The Daily

• Who Moves Up, and Who's Pushed Out, in Pete Hegseth's Military August 20, 2026
  For the past 18 months, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has remade the top ranks of the U.S. military — dismissing or sidelining many whose rise he believes was aided by D.E.I. and replacing them with officers who fit his definition of merit. In the process, many argue he’s prioritizing loyalty to him and his ideas […]
• El Niño Is Back. And Worse Than Ever. August 19, 2026
  The global chaos agent known as El Niño is back, and this year it’s already on track to be, by far, the strongest and most severe on record, wreaking havoc on weather across the world. Today, Chico Harlan, the global climate reporter for The New York Times, goes over El Niño’s history, its inner workings […]
• What Went Wrong on the U.S.S. Lincoln? August 18, 2026
  For the past two weeks, family members of sailors have been raising alarms about the conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, which has a crew of about 5,000 and has been at sea for almost nine months straight. Today, John Ismay, a New York Times reporter who covers the Pentagon with a focus on armed […]
• Luigi Mangione’s High-Risk Legal Strategy August 17, 2026
  In the two years since a masked man shot and killed a health care executive, the national spotlight has turned to the primary suspect, Luigi Mangione. The overwhelming evidence has pointed to his guilt, and the question on most minds has been: What might the defense of one of the most famous murder suspects in […]
• What Makes a Killer Thriller? August 16, 2026
  The New York Times Book Review recently released its list of the 50 best thrillers of the 21st century. To put it together, the team asked almost 300 authors and other experts to vote for the best heart-thumping, page-turning, white knuckle reads published since 2000. In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Natalie Kitroeff talks […]
• The Charming, Amusing, Surprisingly Low-Confidence Matthew Rhys August 15, 2026
  The “Widow’s Bay” star on his two Emmy nominations, his penchant for going dark and his wobbly self-esteem. Thoughts? Email us at theinterview@nytimes.com 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. […]
• The Secret Spy Network Feeding Russia’s War Machine August 14, 2026
  Ukraine is running desperately low on interceptor missiles, leaving its cities and people nearly defenseless against Russian missile and drone attacks. How Russia has been able to sustain those attacks has been a mystery — until now. Today, Jane Bradley, a Britain-based investigative reporter for The New York Times, explains her investigation into the spy […]
• Are The Democratic Socialists Winning or Losing? August 13, 2026
  This week, Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist running for governor in Wisconsin, suffered an upset after a double-digit lead in the polls. Last week, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive, pulled off a stunning victory in Michigan against his well-funded opponent. Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times, makes sense of what […]
• All the President’s Planes August 12, 2026
  When President Trump left Turkey, the White House said publicly that he was boarding the old Air Force One — but that plane was a decoy. In a highly elaborate escape plan prompted by a credible Iranian threat, Trump was secretly moved through a catering cart to a military aircraft, leaving passengers unknowingly flying on […]
• The U.S. Missile Stockpile Is Dangerously Low August 11, 2026
  As the fighting with Iran has dragged on, American forces have been burning through their weapons, creating a shortage of munitions that is leaving the United States and its allies in the region much more vulnerable. Today, Eric Schmitt, a national security correspondent for The New York Times, explains why Washington is running out of […]