Author: NY TIMES

A worsening measles outbreak has taken root in Texas, sickening two dozen and hospitalizing nine on the western edge of the state, where childhood vaccination rates have dwindled in recent years.As of Tuesday, 22 children and two adults had been infected, all of whom were unvaccinated, local health officials said. The outbreak comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a staunch critic of childhood vaccines, has been nominated to be the country’s next health secretary, causing public health experts to worry that similar upticks of preventable illnesses will become more frequent.“There’s a feeling this is going to be more and more…

The economic relationship between India and the United States is widely seen as good for both sides. Two-way trade is growing and, alone among Asian countries, India routinely trades more with the United States than it does with China, its neighbor and rival.Yet under President Trump, trade is a point of friction. Like virtually all countries that do business with the United States, India runs a surplus: Last year it shipped about $87 billion worth of goods and imported $42 billion, adding $46 billion to America’s trade deficit.Mr. Trump does not like those kinds of figures. He has railed against…

A little over a year ago, a group of researchers at Sheffield Hallam University in England published a report documenting a Chinese clothing company’s potential ties to forced labor. Members of the British Parliament cited the report ahead of a November debate that criticized China for “slavery and forced labor from another era.”But Smart Shirts, which is a subsidiary of the manufacturer and makes clothing for major labels, filed a defamation lawsuit. And in December, a British judge delivered a ruling: The case would move forward, which could result in the university’s paying damages.The preliminary finding in the case against…

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to hold off on a plan that would cut $4 billion in federal funding for research at the nation’s universities, cancer centers and hospitals.The funds disbursed by the National Institutes of Health cover the administrative and overhead costs for a vast swath of biomedical research, some of which is directed at tackling diseases like cardiovascular conditions, cancer and diabetes.The order was issued by Judge Angel Kelley for the U.S. District Court in Boston late Monday night in response to a lawsuit filed by university associations and major research centers that had argued that…

The United Nations announced on Monday that it was suspending all humanitarian operations in a large Houthi-controlled area in northern Yemen in response to the arbitrary detention of its staff, which it said created hostile conditions for aid work.The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, made the decision because the Houthis detained eight more U.N. staff members in late January, bringing the total arrested since 2021 to 24, said Farhan Haq, a U.N. spokesman.Mr. Haq said the Houthis had violated an agreement reached in December with the U.N. to stop detaining the global agency’s staff and to find a pathway to…

More than 150 bombs from World War II have been found under a children’s playground in northern England, with concerns that more may remain, officials said.The bombs were discovered as a construction project was underway to renovate the Scotts Park playground in Wooler, a small town in Northumberland, England, that is near the border with Scotland. BBC reported that workers had found a “suspicious object” on Jan. 14 while digging foundations. It turned out to be a practice bomb, or a nonexplosive bomb that is used for training but can still be harmful.The Wooler Parish Council enlisted Brimstone Site Investigations,…

The new king of the Chinese box office is an adorably ugly, demonic child fighting off monsters.In less than two weeks since its release, “Ne Zha 2,” an animated film based loosely on Chinese mythology and a famous 16th century novel, has become the highest-grossing movie ever in China, with more than $1 billion in ticket sales. It is also the first film not made by a Hollywood studio to cross that mark.The blockbuster delivered a rare dose of good news for the Chinese film industry, which is struggling with anemic ticket sales and a slumping economy. The few films…

A group of investors led by Elon Musk has made a $97.4 billion bid to buy the assets of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, according to two people familiar with the bid, escalating a yearslong, deeply personal tussle for the future of artificial intelligence between Mr. Musk and OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman.The consortium includes Vy Capital and Xai, Mr. Musk’s artificial intelligence company, as well as the Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel and other investors, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions are ongoing.The Wall Street Journal earlier reported news of the offer.The…

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the National Institutes of Health from cutting research funding in 22 states that filed suit earlier in the day arguing that the plan would eviscerate studies into treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and a host of other ailments.The funding cuts, announced late Friday, were to take effect on Monday. But the attorneys general of Massachusetts and 21 other states sued. They argued that the Trump administration’s plan to slash $4 billion in overhead costs — known as “indirect costs” — violated a 79-year-old law that governs how administrative agencies establish and administer…

For decades, the Educational Bookshop has been a cultural cornerstone of East Jerusalem, its two outlets hosting foreign diplomats, feting prominent authors and providing readers with both sides of the story in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.This weekend, the Israeli police raided the stores and arrested their two owners after concluding that books being sold there — including a children’s coloring book — could incite violence. The police said they seized a number of books in the raids on Sunday.The shops were initially closed on Monday, but later opened despite a judge ordering the brothers who own the stores,…