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The Biden administration, under intense pressure from House lawmakers, moved on Wednesday to ban funding from a prominent virus-hunting nonprofit group whose work with Chinese scientists had put it at the center of theories that Covid would have leaked from a laboratory.The decision, announced in a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services, came on the heels of a fiery congressional hearing this month in which lawmakers attacked the group's president for allegedly misrepresenting its work with virologists in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began. Republicans went further, demanding that Peter Daszak, the president of the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, be criminally investigated.For EcoHealth, which relied on federal funding to study the threat of wild animal viruses, the...

The French government declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia on Wednesday as it struggled to quell deadly riots in the semi-autonomous French Pacific territory.French authorities have undertaken what they called a "massive" mobilization of security forces since violent protests erupted in New Caledonia this week against a proposed amendment to the French Constitution that would change local voting rules in the territory. The French parliament's vote approving the amendment on Tuesday triggered deadly riots overnight.“The priority is to restore order, calm and serenity,” Gabriel Attal, the French prime minister, told lawmakers on Wednesday.The French government said more than 1,800 security officers are already in the territory and that 500 reinforcements will arrive in the nex...

Netflix is ​​no longer simply operating in the “sports adjacent” business. On Wednesday, the streaming giant announced a three-season deal with the National Football League that will include broadcasting two Christmas Day games on its service this year. It's the first time Netflix has partnered with a major sports league, and it likely won't be the last.The move follows Netflix's increasingly aggressive push into the live events business. For the past two weeks, “The Roast of Tom Brady” has been the most-watched English-language television program; a six-day wacky talk show about John Mulaney went viral as part of the Netflix Is a Joke live comedy festival in Los Angeles; and the stand-up special “Katt Williams: Woke Foke” has been viewed 4.3 million times.“Last year, we d...

Sameh Shoukry, Egypt's foreign minister, immediately objected, saying the crossing was still closed because of Israel's control over it and because its military operations were endangering truck drivers and aid workers. In a statement from Egypt's Foreign Ministry, Shoukry rejected what he described as "the policy of distorting facts."Israeli officials rarely publicly criticize Egypt, with which Israel maintains a decades-old peace treaty and sensitive security cooperation.Defying international pressure, Israel launched a limited invasion of Rafah on May 6, seizing areas to the east. Even if the trucks were allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing, it is unclear whether they could safely cross into eastern Rafah, where Israeli forces are fighting Hamas militants.Israel rece...

STDs are on the rise across the United States. More than 3,700 cases of congenital syphilis have been reported in 2022, about 11 times the number recorded ten years ago.Syphilis during pregnancy can lead to miscarriages and stillbirths, and children who survive may become blind or deaf or have severe developmental delays. But timely testing and treatment can prevent most of these outcomes.Sexually transmitted infections disproportionately affect communities of color. Socioeconomic status and education level can also influence prenatal care.I cover infectious diseases at the Times. I would love to hear firsthand from women who have had syphilis during pregnancy. Were you offered testing during pregnancy? If you tested positive were you treated? How has syphilis affected your child...

At the end of a somber day in the Ukrainian capital, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken sat at Barman Dictat, a crowded basement cocktail bar where a punk-jazz band screamed.After a few songs, the band's frontman called Mr. Blinken to the stage on Tuesday and, sure enough, America's top diplomat slung a red Epiphone guitar over his shoulder.“I know this is a really, really difficult time,” said Mr. Blinken, who ditched his trademark dark suit and tie for blue jeans and a dark button-down shirt. It was a reference to recent Russian military gains. Ukrainian soldiers, particularly in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, he said, “are suffering tremendously.”“But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, much of the world is with you,” he said, capturing the...

Every smartphone has an expiration date. There comes that day when software updates stop arriving and you start missing out on new apps and security protections. With most phones, this happened after just three years.But things are finally starting to change. The new number is seven.I first noticed this change when I reviewed Google's $700 Pixel 8 smartphone in October. Google told me that it was committed to providing software updates for the phone for seven years, compared to the previous three years for the Pixels, because it was the right thing to do.I was skeptical that this could become a trend. But this year Samsung, the most profitable Android phone maker, has set a similar software timeline for its $800 Galaxy S24 smartphone. Then Google said it would do the same for its...

With Israeli troops returning to clear Hamas for the second or third time from parts of northern Gaza, and also fighting further south in Rafah, the Israeli government has found itself facing more vocal discontent from a important constituency: its own military leaders.Current and former senior military officials have begun to argue more openly that because the government has failed to present a plan for what follows the fighting in Gaza, Israeli troops are forced – in the eighth month of the war – to fight again for areas of the territory where Hamas fighters have reappeared.Two Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid professional repercussions, said some generals and members of the war cabinet are particularly frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for ...

Artificial intelligence is giving machines the power to generate videos, write computer code and even carry on a conversation.It is also accelerating efforts to understand the human body and fight disease.On Wednesday, Google DeepMind, the tech giant's core AI lab, and Isomorphic Labs, a sister company, unveiled a more powerful version of AlphaFold, an AI technology that helps scientists understand the behavior of the microscopic mechanisms that drive cells on the planet. Human Body.An early version of AlphaFold, released in 2020, solved a puzzle that had plagued scientists for more than 50 years. It was called “the protein folding problem”.Proteins are the microscopic molecules that guide the behavior of all living things. These molecules begin as strings of chemical compounds befo...

The 12-page report was aimed at saving football's governing body, FIFA, in its moment of existential crisis.Filled with reform proposals and written by more than a dozen insiders in December 2015, the report was FIFA's best chance to demonstrate to business partners, U.S. investigators and billions of fans that it can be trusted again after one of the largest corruption scandals in sports history.Through bullet points and numbered sections, the report championed lofty ideas such as responsibility and humility. It also proposed concrete and, for FIFA, revolutionary changes: transparency in how key decisions were reached; term limits for top leaders and new limits on presidential power; and the abolition of well-funded committees, widely seen as a system of institutional corruptio...