Jon Franklin, an apostle of narrative short-story-style journalism whose own work won the first Pulitzer Prizes awarded for feature writing and explanatory journalism, died on Sunday in Annapolis, Md. He was 82. His death, at a hospice, came less than two weeks after he fell at his home, his wife, Lynn Franklin, said. He had…
A British businessman who disappeared from public view in China in 2018 was sentenced to five years in prison in 2022, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday, in its first public acknowledgment of the case. The businessman, Ian J. Stones, had lived in China since the 1970s, working for companies like General Motors and Pfizer….
In June 2021, the insurance plan for North Carolina state employees was paying for 2,800 people to take weight-loss drugs. Last year, it paid for nearly 25,000. Medications like Wegovy cost the North Carolina State Health Plan $100 million last year, rising seemingly out of nowhere to represent 10 percent of its spending on prescription…
A.I. deals in the cross hairs Tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Google have sought an edge in the artificial intelligence race by investing in innovative start-ups like OpenAI and Anthropic. But that strategy is drawing more attention, as the F.T.C. joins international counterparts in scrutinizing those deals. It’s the latest effort by the agency…
Boeing hoped 2024 would be the year it would significantly increase production of its popular Max jets. But less than a month into the year, the company is struggling to reassure airline customers that it will still be able to deliver on its promises. That’s because the Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that it…
For about two months, a barrage of missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea by Houthi militants has posed a difficult choice to shippers using the Suez Canal: risk an airborne strike and pay sharply higher insurance rates, or forgo the canal and take the longer route around Africa, snarling schedules and entailing higher…
The United Automobile Workers union endorsed President Biden on Wednesday, delivering an influential boost as he faces a battle against former President Donald J. Trump to win the support of labor groups. Mr. Biden, who calls himself the “most pro-union president in history,” delighted striking U.A.W. workers but angered auto industry executives when he appeared…
No profit grows, Shakespeare once wrote, where no pleasure is taken. And so in the tedious march of life, we find joy in small things: The rising of the sun. A fine glass of wine. The greasy snap of a well-dressed potato crisp. But soft! Not so fast. Life affords no simple pleasures, and even…
Since China reopened its borders in 2023 after three years of Covid isolation, domestic travel has thrived and high-speed rail has grown increasingly popular. But international trips in and out of the country are lagging, and flight capacity is still just two-thirds of prepandemic levels. The economic stakes are high. Before the pandemic, Chinese travelers…
Voters in New Hampshire received robocall messages over the weekend in a voice that was most likely artificially generated to impersonate President Biden’s, urging them not to vote in Tuesday’s primary election, according to the state attorney general’s office. The fake recordings, which told listeners that “your vote makes a difference in November, not this…
