Author: NY TIMES

Instagram and Facebook have recently blurred, blocked or removed posts from two abortion pill providers. Instagram also suspended the accounts of several abortion pill providers and hid the providers from appearing in search and recommendations.The actions ramped up in the last two weeks, and were especially noticeable in the last two days, abortion pill providers said. Content from their accounts — or in some cases, their entire accounts — were no longer visible on Instagram.Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, confirmed some account suspensions and the blurring of posts. The company restored some of the accounts and posts on Thursday,…

A new study suggests a possible alternative to the abortion pill mifepristone, a drug that continues to be a target of lawsuits and legislation from abortion opponents.But the potential substitute could further complicate the politics of reproductive health because it is also the key ingredient in a contraceptive morning-after pill.The new study, published Thursday in the journal NEJM Evidence, involved a drug called ulipristal acetate, the active ingredient in the prescription contraceptive Ella, one of two types of morning-after pills approved in the United States. (The other, Plan B One-Step, which does not require a prescription, contains a different drug…

Alexandra Riley wouldn’t have gone ahead with her Jan. 11 wedding if it hadn’t been for her mother, Bev Lowe. The Los Angeles wildfires were raging. Santa Rosa Valley, Calif., where she planned to marry Lucas Warrer Nilsson, a fellow soccer player, was out of the danger zone, but many of the couple’s 120 guests were still in it.“My mom took all my hesitation and worry and doubt and completely brushed it aside,” said Ms. Riley, who has played in five World Cups. It was a show of fortitude that Ms. Riley, 37, of Canoga Park, Calif., had come to…

They sure do grow up quickly, don’t they?Last week marked a milestone for the children’s brand Kidz Bop: The release of “Kidz Bop 50,” the company’s 50th album of sanitized, child-friendly covers of pop songs.The songs are sung by a small group of telegenic teenagers, who also appear in carefully choreographed music videos. The latest record has 38 tracks, including the Sabrina Carpenter hit “Espresso,” Chappell Roan’s “Hot to Go!” and Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby.”Kidz Bop is almost old enough to no longer be eligible for its parents’ health insurance.Credit…Kidz BopTime flies. In the case of Kidz Bop, which…

Clinton Bailey, an American-Israeli academic whose research and documentation of the ancient traditions of the nomadic Bedouin tribes of the Middle East helped preserve a vanishing culture for posterity, died on Jan. 5 at his home in Jerusalem. He was 88.The cause was heart failure, his son Michael said.A native of Buffalo, Dr. Bailey spent some 50 years recording the oral poetry, negotiations, trials, wisdom of the elders, weddings, rituals, proverbs and stories of the tribes of the southern Israeli Negev Desert and the Sinai Peninsula. Traveling by Jeep to desert Bedouin encampments, sometimes joining their migrations for weeks on…

Twelve years ago, the Thai couple headed to the marriage registrar’s office to take part in a mass wedding ceremony on Valentine’s Day in Bangkok. Rungtiwa Thangkanopast wore a long white dress, and her partner, Phanlavee Chongtangsattam, a black tuxedo.Officials welcomed them. But when they reached the registrar’s desk and presented their identity cards, which show each to be female, they were turned away. Marriage between two women, they were told, was not permitted.On Thursday, the couple finally had the chance to wed under Thailand’s new law allowing same-sex marriages. They joined hundreds of others for a mass wedding ceremony…

Amazon on Wednesday said it was closing all of its warehouse and logistics operations in Quebec, the Canadian province where unions gained a foothold in one of its facilities, and would lay off 1,700 employees.The closures represent a U-turn from Amazon’s recent investments in the province. The company opened three delivery stations in 2021, and one last year. It also had a small fulfillment center in Quebec and two warehouses that sorted packages. All told, the investments totaled about 2 million square feet of operations, according to an estimate by Marc Wulfraat, a warehousing industry consultant based in Montreal who…

Strange Delight for a StrangerWe matched on Tinder in April 2020. Both quarantined alone, 2,500 miles and 25 years apart. She texts, “Do you want to see some pictures?” Pictures? Sure. Her suggestive selfies and dancing videos delight me for a month. Curiously, she never asks for anything in return. She writes, “Going back to work, not taking my clothes off anymore.” We continue text messaging our hopes, fears and family drama. We laugh and cry. Both searching for love. Years pass. She writes, “Found a good man!” Later, “Expecting a child!” She’s happy and I’m strangely happy for her.…

Did anything come out of nowhere and surprise you?The Fear story was one that I wanted to know about forever. When I first got to 30 Rock in 2009 [when the Roots became the house band of “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon”], I purposely waited six months to figure out how I was going to infiltrate the “S.N.L.” ecosystem. Who am I going to be friends with so I can see how it works? And one of the first people that took to me was Hal Willner [the longtime “S.N.L.” sketch music coordinator], I couldn’t have chosen more wisely and…

Israel’s military said on Wednesday that it was pressing ahead with what it called a new counterterrorism operation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Palestinian officials said that at least 10 people had been killed.A spokeswoman for the military said that 10 militants were “hit” in the operation, without giving further details. Earlier, Israel said that it had killed eight militants since the start of the raid. The Palestinian health ministry said that 10 people had been killed in Jenin and its outskirts since the start of the raid.At least four people were injured Wednesday in Jenin, where the new…