The Daily

A marine heat wave is warming the waters off the coast of Florida, pushing temperature readings as high as 101 Fahrenheit and endangering a critical part of sea life: the coral reef.Catrin Einhorn, who covers biodiversity, climate and the environment for The Times, discusses the urgent quest to save coral and what it might mean for the world if it disappears.Guest: Catrin Einhorn, a biodiversity, climate and environment correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: A desperate push to save Florida’s coral reef, by getting it out of the sea.Measuring and comparing sea surface temperatures is complex, but scientists agree on one thing: 101 Fahrenheit in the ocean off Florida is bad news for wildlife.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and S

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida began the race for the Republican nomination with high expectations and a clear argument: that he was a political fighter with a solid record of conservative achievements in his state. Now, he appears to be in a downward spiral.Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The Times, explains why the DeSantis campaign is stumbling so badly.Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Governor DeSantis, who has been losing ground in polls and dealing with staffing, spending and messaging issues, tweaks his messaging and tactics.Here are four major challenges facing his campaign.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Where did it come from? More than three years into the pandemic with untold millions of people dead, that question about the origin of Covid-19 remains widely disputed and fraught, with facts sparkling amid a tangle of analyses and hypotheticals like Christmas lights strung on a dark, thorny tree. One school of thought holds that the virus, known to science as SARS-CoV-2, spread to humans from a nonhuman animal, probably in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, an emporium brimming with fish, meats and wildlife on sale as food in Wuhan, China.Another school argues that the virus was laboratory-engineered as a bioweapon to infect humans and cause them harm, and was possibly devised in a “shadow project” sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army of China. A third school, more moderate than the second but also implicating laboratory work, suggests that the virus got into its first human victim by accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a research complex on the eastern side of the city, maybe after undergoin

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of death.When fires swept West Maui, Hawaii, many residents fled for their lives — but soon discovered they had nowhere to go. Thousands of structures, mostly homes, have been reduced to rubble. Husks of incinerated cars line the historic Front Street in Lahaina, while search crews nearby make their way painstakingly from house to house, looking for human remains.Ydriss Nouara, a resident of Lahaina, recounts his experience fleeing the inferno and Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The Times, explains how an extraordinary set of circumstances turned the city into a death trap.Guest: Mike Baker, the Seattle bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Nearly a week after the fires started, relatives are receiving little information as search and identification efforts move slowly.How the fires turned Lahaina into a death trap.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the

A plea deal struck between the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden was supposed to bring his years of legal troubles to an end. Instead, that deal has unraveled and a special counsel has been named to take over the case.Michael Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The Times, explains why that turn of events is increasingly pitting the interests of Hunter Biden against those of President Biden.Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The lawyer who represented Hunter Biden in plea negotiations stepped down, saying that he intends to testify as a witness on behalf of the president’s son.Here’s a timeline of Hunter Biden’s life and legal troubles.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spoti

In a region of Africa where authoritarianism has been rising, Niger seemed to be on a different path of democracy and partnership with the United States.Declan Walsh, chief Africa correspondent for The Times, explains how a military coup has now put all of that in jeopardy and why Niger’s allies still think it’s possible to reverse that coup.Guest: Declan Walsh, the chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: The military junta that seized power in Niger said it would prosecute the president on treason charges, while also telling an intermediary that it was open to talks with neighboring countries.“Not another coup as usual”: Here’s what to know about Niger’s crisis.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

On Monday, former President Donald J. Trump and 18 others were indicted by an Atlanta grand jury, with Mr. Trump and some of his former top aides accused of orchestrating a “criminal enterprise” to reverse the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.Richard Fausset, who covers politics and culture in the American South for The Times, explains why, of all the charges piling up against Trump, this one may be the hardest to escape.Guest: Richard Fausset, a New York Times correspondent based in Atlanta.Background reading:A grand jury in Georgia indicted the former president and 18 allies on multiple charges related to a conspiracy to subvert the will of voters.Here are the latest developments in the investigation.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and

