A Nerve-Racking Week for SNAP Recipients, and Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Pay Deal

0:28From the New York Times, it's the headlines. start the federal funding for SNAP payments, which go to roughly one out of every eight people in the country. He accused the president and his aides of disrupting the program amid the government shutdown for political reasons. President Trump said at one point that he would freeze all money for food stamps until Democrats struck a deal to reopen the government. And at the White House last night, you have a federal judge effectively telling us what we have to do in the midst of a Democrat government shutdown. Vice President J.D. Vance called the ruling absurd.

0:59The administration immediately vowed to appeal the decision, raising fears that benefits could be disrupted again. As the legal battle over food stamps has escalated, it's been a chaotic and nerve-wracking time for many of the people who rely on them. My colleagues have been talking to SNAP recipients across the country who've seen their payments shrink or disappear altogether. A 61-year-old woman in Oklahoma, said she'd normally get about$287 each month, but now her SNAP account was down to just $1.18, and she wasn't sure she could afford the gas to drive to the nearest food bank. In Denver, a health technician who works full-time and is helping support a family of eight said she'd taken on more credit card debt to pay for groceries and was stretching her family's meals by using cheaper ingredients.

1:47And in rural Colorado, the Times talked with a 25-year-old who recently went to the one food bank in her area, only to find the shelves were empty. Instead, she snuck into a Walmart parking lot, climbed into a dumpster, and grabbed what she could.

2:07In Brazil this week. If we act now at speed and scale, we can bring temperatures back below 1.5 degrees Celsius before centuries end. Leaders from around the world are gathering for COP30, the annual UN conference on climate change. They're discussing new and ambitious plans to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, even as global energy demands rise. But notably, for the first time in the event's history, the United States is not participating. On the one hand, what a lot of folks have told me is that it's devastating, right, to not have the world's largest historic emitter of greenhouse gas emissions.

2:49and the world's largest economy, involved in figuring out how to address this global problem. And yet, on the other hand, there are also a lot of people who feel like the world might be better off if the Trump administration stays away. My colleague Lisa Friedman is part of the team covering the conference. The United Nations climate body is a really interesting animal. It is consensus-based, and that means that all 198 countries have to agree on the statement that gets put out at the end of these negotiations. And so if one country strongly disagrees, it can upend an entire agreement. The Trump administration has repealed virtually every climate policy on the books, And we've seen the Trump administration in the last few international environmental discussions work really hard to weaken or even torpedo environmental plans.

3:49So the worry from folks that I talked to was that if the United States were to participate, that could happen here. Meanwhile, as the conference begins, the Times has new reporting about one of those efforts by the White House to kill a recent climate deal. Last month, more than 100 countries were set to approve a historic agreement to slash emissions from cargo ships by imposing new fees. But officials from countries who supported the deal told the Times they came under extraordinary and aggressive pressure from members of the Trump administration to vote against it. They said there were threats to revoke individual visas and put sanctions on diplomats, and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio himself called them to threaten financial penalties and other punishments if they didn't back down.

4:36A handful of them eventually did, and the deal fell apart. While the administration has acknowledged trying to derail the agreement, saying it wasn't in the best interest of the American people, it says it strongly denies that U.S. officials made personal threats or intimidated diplomats.

4:59On the 2025 CEO Performance Award to our founder and CEO Elon Musk, with over 75 % voting in favor, approved. On Thursday, shareholders of Tesla signed off on a plan that could make Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. The pay package is designed to motivate Musk to transform the company over the next decade, offering a bundle of valuable shares if he meets a series of ambitious goals. Those include boosting the value of Tesla's stock about sixfold and selling a million robots with human-like qualities that are still under development. What we're about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla, but a whole new book.

5:47Ahead of the vote, Musk, who's already the richest person in the world, said he was less interested in the money than in the expanded authority over Tesla that the new arrangement will give him. As the company pivots to the humanoid robot business, Musk said he wants control over what he called the robot army he's hoping to build. Over time, Musk's ownership of the company could potentially grow to almost 30 percent, which set off alarm bells among some other shareholders. Officials who oversee public pension funds in New York and California strongly opposed the supersized pay plan, saying it would concentrate too much wealth and corporate power in the hands of one person.

6:30And finally,

6:35in Egypt, a massive megacomplex of a museum, more than two decades in the making, has finally celebrated its official opening with an elaborate ceremony.

