Author: NY TIMES

From the skies over Gaza these days fall American bombs and American food pallets, delivering death and life at the same time and illustrating President Biden’s elusive effort to find balance in an unbalanced Middle East war.The president’s decision to authorize airdrops and the construction of a temporary port to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza has highlighted the tensions in his policy as he continues to support the provision of U.S. weaponry for Israel’s military operation against Hamas without condition.The United States finds itself on both sides of the war in a way, arming the Israelis while trying…

Rob McElhenney takes his duty of care as a co-owner of Wrexham seriously.The boss was contacted shortly after the 5-0 defeat to Stockport County in September when Phil Parkinson was still coming to terms with the club’s return to the EFL after 15 years in non-league exile. his manager through text.Hollywood actor and author McElhenney did something similar during Paul Mullin’s recent eight-match run without a goal – the striker’s least goal-scoring stretch in nearly five years.The cool-headed Scouser’s reaction was no surprise. “I feel good,” he told McElhenney, “it’s just a matter of time.”Mullin’s inner conviction reassured his American…

This season, when throngs of fans screamed from the crash barriers outside a Paris fashion show or jostling photographers and gawkers wielding cellphones triggered a commotion at a front row, the center of attention was rarely a Hollywood actress or British rock star. Instead, the most frenzied scenes — and online clicks — were ignited by Asian celebrities, whose dominance on the fashion week celebrity circuit hit new heights.At Dior, Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lawrence, both ambassadors for the brand, watched as crowds went berserk for the pop idols Jisoo from Blackpink and Mingyu of Seventeen, both of South Korea;…

State regulators around the country asked hundreds of insurance companies on Friday to provide the details of how they price and structure their homeowner policies, part of an attempt to dig into why many property owners are struggling to get and keep coverage.The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the group representing the regulators, said that state agencies wrote to more than 400 companies asking them for detailed data on their homeowners’ insurance businesses. The companies’ responses are due by early June, and they must comply or risk fines.The association’s president, Andrew N. Mais, who is Connecticut’s insurance commissioner, said in…

About 600 workers at Activision Publishing, the video game maker owned by Microsoft, are unionizing, forming the largest video game workers’ union in the United States, the Communications Workers of America said on Friday. Microsoft recognized the union after the vote count was finalized.The employees work in quality assurance, testing Activision’s games for bugs, glitches and other defects, and 390 of them voted to form a union, while eight opposed the effort, the union said. About 200 workers did not vote.Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, the maker of Call of Duty and other blockbusters, for $69 billion in October. As part…

Howard H. Hiatt, a physician, scientist and academic who reshaped the field of public health, steering it away from the narrow study of infectious diseases toward big-picture issues of fiscal and societal accountability in medicine, died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 98.His son Jonathan Hiatt said the cause was pulmonary hypertension.Harvard Public Health, a magazine published by the Harvard School of Public Health, where Dr. Hiatt was dean for 12 years, wrote in 2013 that Dr. Hiatt “made public health the conscience of medicine.”Early in his seven-decade career, Dr. Hiatt worked in Paris with future…

“Prologue” is actually the final track on Kamasi Washington’s coming album, “Fearless Movement,” and it’s dense and bustling. Double time drumming, frenetic percussion and hyperactive keyboard counterpoint roil around a melody that rises resolutely over descending chords, while breakneck solos from Dontae Winslow on trumpet and Washington on saxophone exult in sheer agility and emotional peaks. JON PARELESShabazz Palaces — Ishmael Butler from Digable Planets — sets up a sci-fi scenario in “Take Me to Your Leader” from his album due March 29, “Exotic Birds of Prey.” He and a guest rapper, Lavarr the Starr, have to convince a powerful,…

President Biden said on Thursday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel were headed toward a “come-to-Jesus meeting” over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to an audio clip of the president’s remarks posted on social media on Friday.Mr. Biden’s comment highlights the rising tensions between him and Mr. Netanyuhu in recent weeks, as the civilian death toll in Gaza has risen inexorably and Mr. Biden has come under political pressure at home and abroad to do more to compel Israel to agree to a cease-fire.In recent days, Mr. Biden had expressed hope that at least a six-week…

“What’s an ‘everything bagel?’”It’s a question that Georgia Fenwick-Gomez, a co-owner of Papo’s Bagels in the East London neighborhood of Dalston, hears a lot, as customers stare blankly at a menu with words including “schmear,” “scallion” and “lox.”Papo’s is part of a wave of new shops in Britain selling New York-style bagels, distinct for being bigger, doughier and more heavily seasoned than their London counterparts. The shops have prompted both curiosity and innovation, adding to London’s long history of bagels — or “beigels,” as they were originally known here.Many of the new shops have similar stories: During the coronavirus pandemic…

In two months, Alejandra Herrera will hit a milestone dreaded by many in their late 20s: her 30th birthday. While she has mixed feelings about “adulting,” she at least feels grounded about the whole ordeal — she is, after all, an earth sign.“I’ve been feeling like this whole new rebirth lately,” Ms. Herrera, a Taurus from East Los Angeles, said. “As an ex-people pleaser, I just feel like my 30s are going be, like, a new beginning, where I’ll finally focus on myself.”The last few years were turbulent for Ms. Herrera, marked by a mix of depression and exhaustion that…