Greetings! Happy International Podcast Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

🇦🇫 Taliban enforces nationwide internet blackout amid “immorality” decree. Near-total collapse in connectivity across Afghanistan has been reported after fiber-optic links were cut, with real-time metrics from NetBlocks showing traffic down to roughly 14% of normal levels. It’s the first shutdown of this scale since the Taliban assumed power in August 2021, curtailing communication for NGOs, journalists, and families who rely on cheap mobile data. The blackout follows a decree by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada banning high-speed service to curb “immorality”, an elastic term the authorities have used to police music, schooling, and citizen movement. Local broadcasters said cuts extended province by province before going national, though the Taliban offered no formal explanation even as officials continue to use social platforms for messaging. Aid groups warn that outages impede crisis response, banking, and hospital coordination, which depend on SMS alerts and WhatsApp triage. Economically, a prolonged shutdown compounds a jobless rate already estimated above 30% and a currency under pressure. Rights monitors say the move consolidates information control while isolating over 40 million people from the outside world.

🇵🇸 At least 31 Palestinians killed in Gaza as cease-fire plan stokes new questions. Hospitals in central and southern Gaza reported at least 31 people killed in separate incidents, including gunfire near the Israeli-controlled Netzarim corridor and an airstrike in Nuseirat camp. The deaths landed as Washington circulated a plan that pairs a cease-fire and humanitarian surge with disarmament benchmarks for Hamas and interim international administration, conditions negotiators have struggled to sequence. Israel’s government signaled support for broad contours, while Palestinian factions said they would review the text; aid agencies continue to warn of ongoing famine, especially in districts where deliveries remain sporadic, underlining genocide pronouncements by the United Nations (UN) and International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). Israeli authorities blocked high-protein peanut butter deliveries to Gaza’s starving children, citing them as “luxury” items, according to UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher. With over 2 million civilian residents displaced, logistics hinge on secure corridors and predictable fuel flows for hospitals and bakeries. Diplomats say verification and prisoner exchanges remain the hardest parts, historically consuming weeks even after a deal in principle. Any pause that expands food, water, and medical access would lower mortality in the short term, but reconstruction needs are measured in tens of billions of dollars. After the attacks, commentators on social media noted Israel has bombed 8 Arab nations over the past two years in aggressive campaigns: Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine (Gaza and West Bank), Syria, Tunisia, Qatar, and Yemen.

🏈 Bad Bunny to headline Super Bowl halftime in Santa Clara. The National Football League (NFL), Apple Music, and Roc Nation announced the Puerto Rican star will perform at Levi’s Stadium on February 8, elevating a global artist who has topped streaming charts with all-Spanish albums. The selection highlights both cultural reach and commercial calculus for an event that regularly draws 90-115 million U.S. viewers and billions of social impressions worldwide. Bad Bunny’s statement framed the stage as a celebration of identity (“for my people, my culture, and our history”) while signaling a production likely to blend spectacle with social commentary. The booking triggered predictable polarization online, from endorsements by state leaders to critiques from pro-Trump influencers worried about politics intruding on pop. For the NFL and sponsors, the risk-reward equation is the same as every February: maximize resonance, minimize controversy, and sell the halftime documentary later. Production timelines typically compress into 12–16 weeks of rehearsals, staging, and broadcast logistics, with contingency weather plans and backup power. Expect merchandising tie-ins and a streaming bump across the artist’s catalog as placement drives catalog plays.

🎬 An AI “actress” goes viral, and Hollywood calls its agent: algorithms. The Guardian profiled “Tilly Norwood”, a photoreal virtual performer whose clips amassed millions of views, reviving studio debates on AI-generated talent. The article details how synthetic actors can be trained on licensed (or less than licensed) likeness data, raising novel issues in residuals, consent, and de-aging. Unions that secured guardrails in last year’s contracts now confront a grayer frontier: synthetic cast billed as “original”, with no human analog to pay or credit. Studios see cost savings in stunts, crowd shots, and multilingual dubs; critics fear monocultures of faces optimized for engagement. Regulators will test whether disclosure rules and right-of-publicity statutes can keep pace with rapid model iteration. Talent agencies, meanwhile, experiment with “digital doubles” that route monotony to models and premium scenes to humans. The practical question (who owns a face that never existed) has arrived on set.

📞 The dial-up tone fades to black: AOL retires its modem era. America Online’s on-again, off-again modem business finally goes dark today after three decades, ending the 56 kbps handshake that launched millions onto the early web. Consumer notices from late summer confirmed the cutoff with migration instructions. Although fewer than 1% of U.S. households still use dial-up, rural pockets rely on copper lines as a last resort when fixed wireless or fiber aren’t available. The company says resources will shift to email, news, and other content services as legacy access plans disappear. For historians, dial-up’s long tail outlived Netscape, AIM, and most home fax machines. Internet service today averages >200 Mbps in U.S. urban markets, a 3,500× jump from dial-up’s peak speeds. Look out for a minor scramble in remote communities this week as users seek low-capacity LTE or satellite stopgaps.

📺 ‘The Simpsons’ launched Season 37. The longest-running American animated series and primetime sitcom returned with an emphasis the producers have repeated for years: lampooning the day-to-day partisan news cycle is not the mission so much as diagnosing the culture that produces it. That stance reflects the reality of animation lead times and a preference for evergreen targets—conspicuous consumption, tech fads, tin-eared elites, and America’s tireless talent for self-parody. Across 37 years, the show helped mint a shared lexicon (“D’oh!”, “cromulent”, “embiggen”), pioneered meta-humor on network TV, and anticipated real headlines often enough to become a meme about prophecy. Its satire now competes with feeds that refresh every second, which is why the series leans into longer-arc commentary on family, work, civic rituals, and the way platforms rewire attention. Milestones remain part of the appeal: the 800th episode looms as proof that Springfield still functions as a national funhouse mirror for class, commerce, and pop-mythology. In an era of infinite choice, the yellow family’s value proposition is stability with just enough reinvention to feel current without chasing every headline. After more than three dozen seasons, the creative brief remains familiar: keep Springfield recognizably itself while letting the world around it get weirder.

Help better understand our audience. Take this 1-minute survey here so we can provide our community with the best content, news, and stories that matter to you most.

Feel free to reply with your feedback. PM reads and responds to every email. :)

That’s all for today!

Much obliged and many thanks for reading and sharing today’s newsletter.

See you tomorrow!