Author: NY TIMES

The price of gold set a record high on Friday, breaking above $3,000 per troy ounce for the first time as investors reckon with President Trump’s seesawing tariff policy, fears of an economic slowdown and a sinking stock market.Gold is often sought out by investors as a safe haven during times of turmoil, and the price has risen by about 14 percent this year. By contrast, the S&P 500 index tumbled into a correction on Thursday, falling more than 10 percent over the past month as investors fret about Mr. Trump’s economic agenda.Market watchers have upgraded their forecasts, predicting that…

Early on Friday, Elon Musk shared a post written by an X user about the actions of three 20th century dictators — then quickly deleted it after it sparked a backlash.The post falsely claimed that Joseph Stalin, the communist leader of the Soviet Union until 1953; Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi party in Germany; and Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, didn’t cause the deaths of millions of people under their watch. Instead, the post said, their public sector workers did.Mr. Musk shared the post without any other comment. He removed it soon after…

Maybe that was a true reflection of reality. Our dogs regularly romped through Prospect Park in Brooklyn, swapped germs with playmates and scarfed down rogue chicken bones, while our cats lived cosseted, indoor lives.Now I suspect that we may have missed signs of illness in our cats. I had worried that we were overreacting when we took Olive to the vet for seeming maybe, slightly, sort of not herself. In fact, she was critically ill.Indeed, cats are talented at masking their symptoms, which may also present differently from those in dogs, experts told me. Arthritic dogs often develop noticeable limps,…

It’s not every day that a critic gets to review a premiere by Ravel.He died almost a century ago, after all. And while some previously unknown works have come to light over the years, it happens considerably less than once in a blue moon.So my pen was out and alert on Thursday at the New York Philharmonic’s delightful concert at David Geffen Hall, practically vibrating with the opportunity to be among the first to weigh in on a piece by the creator of some of music’s most enduring and gorgeous classics.The work that the Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, its incoming…

Hamas said on Friday that it had agreed to free Edan Alexander, an American Israeli soldier who has been held in Gaza for 17 months, and return the remains of four other hostages holding foreign passports, without specifying when they would be released or what it was demanding in exchange.The Israeli government said that Hamas was engaged in “psychological warfare,” suggesting a deal was unlikely to be imminent. The office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said Hamas was “continuing to reject” other proposals that Israel had deemed acceptable.Mr. Netanyahu’s office said he would convene Israeli ministers on Saturday…

Last year, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art invited a young photographer to shoot its highly anticipated spring 2025 fashion exhibition, the museum got something it probably wasn’t expecting: a counteroffer.That may be because the invitation wasn’t extended to just any young photographer but to Tyler Mitchell, who in 2018 became the first Black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover. (He was 23, and his subject was Beyoncé.) Although he said he would be happy to photograph objects from the exhibition — a cultural and sartorial examination of Black dandies — for a planned catalog, Mr. Mitchell came back to…

It was not even three months ago when it seemed like Canadians couldn’t wait for an end to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s nearly decade-long stint as their leader. On Jan. 6, he announced his intention to step down with polls showing most Canadians deeply unhappy with the state of their country.But as Mr. Trudeau, 53, prepares to officially resign on Friday, his fortunes have taken a remarkable turn thanks to a prolonged campaign of aggression against Canada by President Trump.Through tariffs that could lead to economic devastation and repeated verbal attacks on Canada’s sovereignty, Mr. Trump has ignited a wave…

Officials in Beijing are increasingly worried that President Trump’s tariffs on Mexico may be the start of a broad campaign to force developing countries around the world to choose between trade with the United States or with China.Ever since Mr. Trump imposed extensive tariffs on goods from China during his first term, companies have been investing heavily in countries like Mexico, Vietnam and Thailand to assemble Chinese components into goods for shipment to the United States. Doing final assembly in these countries offered a back door to the U.S. market regardless of trade frictions between Washington and Beijing.China’s trade surplus…

Mercedes-Benz said on Thursday that the latest version of its least expensive sedan would be available first as an all-electric car and then as a hybrid. And the company will no longer sell a gasoline-only version of the car.That’s a big break from how Mercedes and other established carmakers have typically operated. Until recently, most automakers adapted vehicles designed for fossil fuels to be powered by batteries. The Mercedes sedan, the CLA, which the company unveiled in Rome with the rapper will.i.am, is an example of how at least some established carmakers are developing electric cars first, then adapting them…

The White House on Thursday withdrew the nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon, a Republican and former congressman, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just hours before he was to have appeared at a Senate confirmation hearing.Reached by phone, Dr. Weldon said he had learned of the decision on Wednesday night and had been told by a White House official that “they didn’t have the votes to confirm” his nomination.In a statement released later on Thursday, Dr. Weldon, 71, blamed Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and a member of the Senate health committee, and Senator Bill Cassidy,…