Author: NY TIMES

In a municipal building in the heart of the alpine city of Bolzano, Stefano Baldo clocked out of work early for his breastfeeding break.“It’s clear I don’t breastfeed,” Mr. Baldo, a 38-year-old transportation administrator, said in his office decorated with pictures of his wife and six children. But with his wife home with a newborn, one of the parents was entitled by law to take the time, and he needed to pick up the kids. “It’s very convenient.”Full houses have increasingly become history in Italy, which has one of the lowest birthrates in Europe and where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni,…

Welcome to the newsletter, every Monday this season Competitor Three of the biggest questions arising from weekend football will be discussed.Newcastle United narrowly lost against West Ham United this round, Liverpool moved to the top of the league after a scare against Brighton, and Manchester United led 1-0 in the 96th minute but still No wins.Sheffield United throw away other Two goals ahead.On the back of all this and more, we ask if Erling Haaland has underperformed in his and his club’s worst moments, if Cole Palmer is the Premier League’s most valuable player, and Does Xabi Alonso reject Liverpool…

As we look toward the summer, I’ve started to think about new shoes, like a nice pair of sandals or some of the cute block heels I’ve seen on the subway. My office is business casual. But I can’t get past the idea of displaying my toes in the office — it just feels wrong. How much toe cleavage is too much? Can you get the dogs out around the water cooler? — Sarah, New YorkIn the spring, a person’s fancy turns to thoughts of … open-toe shoes! Sandals, Birkenstocks, mules — any footwear that allows your feet, trapped for…

Wendy’s ordering kiosks. Ben & Jerry’s grocery store freezers. Abercrombie & Fitch’s marketing. Many mainstays of the American customer experience are increasingly powered by artificial intelligence.The question is whether the technology will actually make companies more efficient.Rapid productivity improvement is the dream for both companies and economic policymakers. If output per hour holds steady, firms must either sacrifice profits or raise prices to pay for wage increases or investment projects. But when firms figure out how to produce more per working hour, it means that they can maintain or expand profits even as they pay or invest more. Economies experiencing…

David Autor seems an unlikely A.I. optimist. The labor economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is best known for his in-depth studies showing how much technology and trade have eroded the incomes of millions of American workers over the years.But Mr. Autor is now making the case that the new wave of technology — generative artificial intelligence, which can produce hyper-realistic images and video and convincingly imitate humans’ voices and writing — could reverse that trend.“A.I., if used well, can assist with restoring the middle-skill, middle-class heart of the U.S. labor market that has been hollowed out by automation…

The Department of Health and Human Services said on Monday that hospitals must obtain written informed consent from patients before they undergo sensitive examinations — like pelvis and prostate exams — especially if the patients will be under anesthesia.A New York Times investigation in 2020 found that hospitals, doctors and doctors in training sometimes conducted pelvic exams on women who were under anesthesia, even when those exams were not medically necessary and when the patient had not authorized them. Sometimes these exams were done only for the educational benefit of medical trainees.On Monday, the secretary of Health and Human Services,…

Holst did find a solution to his competing ambition and physical incapability, and he left traces of it on the cover of the 1911 “Fairy Queen” program, which lists 28 copyists who worked for 18 months to copy some 1,500 pages of parts. “The Planets” was similarly bold, especially as a project undertaken during wartime. His pupil Jane Joseph commented that he “resigned himself to needing a vast orchestra which no one would be able to afford in wartime.”To help with the preparation of “The Planets,” Holst enlisted Joseph, as well as Lasker and Day, who were both music teachers…

For months, Israel and Hamas have been at odds over a host of issues during talks aimed at brokering a truce, including whether Israeli troops would withdraw and the length of a cease-fire.Now one of the major sticking points to emerge as in-person talks resumed this week is how displaced Palestinians will be able to return to the northern Gaza Strip, according to Israeli, Hamas and regional officials.Despite mounting international pressure, the talks aimed at brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages held by militants in Gaza appear to be stalled.Mediators from Qatar and Egypt…

An American YouTube personality who was kidnapped two weeks ago by a gang leader in Haiti was released over the weekend and was on his way home to the United States on Monday morning, according to his father.The American, Adisson Pierre Maalouf, 26, had traveled to Haiti from the neighboring Dominican Republic to interview Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer and gang leader known as Barbecue, according to Mr. Maalouf’s family, who spoke to The New York Times after his release.Kidnapped with him was Mr. Maalouf’s guide, Jean Sacra Sean Roubens, a Haitian journalist. Mr. Roubens confirmed to The Times…

In a story originally told to ESPN by Shohei Ohtani’s translator Ippei Mizuhara, the two logged into Ohtani’s bank account together eight or nine times in 2023 and wired $500,000 to Mathew Bowyer, who is an alleged illegal bookmaker who is under federal investigation. Ohtani told the public the story, days after Mizuwon gave up his initial claim and was fired by the Dodgers, that the translator had stolen the money to pay off his gambling debts.Both versions of the story raise a question that has vexed the public: Why would bookmakers extend at least $4.5 million in credit to…