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France's left-wing parties made an unexpected gain in Sunday's national legislative elections, denying the nationalist, anti-immigration Rassemblement National party a majority in the lower house of parliament.But official results showed that no party or bloc had won an outright majority, leaving one of Europe's largest countries on the brink of political impasse or instability.Here are five food for thought from this election.Big Surprise #1There were two major surprises when France voted for a new parliament in early elections, neither of which had been predicted by pundits, pollsters or forecasters.The biggest was the triumph of the New Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing parties that is now the dominant force in a bloc of about 190 lawmakers and has emerged as the large...

In May, CoreWeave, a provider of cloud computing services for AI companies, raised $1.1 billion, followed by $7.5 billion in debt, at a valuation of $19 billion. Scale AI, a data provider for AI companies, raised $1 billion, at a valuation of $13.8 billion. And xAI, founded by Elon Musk, raised $6 billion, at a valuation of $24 billion.These funding rounds have increased the overall deal volume in the industry, both in terms of dollar amount and number of deals, said Kyle Stanford, research analyst at PitchBook."It's not declining anymore," he said. "The bottom has already fallen out."The activity has prompted some venture capitalists to change their messaging. Last year, IVP investor Tom Loverro predicted a “mass extinction event” for startups and urged them to cut costs. Last week, h...

Huda Omari sat outside a broker's office in Jordan for two days, waiting for a visa to undertake the annual hajj, or pilgrimage, to Saudi Arabia.In Egypt, Magda Moussa’s three children pooled their resources to raise nearly $9,000 to fulfill their dream of accompanying their mother on the hajj. When she got the green light to make the trip, she said, relatives and neighbors in her village cheered.The daylong pilgrimage is a deep spiritual journey and a daunting trek even under the best of circumstances. But this year, amid record heat, at least 1,300 pilgrims did not survive the hajj, and Saudi officials said more than 80 percent of the dead were pilgrims without permits.Ms. Omari and Ms. Moussa were among a large number of unregistered pilgrims who relied on illicit or fraudulent tour...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, courting another authoritarian partner after talks last week in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.In announcing Mr. Orban’s visit to Beijing, China’s official Xinhua news agency said only that Mr. Xi would hold “in-depth discussions with him on issues of mutual concern.” The leaders last met two months ago, when Mr. Xi visited Budapest as part of a push to restore Chinese influence in Europe.Chinese state television said Mr Xi and Mr Orbán were holding talks at the Diaooyutai State Guesthouse, but gave no further details.The meeting will give Mr. Xi and Mr. Orbán, an outlier in the European Union in support for Ukraine and other issues, a chance to urge the bloc to distance itself from W...

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, offering behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism is made.After recording about 90 episodes of "Hard Fork," a weekly New York Times podcast about technology and business, life is pretty much the same for its hosts, Kevin Roose and Casey Newton. That is, except for the occasional fan encounter, which is a new and sometimes surprising experience for them.“Just last night, I was having dinner with two friends who were visiting from out of town,” Mr. Newton said. “As I was coming back from the bathroom, a man stopped me. At first, I thought I had met him before because I’m basically prone-blind. But then it turned out he recognized me from our YouTube channel.”Since the podcast’s first episode in October 2022, Mr. Roose and Mr. Newton...

Israelis on Sunday marked nine months since the devastating Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 and the start of the subsequent war in Gaza with a nationwide day of anti-government protests, at a time many here see as a pivotal moment in the conflict.Mainly demanding a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would see the return of hostages from captivity and new elections in Israel, protesters blocked traffic at several major intersections in cities and on highways across the country. Much of central Tel Aviv was brought to a standstill in one of the largest protests in months.Some progress has been made in recent days in resuming negotiations for an interim agreement after weeks of stalemate, despite ongoing fighting in Gaza, where an Israeli strike on Saturday hit the area of ​​a United Nations school, a...

A hard-won provision of the Affordable Care Act allows young adults to remain on their family’s insurance until age 26. But after that, those without employer-based insurance face a series of complicated choices, including whether to shop around on insurance exchanges, apply for Medicaid, or take their chances and go uninsured.Are you a young adult confused about how to navigate the exchanges used to choose plans? Did you buy a plan on an ACA exchange and find out it didn't cover care? Did you get married or take a job just to get insurance? Did you decide you didn't want coverage?Whatever your story, my team of reporters and I want to hear it. I am a longtime health journalist who has worked at both The New York Times and KFF Health News, an independent news organization that cove...

At first, Nigel Farage kept his cool. When protesters interrupted an election victory speech by Mr. Farage, Britain’s veteran political disruptor, anti-immigration campaigner and ally of former President Donald J. Trump, he ignored them.But as the chaos continued at Friday’s press conference, Mr Farage began to respond to criticism, drowning out critics by shouting “boring!” into his microphone no fewer than nine times.However, with Mr Farage at his side, things hardly get boring, as Britain's centre-right Conservative Party has just discovered to its cost.Ousted from power after 14 years by a landslide Labour vote, the Conservatives collapsed to their worst defeat in modern history, a stunning loss that has left the party’s remnants in disarray. By contrast, Mr Farage’s small insurrec...

Listen and follow 'Hard Fork'Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTubeWe’re on the cusp of the Fourth of July, but what better tribute to America than a conversation about the technology that lets us binge-watch TV from the couch? This week, we’re featuring a favorite episode of the recently launched New York Times podcast The Interview. Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos about his early days at a video store, laundry-folding programs, and the future of the entertainment industry.Credits“Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose AND The Newton Case and produced by My life is nice AND Rachel CohnThe show is curated by Only Poyant. Engineering of Chris Wood with original music by Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop AND Marion Lozano.Special thanks to Paula Szuchman, Cat Wing Tam,...

The armed jeep convoy filled with journalists roared into dusty Rafah, passing razed homes and destroyed apartment blocks.As we dismounted our Humvees, a dead silence gripped this strip of southern Gaza, near the border with Egypt. Slabs of concrete and twisted rebar dotted the scarred landscape. Kittens darted through the debris.The once bustling streets were now a maze of rubble. Everyone was gone.More than a million people have fled an Israeli assault that began two months ago. Many have been repeatedly displaced and now live in tent cities that stretch for miles, where they face an uncertain future as they mourn the loss of loved ones.As Israel says it is winding down its anti-Hamas operation in Rafah, the Israeli military has invited foreign journalists to the city for a supervised to...