Author: NY TIMES

The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon was targeted with gunfire early on Wednesday, and an attacker was wounded before being arrested, the country’s army said.The embassy said that no staff had been harmed in the attack and that Lebanese security forces and the embassy’s security team had responded to “small-arms fire” near the entrance of the fortified compound, which overlooks the Lebanese capital, Beirut.The embassy added in its statement that the episode was under investigation. The Lebanese army said that in response it had deployed troops around the embassy. Security forces blocked the road leading to the embassy, the country’s state…

Europe’s share of the global economy is shrinking, and fears are deepening that the continent can no longer keep up with the United States and China.“We are too small,” said Enrico Letta, a former Italian prime minister who recently delivered a report on the future of the single market to the European Union.“We are not very ambitious,” Nicolai Tangen, head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, told The Financial Times. “Americans just work harder.”“European businesses need to regain self-confidence,” Europe’s association of chambers of commerce declared.The list of reasons for what has been called the “competitiveness crisis” goes…

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to approve the use of MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. An independent advisory panel of experts reviewed studies on June 4, and decided against endorsing the treatment.Lykos Therapeutics submitted evidence from clinical trials in an effort to obtain agency approval to sell the drug legally to treat people with a combination of MDMA and talk therapy.Millions of Americans suffer from PTSD, including military veterans who are at high risk of suicide. No new treatment for PTSD has been approved in more than 20 years.What is MDMA?Methylenedioxymethamphetamine…

In student housing, Demiray was quickly making new friends. She was closest with her roommate, a horn player. They would gather on staircases at Lenfest with other students to sing choral music for fun. After attending a party during her first week, she joined a group to organize one of her own, a masquerade for the holidays.During the semester, she also finished a string quartet that she had started on the flight from Turkey. As she rehearsed it, she realized how open she was to her music changing in the hands of others; it was the kind of lesson that…

But Mr. Netanyahu is widely seen both at home and abroad as concerned that an end to the conflict could lead to the collapse of his government — especially in light of investigations into how Israel ignored evidence that Hamas was preparing for the attack on Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and how slowly Israel’s defense forces responded.Adding to international calls for a cease-fire, President Emmanuel Macron of France expressed his support for the plan outlined by Mr. Biden in a phone call with Mr. Netanyahu on Tuesday, Mr. Macron’s office said.During the call,…

Critics of Mr. Biden said he has no one to blame for his diplomatic challenges in Europe but himself for an inconsistent approach to international crises.“The contradiction, I think, is in American policy,” said Peter Rough, the director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute and a former aide to President George W. Bush. “In Ukraine, he’s backing Ukraine against the Russian-Iranian alliance, while in Gaza he is managing Israel, even limiting it, as it confronts an Iranian proxy.”From the other side of the spectrum, some foreign policy veterans said Mr. Biden has brought troubles upon…

Finding Trust in TraumaIn a movie, a twangy guitar riff would have played. I was a longtime lone ranger with debilitating social anxiety after moving from New Jersey to Tokyo and back again. She was a sandy-haired palomino mare who had become a therapist for traumatized veterans. The kicker? She, herself, had suffered prolonged abuse, becoming averse to human touch. We stood tall, eyes locked. The more I wrangled for her to like me, the further she cantered away. Then, one night, I rested my forearms on the fence and she approached me for the first time, dipping her nose…

The childhood home where Muhammad Ali, the three-time world heavyweight boxing champion and activist, learned to box and that was along the route of his funeral procession in Louisville, Ky., is for sale.On Tuesday, the pink one-story home, which for several years was a museum of sorts, focusing on Ali’s early life and humanitarian pursuits, and two of its neighboring properties were listed for sale through Christie’s International Real Estate Bluegrass for $1.5 million, according to the company’s listing.“Home to ‘The Greatest,’” the listing states, noting that the ranch style, one-story house at 3302 Grand Avenue in the Parkland neighborhood…

An independent advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration rejected the use of MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder on Tuesday, highlighting the unparalleled regulatory challenges of a novel therapy using the drug commonly known as Ecstasy.Before the vote, members of the panel raised concerns about the designs of the two studies submitted by the drug’s sponsor, Lykos Therapeutics. Many questions focused on the fact that study participants were by and large able to correctly guess whether they had been given MDMA, also known by the names of Ecstasy or molly. The panel voted 9-2 on whether the MDMA-assisted…

More sexual encounters continued, the suit says, with Mr. Gesteelde-Diamant sometimes holding her down and refusing to use a condom despite her protests. At the same time, the suit says, he made business promises to her, suggesting he could make her the opening act for Beyoncé’s next tour.According to the complaint, Mr. Gesteelde-Diamant then became more controlling and violent: He placed her in an Atlanta hotel, had his security staff monitor her movements, and berated her unless she regularly checked in with him. After Ms. Mangroe complained about bedbugs in her hotel room, her court papers say, Mr. Gesteelde-Diamant exploded…