China’s military planning. However, recent satellite images suggest that the country may be looking to quintuple its nuclear arsenal. 

Why is China changing strategy now?

Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Is China scrapping its “minimum deterrent” strategy and joining an arms race? Or is it merely looking to create a negotiating card?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

The first hearing of the special congressional committee on the Jan. 6 riots was an emotional affair, but it was not quite the investigation that was originally envisaged.

In January, lawmakers on both sides spoke of putting aside partisanship and organizing an investigation akin to the 9/11 commission, considered the gold standard of nonpartisan fact-finding.

Why did the commission fail and what is taking place instead?

Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• “A hit man sent them.” Police officers at the Capitol recounted the horrors of Jan. 6 on the first day of the House committee investigation into the event.
• In remarks before the hearing, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, said Republicans wanted the focus of the inquiry to be on the lack of preparation for the violence and ways to prevent future attacks.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In the effort to raise America’s vaccination rate, some agencies and private organizations have turned to the last, and most controversial, weapon in the public health arsenal: vaccine mandates.

How have the federal government and the White House approached the issue?

Guest: Jennifer Steinhauer, a Washington reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• California and New York City will require vaccinations or tests for their employees, while the Department of Veterans Affairs said frontline health care workers must get vaccinated or face possible termination.
• With some health care workers still refusing to be immunized, medical centers around the country are requiring shots as cases climb once again.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For the past couple of weeks, some Americans have reported a curious phenomenon: They have caught the coronavirus despite being vaccinated.

Vaccines are still doing their job by protecting against serious illness and hospitalization, but the frequency of so-called breakthrough infections has surprised experts.

How do such cases happen, and what risks do they pose?

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Breakthrough infections are still relatively uncommon, experts said, and those that cause serious illness, hospitalization or death even more so.
• While being fully inoculated protects against serious illness and hospitalization from Covid-19, no vaccine offers 100 percent protection, and vaccinated people may need to take a few more precautions. Here’s what you need to know.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

An activist investment firm won a shocking victory at Exxon Mobil. But can new directors really put the oil giant on a cleaner path?

This story was written by Jessica Camille Aguirre and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Extreme weather across Europe, North America and Asia is highlighting a harsh reality of science and history: The world as a whole is neither prepared to slow down climate change nor live with it.

European officials are trying to change that. The European Commission, the E.U.’s executive arm, recently introduced ambitious legislation aimed at sharply cutting emissions to slow down climate change within the next decade, specifically by weaning one of the world’s biggest and most polluting economies off fossil fuels. But can it generate the political will to see it through?

Guest: Somini Sengupta, the international climate reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Our climate correspondent explains what you need to know about the implications of recent extreme weather events for rich countries.
• Want to learn more about the science behind climate change? Here are some answers to the big questions, like how we know we’re really in a climate crisis.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

A promise of a well-paying assignment abroad for retired Colombian soldiers. A security company in Miami. An evangelical Haitian American pastor with lofty ideas. Trying to join the dots in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse took us from the Caribbean to South America to Florida — and there are still plenty of questions.

Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times, and Frances Robles, a national and foreign correspondent for The Times based in Florida.

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Background reading: 

• Interviews with more than a dozen people suggest that the suspects had been working together for months — but to what end is still mysterious.
• One suspect was said to have claimed he was “sent by God” to help Haiti.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The Chinese government’s hacking of Microsoft was bold and brazen.

The Biden administration tried to orchestrate a muscular and coordinated response with Western allies. But while the U.S. has responded to cyberattacks from Russia with economic sanctions, when it comes to Beijing, the approach is more complicated.

Why does the U.S. take a different course with China?

Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• The Biden administration organized a broad group of allies to condemn Beijing for cyberattacks around the world but stopped short of taking concrete punitive steps.
• Over the past decade, China has transformed into a sophisticated and mature cyber threat to the U.S.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Is misinformation on Facebook an impediment to ending the pandemic?

President Biden even said that platforms like Facebook, by harboring skepticism about the shots, were killing people.

Facebook immediately rejected the criticism, but who is right?

Guest: Cecilia Kang, a correspondent covering technology and regulatory policy for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Mr. Biden’s blunt statement about Facebook capped weeks of frustration in the White House over the spread of vaccine disinformation on social media.
• In response, Facebook called on the administration to stop “finger-pointing.”

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The rise of the Delta variant has prompted a thorny question: Do we need a booster dose of the vaccine for Covid-19? Vaccine makers think so, but regulators are yet to be convinced.

Principles are also at stake: Should richer countries be talking about administering extra doses when so many people around the world are yet to receive even a single shot?

Guest: Rebecca Robbins, a business reporter covering Covid-19 vaccines for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Although studies of a third dose are underway, experts agree that the vaccines are still working well. Here’s what to know about the potential booster dose.
• U.S. officials said that the decision to go ahead with a booster shot would depend partly on how many infections cause serious disease or hospitalization in vaccinated people.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

It made headlines around the world: a New Jersey sandwich shop with a soaring stock price. Was it just speculation, or something stranger?

This story was written by Jesse Barron and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains accounts of physical and sexual abuse.

The residential school system was devised by the Canadian government under the auspices of education, but very little education took place. Instead, children were taken from their families in order to wipe out Indigenous languages and culture.

In 1959, when Garry Gottfriedson was 5, he was sent to one such school: Kamloops Indian Residential School.

On today’s episode, we hear his story and explore how Indigenous activists have agitated for accountability and redress from the federal government.

Guest: Ian Austen, a correspondent covering Canada for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Two gruesome discoveries of what Indigenous groups say are the remains of hundreds of children have strengthened the groups’ resolve to hold Canada accountable for a long-hidden brutal history.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This episode contains strong language.

It was a surprise to many recently when protesters took to the streets in a small town near Havana to express their grievances with Cuba’s authoritarian government. Cubans do not protest in huge numbers.

Even more remarkable: The protests spread across the island.

Why are Cubans protesting, and what happens next?

Guest: Ernesto Londoño, the Brazil bureau chief for The New York Times, covering the southern cone of South America. 

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Background reading: 

• Thousands of Cubans have taken to the streets in cities around their country to protest food and medicine shortages, in a remarkable eruption of discontent not seen in nearly 30 years.
• Security forces arrested dozens of protesters after a wave of demonstrations on Sunday. But dissidents expressed hope the protests would lead to lasting change.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The heat wave that hit the usually cool and rainy American Pacific Northwest was a shock to many — Oregon and Washington were covered by a blanket of heat in the triple digits.

After the temperatures soared, a group of scientists quickly came together to answer a crucial question: How much is climate change to blame?

Guest: Henry Fountain, a climate change reporter for The New York Times; and Sergio Olmos, a freelancer for The Times. 

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Background reading: 

• An analysis of the recent record-breaking heat found that it would have been virtually impossible without the influence of human-caused climate change.
• The extreme temperatures in Oregon, Washington State and Canada were exacerbated by an intense drought. Here is what to know about these heat waves.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In its investigation of the Trump Organization’s financial affairs, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has zeroed in on Allen Weisselberg, the company’s former finance chief, who spent almost half a century working for the Trump family. 

Criminal charges have been brought against Mr. Weisselberg in the hopes of getting him to cooperate in an investigation of former President Donald Trump. Will he flip?

Guest: Ben Protess, an investigative reporter for The New York Times; and Michael Rothfeld, an investigative reporter for The Times’s Metro Desk. 

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Background reading: 

• The Trump Organization has been charged with running a 15-year scheme to help its executives evade taxes by compensating them with fringe benefits that were hidden from the authorities.
• In nearly half a century of service to Mr. Trump’s family businesses, Allen Weisselberg has survived — and thrived — by anticipating and carrying out his boss’s dictates in a zealous mission to protect the bottom line. His fealty has now landed him in serious legal jeopardy. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For decades, the granting of racial reparations in the United States appeared to be a political nonstarter. But Evanston, Ill., recently became the first city to approve a program of reparations for its Black residents.

How did this happen, and can it be replicated in other parts of the country? 

Guest: Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• The proposal in Evanston in March was pioneering: a blueprint to begin distributing $10 million in reparations to Black residents of the city in the form of housing grants.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For Aleksander Doba, pitting himself against the wide-open sea — storms, sunstroke, monotony, hunger and loneliness — was a way to feel alive in old age. Today, listen to the story of a man who paddled toward the existential crisis that is life and crossed the Atlantic alone in a kayak. Three times.

Mr. Doba died on Feb. 22 on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. He was 74.

This story was written by Elizabeth Weil and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Early on Wednesday morning, a group of men killed President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti in his residence on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

It was a brazen act. Very rarely is a nation’s leader killed in at home.

What does the attack means for Haiti’s future?

Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The assassination of Mr. Moïse has rocked his nation, stoking fear and confusion about what is to come. Here is what we know and don’t know.
• The killing has left a political void and deepened the turmoil and violence that has gripped Haiti for months, threatening to tip one of the world’s most troubled nations further into lawlessness.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After a 20-year war, the United States has effectively ended its operations in Afghanistan with little fanfare.

In recent weeks, the Americans have quietly vacated their sprawling military bases in the nation, and without giving Afghan security forces prior notice.

What does this withdrawal look like on the ground?

Guest: Thomas Gibbons-Neff, a correspondent in the Kabul bureau for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The Americans have handed over Bagram Air Base — once the military’s nerve center — to the Afghans, effectively ending operations.
• Just a mile from the base, where U.S. forces departed on Thursday, shops sell items left over from two decades of fighting. Each one tells a story.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When the F.D.A. approved the drug Aduhelm, the first Alzheimer’s treatment to receive the agency’s endorsement in almost two decades, it gave hope to many.

But the decision was contentious; some experts say there’s not enough evidence that the treatment can address cognitive symptoms.

What is the story behind this new drug?

Guest: Pam Belluck, a health and science writer for The New York Times.  

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Background reading: 

• Aduhelm, also known as aducanumab, was approved despite opposition from the F.D.A.’s independent advisory committee and some Alzheimer’s experts.
• Even those who supported the F.D.A.’s approval have said that authorizing it for anyone with the disease is much too broad.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is threatening to put the world in an entirely new stage of the pandemic.

The variant is spreading fast, particularly in places with low vaccination rates — it is thought to be around 50 percent more transmissible than previous versions.

What can be done to stop Delta, and how will the variant hamper global efforts to return to normalcy?

Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science writer and author of the “Matter” column for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Vaccines are driving down coronavirus case numbers in the U.S., but it’s unclear whether Delta will reverse that trend. Here’s what scientists know about it.
• Conflicting advice from the health authorities about masks has bewildered a worried public.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In Loudoun County, Va., a fierce debate has been raging for months inside normally sleepy school board meetings.

