Author: NY TIMES

This week’s episode of Popcast (Deluxe), the weekly culture roundup show on YouTube hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, includes segments on:The new Jennifer Lopez album “This Is Me … Now,” and an accompanying film, “This Is Me…Now: A Love Story,” that covers her romantic biography in intimate and sometimes unexpected and extravagant detailWhat belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Lopez’s careerConfusing rollouts for other pop stars including Dua Lipa, Justin Timberlake and Camila Cabello.The new album from the rapper Yeat, “2093”The up-from-the-bottom success of recent songs by Teddy Swims and Benson BooneNew songs from Lainey Wilson and John…

The Biden administration and European allies call President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a tyrant and a war criminal. But he enjoys a standing invitation to the halls of power in Brazil.The president of Brazil says that Ukraine and Russia are both to blame for the war that began with the Russian military’s invasion. And his nation’s purchases of Russian energy and fertilizer have soared, pumping billions of dollars into the Russian economy.The views of the president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, encapsulate the global bind in which the United States and Ukraine find themselves as the war enters its…

There was a certain intimacy to the crowds outside the shows at London Fashion Week, which turned 40 this month. Aside from conjuring feelings of togetherness and pride, that milestone underscored how the approach to style in London — off and on runways — is different than in New York, Paris or Milan.That approach can sometimes be written off as too funky or too laissez-faire, resulting in a perception that London Fashion Week attracts “not serious people” (to quote Logan Roy from “Succession”). But the event’s loudest critics seem to be those who complain about how, in other fashion capitals,…

Anthony Aranda, a 23-year-old tourist from Peru, had only two days to visit Paris with his cousin, so getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower featured prominently on his to-do list. But on Thursday, he had to cross it off that list without stepping foot on France’s famed Iron Lady.A labor strike, now in its fourth day, was keeping the tower closed.“We are traveling to London next, so this was our last chance,” Mr. Aranda said in the drizzling rain as he looked up at the wrought-iron monument. “That was the idea, at least.”Mr. Aranda, who is studying electronic…

Leaked documents posted online last week show how the Chinese government is working with private hackers to obtain sensitive information from foreign governments and companies.The hackers worked for a security firm called I-Soon, part of a network of spies for hire working closely with Beijing.The leak showed how China’s top surveillance agency, the Ministry of Public Security, has increasingly recruited contractors to attack government targets and private companies as part of a cyberespionage campaign in Asia. The leak is likely to stoke fears among leaders in Washington who have warned against such attacks in the United States.What information was revealed?I-Soon…

But even in this early going, there were thoughtful, personal moments. Seven measures into the third étude, there is a passing phrase when the melody is ornamented twice, in quick succession, with little grace notes. Lim lingered ever so slightly over the first of these two, then did the second in time: a perfect, tiny evocation of memory giving way to reality. At the end of No. 8, he chose softness instead of the score’s indicated fortissimo, creating a smooth transition into the mysterious No. 9, rather than a stark contrast.By about halfway through the Op. 10 études, Lim had…

Even before this week’s uproar, Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision, which will be held in Malmo, Sweden, had cast a shadow over the event. As the death toll from Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has mounted, hundreds of musicians in countries including Sweden, Denmark and Iceland have signed petitions urging the European Broadcasting Union to ban Israel, following a similar decision in 2022 to ban Russia after it invaded Ukraine.The European Broadcasting Union has repeatedly dismissed the comparison between Israel and Russia. “We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the current conflict in the Middle East,” the…

When my brother got engaged, he gave his fiancée — with my blessing — a ring that is a family heirloom. It belonged to our grandmother, who died before we were born. It didn’t occur to me that the ring was possibly leaving our family, which is what happened when they later divorced. My brother asked his ex-wife if she would return the ring, but she refused. I’ve tried to let this go: It’s just an object and not worth a lot of money, but I still harbor hard feelings. I was fond of my former sister-in-law; she was sweet…

Once you wrote to the scammers, they had your email address and used it — sending you an email dressed up to look like an official Booking.com message and from an @confirmations-booking.com address, which might seem like a legitimate address, though the company says all its emails end in @booking.com.Reading copies of the emails you forwarded to me, the imperfect English is also suspicious (“Your booking to Two bedroom apartment with view needs to be paid in full”), as were some of the account details at the Spanish bank BBVA. “Nyholm Peik,” has no online presence I could find, and…

Nearly a quarter of menthol cigarette smokers quit in the year or two after a ban on menthol went into effect, according to a study published on Wednesday.Researchers found that about half of the menthol smokers switched to other cigarettes and another quarter managed to keep smoking menthols. The rate of menthol smokers who quit was higher in nations that imposed bans, in contrast with cities or states, since it was harder for people to drive a few miles to keep buying menthol cigarettes, according to the study.The Food and Drug Administration has been urging the Biden administration to impose…