Author: NY TIMES

Judih Weinstein Haggai, a 70-year-old who was believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas, was actually killed during the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, her family and Kibbutz Nir Oz said in statements on Thursday.Ms. Haggai’s husband, Gadi Haggai, had also been listed as a hostage but the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum announced last week that he, too, was killed in the attacks.The forum said the couple were shot while on their morning walk through the fields of the kibbutz, and that Ms. Haggai had managed to inform friends that they had been injured, her husband critically…

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces struck near a hospital it operates in southern Gaza on Thursday, killing several people, a day after another deadly Israeli attack in front of the same medical facility.On Wednesday, the health ministry in the enclave said nearly two dozen people had been killed after Israeli forces struck the entrance of the facility, Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis. The Israeli military has announced an expanded offensive in Khan Younis, the biggest city in southern Gaza.Most of those killed on Wednesday were displaced people who were seeking shelter in and around the hospital, said…

As they awaited the arrival of their third child in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Kerri and Neil Beggs encountered a problem familiar to families everywhere: They needed more space, but didn’t have the budget for the kind of house they wanted.“What we found was that we were in a certain price bracket, and it was quite a large leap in price for the size of house we wanted,” said Ms. Beggs, 44, a health care professional. She and Mr. Beggs, 47, who runs a plumbing supply company, had been renting a narrow, four-story townhouse that sometimes felt like more of a…

The shipping giant Maersk indicated on Wednesday that after avoiding the Red Sea and the Suez Canal for about a week because of attacks on shipping it was again directing its vessels through the canal.The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen has been attacking ships in the Red Sea, saying they are retaliating against Israel’s military actions against Hamas in Gaza. A U.S.-led naval force has been assembled to defend vessels in the Red Sea and warships already there have prevented attacks on ships.A shipping advisory that Maersk released on Wednesday showed several of its vessels were headed for the Suez…

The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement on Wednesday, opening a new front in the increasingly intense legal battle over the unauthorized use of published work to train artificial intelligence technologies.The Times is the first major American media organization to sue the companies, the creators of ChatGPT and other popular A.I. platforms, over copyright issues associated with its written works. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, contends that millions of articles published by The Times were used to train automated chatbots that now compete with the news outlet as a source of reliable…

BackgroundThe law, House Bill 71, specifically bans gender transition surgeries, puberty blockers and hormone therapy for those under 18 with gender dysphoria. It also makes it a felony for medical professionals to provide the care, with a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.Idaho’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the bill, also known as the Vulnerable Child Protective Act, in February, and Gov. Brad Little, also a Republican, signed it into law in April. The ban was set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.Mr. Little said the ban sought to “protect children.” But major medical organizations, including the American Academy…

“Roll me up and smoke me when I die,” Willie Nelson sang from the stage of the Hollywood Bowl during his 90th birthday celebration in April.As usual, Mr. Nelson looked very much at ease. He was wearing a cowboy hat over a red bandanna, and his hair spilled down his back. His trusty guitar, a road-worn classical acoustic model named Trigger, hung from the red, white and blue strap around his neck. At his side was his longtime friend, the equally relaxed Snoop Dogg.The duet with Snoop was one of many high points for Mr. Nelson in 2023, when fans…

The Israeli military crossed into central Gaza between Dec. 24 and 26, new satellite images obtained and analyzed by The New York Times showed, giving a fuller picture of the latest front in Israel’s war to eradicate Hamas from the embattled enclave.By Tuesday, Israeli forces had reached the outskirts of Al Bureij, a densely built-up neighborhood in the center of the Gaza Strip, about one mile from the border with Israel.In a news briefing on Tuesday, the military confirmed the advance, saying that its forces had targeted terrorist infrastructure in the area of Al Bureij and had found a tunnel…

Ukraine scored a major success on Tuesday when it struck a Russian warship at port in Crimea, one of the most significant attacks against Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet in months. But in another setback for their ground campaign, Ukrainian officials acknowledged that they had all but retreated from the eastern city of Marinka after a monthslong battle to defend it.The two developments underscored the diverging fortunes of the two combatants this winter in a war that has largely settled into a deadlock: Ukraine racking up naval successes in the Black Sea and Crimea, where it is putting Russia on the…

The Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers 33-19 on Monday night for their most impressive win of the season. Not only does this win make them look like a Super Bowl contender, it also puts them in a great spot in the AFC. They sit one game ahead of Miami with a 12-3 record and a chance to clinch the top spot next week against the Dolphins.Meanwhile, the 49ers’ loss moved them to an 11-4 record, tied with the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions in the NFC’s top three. The 49ers have tiebreakers in both games, but with two…