At the heart of this anger is critical race theory, a once obscure academic framework for understanding racism in the United States.

How, exactly, did critical race theory enter American public life, and what does this debate look like on the ground?

Guest: Trip Gabriel, a national correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• In a culture-war brawl that has spilled into the country’s education system, Republicans at the local, state and national levels are trying to block curriculums that emphasize systemic racism.
• More than 20 states have introduced legislation restricting lessons on racism and other so-called divisive concepts.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Throughout its 115-year history, the N.C.A.A.’s bedrock principle has been that student-athletes should be amateurs and not allowed to profit off their fame.

This week, after years of agitation and legislation, the rule was changed.

What will this new era of college sports look like?

Guest: Alan Blinder, a reporter covering college sports for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Here’s a breakdown of why the N.C.A.A. finally relented to pressure to allow athletes to make money beyond the cost of attending their universities.
• Despite the N.C.A.A’s argument that payments would be a threat to amateurism, this month, the Supreme Court backed payments to student-athletes.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Recently, the government released a long-awaited report: a look at unexplained aerial phenomena.

We explore the report and what implications it may have. Will it do anything to quell theories of extraterrestrial visitors?

Guest: Julian E. Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The United States has no explanation for unidentified objects, but the report stops short of ruling out aliens.
• Rather than explaining when sightings of U.F.O.s were really just sightings of top-secret planes, the government has sometimes allowed public eagerness about the possibility of aliens to take hold.
• U.F.O.s were once a taboo topic for the federal government, but not anymore. Why are we all talking about them now?

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

A few years ago, engineers sounded alarm bells about Champlain Towers, a residential building in Surfside, Fla. Last week, disaster struck and the towers collapsed. At least 11 residents have been confirmed dead and 150 more are still unaccounted for.

What caused the building to fail, and why are so many people still missing?

Guest: Patricia Mazzei, the Miami bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The collapse of Champlain Towers may be one of the deadliest accidental collapses in American history. Here are the key facts.
• Some engineers looking at the building’s failure said that the collapse appeared to have begun somewhere near the bottom of the structure.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After last year’s postponement, both the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government are determined that the Tokyo Games will take place this summer.

But the public in Japan appears unconvinced: About 85 percent of people say they fear that the Olympics will cause a rebound of the virus in the country.

Will the sense of discontent fade as the Games begin?

Guest: Motoko Rich, the Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Why haven’t the Tokyo Games been canceled? The answer lies in billions of dollars, years of work and thousands of athletes who can’t wait any longer.
• Japan’s latest outbreak is receding and vaccinations are slowly picking up, but health experts warn that the government must remain vigilant.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Neglected by art history for decades, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, the sister-in-law to Vincent van Gogh, is finally being recognized as the force who opened the world’s eyes to his genius.

This story was written by Russell Shorto and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

On this episode of Sway, a podcast from NYT Opinion, America’s chief immunologist responds to the recent leak of his emails, being compared to Hitler, and weighs in on the Wuhan lab-leak theory. 

Every Monday and Thursday on Sway, Kara Swisher investigates power: who has it, who’s been denied it and who dares to defy it. Subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

In this episode, we get answers on just how bad the problem of far-right infiltration in the German military and police really is — and how Germany is trying to address it. 

We learn about Germany's "defensive democracy," which was designed after World War II to protect the country against threats from the inside. One of those threats, according to some German officials, is the Alternative for Germany, widely known by its German initials AfD. We meet intelligence officials who have put parts of the party under formal surveillance.

When the coronavirus hit, the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, seemed uniquely positioned to help. It struck a deal with AstraZeneca, promising a billion vaccine doses to low- and middle-income nations. 

Earlier this year, a ban instituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi put a stop to those plans. 

What has that meant for the nations promised millions of doses?

Guest: Emily Schmall, a South Asia correspondent for The New York Times based in New Delhi. 

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Background reading: 

• The Serum Institute vowed to protect its country from the coronavirus and inoculate the world’s poor, but India’s crisis has pushed it past its limits.
• Big-power muscle flexing helps explain many of the world’s vaccine inequities, but there’s another problem: The manufacturing challenge is unprecedented.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The For the People Act, a bill created by House Democrats after the 2018 midterm elections, could have been the most sweeping expansion of voting rights in a generation.

On Tuesday night, however, Senate Republicans filibustered the bill before it could even be debated.

What lessons can we take from its demise? 

Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• By blocking the sweeping voting rights bill, Republicans dealt a blow to Democrats’ attempts to counter a wave of state-level ballot restrictions, while also supercharging a campaign to end the legislative filibuster.
• In the wake of the bill’s demise, Democrats and civil rights groups have reaffirmed their resolve to fight for voting protections in Congress.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the wake of last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, a central question of the New York City mayoral contest has become: Is New York safer with more or fewer police officers?

Today, we see this tension play out in a single household, between Yumi Mannarelli and her mother, Misako Shimada.

Guests: Misako Shimada and Yumi Mannarelli, a mother and daughter who live in New York City. 

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Background reading: 

• The New York City mayoral race has been fluid, but the centrality of crime and policing has remained constant. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

How does the 1965 Voting Rights Act work? That is the question in front of the Supreme Court as it rules on a pair of Arizona laws from 2016 — the most important voting rights case in a decade.

What arguments have been made in the case? And what implications will the decision have?

Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The Supreme Court has signaled that it could tighten the standards for using the Voting Rights Act to challenge all kinds of voting restrictions.
• The sprawling voting rights legislation known as H.R. 1, could result in lawsuits leading to a dozen Supreme Court cases, according to legal experts.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

During his childhood, Nicholas Casey, Madrid bureau chief for The New York Times, received visits from his father. He would arrive from some faraway place where the ships on which he worked had taken him, regaling his son with endless stories. He had black curly hair like Nicholas’s and the beard he would one day grow.

But then after Nicholas’s seventh birthday, he vanished.

The familial riddle that plagued him would remain unsolved until his 33rd birthday with a gift from his mother: an ancestry test.

This story was written by Nicholas Casey and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

We meet Franco A., an officer in the German military who lived a double life as a Syrian refugee and stands accused of plotting an act of terrorism to bring down the German government.

In 2019, it seemed to many that Gov. Ralph Northam’s career was over.

That year, the Democratic governor of Virginia became embroiled in a highly publicized blackface scandal centered on a racist picture in his medical-school yearbook. There were widespread calls for his resignation.

Two years later, Mr. Northam has emerged as the most racially progressive leader in the state’s history. How did it happen?

Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• When a racist picture was discovered on his yearbook page, Ralph Northam refused to resign. Now he’s leaving office with a widely praised progressive record on racial justice.
• Virginia’s governor survived a blackface scandal with the help of Black Democrats, who saw a chance for policy concessions. Both got more from the relationship than they could have imagined.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence.

Just a few years ago, Ethiopia’s leader was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, the nation is in the grips of a civil war, with widespread reports of massacres and human rights abuses, and a looming famine that could strike millions in the northern region of Tigray. 

How did Ethiopia get here?

Guest: Declan Walsh, the chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Thousands of Ethiopians have fled the country and given accounts of a devastating and complex conflict. A U.S. report found that officials are leading a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in the northern region of Tigray.
• United Nations agencies have said the crisis in the Tigray region had plunged it into famine. It’s  a starvation calamity bigger at the moment than anywhere else in the world.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Elon Musk and George Soros are household names. They are among the wealthiest people in the United States.

But a recent report by ProPublica has found another thing that separates them from regular Americans citizens: They have paid almost nothing in taxes.

Why does the U.S. tax system let that happen?

Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• An analysis by ProPublica showed that from 2014 to 2018, the nation’s richest executives paid just a fraction of their wealth in taxes — $13.6 billion in federal income taxes during a time when their collective net worth reportedly increased by $401 billion.
• The exposé has refocused attention on the tax code and how it applies to the superrich.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Apple built the world’s most valuable business by figuring out how to make China work for Apple.

A New York Times investigation has found that the dynamic has now changed. China has figured out how to make Apple work for China.

Guest: Jack Nicas, who covers technology from San Francisco for The New York Times. He is one of the reporters behind the investigation into Apple’s compromises in China.

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• An investigation from The New York Times offers an extensive inside look at how Apple has given in to escalating demands from the Chinese authorities.
• One of the compromises Apple made to China was storing its Chinese customers’ data on servers controlled by the Chinese government. Here are four more takeaways from the report.
• In the United States, data requests have placed Apple and other tech giants in an uncomfortable position between law enforcement, the courts and the customers whose privacy they have promised to protect.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

During months of pandemic isolation, Wesley Morris, a critic at large for The New York Times, decided to grow a mustache.

The reviews were mixed and predictable. He heard it described as “porny” and “creepy,” as well as “rugged” and “extra gay.”

It was a comment on a group call, however, that gave him pause. Someone noted that his mustache made him look like a lawyer for the N.A.A.C.P.’s legal defense fund.

“It was said as a winking correction and an earnest clarification — Y’all, this is what it is,” Wesley said. “The call moved on, but I didn’t. That is what it is: one of the sweetest, truest things anybody had said about me in a long time.”

On today’s episode of The Sunday Read, Wesley Morris’s story about Blackness and the symbolic power of the mustache.

This story was written by Wesley Morris and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Franco A. is not the only far-right extremist in Germany discovered by chance. For over a decade, 10 murders in the country, including nine victims who were immigrants, went unsolved. The neo-Nazi group responsible was discovered only when a bank robbery went wrong. 

In this episode, we ask: Why has a country that spent decades atoning for its Nazi past so often failed to confront far-right extremism?

When she was at graduate school in the 1970s, Dr. Katalin Kariko learned about something that would become a career-defining obsession: mRNA.

She believed in the potential of the molecule, but for decades ran up against institutional roadblocks. Then, the coronavirus hit and her obsession would help shield millions from a once-in-a-century pandemic. 

Today, a conversation with Dr. Kariko about her journey. 

Guest: Gina Kolata, a reporter covering science and medicine for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Collaborating with devoted colleagues, Dr. Kariko laid the groundwork for the mRNA vaccines turning the tide of the pandemic.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The Senate passed the largest piece of industrial policy seen in the U.S. in decades on Tuesday, directing about a quarter of a trillion dollars to bolster high-tech industries.

In an era where lawmakers can’t seem to agree on anything, why did they come together for this?

Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

The Daily is doing a live online event: We follow up with students and faculty from our series Odessa. And we hear from the team who made the documentary. Times subscribers can join us June 10.

