Author: NY TIMES

It was February 1698, and disease was sweeping through Leonardtown, a small village in southern Maryland. Locals knew whom to blame: They set fire to the hut of Moll Dyer, a single woman living alone on the edge of town who had been deemed a witch.She escaped the enraged citizens, only to die in the frozen wilderness. Her body was found clinging to a rock, on which her knees and hands supposedly left impressions.Ms. Dyer, arguably, inspired one of the most famous fictional witches in American pop culture: the one at the center of the 1999 horror film “The Blair…

Russia significantly stepped up its sabotage campaign over the past two years as it sought to pressure Europe and the United States to curb their support for Ukraine, according to a new study released on Tuesday.The report, by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is one of the first that try to quantify the scale of Moscow’s covert campaign that targeted undersea cables, warehouses and railways. It found that Russian attacks in Europe quadrupled from 2022 to 2023 and then tripled again from 2023 to 2024.“This is an important tool that the Russians are using in coordination with their…

Lee Shau-kee, a Hong Kong real estate tycoon who made his immense fortune building tens of thousands of apartments for middle-class descendants of refugees who had fled Communist mainland China, died on Monday. He was 97.His death was announced by the company he founded, Henderson Land Development. It did not say where he died or cite a cause.Well into his 70s, Mr. Lee became even wealthier through shrewd financial investments that prompted some to call him Hong Kong’s Warren Buffett. At his death, Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $29.2 billion, making him the 63rd wealthiest person in the world.Mr.…

Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is now accessible across the White House campus. It is the latest installation of the Wi-Fi network across the government since Mr. Musk joined the Trump administration as an unpaid adviser.It was not immediately clear when the White House complex was fitted with Starlink after President Trump took office for a second term.Starlink terminals, rectangular panels that receive internet signals beamed from SpaceX satellites in low-Earth orbit, can be placed on physical structures. But instead of being physically placed at the White House, the Starlink system is now said to…

The Department of Veterans Affairs is phasing out gender-affirming medical treatments for veterans, including hormone treatment for patients newly diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the V.A. announced on Monday.The V.A. will continue hormone treatment for veterans who currently receive it or were receiving it when they separated from the military. The rationale is that abrupt cessation can be harmful to patients’ health.The policy change was made to comply with an executive order by President Trump, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” the V.A. said in a news release.That order states that the…

In My Obsession, one creative person reveals their most prized collection.The artist Larry Bell, 85, was born with severe undiagnosed hearing loss. “I didn’t know it, and neither did my parents,” he said. Unsurprisingly, music lessons were a struggle but, when he was about 17, he saw a strange guitar hanging in a pawnshop window in Downtown Los Angeles. “I had never seen anything quite like it because it had 12 strings instead of six,” he said. “I asked the man behind the counter if I could see it. I just dragged the back of my nails across the strings,…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sudden attempt to remove the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency is the latest salvo in a two-year campaign by the Israeli government to exert more control over different branches of the state.The move prompted calls on Monday for mass protests and led to criticism from business leaders and the attorney general, summoning memories of the social upheaval in 2023 that was set off by an earlier push to reduce the power of state watchdogs.Mr. Netanyahu’s plan to hold a cabinet vote on the future of Ronen Bar, the head of the agency known as the…

First things first: The mask is coming off.Ever since the country singer Orville Peck was announced as the next Emcee in Rebecca Frecknall’s ritzy production of “Cabaret,” invested circles have speculated feverishly about Mr. Peck’s signature accessory: Would he possibly give up his sartorial calling card? How could he deliver an honest, Broadway-worthy performance without a full face’s worth of emotion?But in a recent interview, the singer confirmed that he would not be masked when he makes his Broadway debut later this month.“The mask is part of my expression personally as an artist and a very big personal part of…

At least 59 people were killed and 155 others were injured when a fire broke out overnight in a nightclub in North Macedonia, the country’s interior minister, Panche Toshkovski, said on Sunday. The blaze — the deadliest national tragedy in recent memory — has horrified the small country in southeastern Europe.“The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable,” Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote on X.The police have detained 15 people, including the manager of the club and the son of its owner, Mr. Toshkovski, the interior minister,…

The on-site coverage of the campaign 2025 Man’s March crazy selection performanceGentleman, Greg Gumbel reached out to provide a warm handshake. Ernie Johnson answered…fist bumps?Ten years later, Johnson still described the awkward communication as “so awkward” – which lasted about two seconds. For TV veteran Johnson, it feels like eternity. However, if two seconds or 20 seconds have to happen, it is agreed that no one else can handle it well except Gumbel.For more than a quarter of a century, Gumbel has provided a calm attitude in the most chaotic sports calendar, from one exciting frustration to another big game.…