Author: NY TIMES

More than 230 million women and girls around the world have undergone female genital cutting, according to a new analysis by UNICEF, an increase of 30 million since the organization’s last global estimate in 2016.While the data shows that in some countries a new generation of parents have chosen to forgo the practice, in other countries laws and campaigns against it have had no impact. In Burkina Faso, the share of girls aged 15 to 19 years who have undergone cutting has fallen to 39 percent from 82 percent over the past three decades. But in Somalia, where an estimated…

Igor Levit, a pianist of awe-inspiring insight and redoubtable technique, decided to conduct himself during his solo recital at Carnegie Hall on Thursday.He was playing the Nocturne from Hindemith’s “Suite 1922,” a collection of five genre pieces like marches and rags, and there are a few moments in which the pianist only needs to use one hand. Gesturing with his left one in a downward pressing motion, he seemed to tell himself, “Gentle, gentle,” as he plucked starlight off the page and dispersed it through the air.When Levit is onstage, he seems to be in his own world. He scratches…

Aid groups and international organizations have been sounding the alarm on the catastrophic levels of hunger and near-famine conditions afflicting Gaza’s 2.2 million people five months after Israel launched its war in Gaza. The number of aid convoys entering the territory has remained far below prewar levels and humanitarian organizations say much more aid is needed to meet staggering needs throughout the enclave.Hopes for an imminent agreement to pause the fighting are dim, with negotiators for Hamas leaving talks in Cairo without a breakthrough on Thursday. The same day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with Israel’s ground…

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,…