February 2024 - Page 11 of 15

Middle East Crisis: Netanyahu Asks Military for Plans to Evacuate Rafah, Where 1.4 Million Are Sheltering

Feb

Middle East Crisis: Netanyahu Asks Military for Plans to Evacuate Rafah, Where 1.4 Million Are Sheltering

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has ordered the Israeli military to come up with a plan for civilians sheltering in the southern city of Rafah to evacuate, his office said on Friday, as Israeli leaders have increasingly indicated they intend to ultimately send ground troops into the crowded city.“Any forceful action in Rafah would require the evacuation of the civilian population from combat zones,” the prime minister’s office said, without saying what area those zones would cover or when such an operation would begin.Roughly 1.4 million Palestinians are now sheltering in Rafah, according to the United Nations. Lying on…

Memory Loss Requires Careful Diagnosis, Scientists Say

Feb

By Jean Thompson

Health

Memory Loss Requires Careful Diagnosis, Scientists Say

A lengthy report by the Department of Justice on President Biden’s handling of classified documents contained some astonishing assessments of his well-being and mental health.Mr. Biden, 81, was an “elderly man with a poor memory” and “diminished faculties” who “did not remember when he was vice president,” the special counsel Robert K. Hur said.In conversations recorded in 2017, Mr. Biden was “often painfully slow” and “struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.” So impaired was Mr. Biden that a jury was unlikely to convict him, Mr. Hur said.Republicans were quick to…

A Taylor Swift love story: How pop icon is bringing a new, young audience to the NFL

Feb

By Jean Thompson

International

A Taylor Swift love story: How pop icon is bringing a new, young audience to the NFL

Arrie Flathouse took her first steps to Taylor Swift’s hit song “Tim McGraw.”The pop icon was a constant part of the now 16-year-old Arrie’s childhood as she grew up in the Houston area with two older sisters who adored Swift. Arrie came to love Swift, too, dressing up as her for Halloween and listening to her albums.GO DEEPERWhat Taylor Swift songs capture the 2023 NFL season: Dear John, Karma, Anti-HeroArrie never got much into football, though, despite having a mom, Kara, who spent her weekends tuned into college and NFL games. That included games played by the Chiefs since Kara,…

F.C.C. Bans A.I.-Generated Robocalls – The New York Times

Feb

By Jean Thompson

Science and Technology

F.C.C. Bans A.I.-Generated Robocalls – The New York Times

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday outlawed unwanted robocalls generated by artificial intelligence, amid growing concerns over election disinformation and consumer fraud facilitated by the technology.The unanimous decision by the F.C.C. cited a three-decade-old law aimed at curbing junk phone calls, clarifying that A.I.-generated spam calls are also illegal. By doing so, the agency said it expanded the ability of states to prosecute creators of unsolicited spam robocalls.“It seems like something from the far-off future, but it is already here,” the F.C.C. chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, said in a statement. “Bad actors are using A.I.-generated voices in unsolicited robocalls to extort…

‘Zombie Offices’ Spell Trouble for Some Banks

Feb

By Jean Thompson

Investments and Business

‘Zombie Offices’ Spell Trouble for Some Banks

Graceful art-deco buildings towering above Chicago’s key business district report occupancy rates as low as 17 percent.A set of gleaming office towers in Denver that were full of tenants and worth $176 million in 2013 now sit largely empty and were last appraised at just $82 million, according to data provided by Trepp, a research firm that tracks real estate loans. Even famous Los Angeles buildings are fetching roughly half their prepandemic prices.From San Francisco to Washington, D.C., the story is the same. Office buildings remain stuck in a slow-burning crisis. Employees sent to work from home at the start…

Halted Deportation Flights to Venezuela Set Back Biden’s Migrant Strategy

Feb

By Jean Thompson

International

Halted Deportation Flights to Venezuela Set Back Biden’s Migrant Strategy

When deportation flights from the United States to Venezuela resumed last fall after four years, it was a move meant to show that President Biden was aggressively tackling the record numbers of crossings at the U.S. southern border.The expulsions were also meant to deter other Venezuelans who might be considering the journey.But on Wednesday, for the second week in a row, U.S.-run flights to Venezuela carrying migrants did not depart as planned — a move that seems to be initiated by Venezuela.The Venezuelan government did not respond to repeated requests for comment about whether it was permanently halting the deportation…