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☆ Israel-Hamas War in Gaza: Latest Updates
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Matt Surman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The United States has repeatedly called on Israel not to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza. Credit... Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters Mr. Sullivan is expected to stress the need for a targeted approach to fighting Hamas in Gaza and to emphasize American opposition to a full-scale attack on Rafah. Mr. Sullivan traveled to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, a visit that had been slated for April originally but was delayed after the U.S. official cracked a rib. In the interim, tensions between the United States and Israel over the Rafah invasion and Israel’s conduct of the war have escalated. Mr. Sullivan is expected to try to advance the deal in his meeting with the Israeli leader.

Persons: Jake Sullivan, Benjamin Netanyahu, John Kirby, Sullivan, Netanyahu, Elizabeth Frantz, Biden, Lloyd Austin, Antony J, Blinken, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Organizations: U.S, Sunday, United, White House, Washington . Credit, Reuters, CNN, Senate, Crown Locations: United States, Israel, Rafah, Gaza, Washington ., Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Palestinian, U.S, Saudi

Israel welcomed a U.S. aid package signed by President Biden on Wednesday that will send about $15 billion in military aid to Israel, increasing American support for its closest Middle East ally despite strains in their relationship over Israel’s prosecution of the war in the Gaza Strip. “Our alliance is ironclad,” Israel Katz, the country’s foreign minister, said in a statement thanking Mr. Biden for signing the legislation. It was part of a long-stalled $95.3 billion in aid that had faced vehement opposition from some Republicans over its support for Ukraine, which is also part of the legislation, as is Taiwan. The aid for Israel includes more than $5 billion to replenish three of the country’s defense systems: Iron Dome, which intercepts rockets that fly in high arcs; David’s Sling, which shoots down drones, missiles and rockets; and Iron Beam, which was designed to use laser beams to destroy incoming projectiles. It also includes $1 billion to enhance the production and development of artillery and munitions and $2.4 billion for American military operations in the U.S. Central Command region, which includes the Middle East as well as parts of South Asia and East Africa.

Persons: Israel, Biden, ” Israel Katz, Mr Organizations: Ukraine, U.S . Central Command Locations: Israel, East, Gaza, Taiwan, South Asia, East Africa

☆ Middle East Crisis Israel Welcomes Senate Passage of Aid Bill
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Matt Surman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

An additional $2.4 billion is directed to U.S. military operations in the Middle East. Another $9 billion would go to “worldwide humanitarian aid,” including for civilians in Gaza. The package bars any of the funding from going to UNRWA, the main United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinians in Gaza. The aid that is getting into Gaza is falling far short of the needs of its desperate population. Countries including the United States have tried to find air and sea routes to get more relief supplies in.

Persons: Israel Katz, “, Biden, Catie Edmondson, Robert Jimison Organizations: Wednesday, U.S . Senate, Ukraine, UNRWA, United Nations, United, Democrats, Democratic, U.S Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, Rafah, U.S

☆ Middle East Crisis Review of U.N. Agency Prompts New Calls to Restore Its Funding
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Matt Surman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

The United Nations had commissioned an independent review of the agency in January, before Israel circulated its claims, but those charges gave added significance to the inquiry, whose findings were released on Monday. The report issued a series of recommendations for the agency to protect its neutrality, but said that “Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence” for its accusation that a significant number of agency employees are members of terrorist organizations. The United Nations has fired 10 of the 12 employees accused by Israel. Ireland, which has strongly condemned Israel’s campaign in Gaza, increased aid to UNRWA as other countries were cutting it, he noted. UNRWA has argued that Israel has targeted it with a “deliberate and concerted campaign” to undermine its operations when its services are most needed.

Persons: Israel, Stéphane, António Guterres, Guterres, “, Caroline Gennez, ”, Micheál Martin, Israel’s, Japan —, Matthew Miller, Biden, ” Mr, Miller, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: The United Nations, United Nations, UNRWA, United, State Department, ”, European Union Locations: United States, Gaza, Israel, United, Palestine, Belgium, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Japan

☆ OpenAI's nonprofit arm showed revenue of $45,000 last year, even though company is worth billions
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-12 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

