Aurelia Butler

Refrain from making assumptions about Zachary David Levy’s puzzle.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Zachary David Levy knows his audience. I say this because Mr. Levy, who constructed today’s puzzle, opted to use a Scrabble reference to reveal his theme. While I hesitate to paint solvers of the New York Time Crossword with a wide brush, I’m willing to bet this meant that many of you figured it out without missing a beat (or stroke, to continue the metaphor).My assumption is biased by my own love of Scrabble — I recently discovered that I owned two versions and had trouble convincing myself that I needed only one — so if your wordy board game affinities lie elsewhere, feel free to correct me! The only time that I mind being wrong is when it rains after I’ve left the house without an umbrella.Today’s ThemeThe [Coveted Scrabble space] at 58-Across is a TRIPLE-WORD SCORE. We’re told the entry also describes [the sheet music for 16-, 21-, 34- or 51-Across]. That’s because each of the themed entries is a song title consisting of three identical words. The [ABBA hit of 1979] (16A), for example, is “GIMME! GIMME! GIMME!” The [’NSync hit of 2000] (21A) was “BYE BYE BYE.” Since sheet music is also called a score, this gives us our TRIPLE-WORD SCORE.Solve the two remaining theme entries on your own, or click to reveal them below.34A. [Mötley Crüe hit of 1987]GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS51A. [Beach Boys hit of 1964]FUN, FUN, FUN 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

The escalating strikes across the Israel-Lebanon border fueled fears of a bigger conflagration, but both sides signaled that they were de-escalating, for now.Amid fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, the two sides on Sunday mounted the biggest round of cross-border strikes since the war in Gaza began, with Israel bombing dozens of sites in a pre-emptive attack, and Hezbollah launching hundreds of rockets and drones.Within hours, both sides appeared to de-escalate, at least temporarily, but signaled that the violence and dangerous tensions could continue. Hezbollah said its operation, vengeance for the Israeli assassination of a senior commander, had “finished for the day,” but left open the possibility of further action. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that “what happened today is not the final word.”For weeks, Israelis have waited in trepidation for a major attack promised by Hezbollah in retaliation for the airstrike last month in a suburb of Beirut that killed one of its leaders, Fuad Shukr. Iran, which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas, has also vowed retribution for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas political leader, on a visit to Tehran, hours after Mr. Shukr was killed, though it appears to have put that plan on hold.After the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah began firing frequently on Israel, prompting widespread Israeli bombardment. Repeated strikes, counter-strikes and threats have forced more than 160,000 people to evacuate on both sides of the border, stoking fears that the conflict would ignite full-scale regional war pitting Israel not only against Hezbollah — a more potent force than Hamas — but also its patron Iran.Before dawn on Sunday, Israel’s military said it used about 100 warplanes to strike more than 40 Hezbollah launch sites in Lebanon, saying it had acted to prevent a major attack. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least three people had been killed and two others hurt, and Israel said a soldier was killed and two others wounded during the Hezbollah barrage.The Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a televised address in Beirut, on Sunday.Bilal Hussein/Associated PressWe 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

Seeking to blunt the momentum that Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, have been experiencing in the polls and hoping to extend after an enthusiastic Democratic National Convention, Republicans have been highlighting small inaccuracies in Mr. Walz’s past descriptions of his résumé.The latest instances came on Friday and Saturday, when the right-leaning Minnesota outlet Alpha News and the conservative publication The Washington Free Beacon resurfaced reports from 2006 that, while Mr. Walz was running for Congress that year, his website inaccurately stated that he had been named “Outstanding Young Nebraskan by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.”After the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce sent Mr. Walz a letter in late 2006 saying that it had not given him an award and noting that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had endorsed his Republican opponent, his campaign clarified that the award had come from the Nebraska Junior Chamber of Commerce, and updated his website accordingly. His campaign manager at the time said the missing word had been an unintentional typo.Beyond the 2006 award reference, Republicans have accused Mr. Walz of exaggerating his military service record. This campaign is reminiscent of the “Swift Boat” attacks against John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 — and Chris LaCivita, a top aide to former President Donald J. Trump, led the Swift Boat campaign.Republicans have noted that the Harris campaign’s website described Mr. Walz as a “retired command sergeant major.” While Mr. Walz did attain the rank of command sergeant major during his 24 years in the Minnesota National Guard, he didn’t complete coursework required for him to retain the rank after retiring. The website was edited to describe him as “rising to the rank of command sergeant major.”The Harris-Walz campaign has also said Mr. Walz misspoke when he said in 2018, in the context of calling for restrictions on assault weapons, “We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.” He did not serve in a combat zone; the campaign said he had meant to convey that he had handled such weapons while serving in the National Guard.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

