Author: NY TIMES

If you follow the news, you know that tensions between the United States and China are high and that the commercial relationship between the two biggest trading nations on the planet has been fraying.Yet, amid the ominous headlines about a possible “decoupling” of the United States and China, you may be surprised by how strong and binding their financial ties remain.Many big U.S. companies depend on China for a substantial part of their income and rely on Chinese suppliers and factories for their products. The two economies are closely linked, and, as an old China hand, I think that’s a…

Fred Roos, a casting director and producer who championed the early careers of A-list actors like Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Carrie Fisher, and whose long collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola and his family, stretching from “The Godfather” (1972) to this year’s “Megalopolis,” earned him an Oscar and an Emmy, died on Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 89.His death was announced by his family in a statement.Many in Hollywood said that Mr. Roos had the best eye for talent in the business. He championed the young, relatively unknown Mr. Pacino for the role of Michael…

Israeli forces massed at the entrance to a major hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, trapping more than a dozen medical personnel inside and all but putting one of the last functioning hospitals out of operation, according to a doctor and Palestinian news media.For days, the Israeli military has bombarded the area around Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, near the northernmost edge of the territory. Its advance with tanks toward the northern entrances cut off access to the hospital, according to Dr. Eid Sabbah, the head of nursing at the hospital.“Now it is considered practically, because it…

Pope Francis cleared the way for an Italian teenager to become the first millennial saint by attributing a second miracle to him, the Vatican announced Thursday.The teenager, Carlo Acutis, is often called the patron saint of the internet among Roman Catholics because of his computer skills, which he used to share his faith. He died of leukemia in 2006 when he was just 15.Carlo was born in London to Italian parents and moved with his family to Milan when he was a child. His passion for Catholicism bloomed early, his mother, Antonia Acutis, told The New York Times in an…

On Thursday night, roads were closed for miles around the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc on the French Riviera, helping to keep out paparazzi and eager fans.On the vast estate overlooking the crystal blue water of the Mediterranean, over 800 actors, performers, models, and royals — including Demi Moore, Michelle Yeoh and Magic Johnson — walked a red carpet lined with photographers for the annual amfAR gala, an event started by the actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1993 to raise money for AIDS research.The event has often attracted marquee acts (Diana Ross and Mariah Carey performed in past years), and this year, Cher,…

A week after losing a hard-fought election at two Mercedes-Benz factories in Alabama, the United Automobile Workers asked federal officials on Friday to order a new vote, saying the German carmaker violated labor laws to suppress support for the union.Mercedes-Benz conducted a “relentless anti-union campaign” marked by “wanton lawlessness,” the U.A.W. said in a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board. Among other things, the union said, Mercedes fired four employees who supported the union, prevented pro-union employees from campaigning and forced employees to watch anti-union videos.Workers at the Mercedes factories outside Tuscaloosa, which manufacture sport utility vehicles and battery…

A one-man startup believes it has an answer to U.S. government concerns over the Chinese-made drones that dominate commercial sales in the American market.Anzu Robotics’s chief executive and founding partners are all American, and the company’s headquarters is in Texas. The company’s drones, which are expected to be used by law enforcement agencies, utilities, architects and others, are assembled in Malaysia, and they run on servers sitting in Virginia.There’s just one problem: Anzu has multiple close ties to China and to DJI, the Shenzhen-based firm being targeted by legislative and regulatory efforts to curb sales of Chinese drones in the…

Beef tissue from a sick dairy cow has tested positive for the bird flu virus, federal officials said on Friday.The cow had been condemned to be culled because it was sick, and the meat did not enter the food supply, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The department continued to stress that the commercial food supply remained safe.But the positive test, which came as part of an ongoing federal study of beef safety, raises concerns about whether the virus might make its way into the commercial beef supply, posing a health risk to humans.So far, the virus, which is…

▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube5. Scott McKenzie: “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)”Written by the Mamas & the Papas’ John Phillips to drum up excitement for the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, this song by the folk musician Scott McKenzie quickly became an era-defining anthem — although the Coachella generation seems to have heeded its sartorial advice, too.▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube6. Hurray for the Riff Raff: “Rhododendron”Alynda Segarra shouts out some imaginatively named flora — “rhododendron, night-blooming jasmine, deadly nightshade” — on this rollicking track from their 2022…

Egypt has agreed to allow fuel and humanitarian aid to move from its territory into Gaza via Israel, the White House and the Egyptian presidency announced on Friday, reopening a vital channel for relief into the devastated Palestinian enclave.The agreement was reached during a telephone call on Friday between President Biden and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian president, according to the White House readout of the call, which said that fuel and humanitarian aid would be able to enter Gaza through an Israeli-operated crossing, Kerem Shalom, which sits at the junction of Egypt, Gaza and Israel. For months, Kerem Shalom…