Author: NY TIMES

When the eastern city of Avdiivka, a Ukrainian stronghold, fell to Russian forces three weeks ago, Kyiv and its allies feared that Moscow’s troops could build on their momentum and quickly press ahead toward strategic military hubs and population centers.But after making rapid gains in the subsequent days, Russian assaults have stalled around three contested nearby villages. Military experts cite several factors, including terrain that does not favor offensive operations, Russian troops exhausted by months of fighting and a Ukrainian army that has committed significant forces to defending the area.Russia seems to be maintaining its initiative on the battlefield, and…

Intricate textures, big chunky shoes and futuristic silhouettes were prevalent in the crowds at Paris Fashion Week, where Japanese labels like Comme des Garçons, Junya Watanabe and Yohji Yamamoto — all of which have long been favorites of the industry establishment — appeared to have infiltrated the wardrobes of many fans whose only view of the shows was from the streets.It’s no wonder that Maison Margiela’s split-toe Tabi shoes have become so wildly popular: Japanese or Japanese-inspired pieces seem to be one of the clearest ways for both fashion novices and enthusiasts to signal that they are serious about clothes.People’s…

“Unions are tricky for college sports,” Jay Bilas, the ESPN college basketball analyst, said over the phone the other day, “because you’ve got public and private institutions and different state laws.”“It’s not impossible to have a union of college athletes,” he said, “but it would be difficult.”Bilas, who is a vocal critic of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, was referring, of course, to the news on Tuesday that the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team had voted 13 to 2 to form a union. He was skeptical that this latest shot across the N.C.A.A.’s bow would lead anywhere. Still, it was…

Who is nominated?“Oppenheimer” leads the pack with 13 nominations, followed by “Poor Things,” Yorgos Lanthimos’s black comedy about the sexual awakening of a young Victorian woman, with 11, and the Martin Scorsese epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with 10. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” the highest-grossing film of 2023, picked up eight.In the acting races, Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”), Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”) will square off for best actor. Annette Bening (“Nyad”), Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) and Emma Stone…

Aleksei A. Navalny built Russia’s largest opposition force in his image, embodying a freer, fairer Russia for millions. His exiled team now faces the daunting task of steering his political movement without him.The movement has found a leader in Mr. Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, who has presented herself as the new face of the opposition to President Vladimir V. Putin. Ms. Navalnaya, 47, is aided by a close-knit team of her husband’s lieutenants, who took over running Mr. Navalny’s political network after his imprisonment in 2021.Maintaining political momentum will be a challenge. Few dissident movements in modern history have managed…

Famous couples who marry, divorce and then remarry their former spouses are often fodder for tabloid headlines. Think of the actors Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who were married to each other twice — first for a decade beginning in 1964, and then again in 1975 before they divorced the next year. Elon Musk and Talulah Riley were wed from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2013 to 2016.But, not all remarriages fail. The celebrity TV justice Judith Sheindlin, better known as Judge Judy, married Jerry Sheindlin in 1977. They divorced in 1990 and then remarried in 1991.The singer and…

In December 2018, a team of federal law enforcement agents flew to Amsterdam to interview a witness in a yearslong criminal investigation into Caterpillar, which had avoided billions of dollars of income taxes by shifting profits to a Swiss subsidiary.A few hours before the interview was set to begin, the agents were startled to hear that the Justice Department was telling them to cancel the long-planned meeting.The interview was never rescheduled, and the investigation would limp along for another few years before culminating, in late 2022, with a victory for Caterpillar. The Internal Revenue Service told the giant industrial company…

In today’s high-tech, high-stakes auto industry, fortunes can change quickly, and there’s no better example of that right now than Toyota Motor.Not long ago, it looked as if Toyota had fallen dangerously behind in electric vehicles. Tesla, the electric car pioneer, has grown rapidly and become the world’s most valuable automaker. Seeing Tesla’s success, other companies, such as General Motors and Ford Motor, concluded that large numbers of consumers were poised to switch to battery-powered cars and trucks and began investing tens of billions of dollars to catch up.Toyota, however, was more deliberate — or lethargic, its critics would say.…

A bar set built for “The Banshees of Inisherin” was discarded in a backyard after filming, then resurrected by a pub in Ireland. It’s up for sale. Source link

Hamas negotiators left Cairo on Thursday without a breakthrough in talks over a cease-fire in Gaza, the group said, as hopes for an imminent truce in its five-month-long war with Israel continued to dim.International mediators have sought to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas that would see the release of some hostages held in Gaza and Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, but weeks of indirect negotiations appear to have stalled. Hamas wants Israel to commit to a permanent cease-fire during or after hostage releases, a demand that Israel has rejected.“The Hamas delegation left Cairo today to consult with the…