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Chapter 1: What challenges is President Trump facing in Iran negotiations?
A tidy end to the war in Iran has eluded President Trump for months.
He continues to both threaten more strikes and promise that peace is imminent.
I'm David Folkenflik.
And I'm Alyssa Nadworny, and this is Up First from NPR News. The high gas prices that the Iran war kicked up have complicated the administration's attempt to rein in inflation.
Chapter 2: How are high gas prices affecting the U.S. economy?
Now, the president says he loves inflation.
Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery have an all-clear from Washington to merge. Both of the entertainment powerhouses own movie studios, streaming services, and television news divisions.
And the NBA Finals tonight might give the New York Knicks their first title in over half a century.
Stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend.
This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, one thing we like is a good mystery. Sometimes about really big things, but most times, the little mysteries are the best. Our lost and found is currently filled with pants. I don't know, I've never seen this happen. Wait, this is true?
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The biggest challenge facing the Trump administration right now A peace deal with Iran. It's become a bit of a will-they-won't-they Washington story.
It's gone like this. The president announces a deal is forthcoming, and we wait.
This week, as we waited, an Apache helicopter went down off the Gulf of Oman. The U.S.
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Chapter 3: What does the merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery mean for the entertainment industry?
blamed Iran. The U.S. struck Iran. Iran struck its Gulf neighbors. And the president threatened to again strike Iran, quote, very hard. Then, hours later, Trump announced he'd canceled that plan and that a peace deal was forthcoming.
Joining us now is NPR senior contributor Ron Elving. Good morning, Ron.
Good to be with you, Alyssa.
So this deal is a memorandum of understanding.
Chapter 4: How does the NBA Finals impact the New York Knicks' chances for a title?
And yesterday, Iran's foreign minister said it's in the final stages and that his country's leadership had approved it. Do we know exactly what's on the table yet?
Not really. We only know what might be. Right now, the one thing the two sides seem to have agreed on is their interest in having an agreement, or what each side can say is an agreement. That would help President Trump celebrate his 80th birthday this weekend by claiming victory and by ending what has become a politically expensive misadventure.
And if there really is a deal that holds up, it should re-energize the world oil market and bring prices down worldwide for gas and fertilizer and ultimately food as well. It would help Iran get back to selling its oil and accessing some of its frozen assets. And so for the moment, everyone seems eager to sign and smile.
But the real test comes once a deal is actually in place and we see whether both sides perform as agreed and whether that produces the desired results.
Right.
OK, Ron, last week you talked about the bipartisan upset on Capitol Hill over Trump's pick of Bill Pulte, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to step in as director of national intelligence. So now there is a new name, Jay Clayton. Will this pick satisfy the lawmakers?
It surely won't satisfy all of them, but it seems likely to placate them or at least to placate enough for Clayton to be confirmed. Clayton has been a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. His background in intelligence is quite limited, but Pulte had no such background at all.
That's why a bipartisan group of senators has been loath to even have him in the job for a minimal transition period. And that alone may abbreviate the confirmation process for Clayton and lead some senators to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Okay, on to the economy. President Trump had this response Wednesday when he was asked about the new data that showed the highest level of inflation in more than three years.
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Chapter 5: What is the current status of the peace deal with Iran?
and routed the members of Congress. On Sunday, the South Lawn will be the site of Trump's multi-million dollar UFC cage match. It's a huge money-making event to mark Trump's 80th birthday, and it just might be splashy enough and flashy enough to keep the focus off that particular number. And the other age-related issues swirling around the nation's second octogenarian president.
That is NPR senior contributor Ron Eleving. Thank you so much, Ron.
Thank you, Alyssa.
The Trump administration has blessed the union of two rival Hollywood titans.
The Justice Department said late yesterday it has no qualms about Paramount's $111 billion bid for the much bigger Warner Bros. Discovery. The merger would tie up Paramount's movie studios with Warner's, Paramount Plus with HBO, and CBS with CNN. David, you have been covering this for a while now. And the Justice Department had been investigating this proposed merger. So what did it conclude?
Well, it said after a careful eight-month review that it found there would be no threat to competition within the industry, which is to say people... you know, let's say producers or directors or actors, would they be unfairly disadvantaged because you had the combination of these two enormous studios, you know, and these television properties?
And also that consumers wouldn't be adversely affected. They said no harm, no foul. And they put zero conditions on this. Often when you have major mergers, you have to spin off properties here or there. You have to make promises to the government. None of that was done here by the Justice Department's antitrust division.
So how surprising is that?
Well, there's two ways to answer that question. One is this is the biggest combination of like with like I can think of in the history of Hollywood. These are the two of the last remaining enormous legacy properties in Hollywood, the studios. You've got these two major TV news divisions. You've got the two streamers. It is very much like with like.
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Chapter 6: What implications does Trump's love for inflation have on his presidency?
That's sports writer Howard Bryant. Thank you.
My pleasure. Thank you.
That's Up First for Saturday, June 13th, 2026. I'm David Folkenflik.
And I'm Melissa Nadwani. Dave Mistich produced today's podcast with help from Gabe O'Connor.
Our editor is Diana Douglas, assisted by Melissa Gray, Emily Kopp, and Ariel Plotnick. In the control room today is our director, Andy Craig, and our technical director, David Greenberg, with engineering support from Zoe Van Genhoven, Jay Ciz, and Simon Laszlo Janssen.
Shannon Rhodes is our senior supervising editor. Our executive producer is Evie Stone. Catherine Laidlaw is our deputy managing editor.
Tomorrow on The Sunday Story, a black teenager was killed at a protest against police violence in Seattle in 2020. Why, six years later, is the case unsolved?
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