Author: NY TIMES

The Biden administration this week awarded $504 million to 12 regions in states from New Mexico to New Hampshire with the goal of transforming overlooked communities into “tech hubs.”The grants reflect an effort to spread the production of critical technology beyond epicenters like Silicon Valley and coastal regions, bringing with them more high-paying jobs in industries like computer chips, quantum computing and personalized health care.The estimated award for each region ranges from around $20 million to more than $50 million. The tech hubs program is part of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost the domestic production…

A lava fountain surged out of Mount Etna in Sicily on Thursday, sending a glowing burst of orange out of a crater and down its flank.Dark ash from the eruption fell on towns at the foot of the volcano, and residents were seen in video footage sweeping a thick layer of dust off streets and sidewalks.Earlier this week, activity also intensified at Stromboli, a volcano nearby in the Aeolian Islands, with huge clouds of ash and debris falling into the sea.Salvatore Cocina, head of Sicily’s civil protection department, said that the authorities were evaluating the possibility that large amounts of…

When Donald J. Trump became president in 2017, prices had risen roughly 5 percent over the previous four years. If he were to win the race for the White House in 2024, he would be entering office at a time when they are up 20 percent and counting.That is a critically different economic backdrop for the kind of policies — tariffs and tax cuts — that the Republican contender has put at the center of his campaign.Mr. Trump regularly blames the Biden administration for the recent price surge, but inflation has been a global phenomenon since the onset of the…

He was as much a vessel as an originator of the great change. “There were many people working on naturalizing the prevailing styles, and sort of domesticating them,” Stephen Wadsworth, who directed “Iphigénie en Tauride” at the Metropolitan Opera in 2007, said in an interview. Other opera composers, writers and impresarios around the same time were seeking greater simplicity, less complicated melodies, the merging of arias into the surrounding recitatives (sung dialogues), a more realistic acting style and less subservience to singers.Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” (1762) was the culmination of these efforts, ushering in his trademark style. His librettist, Ranieri…

Israeli negotiators traveled to the Gulf nation of Qatar on Friday for the first time in weeks to restart contacts over a cease-fire deal that would end the war in Gaza, following weeks of deadlock in the negotiations.An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the meeting as a preliminary discussion with more substantive talks to follow.David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence service, led the Israeli delegation to Doha, the Qatari capital, where he was set to meet with Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister.Cease-fire negotiations had been stalled for weeks…

It might look small compared with Britain’s dominant parties, but for the Green Party, the elections results were big: The small, left-wing party will now have four members of Parliament, its best ever electoral result.For years, the party, which has campaigned on pro-environmental policies, has struggled to increase its foothold in Parliament. Since 2010, it has had just one member of Parliament, who did not run in this election.But this year, some voters appeared to be turning away from the two main parties, Labour and the Conservatives, as more seats went to smaller parties and independent candidates. The Greens’ co-leaders,…

Madison Chock and Evan Bates found chemistry when she picked him to be her ice dance partner in 2011. Then they found even more. Source link

Between abandoned coal mines and an engine plant scheduled for closure, a gleaming new factory hovers like a phoenix over Billy-Berclau, a small industrial town in northern France. Inside, 700 newly hired workers are making next-generation electric vehicle batteries for the Automotive Cells Company — part of a grand project to revive the wider region’s flailing fortunes.A “Battery Valley” is rising here from the remains of industries that shuttered during a wave of globalization. Three more giant electric car battery plants are expected to open by 2026, a testament to a re-industrialization strategy that President Emmanuel Macron’s government has trumpeted…

Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTubeWe’re off for the Fourth of July, but what’s a better tribute to America than a conversation about the technology that enables us to endlessly stream TV from the couch? This week, we’re bringing you an episode we enjoyed from the recently debuted New York Times podcast The Interview. Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive of Netflix, about his early days working in a video store, shows to fold your laundry to and the future of the entertainment industry.Credits“Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton…

Don’t call her a scream queen.Mia Goth may have amassed a filmography dominated by horror films like “A Cure for Wellness,” “Suspiria” and “Infinity Pool,” but she prefers not to limit herself.“I don’t want to be boxed in,” the 30-year-old actress from London said in a video interview. “I want to do everything.” Still, her work involves a fair bit of screaming, and she is quite good at it.The “X” trilogy is no exception. Directed by Ti West, the films follow the lives and crimes of Pearl and Maxine, both played by Goth. As we meet them in the first…