Author: NY TIMES

Ms. von Furstenberg says that the moment that most defines her life is when her mother, Lily Nahmias, a Jewish Greek immigrant working for the Belgium resistance, was liberated from the death camp when the war ended in 1945.After 13 months in Auschwitz and Ravensbrück, the 22-year-old was barely the weight of her bones, down to 29 kilos, with blue tattooed numbers, 5199, on her left arm. She had to be fed every few moments like a bird. A year later, she was married to her fiancée, a Jewish Bessarabian immigrant named Leon Halfin, who was in electronics and later…

MicroStrategy and its founder settle tax case for $40 million The attorney general for the District of Columbia has reached a $40 million settlement with the billionaire Bitcoin investor Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy, the software company he founded, over tax fraud, DealBook’s Lauren Hirsch is first to report.Officials say the agreement is the biggest-ever income tax fraud recovery in the district. It’s also the first lawsuit under the district’s amended False Claims Act, which encourages whistle-blowers to file claims of tax evasion against residents who they say are concealing where they actually live.The lawsuit accused Saylor of evading more than…

Federal regulators have reached a deal that allows them to proceed with antitrust investigations into the dominant roles that Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia play in the artificial intelligence industry, in the strongest sign of how regulatory scrutiny into the powerful technology has escalated.The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission struck the deal over the past week, and it is expected to be completed in the coming days, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the confidential discussions.Under the arrangement, the Justice Department will take the lead in investigating whether…

It’s a good time to be a countertenor. Over the last 25 years or so, 18th-century operas, most notably those by Handel, have enjoyed a rebirth in houses around the world, which has allowed the high-register countertenor male voice to sing male roles once reserved mostly for female mezzo-sopranos.This practice will be on full display this summer in a revival of “Giulio Cesare,” which will run for 15 performances from June 23 to Aug. 23 at Glyndebourne, the summer opera festival in the rolling hills of southern England. Three countertenors have been cast, including as Julius Caesar, a vocally demanding…

War has pushed Sudan toward the abyssMy colleague Declan Walsh and the photographer Ivor Prickett spent three weeks in Sudan, where few foreign reporters have had access in the past year. Since the conflict erupted there in April 2023, millions of people have been displaced and a looming famine threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.Khartoum, the capital and one of the largest cities in Africa, has been reduced to a charred battleground. A feud between two generals has dragged Sudan into civil war and turned the city into ground zero for one of the world’s worst humanitarian…

The only place in Disney’s media empire where you feel free to call a 22-year-old woman a “white b—” is weekday afternoon ESPN.This is where “The Pat McAfee Show” was born and became a hit across North America. On Monday’s show, he decided to use the quote to defend Caitlin Clark, opening the show with a reference to the uproar over the cheap shots she received as a WNBA rookie, sparking a debate about the character. Discussions of race and stardom.McPhee, a talented, foul-mouthed talk show host/”College GameDay” analyst/WWE commentator, decided the best way to put an exclamation point on…

U.S. consumers, fatigued by a three-year bout of inflation, want lower prices. And large retailers that have increased prices, partly to contend with their own rising costs, appear to be responding to customer concerns — to an extent.Walgreens said last week that it was lowering prices on over 1,000 items. Target recently announced modest price cuts on 5,000 food products and household goods. Craft and furniture stores like Michael’s and Ikea have also said they will drop prices on popular items.A broader range of companies have indicated on quarterly earnings calls that they plan to slow price increases and seek…

After 22 years as the music director at the Royal Opera House in London, Antonio Pappano has a tried-and-true recipe for creating traction around the art form.“The choices you make and the energy which you share with audiences will keep them coming,” he said.The British-born conductor, 64, has left his mark on the house through a strong work ethic and an in-depth understanding of the voice. His final production is a David McVicar staging of Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier,” starring Jonas Kaufmann, that is onstage through Tuesday. He then leads the company on tour to Japan, from June 22 to July…

Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia spoke publicly for the first time since being shot three weeks ago, blaming the opposition in a video released on Wednesday for what he described as a politically motivated assassination attempt.In the recorded video address, which was posted to the official Facebook pages for Mr. Fico and his political party, Smer, the prime minister detailed his recovery and said it would be “a minor miracle” if he could return to work in a few weeks.Mr. Fico was shot multiple times at close range on May 15 in Handlova, in central Slovakia, and required several…

With the Los Angeles Lakers making JJ Redick the frontrunner to be their next head coach, one of the team’s biggest remaining offseason questions should soon be answered.For weeks, the 39-year-old Redick has been the hottest topic in league circles over the Lakers’ head coaching vacancy. Although a final decision has not yet been made and the Lakers are still making some progress in their coaching search, all signs point to Redick being the favorite. as Competitor The Lakers are enamored with Redick’s potential and view him as a coaching prospect like Pat Riley, according to league sources.Redick checked many…