The intense fallout from Alex Pretti’s death has forced President Trump to publicly change course in Minneapolis.The White House reporters Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Tyler Pager discuss the changes, and whether they are real or merely symbolic.

Guest:

• Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
• Tyler Pager, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, covering President Trump and his administration.

Background reading:

• Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol official leading an aggressive immigration crackdown, was pulled from Minneapolis as the White House tries to distance the president from the uproar over Mr. Pretti’s killing.
• Here’s how the Trump administration rushed to judgment in the shooting of Mr. Pretti.
• Republicans in Congress are shifting their tone after the killings in Minneapolis, criticizing Mr. Trump’s immigration push.

Photo: David Guttenfelder/The New York Times.

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

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Since December, the U.S. has been stopping and seizing oil tankers traveling in and out of Venezuela. They are part of what is known as a ghost fleet — tankers that try to secretly move oil around the world, funding states such as Venezuela, Iran and Russia.

Christiaan Triebert, a reporter on the Visual Investigations team, explains what these ghost fleets are and why their days might now be numbered.

Guest: Christiaan Triebert, a reporter for The New York Times working on the Visual Investigations team.

Background reading: 

• U.S. forces seized its sixth oil tanker linked to Venezuela.
• What are “ghost fleet” ships?

Photo: Andy Buchanan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Warning: This episode contains strong language.

Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a Minneapolis resident, on Saturday. It was the second fatal shooting by federal agents in the city during protests against a ramped-up immigration enforcement effort by the Trump administration.

Devon Lum, from the Visual Investigations team, and Ernesto Londoño, who covers the Midwest, explain how the shooting unfolded and what may come next.

Guest:

• Devon Lum, a New York Times reporter working on the Visual Investigations team.
• Ernesto Londoño, a reporter for The New York Times based in Minnesota, covering news in the Midwest.

Background reading: 

• Timeline: A moment-by-moment look at the shooting Mr. Pretti.
• Here’s what we know about the shooting.

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

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

Pop culture has not been kind to the Neanderthal. In books, movies and even TV commercials, the species is portrayed as rough and mindless, a brutish type that was rightly supplanted by our Homo sapiens ancestors.

But even 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals walked the earth, we continue to make discoveries that challenge that portrayal. New research suggests Neanderthals might have been less primitive — and a lot more like modern humans — than we might have thought.

The Times science reporters Carl Zimmer and Franz Lidz discuss recent discoveries about Neanderthals, and what those discoveries can tell us about the origins of humanity.

On Today’s Episode:

Carl Zimmer writes the Origins column and covers news about science for The Times.

Franz Lidz writes about archaeology for The Times.

Background Reading:

The Year in Neanderthals

Morning Person? You Might Have Neanderthal Genes to Thank.

What Makes Your Brain Different From a Neanderthal’s?

The Neanderthal Inside Us

Photo: Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The “Hamnet” director on trying to overcome her deepest fears — and open her heart.

• Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

There’s a lot of anxiety about artificial intelligence invading Hollywood; the general mood there right now could be called “doom and gloom.” But speculation about a future where A.I. actors perform A.I. scripts in A.I.-generated movies often obscures the role A.I. is currently playing in the industry.

In this episode, the host Michael Barbaro talks with the Hollywood reporter Brooks Barnes and the movie critic Alissa Wilkinson about the ways that A.I. is already showing up in our movies and television today, and how they see it contributing to — and complicating — the future.

On Today’s Episode:

Alissa Wilkinson is a Times movie critic.

Brooks Barnes is the chief Hollywood correspondent for The Times.

Background Reading:

Can You Believe the Documentary You’re Watching?

Disney Agrees to Bring Its Characters to OpenAI’s Sora Videos

‘The Wizard of Oz’ Is Getting an A.I. Glow-Up. Cue the Pitchforks.

Is ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Sphere the Future of Cinema? Or the End of It?

Photo: Roger Kisby for The New York Times

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The celebrated author on the challenges of being kind, the benefits of meditation and the reality check of death.

• Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

As 2025 comes to an end, The Sunday Special is looking back on the year in culture.

This week, on our final episode of the podcast, we’re talking about movies. The potential acquisition of Warner Brothers by Netflix has dominated entertainment news in recent weeks, but the year in movies has been about a lot more than corporate mergers. Alissa Wilkinson, a movie critic for The New York Times, and Nicole Sperling, a culture reporter based in Los Angeles, join Gilbert Cruz to talk about what really matters: the movies we loved this year.

