Author: NY TIMES

After 14 years in the shadows, Britain’s Labour Party has returned to governing. And the country’s first female chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, is faced with the tough job of restoring Britain’s economic growth prospects and ending a decade and a half of stagnation.For inspiration, she has turned to another glass-ceiling-shattering woman, on the other side of the Atlantic: the U.S. Treasury secretary, Janet L. Yellen.Ms. Reeves was named chancellor on Friday after the Labour Party won a majority in Thursday’s general election. Now in charge of Britain’s budget, she is expected to pursue an economic agenda influenced by…

If not left to die of dehydration or illness, migrants on the dangerous land routes through northern Africa toward the Mediterranean and Europe risk rape, torture, sex trafficking and even organ theft, according to a new report produced in part by the United Nations.Migrant deaths on the Mediterranean have drawn global attention over the past decade, but “the number of those who die in the desert may well be at least double” those, said the report released Friday by two United Nations agencies and the Mixed Migration Centre, a non-governmental research group based in Denmark.Based on interviews with more than…

In an election upset in Iran, the reformist candidate, Masoud Pezeshkian, who advocated for moderate policies at home and improved relations with the West, won the presidential runoff election, beating his hard-line rival, the Ministry of Interior said on Saturday morning.Mr. Pezeshkian, 69, a cardiac surgeon, got 16.3 million votes to defeat the hard-line candidate, Saeed Jalili, delivering a blow to the conservative faction and a major victory for the reformist faction that had been sidelined from politics for the past few years. Mr. Jalili received 13.5 million votes.After polls closed at midnight, turnout stood at 50 percent, about 10…

Investors are poised for a report on Friday to show a slowdown in the pace of hiring in June, building on weak services and manufacturing data, and to firm up their expectations of interest rate cuts starting as soon as September.Signs of lower rates in the near future, which would make it cheaper for consumers and companies to borrow, have typically been accompanied by market rallies.Stock indexes tracking larger companies have been buoyed in recent weeks. The S&P 500 has repeatedly set fresh records and is up more than 16 percent this year. However, the Russell 2000 index, which tracks…

Paal Enger, a rising prospect for a celebrated Norwegian soccer club who traded a game that he loved for another — art theft — that he absolutely relished, culminating in his infamous 1994 heist of Edvard Munch’s masterpiece “The Scream,” died on June 29 in Oslo. He was 57.His death was confirmed by Nils Christian Nordhus, an Oslo-based lawyer who formerly represented Mr. Enger. He did not provide any more details.Mr. Enger, who was born in Oslo on March 26, 1967, rose from the junior system of Vaalerenga, a five-time champion of Norway’s top-level league, now known as Eliteserien, and…

A fresh employment report on Friday showed that unemployment ticked up in June as wage growth cooled, signs that the labor market continued to moderate after years of remarkable strength. That could keep Federal Reserve officials wary as they watch for clues that the job market is on the cusp of cracking.Fed policymakers have two main goals: Achieving low, stable inflation and a strong labor market. They try to accomplish that by setting interest rates, either leaving them low to bolster the economy or raising them to high levels to weigh on growth.Since early 2022, Fed officials have been using…

The night President Emmanuel Macron announced a snap election for France’s National Assembly last month, two words began to buzz around the internet and the media: Popular Front.It was a reference to the left-wing alliance formed in the 1930s to resist rising fascism in Europe and at home. Now, a group of France’s main left-wing parties have banded together to fight what they see as a new danger: Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party, which is closer to taking power than ever before.That left-wing alliance called itself the New Popular Front.“For the first time since the Vichy regime, the…

Bonds have begun to recede into the background, where they belong. As steady earners, they don’t even try to compete with stocks, the prima donnas of the investing world.The first half of the year was mediocre for bonds, but that counted as a colossal improvement. All too frequently in the last three years, bonds demanded attention for the worst of reasons.Now, though, with the annual inflation rate falling, the fundamental outlook for the rest of 2024 and beyond is more positive for bonds than it has been in some time. If you’ve got cash sitting in a money market fund…

As Fourth of July celebrations commenced across the nation, Mark Zuckerberg dropped a video onto his Instagram account that immediately generated hundreds of thousands of views. Indeed, the clip seemed designed for warp speed virality.Behind a fast-moving boat, Mr. Zuckerberg wakeboards while wearing a tuxedo and sunglasses as he sips from a tall boy. The clip is set to Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 anthem “Born in the U.S.A.” For its half-minute duration, Meta’s multibillionaire chief executive shows off his surf technique.“Amazing!” commented Lauren Sánchez, the fiancée of Jeff Bezos.A gaming influencer, @StoneMountain64, wrote, “Now that’s content.”Mr. Zuckerberg replied, “Just doing my…

Count Binface, Elmo and a man wearing a balaclava with a baked-beans print have all had their extremely brief moments in the sun in this British election.As has long been the tradition in Britain, the elections include various joke candidates who often run against prominent politicians. While obviously a bit of comic relief during a serious time, the candidates are still there to make a point: Since the 1970s, they have aimed to highlight and satarize the gap between politics and regular people.On election night, these joke candidates share the stage as they learn who is the winner of their…