Author: NY TIMES

Pope Francis on Monday focused his Christmas address on the violence in Israel and war in Gaza that had caused an “appalling” loss of civilian life and brought “sorrow” to Bethlehem, traditionally seen as the birthplace of Jesus, as he called for the release of Israeli hostages and an end to devastating military attacks.Delivering his “Urbi et Orbi” — or “to the city and to the world” — Christmas blessing on the birth of Jesus as a symbol of peace, Francis, who turned 87 last week, spoke from a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica under gray clouds on an unseasonably…

She flirted with Brando and even Prince Charles. She has been romantically linked with a succession of Hollywood hunks — think Warren Beatty and Ryan O’Neal.But there are no steamy boudoir scenes in “My Name Is Barbra,” Barbra Streisand’s exhaustively detailed doorstop of a memoir. Instead, the multi-hyphenate star — singer actress, producer, director, philanthropist — lavishes attention on her wardrobe, which she documents, page after page, down to each sparkly paillette.Growing up, this self-proclaimed “skinny marink” from Brooklyn cherished her burgundy sweater with wooden buttons that “set her apart from the other kids on her first day at camp.”Her…

Raymond L. Dirks, a maverick Wall Street analyst who was accused of insider trading by securities regulators but then vindicated by the U.S. Supreme Court as a whistle-blower in a major fraud, died on Dec. 9 in Manhattan. He was 89.His death was confirmed by his brother, Lee. He died in a nursing home, where he had lived since being diagnosed with dementia in 2018.Mr. Dirks, whom Bloomberg News once called “arguably Wall Street’s most famous securities analyst,” figured in exposing one of the largest corporate frauds in American history.He was a 39-year-old senior vice president of Delafield Childs, a…

On the heels of the new film “Maestro,” an American director will stage Leonard Bernstein’s often-reworked operetta in its “concert version.” Source link

Days of intense negotiations enabled the Biden administration to avoid casting a veto at the United Nations Security Council in defense of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.But abstaining from a resolution designed to help more humanitarian aid reach Gaza only limited the damage to America’s standing around the world as it becomes an increasingly lonely protector of Israel.The outcome was a relief to U.S. officials loath to exercise America’s veto power in defense of Israel for what would have been the third time since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks. Abstaining from a 13-0 vote may look better than casting a veto…

After seven days hiding in a dank and dark tunnel deep in the bowels of the sprawling Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol as the city burned around him, Pfc. Oleksandr Ivantsov was on the verge of collapse.President Volodymyr Zelensky had ordered Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their weapons after 80 days of resistance and surrender. But Private Ivantsov had other ideas.“When I signed up for this mission, I realized that most likely I would die,” he recalled. “I was ready to die in battle, but morally I was not ready to surrender.”He knew his plan might sound a little crazy,…

The Covid-19 public health emergency officially expired in the United States in May, and it seemed the celebrations were nonstop.Night after night, a cohort of shiny and (and often deep-pocketed) city dwellers escaped into lavish, invite-only parties, galas and benefits that gleamed like 2019. These elaborate fever dreams were made all the more feverish and dreamy by looks often spun from the runways: fire-engine reds, overblown silhouettes, yards of tulle and a grab bag of bijoux.Whether at a Fashion Week party at Gracie Mansion or a benefit for Elmhurst Hospital at the American Museum of Natural History, guests swanned around…

Hollywood’s movie factories run on conventional wisdom — entrenched notions, based on experience, about what types of films are likely to pop at the global box office.This year, audiences turned many of those so-called rules on their heads.Superheroes have long been seen as the most reliable way to fill seats. But characters like Captain Marvel, the Flash, Ant-Man, Shazam and Blue Beetle failed to excite moviegoers. Over the weekend, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” which cost more than $200 million to make and tens of millions more to market, arrived to a disastrous $28 million in ticket sales in the…

In the tech industry, 2023 was a year of transformation.Spurred by the success of last year’s breakout tech star, ChatGPT, Silicon Valley’s giants rushed to turn themselves into artificial intelligence companies, jamming generative A.I. features into their products and racing to build their own, more powerful A.I. models. They did so while navigating an uncertain tech economy, with layoffs and pivots galore, and while trying to keep their aging business models aloft.Not everything went smoothly. There were misbehaving chatbots, crypto foibles and bank failures. And then in November, ChatGPT’s maker, OpenAI, melted down (and quickly reconstituted itself) over a failed…

On a recent evening at the Vienna State Opera, the robust, singing tone of the violinist Albena Danailova shadowed the melodies of the character Rodolfo in a signature aria from Puccini’s “La Bohème.” Between numbers, she casually chatted with fellow members of the house orchestra before angling her bow and steering the ensemble.It was just another night on duty. Except that Ms. Danailova, 48, is the first female concertmaster in the history of the Vienna Philharmonic.She assumed the role in 2011, three years after beginning as a player in the orchestra of the State Opera. (Philharmonic musicians play in the…