The Daily

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of torture and death. It also contains audio of death and grief.

Under Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian government set up a vast network of prisons and torture chambers that swallowed up tens of thousands of people. For years, those perceived as enemies of the regime would disappear into the system, and their families would have no idea what happened to them.

Christina Goldbaum, who has covered the events in Syria, takes us inside one of those prisons and tells the story of one man who survived to tell the tale.

Guest: Christina Goldbaum, the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Families of the missing are hoping that they may be reunited with loved ones or at least learn what happened to them.
• Amid the celebrations after the ouster of Mr. al-Assad, Syria has also found itself in the opening chapter of a nationwide reckoning over the horrors that his government inflicted.

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

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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Warning: this episode contains strong language.

Over the past few weeks, the resistance of a single Republican senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, had threatened to derail Donald J. Trump’s choice of Pete Hegseth to run the Department of Defense.

Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The Times, and Jonathan Swan, who covers politics, discuss how Mr. Trump and his allies ensured that Ms. Ernst’s resistance went away.

Guest: 

• Karoun Demirjian, who covers Congress for The New York Times, with a focus on national security.
• Jonathan Swan, a Times reporter covering politics and Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Trump became convinced that letting Mr. Hegseth fail would set off a feeding frenzy among senators.
• Ms. Ernst, who is facing re-election in 2026, appeared less skeptical about the pick after MAGA supporters threatened her with political retribution.

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

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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“You couldn’t have made this movie three years ago,” said Robert Zemeckis, the director of “Here.”

The film stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, and is based on a 2014 graphic novel that takes place in a single spot in the world over several centuries. The story mostly takes place in a suburban New Jersey living room. It skips back and forth through time, but focuses on a baby-boomer couple — played by Hanks and Wright — at various stages of their lives, from age 18 into their 80s.

Before A.I. software, Zemeckis could have had multiple actors play each character, but the audience might have gotten lost trying to keep track. Conventional makeup could have taken a decade off Hanks, who is now 68, but not half a century. The issue with C.G.I. is time and money. Persuading us that we’re watching Hanks and Wright in their 20s would have required hundreds of visual effects artists, tens of millions of dollars and months of postproduction work. A.I. software, though, changed all that accounting.

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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A new study has found that nearly three-quarters of American adults are now obese or overweight, and there’s growing concern — among politicians, scientists and consumers — about one potential culprit: ultraprocessed foods.

Guest: Alice Callahan, a nutrition and health reporter for The New York Times, discusses how these foods came to be such a big part of what we eat, and why that’s so hard to change. 

Background reading: 

• There’s not enough evidence to recommend avoiding ultraprocessed foods, a scientific advisory committee says. Some experts disagree.
• Name a common condition — heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, dementia, irritable bowel syndrome — and chances are good that a diet high in ultraprocessed foods has been linked to it. 

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

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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An alarming new hack by China has penetrated the nerve center of the United States: its telephone network.

David E. Sanger, the White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times, discusses what the scope of the attack tells us about China’s growing power.

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

Background reading: 

• The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said hackers listened to phone calls and read texts by exploiting aging equipment and seams in the networks that connect systems.
• Emerging details of Chinese hack have left U.S. officials increasingly concerned.

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

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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On Sunday, after a fire that many feared would destroy it, and a swift renovation that defied all predictions, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame reopened to the public.

Michael Kimmelman, the chief architecture critic at The Times, tells the story of the miracle on the Seine.

Guest: Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic of The New York Times and the founder and editor-at-large of Headway.

Background reading: 

• Critic’s Notebook: Notre-Dame’s astonishing rebirth from the ashes.
• The rebuilding took about 250 companies, 2,000 workers, about $900 million, a tight deadline and a lot of national pride.
• See photos from the reopening.

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

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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Last week, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed in Manhattan. A five-day search for the gunman ensued.

On Monday, a 26-year-old suspect, Luigi Mangione, was arrested in Pennsylvania after an employee at a McDonald’s recognized him and called the police.

Dionne Searcey, who covers wealth and corporations, and Maria Cramer, a crime reporter in New York City, break down what we know about the suspect, and what the case has revealed about many Americans’ contempt for insurance companies.

Guest: 

• Dionne Searcey, a reporter for The New York Times writing about how the choices made by people and corporations affect the future of our planet.
• Maria Cramer, a reporter for The New York Times covering the New York Police Department and crime in the city and surrounding areas.

Background reading: 

• The suspect was an Ivy League tech graduate from a prominent Maryland family who in recent months had suffered physical and psychological pain.
• A visual timeline of the UnitedHealthcare C.E.O. shooting.

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

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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Syria has been controlled by one family for more than half a century who ruled by repression, devastation and violence.

But about two weeks ago, the regime began to falter, and then over the course of one night, it collapsed.

Carlotta Gall, a senior correspondent for The New York Times, discusses the fall of Bashar al-Assad and what comes next.

Guest: Carlotta Gall, a senior correspondent for The New York Times, focusing on the human aspect of wars and civil strife.

Background reading: 

• Live updates: The rebels who toppled Assad face stark challenges in Syria.
• With Assad gone, a brutal dictatorship ends. But the new risks are huge.

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

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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The host of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and founder of the Unwell Network discusses her interview with Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election, her podcast’s journey from chatting about sex advice to delving into more serious subjects and how the Unwell Network’s fan merchandise became a eight-figure business.

“I don’t care if people consider me a journalist or a podcaster, or just a girl that talks online every week.”

This interview was with Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times at the annual DealBook Summit and recorded live in front of an audience at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Read more about highlights from the day at https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/04/business/dealbook-summit-news

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.

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, Spotify and Amazon Music. 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.

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