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    America Loses Its Soul When It Rejects People Fleeing Danger

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be “civilized.” It’s not caring for one’s own; animals do that. It’s not making music and art; cave men drew and sang. It is, I believe, to live with a moral standard that takes into account our fellow man, and to ask: What do we owe one another, and what do we owe strangers?For me, to be civilized boils down to being willing to work against our own lesser interests in order to alleviate greater suffering, no matter the sufferer’s identity or relationship to us. It is a high standard, but it is not heroism, which is putting one’s own life in real danger for another.After World War II, a large group of lawmakers decided to codify this principle of humanitarian duty into international law. Nonrefoulement (from the French “fouler,” meaning “to trample”) is the idea that vulnerable people, once arrived on safe shores, should never be sent back into danger. Put simply, it is the premise that the least we can do is not knowingly send someone out to die. It is this idea that was challenged by the first Trump administration, with its “Remain in Mexico” policy, which denied responsibility for asylum seekers. Now, in his second term, President Trump has not only reinstated that harmful policy but also suspended thousands of existing asylum cases, and canceled appointments and even flights for refugees already cleared to enter the United States. All of this goes against a contract this country signed 58 years ago.One hundred and forty-five countries signed the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention (the United States signed on to the bulk of the convention’s requirements in 1967, including those on refoulement), which states: “No contracting state shall expel or return (‘refouler’) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”The language in the treaty was designed to be all-encompassing, and to acknowledge that there will always be refugees fleeing persecution. The vaguest protected category, “particular social group,” was added by a Swedish delegate who worried that some people who deserve shelter would not fit into the existing categories. How could anyone when this language was drafted, just six years after the horrors of the Holocaust, foretell whom the next atrocity would target? “Particular social group,” then, was written as a catchall, to make sure everyone who needed refuge would be covered by the legal language.In 1988, my family fled Iran and landed in the United Arab Emirates. After nearly a year, we were recognized as refugees by the U.N.’s High Commissioner on Refugees and sent to a camp in Italy. There we sat for another six months or so, waiting and submitting to “credible fear” interviews, wherein asylum seekers must prove to an immigration office that the danger back home is real, not imagined. My mother explained to the officers that her Christian conversion was apostasy according to Islamic law, and that before we escaped, she had been imprisoned, interrogated and told she’d be executed. As we told our story, I sensed that our interlocutors’ aim was to save us, not to send us away. Later, too, I saw American neighbors and friends embracing this moral duty, a responsibility and an instinct to protect lives more vulnerable than their own.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    You Need a Nemesis

    You’ve tried shadow journaling, manifesting and microdosing. But to really succeed in life, have you considered getting a nemesis?I totally recommend it. After all, willpower fades. Apps rarely change your life. Even frenemies aren’t reliably hateable. You need the kind of fuel that’s born from unadulterated jealousy, from focused indignation. It’s a feeling that boils down to: That guy?You do not have to actually start a brawl or commit a crime or generally do something you’ll regret. Honestly, it’s probably better if you don’t tell anyone at all. Outside, I appear to be a perky suburban mother of two powered by chai lattes and a solid work ethic. Inside, I’m entertaining a vivid revenge fantasy starring both my college boyfriend and someone I worked with in 2008. This is the key to pretty much every personal and professional accomplishment I’ve achieved since then.Many successful people understand the power of a grudge — athletes, pop stars, your mother-in-law, our president. Kendrick Lamar clearly gets it. On the first Sunday of the month, he turned his feud with Drake into multiple Grammys. On the second Sunday, he converted it into a rousing halftime show at the Super Bowl. I am excited to see what he has in store for the remainder of February.Emotion can pick up the slack even after training and talent have reached their limits.Research by a professor at the Wharton School found that underdogs perform better because they want to prove others wrong. Research by me (unscientific) has found that it feels really good to stick it to people who doubted you. Even if only silently in your head.Start by taking things personally. It worked for Michael Jordan. Here’s a partial list of things he was offended by, according to the documentary series “The Last Dance”: A rival coach not saying hi to him while out to dinner. A rival player saying hi to him — “Nice game, Mike” — at the gym. Anyone who wasn’t him winning an M.V.P. award.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump Appointees Fire Hundreds at U.S.A.I.D. Working on Urgent Aid

