Author: NY TIMES

Gavin Doyle used allowance money in 2009, when he was 11, to buy a few shares of Disney stock. They cost $31 apiece.He now owns a little over 400 shares — barely enough to be a speck of dust in the Disney investor galaxy. But the entertainment company, which has 1.8 billion shares outstanding, has nonetheless barraged him for months with political-style campaign materials (letters, email, social media ads) that urge him to elect certain people to its board.“I guess every vote matters,” said Mr. Doyle, 26, who runs MickeyVisit, a blog unaffiliated with Disney that focuses on theme park…

If Beyoncé had merely wanted to make mainstream country hits, she could have hired a seasoned Nashville producer and had her pick of expert Music Row songwriters. But “Cowboy Carter” has different aspirations, and Beyoncé brought her own brain trust, including producers known for hip-hop and R&B. “This ain’t a Country album. This is a Beyoncé album,” she wrote on Instagram. That’s true.“Cowboy Carter” leans into its anticipated discourse, openly interrogating categories and stereotypes and pointedly ignoring formulas. With historical savvy, Beyoncé enlisted Linda Martell — the Black country singer whose 1970 album, “Color Me Country,” included the first charting…

Israeli lawmakers passed a law on Monday allowing the government to temporarily shutter foreign media outlets that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has determined undermine the country’s national security, and the Israeli leader said he would use the new law to block Al Jazeera broadcasts and activities in Israel.Mr. Netanyahu’s government has had a tense relationship with Al Jazeera for years, but the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 escalated tensions. Mr. Netanyahu has called Al Jazeera a “Hamas mouthpiece.”On Monday, the prime minister said it was time for the Qatar-based network, one of the most widely viewed sources of television news…

A sweeping law targeting hate speech went into effect in Scotland on Monday, promising protection against threats and abuse but drawing criticism that it could have a chilling effect on free speech.The law, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2021, expands protections for marginalized groups and creates a new charge of “stirring up hatred,” which makes it a criminal offense to communicate or behave in a way that “a reasonable person would consider to be threatening, abusive or insulting.”A conviction could lead to a fine and a prison sentence of up to seven years.The protected classes as defined…

Back in September last year. Jannik Sinner had just been eliminated in the round of 16 of the US Open by Alexander Zverev in five sets. He has never reached a Grand Slam final. He’s only won one game just below that level, and that’s only in the past few weeks. No one questioned his commitment, but not many predicted his rocket to the top, or what has happened to the 22-year-old Italian with a carrot on his head since. Fast forward seven months now…”He’s the best player in the world right now,” said 32-year-old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who now…

Throughout his career, “Lalique was revolutionary,” Ms. Sampaio said. When it comes to his jewelry, she said, “he doesn’t use many precious stones, normally just small diamonds as details.” He often used enamel to add color and “to make the jewel shine,” she said.In glass as well as jewels, he worked in three main subjects, she said: the woman, the flora and the fauna. Pieces such as an enameled gold peacock, rock crystal cats and even insects, including scarabs and grasshoppers, can be found in this collection. One necklace depicted a string of grasshoppers in horn, tin plate and baroque…

The famous Tropicana Las Vegas resort, which held the city’s longest-running cabaret and was known for its lavish midcentury décor, will close on Tuesday as it prepares for demolition to make way for a new Major League Baseball stadium.The resort’s gaming floor will close at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, and the hotel’s last guests will be required to check out by noon, according to the website for the resort, which is owned by Bally’s Corporation, the gambling, betting and entertainment company.After the demolition, about nine acres of the 35-acre parcel will be granted to the Athletics baseball team for the…

In recent months, Google has raced to settle a backlog of lawsuits ahead of major antitrust showdowns with the Justice Department later this year.On Tuesday, the company resolved its fourth case in four months, agreeing to delete billions of data records it compiled about millions of Chrome browser users, according to a legal filing. The suit, Chasom Brown, et al. v. Google, said the company had misled users by tracking their online activity in Chrome’s “Incognito” mode, which they believed would be private.Since December, Google has spent well over $1 billion to settle lawsuits as it prepares to fight the…

You don’t need opera glasses to see that Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” takes on more than just country music.Nearly two minutes into “Daughter,” a track of ballad-like storytelling, she inserts a famous operatic song from the 18th century: “Caro Mio Ben.” And, in Beyoncé fashion, she makes it her own.Singers of all vocal types have performed “Caro Mio Ben”; most of them have been from the opera world, including it on recital programs. But as the song has been adapted for high and low ranges, its sound has stayed more or less the same.It was written in the early 1780s by…

Israeli soldiers withdrew from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after two weeks of fighting in which they killed around 200 Palestinians and arrested hundreds of others, the Israeli military said on Monday. The troops left widespread devastation in their wake after extended gun battles with Palestinian militants in and around the complex.Taysir al-Tanna, a longtime vascular surgeon at Al-Shifa, said many of the hospital’s main buildings — including the emergency, obstetrics and surgical wards — had been badly damaged in the fighting, and the main gate had been smashed.“Now it looks like a wasteland,” Dr. al-Tanna said.Mahmoud Basal, a spokesman…