Background reading: 

• The wide margin of support in the Senate reflects a sense of urgency among lawmakers in both parties about shoring up the technological and industrial capacity of the United States.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In the past few weeks, some of the biggest industries in the U.S. have been held up by cyberattacks.

The first big infiltration was at Colonial Pipeline, a major conduit of gas, jet fuel and diesel to the East Coast. Then, J.B.S., one of the world’s largest beef suppliers, was hit.

The so-called ransomware attacks have long been a worry. But who are the hackers and how can they be stopped?

Guest: Nicole Perlroth, a reporter covering cybersecurity and digital espionage for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

The Daily is doing a live online event: We follow up with students and faculty from our series Odessa. And we hear from the team who made the documentary. Times subscribers can join us June 10.

Background reading: 

• The Biden administration has taken steps to counter the growing threat of cyberattacks on U.S. businesses. The F.B.I. director compares the danger of ransomware to the 9/11 terror threat.
• As the ransomware industry exploded, a Russian-speaking outfit called DarkSide offered would-be computer criminals not just the tools, but also customer support. Here’s how the group became a hacking powerhouse.
• It’s been almost a decade since Leon Panetta, then the secretary of defense, warned of an impending “Cyber Pearl Harbor.” He didn’t want to be right.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has always sold himself as a peerless defender of his country. In the minds of many Israelis, he has become a kind of indispensable leader for the nation’s future.

Despite that image, Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, might soon be ousted from office.

What has given his rivals the momentum to try to topple him? And who might be his replacement?

Guest: David M. Halbfinger, who covered Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories and the Middle East as the Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

The Daily is doing a live online event: We follow up with students and faculty from our series Odessa. And we hear from the team who made the documentary. Times subscribers can join us June 10.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Netanyahu, a dominant figure who has pushed his nation’s politics to the right, is on the verge of losing power.
• The main players in the latest twist in Israeli politics have very different agendas, but one common goal. Can they change Israel?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Andrea Smith had long been an outspoken activist and academic in the Native American community. Called an icon of “Native American feminism,” she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy work and has aligned herself with prominent activists such as Angela Davis.

Last fall, however, a number of academics, including Ms. Smith, were outed as masquerading as Black, Latino or Indigenous.

While many of them explained themselves and the lies they told, Ms. Smith never did. Why?

This story was written by Sarah Viren and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

On this episode of The Ezra Klein Show, former President Barack Obama discusses Joe Biden, aliens and what he got right and wrong during his two terms in office.

Each Tuesday and Friday for The New York Times Opinion section, Ezra Klein invites you into a conversation on something that matters. Subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

Franco A. visited the workplaces of two of his alleged targets. We meet both targets to hear the stories of two Germanies: One a beacon of liberal democracy that has worked to overcome its Nazi past, the other a place where that past is attracting new recruits. 

Today, we explore how Germany's history is informing the fight for the country’s future.

Over the weekend, months of tension in the Texas Legislature came to a head. A group of Democratic lawmakers got up and left the building before a vote — an act of resistance amid the most conservative Texas legislative session in recent memory. 

The population of Texas is becoming less old, less white and less Republican, so why is its Legislature moving further right?

Guest: Manny Fernandez, the Los Angeles bureau chief for The New York Times. He spent more than nine years covering Texas as the Houston bureau chief.

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• The recent session that pushed Texas further to the right, at a time when it seemed least likely to do so — as the state becomes younger, less white and less Republican.
• After Democrats killed a bill to restrict voting in the state, Republicans pledged to pass it in a special legislative session. A new fight looms. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Representing a vanishing brand of Democratic politics that makes his vote anything but predictable, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has become the make-or-break legislator of the Biden era.

We explore how and why Mr. Manchin’s vote has become so powerful.

Guest: Jonathan Martin, a national political correspondent for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• In Washington, policy revolves around Joe Manchin. Read Jonathan Martin’s exploration of why the senator likes it that way. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode includes disturbing language including racial slurs.

In the early 20th century, Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was an epicenter of Black economic influence in the United States. However, in the early hours of June 1, 1921, a white mob — sanctioned by the Tulsa police — swept through the community burning and looting homes and businesses, and killing residents.

A century later, the question before Congress, the courts and the United States as a whole is: What would justice look like?

Guest: Brent Staples, a member of the New York Times editorial board.

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• A century ago, a prosperous Black neighborhood in Tulsa perished at the hands of a white mob. Here is what the massacre destroyed.
• The three known survivors, who were all children in 1921, offered their firsthand accounts of the race massacre at a hearing in Washington last month.
• A centennial commission that raised $30 million for a history exhibit center has said the government should be responsible for repaying survivors and their descendants.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains strong language. 

The mysterious story of a German soldier, a faked Syrian identity and a loaded gun in an airport bathroom cracks the door open to a network of far-right extremists inside the German military and the police. They are preparing for the day democracy collapses — a day they call Day X. But just how dangerous are they?

See all episodes of Day X at 

nytimes.com/dayx

Last week, when the pilots on a commercial flight headed for Lithuania told passengers they were about to make an unexpected landing in the Belarusian capital of Minsk many were confused — except Roman Protasevich.

The 26-year-old dissident journalist and one Belarus’s biggest enemies sensed what was about to happen.

How and why did Belarus force down the plane and arrest Mr. Protasevich? And what comes next? 

Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The forced landing of a commercial flight on Sunday has put Belarus and its authoritarian leader, Aleksandr Lukashenko, in a new global spotlight. Here’s what you need to know.
• Disgusted by the brutality of Mr. Lukashenko, Mr. Protasevich bravely embarked at 16 on a life in opposition.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

After 11 days of fighting over the skies of Israel and Gaza, a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel was announced last week.

The conflict wrought devastation in Gaza. Yet Hamas’s leaders took to television and declared victory.

We look at where the organization comes from and their objectives to understand why it has, for decades, engaged in battles it knows it can’t win.

Guest: Ben Hubbard, the Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• After the cease-fire, in addition to relief, some Gaza residents felt a sense of déjà vu, having survived several recent wars with Israel. After each war, it takes years for Gaza to recover.
• Israel’s military said its airstrikes killed dozens of senior Hamas operatives and destroyed critical military infrastructure. But victory is hard to measure.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When Brandi Levy was 14, she posted an expletive-filled video to Snapchat, expressing her dismay at not making the varsity cheerleading squad. It got her suspended from cheerleading entirely for a year.

Can a public school deal with off-campus speech in this way without infringing the First Amendment? The Supreme Court will decide.

Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• In a lively Supreme Court argument, the justices struggled to determine how the First Amendment applies to public schools’ power to punish students for social media posts and other off-campus speech.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

It had long appeared that the National Rifle Association was impervious to anything or anyone.

Now, an investigation into financial misconduct accusations led by the New York attorney general’s office imperils the very existence of America’s most powerful gun rights group.

We look at how a plan to circumvent this investigation through a bankruptcy filing backfired.

Guest: Danny Hakim, an investigative reporter for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• The N.R.A. filed for bankruptcy this year to beat regulatory action in New York, but a judge rejected the strategy.
• How an internal power struggle, a New York State investigation and accusations of fraud and betrayal on all sides left Mr. LaPierre reeling.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the summer of 1856, workers quarrying limestone in a valley outside Düsseldorf, Germany, found an odd looking skull. It was elongated and almost chinless.

William King, a British geologist, suspected that this was not merely the remains of an atypical human, but belonged to a typical member of an alternate humanity. He named the species Homo neanderthalensis: Neanderthal man.

Guided by racism and phrenology, he deemed the species brutish, with a “moral ‘darkness.’” It was a label that stuck.

Recently, however, after we’d snickered over their skulls for so long, it became clear we had made presumptions. Neanderthals weren’t the slow-witted louts we’d imagined them to be.

This story was written by Jon Mooallem and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

When our friends at This American Life made an episode called ... wait for it! ... “The Daily,” we knew we wanted to share it with you. It’s about life’s daily practices, and what you learn from doing a thing every day. Wait for the end. There’s a little surprise. 

And if you want to hear more episodes of This American Life, you can find the show wherever you listen to podcasts.

This episode contains strong language and scenes of war that some may find distressing. 

In 2010, James Dao, then a military affairs reporter for The New York Times, began following a battalion of U.S. soldiers headed for Afghanistan.

Two soldiers caught his attention: Adrian Bonenberger, a single, 32-year-old captain, and Tamara Sullivan, a 30-year-old sergeant and mother of two.

As President Biden prepares to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this fall, we revisit those interviews and follow up with the two soldiers.

Guest: James Dao, the Metro editor for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• In 2010, over the course of the year, James followed one battalion’s wrenching deployment to Afghanistan. Read the beginning of his reporting here.
• An exploration of how decisions weighed heavily on Adrian Bonenberger, a junior officer.
• In 2011, after a year in combat, there were many unexpected perils of coming home.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

It has been more than a week since the latest escalation between Israel and Hamas, and President Biden has been taking a cautious approach.

The president has stressed Israel’s right to defend itself, but he seems reluctant to place too much pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

Mr. Biden has known Mr. Netanyahu for decades. Is that a help or a hindrance?

Guest: Michael Crowley, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• Mr. Biden has maintained his public support toward Israel even as he adopted a somewhat sharper private tone with Mr. Netanyahu, a calculus shaped by their longtime relationship.
• Among Democrats in Congress, attitudes toward Israel have grown more critical as the party base expresses concern about the human rights of Palestinians.
• Here’s what to know about the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

“You never get used to the sound of bombings,” Rahf Hallaq tells us on today’s episode.

Ms. Hallaq, an English language and literature student, lives in the northwestern area of Gaza City, where she shares a home with her parents and five siblings. She turns 22 next month.

We talk with Ms. Hallaq about her life, her dreams and what the last nine days have been like in Gaza.

Guest: Rahf Hallaq, a 21 year-old English student and resident of Gaza City.

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• In Gaza, an ordinary street, and extraordinary horror, as missiles thunder in.
• As fighting enters its second week, it is being defined by civilian casualties, undiminished rocket fire and airstrikes, and by historical tensions erupting into unrest. Here’s what to know about the conflict. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Why is the economic recovery from the pandemic so uneven? Why are companies finding it hard to hire? And why are the prices of used cars surging?

Recent economic reports have commentators scratching their heads. We dig into the theories behind this strange moment for the American economy. 

Guest: Ben Casselman, an economics and business reporter for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• April’s anemic job creation was so out of line with what other indicators have suggested that it will take some time to unravel the mystery.
• The weak jobs report could help the Federal Reserve justify its patient approach to its policies. Officials have said that they want to see real, not just forecast, progress toward full employment and stable inflation.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the months since a pro-Trump mob breached the walls of the Capitol building, some 420 people have been arrested and charged in connection with the attack. And that number is expected to rise.

