Author: NY TIMES

An Oklahoma-based missionary group working in Haiti’s capital was attacked by gangs on Thursday night, leaving two Americans and the group’s director dead, the organization, Missions in Haiti, announced on Facebook.Missions in Haiti runs a school for 450 children, as well as two churches and a children’s home in the Bon Repos neighborhood in the northern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, which is widely known to be controlled by two local gangs. The independent nonprofit was founded by an Oklahoma couple, David and Alicia Lloyd, in 2000.The attack occurred Thursday, after two different groups of gangs descended on the organization’s compound, attacked…

Late last year, Zackary Smigel, a YouTube creator, made a video titled “Why Is YouTube Like This?” By “this” he meant that the platform was filled with videos that have sensationalized titles, heavily edited content and grabby thumbnails, often featuring a person’s emotive face.A more succinct way of putting it: Why is everyone on YouTube doing an imitation of MrBeast?MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — is the most popular YouTuber on the planet, with a grip on younger people (and the internet in general) that can be hard for some adults to comprehend. He produces videos known…

This has already been a challenging year for college applicants, starting with the problems with a crucial federal form that delayed financial aid offers. Now, students and families have more to worry about: The cost of borrowing for college for the next school year is rising to the highest rate in more than a decade.The interest rate on new federal student loans for undergraduates will be 6.53 percent as of July 1, up from 5.5 percent this year, the Education Department announced last week.Rates on loans for graduate and professional students will rise to 8.08 percent. And rates on PLUS…

Last week, Google unveiled its biggest change to search in years, showcasing new artificial intelligence capabilities that answer people’s questions in the company’s attempt to catch up to rivals Microsoft and OpenAI.The new technology has since generated a litany of untruths and errors — including recommending glue as part of a pizza recipe and the ingesting of rocks for nutrients — giving a black eye to Google and causing a furor online.The incorrect answers in the feature, called AI Overview, have undermined trust in a search engine that more than two billion people turn to for authoritative information. And while…

Countries around the globe have failed to reach consensus on the terms of a treaty that would unify the world in a strategy against the inevitable next pandemic, trumping the nationalist ethos that emerged during Covid-19.The deliberations, which were scheduled to be a central item at the weeklong meeting of the World Health Assembly beginning Monday in Geneva, aimed to correct the inequities in access to vaccines and treatments between wealthier nations and poorer ones that became glaringly apparent during the Covid pandemic.Although much of the urgency around Covid has faded since the treaty negotiations began two years ago, public…

“This song’s for Manhattan!” Mick Jagger told the crowd on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium, before launching into a punchy rendition of “Shattered,” that agitated ode to late-70s New York City that closes out the band’s 1978 album “Some Girls.” In the ensuing 46 years, the city has changed in some superficial ways but somehow remained essentially the same — much, as they showed throughout an impressively energetic two-hour set, like the Rolling Stones.The Stones’ first New York-area stadium gig in five years was sponsored, without a hint of irony, by AARP. It was appropriate: At times what transpired onstage…

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…

El papa Francisco allanó el camino para que un adolescente italiano se convierta en el primer santo milénial al atribuirle un segundo milagro, anunció el Vaticano el jueves.El adolescente Carlo Acutis es a menudo llamado el santo patrón de internet entre los católicos debido a sus habilidades informáticas, que utilizaba para compartir su fe. Murió de leucemia en 2006, con tan solo 15 años.Carlo nació en Londres, de padres italianos, y se trasladó con su familia a Milán cuando era niño. Su pasión por el catolicismo floreció muy pronto, según contó su madre, Antonia Acutis, a The New York Times…

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, followers of events known for being fashion spectacles — the Oscars, the Met Gala, Eurovision — have watched them become venues for making sartorial as well as political statements about the conflict.The Cannes Festival in France has not been immune to this trend. Several attendees have used the red carpet on the Croisette to show their support for Israelis or Palestinians during the film festival, with some wearing sashes saying “bring them home,” referring to Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, and others wearing red pins calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.Off the carpet,…

Brooke Shields, the model-turned-actor who has starred in films, television and onstage, has been elected as the next president of Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union representing stage actors and stage managers.Shields, 58, will take office immediately. She succeeds Kate Shindle, who had been the union’s president since 2015, and announced last month that she would not seek re-election.The position of Equity president is a volunteer job, and Shields was elected to a four-year term. There have been a number of other well-known performers who have served in the post previously, including Burgess Meredith, Ellen Burstyn, Colleen Dewhurst and Ron…