Author: NY TIMES

In calling a general election, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain cast himself this week as a leader with a clear plan. That did not include carrying an umbrella during his remarks in front of 10 Downing Street, where Mr. Sunak was drenched in a spring shower that yielded a flood of snarky headlines.“Drowning Street,” said the tabloid City A.M. “Drown & out,” cried The Daily Mirror. “Things can only get wetter,” declared The Daily Telegraph.On Thursday, the first day of the six-week campaign, that dissonance spread from symbolism to substance. Mr. Sunak signaled that his government’s signature political project…

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A popular lender backed by venture capital firms is struggling financially, sending shock waves through the small clothing and home furnishing companies that count on its financing.The lender, Ampla, spent years courting small direct-to-consumer brands with low rates and a pitch that it understood their needs. In recent weeks, its top executives have been searching for a buyer, two people familiar with the firm’s finances said. Last week, Ampla, which is based in New York, said it would lay off half its 62 workers.Ampla has also tightened or frozen clients’ lines of credit and told many customers to find other…

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Kabosu, a Shiba Inu whose much wow face helped launched one of the defining memes of the last decade and inspired the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, died on Friday. She was 18 years old.She “crossed the rainbow bridge” on Friday, her owner Atsuko Sato said on social media, adding that she died without suffering, and as Ms. Sato was petting her.In the animal hall of fame, Kabosu’s sudden rise from ordinary dog to global meme could only be described as “amaze.” Sent to an animal shelter with a group of other Shiba Inu dogs after her breeder went out of out of…

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Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of three Oct. 7 Hamas attack victims in an overnight operation in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said on Friday, further heightening fears for the fate of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.Israeli officials identified the three hostages as Hanan Yablonka, 42; Michel Nisenbaum, 59; and Orion Hernandez Radoux, a dual citizen of France and Mexico. According to Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, all three were killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, and Hamas militants brought their bodies back to Gaza.Roughly 125 living and dead hostages now remain in Gaza, according…

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A protest near the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on Tuesday demanding the immediate release of hostages.Credit…Ronen Zvulun/ReutersIsraeli forces retrieved the bodies of three Oct. 7 Hamas attack victims in an overnight operation in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said on Friday, further heightening fears for the fate of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.Israeli officials identified the three hostages as Hanan Yablonka, 42; Michel Nisenbaum, 59; and Orion Hernandez Radoux, a dual citizen of France and Mexico. According to Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, all three were killed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, and Hamas…

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Dominique Isabel Pascale Crenn receives countless DMs on Instagram from people trying to get a table at her San Francisco restaurant, Atelier Crenn. She doesn’t usually respond.But when Maria Elaina Bello sent her a DM in April 2018, the message resonated with her.Lorraine Silvera, a friend of Ms. Bello’s and a fellow food lover, had seen Ms. Crenn on the Netflix documentary series “Chef’s Table.” Ms. Silvera and Ms. Bello were flying to San Francisco from Los Angeles for dinner at Atelier Crenn, but reservations were fully booked.Ms. Bello, 57, sent a message to Ms. Crenn, 59, on Instagram: “My…

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At 87, Pat Seftel has a thought to share about almost everything.On Tinder: “If you want to meet somebody for a real relationship, that’s not the way to do it.”On artificial intelligence: “It could get out of control.”On climate change: “This is destroying our planet.”For more than 10 years, Ms. Seftel has shared those opinions, and others, on “CBS Sunday Morning,” appearing in semiregular segments that have become popular with viewers, who look forward to her life advice and seasoned perspective on the modern world.In the segments, Ms. Seftel usually appears from her home in Sarasota, Fla., in conversation via…

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Listen to and follow ‘Hard Fork’Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTubeThis week, more drama at OpenAI: The company wanted Scarlett Johansson to be a voice of GPT-4o, she said no … but something got lost in translation. Then we talk with Noland Arbaugh, the first person to get Elon Musk’s Neuralink device implanted in his brain, about how his brain-computer interface has changed his life. And finally, the Times’s Karen Weise reports back from Microsoft’s developer conference, where the big buzz was that the company’s new line of A.I. PCs will record every single thing you do on the…

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