As federal prosecutors prepare for a unique challenge, we look at the twists and turns of bringing those who were in the building to justice.

Guest: Alan Feuer, a reporter covering courts and criminal justice for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Prosecutors are negotiating plea agreements as they confront a sprawling investigation with hundreds of defendants.
• Defense lawyers have complained that some charges do not apply to what unfolded on Jan. 6. Here’s how those accused have challenged the accusations against them.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In this episode of The Sunday Read, we revisit a story from our archives.

Sam Anderson, a staff writer, claims Weird Al Yankovic is not just a parody singer — he’s “a full-on rock star, a legitimate performance monster and a spiritual technician doing important work down in the engine room of the American soul.” In these absurd times, Sam reaches into his childhood to explain the enduring appeal of an absurd artist.

This story was written by Sam Anderson and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains strong language.

What started out as a kind of inside joke in the world of cryptocurrency has quickly become, for some, a very serious path to wealth. Today we explore the latest frenzy around a digital currency, what it tells us about the flaws in the old economy — and the risks and rewards of the new one.

Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times, spoke with Glauber Contessoto about his investment in Dogecoin.

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Background reading: 

• Dogecoin has experienced a scarcely believable surge in the past few weeks. And the currency’s value has been closely tied to the Twitter presence, and even the “Saturday Night Live” appearance, of Elon Musk.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the past few days, the deadliest violence in years has erupted between Israel and the Palestinians. Hundreds of missiles are streaking back and forth between Gaza and cities across Israel, and there have been shocking scenes of mob violence on the streets.

Why is this happening and how much worse could it get?

Guest: Isabel Kershner, a correspondent for The New York Times based in Jerusalem. 

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Background reading: 

• Rioting and mob violence between Arabs and Jews has torn through towns and cities across Israel, while rockets from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes have continued to kill civilians.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Today, Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, is expected to be removed from her leadership position.

She has found herself on a lonely political island by continuing to speak out against former President Donald Trump.

We look at the factors behind her ouster and the new requirements for Republican leadership. 

Guest: Catie Edmondson, a reporter in The New York Times’s Washington bureau. 

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Background reading: 

• In turning on Ms. Cheney,Republicans have bowed to Mr. Trump’s election lies.
• The Wyoming congresswoman challenged Republicans to turn away from Trump after Jan. 6. Instead, they turned on her.
• “History is watching.” Here are five key arguments from Ms. Cheney’s Washington Post opinion essay this month.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Recently, Apple released a seemingly innocuous software update: a new privacy feature that would explicitly ask iPhone users whether an app should be allowed to track them across other apps and sites. 

For Facebook, however, this feature is anything but innocuous — it strikes at the heart of the company’s business model.

The dispute represents a further deterioration in the frosty relations between the two companies. What’s at the heart of this conflict, and why have the stakes become so high for both sides? 

Guest: Mike Isaac, a technology correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The chief executives of Facebook and Apple have opposing visions for the future of the internet. Their differences have recently escalated.
• With Apple’s latest mobile software update, we can decide whether apps monitor and share our activities with others. Here’s what to know.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Vaccine hesitancy is a major reason that many experts now fear the United States will struggle to attain herd immunity against the coronavirus.

And while many initially hesitant demographics have become more open to vaccinations, one group is shifting much less: white Republican evangelical Christians, who tend to live in rural communities.

Here’s what that looks like in Greeneville, Tenn.

Guest: Jan Hoffman, a reporter covering behavioral health and health law for The New York Times.  

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Background reading: 

• Reluctance to get vaccinated is widespread in white, Republican communities like this one in Appalachia. But it’s far more complicated than just a partisan divide. Read Jan’s reporting here. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In this episode of The Sunday Read, we revisit a story from our archives.

When the university told one woman about the sexual-harassment complaints against her wife, they knew they weren’t true. But they had no idea how strange the truth really was.

This story was written by Sarah Viren and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

From the earliest days of the pandemic, herd immunity has consistently factored into conversations about how countries can find their way out of lockdowns and restrictions.

Now, many experts believe that the United States may never reach the requisite level of immunity.

We explore why, and what it might look like to live in a country where there is no herd immunity against the coronavirus.

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The emergence of widely circulating coronavirus variants and persistent hesitancy about vaccines will keep the goal out of reach. The virus appears to be here to stay, but vaccinating the most vulnerable may be enough to restore normalcy.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Was Facebook right to indefinitely bar former President Donald J. Trump from the platform after the Capitol riot?

The company’s oversight board, which rules on some of the thorniest speech decisions on the platform, decided that, while the ban was justified at the time, the parameters of the suspension needed to be defined.

What does the ruling tell us about Facebook’s “Supreme Court.”

Guest: Cecilia Kang, a reporter covering technology and regulatory policy for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Facebook’s company-appointed panel ruled that Facebook should reassess the barring of Mr. Trump and make a final decision in six months.
• Lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have criticized the board’s decision.
• Here are some central facts to know about the oversight board.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Japan is the “grayest” nation in the world. Close to 30 percent of the population is over 65. The reason is its low birthrate, which has caused the population to contract since 2007.

With the birthrate in the United States also dropping, what are the implications of a shrinking population, and what lessons can be learned from Japan?

Guest: Motoko Rich, the Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times.  

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Background reading: 

• The contracting population in Japan poses a serious threat to the country’s economic vitality and the security of its social safety net.
• As Japan’s population shrinks and ages, rural areas are emptying out. In one childless village, two dozen adults compensate for the absence with the company of hundreds of giant handmade dolls.
• The birthrate in the United States declined for the sixth straight year in 2020 and has fallen by about 19 percent since its recent peak in 2007.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The latest census revealed that the United States had seen the second-slowest decade of population growth since 1790, when the count began.

The country may be entering an era of substantially lower population growth, demographers said.

How could this redefine the nation’s future?

Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent covering demographics for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The numbers, the product of the most embattled census process in decades, underlined the long-running trend of population gains in the South and West.
• Here is a roundup of what you need to know about the census results.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Inside the world of complaint sites and what can be done about the “the bathroom wall of the internet.”

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Background: 

• Listen to part one here. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For years, Dan-el Padilla Peralta, a Dominican-born teacher of classics at Princeton, has spoken openly about the harm caused by the discipline’s practitioners in the two millenniums since antiquity — the classical justifications of slavery, race science, colonialism, Nazism and other 20th-century fascisms.

He believes that classics is so entangled with white supremacy as to be inseparable from it.

Today on The Sunday Read, how Dr. Padilla is trying to change the way the subject is taught.

This story was written by Rachel Poser and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

For at least a decade, allegations of cheating have swirled around elections in rural Bladen County, N.C. Some people point fingers at a Black advocacy group, the Bladen County Improvement Association, accusing it of bullying voters, tampering with ballots and stealing votes outright. These allegations have never been substantiated, but they persist. The reporter Zoe Chace went to Bladen County to investigate what’s really going on. From the makers of Serial and The New York Times, this five-part audio series about allegations of election fraud -- and the powerful forces that fuel them -- is out now. Binge the whole series, and find out more here: https://nytimes.com/improvementassociation

This episode contains references to mental health challenges, including eating disorders.

Joanna Lopez, the high school senior we met in our first episode of Odessa, has turned inward: staying in her bedroom, ghosting friends and avoiding band practice. But playing with the marching band at the last football game of her high-school career offers a moment of hope that maybe, one day, things will get better.

In the finale of our four-part series, we listen as the public health crisis becomes a mental health crisis in Odessa.

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Biden set out an expansive vision for the role of American government. He spent much of the address detailing his proposals for investing in the nation’s economic future — spending that would total $4 trillion. 

We analyze the president’s address and his plans for remaking the American economy. 

Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• President Biden laid out an ambitious agenda on Wednesday night to rewrite the American social contract. Invoking the legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mr. Biden unveiled a $1.8 trillion social spending plan to accompany previous proposals.
• Read highlights from the president’s first address to Congress here. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

At the beginning of this year, many people in India thought the worst of the pandemic was finished there. But in the last few weeks, any sense of ease has given way to widespread fear. 

The country is suffering from the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, with people being turned away from full hospitals and a scarcity of medical oxygen.  

How did India, after successfully containing the virus last year, get to this point?

Guest: Jeffrey Gettleman, the South Asia bureau chief for The New York Times, based in New Delhi. 

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Background reading: 

• In a dispatch from New Delhi, Jeffrey describes the fear of living amid a disease spreading at such scale and speed.
• Fatalities have been overlooked or downplayed, understating the human toll of the country’s outbreak, which accounts for nearly half of all new cases in a global surge.
• The new wave of the virus in India will hurt global efforts and vaccine supplies, experts say. And researchers are scrambling to assess whether new coronavirus variants are playing a role. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

During a global climate summit, President Biden signaled America’s commitment to fighting climate change with an ambitious target: The U.S. will cut its economywide carbon emissions by 50 percent of 2005 levels by 2030.  

What became clear is that the rest of the world has become cautious about following the United States’ lead after years of commitments shifting from one administration to the next. 

What happened at the summit and how can the U.S. regain its credibility in the struggle against climate change?

Guest: Coral Davenport, who covers energy and environmental policy for The New York Times, with a focus on climate change.

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Background reading: 

• At the virtual summit meeting he convened, Mr. Biden cast the fight against global warming as an economic opportunity for the world and committed the U.S. to cutting its carbon emissions by half. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In recent years, Russia has tried to reassert its global influence in many ways, from military action in Ukraine to meddling in U.S. elections.

So when Russia developed a coronavirus vaccine, it prioritized exporting it to dozens of other countries — at the expense of its own people.

Today, we look at how Russia has put vaccine diplomacy to work. 

Guest: Andrew E. Kramer, a reporter based in the Moscow bureau of The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The Kremlin has scored propaganda points and bolstered several longstanding foreign policy goals by offering its Sputnik V vaccine around the world. But production capacity is limited.
• A microstate surrounded by Italy, San Marino feared being left behind in Europe’s inoculation campaign. Now it has jumped ahead, with the Sputnik vaccine.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In summer 2003, Shahawar Matin Siraj, then 21, met Osama Eldawoody, a nuclear engineer twice his age. To Mr. Siraj’s delight they struck up an unlikely friendship — never before had someone this sophisticated taken him so seriously.

At the older man’s encouragement, Mr. Siraj became entangled in a plot to place a bomb in Herald Square subway station. He would later want out of the plan, but it was too late: Mr. Eldawoody, it turned out, was one of thousands of informants recruited by the police and the F.B.I. after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Today on The Sunday Read, did the U.S. government’s network of informants create plots where none existed?

