The Headlines - An ‘Aggressive’ Trip to Greenland, and the Pope’s First Appearance Since Falling Ill

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

Plus, how George Foreman transformed American kitchens.  On Today’s Episode: Greenland Officials Express Fury Over Trump’s Plan to Send Delegation, by Maya Tekeli, Jeffrey Gettleman and Maggie HabermanRussia and Ukraine Hold U.S.-Mediated Talks: What to Know, by Ivan Nechepurenko and Constant MéheutPope Makes First Public Appearance Since Falling Ill Weeks Ago, by Elisabetta PovoledoDoorDash Announces ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Partnership With Klarna, by Amanda HolpuchGeorge Foreman Turned a Home Grill Into a Culinary Heavyweight, by Kim SeversonTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, March 24th. Here's what we're covering. The Trump administration has announced U.S. officials will make two trips to Greenland this week, alarming the territory's prime minister, who called the move highly aggressive and an attempt to demonstrate power over us. President Trump has vowed to make Greenland,

which is a Danish territory, part of the United States, quote, one way or the other. His administration has cited national security interests in the Arctic, and they've also eyed the island's lucrative rare earth minerals. In the first trip, national security advisor Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit a U.S. military base there. Then, I'm so excited to share that I'll be visiting Kalalua, Greenland. Second Lady Usha Vance will arrive on the island to watch a

national dog sled race. She announced her trip in a social media post. I'm also coming to celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations and to express hope that our relationship will only grow stronger in the coming years. While the Trump administration has presented her visit as a friendly one, Greenland's prime minister rejected that saying, quote, We are now at a point where it can no longer be described as an innocent visit from a politician's spouse. He added the international community must now react.

Today, the U.S. is holding talks with Russian officials to try and iron out the details of a possible limited ceasefire in Ukraine. The U.S. spoke to Ukrainian officials yesterday. As of now, both sides have agreed to the idea of halting attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days. But the attacks have continued. Our job is to narrow the issues, bring the parties together, and stop the killing. That's the game plan. Steve Witkoff, who President Trump has sent to meet with Vladimir Putin twice, said in

an interview on Fox News that the hope is to hammer out this temporary truce first, which will allow time to negotiate a more permanent end to the fighting. But analysts say Putin may just be stalling. Russia is earning goodwill with Washington for participating in the talks, but has shown no sign of slowing its offensive. Over the weekend, Russia launched nearly 150 armed drones at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. The attacks killed at least three people in Kiev.

In Rome, Pope Francis made his first public appearance in more than six weeks after being hospitalized for multiple respiratory infections. A crowd of people gathered to see him and chanted his name as he was brought out onto the balcony of the hospital in a wheelchair, looking frail. He spoke briefly in a voice that was thin and raspy. Doctors say that the 88-year-old pope had been in such critical condition that he was on the verge of death twice while being treated. They say he'll need to recover for two more months at home and limit meetings with large groups to avoid reinfection. A sharp turnabout from what used to be the Pope's packed public schedule. In online shopping, a different kind of payment method is becoming more and more prevalent.

For several years, consumers have seen the buy now pay later option pop up when they shop for clothes, electronics, maybe even plane tickets. The option lets people pay off big purchases in multiple installments with no interest. But increasingly, the option is being offered for small ticket items. This past week, the payment company Klarna said it's bringing its buy now pay later service to DoorDash, the food company Klarna said it's bringing its buy-now-pay-later service to DoorDash, the food delivery app. It already partners with Uber Eats and Instacart. So now people who've racked up a charge for a late-night burrito delivery or pizza will be able to take out a loan to cover it, as long as it meets the $35 minimum.

The companies who offer these services say they're a better deal than credit cards because they don't charge interest, only late fees. But their growing popularity has raised concerns among consumer advocates that users will get caught up in a cycle of small loan after small loan. Research has shown that the buy now pay later feature is most often used by people already in debt. often used by people already in debt. And finally, legendary boxer George Foreman died Friday at 76. He leaves behind a legacy in the ring where he once fought Muhammad Ali and later became the oldest heavyweight champion ever after a shocking comeback in his 40s. But Foreman also leaves behind a legacy in the kitchen.

Had a busy day. My lean, mean, fat-reducing grilling machine is great to come home to. You know, this is not the person you would think would come into America's culinary scene and change its trajectory, right? It was just such an unexpected partnership. My colleague Kim Severson covers the culture of food in the U.S. She says as Foreman stepped away from boxing, he turned to evangelical preaching, and the charisma that he developed at the pulpit gave way to commercials. By the mid-90s, companies were sending him all kinds of products for him to consider endorsing.

A company had sent this contraption that was two metal plates with a floating hinge so you could adjust it to different size hamburger patties. He put it on a shelf, he thought it was kind of a piece of junk, but his wife, Mary, made him a couple hamburgers in it and said, this thing is great, I love this. So he decided that they could use his name on these grills.

And it landed at this particular moment. Food network had just started. People were really into watching food on television. But it was also just peak infomercial time. QVC was getting going. Infomercials were really big. The perfect landscape for something like this. And this particular period of the 90s was, America's low fat era, right? That was the thing.

And the little innovation of this grill was that it had little channels on a metal plate and that was tilted 20 degrees. So you could cook your burger and the fat would miraculously roll off into this little plastic container at the base of the machine. So low fat cooking, convenient, it had everything.

And the thing about George Foreman is he was a very macho guy. So there's something appealing about this big, former boxer saying, hey guys, go in the kitchen. You can cook with this. And it gave men all kinds of permission to fall in love with a kitchen gadget. Within the first year, they were selling $5 million worth, and eventually the company

would sell more than $100 million of the George Foreman Grill. And it's such a ubiquitous piece of the culinary fabric of America that the original 1996 version is on display at the Smithsonian next to the first crockpot, the first microwave, and Julia Child's entire kitchen. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, how President Trump's attacks on universities, including major funding cuts, could change the future of higher education. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.