That's from the nonprofit parent's 990 filing with the Internal Revenue Service, a form that has to be filled out by organizations wishing to maintain their tax-exempt status. Thad Calabrese, a professor of public and nonprofit financial management at New York University, said OpenAI's current status is confusing, and is unlike anything he has seen in the nonprofit world. He said OpenAI could give up its nonprofit status, and he cited the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which in 1994 allowed associated nonprofit medical insurance plans to switch into for-profit entities. An OpenAI spokesperson didn't respond to a question about whether the organization is considering giving up its nonprofit status. Unlike OpenAI, Mozilla never raised money from venture and corporate investors, who expect returns on their investments.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI's financials, OpenAI, That's, PlainSite, Altman, Helen Toner, Tasha McCauley, Ilya Sutskever, Thad Calabrese, Calabrese, didn't, Mark Surman, Surman, Altman's, hasn't, Bret Taylor Organizations: Internal Revenue Service, CNBC, New York University, Shield Association, Mozilla Foundation, Mozilla Corporation, Mozilla, Microsoft, Duke University Locations: California

Mr. Putin himself is under an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children, as is his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova. The two entities placed under sanctions are a Russian-owned camp and an organization that has overseen Ukrainian children who were sent to a camp in the Chechen Republic. “Children are literally being ripped from their homes in the year 2023 by a country sitting in this very chamber,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said. Some are pressured into accepting Russian citizenship, and others have been adopted by Russian families, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said. “You will hear Russian officials say that their transfers of children are part of humanitarian evacuations,” Ms. Thomas-Greenfield said on Thursday.

Persons: Ramzan Kadyrov, Aymani Nesievna, Kadyrova, reeducation, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Maria Lvova, Biden, ”, “ It’s, Linda Thomas, Greenfield, Ms, Thomas, ARTEK, AKF, Galina Anatolevna Pyatykh, Irina Anatolyevna Ageeva, Irina Aleksandrovna Cherkasova, Mansur Mussaevich Soltaev, Magomedovich Khuchiev, Konstantin Albertovich Fedorenko, Alievich, Olena Oleksandrivna Shapurova, Vladimir Vladislavovich Kovalenko, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nechaev, “ Organizations: State Department, Kremlin, International, Court, Ukraine, Security, U.S ., Federal, Educational Institute International Children Center, Akhmat Kadyrov Foundation, The State Department, Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Youth Army Locations: Russia, Russian, United States, Ukraine, Chechen, Chechen Republic ., U.S, Crimea, Chechen Republic of Russia, Belgorod, Russia’s Kaluga, Russia’s Rostov, Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, Sevastopol, Crimean

The power was out and the air-conditioning off when Dustin Kaleiopu woke up on Tuesday morning in Lahaina. “The wind was noisy,” said Mr. Kaleiopu, 26. When the fire reached his neighbor’s yard, Mr. Kaleiopu said he loaded his grandfather into a car and began preparing to leave. Mr. Kaleiopu has spent recent days with family in another part of Maui, a comfort that others do not have. Still, Mr. Kaleiopu said, there was no question that he would return to Lahaina, that he would carve out a new life in a rebuilt town.

Persons: Dustin Kaleiopu, ”, Kaleiopu, “, Mr, it’s, grandpa, ‘ He’ll, we’ve, ’ Organizations: Longtime, Investors Locations: Lahaina ., Lahaina, Maui, Honolulu

Persons: Dustin Kaleiopu, ”, Kaleiopu, “, Mr, it’s, grandpa, ‘ He’ll, we’ve, ’ Organizations: Longtime, Investors Locations: Lahaina ., Lahaina, Maui, Honolulu

☆ Five Minutes That Will Make You Love Avant-Garde Jazz
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Marcus J. Moore | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Lately The New York Times has asked jazz musicians, writers and scholars to share the favorites that would make a friend fall in love with Herbie Hancock, New Orleans jazz, Sun Ra or Mary Lou Williams. Now we’re putting the spotlight on avant-garde jazz, a challenging subgenre born out of the desire to do something that wasn’t as prescribed as bebop or post-bop, a sound carried by the fire of spontaneity by players who weren’t considered to be in the upper echelon of jazz. The definition of avant-garde jazz has been a point of contention since its inception. Perhaps its biggest public advocate was the saxophonist and bandleader John Coltrane, who took an interest in free jazz — a subset of avant-garde jazz — in the mid-1960s and pushed for the saxophonists Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders to release their music on the mainstream label Impulse! Today, the rules for what is and what isn’t avant-garde are still being written.