This story was written by Rozina Ali and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains strong language. 

On Sunday, 12 elite soccer teams in Europe announced the formation of a super league. The plan was backed by vast amounts of money, but it flew in the face of an idea central to soccer’s identity: You have to earn your place.

Fans reacted with blind fury and protest. Players and managers spoke out. Figures like Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and Prince William expressed disapproval. Within 48 hours, the idea was dead.

Amid the rubble, a question was left: What does the future hold for the world’s biggest sport?

Guest: Rory Smith, chief soccer correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Frantic phone calls, clandestine meetings and high-stakes threats: The inside story of how a billion-dollar European super league was born, scorned and swept away in less than a week.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Last spring, Brandon Hole’s mother alerted the police in Indiana about her son’s worrying behavior. Invoking the state’s “red flag” law, officers seized his firearm.

But Mr. Hole was able to legally purchase other weapons, and last week, he opened fire on a FedEx facility, killing eight people and then himself.

Why did the law fail?

Guest: Campbell Robertson, a national correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Red flag laws are supposed to keep guns away from people who should not have them. That did not happen with Mr. Hole.
• Citing shortcomings of the state’s red flag law, the senior county prosecutor in Indianapolis explained why he did not seek a ruling last year that would have barred Mr. Hole from possessing guns.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

On Tuesday, after three weeks of jury selection, another three weeks of testimony and 10 hours of deliberations, Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty of murder in the death of George Floyd.

The jurors found Mr. Chauvin guilty of all three charges: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Sentencing will take place several weeks from now. Second-degree murder could mean as long as 40 years in prison.

We look back on key moments from the trial and discuss the reactions to the guilty verdict.

Guest: John Eligon, a national correspondent covering race for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The verdict against Mr. Chauvin brought a rare rebuke of police conduct.
• After the decision, there was a scene of collective relief and satisfaction in Minneapolis.
• Here are 13 key moments that shaped the trial.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Just four months into 2021 and there have already been more than 80 bills, introduced in mostly Republican-controlled legislatures, that aim to restrict transgender rights, mostly in sports and medical care.

But what’s the thinking behind the laws, and why are there so many?

We look into the motivation behind the bills and analyze the impact they could have.

Guest: Dan Levin, who covers American youth for The New York Times’s National Desk.

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Background reading: 

• Lawmakers in a growing number of Republican-led states are advancing and passing bills to bar transgender athletes in girls’ sports, a culture clash that seems to have come out of nowhere.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When a nuclear fuel enrichment site in Iran blew up this month, Tehran immediately said two things: The explosion was no accident, and the blame lay with Israel.

Such an independent action by Israel would be a major departure from a decade ago, when the country worked in tandem with the United States to set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

We look at what the blast says about relations between the United States, Iran and Israel.

Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.  

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Background reading: 

• After the blackout at the nuclear plant in Iran, Tehran threatened reprisals, while Washington denied any involvement in the apparent attack.
• Iran vowed to increase uranium enrichment in response to the explosion.
• Another round of talks in Vienna about reviving the 2015 nuclear accord has been positive, despite the feuding over the nuclear plant.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Skagit Valley choir last sang together on the evening of March 10, 2020. This rehearsal, it would turn out, was one of the first documented superspreader events of the pandemic. Of the 61 choristers who attended practice that night, 53 developed coronavirus symptoms. Two later died.

The event served as an example to other choirs of the dangers of coming together in the pandemic. It also provided crucial evidence for scientists seeking to understand how the coronavirus was being transmitted.

Today, a look at the Skagit Valley case and the choir’s road to singing together once again.

This story was written and narrated by Kim Tingley. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

This episode contains strong language and emotional descriptions about the challenges of parenting during the pandemic, so if your young child is with you, you might want to listen later.

Several months ago, The Times opened up a phone line to ask Americans what it’s really been like to raise children during the pandemic.

Liz Halfhill, a single mother to 11-year-old Max, detailed her unvarnished highs and lows over the past year.

Guest: Liz Halfhill, a single mother and full-time paralegal, in Spokane, Wash.

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Background reading: 

• The Times followed Liz and two other mothers in different parts of America who shared their experience of pandemic parenting over dozens of interviews. What emerged was a story of chaos and resilience, resentment and persistence, and of course, hope.
• Take a look at “The Primal Scream,” a series from The Times that examines the pandemic’s effect on working mothers in America.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Federal health agencies on Tuesday called for a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus shot as they examine a rare blood-clotting disorder that emerged in six recipients.

Every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico halted their rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine almost immediately. The same went for the U.S. military, federally run vaccination sites, and CVS, Walgreens, and other stores.

Today, science writer Carl Zimmer explains the decision-making process, how long the suspension might last and the impact it could have not only in the U.S. but around the world.

Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science writer and author of the “Matter” column for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Injections of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine came to a sudden halt across the United States on Tuesday after federal health agencies called for a pause in the vaccine’s use.
• The pause could continue for a week to 10 days, after expert advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined on Wednesday that they needed more time to assess a possible link to a rare but serious blood-clotting disorder.
• What does the pause mean for people who have recently received the Johnson & Johnson shot and how common are blood clots? Here’s what you need to know.
• Safety worries about the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have jeopardized inoculation campaigns far beyond the United States. The actions of American and European officials have stoked doubts in poorer countries, where a history of colonialism and unethical medical practices have left a legacy of mistrust in vaccines.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In a ruling a few days ago, the Supreme Court lifted coronavirus restrictions imposed by California on religious services held in private homes. The decision gave religious Americans another win against government rules that they say infringe on their freedom to worship.

With the latest victory, the question has become whether the Supreme Court’s majority is protecting the rights of the faithful or giving them favorable treatment.

Guest: Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times.

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Background reading: 

• Late Friday night, the Supreme Court lifted California’s restrictions on religious gatherings in private homes. The order followed earlier ones striking down limits on attendance at houses of worship.
• A study that considered data from the past 70 years found that the Supreme Court had become far more likely to rule in favor of religious rights in recent years.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

It started with a picture posted on the internet, and ended in an extravagant cryptocurrency bidding war. NFTs, or “nonfungible tokens,” have recently taken the art world by storm. Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent for The Times, speaks with the Times columnist Kevin Roose about digital currency’s newest frontier, his unexpected role in it and why it matters.

Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The Times who examines the intersection of technology, business, and culture.

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Background reading: 

• NFT mania has reached new highs in recent months, with a digital artwork by an artist known as Beeple selling for $69.3 million. A trading card featuring the quarterback Tom Brady sold for $1.3 million and an NFT of the first tweet from Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter, went for $2.9 million.
• What are these nonfungible tokens and why do people pay so much for them? Here’s a primer.
• A picture of Kevin Roose’s column “Buy This Column on the Blockchain!” was put up for auction and sold for about $725,000. He also wrote about the surreal experience of selling the NFT and spoke to a few people who placed bids.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Europe’s vaccination process was expected to be well-orchestrated and efficient. So far, it’s been neither. Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent for The Times, spoke with our colleague Matina Stevis-Gridneff about Europe’s problems and why things could get worse before they get better.

Guest: Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Brussels correspondent for The New York Times, covering the European Union.

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Background reading: 

• A cascade of small decisions has led to increasingly long delays in the European Union’s inoculation efforts. While Washington went into business with the drug companies, Brussels took a conservative, budget-conscious approach that left the open market largely untouched. And it has paid for it.
• Falling behind the pace of vaccine rollouts in countries like Britain, the United States and Israel, Europe is now tightening export rules in a bid to speed up its inoculation campaign and stem political criticism.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The author Philip Roth, who died in 2018, was not sure whether he wanted to be the subject of a biography. In the end, he decided that he wanted to be known and understood.

His search for a biographer was long and fraught — Mr. Roth parted ways with two, courted one and sued another — before he settled on Blake Bailey, one of the great chroniclers of America’s literary lives.

Today on The Sunday Read, the journey of rendering a writer whose life was equal parts discipline and exuberance.

This story was written by Mark Oppenheimer and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Odessa is a four-part series. All episodes of the show released so far are available here. 
Last fall, as Odessa High School brought some students back to campus with hybrid instruction, school officials insisted mask wearing, social distancing and campus contact tracing would keep students and faculty safe. And at the beginning of the semester, things seemed to be going OK. But then a spike in coronavirus cases hit town, putting the school’s safety plan to the test. 

In part three of our four-part series, we follow what happened when a student quarantine stretched the school’s nurses to capacity, fractured friendships and forced some marching band members to miss a critical rite of passage: the last football game of their high school career.

In Minneapolis, the tension is palpable as the city awaits the outcome of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer accused of murdering George Floyd last summer.

The court proceedings have been both emotional — the video of Mr. Floyd’s death has been played over and over — and technical.

At the heart of the case: How did Mr. Floyd die?

Today, we look at the case that has been brought against Mr. Chauvin so far. 

Guest: John Eligon, a national correspondent covering race for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• Bystanders’ pain had been mostly hidden for the last 10 months. But over the first week of Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, it spilled tearfully into the open as witnesses testified to their shared trauma.
• Follow along live here for the latest updates on the trial of Mr. Chauvin.
• What to know about the death of George Floyd.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The I.R.S. says that Bristol Myers Squibb, America’s second-largest drug company, has engaged a tax-shelter setup that has deprived the United States of $1.4 billion in tax revenue.

The Biden administration is looking to put an end to such practices to pay for its policy ambitions, including infrastructure like improving roads and bridges and revitalizing cities.

We look at the structure of these tax arrangements and explore how, and whether, it’s possible to clamp down on them. 

Guest: Jesse Drucker, an investigative reporter on the Business desk for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• The I.R.S. says that Bristol Myers Squibb used an “abusive” offshore setup to avoid $1.4 billion in federal taxes.
• In a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made the case for a global minimum corporate tax rate, kicking off the Biden administration’s effort to help raise revenue in the United States. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

How one woman with a grudge was able to slander an entire family online, while the sites she used avoided blame.

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Two months ago, Myanmar’s military carried out a coup, deposing the country’s elected civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and closing the curtains on a five-year experiment with democracy. 

Since then, the Burmese people have expressed their discontent through protest and mass civil disobedience. The military has responded with brutal violence. 

We look at the crackdown and how Myanmar’s unique military culture encourages officers to see civilians as the enemy. 

Guest: Hannah Beech, the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Four officers speak about life in the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s feared army, which has turned its guns on civilians again. “The Tatmadaw is the only world” for most soldiers, one said.
• Myanmar’s security forces have killed more than 40 children since February. Here is the story of one, Aye Myat Thu. She was 10.
• As the nation’s military kills, assaults and terrorizes unarmed civilians each day, some protesters say there is no choice but to fight the army on its own terms.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

During the pandemic, cheerleader-ish girls performing slithery hip-hop dances to rap music on TikTok has been the height of entertainment — enjoyed both genuinely and for laughs.

Addison Rae, one such TikToker, is the second-most-popular human being on the platform, having amassed a following larger than the population of the United Kingdom.

In seeking to monetize this popularity, she has followed a path forged by many social media stars and A-list celebrities like Rihanna and Kylie Jenner: She has started her own beauty brand.

On today’s Sunday Read, a look at how beauty has entered a phase of total pop-culture domination and how influencers are changing the way the sell works by mining the intimate relationships they have with their fans.

This story was written by Vanessa Grigoriadis and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

President Biden is pushing the boundaries of how most Americans think of infrastructure.

In a speech on Wednesday, he laid out his vision for revitalizing the nation’s infrastructure in broad, sweeping terms: evoking racial equality, climate change and support for the middle class.

His multitrillion-dollar plan aims not only to repair roads and bridges, but also to bolster the nation’s competitiveness in things like 5G, semiconductors and human infrastructure.

Today, we take a detailed look at what his plans entail and the congressional path he will have to navigate to get it passed.

Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• President Biden began selling his infrastructure proposal on Wednesday, saying that it will fix 20,000 miles of roads and 10,000 bridges while also addressing climate change and racial inequities and raising corporate taxes.
• Here is how his $2 trillion in proposed spending on infrastructure breaks down.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Since its earliest days, Amazon has been anti-union, successfully quashing any attempt by workers to organize.

A group of workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., just might change that — depending on the outcome of a vote this week.

We look at how their effort came together and what it means for the nature of work in savvy, growing companies like Amazon.

Guest: Michael Corkery, a business reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The outcome of a vote at a warehouse in Alabama could have far-ranging implications for both Amazon and the labor movement.
• Here’s what will happen after this week’s union vote. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Republican-led legislatures are racing to restrict voting rights, in a broad political effort that first began in the state of Georgia. To many Democrats, it’s no coincidence that Georgia — once a Republican stronghold — has just elected its first Black senator: Raphael Warnock. Today, we speak to the senator about his path from pastorship to politics, the fight over voting rights and his faith that the old political order is fading away.

Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Georgia Republicans passed a sweeping law to restrict voting access in the state, making it the first major battleground to overhaul its election system since the turmoil of the 2020 presidential contest.
• Last year, Mr. Warnock ran for office in a state where people in predominantly Black neighborhoods waited in disproportionately long lines. Several Black leaders have said Georgia’s new law clearly puts a target on Black and brown voters.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Georgia, a once reliably red state, has been turning more and more purple in recent years. In response, the Republican state legislature has passed a package of laws aimed at restricting voting.

Today, we look at those measures and how Democrats are bracing for similar laws to be passed elsewhere in the country. 

Guest: Nick Corasaniti, a domestic correspondent covering national politics for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Georgia Republicans have moved early in a campaign to rewrite voting rules. Republicans in other states are determined to follow them.
• The country’s most hotly contested state has calmed down after months of drama, court fights and national attention. But new storms are on the horizon.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

On the docket on Monday at a Minneapolis courthouse is the biggest police brutality case in the United States in three decades: the trial of Derek Chauvin, a white former police officer accused of killing George Floyd, a Black man, last year.

The case centers on a 10-minute video, shot by a bystander, showing Mr. Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck. That video reverberated around the world.

We look at the contours of the trial and what we know about it so far.

Guest: Shaila Dewan, a national reporter covering criminal justice for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Read an exploration of the life and death of George Perry Floyd Jr., from “I want to touch the world” to “I can’t breathe.”
• Mr. Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, faces charges of manslaughter, second-degree murder and third-degree murder in the death of George Floyd. Here’s what you need to know about the trial.
• In more than 19 years on the Minneapolis police force, Mr. Chauvin had a reputation as a rigid workaholic with few friends. He sometimes made other officers uncomfortable.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

It was in the winter of 2016 that Jan Six, a Dutch art dealer based in Amsterdam, made a discovery that would upend his life. He was leafing through a Christie’s catalog when he spotted a painting featuring a young man wearing a dazed look, a lace collar and a proto-Led Zeppelin coif. Christie’s had labeled it a painting by one of Rembrandt’s followers, but Mr. Six knew it was by the Dutch master himself.

Today on The Sunday Read, a look at Mr. Six’s discovery of the first new Rembrandt painting in over four decades, and the fallout from finding it.

This story was written by Russell Shorto and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

The Good Shepherd Nursing Home in West Virginia lifted its coronavirus lockdown in February.

For months, residents had been confined to their rooms, unable to mix. But with everybody now vaccinated, it was finally time to see one another again.

We share some of the relief and joy about the tip-toe back to normalcy for staff members and residents.

Guest: Sarah Mervosh, a national reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• The Good Shepherd Nursing Home, where vaccinations have finished, offers a glimpse at what the other side of the pandemic might look like.
• Nursing homes, once hot spots of the coronavirus, are far outpacing the rest of the United States in Covid declines.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The United States has never undertaken a vaccination campaign of the scale and speed of the Covid-19 program. Despite a few glitches, the country appears to be on track to offer shots to all adults who want one by May 1.

We look at the ups and downs in the American vaccination campaign and describe what life after inoculation might look like.

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• It’s not clear how easily vaccinated people may spread the virus, but the answer to that question is coming soon. Until then, scientists urge caution.
• Many scientists are expecting another rise in infections. But this time, vaccinations should help to counter the surge. By summer, Americans may be looking at a return to normal life.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In less than a week, the United States has seen two deadly mass shootings: one in Boulder, Colo., and another in the Atlanta area.

These events prompted President Biden to address the nation on Tuesday. In his speech, he said it was time to ban assault weapons.

Mr. Biden has been here before. He has tried several times in his political career to bring in gun-control legislation, all to little avail.

How likely is this latest attempt to succeed, and what lessons can Mr. Biden take from his decades-long effort?

Guest: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• A deadly shooting at a Boulder supermarket left 10 people dead and a state full of grief and anger.
• After the second mass shooting in a week, President Biden has said tighter gun laws should not be a partisan issue, but Republicans in Congress have shown little interest in Democratic proposals.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For Tejal Rao, a restaurant critic for The Times, a sense of smell is crucial to what she does. After she contracted the coronavirus, it disappeared. It felt almost instant.

“If you’re not used to it, you don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “It’s almost like wearing a blindfold.”

We follow Tejal on her journey with home remedies and therapies to reclaim her sense. 

Guest: Tejal Rao, a California restaurant critic and columnist for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Regaining a sense of smell is tedious and slow, but Tejal is using the only therapy proven to work.
• Listen to our Sunday Read about how the coronavirus could precipitate a global understanding of the sense of smell, which has long been disregarded as the least important sense.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains strong language.

Ivan Agerton of Bainbridge Island, Wash., was usually unflappable. A 50-year-old adventure photographer and former marine, he has always been known to be calm in a crisis.

Soon after testing positive for the coronavirus this fall, he began experiencing psychosis. He spent Christmas in a psychiatric ward.

Today, we hear from Ivan and look at the potential long-term neurological effects of the Covid-19

Guest: Pam Belluck, a health and science reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• A small number of coronavirus patients have reported severe psychotic symptoms. Most had no history of mental illness.
• Some people experiencing long-term Covid-19 symptoms are feeling better after getting the vaccine, but it is too soon to tell whether the shots have a broad beneficial effect on patients with continuing issues.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The bright elastic throats of anole lizards, the Fabergé abdomens of peacock spiders and the curling, iridescent and ludicrously long feathers of birds-of-paradise. A number of animal species possess beautifully conspicuous and physically burdensome features.

Many biologists have long fit these tasking aesthetic displays into a more utilitarian view of evolution. However, a new generation of biologists have revived a long-ignored theory — that aesthetics and survival do not necessarily need to be linked and that animals can appreciate beauty for its own sake.

Today on The Sunday Read, a look at how these biologists are rewriting the standard explanation of how beauty evolves and the way we think about evolution itself. 

This story was written by Ferris Jabr and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Introducing the new season of “Still Processing.” The first episode is the one that the co-hosts Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris have been wanting to make for years. They’re talking about the N-word. It’s both unspeakable and ubiquitous. A weapon of hate and a badge of belonging. After centuries of evolution, it’s everywhere — art, politics, everyday banter — and it can’t be ignored. So they’re grappling with their complicated feelings about this word. Find more episodes of “Still Processing” here: nytimes.com/stillprocessing

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is known as a hard-charging, ruthless political operator.

But his power has always come from two sources: legislators’ fear of crossing him and his popularity among the electorate.

After recent scandals over bullying allegations, his administration’s handling of nursing home deaths and accusations of sexual harassment, the fear is gone.

But does he still have the support of voters?

Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• As he tries to plot a political survival strategy, Andrew Cuomo is an object lesson on the dangers of kicking people on the way up.
• Nearly all of the Democrats in New York’s congressional delegation, including Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, have said that Mr. Cuomo has lost the ability to govern. But the governor has said that he will not bow to “cancel culture.”

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The pandemic has precipitated a rise in anti-Asian violence in the U.S. However, the full extent of this violence may be obscured by the difficulty in classifying attacks against Asian-Americans as hate crimes. 

A recent shooting at three spas in the Atlanta area, in which the eight victims included six women of Asian descent, has heightened anxiety in the Asian-American community. Many see this as a further burst of racist violence, even as the shooter has offered a more complicated motive. 

Today, a look at why it’s proving so difficult to reckon with growing violence against Asian-Americans and whether the U.S. legal system has caught up to the reality of this moment. 

Guest: Nicole Hong, a reporter covering New York law enforcement, courts and criminal justice for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The suspect in the Atlanta spa attacks has been charged with eight counts of murder. Six of the people killed were women of Asian descent, setting off a new wave of outrage and fear.
• The killing of eight people in Atlanta and suburban Cherokee County has come amid a rising tide of anti-Asian incidents nationwide.
• Hate crimes involving Asian-American victims soared in New York City last year.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The passage of the stimulus package last week ushered in an expansion of the social safety net that Democrats have celebrated. But one key policy was not included: a doubling of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.  

Today, we look at the history of that demand, and the shifting political and economic arguments for and against it. 

