Author: NY TIMES

Gluck’s opera “Orfeo ed Euridice” is a funny thing: a timeless Greek myth of separation and loss, twisted into a Viennese cream puff.Both that darkness and light are embraced in the choreographer Mark Morris’s 2007 production, which is being revived at the Metropolitan Opera starring the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. A firmly established star of the house, and a budding opera impresario, he owns the stage as Orfeo.Gluck’s version of the Orpheus story was commissioned for a celebration of the Hapsburg emperor Francis I in 1762. The tale’s traditional tragic ending was deemed not suitable for the crown, so Gluck…

After a four-day blockade at Al Awda Hospital, a major medical center in northern Gaza, the Israeli military ordered patients and staff to evacuate on Wednesday and then raided the complex, according to Gazan health officials.While most of the roughly 150 people who had been at Al Awda Hospital were able to evacuate, about 30, including patients in critical condition, their companions and medical workers, stayed behind, Dr. Medhat Abbas, a spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, said in a statement on Thursday.The Israeli military declined to comment on its operations around Al Awda, which is in the Tal Al-Zaatar…

Ukraine has begun releasing prisoners to serve in its army, part of a wider effort to rebuild a military that has been depleted by more than two years of war and is strained by relentless Russian assaults.Denys Maliuska, Ukraine’s justice minister, said in an interview on Friday that nearly 350 prisoners had already been freed under a law enacted last week that allows convicts to serve in the army in exchange for the possibility of parole at the end of their service.The country’s courts must approve each prisoner’s bid to enlist, and Mr. Maliuska said that the judiciary was already…

Patients who are marrying later in life — or are the mother of the bride or groom — are seeking what Dr. Maia calls “major transformations.” Face-lifts and tummy tucks, in particular, are popular with women over 40. One of her patients, preparing for her sons’ back-to-back weddings, scheduled a tummy tuck before the first wedding and a face-lift before the second.Instead of going under the knife, other brides-to-be have chosen injections, such as Botox treatments, which are often a less expensive alternative to surgery. Patients who visit Dr. Reish’s office for Botox treatments on average spend from $1,000 to…

Health officials are warning Americans not to drink raw milk as bird flu spreads through American cows. But some media figures and influencers are misleadingly suggesting that the product is safe or even healthier than traditional milk. And sales are growing.Commentators on sites like Infowars, Gab and Rumble have grown increasingly vocal about raw milk in recent weeks. They see the government’s heightened concerns about the dangers as overreach.“They say: ‘Bird flu in milk! Bird flu in milk! Oh, it’s the scariest thing!’” Owen Shroyer said on the April 29 episode of his “War Room” podcast from Infowars. He added:…

Why It MattersColon and rectal cancer rates have risen among younger adults as rates have declined among older people, who are far more likely to get colonoscopies that can catch cancers and precancerous lesions called polyps.But though millennials born around 1990 are at almost twice the risk of colon cancer compared with people born in the 1950s, and have a risk of rectal cancer that is four times as high, young people without a strong family history of colon cancer aren’t eligible for colonoscopies until the age of 45.Doctors may also miss the warning signs. Anecdotal evidence suggests that because…

Morgan Spurlock, a documentary filmmaker best known for the Oscar-nominated 2004 film “Super Size Me,” which followed him as he ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days, died on Thursday. He was 53.His brother Craig Spurlock confirmed the death in a statement to The Associated Press, and said the cause was complications from cancer. The statement did not say where he died.In “Super Size Me,” Mr. Spurlock tested the broadly held idea that fast food is unhealthy by gorging on McDonald’s Super Size meals, hamburgers, fries, soda and more for weeks, as he steadily gained weight. The film, which grossed…

U.S.WorldBusinessArtsLifestyleOpinionAudioGamesCookingWirecutterThe AthleticMay 24, 2024Updated 10:50 a.m. ETIsraeli forces have been pressing on in Rafah over the past 24 hours, destroying “weapons storage facilities, as well as tunnel shafts,” the Israeli military said in a statement on Friday. Hamas released a constant stream of updates on its Telegram channel claiming that its armed wing was targeting Israeli troops with mortars and explosive devices in Rafah. Israel said on Thursday that it had battled deeper into the city in what it maintains is a limited operation against Hamas battalions.Some of the aid that entered Gaza through the U.S.-built temporary pier has been…

All being well, Bayer Leverkusen will end this season with one record, two trophies and just three haunting, existential questions. They will all trace back to Wednesday, back to Dublin, back to the Europa League final, and they will all take exactly the same, baleful form: What if?What if Exequiel Palacios had seen Ademola Lookman coming? What if Granit Xhaka had not given the ball away? What if Edmond Tapsoba had stretched out his leg? Could the final have been different? Could Leverkusen have rallied to beat Atalanta? Could Leverkusen’s manager, Xabi Alonso, have steered his team to an unbeaten…

“Make me look like a disco ball.” For most designers this isn’t a common request, but for Madison Chamberlain, so-called disco brides, and anyone looking to splash extra color, sparkle or glam into their wedding day, are a mainstay of her business.Ms. Chamberlain, 29, started her bridal brand in 2022. “I’ve always been what you would call an occasion-wear designer,” she said. In college, at what was then known as Philadelphia University, she studied fashion design and made “jacquard coats decked out in embellishments and trimmed with orange fur,” she said. “Things that were just extreme.”In 2019, Ms. Chamberlain left…