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Iranian officials have insisted for decades that the law requiring women to cover their hair and dress modestly was sacrosanct and not even worth discussing. They dismissed the struggle of women defying the law as a symptom of Western interference.Now, as Iran holds presidential elections this week, the issue of compulsory hijab, as the head covering is known, has become a hot topic in the election campaign. And all six men running, five of them conservatives, have sought to distance themselves from law enforcement methods, which include violence, arrests and fines.“Elections aside, politics aside, under no circumstances should we treat Iranian women with such cruelty,” Mustafa Pourmohammadi, a conservative and religious presidential candidate with senior intelligence roles, said at a ro...

Amy Conroy sat alone in a veterinary office, her hands clutching a bottle of water and her eyes blinking back tears. Her 16-year-old cat, Leisel, was having trouble breathing. She was now waiting for an update.The door opened and Laurie Maxwell entered.Ms. Maxwell works for MedVet, a 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital in Chicago. But when she sat across from Mrs. Conroy one Monday evening in May, she explained that she wasn't there for the cat. She was there for Mrs. Conroy.Ms. Maxwell is a veterinary social worker, a job in a little-known corner of the therapy world that focuses on relieving the stress, worry and pain that can arise when a pet needs medical care.Pets no longer exist on the periphery of the human family: As one example, a 2022 survey found that nearly half of Am...

The death toll rose to 20 on Monday from two apparently coordinated attacks by gunmen in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, Russian investigators said.Armed with rifles and Molotov cocktails, attackers attacked synagogues and Orthodox churches Sunday night in two large cities in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region in the North Caucasus mountains.The victims included at least 15 law enforcement officers and some civilians, regional officials said. Local health authorities said another 26 people were injured.For hours the armed men remained at large, exchanging fire with members of the police force, according to statements from the region's Interior Ministry. Five attackers were ultimately killed, local officials said.The attack was the latest in a series of acts of extremi...

Apple is imposing unfair restrictions on application developers for its App Store in violation of a new European Union law intended to encourage competition in the technology sector, regulators in Brussels said Monday.The allegations have further intensified the tussle between Apple, which says its products are designed in the best interests of customers, and EU regulators, who say the company is unfairly using its size and considerable resources to stifle competition.Apple is the first company to be accused of violating the Digital Markets Act, a law passed in 2022 that gives European regulators broad authority to force the largest "online gatekeepers" to change their business practices.After launching an investigation in March, EU regulators said Apple was imposing illegal restrictions o...

More than 1,300 people died during the Islamic hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia this month, the vast majority of whom the Saudi government said did not have permission. Many walked for miles in the scorching heat after paying thousands of dollars to illicit tour operators.While pilgrims with permits are transported around the holy city of Mecca in air-conditioned buses and rest in air-conditioned tents, unregistered ones are often exposed to the elements. In recent days, when temperatures soared above 120 degrees, some pilgrims described seeing people fainting and passing bodies in the street.In an interview on state television on Sunday, Saudi Health Minister Fahd al-Jalajel said 83% of the 1,301 reported deaths involved pilgrims without permits.“The rising temperatures during the Hajj s...

Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment. It tinkeres with the immune system to attack malignant tumors that have evaded the body's natural defenses. This advancement offers an alternative to treating cancer with surgery or chemotherapy and radiation, which can attack healthy tissue and cause extreme side effects.The treatment is not only scientifically complex but also expensive. The investment of time and money makes sense when it comes to saving humans. But what about when it comes to dogs?Dr. Hans Klingemann has worked and researched cancer immunotherapy for decades, leading departments at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Now he is the chief scientific officer of cellular products at ImmunityBio, which develops immunotherapy d...

Gunmen attacked synagogues and churches in two southern Russian cities on Sunday, killing several police officers and a priest, in an apparently coordinated attack that underlined Russia's vulnerability to extremist violence.Officials said six of the gunmen were killed after shootings in two cities, Makhachkala and Derbent, in the Muslim-majority Dagestan region on the Caspian Sea. Armed with rifles and Molotov cocktails, they attacked a synagogue and a church in each of the two cities, according to authorities and religious organizations.Sergei Melikov, governor of Dagestan, described the attack as the latest attack "on our brotherhood, on our multi-ethnic unity." The precise death toll was not immediately clear. Melikov said that "more than 15 police officers were victims of today&...

Apple, Microsoft and Google are heralding a new era of what they describe as artificially intelligent smartphones and computers. The devices, they say, will automate tasks such as editing photos and wishing a friend a happy birthday.But for this to work, these companies need something from you: more data.In this new paradigm, your Windows computer will take a screenshot of everything you do every few seconds. An iPhone will combine information from many apps you use. And an Android phone can listen to a call in real time to alert you to a scam.Is this information you are willing to share?This change has significant implications for our privacy. To provide new tailored services, companies and their devices need more persistent and intimate access to our data than before. In the past, t...

Israeli troops tied a wounded Palestinian to the roof of a military vehicle on Saturday morning during an operation in the occupied West Bank, a scene that was captured on video and quickly went viral, sparking outrage and promises of an investigation by of the Israeli army.Israeli soldiers raided Wadi Burqin, a Palestinian town on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Jenin, on Saturday morning to arrest Palestinians suspected of involvement in militant groups. Jenin, a long-time stronghold of loosely organized armed groups, has suffered repeated crackdowns by the Israeli army in recent months.A firefight broke out between Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers, the military said. Israeli troops arrested a Palestinian wounded in the shooting. The man's family later identified ...

Pharmacy benefit managers are driving up drug costs for millions of people, employers and the government. New York Times pharmaceutical reporter Rebecca Robbins explains how.