Author: NY TIMES

After 15 years of dictating how apps are distributed on iPhones, Apple has been forced to take marching orders from European regulators. A new law to bolster tech competition has demanded that Apple open its devices to competing app stores and payment alternatives.But app makers say Apple’s response to the law, which is intended to give consumers and developers more choice, is a false choice. Tucked inside the plan, they argue, are new fees and rules that make it prohibitively expensive and risky to make the changes that the law was intended to bring.The backlash is the latest chapter in…

About 3.8 million people in the United States — four times the number two years ago — are now taking the most popular weight-loss drugs, according to the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, an industry data provider.Some of these prescriptions are for diabetes. The medicines are Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy (the same drug sold under different brand names), and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound (also the same drug).Pent-up demand is even higher, because many people who want the drugs cannot find or afford them. Without insurance coverage, people have to pay out of their own pockets. If they…

1. Victoria Monét: “On My Mama”The R&B singer Victoria Monét has been a behind-the-scenes presence in pop music for well over a decade, but this 34-year-old Sacramento native finally broke out as a solo artist in 2023 with the sleek, sultry hit “On My Mama.” In a charming interview with Gayle King on “CBS Mornings” earlier this week, Monét said that she recorded the song about six weeks after giving birth to her daughter, and used its confident swagger to help lift herself out of postpartum depression: “I had to step out of myself and say, ‘What would Victoria need…

President Biden honored three Army reservists killed in the Middle East as their bodies were returned to the United States on Friday in a silent, somber ceremony marking the first deaths under fire in a proxy war with Iranian-backed militias since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.Mr. Biden attended a short event known as a “dignified transfer” at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware along with his wife, Jill Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. No speeches were given but the president and others stood solemnly…

After two years of political gridlock, Northern Ireland is set to finally have a functioning government again. Elected representatives will meet in the Assembly building on the outskirts of Belfast on Saturday and revive the power-sharing government that rules the territory.There will be one significant change since the last time they gathered: The first minister role will be held for the first time by a Sinn Fein politician, Michelle O’Neill, a significant moment in the history of Northern Ireland.Here’s what to know.What is Sinn Fein, and why does it matter that the party will hold the ‘first minister’ role?Sinn Fein…

After another disappointing loss early in the season, Jalen Brunson stood in front of the locker room preparing to speak to the media in Milwaukee.When the point guard turned around, he was as straight-faced as ever after the Knicks lost their fourth in six games and put on a homemade T-shirt, all black with a white top. The letters look like they came straight from a Vistaprint press. .Brunson has a familiar saying written on his chest: The magic is in the work.“It’s a Sandra Brunson piece,” Brunson said, referring to his mother, who emblazoned the family’s long-standing motto on…

The day after their first date in February 2021, Damian Courtney Dizárd surprised Conswella Gilmore with a silver ring from David Yurman.“Like the younger generation says, I wanted to shoot my shot,” Mr. Dizárd, 51, said. He then invited her to Miami for his birthday trip the month after, and Ms. Gilmore, 50, agreed to go.They had been talking on the phone at all hours of the day for four months. “We built up a friendship, and then I felt comfortable enough” to make a move, said Mr. Dizárd, who goes by Chip.They first met on Instagram in November 2020,…

The world is starting 2024 on an optimistic economic note, as inflation fades globally and growth remains more resilient than many forecasters had expected. Yet one country stands out for its surprising strength: the United States.After a sharp pop in prices rocked the world in 2021 and 2022 — fueled by supply chain breakdowns tied to the pandemic, then oil and food price spikes related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — many nations are now watching inflation recede. And that is happening without the painful recessions that many economists had expected as central banks raised interest rates to bring inflation…

Amazon entered the consumer chatbot fray on Thursday, announcing a new artificial intelligence personal shopping assistant as the company races to catch up with other tech giants.Customers can ask the tool, Rufus, product questions directly in the search bar of the company’s mobile app, Amazon said in a blog post. The A.I. will then provide answers in a conversational tone. The examples provided in the announcement included comparing different kinds of coffee makers, recommendations for gifts and a follow-up question about the durability of running shoes.Rufus will be available starting on Thursday to a “small subset of customers,” according to…

The doctor is in. So is the yogi.A sharp shift in health care is taking place as more than one-third of American adults now supplement or substitute mainstream medical care with acupuncture, meditation, yoga and other therapies long considered alternative.In 2022, 37 percent of adult pain patients used nontraditional medical care, a marked rise from 19 percent in 2002, according to research published this week in JAMA. The change has been propelled by growing insurance reimbursement for clinical alternatives, more scientific evidence of their effectiveness and an increasing acceptance among patients.“It’s become part of the culture of the United States,”…