Author: NY TIMES

President Trump on Wednesday raised the possibility that he could relax steep upcoming tariffs on China in exchange for the country’s support on a deal to sell TikTok to a new owner supported by the United States.Acknowledging that Beijing is “going to have to play a role” in any transaction, Mr. Trump signaled to reporters at the White House that he could be open to negotiation. “Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” he said.Under a law enacted before Mr. Trump took office, the Chinese-based parent company of TikTok must either sell…

In September, OpenAI unveiled a new version of ChatGPT designed to reason through tasks involving math, science and computer programming. Unlike previous versions of the chatbot, this new technology could spend time “thinking” through complex problems before settling on an answer.Soon, the company said its new reasoning technology had outperformed the industry’s leading systems on a series of tests that track the progress of artificial intelligence.Now other companies, like Google, Anthropic and China’s DeepSeek, offer similar technologies.But can A.I. actually reason like a human? What does it mean for a computer to think? Are these systems really approaching true intelligence?Here…

The Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues.The cuts are likely to further hamstring state health departments, which are already underfunded and struggling with competing demands from chronic diseases, resurgent infections like syphilis and emerging threats like bird flu.State health departments began receiving notices on Monday evening that the funds, which were allocated during the Covid-19 pandemic, were being terminated, effective immediately.“No additional activities can be conducted, and no additional costs…

What you notice right away on “Sable, Fable,” Bon Iver’s fifth studio album and first since 2019, is its directness, its brightness and, in some places, its lust. Justin Vernon — the band’s frontman and creative engine — is singing more directly than ever before, and the production captures hope, thrills and a kind of unselfconscious exultation.These have not typically been hallmarks of Bon Iver albums, known as elegant but abstract statements of emotional claustrophobia and fantastical catharsis. They have made Vernon, 43, a much-lauded folk mystic, and also an in-demand collaborator for in-the-know superstars — including Kanye West (now…

Palestinians protested in Gaza on Tuesday in a rare show of dissent against Hamas, with some chanting slogans critical of the armed group’s grip on the territory after more than year of devastating war with Israel.Videos verified by The New York Times showed groups of Gazans in the half-ruined streets in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. Some carried more neutral signs that opposed the continuation of the war, while others chanted slogans calling for Hamas to get out.Gazans, at least publicly, tend to blame Israel for much of the death, destruction and hunger the war has brought. But at…

Nine years ago, I moved in with my partner and her son. My two children, now 19 and 23, stayed with their mother, who lives two hours away. They visited us four days a month. My partner now objects to these visits: She says the kids are too old, too difficult — true, but not so much as to be relevant — and infringe on her privacy. I don’t think this is fair. We share all the costs of the house equally (mortgage, maintenance, utilities), and there’s plenty of space. I think my financial contributions entitle me to these visits.…

European leaders have gotten the message from Washington about doing more for their own defense and for Ukraine, too. They are talking tough when it comes to supporting Ukraine and about protecting their own borders, and they are standing up to a demanding and even hostile Trump administration.But there is an inevitable gap between talk and action, and unity is fracturing already, especially when it comes to spending and borrowing money in a period of low growth and high debt.The Dutch and others are not fans of raising collective debt for defense. Keeping Hungary on board is ever more difficult.And…

The 2025 WNBA Draft will be headlined by UConn’s Paige Bueckers, who has been regarded as top pick since she decided to execute her qualifications for the fifth year. But, besides the Bueckers, there are plenty of lead guards, scorers and wings eager to make an impact at the new level.The Bueckers and several of her draft picks, including Notre Dame and NC State Duos, are still in the NCAA Championship. UConn is seeking its first national title since 2016 and seeking its first title for the Bueckers. The rest is about to be finished, and the draft seems far…

The call of a conch shell roused the dolphin hunters from their beds. Under moonlight, the six men shuffled to the village church.There a priest led them in a whispered prayer, his voice barely audible over the sound of crashing waves; the tide was high that day. Saltwater pooled in parts of the village, which is on Fanalei Island, an ever-shrinking speck of land that is part of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.They paddled out in wooden canoes before first light, cutting through the darkness until they were miles away from shore. After hours of scanning the horizon,…

Hey, are you sure you want to send that to your group chat? Like, one thousand percent sure?Just checking. Because it’s been a strange week in the history of the group chat, those seemingly intimate text conversations that ping back and forth among friends and family members and, apparently, national security personnel.On Monday, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, wrote that he had accidentally been added to a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal. He followed along as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth laid out attack plans against Houthi strongholds in Yemen and watched other national…