Author: NY TIMES

The first shipment of aid to reach Gaza by sea in almost two decades was fully unloaded on Saturday on a makeshift jetty in the Mediterranean, marking a milestone in a venture that Western officials hope will ease the enclave’s worsening food deprivation.The ship, the Open Arms, towed a barge from Cyprus loaded with about 200 tons of rice, flour, lentils and canned tuna, beef and chicken, supplied by the World Central Kitchen charity.José Andrés, the Spanish American chef who founded the World Central Kitchen, said his team would begin dispatching the food by truck, including to Gaza’s north, an…

On Jan. 3, 2022, Clare Jacobs, a bird-watcher, was delighted to spot a rare white-tailed eagle, or Haliaeetus albicilla, at a nature reserve on the Isle of Wight in southern England. These birds, also known as sea eagles or ernes, vanished from the region some 250 years ago, but more than two dozen birds have been released on the island since 2019.Mrs. Jacobs trained her camera on the eagle when she noticed something moving in the water below it: a grey seal. The large mammal popped out of the waves and opened its mouth. “It made me jump,” Mrs. Jacobs…

Amanda Kay Cook was tired of relationships that went nowhere.So, in October 2020, she drew up three nonnegotiables and rounded up 30 matches — “like on ‘The Bachelorette,’” said Ms. Cook, 29 — mainly from the dating apps Tinder, Hinge and Bumble, and a few from friends.She rattled off her three nonnegotiables — they must be seeking a long-term relationship, share her political views and feel passionate about social justice — at the start of each required 15-minute FaceTime date. This quickly narrowed the field in half.“If they hemmed and hawed,” about her requirements, she said, “they wouldn’t make the…

Every morning in his townhouse in the tony San Francisco neighborhood of Pacific Heights, the man once referred to as Britain’s Bill Gates gets to work.That man, Mike Lynch, checks in with his investment firm, Invoke Capital, on its recent performance. He speaks with researchers in Cambridge, England, whom he funds personally, about the ways artificial intelligence could be used to help those with hearing difficulties. He receives updates on the heritage Red Poll cattle and other livestock at his farm in Suffolk, in the east of England.Eventually, Mr. Lynch, 58, turns to his most important task: defending himself against…

Joe Camp, a pioneering filmmaker who created a groundbreaking franchise with his “Benji” movies, which brought a lovable live-action dog to the masses and became a smash success, died on Friday at his home in Bell Buckle, Tenn. He was 84.His son the director Brandon Camp announced the death in a statement. He said his father died “following a long illness” but provided no other details.Joe Camp began thinking about directing when he was as young as 8 years old, but he would first encounter decades of rejections. While attending the University of Mississippi, he tried to transfer to U.C.L.A.’s…

Iran and the United States held secret, indirect talks in Oman in January, addressing the escalating threat posed to Red Sea shipping by the Houthis in Yemen, as well as the attacks on American bases by Iran-backed militias in Iraq, according to Iranian and U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.The secret talks were held on Jan. 10 in Muscat, the capital of Oman, with Omani officials shuffling messages back and forth between delegations of Iranians and Americans sitting in separate rooms. The delegations were led by Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator, and Brett McGurk,…

The police officers asked the man what he meant when he said that involving an Australian government minister in a charity event could benefit “us Chinese.” Was he talking about mainland China and the Chinese Communist Party, or the local Australian Chinese community? Depending on the answer, he faced up to 10 years in prison.“You are understanding the Chinese is China. We always say, ‘I’m Chinese,’ that not mean, ‘I’m mainland China,’” said the man, Di Sanh “Sunny” Duong, who was brought in for questioning.The officer pressed on, according to a tape played for a jury. Was Mr. Duong effectively…

TEMPE, Ariz. — Every morning for the past six years, no matter how early Angels players and staff arrived at Diablo Stadium in Tempe, they would see a swarm of Japanese media standing around the Tempe Butte A hill overlooking the team’s spring training facility. This is not a casual sunrise hike. Each shot zooms in, awaiting the arrival of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.While spring training means early mornings for players, coaches and reporters, the group assigned specifically to Ohtani makes others think twice before complaining about their alarm clocks. Ohtani Watch begins at 5 a.m. while most of the…

On Feb. 17, the Adler Planetarium in Chicago unveiled a new sky show called “Niyah and the Multiverse,” a blend of theoretical cosmology, Black culture and imagination. And as with many things Afrofuturistic, Ytasha Womack’s fingerprints are all over it.Ms. Womack, who writes both about the genre and from within it, has curated Afrofuturism events across the country — including Carnegie Hall’s citywide festival — and her work is currently featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Afrofuturism is perhaps most popularly on display in the “Black Panther” films, which immerse viewers in an alternate…

On more than one occasion Mr. Peltz, who is Jewish, has encountered what he considered at least a whiff of antisemitism. He recalled that his arrival in London in the 1980s was greeted with a tabloid profile headlined “The Wild and Rocking World of Nelson Peltz.” The first sentence, he said, called him a “Jewish boy from Brooklyn,” and the British business establishment closed ranks against him.Mr. Peltz, long a fierce critic of antisemitism, said he stepped down from his role as chairman of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in December because after 40 years in the position, it was time…