Author: NY TIMES

The serious trouble started on Christmas Eve, upstate with family. The Puerto Rican side does not alternate talking and listening — each is done in spirited unison. I was speaking too loudly over other stories and my own glass of wine, fighting a head cold and getting gravelly. My boyfriend, Benjamin, caught my eye across the room, touched his hand to his throat and made his face into a question mark, What’s wrong with your voice? But we’d brought a homemade cake — he baked, I decorated — that people were freaking out about, and I didn’t want to leave…

The European Union said on Wednesday that Chinese manufacturers would face tariffs of up to 38 percent on electric vehicles imported into the bloc, in what E.U. leaders called an effort to protect the region’s manufacturers from unfair competition.The bloc will impose provisional duties ranging from 17.4 percent to 38.1 percent for three of the leading Chinese manufacturers, including BYD, Geely and SAIC. Other Chinese automakers face a tariff of 21 percent or 38.1 percent, depending on their cooperation with the European Union on its investigation into the matter.The move to increase tariffs has been criticized by several European automakers…

Peering through the windows of the storefront at the corner of Broadway and Canal Street, it might seem like just another upscale boutique. Inside, luxury handbags — Dior’s Lady D-lite, Louis Vuitton’s Loop, Loewe’s Puzzle bag, Telfar’s Shopping Bag, and several Hermès Birkins among them — are arranged on a grid of white shelves and lit like individual works of art.But all of the merchandise at this shop is fake. Even the ceiling lamp is a knockoff of a Serge Mouille design. Window shoppers will notice that they can’t just walk in. A sign noting hours — Monday: closed; Tuesday:…

Sometimes, the many numbers included in the government’s monthly jobs report come together to paint a clear, coherent picture of the strength or weakness of the U.S. labor market.This is not one of those times.Instead, the data released by the Labor Department on Friday was a mess of conflicting signals. It couldn’t even agree on the most basic of questions: whether the economy is adding or losing jobs.The report showed that employers added 272,000 nonagricultural jobs in May, far more than forecasters were expecting. That figure is based on a survey of about 119,000 businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.But…

On a hilltop next to a vast limestone quarry in England’s East Midlands, a crowd of about 60 people gathered last Thursday evening to witness the lighting of a beacon to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Amid the drab parkas and pullovers was a figure in a striking red coat: Natalie Fleet, the Labour Party’s candidate for Parliament, wearing her party’s campaign color.She turned up late, having hiked up in heels. But she mixed easily, chatting with a 17-year-old high school student, Georgia Haslam, about her desire to get more young women engaged in politics.“It was reassuring…

Stock markets offered a preview of how investors might react to a potential drop in the number of new jobs added in May when they rallied this week after other signs that the labor market continues to cool.The S&P 500 has risen 1.4 percent this week, and the 10-year government bond yield, which underpins borrowing costs across consumer and corporate debt, has fallen 0.2 percentage points — roughly the same as a typical cut to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.Investors added to bets on how soon the Fed could lower interest rates after data on Tuesday showed job openings…

Towering over Kyiv for six decades, Hotel Ukraine has witnessed some pivotal moments in Ukraine’s recent history.Crowds gathered on the square in front of the 14-story hotel to celebrate the fall of the Soviet Union. Popular uprisings on what was later called Independence Square toppled Ukrainian leaders. Today, blue and yellow flags cover lawns near the hotel, serving as a reminder of the many lives lost in the war between Ukraine and Russia.Now, Hotel Ukraine is up for auction as part of an effort to sell off some large state assets to help fund the military and bolster an economy…

President Biden is presiding over a job-creation boom that would have gotten almost any of his predecessors re-elected in the postwar era.But it may not be enough to win Mr. Biden a second term because of a simple truth about America’s post-Covid economy: Voters appear to care far more about high prices right now than they do about plentiful work.That’s why Friday’s surprise, blockbuster jobs report was not seen by analysts as a full success for the president as he ramps up his campaign for November. Some economists worried that the hot pace of employment and wage growth would help…

The terrifying stories are sprawled across local newspapers and recounted in hushed tones at tea stalls and bus stands: another day, another brutal death during an armed robbery in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.Last Wednesday, a car mechanic was shot dead by muggers trying to steal his phone. The day before, robbers in two separate incidents killed a secondhand shoe seller who refused to hand over his phone and a businessman who had just withdrawn cash from a bank. A few days earlier, robbers killed a 27-year-old mechanical engineer, stealing his phone, cash and motorcycle.Across Karachi, Pakistan’s economic powerhouse, the rate…

The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate to 3.75 percent from 4 percent on Thursday, the first time it has cut rates since 2019. The bank’s move marked a divergence from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is maintaining high interest rates in the face of stubborn inflation.Like central banks around the world, the E.C.B. had raised interest rates over the past two years to fight a surge in inflation, which began as the global economy rebounded from the Covid-19 pandemic.The E.C.B. started raising interest rates in July 2022, a few months after the Fed, ending its era of…