Author: NY TIMES

More than 1,300 people died making the Islamic pilgrimage of hajj in Saudi Arabia this month, the vast majority of whom the Saudi government said did not have permits. Many walked for miles in scorching heat after paying thousands of dollars to illicit tour operators.While pilgrims with permits are transported around the holy city of Mecca in air-conditioned buses and rest in air-conditioned tents, unregistered ones are often exposed to the elements. In recent days, as temperatures surpassed 120 degrees, some pilgrims described watching people faint and passing bodies in the street.On Sunday, in an interview on state television, the…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel aired new grievances on Sunday over the Biden administration’s supply of munitions for the war in Gaza as his minister of defense arrived in Washington for meetings with senior U.S. officials.Some Israeli news outlets had portrayed the visit by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, although preplanned, as a “reconciliation” trip aimed at smoothing recent tensions with the country’s most crucial ally. Mr. Netanyahu’s government and the Biden administration have been increasingly at odds over Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and Mr. Netanyahu lashed out at the United States last week for withholding munitions.But on Sunday morning,…

Tucked away on a side street behind Père-Lachaise, the largest cemetery in Paris and perhaps the most visited necropolis in the world, Colm Dillane, a.k.a. KidSuper, stood at the cyclonic center of a studio strewed with clothes, bags, shoes and props and crammed with models, stylists, photographers, videographers, the designer’s parents and the rapper Lil Tjay. Mr. Dillane looked for all the world like a man whose fashion show was far off in the future, not the following night.“What’s up, what’s good?” Lil Tjay asked Mr. Dillane. The question was rhetorical. Lil Tjay, whose given name is Tione Jayden Merritt,…

Consumer sentiment about the state of the economy could be pivotal in shaping the 2024 presidential election.President Biden is still grappling with how to address one of his biggest weaknesses: inflation, which has recently cooled but soared in his first years in office. Former President Donald J. Trump’s frequent economic boasts are undermined by the mass job losses and supply chain disruptions wrought by the pandemic.Here’s a fact check of some of their more recent claims about the economy.Both candidates misrepresented inflation.What Was Said“They had inflation of — the real number, if you really get into the real number, it’s…

A joint venture set up in 2019 by two top Japanese and South Korean companies was hailed as a beacon of cooperation amid strained diplomatic relations.Executives from South Korea’s Naver and Japan’s SoftBank Group said they would jointly own the operator of Line, a South Korean-developed messaging app popularized in Japan. They gave the project a code name that emphasized cooperation: Gaia.Five years later, Japan and South Korea have made significant strides in easing longstanding historical tensions. But a rift has emerged over the ownership of the Naver-SoftBank venture, and diplomats and international relations experts fear it could again put…

Pets are more popular than ever. Roughly two-thirds of American homes have at least one pet, up from 56 percent in 1988, according to the American Pet Products Association, and Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets in 2022, up from $123.6 billion in 2021. An estimated 91 million households in Europe own at least one pet, an increase of 20 million over the past decade. The pet population in India hit 31 million in 2021, up from 10 million in 2011.And our pets are becoming ever more like us — or at least, that seems to be our goal.…

Jeremy Tepper, who over a long and varied career as a journalist, singer, label owner and radio producer championed the anarchic, high-energy music that straddled the lines separating country, rock, punk and plain old Americana, died on June 14 in Queens. He was 60.His wife, the musician Laura Cantrell, said the cause of death, at Elmhurst Hospital, was a heart attack.Born in upstate New York and educated in Manhattan, Mr. Tepper was perhaps an unlikely apostle for a style of music variously called alt- or outlaw country, but which he preferred to call “rig rock” — the sort of sounds…

Israeli troops tied a wounded Palestinian to the top of a military vehicle on Saturday morning during an operation in the occupied West Bank, a scene that was captured on video and quickly went viral, prompting outrage.The Israeli military said that the act violated military procedure and that there would be an investigation.Israeli soldiers raided Wadi Burqin, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Jenin, on Saturday morning to arrest Palestinians suspected of involvement in militant groups. Jenin, a longtime stronghold for loosely organized armed groups, has experienced repeated crackdowns by the Israeli military over…

In the predawn darkness, a procession of druid priests in white robes carry banners by the monoliths of Stonehenge, the ancient British archaeological site. There is an aroma of burning sage; a bagpipe calls in the distance. As dawn approaches, fever-pitched drumming mounts. If you hadn’t already felt the power in the stones at this summer solstice celebration, there is no denying the physical vibration as the sun rises in alignment with the stone circle.Most of the time, visiting Stonehenge — which is owned by the British crown and managed by English Heritage, a nonprofit that oversees more than 400…

Seven weeks after firing Davon Ham, the Los Angeles Lakers found their next head coach on Thursday: JJ Redick, a 15-year NBA veteran turned podcaster and broadcaster who knows the league firsthand sources revealed Competitor. Redick will sign a four-year contract with the Lakers worth about $8 million per season, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.For the past four weeks, the Lakers have been focused behind the scenes on the 39-year-old Redick, enamored with his potential to be a current and future coach over the next few seasons of LeBron James’ storied career.Redick first interviewed for the Lakers…