Author: NY TIMES

“How do I know if something is a miracle?” This is the question that Rita (Mónica Villa), a 60-something Catholic woman living in rural Argentina, poses to a search engine — though deep down, she already knows the answer. A statue that Rita found while tending to her duties as the local chapel keeper isn’t the long-lost figure of St. Rita. But it’d be a miracle if it were, and miracles mean glory, attention and prestige in her small town.Rita’s simple life — scrubbing pews, tolerating the pretenses of other church volunteers, coming home to her spacey but loyal husband,…

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Peru early Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey.The quake struck five miles west of Arequipa at 12:36 a.m. local time, the U.S.G.S. said. Peruvian authorities issued a tsunami alert on the country’s coast and warned that waves could reach the town of Puerto Atico by 12:52 a.m. local time.This is a developing story. Source link

Stephanie Alise Fleischman knew “it was pretty out of the norm” when Zachary David Kuperman planned their trip to Italy in 2023.“He barely makes a dinner reservation,” Ms. Fleischman, 37, said with a laugh. So in her mind, since he is a spontaneous sort of guy, it could only mean one thing: A proposal was near.Leading up to the proposal, and even following it, Mr. Kuperman, 38, kept her guessing with one surprise after the next, starting with a Lyft trip, not to the airport as she thought, but to Manhattan’s East 34th Street Heliport, where a Blade helicopter whisked…

The microphones were muted. So were the moderators.Despite all the CNN logos filling viewers’ screens, and the nonstop hype that the network had piled onto Thursday’s prime time debate between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump, the anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash mostly receded into the background as they moderated.There were virtually no real-time fact-checks of Mr. Trump’s numerous baseless assertions. At tense moments, the moderators deferred to the candidates to directly address each other’s claims. And the concerns that Mr. Trump might pick a showstopping fight with his CNN interlocutors proved unfounded.Mr. Tapper’s name was mentioned…

Handicapped by more than a terrible title, Christy Hall’s “Daddio,” set almost entirely inside a New York City taxicab, tries too hard and lasts too long. A synthetic encounter between a gabby cabby and his self-possessed female passenger, the movie is a claustrophobic two-hander oxygenated in part by Phedon Papamichael’s sleekly gorgeous cinematography.The star power of its leads, Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson, doesn’t hurt either. Injecting nuance and emotional depth into Hall’s uninspired script, the two turn a threatened slog into a mildly enjoyable journey. Penn plays Clark, a tough, salt-of-the-earth type (he actually talks about salt at one…

After a testy campaign that featured strong attacks on the government by virtually all the candidates over the economy, internet restrictions and harsh enforcement of the hijab law on women, Iran will hold elections on Friday to pick a president.The vote comes at a perilous time for the country, with the incoming president facing a cascade of challenges, including discontent and divisions at home, an ailing economy and a volatile region that has taken Iran to the brink of war twice this year.With the race coming down to a three-way battle between two conservative candidates and a reformist, many analysts…

What happens when deal breakers don’t break the deal? Source link

Second Stage Theater, one of the four nonprofit organizations with Broadway houses, on Thursday named a new artistic director as the sector braces for a wave of leadership turnover.Founded in 1979 and distinguished by its commitment to presenting work by living American writers, Second Stage said that its board had chosen Evan Cabnet as its next artistic director. Cabnet is currently the artistic director of LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater’s program for emerging writers, directors and designers. Cabnet will succeed Carole Rothman, one of the theater’s founders, who led the organization for 45 years and is stepping down in August.Second Stage…

“Fancy Dance,” the debut feature film from Erica Tremblay, begins where most films of its ilk might find their story’s second act. Tawi, a mother of a teenage daughter, has been missing for weeks. Search parties have been combing the fields, and her sister, Jax (Lily Gladstone), has struggled to get the F.B.I. to assist.The ghost of Tawi, in other words, is a fixture from the start and hovers over the film. The empty space of her — we glimpse her only in photos and fliers — is intentional: This story about the search for a missing woman on the…

A cardiac surgeon, a former mayor of Tehran and a cleric implicated in the execution of political prisoners are among the six candidates approved by officials to run in Iran’s election on Friday to replace the president who died in a helicopter crash last month.The candidates have renounced Iran’s hijab enforcement. They’ve addressed American sanctions that have contributed to the country’s flailing economy, and openly criticized the government during a series of debates, an unusual move in Iranian politics. Still, voter apathy in the country is high and divisions among conservative leaders make predicting the outcome difficult.Though Iran’s supreme leader,…