Author: NY TIMES

North Korea launched a rocket on Monday in what appeared to be an attempt to put a military reconnaissance satellite in orbit, in defiance of United Nations Security Council ​resolutions, the South Korean military said. Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, has made deploying a fleet of spy satellites one of his latest ​military ambitions. He has ​also focused on ​testing what he claimed were nuclear missiles ​capable of targeting the United States and its allies in the Asia-Pacific region.North Korea ​has said it needs satellites to ​increase its ability to monitor and target its enemies and to make…

At the award ceremony for the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève last November, one winner provoked a few double takes.The victor among six finalists in the annual design competition’s Challenge category which, last year, focused on watches priced at 2,000 Swiss francs, ($2,203) or less, was the Millesime Automatic Small Seconds, a 39.5-millimeter vintage-inspired dress watch with a steel case and a sector dial, with separate concentric hour and minute tracks.Its maker? Raymond Weil, a brand making a new play for watch enthusiasts.Competing against timepieces including a dive-GMT from the industry giant Seiko and a colorful chronograph from the buzzy…

President Biden wants more of America’s cars and trucks to run on electricity, not gas. His administration has pushed that goal on multiple fronts, including strict new regulations of auto emissions and lavish new subsidies to help American consumers take as much as $7,500 off the cost of a new electric vehicle.Mr. Biden’s aides agree that electric vehicles — which retail for more than $53,000 on average in the United States — would sell even faster here if they were less expensive. As it happens, there is a wave of new electric vehicles that are significantly cheaper than the ones…

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, said on Sunday that it has raised $6 billion, helping to close the funding gap with OpenAI, Anthropic and other rivals in the red-hot industry.The funds would be used “to take xAI’s first products to market, build advanced infrastructure, and accelerate the research and development of future technologies,” the company said in a statement.Mr. Musk, who founded xAI in July, said in a social media post the funding round valued the company at $18 billion, not including the new money. Investors included the Silicon Valley heavyweights Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, along with Saudi…

After China performed two days of military drills intended to punish Taiwan, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas on Monday stood alongside the island nation’s newly elected president, Lai Ching-te, and issued a promise.“The United States must maintain the capacity to resist any resort to force or coercion that would jeopardize the security of the people of Taiwan,” Mr. McCaul, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said. “That is what we stand for, and that is what we continue to say.”Mr. McCaul, a Republican, traveled this week to Taipei with a bipartisan delegation of other American lawmakers in an attempt,…

“¿Su marido ya embarazó a alguien antes?”, me preguntó mi médico. Estábamos intentando averiguar el motivo de mi infertilidad.“No”, respondí. “Creo que no. Se lo voy a preguntar”. Parecía algo que yo debía saber.Mientras conducía de vuelta a casa por las sinuosas carreteras del condado de Marin, llamé a mi marido, Nick. Al principio, evité la pregunta contándole lo que había pasado ese día en el restaurante donde trabajaba: un cocinero estaba enfermo. Y, ah sí, mi médico me preguntó si alguna vez habías embarazado a alguien.Las secuoyas se alzaban a ambos lados, creando un crepúsculo artificial. Silencio.“¿Me escuchaste?”, le…

Top NewsAn Israeli airstrike on a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, killed at least 45 people on Sunday night and wounded 249, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Monday. The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at a Hamas compound.In a statement, the Israeli military said it was looking into reports that “several civilians in the area were harmed” by the airstrike and a subsequent fire. A follow-up statement said two Hamas leaders had been killed in the strike.The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that its ambulance crews had taken a “large” number of victims…

It is the rare item that can be found on the shelves of Tractor Supply and in the pages of Vogue. And now Bag Balm, a moisturizer originally made to heal chapped cows’ udders, is a trending beauty product among the Gen Z “skinfluencers” of TikTok.The social media personality Alix Earle swears by it as a cure for dry skin and dry lips. Others recommended Bag Balm as an alternative to Vaseline for the trend of “slugging,” or covering the entire face before going to bed to seal in moisture.“I have turned so many friends on to it,” said Madison…

The commander stepped over boxes stacked full of plastic drones and opened the lid on a new delivery. Inside lay the light gray fins of a mini plane, the latest addition to his arsenal of crewless aerial vehicles for fighting the Russian Army.The 33-year-old leader of what an internal report declared Ukrainian Army’s best-performing drone unit, Senior Lt. Yuriy Fedorenko — popularly known by his call sign, Achilles — has been the main constraint on the Russian attempt to seize the strategic town of Chasiv Yar on Ukraine’s teetering eastern front.For months, his drone teams, part of the 92nd Assault…

These days “cottagecore,” the term for a popular aesthetic in recent years, may bring to mind several things. The early pandemic, say, when cottagecore started to spread rapidly on social media. Or the flouncy dresses, floral motifs, delicate décor and countryside settings that largely defined the aesthetic.Less often has the fairy-tale look been associated with beaches or pools. Selkie, a brand that became emblematic of cottagecore fashion after the release of its Puff Dress in 2019, is hoping to change that by expanding into swimwear this year.Selkie’s founder, Kimberley Gordon, said that with the Puff Dress — a poufy frock…