Author: NY TIMES

For decades, visitors flocking to New York for Pride every June found plenty of packed bars and jubilant parties but no easy way to engage with the city’s rich L.G.B.T.Q. history.Even the area around Sheridan Square, the center of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising that catalyzed the gay liberation movement, had little to see for anyone interested in the queer past.“The guest experience when they got there was a bar, a bench and a park,” said Ross Levi, the executive director of the New York State Division of Tourism. “That isn’t terribly helpful for somebody who comes during the day when…

An American Airlines passenger who kicked and spat at flight attendants and passengers and attempted to open the cabin door before she was secured to a seat with duct tape has been sued by the Federal Aviation Administration for $81,950, the largest-ever fine assessed by the agency for unruly behavior.The passenger, Heather Wells, 34, of San Antonio, was traveling first class from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas to the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N.C., on July 7, 2021. About an hour into the flight she ordered a whiskey and became agitated and said she “wanted out”…

Ryan Selkis, a cryptocurrency executive, was eating dinner at Mar-a-Lago last month when he got an unexpected invitation: Former President Donald J. Trump wanted him to come to the stage and say a few words.Mr. Selkis, who runs the crypto data firm Messari, was one of a couple hundred attendees at an event celebrating Mr. Trump’s series of nonfungible tokens, the digital collectibles known as NFTs. When he reached the lectern, Mr. Selkis turned to face the former president.“There’s 50 million crypto holders in the U.S.,” the executive declared. “That’s a lot of voters.”That message has become a political talking…

A new law in Florida allowing doctors to perform cesarean sections in outpatient birthing centers has raised serious safety concerns among medical experts, who say the procedures carry a small but real risk of life-threatening complications and should not be undertaken outside hospitals.The proposed new facilities, to be called advanced birth centers, will not be able to rapidly mobilize extra staff, equipment and expertise should complications suddenly occur, as a hospital would, critics noted.“A pregnant patient who is considered low risk in one moment can suddenly need lifesaving care in the next,” said Dr. Cole Greves, the Florida district chairman…

On Thursday night in the West Village of Manhattan, the soulful British balladeer Sam Smith hosted a private party at Julius’, which is known as the oldest gay bar in New York. Friends and fans sweltered inside the tavern, sipping vodka tonics as they waited for a late-night performance by Smith and a rumored special guest, Alicia Keys.Smith, who uses they/them pronouns, chatted with fans by the worn wooden bar. Standing about 6-foot-7 in Vivienne Westwood platform boots, paired with a tartan kilt and a big belt, the Grammy-winning singer towered above those who asked for selfies.The gathering commemorated the…

On Oct. 7, as the Hamas-led attack on Israel was unfolding, many Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza to celebrate what they likened to a prison break and saw as the sudden humiliation of an occupier.But it was just a temporary boost for Hamas, whose support among Gazans has been low for some time. And as the Israeli onslaught has brought widespread devastation and tens of thousands of deaths, the group and its leaders have remained broadly unpopular in the enclave. More Gazans have even been willing to speak out against Hamas, risking retribution.In interviews with nearly a dozen…

As Alina waited for the bus that would take her to her family’s weekend house outside Belgorod, she made sure to wait deep inside the concrete shelter built early this year around the stop.It had been nearly six months since she and her 8-year-old brother, Artem, were almost injured in an attack on Belgorod’s central square, the day before New Year’s Eve, when Alina, 14, had taken him ice skating.“We were lying down, covering our heads with our hands, opening our mouths slightly and just lying on the floor for a long time,” she said, describing how they hid on…

On a July morning in 2022, Shira Avia Zilberstein had a bone scan, a test when dealing with her type of Crohn’s colitis, a disease in which the colon is inflamed.Afterward, she and her boyfriend of nearly a year, Emmanuel Cantor, swam in Mystic Lake, in Boston’s northwestern suburbs. Later that night, they went for dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, Oleana, in Cambridge. After they ordered, Mr. Cantor quietly asked, “So this is it?”Ms. Zilberstein smiled. She agreed it was. Though not quite a proposal, they knew then that their relationship would likely go the distance.“I knew I…

China on Monday threatened to impose tariffs on pork imports from Europe, in what appeared to be retaliation for the European Union’s decision last week to impose preliminary tariffs on electric cars imported from China.China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that it had opened an investigation into whether pork from the European Union was being dumped in China at unfairly low prices. The case could result in tariffs on dozens of products, from pork chops to pickled pig intestines.The ministry said it was acting in response to an application from the China Animal Agriculture Association, a government-affiliated group, and released a…

If the social media rumors are true, your leftover rice may be trying to kill you. Experts on the matter, however, tell a somewhat different story.It’s true that cooked rice left at room temperature too long can become a happy home to intruders, notably Bacillus cereus, a common type of bacteria that lives in soil and, therefore, in much of the food we eat. “B. cereus loves to grow in the warm and moist environment provided by cooked rice,” said Si Ming Man, a professor in the division of immunology and infectious diseases at the Australian National University.What has made…