Author: NY TIMES

Into the depleted field of journalism in America, a handful of websites have appeared in recent weeks with names suggesting a focus on news close to home: D.C. Weekly, the New York News Daily, the Chicago Chronicle and a newer sister publication, the Miami Chronicle.In fact, they are not local news organizations at all. They are Russian creations, researchers and government officials say, meant to mimic actual news organizations to push Kremlin propaganda by interspersing it among an at-times odd mix of stories about crime, politics and culture.While Russia has long sought ways to influence public discourse in the United…

Leelee Ray and her husband, Austin, have been trying to have a baby for six years, through insemination procedures, two egg retrievals, four embryo transfers, an ectopic pregnancy that could have been deadly and eight miscarriages.With four frozen embryos remaining in storage at a fertility clinic, the Rays, who live in Huntsville, Ala., decided to change course. In February, they turned to an agency in Colorado, where laws about gestational carriers are more forgiving than in Alabama, to find a woman to carry their baby.It all came to a halt just days later, when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that…

There’s nostalgic art. Then there’s art that seems like somebody thawed it after 30 frozen years. “Glitter & Doom” doesn’t yearn for some older time. It’s pure time-warp: a gay musical-love-dramedy that could’ve screened all summer at the old Philadelphia art house where I used to work, plunked amid the queer independent-filmmaking bonanza that helped make the early-to-mid-1990s seem like every gay thing was possible. The movie’s got an earnest, amateurish case of the feel-good gosh-gollies that would have made sense playing down the hall from movies as different (although not that different) as “Go Fish” and “Wigstock,” “Zero Patience”…

Kati Marton, a Hungarian-born American writer, thought she was talking with a friend of Gen. Wesley Clark, NATO’s former commander in Europe. The man, who had sent her a résumé describing himself as a “results-oriented wealth and investment manager” living in Switzerland, said he was exploring green energy opportunities in Eastern Europe.Ms. Marton didn’t mind when he steered the conversation to Hungary, something she knew about, having written three books about the country, including “Enemies of the People,” an account of her parents’ 1955 jailing in and subsequent flight from Budapest.Today, more than half a year after what she thought…

Unlike many designers, much of the work of the costume designer Ellen Mirojnick is contemporary. Her filmography is evidence of the impact she has had on the look and feel of some of the most iconic films of the 1980s and ’90s: Paul Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct” (1992) and “Showgirls” (1995), Adrian Lyne’s “Fatal Attraction” (1987) and “Unfaithful” (2002), and Andrew Davis’s “A Perfect Murder” (1998). These films helped define the distinctly elegant yet dangerous aesthetic of the erotic thrillers that once dominated the box office.After more than 40 years in the industry, Ms. Mirojnick has received her first Oscar nomination…

President Biden enters his State of the Union speech on Thursday with an economic record that has defied forecasters’ gloomy expectations, avoiding recession while delivering stronger growth and lower unemployment than predicted.But polls suggest voters know relatively little about the legislation Mr. Biden has signed into law that seeks to boost the economy through spending and tax breaks for infrastructure, clean energy, semiconductors and more.They remain frustrated over high prices, particularly for groceries and housing, even though the rapid inflation that defined Mr. Biden’s early years in office has cooled. Mr. Biden consistently trails his predecessor and likely November opponent,…

Religious content has long been a mainstay on social media, where Christian influencers can garner millions of views. And much of the online reaction to Hallow’s TikTok ads has been positive. Still, Alex Jones, the chief executive of Hallow, said he was aware that some people were surprised to stumble upon the company’s ads on social media.“We do not set any sophisticated or specific targeting,” wrote Mr. Jones, who is not to be confused with the conspiracy theorist of the same name who ran the Infowars website. “Each platform has its own algorithm for determining its feed. We know that…

And so, early that Friday, the woman drove her husband to Danbury Hospital, the emergency room closest to the couple’s small Connecticut town. He walked in on his own. It was the last time he would walk without help for weeks. Many Pink PillsHe was admitted to the hospital. Neurology was consulted and did an extensive work-up: blood tests, CT scans, an M.R.I., an EEG, a spinal tap. While there were some abnormalities, nothing explained his rapid mental and physical decline. There was no sign of infection or tumor. No evidence of seizures. His vitamin levels were normal. And the…

Last week, a bonkers low-budget movie that was shot in black and white and has no Hollywood stars, packed a 200-seat theater on a one-night engagement at the IFC Center in Manhattan. Additional screenings were added.Mike Cheslik, the film’s director, and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, its leading man, don’t have Hollywood connections or sacks of cash. What the two 33-year-old friends do have that helped their film make a splash with its New York debut is a secret weapon that would make a shrewd old-school movie pitchman like William Castle tingle with envy.We’re talking beavers. Big ones.Two life-size beavers, actually…

When Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, met David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary, in London on Wednesday, he got a sharp message that Israel must do more to allow humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.It was the kind of minister-level meeting that would normally draw modest attention amid the flurry of high-level diplomacy that has enveloped the Israel-Hamas war. But Mr. Gantz and Mr. Cameron are no mere functionaries.Mr. Gantz, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, is a popular political rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mr. Netanyahu expressed deep displeasure at what…