    Trump administration appointees running the main United States aid agency have in recent days fired hundreds of employees who help manage responses to urgent humanitarian crises around the world, according to two U.S. officials and four recent employees of the agency.The firings add to doubts raised about whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio is allowing employees for the United States Agency for International Development, or U.S.A.I.D., to carry out lifesaving humanitarian assistance, as he had promised to do late last month during a blanket freeze of almost all foreign aid from the U.S. government.Trump appointees have fired or put on paid leave thousands of employees of U.S.A.I.D. A task force of young engineers working for Elon Musk, the billionaire tech businessman who is advising President Trump, has shut down many technical systems in the aid agency and barred employees from their email accounts. Mr. Musk has posted dark conspiracy theories about U.S.A.I.D. on social media, asserting with no evidence that it is a “criminal organization” and that it was “time for it to die.”The latest round of dismissals occurred on Friday night, when hundreds of people working for the agency’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance got emails saying their jobs had been terminated. Two employees who got the emails said they were strange because they did not state any job titles specifically and did not have the recipients’ names in the “to” field. They were generic emails sent out in a large wave.The New York Times obtained a copy and confirmed those descriptions. The employees who agreed to speak for this story did so on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize the 15 days of pay they were scheduled to receive after being given a termination notice. The two U.S. officials feared retaliation.In addition, 36 people were fired from the Office of Transition Initiatives, a unit in the agency’s conflict prevention bureau that specializes in helping partner countries with political transitions and democratic initiatives, said the U.S. officials and recent agency employees.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Elon Musk Tells Federal Workers to Detail Work in an Email or Lose Their Jobs

    Elon Musk deepened the confusion and alarm of workers across the federal government Saturday by ordering them to summarize their accomplishments for the week, warning that a failure to do so would be taken as a resignation.Shortly after Mr. Musk’s demand, which he posted on X, civil servants across the government received an email from the Office of Personnel Management with the subject line, “What did you do last week?”The missive simultaneously hit inboxes across multiple agencies, rattling workers who had been rocked by layoffs in recent weeks and were unsure about whether to respond to Mr. Musk’s demand. Officials at some agencies, including the F.B.I., told their employees to pause any responses to the email for now.Mr. Musk’s mounting pressure on the federal work force came at the encouragement of President Trump, who has been trumpeting how the billionaire has upended the bureaucracy and on Saturday urged him to be even “more aggressive.”In his post on X, Mr. Musk said employees who failed to answer the message would lose their jobs. However, that threat was not stated in the email itself.“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished this week and cc your manager,” said the Office of Personnel Management message that went out to federal employees on Saturday afternoon. The email told employees to respond by midnight on Monday and not to include classified information.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Hamas Frees 6 Hostages as Israel Delays Palestinian Prisoner Release

    The six Israelis were the last living captives set to be released in the first phase of the cease-fire. The agreement, strained for weeks, has an uncertain future.Hamas released six Israeli hostages from Gaza on Saturday, delivering the last living captives set to be freed in the first phase of a fragile cease-fire. That truce was already jolted this week when the militant group initially returned remains purportedly of an Israeli hostage that testing revealed to be someone else.Early Sunday, Israel announced that it would continue to delay the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners whom it had pledged to free on Saturday, demanding that Hamas first release more captives from Gaza and commit to releasing them without “humiliation ceremonies.” Hamas has been releasing hostages in performative ceremonies aimed at showing that it is still in control of Gaza, which many Israeli officials have condemned.The announcement, delivered in a statement from the prime minister’s office hours after the prisoner release had already been delayed without explanation, added tension to the shaky cease-fire between Israel and Hamas that is set to expire next week.On Thursday, Hamas had returned four bodies it said were those of hostages who had died in captivity, among them Shiri Bibas, an Israeli women who had been abducted with her two young children during the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, that began the war. Forensic testing by Israel determined that the body was not Ms. Bibas, however.Late Friday, Hamas transferred another body, which Israeli officials confirmed early Saturday as Ms. Bibas. Her kidnapping and death with her children have become a symbol of Israeli grief.The delivery of the wrong remains set off an uproar in Israel. Additionally, Israeli authorities, rejecting Hamas’s assertions that Ms. Bibas’s children were killed in Israeli airstrikes, said that their captors had killed them “with their bare hands.” The episode raised doubts about the next steps of the cease-fire agreement, including whether Saturday’s exchange would proceed as planned.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Hegseth Fires Military’s Top JAG Lawyers in Pursuit of ‘Warrior Ethos’