Guest: Ben Casselman, an economics and business reporter for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Earlier this month, a group of senators from both sides of the aisle declined to advance a federal minimum wage increase to $15 an hour.
• The politics of a higher minimum wage are increasingly muddled, but some Republicans are gravitating toward the idea, citing the economic needs of working-class Americans.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Wyoming has powered the nation with coal for generations. Many in the state consider the industry part of their identity.

It is in this state, and against this cultural backdrop, that one of America’s largest wind farms will be built.

Today, we look at how and why one local politician in Carbon County, Wyo. — a conservative who says he’s “not a true believer” in climate change — brought wind power to his community.

Guest: Dionne Searcey, a domestic correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The tiny town of Rawlins, Wyo., will soon be home to one of the nation’s largest wind farms. But pride in the fossil fuel past remains a powerful force. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Just a few months ago, Israel was in dire shape when it came to the coronavirus. It had among the highest daily infection and death rates in the world. 

Now, Israel has outpaced much of the world in vaccinating its population and hospitalizations have fallen dramatically. 

Today, how it is managing the return to normality and the moral and ethical questions that its decisions have raised. 

Guest: Isabel Kershner, a correspondent in Jerusalem for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Israel’s “Green Pass” creates a two-tier system for the vaccinated and unvaccinated, raising legal, moral and ethical questions.
• The pandemic lockdowns brought tensions between Israel’s secular and ultra-Orthodox communities to the boiling point. The political consequences could be felt for years.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Long before it became an archaic and filthy symbol of everything wrong with America’s broken cities, the New York subway was a marvel.

In recent years, it has been falling apart.

Today on The Sunday Read, a look at why failing to fix it would be a collective and historic act of self-destruction. 

This story was written by Jonathan Mahler and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Odessa is a four-part series. All episodes of the show released so far are available here. 
In 1988, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas, was so good that it became the inspiration for a book, movie and, eventually, the television series “Friday Night Lights.” And in the decades since, as West Texas has weathered the unsettling undulations of the oil industry, football has remained steady. 

So after the pandemic hit, the town did what it could to make sure the season wasn’t disrupted. And at Odessa High School, where the football team struggles to compete against local rivals, the members of their award winning marching band were relieved they could keep playing. In Part 2 of Odessa, we follow what happened when the season opened — and how the school weighed the decision to start against the possible risks to students’ physical and mental health.

New episodes of Odessa will be released as they become available in this feed. For more information visit nytimes.com/odessa.

This episode contains references to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.

In 1995, Diana, Princess of Wales, made a decision that was unprecedented for a member of the British royal family: She sat down with the BBC to speak openly about the details of her life.

On Sunday, her younger son, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan, told Oprah Winfrey of their own travails within the family.

Today, we look at the similarities between these two interviews.

Guest: Sarah Lyall, a writer at large for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• A quarter-century after Diana broke her silence about life among the British royals, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, did the same. Their stories were remarkably similar.
• The Sussexes have accused the royal family of failing to protect them, both emotionally and financially. Here’s what we learned from Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When Officer Harry Dunn reporter for work at the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6, he expected a day of relatively normal protests. But the situation soon turned dangerous.

Today, we talk with Officer Dunn about his experience fending off rioters during the storming of the Capitol.

Guest: Officer Harry Dunn, a Capitol Police officer who was on duty during the storming of the Capitol. 

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Background reading: 

• “Black officers fought a different battle” on Jan. 6, Officer Harry Dunn said. Here is what he saw and heard when rioters, including white supremacists, stormed the Capitol.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Even as recently as a year ago, even the most cleareyed analysts thought it was a long shot. But this week, a child tax credit is expected to be passed into law, as part of the economic stimulus bill.

The child tax credit is an income guarantee for American families with children. It will provide a monthly check of up to $300 per child — no matter how many children.

We look at why this provision is so revolutionary and what has changed in the policy landscape to allow its passage.  

Guest: Jason DeParle, a senior writer for The New York Times and frequent contributor to The Times Magazine. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• The $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package moving through Congress advances an idea that Democrats have been nurturing for decades: establishing a guaranteed income for families with children.
• What’s in the stimulus bill? Here is a guide to where the money will be going. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The number of unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border is growing — and, with it, anxiety in the Biden administration.

Newer concerns have mixed with longstanding ones to create a situation at the border that could become untenable.

Today, in the second part of our series on what we’re learning about the Biden administration, we look at the president’s response to the growing number of minors at the border.

Guest: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a homeland security correspondent based in Washington for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• In recent months, hundreds of migrant families have been released into the United States by Border Patrol agents. Thousands more are hoping for a chance to enter under looser policies.
• President Biden is trying to untangle an interlocking web of Trump-era border restrictions, leading for now to disparate treatment of migrants and rampant confusion.
• The Biden administration has said it will shorten the detention of migrant families. Researchers say children can show symptoms of trauma after spending long periods in custody.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Thousands die in New York every year. Some of them alone. The city might weep when the celebrated die, or the innocent are slain, but for those who pass in an unwatched struggle, there is no one to mourn for them and their names, simply added to a death table.

In 2014, George Bell, 72, was among those names. He died alone in his apartment in north central Queens.

On today’s Sunday Read, what happens when someone dies, and no one is there to arrange their funeral? And who exactly was George Bell?

This story was written by N.R. Kleinfield and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Joe Biden has had harsh words for the Saudis and the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

It appeared that the period of appeasement toward the Saudis in the Trump administration was over. But the Biden administration’s inaction over a report that implicated the crown prince in the 2018 killing of the dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi has disappointed many of his allies.

Today, the first of a two-part look at what we’re learning about the Biden administration. First, a look at its approach to Saudi Arabia. 

Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The Times. 

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Background reading: 

• For President Biden, deliberation and caution has thus far been his approach on the world stage.
• The president has decided not to penalize the Saudi crown prince over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, fearing a breach in relations. This decision will disappoint many in the human rights community and in his own party. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

It’s been almost a year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

And the virus is persisting: A downward trend in the U.S. caseload has stalled, and concern about the impact of variants is growing. Yet inoculations are on the rise, and the F.D.A. has approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, the third to be approved in the U.S.

Today, we check in on the latest about the coronavirus.

Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science writer and author of the “Matter” column for The New York Times. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• After the Johnson & Johnson vaccine approval, President Biden vowed that there would be enough vaccine doses for “every adult in America” by the end of May.
• For more information about the emerging mutations, check out The Times’s variant tracker. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the Microsoft founder Bill Gates was the most powerful and provocative private individual operating within global public health.

Today, we look at the role he has played in public health and his latest mission: procuring Covid-19 vaccines for countries in the developing world.

Guest: Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter for The New York Times; and Nicholas Kulish, an enterprise correspondent covering philanthropy, wealth and nonprofits for The Times.

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Background reading: 

• Bill Gates is working with the World Health Organization, drugmakers and nonprofits to tackle the coronavirus, including in the world’s poorest nations. Can they do it?
• An operation to supply billions of vaccine doses to poorer countries got underway last week. But as rich countries buy most of the available supply, stark inequalities remain.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The Senate is preparing to vote on another stimulus bill — the third of the pandemic.

The bill has the hallmarks of a classic stimulus package: money to help individual Americans, and aid to local and state governments. It also contains provisions that would usher in long-term structural changes that have been pushed for many years by Democrats.

Today, we explore the contours of the Biden administration’s stimulus bill and look at the competing arguments. 

Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.  

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Background reading: 

• The stimulus bill is polling strongly across the country, including with many Republican voters, despite a scattershot series of attacks from congressional Republicans.
• Before the vote on President Biden’s stimulus package, here’s a fact check on some of the common talking points. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Even as the cold has lifted and the ice has melted in Texas, the true depth of the devastation left by the state’s winter storm can be difficult to see.

Today, we look at the aftermath through the eyes of Iris Cantu, Suzanne Mitchell and Tumaini Criss — three women who, after the destruction of their homes, are reckoning with how they are going to move forward with their lives.

Guest: Jack Healy, a Colorado-based national correspondent for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• Even with power back on across most of the state and warmer weather forecast, millions of Texans whose health and finances were already battered by a year of Covid-19 now face a grinding recovery from the storm.
• Here’s an analysis of how Texas’s drive for energy independence set it up for disaster.
• As the freak winter storm raged, historically marginalized communities were among the first to face power outages.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

It all started when Sigrid E. Johnson was 62. She got a call from an old friend, asking her to participate in a study about DNA ancestry tests and ethnic identity. She agreed.

Ms. Johnson thought she knew what the outcome would be. When she was 16, her mother told her that she had been adopted as an infant. Her biological mother was an Italian woman from South Philadelphia, and her father was a Black man.

The results, however, told a different story.

Today on The Sunday Read, what the growth in DNA testing, with its surprises and imperfections, means for people’s sense of identity.

This story was written by Ruth Padawer and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Odessa is a four-part audio documentary series about one West Texas high school reopening during the pandemic — and the teachers, students and nurses affected in the process.

For the past six months, The New York Times has documented students’ return to class at Odessa High School from afar through Google hangouts, audio diaries, phone calls and FaceTime tours. And as the country continues to debate how best to reopen schools, Odessa is the story of what happened in a school district that was among those that went first.

All episodes of the show released so far are available here. 

Five years ago, Judge Merrick B. Garland became a high-profile casualty of Washington’s political dysfunction. President Barack Obama selected him to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, but Senate Republicans blocked his nomination. In the process, Mr. Garland became known for the job he didn’t get.

Now, after being nominated by the Biden administration to become the next attorney general, Mr. Garland is finding professional qualifications under scrutiny once again. In light of the attack on the Capitol, we explore how his career leading investigations into domestic terrorism prepared him for his Senate confirmation hearing.

Guest: Mark Leibovich, the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, who spoke with Judge Merrick B. Garland.

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Background reading: 

• In his confirmation hearing this week, Mr. Garland said the United States now faced “a more dangerous period” from domestic extremists than at the time of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
• Here’s why Mr. Garland described his experience leading the Justice Department’s investigation into the 1995 bombing as “the most important thing I have ever done in my life.”

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When the pandemic was bearing down on New York last March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration issued a directive that allowed Covid-19 patients to be discharged into nursing homes in a bid to free up hospital beds for the sickest patients. It was a decision that had the potential to cost thousands of lives.

Today, in the second part of our look at New York nursing homes, we explore the effects of the decisions made by the Cuomo administration and the crisis now facing his leadership. 

Guest: Amy Julia Harris, an investigative reporter on The New York Times’s Metro desk. 

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Background reading: 

• Trying to quell a growing outcry over the state’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched into a 90-minute defense of his actions while hitting back at critics.
• The scrutiny of Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes has also put Mr. Cuomo’s aggressive behavior in the spotlight.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When New York was the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, Gov. Andrew Cuomo emerged as a singular, strong leader. Now his leadership is embattled, particularly over the extent of deaths in nursing homes during the peak.

