Author: NY TIMES

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said the West faced the prospect of nuclear conflict if it intervened more directly in the war in Ukraine, using an annual speech to the nation on Thursday to escalate his threats against Europe and the United States.Mr. Putin said Western countries that are helping Ukraine strike Russian territory, and have discussed the possibility of sending troops from NATO countries to Ukraine, “must, in the end, understand” that “all this truly threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization.”“We also have weapons that can strike targets on…

“As always, she wakes up just before the alarm goes off.”“As always, she gets up in the dark and walks into the bathroom.”“As always, she quickly looks into the mirror. Yes, That’s her. Forty years old, mother of one, single, working.”So went the voice-over at the Undercover show: a prose poem written and read by the film director Wim Wenders. You could practically see the audience sit up in response: Wait. Is he talking about me? Or maybe not me, but my cousin/neighbor/aunt/friend?Certainly, a woman I know.Guess how often that happens during a fashion show? Usually never. Conventional wisdom has…

After watching “Navalny,” the documentary about the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny, a Chinese businesswoman messaged me, “Ren Zhiqiang is China’s Navalny.” She was talking about the retired real estate tycoon who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for criticizing China’s leader, Xi Jinping.After Mr. Navalny’s tragic death this month, a young dissident living in Berlin posted on X, “Teacher Li is closest to the Chinese version of Navalny.” He was referring to the rebel influencer known as Teacher Li, who used social media to share information about protests in China and who now fears for his life.There…

Another turning point came in the form of a Chick Corea DVD. “As silly as it sounds, getting given that made me want to stay in music. He became someone I could look up to,” Freitas said of the pioneering jazz fusion pianist. “I didn’t have a computer then, but I remember asking my friend to burn me a CD with all things Chick Corea after that,” he added.“I would come back from school and listen to everything. I was obsessed.”Corea, whose work ethic he has always admired, also taught Freitas discipline. While he didn’t own a piano at the…

Migration toward the United States through the dangerous jungle passage known as the Darién Gap has been halted, at least temporarily, following the arrest of two boat captains working for companies that play an essential role in ferrying migrants to the jungle.Boat companies suspended migrant crossings from two northern Colombia towns, Necoclí and Turbo, to the entrance of the Darién forest, according to the mayor of Necoclí, leaving roughly 3,000 migrants stranded in those communities. The Colombian law enforcement action in the region is sure to be watched closely by U.S. officials: The Biden administration has been pressuring Colombia for…

On Christmas Day, Catherine, Princess of Wales, attended service at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk, England, wearing head-to-toe royal blue. She walked to church with her husband, Prince William, and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, much like she had in years past.Greeting the gathered crowds and the cameras, “She looked lovely for the occasion,” said Town & Country.The princess has not been seen in public since.Three weeks later, on Jan. 17, Kensington Palace announced that Catherine, 42, formerly known as Kate Middleton, had been admitted to the London Clinic to undergo “a planned…

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that it had asked Boeing to provide the agency with a “comprehensive action plan” to address quality-control issues within 90 days, the regulator’s latest push for safety improvements after a panel came off a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet in flight in early January.The F.A.A. administrator, Mike Whitaker, made the request on Tuesday when he met with Boeing’s chief executive, Dave Calhoun, and other company officials for what the agency described as an “all-day safety discussion.”“Boeing must commit to real and profound improvements,” Mr. Whitaker said in a statement. “Making foundational change will…

The media outlets Raw Story, Alternet and The Intercept sued OpenAI for copyright infringement on Wednesday, adding to a growing chorus pushing back against the company’s methods of scraping content off the internet to train its artificial intelligence-powered chatbot.The online publications sued OpenAI in a New York federal court in two separate cases, saying that the ChatGPT creator trained its chatbot using copyrighted works by journalists without properly crediting or citing them. The companies are seeking damages in the amount of at least $2,500 per violation, as well as asking OpenAI to remove all copyrighted articles from data training sets.The…

Marian Anderson, the renowned contralto and civil rights figure who broke racial barriers in the arts and helped pave the way for other Black artists, is being honored in her hometown, Philadelphia.The Philadelphia Orchestra’s home will be renamed Marian Anderson Hall in recognition of a $25 million gift in her honor, the ensemble announced on Wednesday.Anderson, who was born in Philadelphia in 1897 and died in 1993, became the first Black singer to perform a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955, at a time when Black artists in the United States faced rampant racial discrimination.Matías Tarnopolsky, the president…

Micheline Presle, a subtle and elegant actress who was a last link to the first golden age of French cinema, died on Feb. 21 in Nogent-sur-Marne, a suburb of Paris. She was 101.Her death, at the Maison des Artistes, a retirement home for artists partly funded by the government, was confirmed by her son-in-law, Olivier Bomsel.Ms. Presle (pronounced prell) was the final survivor of a trio of actresses — Danièlle Darrieux and Michèle Morgan were the other two — who were already stars in France by the outbreak of World War II, and who defined a certain style of French…