Author: News Room
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences showered little-seen movies rooted in progressive politics with nominations for the 97th Oscars on Thursday.“Emilia Pérez,” a musical exploration of trans identity, and “The Brutalist,” a three-and-a-half-hour study of immigrant trauma and antisemitism, emerged as films to beat by securing nominations in most of the major categories, including best picture and best director. “Emilia Pérez,” a Netflix entry, received 13 nominations in total, the most of any film.“The Brutalist,” a low-budget movie from A24 that arrives in theaters nationwide on Friday, received 10 nominations. One blockbuster, “Wicked,” with its messages about the…
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences showered little-seen movies rooted in progressive politics with nominations for the 97th Oscars on Thursday.“Emilia Pérez,” a musical exploration of trans identity, and “The Brutalist,” a three-and-a-half-hour study of immigrant trauma and antisemitism, emerged as films to beat by securing nominations in most of the major categories, including best picture.While the acting races have taken clearer shape over the past month, the best picture contest remains unusually wide open. Unlike last year, when “Oppenheimer” cemented its front-runner status almost immediately and never looked back, multiple films remain in the hunt for Hollywood’s…
ChatGPT appeared to be disrupted Thursday morning, as thousands of users reported problems with the site.The website Down Detector showed more than 4,000 reports of problems with the site, starting shortly after 6 a.m.Users trying to access the site instead saw an error message.OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, did not immediately return a request for comment. Its social media sites did not report any problems as of early Thursday morning.On Tuesday, President Trump announced a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle to create at least $100 billion in computing infrastructure to power artificial intelligence. OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman,…
The private jet took off from the Caribbean island of Antigua in April carrying three highly flammable tanks of compressed oxygen and a terminally ill cancer patient.Kim Hudlow had chartered the plane for her husband, David. She crouched by his side on the five-hour journey to Florida, frantically adjusting the valve on one of the oxygen tanks as he struggled to breathe. A doctor had just told her he was dying. She was terrified he wouldn’t survive the flight.It was an abrupt turnaround. Six days earlier, Ms. Hudlow and her husband, who had late-stage esophageal cancer, had arrived on the…
If you’re looking for a new reason to be nervous about artificial intelligence, try this: Some of the smartest humans in the world are struggling to create tests that A.I. systems can’t pass.For years, A.I. systems were measured by giving new models a variety of standardized benchmark tests. Many of these tests consisted of challenging, S.A.T.-caliber problems in areas like math, science and logic. Comparing the models’ scores over time served as a rough measure of A.I. progress.But A.I. systems eventually got too good at those tests, so new, harder tests were created — often with the types of questions…
More than 200 diversity officers, some from Fortune 500 companies and some from nonprofits, gathered last summer at N.Y.U. School of Law and on video to talk about the future of their diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I., programs, which had become a legal and social target. Anxiously, they wondered how to protect themselves. Did they need to rethink internship programs for underrepresented workers, or drop certain diversity language from their websites?Those concerns ratcheted up sharply this week. In his first days in office, with series of sweeping moves, President Trump took aim at diversity efforts.Mr. Trump ordered federal officials…
One day last summer, Harrison Barnes, a longtime N.B.A. veteran, was finishing up an off-season workout with Victor Wembanyama, his 7-foot-4, then-20-year-old San Antonio Spurs teammate and one of the league’s most dazzling young stars.Barnes was new to the team — he had recently been traded from the Sacramento Kings — and new to Wembanyama. But he was already beginning to understand that Wembanyama was precocious in more than one way.In the N.B.A., many teams track shooting percentages and shots made in games and at practice as a way of gauging their players’ progress. The Spurs had a chart that…
The Spanish government is moving to rein in real estate purchases by foreigners and curb the spread of short-term rentals, part of a series of measures that officials say are necessary to alleviate a painful housing crunch that has rapidly become one of the worst in Europe.Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Wednesday that his government would seek a groundbreaking 100 percent tax on real-estate purchases by buyers outside the European Union, part of a broader plan that he announced last week to try to quell anger and protests in cities across Spain over a lack of affordable housing.…
In December 2023, Angela McArdle, the chair of the Libertarian Party, flew to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald J. Trump.Mr. Trump wanted to know how to win over libertarian voters, a constituency he thought could help him reclaim the presidency, Ms. McArdle said in an interview. She had an answer: Free Ross Ulbricht, a Bitcoin pioneer who was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for creating Silk Road, the world’s largest online drug marketplace. Mr. Ulbricht was regarded as a libertarian hero for building an illegal market outside the government’s reach.“I love freeing people,” Mr. Trump said, according to…
The 2025 forecast on pricing: Mixed. Airfares are up, hotel rates are mostly flat and cruise lines are more likely to waive your gratuities than slash your fare.Hayley Berg, the chief economist for the travel booking app Hopper, said, “Domestic airfares in 2025 are expected to remain above 2023 and 2024 levels until midyear at least.” She added that prices will likely be up by double digits for spring and summer compared to 2024, when domestic fares were some of the lowest on record.Among the brights spots are international airfares, according to Kayak. The travel search company said that prices…