Author: NY TIMES

Trevor Griffiths, a prolific and avowedly Marxist writer for stage and screen most widely known for his play “Comedians,” which was staged in London and on Broadway, died on March 29 at his home in Yorkshire, England. He was 88.His agent, Nicki Stoddart, said the cause was heart failure.An important figure on the English left, Mr. Griffiths conjoined the political with the personal and expressed that affinity across a wide range of topics, whether connected to British party politics or comparable upheavals abroad.He was at his most visible during the decade or so from 1975 onward. That period encompassed the…

In a midseries episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Larry David, the HBO show’s star and creator, greets his No. 1 frenemy, Susie, (Susie Essman), who has turned up at a fancy gathering wearing a top hat and a morning coat.He gives her a once-over, then announces, with all the finesse of a carnival barker, “Ladies and gentlemen, the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.”Susie shoots him a stink eye. “Like you know anything about fashion,” she sneers.But Mr. David, 76, might beg to differ. On “Curb,” which ends its 12th and final season on Sunday, he spews barbs…

Oil prices have climbed in recent weeks, spurred by concerns over supplies and geopolitical risks, including wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Analysts say the momentum could carry prices higher.The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, has risen more than 20 percent since mid-December. It has jumped more than 10 percent over the past month alone, to around $90 per barrel. “The sentiment is really bullish,” said Viktor Katona, an analyst at Kpler, a commodities research firm.Rising oil prices could make efforts by central banks to reduce inflation more challenging. In the United States,…

Clarence Henry, the New Orleans rhythm-and-blues mainstay who was known as Frogman — and best known for boasting in his durable 1956 hit, “Ain’t Got No Home,” that “I sing like a girl/ And I sing like a frog” — died on Sunday. He was 87.The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, where Mr. Henry had been scheduled to perform this month, announced his death. The Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate reported that he died in New Orleans of complications following back surgery.“Ain’t Got No Home,” which reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100, became Mr. Henry’s signature hit and definitively…

The withdrawal of Israeli ground troops from southern Gaza over the weekend allowed some Palestinians to return to the city of Khan Younis and check on their homes. But in the aftermath of a fierce, monthslong battle and Israeli bombings, some found only destruction.“When I saw the scene I couldn’t handle it,” said Dr. Ahmad al-Farra, who went back on Sunday to find his family’s three-story villa reduced to a pile of rubble, surrounded by the few trees that were left standing in what was once a lush garden.“I completely collapsed and nearly fainted,” he said in a phone call…

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III told a Senate committee on Tuesday that the Pentagon had no evidence that Israel was carrying out a genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.Mr. Austin made the comments in testimony at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that was disrupted several times by demonstrators protesting U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Hamas. More than 33,000 people have died in Israeli bombardments on Gaza, according to Gazan health officials, and severe hunger is sweeping through the Palestinian enclave.Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a Republican, asked Mr. Austin to address the protesters’ concerns.“Is Israel…

Charity Lawson earned a reputation of being a sweetheart after starring in the 20th season of “The Bachelorette,” which ended in August with her engagement to Dotun Olubeko, an integrative medicine specialist.Ms. Lawson, 28, seemingly always has a smile on her face. She knows what she likes and she does not put up with drama, a trait that was witnessed first hand this week amid the chaos that was New York Bridal Fashion Week — a chaos that this season was exacerbated by heavy rain and wind.The three-day event, from April 2 to 4, was an opportunity for bridal designers…

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating claims made by a Boeing engineer who says that sections of the fuselage of the 787 Dreamliner are improperly fastened together and could break apart mid-flight after thousands of trips.The engineer, Sam Salehpour, who worked on the plane, detailed his allegations in interviews with The New York Times and in documents sent to the F.A.A. A spokesman for the agency confirmed that it was investigating the allegations but declined to comment on them.Mr. Salehpour, whose résumé says he has worked at Boeing for more than a decade, said the problems stemmed from changes in…

2. “When My Boy Walks Down the Street”“Grand pianos crash together when my boy walks down the street,” Merritt sings on this coolly catchy, lyrically vivid fuzz-pop number, which imagines the object of his affection as the star of a surreal cinematic montage: “There are whole new kinds of weather when he walks to his new beat.”▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube3. “No One Will Ever Love You”The pure-toned vocalist Shirley Simms sings many of the sweetest of the “69 Love Songs,” but on this memorable, heart-string-tugging track she cuts her sugar with a heavy dose of arsenic,…

For Nicaragua’s representative to the International Court of Justice, this week’s hearing before the World Court was a case of déjà vu.But experts in the Central American nation saw it as a cynical move by a totalitarian government to bolster its profile and distract attention from its own worsening record of repression.Weeks after being sharply criticized by a United Nations investigatory team for human rights violations, Nicaragua, a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause, on Monday took Germany to the international court at The Hague for supplying arms to Israel.After accusing Germany of ignoring what it called clear signs of…