SAN JUAN, P.R. — In Puerto Rico, protests on May 1, a long-held tradition for workers, have become a portrait of a precarious economy. No longer are the annual demonstrations limited to public schoolteachers and other unionized workers demanding better pay and working conditions. Other residents come out now, too — people fed up and…
WASHINGTON — The first clue on Friday was the fountain in front of the White House, which flowed a bright, Kelly green. There was also the green tie and the shamrocks in the breast pocket of the jacket that President Biden wore to greet Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, or taoiseach, for his traditional visit on…
LONDON — The BBC was scrambling to rearrange its weekend programming in real time on Saturday after the suspension of the host of a beloved soccer program set off a widespread revolt by on-air talent that left it unable to broadcast a series of sports programs on several platforms. The crisis began on Friday with…
Another utility in the state, Consumers Energy, estimated that power would be restored in most areas by Sunday, but possibly as late as noon on Monday for some locations. About 36,000 of the company’s customers are without power throughout southern Michigan, including in Kalamazoo. For some riding out the winter storm, this is the second…
Of course there’s a method to the madness of conversation hearts. Long before the candies hit drugstore shelves (a seasonal harbinger of spring that I continue to appreciate), candy companies refine their messaging, dispensing with dated slang like FAX ME and introducing new terms of endearment like BAE, as Kim Severson reported in The Times…
WASHINGTON — Representative Kevin McCarthy of California offered fresh concessions to a hard-right band of rebels in a desperate effort to lock down the votes to become speaker, as a historic Republican deadlock that has paralyzed Congress entered its third day on Thursday with no resolution. After losing a half-dozen consecutive votes for the post…
“It’s extra Christmas!” Ellington said. “Last year, I got a dragon thing and my brother got a Nerf gun.” Kite Bernroider, 9, who lives in Vienna, said he can tell Kwanzaa is coming when his mother, Chanda Rule, a jazz vocalist, starts singing a Kwanzaa song. Ms. Rule, who is Black and married to an…
The first and only time that Alex Edelman’s family celebrated Christmas, their tree was topped not by a star, but a teddy bear wearing a yarmulke. Mr. Edelman, who was 7 or 8 at the time — he doesn’t remember the exact year — was also wearing a yarmulke. All of his male family members…
In my Indian American family, where no occasion passes without celebration, getting into the Christmas spirit means grooving to Bollywood music. Though none of our elders grew up celebrating Christmas, they’ve embraced it wholly, and when we come together for Christmas dinner at my in-law’s home in Los Angeles, everyone has a task. While the…
For about a decade now, seeing “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” at New York City Ballet has been the enchanting kickoff of the Christmas season for my teenage daughter and me. She took ballet when she was little. I took dance classes too in younger years. But that’s not the draw. It’s the joy, the storybook…