Author: NY TIMES

Israel’s air force on Wednesday continued to pound the Gaza Strip with strikes, and Hamas fighters kept up attacks against Israeli soldiers, a further indication that a United Nations Security Council resolution this week calling for a cease-fire had failed to persuade either side as attempts for an agreement appeared to falter.Over the two days since the U.N. resolution passed on Monday, the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, has said it is continuing to carry out attacks against Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military said on Wednesday that warplanes had hit dozens of targets over the previous day, including tunnels, military…

Thailand’s House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage, bringing the measure a significant step closer to becoming law.The bill passed by 400 votes to 10, with a handful of abstentions, and now the legislation goes to the Senate. If it passes there, and if Thailand’s king approves it, the country will become the first in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex marriages. In Asia more broadly, only Taiwan and Nepal have done so.Thailand’s bill describes marriage as a partnership between two individuals, rather than between a woman and a man. It will also give…

The Sweet 16 lineup is set — mostly what we expected, but with a few twists.The left side of the bracket (Albany 1 and Portland 4 regions) includes all No. 1 through 4 seeds, while the lower seeds on the right side (Albany 2 and Portland 3 regions) include the No. 5 and No. 7 seeds.Will there be more chaos in the region? Can the top seed continue to thrive? We’re here to break down the game and provide predictions.(All times Eastern)FridayAlbany 1 | 2:30 PM | ESPNThe matchup between the Fighting Irish and Beavers is a game of contrasting…

Matthew and Timothy Nichols’s story could be a case study of what it means to manifest something. The goal they realized: To amass an enviable collection of Japanese maples and establish a leading role in championing them.In 2008, when the brothers took over their father’s hobby — a Japanese maple project they had helped with, doing tailgate sales at flea markets — they quickly realized how much they needed to learn to turn it into the sort of business they envisioned.And they knew where they might learn at least some of it.The brothers, then 21 and 27, planned a pilgrimage…

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to provide a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to help a company restart a nuclear power plant in Michigan — the latest step in the government’s effort to revive the nation’s reactors.The loan guarantee from the Energy Department will allow Holtec International to revive the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Mich., on the shores of Lake Michigan and about 40 miles west of Kalamazoo, and keep it going until at least 2051. The loan guarantee is conditional on the facility receiving regulatory approvals and fulfilling other requirements. The plant ceased…

Since federal agents raided two of Sean Combs’s homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area this week, the investigation into the hip-hop mogul has become the subject of intense public interest and speculation.The raids were conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, which has said very little about the focus of its inquiry. No criminal charges have been filed against Mr. Combs in relation to the case.But the footage of federal officers brandishing weapons while entering Mr. Combs’s sprawling Los Angeles mansion, where they confiscated computers and other devices, has raised questions about the nature of the investigation and how it…

Hezbollah militants fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel from Lebanon on Wednesday, in what they said was retaliation for an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon overnight.The militants’ barrage came as pro-Palestinian protesters turned up the pressure on the government in neighboring Jordan to sever ties with Israel. It also came as the United States said a previously canceled meeting with an Israeli delegation in Washington to discuss a planned offensive into the southern Gazan city of Rafah would be rescheduled.For months, Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group based in Lebanon, has traded fire with Israeli forces across the border, and on…

Russia has intensified its online efforts to derail military funding for Ukraine in the United States and Europe, largely by using harder-to-trace technologies to amplify arguments for isolationism ahead of the U.S. elections, according to disinformation experts and intelligence assessments.In recent days, intelligence agencies have warned that Russia has found better ways to hide its influence operations, and the Treasury Department issued sanctions last week against two Russian companies that it said supported the Kremlin’s campaign.The stepped-up operations, run by aides to President Vladimir V. Putin and Russian military intelligence agencies, come at a critical moment in the debate in…

It may not feel like spring yet — but it is.And as the temperature rises, the stuff you bring into and out of your home changes: Instead of heavy coats and snow boots, you’ll need umbrellas and rain boots, and eventually sunglasses and flip-flops.That means your entryway — whether it’s a foyer, a mudroom or just the space around your front door — needs to change, too.“Those rooms take a beating, but they’re also your first impression as you come through the door,” said Whittney Parkinson, an interior designer in Indianapolis. “So they have to be functional, but they also…

Even before an enormous container ship rammed a bridge in Baltimore in the early hours of Tuesday, sending the span hurtling into the Patapsco River, and halting cargo traffic at a major American port, there was ample reason to worry about the troubles dogging the global supply chain.Between swirling geopolitical winds, the variables of climate change and continued disruptions resulting from the pandemic, the risks of depending on ships to carry goods around the planet were already conspicuous. The pitfalls of relying on factories across oceans to supply everyday items like clothing and critical wares like medical devices were at…