Author: NY TIMES

In political banners, campaign slogans and everyday conversations, South Koreans used two words to convey the high stakes of this week’s parliamentary election: “Judgment Day.” It was an opportunity to issue a verdict on the first two years of President Yoon Suk Yeol, a leader who has made strides on the global stage but is deeply unpopular and divisive at home.The results, released on Thursday, were disastrous for Mr. Yoon.Voters pushed him to the verge of being a lame duck, giving the opposition one of the biggest parliamentary majorities in recent decades. He becomes the first South Korean president in…

LAGOS, Nigeria — For the past decade, Nigeria’s best-known ambassadors have, arguably, been its musicians: Burna Boy, WizKid, Davido, Tiwa Savage Asake and Tems, who have popularized Afrobeats beyond West Africa. At a moment when music, literature, visual art and food from across the African continent continue to gain global popularity, fashion designers, particularly those from Nigeria, are ready for their industry to take center stage.“Designers have become better and more confident, said Reni Folawiyo, owner of Alara, a popular concept store in Lagos. “Some have come back from different parts of the world and are creating things that are…

Inflation’s most stubborn category remained stubborn last month.Housing costs rose 0.4 percent in March and were up 5.7 percent from a year earlier, both unchanged from the month before. Shelter inflation has cooled since last year, when it peaked at more than 8 percent, but lately that progress has slowed.Housing is by far the largest monthly expense for most families, which means it also weighs heavily in inflation calculations. Shelter accounts for more than a third of the Consumer Price Index, meaning it will be difficult for the Federal Reserve to tame inflation fully as long as housing costs continue…

An earthquake and an eclipse weren’t the only natural rarities that happened in New York City this past week. Did you hear about the sasquatch in Central Park? The makers of “Sasquatch Sunset” sure hope you did.That’s because the sasquatch was a costume and his stroll through the park was a publicity push for the new film from the brothers David and Nathan Zellner. Opening in New York on Friday, the movie spends a year in the wild with a sasquatch pack — a male and female (Nathan Zellner and Riley Keough) and two younger sasquatches (Jesse Eisenberg and Christophe…

As the Israeli military campaign to destroy Hamas pummeled his neighborhood in northern Gaza, reducing buildings to rubble and forcing residents to flee, the Palestinian laborer realized that he was running out of food.The shops had closed, the markets had emptied and fighting prevented supplies from reaching them. So he and his remaining neighbors gathered a plant known as khobeza that grew near their homes and cooked it to sustain themselves, he said.“It supported us more than everyone else in the world,” the laborer, Amin Abed, 35, said recently by phone from Gaza. “People survived the darkest chapters of the…

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine probably changed the fates of thousands of Ukrainian men when he signed a law lowering the draft age to 25 from 27 this month, more than two years after Russia began its full-scale invasion.Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold back the far larger Russian Army, and desperately need their ranks replenished. Now many of the young men who remain in Ukraine — thousands of others have illegally fled the country — worry about their future.Reporters from The New York Times spoke to Ukrainian men who could be affected by the change.‘I am worried, even a…

Regardless of what Us Weekly says, celebrities are not just like us.One had only to see the workout video Lenny Kravitz posted on Tuesday to know that.First, there was Mr. Kravitz’s outfit: a plum-colored muscle tank, complete with leather pants, black boots and his signature sunglasses.Then there was the exercise itself, which took place on a decline bench and involved a barbell with weights on each side.At the starting position, Mr. Kravitz is supine, with the bar extended below his head. Then, while hoisting the upward with a furious motion, he appears to do a combination of a pullover and…

A closely watched measure of inflation remained stronger than expected in March, worrying news for Federal Reserve officials who have become increasingly concerned that their progress on lowering price increases might be stalling.The surprisingly stubborn inflation reading raised doubts among economists about when — and even whether — the Fed will be able to start cutting interest rates this year.The Consumer Price Index climbed 3.8 percent on an annual basis after stripping out food and fuel prices, which economists do in order to get a better sense of the underlying inflation trend. That “core” index was stronger than the 3.7…

Call it a return to his roots. The artist Arthur Jafa began his career as a cinematographer, working with his then-wife, Julie Dash, on the acclaimed “Daughters of the Dust” (1991) and with Spike Lee on “Crooklyn” (1994), before garnering art world fame, including a Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, for “The White Album,” created from original and collaged video footage. Jafa’s practice has embraced film and video, sculpture, installation, and even painting.His newest film, which went on view Thursday at Gladstone Gallery in Chelsea, has a provocative conceit: Jafa has remade the shockingly violent climax of a…

An Israeli airstrike on Wednesday killed three sons of one of the most senior leaders of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, who said the strike would not weaken the group’s negotiating position or its resolve in its fight against Israel.Mr. Haniyeh, who leads the Hamas political bureau from exile, is a longstanding leader of the group. He is also engaged in the stalled negotiations with Israel through international mediators who are seeking to broker a cease-fire and secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.“The enemy is delusional if it thinks that by killing my children, we…