Author: NY TIMES

Last Wednesday, the Trump administration believed it had a plan to save TikTok.ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, along with some of its U.S. investors, and officials in Washington had coalesced around a new ownership structure for the popular video app, four people familiar with the situation said. That structure, the people said, would help TikTok satisfy the terms of a federal law that required the app to find a new owner in order to address national security concerns, or face a ban in the United States.Under the plan, new investors would own 50 percent of a new American TikTok entity, while…

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kicked off a tour through southwestern states on Monday by calling on states to ban fluoride in drinking water supplies, a move that would reverse what some medical experts consider one of the most important public health practices in the country’s history.The announcement came at a news conference in Utah, the first state to enact such a ban into law. The state’s new law is set to take effect in early May, despite concerns from public health experts who consider fluoridation of water core to preventing tooth decay.“It makes no sense to have it…

Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicIt’s Popcast mailbag time, in which we field listener and reader questions about all of the most pressing topics in popular music.On this week’s episode, the hosts — including The New York Times pop critic Jon Caramanica and the pop reporter Joe Coscarelli, plus the pop music editor Caryn Ganz — address your thoughts and concerns about:Connect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our…

Families of victims of the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, sued a prominent Palestinian American businessman on Monday, accusing him of supporting Hamas by developing properties that were crucial to the terrorist group’s operations.According to the lawsuit, Bashar Masri, a wealthy developer, operated hotels and an industrial site in Gaza to “construct and conceal” a labyrinthine network of tunnels that allowed Hamas to “store and launch its rockets at Israel.”“The properties defendants developed with Hamas were not only part of the infrastructure Hamas used in connection with the Oct. 7 attack itself,” the lawsuit added. “Their development deliberately…

Several creative circles merged in the Red Room at KGB Bar in the East Village of Manhattan on a recent March evening. Sipping stiff martinis and enjoying a dedicated playlist of “2008’s top hits,” the intersection of literature, fashion, art and internet filled the room with a throwback, almost Beatnik buzz. They were here for the sixth installment of “Straight Girls,” a monthly poetry reading hosted by the poets Riley Mac and Montana James.In just a few short months Ms. Mac, 30, and Mr. James, 28, have gained reputations for escaping the sometimes frumpy poetry scene of the outer boroughs.…

The Ukrainian Navy patrol boat zipped across the Black Sea, its double-barreled, 25-millimeter machine gun locked on the horizon. The enemy, Russia, was nowhere in sight, yet ever-present. In the command room, Captain Mykhailo and his crew scanned screens showing color-coded zones marking Russian mine-laden waters and red arrows tracking drones prowling the area.The crew’s mission was to defend the waters off Odesa, Ukraine’s largest Black Sea port city, and keep them safe for commercial traffic. It has been grueling work — clearing Russian mines by day, shooting down drones by night — but after more than a year of…

The Golden State Warriors’ regular season will end Sunday afternoon at Chase Center, one of Draymond Green’s favorite games. Fight against the LA Clippers. It could have a playoff impact, so the green will undoubtedly be intense.But it wasn’t his showdown with Ivica Zubac, it wasn’t the bruises center he had to face. Or Kawhi Leonard. Or James Harden. No, Green loves the showdown because head coach Ty Lue.”When I played against his team, I felt it was a game with me and him,” Green said.It’s a 35-year-old green window here, still doing well on defense and worth the year’s…

China’s leaders have sent a clear message about the effects of the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs: Things will be painful, but it is nothing that the country cannot handle.A commentary on Sunday in the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, said Beijing had prepared for a trade war with the United States and that China could potentially come out stronger as a result.“The abuse of tariffs by the United States will have an impact on China, but ‘the sky will not fall,’” it said. “China is a super economy. We are strong and resilient in the face of the U.S.…

Dear readers, I have a confession: I am suffering from an ailment that the younger ones call “brain rot,” the inability to think deeply after too much scrolling on my phone. These days, it’s tough to even finish a book.Plenty of people have this problem. So many, it has birthed a category of minimalist tech products striving to rid us of distractions, from the Ai Pin, the now defunct artificially intelligent lapel pin that took notes, to phones with only basic features.The latest example, the $600 Light Phone III, from a Brooklyn start-up, is a stripped-down phone that does barely…

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, attended the funeral on Sunday of an 8-year-old girl who died of measles amid an outbreak that has burned through the region and called into question his ability to handle a public-health crisis.The child’s death, in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, early Thursday morning, is the second confirmed fatality from measles in a decade in the United States.The girl died of “measles pulmonary failure,” according to records obtained by The New York Times. The hospital, part of UMC Health System, confirmed the death later on Sunday, adding that the girl was unvaccinated…