Your morning briefing. All the news you need to start your day.

On today's podcast:

(1) Netflix dropped out of the fight to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing the way for rival bidder Paramount Skydance Corp. to clinch its $111 billion deal for the historic Hollywood studio.

(2) In the UK, The Green Party won a special election for a Manchester seat in the House of Commons, underscoring the threat posed to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s governing Labour Party on its left flank.

(3) Anthropic rejected the Pentagon’s latest offer in a dispute over safeguards around the use of its artificial intelligence technology by the US military, escalating the standoff a day before a government deadline for the company to drop its restrictions or face severe consequences.

(4) US and Iranian officials ended the latest round of nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday by agreeing to reconvene as soon as next week, opening the door to further diplomacy even as President Donald Trump masses military forces in the region.

(5) Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she denied any association with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein during a “repetitive” hours-long deposition before congressional investigators Thursday.

Podcast Conversation: What the First Billionaire Reveals About the First Trillionaire