Author: NY TIMES

Israel’s allies on Monday were strongly urging it not to retaliate against Iran for the missile and drone attack over the weekend, calling instead for a de-escalation of the tensions that have gripped the Middle East.The Iranian aerial assault — itself a retaliation for a strike that killed Iranian commanders in Syria — was the first time that Tehran had launched open attacks against Israel from its own soil. As some far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government called for a strong response, the United States, the Group of 7 nations, the European Union and the U.N. secretary general…

One of Germany’s most prominent far-right leaders, Björn Höcke, stands trial on Thursday, facing charges of using banned Nazi slogans at political rallies.Using National Socialist slogans and symbols is a punishable crime in Germany, which, because of the legacy of Hitler’s rise to power, has a far more restrictive approach to free speech compared to democracies like the United States.Mr. Höcke heads the far-right Alternative for Germany, known by its German abbreviation, AfD, in the state of Thuringia. Both he and the state branch he leads have been classified by domestic intelligence as right-wing extremist and are under surveillance.He is…

The global economy is approaching a soft landing after several years of geopolitical and economic turmoil, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. But it warned that risks remain, including stubborn inflation, the threat of escalating global conflicts and rising protectionism.In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the I.M.F. projected global output to hold steady at 3.2 percent in 2024, unchanged from 2023. Although the pace of the expansion is tepid by historical standards, the I.M.F. said that global economic activity had been surprisingly resilient given that central banks aggressively raised interest rates to tame inflation and wars in Ukraine…

Let me start with a confession: I’ve never liked “The Wizard of Oz.” But give me a retelling with, say, a Black Dorothy and Black Oz, and I’m immediately clicking my heels.When “The Wiz” debuted on Broadway in 1975, it was a colorful exclamation of Blackness on the stage. That’s to say a Black score, by Charlie Smalls, including gospel and R&B; a Black cast; and Black audiences at the forefront.Then three years later the beloved Motown film adaptation, starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Richard Pryor, pulled a Black Dorothy from her home, not in Kansas but in Harlem,…

Israel’s war cabinet met again on Monday as it faced growing international pressure not to retaliate against Iran for its missile and drone attack over the weekend, even as some far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government called for an aggressive response.There was no immediate indication of what, if anything, the cabinet had decided. Mr. Netanyahu faces a delicate calculation: how to respond to Iran in order not to look weak, while trying to avoid alienating the Biden administration and other allies already impatient with Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza. While the United States, Britain and France…

Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been moved by the military junta to an unknown location from a prison in the capital, Naypyidaw, raising questions about her safety.Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint, the country’s former president, were relocated “to a safe place because of the high temperatures in the prison,” Zaw Min Tun, the military spokesman, said Wednesday, without disclosing their location. Temperatures in Naypyidaw hit 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit, or 46 degrees Celsius, in the past week.Few people in Myanmar believe that the military is genuinely concerned about Ms. Aung San Suu…

A U.S. Senate committee investigating the tax avoidance work that Jeffrey Epstein, the registered sex offender, did for the private equity mogul Leon Black has questioned Bank of America over Mr. Black’s hefty payments to Mr. Epstein, according to a letter viewed by The New York Times.This month, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent the bank a letter asking about the extent of due diligence it conducted before processing $158 million in payments that Mr. Black made to Mr. Epstein from 2012 to 2017 for that tax work.The letter also asked whether any…

A celebrant of redemptive love, Frank Borzage (1893-1962) was the most romantic of classic Hollywood directors and, however unconventionally, perhaps the most religious as well. “Man’s Castle” (1933) conflates an economic crisis — namely the Great Depression — with a spiritual one. The movie also represents premarital pregnancy as salvation rather than sin, and scenes were consequently cut for its post-Production Code rerelease in the late 1930s.Restored to its original length of 78 minutes, screening at the Museum of Modern Art (April 18-24), “Man’s Castle” feels unique — at once surprisingly frank and disquietingly coy.A leading director of silent films,…

Israel was mere moments away from an airstrike on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders at Iran’s embassy complex in Syria when it told the United States what was about to happen.Israel’s closest ally had just been caught off guard.Aides quickly alerted Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser; Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser; Brett McGurk, Mr. Biden’s Middle East coordinator; and others, who saw that the strike could have serious consequences, a U.S. official said. Publicly, U.S. officials voiced support for Israel, but privately, they expressed anger that it would take such aggressive action against…

A mayor in Brussels on Tuesday sent police officers to break up a gathering of prominent, self-described “anti-woke” conservatives from across Europe, including Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, declaring “the far right is not welcome” before the authorities quickly retreated.Emir Kir, the Socialist Party mayor of the central Brussels neighborhood where the gathering took place, issued the order to close the National Conservatism Conference on grounds of “public safety.” But critics said that Mr. Kir’s order only amplified one of the gathering’s main themes: that cancel culture targeting conservative voices has run amok.“This is what we are up against.…