Author: NY TIMES

A giant real estate fund managed by the company of the billionaire investor Barry Sternlicht is limiting the amount of money that investors can redeem, in an attempt to fend off a potential cash crunch as high interest rates pummel the market for commercial properties like office buildings.Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, which manages about $10 billion and is one of the largest real estate investment trusts around, said on Thursday that it would buy back only 1 percent of the value of the fund’s assets every quarter, down from 5 percent earlier.Starwood said that it had chosen to tighten…

Spider John Koerner, a blues and folk singer whose work drew praise from the Doors and the Beatles (if not the general public) and who, in 1960, taught his friend Bobby Zimmerman about traditional American music, then watched as the young man metamorphosed into Bob Dylan, died on Saturday at his home in Minneapolis. He was 85.The cause was cancer, his son Chris Kalmbach said.On a self-made seven-string guitar and also on a 12-string — like his idol, Lead Belly — Mr. Koerner (pronounced KER-ner) yowled and foot-stomped his way through songs about gold miners and frogs who went a-courtin’.…

The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, dealing another blow to the country as it faces increasing international isolation and a drumbeat of criticism over its conduct in the war.The court has few effective means of enforcing its order, and it stopped short of ordering a cease-fire in Gaza, with some of the court’s judges arguing that Israel could still conduct some military operations in Rafah under the terms of their decision.But the order added more pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin…

Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, is headed for another scorching summer, meteorologists warn. And travelers, once again, are heading to the hot spots.Last year, large parts of southern Europe experienced prolonged periods of extreme heat with temperatures reaching 118 degrees and lasting up to two weeks or more. The sweltering conditions upended vacations throughout the summer season as visitors collapsed from heat exhaustion at crowded tourist sites, and wildfires led to evacuations in Greece, Italy and Spain.“Our computer models are in good agreement that it’s going to be another unusually hot summer, especially during late July through August,” said Todd…

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which was scheduled to take two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on May 6, will remain on the ground for at least another week as engineers chase down a small helium leak.The launch, which will aim to demonstrate a vehicle that would give NASA an additional option for carrying its astronauts to orbit, is now scheduled for June 1 at 12:25 p.m. Eastern from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Additional opportunities to launch are available on June 2, June 5 and June 6.The shift in timing adds weeks of delays to a…

In its lawsuit accusing Live Nation Entertainment, the concert behemoth that owns Ticketmaster, of being an illegal monopoly, the Justice Department drew on a raft of internal communications that offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at the industry.The Justice Department argued in an extensive complaint filed on Thursday that the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which went through in 2010, had hurt competition, hindered innovation and resulted in higher ticket prices and fees for consumers. It called for the company to be broken up.In response, Live Nation, which is also the world’s largest concert promoter, has said that it is…

The singer and rapper Sean Kingston was arrested in California on Thursday, hours after a SWAT team raided his home in Broward County, Fla., and took his mother into custody, the authorities said.Mr. Kingston, 34, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother, Janice Turner, 61, both face “numerous fraud and theft charges,” the Broward County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.Mr. Kingston was still in his teens when his debut single, “Beautiful Girls,” spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2007. He has since collaborated with Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Wyclef…

The International Court of Justice on Friday ruled that Israel must immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, dealing another blow to the country as it faces increasing international isolation.The court has no means of enforcing its orders, and Israel said the language of the ruling left some room for interpretation. Hard-line politicians in Israel immediately vowed that Israel would not comply.Still, the 13-2 ruling puts more pressure on the Netanyahu government over the conduct of the war. Gazan authorities say at least 35,000 people have been killed, without distinguishing between combatants and civilians, and…

Polls suggest that the center-left Labour Party is set to return to power after more than a decade in opposition, which would bring a fundamental realignment to British politics.How does Britain vote?The United Kingdom — which consists of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales — is divided into 650 constituencies.Voters in each constituency select a candidate to represent them as a member of Parliament, and the political party that wins the most seats usually forms the next government. That party’s leader also becomes prime minister.To win an overall majority, a party must secure 326 seats. If the top party falls…

Oyvind Von Doren Asbjornsen wasn’t content with slapping a rook or a bishop on a watch and calling it a chess-themed timepiece. A watchmaker who also is an avid player, he wanted a sophisticated design, yet one that resonated with aficionados of the game.So in 2019, his brand, Von Doren, based in Oslo, released a collection of two quartz watches in brushed steel, called the Reti.The Reti collection was named for Richard Reti, an Austro-Hungarian chess master who in 1910 won a well-known match in just 11 moves. (An average game usually involves about 40 moves.) And rather than using…