    The defense secretary has repeatedly derided the military lawyers for war crime prosecutions and battlefield rules of engagement.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to fire the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force represents an opening salvo in his push to remake the military into a force that is more aggressive on the battlefield and potentially less hindered by the laws of armed conflict.Mr. Hegseth, in the Pentagon and during his meetings with troops last week in Europe, has spoken repeatedly about the need to restore a “warrior ethos” to a military that he insists has become soft, social-justice obsessed and more bureaucratic over the past two decades.His decision to replace the military’s judge advocate generals — typically three-star military officers — offers a sense of how he defines the ethos that he has vowed to instill.The dismissals came as part of a broader push by Mr. Hegseth and President Trump, who late Friday also fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the country’s top military officer, as well as the first woman to lead the Navy and the vice chief of staff of the Air Force.By comparison, the three fired judge advocate generals, also known as “JAGs,” are far less prominent. Inside the Pentagon and on battlefields around the world, military lawyers aren’t decision makers. Their job is to provide independent legal advice to senior military officers so that they do not run afoul of U.S. law or the laws of armed conflict.Senior Pentagon officials said that Mr. Hegseth has had no contact with any of the three fired uniform military lawyers since taking office. None of the three — Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III, Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer and Rear Adm. Lia M. Reynolds — were even named in the Pentagon statement announcing their dismissal from decades of military service.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Religious Motivation’ Possible in Berlin Stabbing, Police Say

    The suspect, a Syrian refugee, told the police that a plan had come into his mind to kill Jews. The attack raises tensions just before an election in which immigration is a big issue.The man detained in connection with the stabbing of a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial on Friday may have been planning for weeks to kill Jewish people, according to German authorities.The suspect, a 19-year-old Syrian refugee, was carrying a copy of the Quran, a prayer rug and a piece of paper with the attack’s date and Quran verses when he was apprehended, suggesting a “religious motivation,” the Berlin police said on Saturday. In a joint statement with the public prosecutor’s office, they added that things the suspect had said to the police suggested that over several weeks “a plan to kill Jews came together in his mind,” and that the location of the attack also reflected this idea.The police said they had not ruled out connections to the Middle East conflict but had found no evidence linking the suspect to other groups or individuals. He came to Germany in 2023 as an underage refugee, was a legal resident and had no criminal record, the authorities said, adding that were also investigating if mental illness had played a role in the attack.The 30-year-old victim, whose name was not made public, sustained neck injuries that required him to have emergency surgery and be placed in a medically induced coma, officials said, but his life was no longer at risk.The attack took place at Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, an expansive memorial across the street from the U.S. Embassy. It came as Germans prepared to vote in a divisive national election on Sunday, and amid a rise in antisemitism across Europe.Germany’s economic problems, coupled with frustration over immigration, are central issues to voters in a parliamentary election where the far-right party, Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has risen in the polls.The AfD party, which has been linked to neo-Nazis, has promised to crack down on immigration and deport some immigrants, a message that has gained traction in a country that has suffered a series of attacks perpetrated by people from Afghanistan and the Middle East.An asylum seeker from Afghanistan rammed his car into a union demonstration in Munich on Feb. 13, injuring dozens, and in December, a Saudi citizen killed six people and injured hundreds more when he drove his car through a Christmas market in central Germany.Lars Dolder More

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    2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards: Complete Winners List

    Here’s who went home a winner at the Indy Spirit Awards, held on the beach in Santa Monica, Calif., on Saturday.“Anora” won best feature at the 40th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday. Its director, Sean Baker, and lead, Mikey Madison, won in their respective categories. “Shogun” won best new scripted series, while “Baby Reindeer” took home three acting awards.Best Feature“Anora”Best First Feature“Dìdi”John Cassavetes AwardGiven to the best feature made for under $1,000,000.“Girls Will Be Girls”Best DirectorSean Baker, “Anora”Best ScreenplayJesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”Best First ScreenplaySean Wang, “Dìdi”Best Lead PerformanceMikey Madison, “Anora”Best Supporting PerformanceKieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”Best Breakthrough PerformanceMaisy Stella, “My Old Ass”Best CinematographyJomo Fray, “Nickel Boys”Best EditingHansjörg Weissbrich, “September 5”Robert Altman AwardGiven to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast.“His Three Daughters”Best Documentary“No Other Land”Best International Film“Flow” (Latvia, France, Belgium)Producers AwardGiven to an emerging producer of quality independent films with limited resources.Sarah WinshallSomeone to Watch AwardGiven to a talented filmmaker who has not yet been widely recognized.Sarah Friedland, “Familiar Touch”Truer Than Fiction AwardGiven to an emerging director of nonfiction features who has not yet been widely recognized.Rachel Elizabeth Seed, “A Photographic Memory”Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series“Hollywood Black”Best New Scripted Series“Shogun”Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted SeriesRichard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer”Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted SeriesNava Mau, “Baby Reindeer”Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted SeriesJessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer”Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series“How to Die Alone” More