Last week, wildfires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui that became the deadliest in the United States in over a century. The town of Lahaina, once the royal capital of the kingdom of Hawaii, was one of the places hit hardest — its historic center was decimated, including Waiola Church, the oldest on the island and a cherished meeting place.Today, the minister of Waiola Church, Anela Rosa, explains what it means to lose Lahaina and what it will take to rebuild it.Guest: Anela Rosa, minister of Waiola Church in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.Background reading: Lahaina was once Hawaii’s royal capital, and there were fears that some of its oldest buildings had been destroyed by the wildfires.A journey through Lahaina’s endless streets of suffering.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/

Last October, the United States Bureau of Industry and Security issued a document that, underneath its 139 pages of dense bureaucratic jargon and minute technical detail, amounted to a declaration of economic war on China. The magnitude of the act was made all the more remarkable by the relative obscurity of its source.In recent years, semiconductor chips have become central to the bureau’s work. Despite the immense intricacy of their design, semiconductors are, in a sense, quite simple: tiny pieces of silicon carved with arrays of circuits. The chips are the lifeblood of the modern economy and the brains of every electronic device and system, including iPhones, toasters, data centers and credit cards. A new car might have more than a thousand chips, each one managing a different facet of the vehicle’s operation. Semiconductors are also the driving force behind the innovations poised to revolutionize life over the next century, like quantum computing and artificial intelligence. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for example,

A few days ago, when the U.S. team was eliminated from the FIFA Women’s World Cup, it marked the end of a history-making run.Rory Smith, chief soccer correspondent for The Times, argues that it also marked the end of something even bigger: an entire era that redefined women’s sports.Guest: Rory Smith, the chief soccer correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: After 48 games in the Women’s World Cup, half the teams had been sent home. And yet the field of potential winners feels bigger than it did at the start.Expanding the tournament was a good idea. Just not for the reasons FIFA thinks.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This summer, unrelenting heat waves have taken a devastating toll in many parts of the world, putting this year on track to be the hottest ever recorded.Coral Davenport, who covers energy and environmental policy for The Times, and Dana Smith, a reporter for the Well section, discuss what it means to live in this new normal, an era in which extreme heat threatens our way of life.Guest: Coral Davenport, an energy and environmental policy correspondent for The New York Times.Dana G. Smith, a reporter for the Well section of The New York Times.Background reading: Heat is costing the U.S. economy billions in lost productivity.Here’s what extreme heat does to your body.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Satellites owned by Elon Musk’s Starlink orbit the earth and beam an internet connection to almost anywhere. In 2019, the company sent its first 60 or so satellites into orbit — today, it has some 4,500 circling the planet, with around 1.5 million customers across about 50 countries and territories.Adam Satariano, a technology correspondent for The Times, details the company’s rise and power, and discusses the implications of one man’s controlling it all.Guest: Adam Satariano, a technology correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Elon Musk has become the dominant power in satellite internet technology. The ways he is wielding that influence are raising global alarms.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

To win a conviction against former President Donald J. Trump for trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election, Jack Smith, the special counsel, is applying laws in ways that have never been used before.Charlie Savage, a Washington correspondent for The Times, explains Mr. Smith’s approach and previews Mr. Trump’s likely response.Guest: Charlie Savage, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: By layering varied charges atop the same facts, while sidestepping a free-speech question, the special counsel has structured the election indictment to reduce risk.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The latest economic figures are some of the best of President Biden’s tenure so far. It appears increasingly likely that the United States has managed to tame high inflation without causing a recession.Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, discusses the encouraging outlook and speculates about why the positive data hasn’t translated into a bump in President Biden’s popularity.Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: For President Biden, many of the numbers that define an administration — on the economy, crime, immigration — are finally heading in the right direction. Except one: his approval rating.With the strong numbers, there are tentative signs that the national mood is beginning to improve.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscri

When Barb’s father all but left, her mother turned inward, sitting quietly in front of the television, always smoking, often with a cocktail. Something had overtaken her, though it wasn’t clear what.Six years later, Barb was 20 and in college when someone else in the family needed help. Her sister Christy was the second-born, 24 years older than Barb and the star of the family in many ways. But where once Christy was capable and professionally ambitious and socially conscious, now, at 44, she was alone, her clothes unkempt and ripped, her hair unwashed, her marriage over.Depression was the first suspected diagnosis, then schizophrenia, though neither seemed quite right. Christy wasn’t sad or delusional; she wasn’t even upset. It was more as if she were reverting to a childlike state, losing her knack for self-regulation. Her personality was diluting — on its way out, with seemingly nothing to replace it.What was left of Christy was chaotic and unpredictable. She refused to bathe and stopped bothering to make

The wildfires sweeping Canada have become the largest in its modern history. Across the country, 30 million acres of forest have burned — three times as much land as in the worst American fire in the past 50 years.The scale has forced an international response and a re-evaluation of how the world handles wildfires.Firefighters on the front lines discuss the challenges they face, and David Wallace-Wells, a climate columnist for The Times, explores how climate change has shifted thinking about wildfires.Guest: David Wallace-Wells, a climate columnist for The New York Times. Background reading: With most of Canada’s fire season still ahead, the country is on track to produce more carbon emissions from the burning of forests than all of its other human and industrial activities combined, David Wallace-Wells writes in Times Opinion.Canada’s record-breaking wildfire season shows the need to shift from suppressing fires to preventing them as they become more difficult to combat.For more information on today’s episod

With Donald Trump facing charges in three different criminal cases, the biggest questions in American politics are whether that creates an opening for his Republican rivals in the presidential race — and whether it disqualifies him in the eyes of general election voters.A new set of Times polls has answers to those questions. It shows the president and the former president still tied among registered voters, each at 43 percent.Nate Cohn, The New York Times’s chief political analyst, talks us through the first Times/Siena polling of the 2024 election cycle.Guest: Nate Cohn, chief political analyst for The New York Times.Background reading: Can the race really be that close?The first Times/Siena poll of the Republican primary shows Trump still commands a seemingly unshakable base of loyal supporters.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from

On Tuesday afternoon, the special counsel Jack Smith filed criminal charges against former President Donald Trump over his wide-ranging attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The Times, talks us through the indictment and the evidence it lays out that Trump participated in an illegal conspiracy to remain in power.Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: The New York Times’s live coverage of the indictment.Four takeaways from the indictment.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

How did the National Rifle Association, America’s most influential gun-rights group, amass its power?A New York Times investigation has revealed the secret history of how a fusty club of sportsmen became a lobbying juggernaut that would compel elected officials’ allegiance, derail legislation behind the scenes, and redefine the legal landscape.Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter for The Times, sets out the story of the N.R.A.’s transformation — and the unseen role that members of Congress played in designing the group’s strategies. Guest: Mike McIntire, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Over decades, a small group of legislators led by a prominent Democrat pushed the gun lobby to help transform the law, the courts and views on the Second Amendment.The potential Republican 2024 presidential candidates showed strong support for gun owners’ rights — a core issue for the party’s base, but one that can be a tougher sell in a general election.For more information on today’s e

Last year, Giorgia Meloni, an Italian far-right politician, became prime minister on an agenda that many feared would mark a radical turn for the country. Now, her visit to the White House last week has bolstered her credentials on the international stage.Jason Horowitz, the Rome bureau chief for The New York Times, explains how she got here and the path she has carved out for Europe’s far-right parties.Guest: Jason Horowitz, the Rome bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: At the White House, President Biden embraced Ms. Meloni as a friend and cast aside initial doubts that her far-right party might prove to be troublesome for Washington.Ms. Meloni has surprised many by showing a pragmatic streak since coming to power, though some still fear an authoritarian turn.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop cu