The House Republican Who Says His Party Is Mishandling the Shutdown

Earlier this month, after Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire agreement, the Israeli military said it would withdraw from parts of Gaza — allowing some Palestinians displaced to the south to try to return home to the north. Rachelle Bonja, a producer of “The Daily,” ​recently spoke by phone with three Gazans​ who were making or contemplating the journey home. ​One of them, Saher ​Alghorra​, is a photojournalist ​who often works with The Times; another is Nidal Kuhail​, ​a former restaurant worker ​whom The Times has spoken to over the course of the war. The third is Hussein Khaled Auda​, a former bodybuilder who ran a small gym in Jabalia. Mr. Auda’s story is about his family. His four young children were killed in airstrikes during the war, and his wife was seriously injured. He has been traveling back home in large part to find and bury the remains of two of his children, who had been in the rubble of his house after one of the airstrikes. We interviewed his wife, Rawa, and other relatives, and reviewed death certificates and video footage to help understand what happened to his family. In our reporting, The Times also learned that a cousin of Mr. Auda’s was a senior leader of Hamas in Gaza who was killed during the war last year. The Times asked Mr. Auda if he himself had any ties to Hamas. He said he was not a member of Hamas and not political, and had dozens of cousins. He said he had seen the one affiliated with Hamas just a couple of times in his life. Like other news organizations, The Times has not yet been able to send its own staff journalists into Gaza unescorted. This episode, like many other Times pieces for more than two years, seeks to help our audience understand the experiences of Gazans during a devastating war.

President Trump’s trade war against China has so far proved harder to win than his administration ever let on. And it reached new levels of tension this month when China said it would further restrict exports of rare-earth minerals to the United States and Europe. Keith Bradsher, the Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times, discusses a potential turning point in the standoff as Mr. Trump meets this week with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in what will be their first talks since the trade war began.

As wildfire seasons grow longer and deadlier, states are increasingly relying on private companies to provide thousands of firefighters to the front lines. Hannah Dreier, who has been covering the story, explains how lax rules and regulatory loopholes have left many of these firefighters sick, in debt and on their own.

A federal investigation into illegal gambling has rocked the N.B.A. On Thursday, more than 30 people were indicted in the case, which involves the Mafia, high-profile players and the manipulation of professional basketball games to rig bets. Jonah E. Bromwich and Jenny Vrentas, who have been covering the story, discuss the shocking facts and the growing concern that online betting might be compromising the integrity of the sport.

The only thing Gilbert Cruz loves more than celebrating Halloween is watching scary movies. And between the classic horror franchises that span decades and the prestige original films of the current moment, he has seen hundreds of them. On today’s episode, Gilbert puts his knowledge to use in conversation with his fellow horror aficionados Jason Zinoman and Erik Piepenburg. They comb through a century of spooks, frights and screams to crown the Top 10 franchises in cinema history. Horror franchises discussed on this episode: “A Nightmare on Elm Street” “A Quiet Place” “Alien” “The Amityville Horror” “Candyman” “Child’s Play” “The Conjuring” “The Exorcist” “The Evil Dead” “Final Destination” “Friday the 13th” “Halloween” The Hannibal Lecter films “Hellraiser” “The Hills Have Eyes” “Insidious” “Jaws” “Night of the Living Dead” “The Omen” “Paranormal Activity” “Phantasm” “Poltergeist” “Psycho” “The Purge” “The Ring” “Saw” “Scream” “Terrifier” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” The Universal monster films “V/H/S”