Author: NY TIMES

On Saturday, Iran and Sweden exchanged prisoners. The swap had the appearance of any two countries engaged in diplomatic negotiations to free their citizens. Families were elated; governments were relieved.But the exchange was only the latest chapter in Iran’s long history of what is known in world affairs as hostage diplomacy.For more than four decades, since the 1979 revolution that installed a conservative theocracy, the country has made the detention of foreign and dual citizens central to its foreign policy. For Iran, the approach has paid off. For the world, it has been a troubling trend.Iran’s demands have evolved along…

A court in Russia said on Monday that the espionage trial of the imprisoned American journalist Evan Gershkovich would start next week and that the proceedings would be held behind closed doors.The first hearing, set for June 26, will come almost 15 months after Mr. Gershkovich, 32, was detained by security agents in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, about 900 miles east of Moscow. After spending more than a year in a high-security prison in Moscow, Mr. Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, is likely to be transferred back to Yekaterinburg to stand trial.Mr. Gershkovich, who had worked…

PINEHURST, N.C. — It was still early when Justin Thomas woke the ghost.Just after 8 a.m., he was walking along the pinegrass to the right of the third hole at Pinewood No. 2. After bogeying the second hole, he was already feeling the heat. Now, an errant tee shot on the third hole resulted in an awkward angle into the green.After saying that, Thomas took back his club and hit a shot that can only be described as… touching. Something between a dead pull and a violent hook. Maybe the culprit is a clump of wire grass near the lie.…

I’m moving across the country to a new city soon, and I’m trying to prepare for the culture shock. Any advice on how to adapt to the fashion norms of a new place without compromising on what I love about how I dress? — John, PhiladelphiaEvery major city has its style stereotypes, sometimes many at the same time. New York is dark colors and conceptual shreds, banker suiting and Park Avenue bouclé. Seattle is fleece. (So is San Francisco.) Dallas is cowboy boots and diamonds. Los Angeles is leggings and Erewhon cups. Paris is blazers and perfectly draped scarves. And…

The laboratory at Terray Therapeutics is a symphony of miniaturized automation. Robots whir, shuttling tiny tubes of fluids to their stations. Scientists in blue coats, sterile gloves and protective glasses monitor the machines.But the real action is happening at nanoscale: Proteins in solution combine with chemical molecules held in minuscule wells in custom silicon chips that are like microscopic muffin tins. Every interaction is recorded, millions and millions each day, generating 50 terabytes of raw data daily — the equivalent of more than 12,000 movies.The lab, about two-thirds the size of a football field, is a data factory for artificial-intelligence-assisted…

The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce has convened an annual meeting of local business leaders since the 1800s, but the most recent gathering had a decidedly modern theme: artificial intelligence.The goal was to demystify the technology for the chamber’s roughly 2,000 members, especially its small businesses.“My sense is not that people are wary,” said Ralph Schulz, the chamber’s chief executive. “They’re just unclear as to its potential use for them.”When generative A.I. surged into the public consciousness in late 2022, it captured the imagination of businesses and workers with its ability to answer questions, compose paragraphs, write code and create…

“Domestic cats are actually highly susceptible to avian influenza, and especially H5N1,” said Kristen Coleman, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Maryland. “But there has been a recent uptick in domestic cat infections, a drastic uptick.”There have been sporadic reports of infected dogs, too.While bird flu infections of pets remain rare overall, they can be severe, especially in cats. “It results in very severe illness and oftentimes death,” Dr. Coleman said. “So it’s very serious, and it should be taken seriously.”But a few “reasonable precautions” can help people keep their pets safe, she said.Here’s what to know:How are…

Last September, he conducted the season-opening production, “Dead Man Walking.” That would seem like a given for a music director, but he was absent for “Medea,” the opener in 2022. “Dead Man,” at least, represents Nézet-Séguin’s admirable attempt to modernize the Met’s repertoire. But after that show, he conducted just two of the six contemporary works on offer this season. You could say he was focusing on the classics instead, but he led only four of the 18 total operas programmed.When he does conduct at the Met, he has a penchant for extremes, either colossal or exquisite. At the delicate…

Before the leaflets fell from the sky telling her to evacuate, before all that was left of her home was its western wall, before the food shortages left her baking her own bread, before her daughters slept under a chalkboard in an abandoned kindergarten, before a sniper killed an in-law who was bringing back blankets because it was getting cold — that is, before the war came to Gaza and obliterated most of what she remembered of life there — Nevin Muhaisen, a middle-school teacher and mother of four, was listening to her doctor give her some good news. Nevin,…

The announcement came seemingly out of the blue on Sunday when it was first publicized via the Israeli military’s English and Arabic-language channels: The military would “pause” its fighting during daytime hours along an important humanitarian aid corridor in southern Gaza until further notice.Amid some immediate confusion over the scope of the pause, a clarification swiftly followed, this time in Hebrew and seemingly for domestic consumption. The change did not mean a cessation of fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, that statement said, adding that the campaign in the southernmost city of Rafah was continuing. Military officials said the daily…