Author: NY TIMES

For weeks, Mustafa Abutaha wandered the halls of one of Gaza’s few functioning hospitals and filled his days by volunteering to do whatever was needed — sweeping floors, baking bread, dressing injured patients, feeding dates or tomato sandwiches to those who couldn’t feed themselves. Anything to avoid thinking about his son, Muhammed.As the Israeli military targeted the southern city of Khan Younis in early December and fighting with Hamas intensified, his family’s home was struck while he was visiting a neighbor, Mr. Abutaha said. His brother was killed. Three of his five children were injured. And Muhammed, 18, was found…

Greece was expected to legalize same-sex marriage and equal parental rights for same-sex couples on Thursday as lawmakers considered a bill that has divided Greek society and drawn vehement opposition from the country’s powerful Orthodox Church.Although Greece would be the 16th European Union country to allow same-sex marriage, it would be the first Orthodox Christian nation to pass such a law. The country extended civil partnerships to same-sex couples in 2015, but stopped short of extending equal parental rights at the time.Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had pledged to pass the new measures after his landslide re-election last year. He told…

The 2024 WM Phoenix Open should be remembered for the stellar performance of Nick Taylor, who shot a course-record-tying 60 in the first round and finished with three consecutive birdies on Sunday. A two-hole sudden-death playoff win over Charley Hoffman at TPC Scottsdale.But years later, when we reflect on what happened, we are more likely to remember the fans as drunken, rude and unruly than the talent of Taylor and other golfers — something local tournament organizers and the PGA Tour need Resolve the problem before things get completely out of hand with your arms outstretched.I get it; the WM…

Today’s celebrated jester-clothiers include men like Demna of Balenciaga, who designs handbags that look like Ikea totes, trash bags and cheap souvenirs, or Jonathan Anderson of Loewe, who adorns shoes with deflated balloons, patches of fake grass and heels shaped like bars of soap. But these designers operate within fashion’s upper echelon, charging between $1,000 to $2,000 for their little jokes.Ms. Gazin is more of a comedian for the everywoman, writhing around her dojo, indifferent to the mainstream fashion industry’s seasonal schedule and show circuit. A tote bag resembling an old-timey bank robber’s sack sells for $69; a shirtdress covered…

The NewsBritain’s economy sunk into a recession at the end of last year, capping off a year of economic strain in which interest rates were pushed to their highest level in a decade and a half to stamp out high inflation.Gross domestic product contracted 0.3 percent in October to December from the previous quarter, when the economy shrank by 0.1 percent, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday. Weak retail sales, a fall in restaurant and other food services, and a drop in housing construction all weighed on Britain’s economy, the statistics agency said.Why It Matters: Little or no…

The private rocket company SpaceX has switched where it is incorporated to Texas from Delaware, its founder, Elon Musk, said on Wednesday, weeks after a Delaware judge voided his pay package at Tesla, another company he owns.The Texas secretary of state, Jane Nelson, issued a certificate on Wednesday confirming that the state has accepted the company’s filing to relocate its incorporation, according to a copy of the document that was posted on her office’s website. A spokeswoman for Ms. Nelson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Mr. Musk, a billionaire who lives in Texas and also runs…

The true casualty toll in Russia from its invasion of Ukraine is an enduring secret of the war. The Kremlin maintains a policy of silence, and many Russians do not speak publicly for fear of repercussions.But the number of Russians wounded in combat is believed to be staggering.The Pentagon puts the Russian death toll at about 60,000, with the wounded three or four times that, totaling roughly 300,000 casualties, said a U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity.What Russians sayOne senior Russian official estimated that amputees represented more than half of those seriously wounded.The New York Times interviewed five…

Like many Chinese people, Jacky hoped that he could make enough money investing in China’s stock markets to help pay for an apartment in a big city. But in 2015 he lost $30,000, and in 2021 he lost $80,000. After that, he shut down his trading account and started investing in Chinese funds that track stocks in the United States.It’s a perilous time for investors in China. Their main vehicle, so-called A shares of Chinese companies, fell more than 11 percent in 2023 and have continued their losses this year. Many investors have instead flocked to the exchange-traded funds that…

Another month, another day, another try at the moon.A robotic lunar lander is scheduled to launch in the early morning hours of Thursday, one day after a technical glitch postponed the first launch attempt. If all goes well, it will become the first American spacecraft to set down softly on the moon’s surface since the Apollo 17 moon landing in 1972.It is also the latest private effort to send spacecraft to the moon. Earlier attempts have all ended in failure. But the company in charge of the latest effort, Intuitive Machines of Houston, is optimistic.“I feel fairly confident that we’re…

When Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian took over the Berlin International Film Festival in 2019, many hoped it would mark a new beginning for the festival, one of the most important in world cinema and the largest by audience numbers.Under its previous leadership, some argued, the event had grown bloated and unglamorous compared with competitors like Cannes and Venice. They hoped the pair would reinvigorate the Berlinale, as the festival is known, by streamlining its offerings and attracting more high-profile movies.Five years later, the directors are departing under a cloud of controversy, and many will be debating their legacy at…