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On today's podcast:

(1) The Trump administration threatened retaliation against the European Union in response to efforts to tax American tech companies, singling out prominent companies, including Accenture, Siemens and Spotify Technology , as possible targets for new restrictions or fees.

(2) President Donald Trump said he was ordering a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers going into and leaving Venezuela, ratcheting up pressure on Caracas amid a US military buildup in the region and the threat of land strikes.

(3) French President Emmanuel Macron said in a Financial Times op-ed that placing tariffs and quotas on Chinese imports would be “an uncooperative answer” to address its trade imbalance with the European Union.

(4) The UK’s Labour government passed a workers’ rights package that expands protections for employees and achieves a key policy goal of the party’s left.

(5) OpenAI is in initial discussions to raise at least $10 billion from Amazon.com Inc. and use its chips, a potential win for the online retailer’s effort to broaden its AI industry presence and compete with Nvidia.

(6) Jared Kushner’s splashy projects in the Balkans are colliding with the realities of doing business in the region.

Podcast Conversation: High Coffee Prices Are Changing How People Take Their Daily Brew

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) The Olayan Group, a Saudi empire led by sisters Lubna and Hutham Olayan, has grown in influence, with a nearly $13 billion stock portfolio in the US and stakes in companies like BlackRock Inc. and JPMorgan.

(2) US negotiators offered more significant security guarantees to Kyiv as part of President Donald Trump’s renewed push to end the Russia-Ukraine war, but the effort still appeared part of a bid to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on territory.

(3) Nasdaq, the second-largest exchange in the US, is looking for regulatory approval to extend trading hours on its stock venues to 23 hours during the work week.

(4) President Donald Trump sued the BBC for at least $10 billion over a misleading edit in a documentary last year that gave the impression he’d made a direct call for violence in a speech leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

(5) The UK finalized a long-awaited free trade agreement with South Korea that the government said would boost exporters from automaker Bentley to beverages firm Diageo.

Podcast Conversation: The 25 Best Places to Travel in 2026, From Argentina to Gabon

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Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) At around 6:47 p.m., as the sun began to fade on a warm Sunday afternoon at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach, the first gunshots rang out. Soon two gunmen were spotted in a parking lot close to a grassy area just off the beach, where more than 1,000 members of the Jewish community in Australia had gathered to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah.

(2) President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signaled that Ukraine could accept security guarantees from the US and Europe as a way to prevent future Russian aggression, and substitute for its long-term goal of joining NATO.

(3) Brown University, mourning two students killed during a shooting rampage Saturday, sent students home and called off final exams, classes and assignments for the fall semester.

(4) Wage growth for the lowest-paid workers is starting to slow as a worsening jobs market undercuts the bargaining power of a section of the workforce that has proved resistant to the Bank of England’s inflation-fighting efforts, new data shows.

(5) The head of Britain's Armed Forces says the "whole nation" needs to become more resilient and prioritise industry and infrastructure to deter the growing threat from Russia.In speech later today, the UK Chief of the Defence Staff Richard Knighton will warn the price of peace is increasing, as Russia attempts to divide and destroy NATO.

Podcast Conversation: AI Is Getting Dangerously Good at Political Persuasion

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