Author: NY TIMES

For months, concerns have grown that the war in Gaza might ignite a second conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the well-armed militia that is loosely allied with Hamas and based just across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.The two sides have repeatedly traded strikes since the Gaza war began in October, killing civilians and combatants in Lebanon and Israel, with most of the civilian casualties in Lebanon. The hostilities have also forced more than 150,000 people on both sides of the border to leave their homes for temporary shelters. That has put pressure on the Israeli government to make the north…

Voters go to the polls in Britain on Thursday in a dyspeptic mood, many of them frustrated with the Conservative government but skeptical that any replacement can unravel the tangle of problems hobbling the country.Their skepticism is warranted, according to analysts. Even if the Labour Party wins a robust majority in Parliament, as polls suggest, it will confront a raft of challenges, from a torpid economy to a corroded National Health Service, without having many tools to fix them.The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, would inherit a “legacy of ashes,” said Robert Ford, a professor of political science at the University…

When Gregg Berhalter took over as head coach of the U.S. men’s national team five years ago, the program was still trying to move on from one of the darkest moments in its history.The 2017 loss to Trinidad and Tobago, which meant the U.S. missed the next year’s World Cup in Russia, was more than a wake-up call. It forces U.S. Soccer’s leadership to look in the mirror at every flaw. It highlights the failure of previous cycles to develop young talent. A year after that game, Berhalter was named the man to push the national team forward.Now, after the…

Something strange unfolds online each spring. As the warmer months approach, many men seem compelled to post about the allure of a woman in a sundress. The simple wardrobe staple has long been a point of inexplicable obsession, but this year, people are asking questions.Why do some men get so excited to see sundresses? Wait — do men even know what a sundress is? Does anyone know what a sundress is? As social media flooded with responses, it became clear that no one could quite agree on what made a sundress a sundress (as opposed to a slip dress, a…

The video posted last year on Chinese social media showed more than 100 Japanese children, supposedly at an elementary school in Shanghai, gathered in their schoolyard. Chinese subtitles quoted two students leading the group as screaming: “Shanghai is ours. Soon the whole China will be ours, too.”The messages were alarming and infuriating in China, which Japan invaded during World War II. Except that the scene actually took place at an elementary school in Japan. And the students were not stoking hatred of China; they were swearing an oath to play fair at what looked like a sporting event.The video wasn’t…

In past years, when athletes from China have been accused of doping, the government has mobilized its propaganda apparatus of state-owned newspapers, television commentators and social media accounts to defend the athletes and deflect criticism of China’s sports system.This time, faced with anger from rival Olympians and charges of a coverup over the revelation that 23 elite Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance before competing in the 2021 Olympic Games, China is taking a different approach: virtual silence.Even as the issue is being debated widely abroad, including in Congress last week, Chinese domestic media coverage has been…

“Explore what’s in bloom now,” exclaims a banner on the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill’s website. And, indeed, there is much to see.The dramatic property in Boylston, Mass., includes two conservatories and 18 distinct gardens, both formal and naturalistic. The grounds offer sweeping views across the vast Wachusett Reservoir, as well as hiking trails that tuck into wilder portions of the garden’s nearly 200 acres.As director of horticulture, Mark Richardson is always attuned to the calendar of displays that his team provides to delight more than 225,000 visitors a year. But the garden has two additional compelling botanical…

Few movies have been more influential than “Seven Samurai,” an existential action film directed by Akira Kurosawa that, at longer than three hours, seemingly muscled its way into existence.“Seven Samurai,” made in Japan in the early 1950s, was by far the most expensive film then made in the country. And it required the longest shoot, in part because the exhausted director needed hospitalization. Trimmed by nearly one-third, it was introduced to the world at the 1954 Venice International Film Festival, sharing the Silver Lion award with three other movies.The abridged version opened in the United States in 1956 as “The…

Jamaica was hammered by a surge of water, damaging winds and flooding rainfall on Wednesday as Hurricane Beryl delivered a glancing blow when it passed just south of the coast, claiming at least one life on the island. The effects of the storm, a Category 4, struck Jamaica just days after it swept through the eastern Caribbean, killing at least seven other people.Virtually every building on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique in Grenada lay in ruins after the storm made landfall there earlier this week, leaving hospitals and marinas destroyed, rooftops torn away and tree trunks snapped like…

The Unstoppables is a series about people whose ambition is undimmed by time. Below, Paul Theroux explains, in his own words, what continues to motivate him.After 60 years of writing and publishing — and almost 60 books — I feel ordering my thoughts on paper to be not a job but a process of my life. You always hear writers complain about the hellish difficulty of writing, but it’s a dishonest complaint.So many people have it much harder — soldiers, firefighters, field workers, truckers. The writer’s profession is a life of self-indulgence. With luck and effort, you make a living.…