Today, in the first of two parts on what went wrong in New York's nursing homes, we look at the crisis through the eyes of a woman, Lorry Sullivan, who lost her mother in a New York nursing home.

Guest: Amy Julia Harris, an investigative reporter on The New York Times’s Metro desk. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• Trying to quell a growing outcry over the state’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched into a 90-minute defense of his actions while lashing out at critics.
• The scrutiny of Covid-19 deaths in New York nursing homes has also put Governor Cuomo’s aggressive behavior in the spotlight.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh died last week. He was 70.

For decades, he broadcast mistrust and grievance into the homes of millions. Mr. Limbaugh helped create an entire ecosystem of right-wing media and changed the course of American conservatism.

Today, we look back on Rush Limbaugh’s career and how he came to have an outsize influence on Republican politics.

Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times and The Times Magazine. 

Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 

Background reading: 

• With a following of many millions and a a divisive, derisive style of mockery and grievance, Rush Limbaugh was a force in reshaping American conservatism. Read his obituary here.
• Weaponizing conspiracy theories and bigotry long before Donald Trump’s ascent, the radio giant helped usher in the political style that came to dominate the Republican Party.  

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

In recent years, travel — cheap travel, specifically — has boomed. Like all booms it has its winners (including influencers and home-sharing platforms like Airbnb) and its losers (namely locals and the environment). Somewhere in that mix is The Points Guy, Brian Kelly, who runs a blog that helps visitors navigate the sprawling, knotty and complex world of travel and credit card rewards.

Today on The Sunday Read, a look at the life and business of Mr. Kelly, a man who goes on vacation for a living.

This story was written by Jamie Lauren Keiles and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

The end of summer 2021 has been earmarked as the time by which most American adults will be vaccinated. But still remaining is the often-overlooked question of vaccinations for children, who make up around a quarter of the U.S. population.

Without the immunization of children, herd immunity cannot be reached.

Today, we ask when America’s children will be vaccinated.

Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Pfizer and Moderna have begun testing their vaccines on children 12 and older. The vaccine for kids is coming, but not for many months.
• New research has cast doubt on the idea that prior infections with garden-variety coronaviruses might shield some people, particularly children, from the pandemic.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The story of how Paul Rusesabagina saved the lives of his hotel guests during the Rwandan genocide was immortalized in the 2004 film “Hotel Rwanda.” Leveraging his celebrity, Mr. Rusesabagina openly criticized the Rwandan government, and is now imprisoned on terrorism charges.

Today, we look at what Mr. Rusesabagina’s story tells us about the past, present and future of Rwanda.

Guest: Declan Walsh, chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times; and Abdi Latif Dahir, East Africa correspondent for The Times.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Paul Rusesabagina was mysteriously taken back to Rwanda late last year and arrested. His supporters say he has no chance of getting a fair hearing.
• In a jailhouse interview with Abdi Latif Dahir, Mr. Rusesabagina said he was duped into an arrest. He believed he was being flown to Burundi to talk to church groups.

An intense winter storm has plunged Texas into darkness. The state’s electricity grid has failed in the face of the worst cold weather there in decades.

The Texas blackouts could be a glimpse into America’s future as a result of climate change. Today, we explore the reasons behind the power failures.

Guest: Clifford Krauss, a national energy business correspondent based in Houston for The New York Times; and Brad Plumer, a climate reporter for The Times. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Systems are designed to handle spikes in demand, but the wild and unpredictable weather linked to global warming will very likely push grids beyond their limits.
• As a winter storm forced the Texas power grid to the brink of collapse, millions of people were submerged into darkness, bitter cold and a sense of indignation over being stuck in uncomfortable and even dangerous conditions.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

There was a sense of fatalism going into former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. Many felt that it would almost certainly end in acquittal.

Not the Democratic impeachment managers. “You cannot go into a battle thinking you’re going to lose,” said Stacey Plaskett, the congressional representative from the U.S. Virgin Islands who was one of the managers.

Today, we sit down with Ms. Plaskett for a conversation with Ms. Plaskett about the impeachment and acquittal and what happens next.

Guest: Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands, an impeachment manager in the second trial.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Who is Stacey Plaskett? She could not vote to impeach President Donald Trump, but she made a case against him in his Senate trial.
• As one of the few Black lawmakers to play a role in the impeachment proceedings, Ms. Plaskett plans to turn her newfound prominence into gains for her constituents.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

The app Truecaller estimates that as many as 56 million Americans have fallen foul to scam calls, losing nearly $20 billion.

Enter L., an anonymous vigilante, referred to here by his middle initial, who seeks to expose and disrupt these scams, posting his work to a YouTube channel under the name “Jim Browning.”

On today’s Sunday Read, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee follows L.’s work and travels to India to understand the people and the forces behind these scams.

This story was written by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

“Laïcité,” or secularism, the principle that separates religion from the state in France, has long provoked heated dispute in the country. It has intensified recently, when a teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded after showing his class caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

We look at the roots of secularism and ask whether it works in modern, multicultural France.

Guest: Constant Méheut, a reporter for The New York Times in France.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• For generations, public schools assimilated immigrant children into French society by instilling the nation’s ideals. The beheading of a teacher raised doubts about whether that model still worked.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily.

 Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence. 

Victor Rivera has framed his life story as one of redemption and salvation. Escaping homelessness and drug addiction, he founded the Bronx Parent Housing Network, one of the largest nonprofits operating homeless shelters in New York City.

But that’s not the whole story. A Times investigation has found a pattern of allegations of sexual abuse and financial misconduct against him during his career.

We look at the accusations against Mr. Rivera and ask what lessons can be learned.

Guest: Amy Julia Harris, an investigative reporter on The New York Times’s Metro desk. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Victor Rivera gained power and profit as New York’s homeless crisis worsened.
• After the Times investigation, Mr. Rivera was fired and now faces a criminal inquiry.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Almost a year into the pandemic and the American education system remains severely disrupted. About half of children across the United States are not in school.

The Biden administration has set a clear goal for restarting in-person instruction: reopening K-8 schools within 100 days of his inauguration.

Is that ambitious target possible?

Guest: Dana Goldstein, a national education correspondent for The New York Times. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• A slow vaccine rollout and local fights between districts and unions could make it harder for President Biden to fulfill his promise to reopen schools quickly.
• In cities and suburbs where schools are closed, teachers’ unions are often saying: not yet. One powerful union leader is trying to change that.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump will begin today.

This time, the case against Mr. Trump is more straightforward: Did his words incite chaos at the Capitol on Jan. 6?

We look ahead to the arguments both sides will present.

Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times and The Times Magazine.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• The impeachment case claims that former President Donald Trump was “singularly responsible” for the Capitol riot. His defense team argues that he cannot be tried.
• Here’s what to watch for as the trial begins.
• Hours after the 2020 vote, Mr. Trump declared the process a fraud. We look at his 77-day campaign to subvert the election.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

The departure of President Donald Trump and the storming of the Capitol have reignited a long-dormant battle over the future of the Republican Party.

Today, we look at two lawmakers in the Republican House conference whose fate may reveal something about that future: Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who voted in favor of Mr. Trump’s second impeachment, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a proponent of conspiracy theories.

Guest: Alexander Burns, a national political correspondent for The New York Times. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• The Republican leadership would like to blunt President Donald Trump’s influence over the party. Mr. Trump and his allies want to punish those who have crossed him. A series of clashes loom.
• In back-to-back votes, the Republican conference voted to keep Liz Cheney in a leadership position and the House moved to eject Marjorie Taylor Greene from its committees. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Jay Caspian Kang, the author and narrator of this week’s Sunday Read, spoke with the actor Steven Yeun over Zoom at the end of last year. The premise of their conversations was Mr. Yeun’s latest starring role, in “Minari” — a film about a Korean immigrant family that takes up farming in the rural South.

They discussed the usual things: Mr. Yeun’s childhood, his parents and acting career — which includes a seven-year stint on the hugely popular television series “The Walking Dead.” But the topic of conversation kept circling back to something much deeper.

Today on The Sunday Read, Jay’s profile and meditation on Asian-American identity.

This story was written by Jay Caspian Kang. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

“The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for president and vice president of the United States.” So begins the 280-page complaint filed by Smartmatic, an election software company, against the Fox Corporation.

Smartmatic accuses the network of doing irreparable damage to the company’s business by allowing election conspiracy theorists to use Fox News as a megaphone for misinformation.

Today, we hear from Antonio Mugica, Smartmatic’s C.E.O., and the lawyer Erik Connelly about the $2.7 billion case.

Guest: Ben Smith, the media columnist for The New York Times. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• In the latest volley in the dispute over disinformation in the presidential election, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation has been sued by Smartmatic, which accuses his cable networks of defamation and contributing to the fervor that led to the siege of the Capitol.
• In December, Ben Smith spoke with Mr. Mugica and Mr. Connelly about the claims being made against Smartmatic. Read the interview here.  

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Rumors had been swirling for days before Myanmar’s military launched a coup, taking back power and ousting the civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar’s experiment with democracy, however flawed, now appears to be over.

Today, we examine the rise and fall of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Guest: Hannah Beech, The New York Times’s Southeast Asia bureau chief. 

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• The coup returns Myanmar to full military rule after a short span of quasi-democracy. Here is what we know.
• Myanmar seemed to be building a peaceful transition to civilian governance. Instead, a personal struggle between military and civilian leaders brought it all down.
• Aung San Suu Kyi, once considered a shimmering icon of democracy, has lost her halo.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

When her daughter Karen was kidnapped in 2014, Miriam Rodríguez knew the Zetas, a cartel that ran organized crime in her town of San Fernando, Mexico, were responsible.

From the hopelessness that her daughter may never return came resolve: She vowed to find all those responsible and bring them to justice.

One by one, Ms. Rodríguez tracked these people down through inventive, homespun detective methods.

Today, we share the story of her three-year campaign for justice.

Guest: Azam Ahmed, The New York Times’s bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.

Background reading: 

• Armed with a handgun, a fake ID card and disguises, Miriam Rodríguez was a one-woman detective squad, defying a system where criminal impunity often prevails. Read Azam's full story (also available in Spanish here).

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

President Biden’s plans for curbing the most devastating impacts of a changing climate are ambitious.

His administration is not only planning a sharp U-turn from the previous White House — former President Donald Trump openly mocked the science behind human-caused climate change — but those aims go even further than the Obama administration’s.

Today, we l