Author: NY TIMES

Syphilis, once nearly eliminated in the United States, continues to resurge, reaching the highest rate of new infections recorded since 1950, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.More than 207,000 cases were diagnosed in 2022, the last year for which data are available. That represents an 80 percent increase since 2018, and 17 percent over the previous year’s tally, according to a new C.D.C. report.The rates soared in every age group, including newborns. In November, the C.D.C. said more than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis were reported in 2022, roughly 11 times the number recorded a decade…

Toni Stern, a breezy young Californian who became a trusted lyricist for Carole King, providing the words for the enduring standard “It’s Too Late” and many other songs during Ms. King’s flowering as a chart-topping solo artist, died on Jan. 17 at her home in Santa Ynez, Calif., near Santa Barbara. She was 79.Her husband and only immediate survivor, Jerry Rounds, confirmed the death. He did not specify the cause.Ms. Stern, a Los Angeles native, was an aspiring painter and poet living in Laurel Canyon, an enclave popular with the Los Angeles rock elite, in the late 1960s. It was…

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council held an emergency meeting this week, deeply worried that the United States would retaliate after an Iran-aligned militia in Iraq killed three American soldiers and wounded more than 40 others in Jordan.The council, including the president, foreign minister, chiefs of the armed forces and two aides to the country’s supreme leader, debated how to respond to a range of possibilities, from a U.S. attack on Iran, itself, to strikes against the proxy militias that Iran backs in the region, according to three Iranians with knowledge of the council’s deliberations who were not authorized to speak…

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III stopped short on Thursday of blaming Iran for attacks that killed three U.S. service members on Sunday in Jordan but said that Tehran trained and funded the militia groups that have targeted American troops and commercial shipping in the Middle East.Mr. Austin, in a rare show of bravado, continued the Biden administration’s promises of retribution. Asked why the administration was forecasting a dayslong campaign of retaliation, Mr. Austin said the Iran-backed militias “have a lot of capability.”He paused and added, “I have a lot more.”President Biden has promised that the United States will respond…

SAN FRANCISCO — Joel Embiid didn’t speak.Not his words, anyway.The Philadelphia 76ers big man has been teased for three days after his latest absence, and with the league’s 65-game rule putting so much pressure on his sensitive situation, his MVP defense is in a tight spot early on. In danger, but he didn’t have to say anything late Tuesday night after he left the Chase Center floor in such pain with an apparent knee injury.As was the case on Saturday afternoon, when his late scrape against the Denver Nuggets prompted a chorus of criticism about his unwillingness to take on…

Amber Fehrenbacher, a marketing director who lives in Columbia, Mo., also posted a video criticizing Ms. Mariko’s bag. “In this economy?!?, she needs to read the room,” wrote one commenter on Ms. Fehrenbacher’s video. Several others suggested buying similarly sized totes from Ikea for a fraction of the price. “I’m just so confused, what’s so special,” another wrote.“People are becoming, you know, just very fatigued by influencers, for sure, especially as they’re struggling to buy the groceries to put in said tote bag,” Ms. Fehrenbacher, 37, said. While she hadn’t been considering purchasing the tote herself, she thought there were…

Why It Matters: The price offers kick off negotiations.The medicines selected for negotiations are taken by millions of Americans to treat conditions like diabetes, cancer and heart disease. The administration identified them in August, beginning a lengthy process intended to result in an agreed-upon price that would take effect in 2026, assuming the negotiation program survives legal challenges.The initial round of price offers is a key step in the negotiation process. Each drugmaker has until early March to accept the offer or propose a counteroffer to the government. A series of negotiation sessions could follow, with the process set to…

Last summer, Ohio enacted a social media statute that would require Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube to get a parent’s consent before permitting children under age 16 to use their platforms.But this month, just before the measure was to take effect, a tech industry group called NetChoice — which represents Google, Meta, Snap, TikTok and others — filed a lawsuit to block it on free speech grounds, persuading a Federal District Court judge to temporarily halt the new rules.The case is part of a sweeping litigation campaign by NetChoice to block new state laws protecting young people online — an…

Women are much more likely than men to have their immune system turn against them, resulting in an array of so-called autoimmune diseases, like lupus and multiple sclerosis. A study published on Thursday offers an explanation rooted in the X chromosome.The research, published in the journal Cell, suggests that a special set of molecules that act on the extra X chromosome carried by women can sometimes confuse the immune system.Independent experts said that the molecules are unlikely to be the sole reason autoimmune disease skews female. But if the results hold up in further experiments, it might be possible to…

Chita Rivera created several memorable Broadway characters that are now considered part of the canon, including the role of Velma Kelly in the original production of “Chicago.” So when the cast of the long-running Broadway revival took to the stage of the Ambassador Theater in New York on Tuesday night just a few hours after her death was announced, it was only natural that they would pay tribute to her.After the performance the cast assembled onstage as Amra-Faye Wright, who plays Kelly now, recalled Rivera as a “Broadway giant,” who championed other dancers.“I feel still an impostor in the role…