Author: NY TIMES

Nearly 30 asylum seekers are stuck in the United Nations-controlled buffer zone between the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus and the internationally recognized south amid a crackdown by the Cypriot authorities on undocumented migration following a steep uptick in Syrians arriving from Lebanon.The groups — 13 people from Syria and 14 from the Middle East, Africa and Asia — are in different locations in the buffer zone, which extends about 112 miles across Cyprus, a Mediterranean nation that is a member of the European Union, and bisects the capital, Nicosia. They arrived into the area, known as the Green Zone, on…

Top NewsA day after the United Nations Security Council endorsed a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal for Gaza, the world is waiting for Hamas’s leader to respond, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Tuesday.Putting the onus directly on Hamas’s top official in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, Mr. Blinken, speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, asked whether the group would act in the best interests of the Palestinian people by accepting the deal. At least, he said, it would pause the fighting and allow more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.Alternatively, he said, Hamas could be “looking after one guy,” Mr. Sinwar,…

Natale Adgnot didn’t always see the appeal of owning a cabin in the woods.For years, her husband, Sebastien Adgnot, browsed listings for rustic homes in upstate New York and New Jersey from the couple’s apartment in Brooklyn. “But my wife told me, ‘There’s no way I’m going to spend my weekends in a lake house somewhere,’” said Mr. Adgnot, 45, who works in internet technology and is an avid fly fisherman.“I really am such a city person,” said Ms. Adgnot, 49, an artist. The idea of buying a house in the country was a nonstarter because she loved the energy…

A.I., the Apple wayAfter months of anticipation, Apple finally introduced its plan to infuse its products with artificial intelligence: Meet Apple Intelligence, which weaves the technology into core features of iPhones, iPads and Macs.But while the tech giant announced a slew of new features, the announcement reflected a very Apple-like cautious approach to A.I. Yes, the company will add OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Siri — but it’s leaving the door open for adding other chatbots.It all suggests that Apple is hedging its bets (or is simply behind its rivals), while slowly ramping up what A.I. will do for users.OpenAI got its…

When I first got my hands on an Apple Vision Pro early this year, it felt like magic.I loved the $3,500 “spatial computing” headset, even though I couldn’t really figure out what it was for. For weeks, I took it everywhere, enduring judgmental glares (or were they jealous stares?) from colleagues at the office, strangers at coffee shops and fellow passengers on airplanes. I even used the Vision Pro in the back seat of a self-driving Waymo car, which I believe qualifies me for some kind of “Mr. San Francisco” award.But novelty fades, and today I barely use the Vision…

“The subject forever hangs outside of time — it’s the lover and the beloved,” Santana said in a phone interview from Las Vegas, where he has a long-running residency at House of Blues. “Love is something we need a lot on the radio. Everywhere you turn, there’s more Exorcist movies, more Satan, more Lucifer.”The bioengineered song was written by a onetime acid jazz musician named Itaal Shur, but Santana didn’t like the lyrics, so Thomas “got a little high,” he said, and wrote new words and melodies. Then he and Shur reworked it, layering hook upon hook. Thomas has always…

The Israeli military said Tuesday that four Israeli soldiers had been killed and several more wounded after militants blew up a building where the troops were operating in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.Some of the soldiers were in critical condition after the attack on Monday, the military said. Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, said that five soldiers had been hospitalized, and that two were in intensive care.The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, said in a statement that it had booby-trapped the building where the soldiers were operating. “Our fighters were able to blow up a house rigged with explosives where…

“I have analysis paralysis,” said my friend Maite, an Argentine who lives in Madrid. Maite is a world traveler but has always been stymied when it comes to Greece. “There are too many islands. How do you decide?”There are more than 6,000 Greek islands, so it was a fair question — and one that many potential visitors probably ask themselves. Since I had plans to go to Greece, it was also one I wanted an answer to myself.I started with a process of elimination: Rule out anything with an airport (too crowded) or uninhabited (too empty). Then add ferry access…

Last year, Americans bought a half a billion packets of Shin Ramyun, the spicy, beefy Korean instant noodle. The bold red-and-black packaging feels inescapable: It’s a staple of college dorm rooms, bodegas, middle-of-the-country Walmarts and viral TikTok videos.But 30 years ago, the noodles were largely unknown in the United States. No grocery store would stock them, said Kevin Chang, the director of marketing for Nongshim, Shin Ramyun’s parent company. Except, that is, for a few small Korean grocers, including a fledgling shop in Woodside, Queens, called H Mart.In the 1970s and ’80s, as Asian immigration to the United States soared,…

Federal Reserve officials are entering an uncertain summer. They are not sure how quickly inflation will cool, how much the economy is likely to slow or just how long interest rates need to stay high in order to make sure that quick price increases are fully vanquished.What they do know is that, for now, the job market and broader economy are holding up even in the face of higher borrowing costs. And given that, the Fed has a safe play: Do nothing.That is the message central bankers are likely to send at their two-day meeting this week, which concludes on…