Persons: Herbie Hancock, Sun Ra, Mary Lou Williams, weren’t, Amiri Baraka —, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, ◆ ◆ ◆ Ana Roxanne, “ Longview, Barre Phillips, John Surman, I’ve Organizations: New York Times, Association for, Advancement of Creative Musicians, Area Locations: Herbie Hancock , New Orleans, “ Longview ”, France, Longview, ”

Image Mr. Prigozhin and President Vladimir Putin at one of Mr. Prigozhin’s factories in St. Petersburg in 2010. Mr. Prigozhin accused the Russian military of attacking his forces, vowed to retaliate, on Friday. In an earlier videotaped speech, Mr. Prigozhin did not explicitly impugn Mr. Putin, instead casting him as a leader being misled by his officials. But, during the battle for Bakhmut, Mr. Prigozhin also emerged as a populist political figure, excoriating Russia’s military leadership for corruption. Others theorized that the Kremlin had orchestrated Mr. Prigozhin’s tirades against Mr. Shoigu, the defense minister, to deflect blame from Mr. Putin himself.

Persons: Yevgeny V, Vladimir V, Putin, Prigozhin, Wagner, Mr, ” Gen, Vladimir Alekseyev, ” Mr, Prigozhin’s Wagner, Russia’s, ’, “, ”, GOH, Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, Adam Hodge, Vladimir Putin, —, Sergei K, Shoigu, Dmitri S, diatribes, excoriating, Prigozhin’s, Igor Girkin, Girkin, ” Julian E, Barnes, Cassandra Vinograd Organizations: Russian, ., Reuters, Russian Defense Ministry, Russia’s, Defense Ministry, Telegram, Twitter, National Security, Associated Press, Bakhmut, Kremlin Locations: Ukraine, Moscow, Rostov, Don, Russia, White, St . Petersburg, St, Petersburg, Syria, Africa, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Prigozhin, Russian, Ukraine’s, “

☆ Russia-Ukraine War Updates: Flooding Subsides, Revealing Scale of Dam Disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Matthew Mpoke Bigg | Matt Surman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Floodwaters in a residential neighborhood after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, on Friday, in Kherson, Ukraine. Russian troops controlled the dam, and engineering and munitions experts have said that a deliberate explosion inside the dam probably caused its collapse. Moscow’s accusations that the government in Kyiv was responsible for the disaster have been met with scorn in Ukraine. The dam disaster has poisoned water supplies and, over time, it will deplete groundwater levels upstream — creating a long-term problem for a population well beyond those living in the immediate flood zone. The flooding has “severely disrupted this primary water source,” according to a report issued on Sunday by Britain’s defense intelligence agency.

Persons: ”, Ruslan Strilets, Vladimir Saldo Organizations: Emergency Service, Russian, Facebook Locations: Kherson, Ukraine, Dnipro, American, Russia, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Ukrainian, Russian, Crimea

☆ Wagner Leader Threatens to Pull Out of Bakhmut: Russia-Ukraine War Live News
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Matt Surman | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“These are Wagner guys who died today; the blood is still fresh,” Mr. Prigozhin said, in a speech marked by frequent bleeped-out expletives. The Wagner chief has long criticized Russian military leadership openly, with some analysts attributing the tensions to rivalries for President Vladimir V. Putin’s favor. Mr. Prigozhin has never pointed a finger directly at Mr. Putin over Russia’s setbacks in the war. In February, Mr. Prigozhin accused Mr. Shoigu and General Gerasimov of treason, claiming they were starving Wagner of ammunition. The problem for Wagner was not a lack of ammunition, Mr. Cherevaty said, but a shortage of people to fight and die.

☆ White House Issues ‘Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights’
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-04 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The White House on Tuesday issued guidelines aimed at safeguarding personal data from misuse in artificial-intelligence algorithms that drive hiring, lending and other business decisions. The guidelines, which the Biden administration described as a “blueprint for an AI bill of rights,” are nonbinding and don’t include enforcement measures. They also fall short of the European Union’s landmark privacy regulation that has forced global technology companies to change how they collect data, among other things. Still, some technology leaders said the White House blueprint could lead to heavy-handed regulation that might risk putting U.S. businesses at a disadvantage. “If implemented properly, the bill could reduce AI misuse and yet support beneficial uses of AI in medicine, driving, enterprise productivity, and more,” Mr. Etzioni said.

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