Author: NY TIMES

Employee mental health services have become a billion-dollar industry. New hires, once they have found the restrooms and enrolled in 401(k) plans, are presented with a panoply of digital wellness solutions, mindfulness seminars, massage classes, resilience workshops, coaching sessions and sleep apps.These programs are a point of pride for forward-thinking human resource departments, evidence that employers care about their workers. But a British researcher who analyzed survey responses from 46,336 workers at companies that offered such programs found that people who participated in them were no better off than colleagues who did not.The study, published this month in Industrial Relations…

“These people are not drunk,” a choir in quirkily customized blue robes sang on Saturday, “because it’s nine in the morning.”Watching these smiling performers in the light-flooded Space at Irondale in Brooklyn, I was surprised to discover that this startlingly contemporary sentence was a translation of a biblical verse, Acts 2:15. And it was an appropriate sentiment at, yes, about 9 a.m.In “Terce,” presented as part of this year’s Prototype festival of new opera and music theater, about three dozen choir members were praying, as Christians have done at that hour from the era of the early church. The work…

For all the fears of an outbreak of fighting in the Middle East that could draw the United States, Israel and Iran into direct combat, a curious feature of the conflict so far is the care taken — in both Tehran and Washington — to avoid putting their forces into direct contact.No one knows how long that will last, American and European diplomats and other officials say. But 100 days into the conflict, the assessment of most of the key players is that Iran has pushed its proxies to make trouble for the American military and to pressure Israel and…

Congressional leaders unveiled stopgap legislation on Sunday to avert a partial government shutdown, teeing up a race to pass the bipartisan spending deal into law before a deadline at the end of the week.The bill, which came out of a spending deal negotiated by Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, would temporarily extend funding for some federal agencies until March 1 and for others through March 8. It would keep the government funded at its current spending levels, without any policy changes or conditions.Facing opposition from hard-line House Republicans and a razor-thin G.O.P. majority, Mr. Johnson…

When Leslie Marshall and Tamar Malloy began dating, Dr. Malloy was just weeks away from relocating to Colorado for a teaching job. Source link

The nation’s largest banks are churning out profits as interest rates remain high, even though the lenders have had to set aside billions of dollars to replenish a deposit insurance fund that was heavily depleted by a crisis among midsize banks last spring.Profits for the fourth quarter of 2023 reported on Friday by JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo exceeded analysts’ expectations, and the banks, which together provide accounts for roughly a third of all Americans, each reported that their customers had kept up spending.Citigroup, which is in the midst of a global restructuring, reported a net loss…

Alice Parker, whose arrangements of hymns, folk songs, and spirituals were used in concert halls and churches across America, and who composed 11 song cycles and four operas, died on Dec. 24 at her home in Hawley, Mass. She was 98.Her death was confirmed by two of her children, Molly Stejskal and David Pyle.Ms. Parker’s simple renderings of traditional hymns like “Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal,” spirituals like “You Can Tell the World,” and Christmas carols and folk songs, made her a trusted partner for choirs all over the country.For two decades she also worked with the most prominent…

The International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, will begin hearings this week in a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.The hearings, the first step in a lengthy process should the case go forward, will be the first time that Israel has chosen to defend itself, in person, in such a setting, attesting to the gravity of the indictment and the high stakes for its international reputation and standing.Genocide, the term first employed by a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent in 1944 to describe the Nazis’ systematic murder of about…

In 2014, when Lai Ching-te was a rising political star in Taiwan, he visited China and was quizzed in public about the most incendiary issue for leaders in Beijing: his party’s stance on the island’s independence.His polite but firm response, people who know him say, was characteristic of the man who was on Saturday elected president and is now set to lead Taiwan for the next four years.Mr. Lai was addressing professors at the prestigious Fudan University in Shanghai, an audience whose members, like many mainland Chinese, almost certainly believed that the island of Taiwan belongs to China.Mr. Lai said…

Out & About covers the events where notable, powerful and influential figures gather. Plus the outfits. This week: a reunion for “The Sopranos” cast and a gathering for the podcast “Nota Bene.”A Family Dinner on Mulberry StreetOn Wednesday night, in Little Italy, cast and crew members of “The Sopranos,” which premiered 25 years ago this week, gathered for dinner at Da Nico, an old red sauce restaurant on Mulberry Street. The celebratory feast was held alongside an anniversary nostalgia tour for the show, with fan events and special screenings.“It’s like heaven. It’s extraordinary being with these people,” David Chase, the…