6:48The Grand Egyptian Museum opened its doors to the public this week, with the country's president calling it a, quote, gift from Egypt to the world. Visitors can see King Tut's funerary mask, body armor, and statues from his tomb. There's also a 3 ,000-year-old wig and even a mummified crocodile. The museum is huge. It sprawls over an area larger than 90 football fields with views of the Great Pyramids in the distance. And finishing the project was a huge challenge, Since construction began, Egypt has had a revolution and then a counter-revolution. There was the pandemic and economic crises. Now, many in Egypt say the opening of the state-of-the-art facility is a chance to renew demands that all of the country's most iconic antiquities belong in their homeland, not the marbled halls of European museums.

7:37For decades, some made the argument that Egypt's museums couldn't handle those precious items, saying that they'd be damaged or stolen. A number of Egyptologists told The Times that that rings hollow now, with one saying, quote, Hello, we need our stuff back, especially from the Louvre. Those are the headlines. But if you'd like to play the Friday News Quiz, stick around. It's just after these credits. This show is made by Kate Lopresti, Tracy Mumford, Jan Stewart, and me, Will Jarvis. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Zoe Murphy, and Paula Schumann.

8:16Now, time for the quiz. Every week we ask you a few questions about stories the Times has been covering. Can you get them all? First up. This is a Fox News alert. We have just learned that Dick Cheney has died. Former Vice President Dick Cheney died this week at 84. He was widely regarded as the most powerful vice president in American history, known for his forceful political strategy and aggressive military policies. The risk of inaction are far greater than the risk of action. In a memoir, President George W. Bush acknowledged Cheney's somewhat nefarious reputation, saying the vice president was seen by the public as the administration's version of an iconic movie villain.

9:02Your question, which villain was it?

9:07Here is a hint.

9:15The answer? I find your lack of faith disturbing. Darth Vader. Cheney, for the record, was definitely aware of that reputation. He actually offered to drop off the Republican ticket in 2004, worried that he might sink Bush's chance at re-election. Ultimately, Bush seemed to have no lack of faith and decided to keep him on.

9:39Okay, next up. On January 1st, we will usher in a city government that helps everyone. This Tuesday, Zoran Mamdani made history, and he was elected mayor of New York City. His win came with a whole list of firsts. When he takes office, he'll be the city's first Muslim, first South Asian, and first African-born mayor. But his win also marks another milestone, and we're not talking about his age or his politics. He's set to be the first sitting New York City mayor since 1913 to have a dot dot dot. Can you fill in that blank? A hint. Last year, pundits wrote a whole flurry of think pieces about the fact that J.D.

10:25Vance also has one of these.

10:31The answer? A beard. New York City's last mayor to sport one seems to have been William J. Gaynor, who also wore a top hat. In the past, Mamdani has talked about his decision not to shave his beard off. At one point in college, he said that he started growing it out in response to racist tropes about Muslims with beards looking like terrorists. Mamdani said his beard was a, quote, symbolic middle finger to that stereotype.

11:01And last question. Sammy, I just saw a... Where? Which one? People are putting their spouses and partners to the test in a trend that has taken off on social media. I saw a... Oh yeah? Well, what kind was it? In it, people film themselves telling their loved ones that they've just seen a certain specific thing. Babe, I saw a really cute... What'd you say? I saw a really cute... If the partner responds with curiosity, they pass the test. They're an engaged listener. If they don't, supposedly not a good sign. So your question, what is the thing that people are telling their partners they just saw?

11:42A little hint here. It could have been an eastern wood peewee. Um, I don't know. The answer? Birds. What do you mean you saw a bird? I just saw a pretty blue bird. Oh, nice. What was it, a blue jay? While it seems like a kind of silly TikTok thing, couples therapists say it is getting at something real, whether people react when their partner tosses out what's called a bid for connection. Research shows that the happiest couples respond to those bids readily and regularly. But one therapist told The Times that if your partner doesn't respond to your bird bid, quote, I hope that people don't take that as a sign that the relationship is doomed.

12:26So, you know, don't fly the coop just yet. That's it for the news quiz. If you want to tell us how you did, our email, as always, is theheadlines at nytimes.com. I'm Will Jarvis. The headlines will be back on Monday.