Author: NY TIMES

When Lois Kirschenbaum, a cultural aficionado who was a fixture at the Metropolitan Opera for more than half a century, died in 2021 at 88, star singers gave tributes and fellow fans offered remembrances.But that was not the end of Kirschenbaum’s relationship with the arts.Though even her closest friends didn’t know, Kirschenbaum, a former switchboard operator who lived in a rent-controlled apartment in the East Village, had made plans to give away a large share of her life savings — some $1.7 million — to cultural groups upon her death. After years of legal proceedings, donations of $215,000 apiece have…

The United Nations’ special representative on sexual violence in conflict has accepted Israel’s invitation to investigate allegations of sex crimes committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, a spokesman for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.The U.N. official, Pramila Patten, is expected to come to Israel within weeks and has been granted investigative authority by the foreign ministry, said the spokesman, Lior Haiat.Ms. Patten “plans on briefing the media on the basis of the findings of her visit upon return to New York,” said Géraldine Boezio, a spokeswoman for her office.On Wednesday, a Hamas spokesman, Dr. Basem Naim, said…

The Italian actress Marisa Pavan never achieved the fame of her twin sister, Pier Angeli, a film ingénue of the 1950s who graced national magazine covers, and whose romance with James Dean and subsequent marriage to the singer Vic Damone became the stuff of Hollywood lore.Ms. Pavan — analytical, at times defiant and, in her view, less conventionally beautiful than her sister — nevertheless carved out a successful career herself. She appeared in a number of high-profile films throughout the 1950s, including “The Rose Tattoo” (1955), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress.And she…

Manchester City players wore modified training gear during their pre-match warm-up on Sunday following a High Court trademark infringement claim against fashion brand Superdry.Last week it was revealed that Manchester City are being sued for damages over the use of the word “Super Dry” – a beer sold by one of City’s main sponsors, Asahi – on training equipment.Some of the immediate impact has already become apparent: until Wednesday 3 January, the day Law360 first reported Superdry’s claims, City players were wearing bibs emblazoned with “Asahi Super “Dry”” before training and games , sweatshirts and jackets.However, since the middle of…

In past interviews, the mayor has claimed to be a Men’s Warehouse and Century 21 shopper; as Brooklyn borough president, a less-svelte Mr. Adams favored boxy, off-the-rack silhouettes, his fashion sense appearing to amplify on the campaign trail, culminating with a new ear piercing to commemorate his first day in office.“Mayor Adams always dresses for the event or the circumstances: whether that means wearing a polo shirt, a suit, a windbreaker, or another piece of clothing that fits the occasion,” Fabien Levy, a spokesman for the mayor, said in an email. “Mayor Adams grew up and remains true to his…

Decision day for Bitcoin? The famously volatile price of Bitcoin briefly experienced more whiplash than usual on Tuesday, after a post on an official S.E.C. social media account said that the agency had approved long-awaited investment products tied to the cryptocurrency.Its price just as quickly sank after Gary Gensler, the S.E.C.’s chief, threw cold water on the post, saying that the agency’s account had been hacked. But the wild market reaction may serve as a preview of the S.E.C.’s actual decision on those Bitcoin products, which is expected today.For 15 minutes, the crypto community was euphoric. At 4:11 p.m. Eastern,…

When Microsoft opened an advanced research lab in Beijing in 1998, it was a time of optimism about technology and China.The company hired hundreds of researchers for the lab, which pioneered Microsoft’s work in speech, image and facial recognition and the kind of artificial intelligence that later gave rise to online chatbots like ChatGPT. The Beijing operation eventually became one of the most important A.I. labs in the world. Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, called it an opportunity to tap China’s “deep pool of intellectual talent.”But as tensions between the United States and China have mounted over which nation will lead…

The curves on some Covid graphs are looking quite steep, again.Reported levels of the virus in U.S. wastewater are higher than they have been since the first Omicron wave, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though severe outcomes still remain rarer than in earlier pandemic winters.“We are seeing rates are going up across the country,” said Amy Kirby, program lead for the C.D.C.’s National Wastewater Surveillance System. The program now categorizes every state with available data at “high” or “very high” viral activity.The surge might reach its peak this week or soon after, modelers predict,…

“We’re here, and we’re producing, and we’re producing some exciting stuff,” said Scott Ellis, a longtime Haimes collaborator who is serving as Roundabout’s interim artistic director, and who is expected to stay in that role for at least two years. “It felt important to say that we’re committed to producing as many shows as we used to.”“The Pirates of Penzance,” a comedy about an indentured pirate apprentice who falls in love with a military officer’s daughter, was once a staple of American theater, and it has been staged a whopping 26 times on Broadway, starting in 1879. But the last…

With a vast chasm between how Israelis see the war in Gaza and how much of the world does, Israel’s leaders have taken to adopting different rhetoric when addressing the two audiences about how its military campaign against Hamas will be conducted over the year ahead.Israeli officials have begun to tell the international news media that its forces are shifting to a less intense phase of operations, particularly in northern Gaza, amid international alarm at the scale of destruction and civilian casualties in the territory.But after those comments were published on Monday, Israeli leaders sought to reassure the Israeli public…