Author: NY TIMES

On a Monday morning last month, tech executives, engineers and sales representatives from Amazon, Google, TikTok and other companies endured a three-hour traffic jam as their cars crawled toward a mammoth conference at an event space in the desert, 50 miles outside Riyadh.The lure: billions of dollars in Saudi money as the kingdom seeks to build a tech industry to complement its oil dominance.To bypass the congestion, frustrated eventgoers drove onto the highway shoulder, kicking up plumes of desert sand as they sped past those following traffic rules. A lucky few took advantage of a special freeway exit dedicated to…

After years of debate, Venice on Thursday will begin charging day visitors five euros to visit its fragile historic center on peak days, making it the first city in the world to adopt such a measure to counter overtourism.Critics question whether a nominal fee will put people off from visiting one of the world’s most desired destinations. But officials hope that it might encourage some to rethink their plans and decide to come on weekdays or in the off-season. That might help mitigate the impact of the estimated 20 million visitors who descended last year on the city’s beleaguered residents,…

The heights they’ve reached have become comical, with two golfers taking over their respective sports with such dominance that, for now at least, it’s hard to imagine anyone beating them.Nelly Korda had just won her fifth consecutive tournament and the eventual major, the Chevron Championship. Scottie Scheffler had just won four of five tournaments, one of which was the Masters. The men’s and women’s world No. 1s are no longer just the best athletes in their sports. They are becoming two of the best ever. Scheffler was jokingly asked this week in Hilton Head if the two would play.”I don’t…

“Don’t throw it ‘away.’ There is no ‘away.’”That waste-conscious message was scrawled on the back of a decades-old pickup in the Nebraska town where Martha Keen grew up. The doctor who drove it could have afforded a new one, but no: The truck had plenty of life left in it. Onward.The phrase “there is no away” has become a tenet guiding Apiary Studio, a Philadelphia landscape firm founded in 2015 by Ms. Keen’s partner, Hans Hesselein, a landscape architect. Ms. Keen joined him soon after, and now the couple design and build outdoor urban spaces, many of them in residential…

The Justice Department is investigating McKinsey & Company, the international consulting giant, for its role in helping drug companies maximize their sale of opioids.The investigation is led by the U.S. attorneys’ offices in Massachusetts and the Western District of Virginia in coordination with the department’s civil division in Washington, according to two officials familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.Since 2021, McKinsey has agreed to pay about $1 billion to settle investigations and lawsuits across the United States related to the firm’s work with opioid makers, principally Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. McKinsey recommended that Purdue…

A bill that would force a sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner, ByteDance — or ban it outright — was passed by the Senate on Tuesday and signed into law Wednesday by President Biden.Now the process is likely to get even more complicated.Congress passed the measure citing national security concerns because of TikTok’s Chinese ties. Both lawmakers and security experts have said there are risks that the Chinese government could lean on ByteDance for access to sensitive data belonging to its 170 million U.S. users or to spread propaganda.The law would allow TikTok to continue to operate in the…

The Biden administration on Wednesday said that it would begin requiring dairy cows moving across state lines to be tested for bird flu, which has been spreading in herds for months. The new policy is part of a growing effort to stamp out the spread of a virus that federal health officials have sought to reassure Americans poses little risk to people so far.The new order, issued by the Department of Agriculture, says that lactating cows must test negative for influenza A viruses, a class that includes bird flu, before they are transported. The owners of herds with positive tests…

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which has a history of attracting top conductors, including Fritz Reiner and Leopold Stokowski, announced on Wednesday that its next music director would be Cristian Macelaru, a Romanian-born maestro who has helped champion music education.Macelaru, 44, will begin a four-year term as music director in Cincinnati in the 2025-26 season and become music director designate in September, the ensemble said. Macelaru, who holds prestigious posts in Europe, leading both the Orchestre National de France and the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, will succeed the veteran conductor Louis Langrée, the ensemble’s leader since 2013.Macelaru said he felt…

Israel welcomed a U.S. aid package signed by President Biden on Wednesday that will send about $15 billion in military aid to Israel, increasing American support for its closest Middle East ally despite strains in their relationship over Israel’s prosecution of the war in the Gaza Strip.“Our alliance is ironclad,” Israel Katz, the country’s foreign minister, said in a statement thanking Mr. Biden for signing the legislation. It was part of a long-stalled $95.3 billion in aid that had faced vehement opposition from some Republicans over its support for Ukraine, which is also part of the legislation, as is Taiwan.The…

A court in Moscow rejected an appeal on Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against his detention, more than a year after he became the first American journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.The court ruled that Mr. Gershkovich, 32, must stay in a high-security prison in Moscow at least until the end of June, The Journal and news agencies reported. With no trial date yet set, Mr. Gershkovich’s detention is likely to be extended further.Mr. Gershkovich, his employer and the United States government have vehemently rejected the espionage charges against him. The…