Author: NY TIMES

David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary, has signaled that Britain is willing to move up conversations about formally recognizing a Palestinian state, saying that his country and other allies should show Palestinians “irreversible progress” toward that long-sought goal.Mr. Cameron, speaking to the Conservative Middle East Council, an organization that promotes discussion about the region among the Conservative Party, said on Monday that showing progress toward a two-state solution was essential to negotiating peace, and called Israel’s security policies of the last three decades “a failure.”The British government has long held the position that it would only recognize a Palestinian state at…

Despite all the scandals and tragedies, the royal lifestyle in “The Crown” looked enviably lavish.During six seasons, Queen Elizabeth II rode around London in a golden carriage, pulled by six horses. Princess Diana gallivanted, and moped, her way across Europe in a succession of designer outfits. For special occasions, the royals donned crowns and ermine robes.For most viewers, watching the show, which ended in December, was the closest they could get to the trappings of royal life.Until now. Sort of.On Feb. 7, the auction house Bonhams is scheduled to offer hundreds of items from “The Crown” in London, including intricate…

Dr. Thomas Connelly has turned the cliché “million dollar smile” into reality.In 2021, the “Father of Diamond Dentistry” — as Rolling Stone named him — reconstructed Post Malone’s smile with 18 porcelain veneers, eight platinum crowns and two six-carat diamonds replacing the singer-songwriter’s upper canines. Just diamonds.The total cost: $1.6 million.“Posty needed me; he had terrible teeth,” said Dr. Connelly, 51, seated comfortably on a sofa in one of his treatment rooms in his Beverly Hills office.“We’ve learned a lot since doing Post’s mouth,” he said, adding that he and his staff of three now perform diamond dentistry almost daily,…

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, suffered a stunning rebuke Tuesday when a Delaware judge voided the pay package that helped make him a billionaire many times over and the world’s wealthiest human being.In a decision that cast a harsh light on the behavior of Mr. Musk and Tesla’s board of directors, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery said the chief executive had effectively overseen his own compensation plan — currently worth about $50 billion — with the help of compliant board members.“The process leading to the approval of Musk’s compensation plan was deeply…

Target has pulled from its stores an educational magnet collection that misidentified three Black leaders, after a high school history teacher called attention to the errors in a TikTok video.In the video, the teacher, Tierra Espy, said she bought the “Civil Rights Magnetic Learning Activity,” a tin case of 26 magnets and informational cards featuring illustrations of Black leaders and slogans from the civil rights movement, for Black History Month, which is celebrated in the United States in February.“I noticed some discrepancies, like, as soon as I opened this,” she said in the video, pointing out that a magnet labeled…

In the course of becoming a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and the subject of a forthcoming biopic set to star Selena Gomez, Linda Ronstadt has packed theaters around the globe. But her favorite sits on a one-way side street in Tucson, Ariz.With a courtyard draped in vines and string lights and a main stage the size of “a good little opera house,” the 1927 Temple of Music and Art is “just magic,” said Ms. Ronstadt. Before the onset of progressive supranuclear palsy — a Parkinson’s-like disorder that ended her singing career in…

Aid groups working in Gaza expressed dismay at the decision by some donor nations to suspend funding to the main U.N. agency operating in the territory, calling the move “reckless” at a moment when the humanitarian crisis there is rapidly getting worse.The United States and at least eight other countries said in recent days that they were halting funding for the agency, known by the acronym UNRWA, after Israel presented allegations that a dozen of its employees had played a role in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack or its aftermath. The attacks left at least 1,200 people dead and about…

As Iran and the United States assessed the damage done by American airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, the initiative suddenly shifted to Tehran and its pending decision whether to respond or take the hit and de-escalate.The expectation in Washington and among its allies is that the Iranians will choose the latter course, seeing no benefit in getting into a shooting war with a far larger power, with all the risks that implies. But it is not yet clear whether the varied proxy forces that have conducted scores of attacks on American bases and ships — and that rely on Iran…

Honey, I Got You Nothing!For our 12th anniversary, I gave my boyfriend an empty box, his most-wanted anti-gift. He’s a minimalist; I’m a hoarder. That difference has been the source of our most epic and ongoing arguments. Whenever I ask what I should buy him, he tells me to clear out my belongings from his closet. This January, I finally did. Rather than painstakingly analyzing each photo, tangled piece of jewelry or DVD in my box marked “mementos,” I set a timer for 30 minutes and discarded ruthlessly. It was difficult, but his grin was worth it. — Rachel Kramer…

U.S. economic reports have been sparkling. The economy appears to be booming, the labor market looks strong and inflation seems to be on the decline.Yet this seemingly propitious combination has locked the Federal Reserve into inaction. At its policymaking meeting this week, the Fed decided to do precisely nothing. It held the main policy rate, known as the federal funds rate, steady at about 5.3 percent, where it has stood since August.In a statement on Wednesday after the two-day session, the Fed said it would not cut interest rates “until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably…