Author: NY TIMES

A Crush Since Day 1In 1997 I wanted a new tax guy. I was referred to Mike. He had a great smile, and I immediately crushed hard. Each year I’d offer up a new persona to get his attention: The damsel in financial distress. The rising PR exec who catered on the side and could cook. Nothing worked; Mike was all business. Fast forward to 2005. At his suggestion, we meet for a drink. Four drinks in, I say, “Can I tell you a secret? I’ve had a crush on you since Day 1.” We just celebrated our 15-year wedding…

For more than 30 years, the Chinese premier’s annual news conference was the only time that a top leader took questions from journalists about the state of the country. It was the only occasion for members of the public to size up for themselves China’s No. 2 official. It was the only moment when some Chinese might feel a faint sense of political participation in a country without elections.On Monday, China announced that the premier’s news conference, marking the end of the country’s annual rubber-stamp legislature, will no longer be held. With that move, an important institution of China’s reform…

OpenAI, in its first public comments about Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the influential artificial intelligence research lab, said that Mr. Musk tried to transform the lab from a nonprofit into a for-profit operation before he left the organization in early 2018.The comments, made in a blog post published on Tuesday evening, are part of an escalating feud between Mr. Musk and OpenAI, which is now at the forefront of an industrywide A.I. boom. The company said it intended to move to dismiss all the claims in Mr. Musk’s suit.Mr. Musk filed the suit against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam…

Some Background: What interrupts household chatter?Researchers have long known that growing up in a language-rich environment is vital for early language development. More language exposure early in life is associated with social development, higher I.Q.s and even better brain function.Given the value of such exposure, researchers in Australia were eager to investigate potential factors within the home environment that could be interrupting opportunities for parents to interact verbally with their children. Previous studies on the impact of technology mostly examined a parent’s use of a mobile device, rather than a child’s use of screens, and relied on self-reported measures of…

▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube2. Bob Dylan: “Things Have Changed”Bob Dylan won his first and only Oscar to date for this doomy, bluesy number from Curtis Hanson’s 2000 film “Wonder Boys” — beating out Björk, who performed her nominated “I’ve Seen It All” that night in her iconic swan dress. “People are crazy and times are strange,” a wry, weary Dylan sings on an early and enduring highlight in his 21st-century discography. “I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range/I used to care, but things have changed.”▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube3. Keith Carradine: “I’m…

Israelis largely welcomed a U.N. report that supported allegations of sexual violence during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, even as a top Israeli official accused the United Nations of not doing enough to address the findings — a sign of the rising tensions between them.The U.N. report, released on Monday, found both “reasonable grounds to believe” that sexual violence against multiple people had occurred in at least three locations in Israel, and “clear and convincing information” that hostages taken to Gaza on Oct. 7 had been subjected to sexual violence, including rape.On Tuesday, President Isaac Herzog of Israel said on…

No modern British dramatist polarized his countrymen as much as Edward Bond, who died on Sunday at age 89.To some, he was an unholy terror, relentless in his doctrinaire socialism and disconcertingly fond of violent theatrical effects. To others, he was almost a secular saint, a writer of unflinching integrity in a world of compromise and so sensitive to human frustration that he invariably peopled his plays with characters suffering, often graphically, from extreme forms of oppression and exploitation.But both parties would agree that his first important play, “Saved,” precipitated the end of theatrical censorship in Britain.In 1965, the Royal…

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Standing in front of every seat at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday was a similar story. One of the most larger-than-life figures in modern sports, Caitlin Clark, is once again capturing the attention of stars and fans alike.In her final regular season game in the state she calls home, Clark scored 35 points, surpassing Pete “Pistol” Maravich’s career scoring total and becoming the highest-scoring player in Division I basketball history, regardless of Is it a man or a woman.Clark’s moment was common to all in attendance, from the fans wearing her T-shirts to the celebrities who added…

Over a century ago, J.P. Morgan built a majestic library for his opulent mansion in Midtown Manhattan. After his death, his son, the financier Jack Morgan, opened it to the public in 1924, and it eventually became the Morgan Library & Museum. Last night, crowds of art patrons and well-heeled bibliophiles gathered in that grand library to attend the Morgan’s centennial celebration.Beneath stained glass windows and murals of Dante and Socrates, guests wearing tuxedos sipped martinis while a violinist performed classical covers of pop songs by Keane and Taylor Swift. Servers wended through the crowd, carrying hors d’oeuvres trays of…

Starbucks franchise operators across the Middle East and Southeast Asia are losing significant business amid boycotts linked to the Israel-Hamas war, and at least one has started laying off employees.Alshaya Group, a Kuwait-based franchise operator that owns the rights to operate Starbucks in the Middle East, confirmed on Tuesday that it planned to cut 2,000 jobs across the region “as a result of the continually challenging trading conditions over the last six months.”Since the Israel-Hamas war began, Starbucks has been forced to deflect perceptions that the company has supported and even funded the Israeli government and the Israeli military. It…