Author: NY TIMES

Nearly 20 years ago, a wry young human rights lawyer, Keir Starmer, told a documentary filmmaker that it had struck him as “odd” to receive the title of Queen’s Counsel, “since I often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy.”Mr. Starmer, now the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, has long since disavowed his anti-monarchy statements as youthful indiscretions. In 2014, he knelt before Charles, then the Prince of Wales, who tapped him on the shoulder with a sword and awarded him a knighthood.If Sir Keir Starmer is swept into 10 Downing Street in the general election next week, as…

[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]Durante el último año, dos profesores de filosofía han estado llamando a destacados autores e intelectuales con una propuesta inusual, quizá herética. Han preguntado a estos pensadores si, a cambio de un buen pago, no les importaría convertirse en chatbots de inteligencia artificial.John Kaag, uno de los académicos, es profesor de la Universidad de Massachusetts Lowell y conocido por escribir libros como Hiking With Nietzsche y American Philosophy: A Love Story, que mezclan filosofía y memorias.Clancy Martin, socio de Kaag en el proyecto, es profesor de la Universidad de Misuri, en Kansas City, y…

Roberta A. Kaplan, the celebrated lawyer who took on former President Donald J. Trump, and helped win marriage equality for gay Americans, is stepping down from the law firm she founded after clashing with her partners over her treatment of colleagues.Ms. Kaplan, a hard-charging civil rights lawyer, announced that she was leaving the firm, Kaplan Hecker & Fink, which she formed in 2017, to start a new one.Her departure followed months of internal frustration over Ms. Kaplan’s conduct toward other lawyers, according to people familiar with the matter. Those concerns led her colleagues to remove her from the firm’s management…

Filmed in the summer of 2019, the lyrical documentary “Hummingbirds” is a portrait of two friends, Silvia Del Carmen Castaños and Estefanía (Beba) Contreras, and their lives in Laredo, Texas, across the border from Mexico. When they hang out near the Rio Grande, Beba says, “I’ve never been this close to the river except when I crossed.” She jokes that they’re breathing air from another country.But “Hummingbirds” isn’t a social-issue documentary, at least not directly. First and foremost, it is interested in simply capturing Silvia and Beba’s summer vibe, as they stargaze, watch fireworks, sing together (Beba is a songwriter)…

Brazil decriminalized marijuana for personal use on Wednesday, making the nation of 203 million the largest to take such a measure and the latest sign of a growing global acceptance of the drug.Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that Brazilians could possess up to 40 grams of cannabis — roughly enough for 80 joints — without facing penalties, a decision that would take effect within days and stand for the next 18 months.The court asked Brazil’s Congress and health authorities to then set the permanent amount of marijuana that citizens could possess. Selling marijuana remains a criminal offense.Thousands of Brazilians are serving…

Tennessee wrapped up a film shoot Sunday night, and Dalton Knecht was the last player in the locker room as he headed to practice with graduate assistant Riley Collins. Before Knecht and Collins walked out the door, coach Rick Barnes screamed, “Wait! I gotta show you something.”Barnes pulled out his iPad and compiled three of Kevin Durant’s best games at Texas — 37 points against Oklahoma State, 32 points against Kansas and the 2007 Big Game. 37 points in the 12th championship game against the Jayhawks. Barnes narrates each play.Look at how quickly KD puts the ball in the basket.…

[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]Kiley DeMarco asistió hace poco a la Noche de la Seguridad en la escuela primaria pública de sus hijos en Long Island, Nueva York. Mientras recorría los distintos puestos para informarse sobre cómo proteger a sus hijos de la ingesta accidental de una gomita de cannabis, sobre un programa local de prevención de la violencia o sobre cómo responderían los agentes de policía en caso de emergencia en el campus, un puesto le llamó la atención: un padre pedía a otros que se comprometieran a no dar teléfonos inteligentes a sus hijos hasta el…

With the presidential election approaching, many chief executives have been glued to the shot clock counting down to Election Day, wondering which companies and industries the Biden-appointed regulatory apparatus — perhaps the most aggressive in a generation — may try to target before it goes to zero.Business leaders have been combing through comments and transcripts to try to understand the pending priorities of regulators like Lina Khan, the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division.They’ve zeroed in on what may sound like a nerdy legal theory, but…

Agnieszka Holland focuses on the Polish-Belarusian border as a Syrian family tries to make it to the European Union. Source link

For years, Russia covertly propped up authoritarian leaders, exploited natural resources and fought extremists in a number of African countries.Russia worked through the Wagner group, a shadowy web of political advisers, entrepreneurs and mercenaries. But it never revealed how closely it was controlling Wagner’s activities around the world, maintaining a distance as numerous accusations of human rights abuses were leveled against the group’s operatives on the ground.Wagner was led by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, a ruthless tycoon who was once a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. But after Mr. Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny against Mr. Putin…