The Headlines
G.O.P. Defectors Break With Trump Over War, and SpaceX Set for Largest I.P.O. Ever
04 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Chapter 2: What recent developments have occurred regarding the Iran war?
From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Traci Mumford. Today's Thursday, June 4th. Here's what we're covering. We're going to start with three developments on the war with Iran, including a major vote in Congress to end the conflict.
Why doesn't Congress assert its authority here?
It's constitutional authority. The rising tensions between President Trump and the Israeli prime minister.
You know, at some point, as it may be, we've got to stop this. We've got to stop it.
And how the war could tangle up the World Cup. First, in the House of Representatives.
On this vote, the yeas were 215 and the nays were 208.
A handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to push through a measure to rein in Trump's campaign in Iran.
Immediately after the vote, Democrats started cheering, clapping, high-fiving each other. Some were hugging each other. They got a huge win in a chamber that they do not control.
Times congressional reporter Robert Jemison was there for the vote, which calls for Trump to withdraw U.S. forces unless he can get approval from Congress. Now, it's unlikely this measure will ultimately have an effect on the ground. There's a chance Trump himself could eventually veto any attempt to limit his war powers. But Robert says the vote sends a clear message to the White House.
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Chapter 3: Why did Congress vote to limit Trump's war powers?
There are potentially billions of tons of metals like nickel and cobalt down there, which are crucial for batteries and other technology. The metals have accumulated on bits of rock or shell or even shark teeth sitting on the seabed, creating so-called nodules that are about the size of a fist. And Harry says at least one company has already been pioneering a process for gathering them.
So the way this works is this massive collector vehicle, roughly the size of a city bus, is lowered from the side of a ship, and it goes down two miles or more, where it then moves along and sort of suctions up these nodules that are just resting on the seafloor. And then they are pumped back up to the surface through this miles-long industrial straw.
The industry and its supporters are really excited about this technology. For one thing, they stand to make incredible profits. And they also point out that the alternative to seabed mining, which is land-based mining, has a pretty terrible track record of environmental abuses and labor abuses. Meanwhile, environmentalists are strongly against this industry.
They're concerned that it's going to be tampering with a part of the ocean that we hardly know anything about, where there's all sorts of amazing otherworldly sea life that can be dependent on these nodules for their survival. And that when the vehicle moves along and releases all this sediment, that it could be killing animals and having effects that propagate through the food chain.
Harry says right now the Trump administration is on the verge of greenlighting this kind of mining in international waters. If the U.S. issues those permits, it will be the first country in the world to do so, potentially setting off a kind of race to the bottom of the sea.
And finally, if you are someone who feels nothing short of attacked by nature every year when allergy season begins, I'm here to tell you that we humans may deserve some of that blame. Plant pollen, of course, is the main culprit behind itchy eyes and runny noses. But a new study has shown that light pollution from streetlights, car headlights, illuminated billboards might be making things worse.
The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, compared big, bright cities like New York and Philadelphia to darker places in the same region. It found that trees in the cities start producing pollen earlier and finish later than they do in rural areas with less light.
One of the authors of the study said that all that extra city light has basically, quote, "...tricked plants into making decisions they wouldn't ordinarily make." In all, the research found that light pollution could be adding as many as 130 days to allergy season in brighter areas, including more days where the pollen count ranks as severe.
One scientist not involved in the study said there are things cities could do to address this. They could be more strategic about the kinds of trees they plant, opting for less light-sensitive species. They could also work to just turn down the brightness on streetlights and billboards. Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest and the Friday News Quiz.
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