Author: NY TIMES

The end of the National Football League’s regular season on Sunday triggered the start of two annual events: the playoffs, and the period when a wave of teams fire head coaches and general managers and start frenzied searches for their replacements.The league has little control over the outcomes of the games. But over the past 20 years, the N.F.L. has tried, and often failed, to change the composition of the highest ranks in football-related jobs at every club.For a league in which roughly 70 percent of N.F.L. players are people of color, it has been a source of embarrassment that…

A U.S. congressional committee has asked the Commerce Department to look into whether a giant technology company controlled by the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates should be put under trade restrictions because of its ties to China.The company, G42, specializes in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies, and is overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the national security adviser of the Emirates and a younger brother of the country’s ruler.It has signed recent agreements with prominent American technology companies, including Microsoft, Dell and OpenAI. A Silicon Valley chip firm, Cerebras, is building a supercomputer for G42 to create…

In early 2020, the Food and Drug Administration responded to decades of escalating concerns about a commonly prescribed drug for asthma and allergies by deploying one of its most potent tools: a stark warning on the drug’s label that it could cause aggression, agitation and even suicidal thoughts.The agency’s label, which was primarily aimed at doctors, was supposed to sound an alert about the 25-year-old medication, Singulair, also known by its generic name, montelukast. But it barely dented use: The drug was still prescribed to 12 million people in the United States in 2022.Children face the greatest risks of the…

If you’ve ever wondered what Liam Gallagher fronting the Stone Roses would have sounded like — and don’t just say “Oasis” — have I got a song for you. The snarl-lipped Gallagher joins forces with the singular Stone Roses guitarist John Squire on “Just Another Rainbow,” the first single from a forthcoming collaborative project, and naturally the two Manchester musicians make immediate sonic sense together. “Red and orange, yellow and green, blue, indigo, violet,” Gallagher sings in his unmistakable lilt — seriously, this song has Liam Gallagher singing the colors of the rainbow. But Squire ultimately ascends into the spotlight…

As of Saturday, at least 70 Palestinian journalists and media workers had been killed in Gaza, some while covering the conflict, some when they were at home or sheltering with their families, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which said it was also investigating “numerous” other reports of journalists being killed.Their deaths have made it difficult to obtain information about the scale and destructiveness of the fighting, a problem worsened by degraded communications networks and the lack of permission from Israel and Egypt for foreign journalists to enter Gaza.The government media office in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas,…

South Korea’s lawmakers on Tuesday outlawed the breeding, slaughter and sale of dogs for human consumption, a centuries-old practice that is unpopular and rare today.Dog meat was once more common, and remained so in the decades after the Korean War when the country was destitute and meat was scarce. It is used in a well-known dish that Koreans call “bosintang,” or “soup good for your body.” But the practice became increasingly shunned as incomes, pet ownership and concern for animal welfare rose steadily in the late 20th century.Today, many South Koreans, especially younger people, see eating dog meat as appalling.…

A bright red cape and headband. Creamy cable knit pants. Overcoats of all sorts: Single-breasted and double-breasted, in shades of camel and pink, some skimming knees and others falling closer to the floor.All were clothes that stood out on the streets of New York City last month, as people started bundling up for the season. The most memorable style was not just about garments, but how they were worn with a certain presence — the type that makes you want to look a little closer, stare a little longer and squint a little harder to make sure you’ve taken in…

Anemona Hartocollis, a New York Times reporter who covers higher education, was at a holiday party when she overheard revelers talking about Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University.The people Ms. Hartocollis writes about are not typically fodder for holiday party chatter. But the Harvard controversy, Ms. Hartocollis said in a recent interview, has “dominated conversations outside of academia.”Dr. Gay, Harvard’s first Black president and the second woman to lead the university, resigned last week — less than six months into her tenure — amid accusations of plagiarism and criticism over her testimony last month at a congressional hearing about…

Taylor Swift’s affinity for Le Creuset is real: Her collection of the cookware has been featured on a Tumblr account dedicated to the pop star’s home décor, in a thorough analysis of her kitchen published by Variety and in a Netflix documentary that was highlighted by Le Creuset’s Facebook page.What is not real: Ms. Swift’s endorsement of the company’s products, which have appeared in recent weeks in ads on Facebook and elsewhere featuring her face and voice.The ads are among the many celebrity-focused scams made far more convincing by artificial intelligence. Within a single week in October, the actor Tom…

Richard Gaddes, a British-born opera impresario who nurtured young talent as director of companies in Santa Fe, N.M., and St Louis, died on Dec. 12 in Manhattan. He was 81.His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by the Santa Fe Opera, where he served as general director for eight years, and by the Opera Theater of Saint Louis, of which he was a founder. The executor of his estate, Maria Schlafly, said he died after a brief illness.Leading the two companies over several decades, Mr. Gaddes (pronounced GAD-iss) helped spur the careers of younger stars like Thomas Hampson, Christine Brewer…