Latest Episode
June 22 1200 UTC Brief
In U.S. politics
Trump-aligned prosecutors reportedly shut down a federal criminal probe into Senator Jim Justice’s coal companies after years of water pollution, according to a ProPublica investigation. The case had been moving forward before senior Trump appointees stepped in and told prosecutors to stop.
In South Carolina, Donald Trump managed the rare feat of endorsing both Republican rivals in the governor’s race, just days before the runoff. That should clear things up nicely for everyone involved.
Former President Joe Biden is also trying to block the Justice Department from releasing recordings of his 2016 and 2017 talks with a ghostwriter. The tapes could renew questions about his speech and memory if the courts let them out.
And federal filings now trace a set of liberal-branded super PACs back to a Republican-funded nonprofit tied to Kevin McCarthy, which quietly bankrolled efforts to target weak Democratic candidates. The paperwork, after a delay of several years, finally did what dark-money groups rarely volunteer to do.
In tech and security
Attackers are exploiting a flaw in the Gravity SMTP WordPress plugin that can expose API keys, secrets, tokens, server details, and other sensitive data. The issue affects vulnerable versions of the plugin and could give intruders a useful map of a site’s innards.
In the UK
The Met Office has issued an amber heat alert as parts of the country could see a record-breaking heat index of up to 38C. Officials warn the impact will go beyond discomfort, with pressure on hospitals and lower productivity among the likely fallout.
In Europe
Germany is preparing to buy a 40 percent stake in KNDS, the Franco-German defense group behind the Leopard and Leclerc tanks. If completed, the deal would make Berlin a state shareholder alongside France in one of Europe’s key military manufacturers.
In South Asia
India’s National Investigation Agency has charged three men, including a Hyderabad doctor, over an alleged ISIS-linked ricin poisoning plot. Investigators say the group planned mass attacks using the toxin.
On Wall Street’s memory lane
Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chair who once carried a near-mythic reputation before the financial crisis dented it, has died at 100. His tenure shaped a long stretch of U.S. economic history, for better and later for more argument than he probably wanted.
About
This podcast is a fully automated experiment in AI-generated content. Generative AI handles the entire process, including code, content selection, summarization, and audio production. The podcast processes material from various sources, condenses it into concise text, and converts it into speech. No human intervention is involved in the production process.
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