Author: NY TIMES

In the final minutes of a congressional hearing on Wednesday in which tech chief executives were berated for not protecting children online, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, urged lawmakers to act to safeguard the internet’s youngest users.“No excuses,” he said.Lawmakers have long made similar statements about holding tech companies to account — and have little to show for it. Republicans and Democrats alike have at various points declared that it was time to regulate the tech giants over matters such as privacy and antitrust. Yet for years, that was where it ended: with no new federal regulations for…

Gustav Mahler had a near-death experience between the composition of his Fourth and Fifth symphonies. They were separated by a gulf that listeners could plunge into this week in consecutive concerts by the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.The Fourth was the third in a trilogy of symphonies that featured vocal settings of poetry from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn,” a folk collection that inspired Mahler, and it ends with a vision of heaven articulated by a soprano with childlike purity. The Fifth — which followed a hemorrhage that left Mahler bleeding out and on the verge of death —…

In the hours before the United States carried out strikes against Iran-backed militants on Friday, Washington hit Tehran with more familiar weapons: sanctions and criminal charges.The Biden administration sanctioned officers and officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Iran’s premier military force, for threatening the integrity of water utilities and for helping manufacture Iranian drones. And it unsealed charges against nine people for selling oil to finance the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.The timing seemed designed to pressure the Revolutionary Guards and its most elite unit, the Quds Force, at a moment of extraordinary tension in the Middle East. Although…

Ms. Milo had three children by two partners, and her private life was often fodder for tabloids and glossy magazines. With gaps of varying lengths — including a lull that began in the late 1960s when she raised her children — she worked until her death, most recently on reality television shows.At 77, she participated in the Italian edition of “Celebrity Island,” in which low-buzz celebrities are plunked into a wild habitat to fend off nature; she was eliminated in the semifinal round. Last year, she was a contestant on the Italian edition of “The Masked Singer,” and participated in…

Fred Gaudelli served as lead producer for seven Super Bowl telecasts. If you like Roman numerals, Gaudily has produced Super Bowls XXXVII, XL, XLIII, XLVI, XLIX, LII and LVI. He was involved in the production of some of the most thrilling NFL championship games in history, including Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, in which New England Patriots rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted Seattle Seahawks at the goal line. Eagles quarterback Russell Wilson with 20 seconds left. New England came back to beat the Sonics 28-24. That game averaged 114.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched Super Bowl game in U.S.…

“Oppenheimer” was the first Christopher Nolan movie released since Cam and I broke up, and my interest in seeing it was neutral. I watched my friends go in twos and threes, reporting back good, bad and boring experiences. With peer pressure mounting, I decided that my seeing “Oppenheimer” hinged on Cam’s opinion. In the meantime, I saw “Barbie,” “Theater Camp” and “Barbie” again.Beginning on “Barbenheimer” weekend, I started checking Cam’s Letterboxd. I watched as he logged “Barbie” (four-and-a-half stars out of five), “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” (two stars), and “Talk to Me” (three-and-a-half stars). I read his reviews and…

Joe Madison, an influential talk radio host with a rumbling musical baritone, who interviewed President Barack Obama in the Oval Office and numerous other political leaders in his Washington, D.C., studio, urging them to take action on civil and human rights issues, has died at his home in Washington. He was 74.His family announced the death on Thursday but did not specify when it occurred. In December, Mr. Madison said in a statement that he was taking a leave from his daily show, on SiriusXM radio, after learning that his prostate cancer had returned; it had been in remission since…

A Delaware judge’s decision to void the pay package that helped make Elon Musk the world’s richest person leaves Tesla’s board with some difficult decisions to make.Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery on Tuesday ordered Tesla to cancel stock options awarded to Mr. Musk, the electric car company’s chief executive, worth about $50 billion. Now the company’s directors must figure out a new compensation plan that can pass legal muster and satisfy Mr. Musk, who recently demanded that the board substantially increase his ownership of Tesla.Tesla and Mr. Musk could appeal the court decision. Mr.…

Things were going well for Cody Fry, a singer-songwriter and producer known for his lush pop songs. He was looking forward to a pair of concerts with Ben Rector and the Colorado Symphony at the Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver. And on Monday his management team called him with exciting news: One of his songs, “Things You Said,” a romantic duet with Abby Cates, was gaining TikTok traction in China.More than 750,000 videos were created with that song in a single day, Mr. Fry said in a TikTok video. It was the kind of organic viral moment that artists and…

Since the start of the conflict, a supplemental budget jumped to $47 million a month from $12 million a month, according to Tom White, UNRWA’s Gaza director.That extra money has paid for flour for 350,000 families; 14 million food items including canned meat and packets of dried chickpeas; mattress pads, blankets, and kitchen sets; the distribution of 20 million liters of water; and the building of latrines.Most of the aid UNWRA distributes is paid for with donor funds, Ms. Touma said.Still, officials said the flow of aid has been minuscule in comparison to the need. “It’s the absolute bare minimum,”…