Author: NY TIMES

It is possible that the most dazzling couture show in Paris this week is not actually taking place on a runway at all, but in an entirely different sort of setting. Possible that said couture show is not an invitation-only affair with gold ballroom chairs and the latest celebrity du jour, but rather one open to the public. And certain that it is less about nostalgia for a past when couture was defined by the whispering of silk satin ball gowns, and more about a dream of the future.The show in question? “Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses,” a one-woman…

In early January in San Antonio, dozens of Ph.D. economists packed into a small windowless room in the recesses of a Grand Hyatt to hear brand-new research on the hottest topic of their annual conference: how climate change is affecting everything.The papers in this session focused on the impact of natural disasters on mortgage risk, railway safety and even payday loans. Some attendees had to stand in the back, as the seats had already been filled. It wasn’t an anomaly.Nearly every block of time at the Allied Social Science Associations conference — a gathering of dozens of economics-adjacent academic organizations…

Aissam Dam, an 11-year-old boy, grew up in a world of profound silence. He was born deaf and had never heard anything. While living in a poor community in Morocco, he expressed himself with a sign language he invented and had no schooling.Last year, after moving to Spain, his family took him to a hearing specialist, who made a surprising suggestion: Aissam might be eligible for a clinical trial using gene therapy.On Oct. 4, Aissam was treated at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, becoming the first person to get gene therapy in the United States for congenital deafness. The goal…

Frank Farian, the German record producer who was best known as the mastermind of Milli Vanilli, the duo that scaled the charts in 1989 but fell from grace when it was revealed that they didn’t do any of the singing on their records, died on Tuesday at his home in Miami. He was 82.His death was announced by Philip Kallrath of Allendorf Media, a spokesman for Mr. Farian’s family.Milli Vanilli’s first American album, “Girl You Know It’s True,” was released in 1989. It sold several million copies worldwide and won the duo, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, a Grammy Award…

new video loaded: ‘No End in Sight’: Evacuated Israeli City Braces for Possible War With HezbollahtranscriptBacktranscript‘No End in Sight’: Evacuated Israeli City Braces for Possible War With HezbollahAs tensions escalated on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon after Oct. 7, Israel evacuated tens of thousands of residents from the region, including from Kiryat Shmona, a town with 24,000 people. Months later, evacuees remain in limbo, and the mayor insists they cannot return until Hezbollah militants are pushed back.On the Lebanon-Israel border, an almost daily exchange of missile fire that started on October 7 threatens to trigger a larger war. And communities…

Germany’s top court on Tuesday stripped a neo-Nazi party of the right to public financing and the tax advantages normally extended to political organizations, a decision that could provide a blueprint for government efforts to head off a resurgence of the far right.Although the party, Die Heimat, which means the Homeland, was already too small to receive public funding, the case was closely watched because it could have implications for countering the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, a far more popular far-right party.“Today’s decision by the Federal Constitutional Court sends out a clear signal: Our democratic state does not fund…

This is getting awkward. German tennis star Alexander Zverev, who is due to stand trial on domestic violence charges in May, has been betting that an elimination from the Australian Open will save the sport from becoming a Something no one wants to talk about.The world number six then managed to escape a tense decider and five-set battles every other day to avoid defeat. Zverev, 26, raised his arms. He answered friendly questions from a tennis celebrity – questions that never hinted at the charges and the upcoming trial in Berlin. That’s what happened today (Monday), as Zverev won the…

This is a season of firsts for Dominic Sessa — a wondrous Cinderella moment on the threshold of further adventures in fame. Not yet two weeks out from the Golden Globes, when the 21-year-old actor sauntered onto the red carpet — tousle-haired in a Saint Laurent suit, his black silk shirt unbuttoned, his eyes hidden behind dark shades — unleashing a million online stans, he arrived in Paris for his first time at the fashion shows.It has been a virtual eye blink since Mr. Sessa was in Santa Monica, Calif., to receive the Critics Choice Award for best young actor…

Netflix reached a multibillion-dollar, 10-year deal for exclusive rights to W.W.E.’s flagship weekly wrestling show “Raw,” as the streaming giant broadens its offerings with more live content.The deal will bring “Raw” to Netflix starting in January 2025, Netflix and TKO Group, W.W.E.’s parent company, said in a statement. Netflix will also own the rights to stream W.W.E.’s other shows and specials outside of the United States.The agreement will cost Netflix more than $5 billion and will last for 10 years, with an option to extend an additional 10 years or opt out after five, TKO Group said in a regulatory…

Berish Strauch, a plastic surgeon whose pioneering procedures and devices to reattach or replace vital body parts included one of the first toe-to-thumb transplants, a device to reverse vasectomies and, perhaps most notably, the first inflatable penile prosthesis, died on Dec. 24 in Greenwich, Conn. He was 90.His daughter, Laurie Strauch Weiss, said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was respiratory failure.Beginning in the late 1960s, Dr. Strauch was at the forefront of a revolution in plastic surgery, in particular microsurgery, in which doctors use microscopes and precision instruments to sew together minuscule blood vessels, nerves and ligaments,…