Author: NY TIMES

Two years ago, just six days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, President Biden opened his State of the Union address by vowing to stop Vladimir V. Putin in his tracks. The response in the House chamber was a series of standing ovations.On Thursday night Mr. Biden again opened his address by repeating his warning that, if not stopped, Mr. Putin would not halt his territorial ambitions at Ukraine’s borders. But the political environment was completely different.With many Republicans vowing not to vote for more aid and Ukrainians running short of ammunition and losing ground, Mr. Biden challenged them to…

Let’s start with an important qualifier: Carlos Alcaraz will probably do well.He is 20 years old this year. He has won two Grand Slam titles, but neither on clay, probably his best surface and certainly the surface he is most familiar with. At 19, he became the youngest person to reach the top spot.Even his top competitors, including contemporaries such as Jannik Sinner, expected Alcaraz to be the greatest player of his era. He will win many tournaments, many of them Grand Slams. It’s just that he hasn’t won a match since defeating Djokovic in five sets in the Wimbledon…

In early February Arturo Payamps, the general manager of a City Fresh Market grocery store in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, received a message on WhatsApp from a friend. It included a link to a TikTok video showing the outside of the store with a sign for Erewhon, the trendy organic grocer in Los Angeles, in the place where a City Fresh sign was mounted after the market opened in the early 2000s.“Have you tried the Bushwick Erewhon yet?” read the caption of the TikTok post.Mr. Payamps, 42, said in an interview on Tuesday that he “was in shock” after…

After the speech, the deluge — of punditry, that is.The instant hot takes about President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday split mostly along partisan lines on cable news, with Mr. Biden’s on-air sympathizers praising his forceful delivery, while his usual critics suggested that he came across at times as overly agitated and rancorous.Here’s a sampling of commentary from CNN, Fox News and MSNBC:CNNDana Bash, chief political correspondent: “They wanted him to be a fighter, and, boy, a fight did he deliver.”John King, chief national correspondent: “He came out punching and came out swinging right from the beginning.”Alyssa…

More than three months after OpenAI’s board of directors briefly ousted Sam Altman, the chief executive of the high-profile artificial intelligence company, questions remain about exactly what led the board to make such a dramatic move.A report from an outside law firm, which is expected in the coming days, could shed more light on the board’s decision as well as the chaotic five days before Mr. Altman returned to the company.But as anticipation for the report grows, previously unreported details are emerging about the role that Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, played in the ouster of Mr. Altman.Ms. Murati…

The chairmen of five key Senate committees on Thursday warned the chief executives of major convenience stores and wholesalers to stop sales of illicit flavored vaping products that they called “widespread violations of federal law.”The senators voiced their concerns in letters to the companies, amplifying the frustration among some lawmakers in Congress over the continued availability of e-cigarettes in vivid colors and candy flavors that attract young people who could become addicted to nicotine. The unchecked sales, they wrote, “pose a tremendous public health threat.”“F.D.A. and the industry must do more to address the youth vaping epidemic and remove unauthorized…

Steve Lawrence, the mellow baritone nightclub, television and recording star who with his wife and partner, the soprano Eydie Gorme, kept pop standards in vogue long past their prime and took America on musical walks down memory lane for a half-century, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88.The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, said Susan DuBow, a spokeswoman for the family. He had been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s in 2019.Billed as “Steve and Eydie” at Carnegie Hall concerts, on television and at glitzy hotels in Las Vegas, the remarkably durable couple remained steadfast to…

South Africa has asked the United Nations’ highest court to issue emergency orders for Israel to stop what it called the “genocidal starvation” of the Palestinian people, citing U.N. warnings that Gaza was at risk of imminent famine.The request on Wednesday to the International Court of Justice in The Hague was part of a case that South Africa filed in December charging Israel with genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has strenuously denied the genocide allegation, and on Thursday its foreign ministry called on the court to reject South Africa’s latest request.“South Africa continues to act as the legal arm…

A woman from Sri Lanka and her four children were stabbed to death in a home in Ottawa by a student who is also from Sri Lanka, the police said on Thursday. Another man living in the home was also killed, and the children’s father was hospitalized with injuries.Investigators charged Febrio De-Zoysa, 19, a student who also lived in the home, with six counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. He was arrested shortly after the police received two emergency calls around 11 p.m. Wednesday requesting they come to the home, which is in a residential neighborhood,…

We are honored to name Caitlin Clark CompetitorPlayer of the Year will surprise absolutely no one.Any media or organization not naming her National Team Player of the Year would be committing a basketball version of heresy. Young children, grandparents and generations know of Clark’s record-setting seasons and her penchant for shots that sometimes looked like they were launched from the moon.Caitlin Clark’s myth continues to grow, and her legend will become even more legendary if she leads Iowa to a national championship game again. Her stunning shooting captivated casual viewers, who became not only Iowa diehards, but women’s college basketball…