Author: NY TIMES

Edi Rama’s best friend during the World Cup summer of 1982 just so happened to be the one person he knew who owned a color television. So every evening, Rama would find himself crammed into his kitchen with countless others, desperately hoping that the fuzzy, flickering signal would hold.Albania was an island back then, under the repressive, conspiracist rule of Enver Hoxha. Foreign travel was banned for all but a select few insiders. Even communication with the outside world, particularly the West, was limited. Rama and his friends could only follow that World Cup through what he has subsequently called…

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.Jacob Bernstein is fascinated by power, privilege and the people who wield both.As a reporter for the Styles desk at The New York Times, Mr. Bernstein’s beat involves writing about influential figures — both past and present — of New York City.In the last year, his coverage has included an exploration of the former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s “second career on the society circuit”; a profile of a Republican pundit turned liberal favorite, Alyssa Farah Griffin; and an article…

Home prices have held up better than expected amid high interest rates. But that doesn’t mean the housing market is healthy.When the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 2022, most economists thought the housing market would be the first to suffer the consequences: Higher borrowing costs would make it more expensive to buy and to build, leading to reduced demand, less construction and lower prices.They were right — at first. Construction slowed, but then picked up. Prices hiccuped, then resumed their upward march. Higher rates made homes harder to afford, but Americans still wanted to buy them.The result is…

In the nearly three years since McDonald’s announced that it was partnering with IBM to develop a drive-through order taker powered by artificial intelligence, videos popped up on social media showing confused and frustrated customers trying to correct comically inaccurate meals.“Stop! Stop! Stop!” two friends screamed with humorous anguish on a TikTok video as an A.I. drive-through misunderstands their order, tallying up 240, 250 and then 260 Chicken McNuggets.In other videos, the A.I. rings up a customer for nine iced teas instead of one, fails to explain why a customer could not order Mountain Dew and thought another wanted to…

Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy star in a romanticized drama about a fictional motorcycle club in the 1960s. Source link

Two vans loaded with precision instruments trundled along the streets of New York and New Jersey in the heat earlier this week, sniffing for toxic chemicals in the air.They detected spikes in methane, a potent greenhouse gas, most likely from leaks, or from natural-gas-burning buses. They found plumes of nitrous oxide, possibly from wastewater. And all along the ride, they logged elevated levels of ozone, the main ingredient of smog, as well as cancer-causing formaldehyde — both of which form readily in hot weather.The bottom line: The streets are dotted with pollution hot spots. And the heat makes pollution worse.“If…

When Kendrick Lamar made his entrance to his sold-out show at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Juneteenth, he did so with a bang. He performed “Euphoria,” a track he released in April during his well-documented feud with Drake, adding a new lyric: “Give me Tupac ring back and maybe I’ll give you a little respect.” The internet went wild.This was Mr. Lamar’s first time performing since his testy dispute with Drake escalated into a volley of diss tracks this spring. For the show, titled “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends,” he brought out fellow West Coast artists such…

Robert Winnett, the editor selected to run The Washington Post, will not take up that position, after reports raised questions about his ties to unethical news gathering practices in Britain.Mr. Winnett will stay at The Daily Telegraph, where he is the deputy editor, according to emails sent on Friday to employees of the London-based newspaper and to staff at The Post.“I’m pleased to report that Rob Winnett has decided to stay with us,” read a message to Telegraph employees from the newspaper’s top editor, Chris Evans. “As you all know, he’s a talented chap and their loss is our gain.”Will…

Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment. It tinkers with the immune system to attack malignancies that have evaded the body’s natural defenses. This advance offers an alternative to treating cancer with surgery or chemotherapy and radiation, which can attack healthy tissue and cause extreme side effects.The treatment is not only scientifically complex but also expensive. The investment of money and time makes sense when it comes to saving humans. But what about when it comes to dogs?Dr. Hans Klingemann has worked on and researched cancer immunotherapy for decades, leading departments at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and Tufts Medical Center…

You could endlessly pick apart “Kinds of Kindness,” but I don’t recommend it. The closest to a précis you’ll get for the film comes at the start, when the strains of the Eurythmics’ banger “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” ring out over the opening titles. The lyrics repeat the discomfiting notion that:Some of them want to use you.Some of them want to get used by you.Some of them want to abuse you.Some of them want to be abused.Well, who am I to disagree?“Kinds of Kindness” is a return to a certain form of form, if you will, for the…