Author: NY TIMES

It took 19 months of broken promises and belligerent rhetoric for Hungary to finally ratify Sweden’s entry into NATO.Why all the foot-dragging, many observers wondered, when Hungary was going to approve the Nordic country’s membership of the military alliance anyway?That question has perplexed even members of Hungary’s governing party, Fidesz, according to Peter Ungar, an opposition legislator. He said he had been approached by one Fidesz lawmaker, in the run-up to Monday’s vote in Parliament to accept NATO’s expansion, and asked: “‘What the hell is going on with Sweden?’”That a member of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s governing party would seek…

Four eye ointments sold in stores including Walmart and CVS are being recalled because of a potential risk of eye infections or related harm, after U.S. investigators raised concerns about the potential lack of sterility.The voluntary recall involves four over-the-counter products manufactured by Brassica Pharma, according to an announcement by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday.Two are from Equate, a Walmart brand; one is a CVS Health brand; and another is an AACE Pharmaceuticals brand. They have expiration dates ranging from February 2024 to September 2025.Brassica Pharma is a drug development and manufacturing company based in the Indian state…

A popular video on TikTok takes viewers to the site of Drayton House, where much of the movie was filmed. Source link

As this is a trial, let’s start with the facts. Asaf Sternheim, who teaches writing at a university a lot like Penn, is asked by a former student, Baron Prince, to endorse a manifesto. The manifesto seeks justice for Baron’s cousin, Deronte, who was killed by police officers while being stopped for a theft he had nothing to do with.Also pertinent: Asaf (Josh Radnor) is a Jew, albeit the kind that subscribes, as he says, to the “acoustic-guitar-based variety” of Judaism. Baron (Elijah Jones) is Black, as was Deronte.And one more thing: The 20-page manifesto, tying violence against Black Americans…

A police officer in Australia has been charged with murdering two men whose bodies were found on Tuesday in a rural area south of Sydney, and the authorities said he had once had a relationship with one of the victims.The police commissioner for the state of New South Wales, Karen Webb, said that detectives had found the bodies of the men, Jesse Baird, 26, and his partner, Luke Davies, 29, who had been missing for more than a week, in Bungonia, a small town about 115 miles southwest of Sydney.“We believe — we are very confident — that we have…

The strangest non-holiday of the year is upon us.Leap day is a wrinkle in time that goes unmentioned on many wall and desk calendars. Those born on Feb. 29 may face problems when it comes to filling out forms or settling basic questions of identity.“People didn’t believe me that I was born on a day that didn’t exist,” said Raenell Dawn, who was born Feb. 29, 1960, describing her school years.In 1983, while working in retail, Ms. Dawn encountered a customer who was a fellow leap day baby. “I was so excited to meet him,” she said. Then came a…

On Super Bowl Sunday, the White House released a short video in which a smiling President Biden, sitting next to a table stocked with chips, cookies and sports drinks, slammed companies for reducing the package size and portions of popular foods without an accompanying reduction in price.“I’ve had enough of what they call shrinkflation,” Mr. Biden declared.The video lit up social media and delighted a consumer advocate named Edgar Dworsky, who has studied “shrinkflation” trends for more than a decade. He has twice briefed Mr. Biden’s economic aides, first in early 2023 and again a few days before the video…

Imagine music that you wrote being held against you in a criminal proceeding. In the documentary “As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial,” the Bronx-born rapper Kemba travels around the country and to Britain, interviewing artists and legal experts about how that has been more than a theoretical possibility for rappers.Mac Phipps, for instance, was convicted of manslaughter and spent more than two decades in prison, even though another man had confessed to the crime. (He was released in 2021.) In an interview with Kemba, he describes how references to violence in his lyrics were used at his trial, despite…

Families in Scotland were expecting to taste chocolate treats and observe “optical marvels” at a Willy Wonka-themed event in Glasgow this past weekend. Instead, they got a couple of jelly beans, a short walk around a nearly empty warehouse and a visit from police officers.The event, Willy’s Chocolate Experience, scheduled for Feb. 24 and 25, promised on event listing websites to include chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas and interactive experiences inspired by scenes from Roald Dahl’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”One father, Stuart Sinclair, drove two hours from Dundee to take his three children to the event. “There…

For those who haven’t followed the 2011 World Cup qualifying cycle – the U.S. lost to Mexico in the CONCACAF semifinals before Alex Morgan finally gave the U.S. a try against Italy advances in a playoff series against Mexico that might feel like a rivalry in name only.The U.S. women’s national team hasn’t lost to Mexico since that moment in 2010, and the U.S. women’s soccer team hasn’t lost at home to any CONCACAF opponent since 2000.On Monday night, that story went out the window.The U.S. women’s soccer team lost 2-0 in front of a raucous crowd in Carson City,…