Author: NY TIMES

Paul Chan, the top finance official of Hong Kong, traveled to Paris, London, Frankfurt and Berlin last September to lure foreign investors. Last month he abolished taxes on foreigners’ purchases of Hong Kong real estate. And he is soon set to host an international art show, as well as conferences for big money funds and advisers to wealthy families.Mr. Chan’s brisk work pace represents an attempt to shore up Hong Kong’s role and image as the financial hub of Asia. But that effort is now colliding with a move by the city’s Beijing-appointed leaders to further tighten their crackdown on…

The man appeared in a poorly lit room reading from his computer screen, which was reflected in his thick glasses. He appeared to be a real person, but it has not been possible to verify his actual identity. No one by the name of Mohamed al-Alawi appears to have produced any previous articles or videos, as would be expected of a journalist. According to Active Fence, an internet security company, the character has no educational or work history, and no network of friends or social connections online.The video, though, showed what purported to be photographs of a purchase contract and…

When Joel Bervell thought about professionalism as an undergrad, he thought of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Specifically, he thought about how residents on the show were expected to be, although often were not: on time, prepared for their cases and respectful to everyone around them.“That was the only standard that I had of what it meant to be a doctor — especially someone like me, who doesn’t come from a family of doctors,” said Mr. Bervell, 28, a fourth-year medical student at Washington State University. Mr. Bervell, who is Ghanian American, is one of the first Black medical students at the medical…

What began as a flippantly offered pipe dream, on second thought sounded too good to resist.Kent Nagano was leading the period-instrument ensemble Concerto Köln in concert performances of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” in 2016 when one musician suggested he come back for more, and with new repertoire. Because Nagano was conducting the “Ring” at the time, he lightheartedly said, “How about Wagner?”They laughed at the idea of taking on Wagner’s four-opera, 15-hour epic, Nagano recalled in a recent interview. Not just playing it, but devoting years of research and practice to a historically informed performance of it. Then they realized that this…

Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza and a presumed mastermind of the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, was confirmed dead on Monday by a senior U.S. official after an Israeli airstrike more than a week ago.Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, told reporters that Mr. Issa, one if the highest-ranking officials in Hamas, had been killed. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on March 11 that Israeli military warplanes had targeted Mr. Issa and another senior Hamas official in an underground compound in central Gaza.With his death, Mr. Issa, who had been among Israel’s…

Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza and a presumed mastermind of the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, was confirmed dead on Monday by a senior U.S. official after an Israeli airstrike more than a week ago.Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, told reporters that Mr. Issa, one if the highest-ranking officials in Hamas, had been killed. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on March 11 that Israeli military warplanes had targeted Mr. Issa and another senior Hamas official in an underground compound in central Gaza.With his death, Mr. Issa, who had been among Israel’s…

They entered the NFL with much fanfare and lofty expectations, hoping to one day be among the best talent the NFL has ever seen. But just three years later, the 2021 quarterback draft class largely looks like a giant bust.While NFL teams continue to evaluate another group of highly regarded quarterbacks ahead of the April draft, two of the five quarterbacks selected in the 2021 first round (Justin Fields and Mac Jones) Just got traded for a pittance. The third guy (Trey Lance) is set to enter year two as a backup on the second team. The fourth (Zach Wilson)…

Ahead of one of its signature events, New York Road Runners fielded an unusual email request on Friday night.The rapper and singer Lil Nas X, who was visiting New York from Los Angeles, had seen some advertisements for the United Airlines NYC Half, a 13.1-mile race that was set to be staged on Sunday morning. And one of his representatives was curious: Did the race have room for one more runner?“It kind of came out of the blue,” Rob Simmelkjaer, the chief executive of New York Road Runners, said in a telephone interview on Monday.The nonprofit, which puts on about…

James D. Robinson III, who as chief executive of the American Express Company from 1977 to 1993 helped transform Wall Street into a more competitive financial marketplace, with a wide diversity of businesses housed under single roofs, died on Monday in Roslyn, N.Y., on Long Island. He was 88.The death, at a hospital, was caused by respiratory failure from recurrent pneumonia, Walter Montgomery, a spokesman for the family, wrote in an announcement.A soft-spoken son of the Georgia gentry, Mr. Robinson followed a well-worn path to financial success, power and influence: from private school to the Ivy League and then on…

It was raw and occasionally tense.The former television anchor Don Lemon’s wide-ranging, testy interview with Elon Musk was released online on Monday morning, touching upon topics including politics, particularly the billionaire’s recent meeting with former President Donald J. Trump; Mr. Musk’s reported drug use; hate speech on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he now owns; and more.The interview was intended to be the debut episode of a new talk show in a partnership between Mr. Lemon and X, but Mr. Musk called off the deal a day after filming the hour-plus interview at Tesla’s headquarters…