Movies discussed in this episode include:

“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
“A Minecraft Movie”
“Superman”
“Weapons”
“Wicked: For Good”
“Zootopia 2”
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“Marty Supreme”
“It Was Just an Accident”
“The Testament of Ann Lee”
“Come and See Me In the Good Light”
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning”

On Today’s Episode:

Alissa Wilkinson is a movie critic at The Times.

Nicole Sperling is a reporter covering Hollywood for The Times.

Background Reading:

Netflix vs. Paramount: Inside the Epic Battle Over Warner Brothers

The 25 Most Notable Movies of 2025

Best Movies of 2025

Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures; 20th Century Studios; Disney

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

In these final weeks of 2025, The Sunday Special is looking back at the year in culture.

Today, we’re talking about the TV we watched this year — the best shows, the most popular ones and the ones that allowed us to just enjoyably veg out. Gilbert Cruz talks with the TV critic James Poniewozik and the culture reporter Alexis Soloski about the year in television.

TV shows discussed in this episode:

“Severance”

“Common Side Effects”

“Too Much”

“Nobody Wants This”

“Dying for Sex”

“The Hunting Wives”

“The White Lotus”

“Dr. Odyssey”

“Long Story Short”

“Heated Rivalry”

“Andor”

“The Lowdown”

“Platonic”

“Pluribus”

“The Pitt”

“Adolescence”

On Today’s Episode:

James Poniewozik is the chief TV critic for The New York Times.

Alexis Soloski is a culture reporter for The Times.

Background Reading:

Best TV Shows of 2025

The Best TV Episodes of 2025

Photo Credit: Apple TV+; Netflix; Lucasfilm/Disney+; HBO

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

As 2025 comes to an end, The Sunday Special is looking back on the year in culture.

This week, we’re listening to the songs and albums that defined the year, for better or worse. Gilbert Cruz is joined by Caryn Ganz and Lindsay Zoladz from The Times’s pop music desk to discuss some of the biggest and best releases of 2025.

Albums and songs mentioned in this episode:

Bad Bunny, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos”

Lady Gaga, “Mayhem”

Justin Bieber, “Daisies”

Chappell Roan, “The Giver” and “The Subway”

Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”

Doechii, “Alligator Bites Never Heal”

Taylor Swift, “The Life of a Showgirl”

Morgan Wallen, “I’m the Problem”

Ghost, “Skeletá”

Dijon, “Baby”

Geese, “Getting Killed”

Water From Your Eyes, “It’s a Beautiful Place”

PinkPantheress, “Fancy That”

Lily Allen, “Tennis”

Ella Langley, “Choosin’ Texas”

Sleigh Bells, “Bunky Becky Birthday Boy”

Hayley Williams, “Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party”

Turnstile, “Never Enough”

On Today’s Episode

Caryn Ganz is the pop music editor at The Times.

Lindsay Zoladz is a pop music critic at The Times and the writer of The Amplifier newsletter.

Additional Reading

Best Albums of 2025

Best Songs of 2025

Photo Illustration by The New York Times; From left, Angela Weiss/AFP — Getty Images (Lady Gaga); OK McCausland for The New York Times (Geese); Erika Santelices/Reuters (Bad Bunny); Helle Arensbak/AFP -- Getty Images, via Ritzau Scanpix (PinkPantheress)

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

The first week of December at The New York Times is known as “Cookie Week.” Every day, for seven days, our cooking team highlights a new holiday cookie recipe. This year’s batch features flavors that aren’t necessarily traditional holiday ones — or even, for that matter, flavors. Instead, they draw inspiration from family night at the movies, drinks like Vietnamese Coffee, and perhaps most surprisingly, an Italian deli meat.

In this edition of the Sunday Special, Gilbert Cruz talks with Melissa Clark and Vaughn Vreeland from New York Times Cooking about this year’s cookies, and they answer questions from readers about how to navigate cooking and baking during the holidays.

Background Reading:

These 7 Cookies Will Be the Life of Every Party

Melissa Clark is a food reporter and columnist for The Times.

Vaughn Vreeland is a supervising video producer for NYT Cooking and writes the “Bake Time” newsletter.

Audio produced by Tina Antolini and Alex Barron with Kate LoPresti. Edited by Wendy Dorr. Engineered by Rowan Niemisto. Original music by Daniel Powell and Diane Wong. 

Photo credit: Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.