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Russian forces continued their advance through northeastern Ukraine on Sunday, seizing a number of small settlements along the border and forcing Ukrainian troops to withdraw from some positions, according to the Russian and Ukrainian armies, as well as aid workers.Russia's Defense Ministry said Sunday that its troops had captured four more settlements — all but one located directly north of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city — as they pressed forward with a new offensive launched Friday. Aid workers confirmed that Russian troops had advanced deeper into Ukrainian territory and were now threatening several small towns on the outskirts of Kharkiv.A Ukrainian military unit fighting in the area said Russian forces were pushing hard from the Russian-Ukrainian border towards Kharki...

Minutes after it became clear that Javier Milei had been elected president of South America’s second-largest nation in November, Elon Musk posted on X: “Prosperity is ahead for Argentina.”Since then, Mr. Musk has continued to use X, the social network he owns, to boost Mr. Milei. The billionaire has shared videos of the Argentine president attacking “social justice” with his 182 million followers. One doctored image, which implied that watching a speech by Mr. Milei was better than having sex, is among Mr. Musk’s most viewed posts ever.Mr. Musk has helped turn the pugnacious libertarian into one of the new faces of the modern right. But offline, he has used the relationship to press for benefits to his other businesses, the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX.“Elon Musk c...

After Hamas attacked Israel in October, triggering the Gaza war, Israeli leaders described the group's most senior official in the territory, Yahya Sinwar, as a "dead man walking." Viewing him as the architect of the raid, Israel described Sinwar's assassination as one of the main objectives of its devastating counterattack.Seven months later, Sinwar's survival is emblematic of the failure of Israel's war, which devastated much of Gaza but left Hamas's top leadership largely intact and failed to free most of the prisoners taken during the October attack.Even as Israeli officials sought to kill him, they were forced to negotiate with him, albeit indirectly, to free the remaining hostages. According to officials from Hamas, Israel and the United States, Sinwar emerged n...

The Biden administration said Friday it will compensate dairy farmers for cooperating in its efforts to limit the spread of the avian flu virus, as part of a series of expansive measures aimed at containing the outbreak.The payment system represents one of the most aggressive actions taken yet by agriculture officials as they raced to keep pace with the spread of the virus among dairy cows. Farm owners are reluctant to allow state and federal officials access to cows and workers exposed to or infected with the virus and fear the financial consequences of infected herds and contaminated milk.Under the so-called compensation program, farms would receive up to $28,000 to protect workers and cover the costs of treating and testing sick cows. Producers may also receive payments for lost milk ...

The run-up to Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest final in Malmö, Sweden, was unusually tense and distressing, with months of protests over Israel's involvement in the competition, one contestant suspended just hours before the start of the show and clashes between police and militants. Palestinian protesters outside the arena at night.But when the final began, the uproar quickly disappeared. Instead of protests and outrage, there was the usual high-class spectacle, with singers emoting about lost love, half-naked dancers and, at one point, a performer emerging from a giant egg.At the end of the four-hour show, Nemo, representing Switzerland, won with “The Code,” a catchy song in which the non-binary artist rapped and sang operatically about his journey to realizing his identity. ...

Days before the expected sale of $840 million worth of artwork at an auction that included paintings by Warhol and Basquiat, the auction house experienced what it described as a "technological security issue" that took his website offline.Some collectors and art consultants noticed the problem Thursday evening. The next morning, the website redirected visitors to a temporary page outside of its web domain. “We apologize that our website is currently offline,” she said. “We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience.”Edward Lewine, a spokesman for Christie's, said a security issue affected some of the company's systems, including the website.“We are taking all necessary steps to manage this matter, with the engagement of a team of add...

Around 300,000 Palestinians in southern and northern Gaza are forced to flee once again. says the United Nations, while Israel issued new and expanded evacuation orders on Saturday. But many don't know where to find safe refuge in a war-torn place.The expanded evacuation orders apply to the city of Rafah, at Gaza's southern tip, where more than a million Gazans have gathered after fleeing Israeli shelling elsewhere over the past seven months. They have compounded fears that the Israeli military is poised to proceed with an invasion of Rafah that Israeli leaders have long promised, a prospect that international aid groups and many countries have condemned.Around 150,000 people have already fled Rafah in the last six days. according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency that helps th...

When Surgeon General Vivek Murthy went on a nationwide college tour last fall, he started hearing the same kinds of questions over and over again: How can we connect with each other when no one is talking anymore?In an era when participation in community organizations, clubs and religious groups has declined and more social interaction occurs online rather than in person, some young people report levels of loneliness that, in decades past, were typically associated with older adults.It's one of the many reasons why loneliness has become a problem at both the beginning and end of our lives. In a study published Tuesday in the journal Psychological Science, researchers found that loneliness follows a U-shaped curve: Starting in young adulthood, self-reported loneliness tends to decline ...

After air raid warnings that lasted all night, a tired Kharkiv woke up Saturday morning to a heavy, gray sky and the disconcerting news that the Russian army was continuing to advance on nearby Ukrainian territory.All night, dull explosions from battlefields 40 miles away echoed in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. On Saturday morning, the day after Russian forces seized several villages along the border and Ukraine sent reinforcements to the area, the ghostly wail of air raid sirens continued to hover over the city's deserted parks and long empty avenues.Thousands of people are fleeing the border areas and arriving in shelters in Kharkiv.Tetiana Novikova is one of them.Until Friday, he had spent all of his 55 years in Vovchansk, a small town near the Russian border. She wa...

Utility regulators in California on Thursday changed how most residents will pay for energy by adding a new flat monthly fee and lowering the rates applicable to energy consumption. Officials said the change would reduce the monthly bills of millions of residents and support the use of electric vehicles and appliances that run on electricity, rather than fossil fuels.The California Public Utilities Commission's decision will apply to rates charged by investor-owned utilities, which provide power to about 70% of the state. Starting next year, most customers of these companies will be required to pay a monthly fee of $24.15. Low-income customers will pay $6 to $12 a month.Regulators said revenue from the flat rate would be matched by a roughly 20% reduction in rates, assessed by the n...