The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had been hospitalized and was expected to make a full recovery, a spokeswoman said.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former government scientist who was both lauded and criticized for his work on Covid-19, was recently hospitalized with a case of West Nile virus and is recovering at home, according to a spokeswoman for the doctor.“A full recovery is expected,” the spokeswoman, Jenn Kuzmuk, said in a statement on Sunday on behalf of Dr. Fauci, 83, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.She did not elaborate on where he was hospitalized or for how long.Dr. Jonathan LaPook, the chief medical correspondent for CBS News, shared on social media that Dr. Fauci had told him that he had fever, chills and severe fatigue and that he was hospitalized this month. Dr. Fauci said he was most likely infected by a mosquito bite that he got in his backyard, Dr. LaPook said.West Nile virus is most commonly spread through the bite of an infected mosquito and is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.People become infected with the virus after mosquitoes feed on infected birds and then bite people, according to the C.D.C.“People are considered dead-end hosts because, unlike birds, they do not develop high enough levels of virus in their bloodstream and cannot pass the virus on to other biting mosquitoes,” the agency says on its website.West Nile cases primarily occur during mosquito season, which starts in the summer and continues through the fall. Symptoms may include fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea or rash.At least 216 cases of West Nile virus have been detected in 33 states this year, according to the C.D.C. There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat West Nile virus in people. The best prevention against the virus is to avoid mosquito bites.Lauded as the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Fauci, President Biden’s former chief medical adviser, retired in December 2022 as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, after 38 years.As the public face of American science for decades, Dr. Fauci advised seven presidents and guided the country’s response to infectious disease outbreaks from the AIDS epidemic to Covid-19.Dr. Fauci joined the faculty at Georgetown University last year as a distinguished university professor at its medical school.In June, testifying before a House panel investigating Covid’s origins, he denied Republican allegations that he had helped fund research that led to the pandemic or that he had covered up the possibility of its origins in a laboratory. More

The founder of Telegram, an app with more than 900 million users, was taken into custody by the authorities, French media reported.The French authorities on Saturday detained Pavel Durov, the top executive of the online communications platform Telegram, on charges related to the spread of illicit material on the service, according to French news reports.Mr. Durov, 39, a Russian-born entrepreneur, was reportedly arrested at Le Bourget Airport near Paris after landing from Azerbaijan. His detention could not immediately be confirmed.The Russian Embassy in France said in a statement on Sunday that it had asked the French authorities for clarification on news of the arrest.Representatives of the French police and Interior Ministry declined to comment and redirected questions to the Paris prosecutor’s office. The Paris prosecutor’s office, citing an open investigation, also declined to comment.Telegram did not respond to requests for comment.In an interview on Telegram, George Lobushkin, a former press secretary for Mr. Durov who remains close to him, wrote, “This is a monstrous attack on freedom of speech worldwide.”Telegram, with more than 900 million users, has long been on the radar of law enforcement agencies around the world because terrorist organizations, drug runners, weapons dealers and far-right extremist groups have used it for communicating, recruiting and organizing.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

One of the accidents killed 12 people who were returning from a religious pilgrimage to Iraq, officials said.At least 37 people, including a dozen who were returning from a religious pilgrimage in Iraq, died Sunday in two unrelated bus crashes in Pakistan, officials said.Though the causes were under investigation, the accidents highlighted road safety in a country that experts say is known for poor road conditions, lax traffic enforcement and fatal crashes.The first accident occurred in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where a bus carrying pilgrims returning from Iraq plunged into a ravine on a coastal highway.Twelve people were killed and 23 were injured, according to rescue officials, who said the accident was probably caused by speeding or brake failure.Every year, at least 50,000 Pakistanis travel to Iraq to commemorate the Shiite holiday of Arbaeen.The second accident occurred in Kahuta, near the northern city of Rawalpindi. A bus drove into a ditch, killing all 25 people on board, including four women and a child, according to Farooq Butt, a rescue official.One injured man was pulled from wreckage but died on the way to the hospital, Mr. Butt said.Officials said the cause of the accident was not yet known. In a statement, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the loss of life.Unsafe road conditions, insufficient traffic enforcement and neglected vehicle maintenance often lead to accidents in the country.“Poor enforcement, untrained traffic officers and unsafe vehicles make things worse,” said Syed Kaleem Imam, a former police inspector general.The crash in Balochistan came less than a week after 28 Pakistani pilgrims died in a bus accident in Iran. Twenty-three others were injured, 14 of them critically, according to Pakistani Embassy officials in Tehran. More

Antiterrorism prosecutors said officers had taken a man into custody in connection with a blast outside a synagogue.French authorities announced Sunday shortly after midnight that they had detained a suspect in connection with Saturday morning’s attack on a synagogue in southern France, which is being investigated as a terrorist act.As law enforcement officers were trying to arrest the suspect around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, he opened fire, the antiterrorism prosecutor’s office said in a statement, adding that the officers had returned fire. In the process, the man was wounded in the face, the statement said. The extent of his injuries and whether the arresting officers were injured were not immediately clear.Two other people were also taken into custody, the statement said, referring to them as members of the suspect’s “entourage” without providing further details.The suspect was arrested in Nîmes, a city about 24 miles from La Grande Motte, the resort town on the southern coast where the attack took place. Two vehicles exploded outside a synagogue. The doors to the building were also set on fire, the antiterrorism prosecutor’s office said.French authorities have publicly condemned the attack, which comes during a time of mounting fears about antisemitism in the country. In the first three months of 2024, France recorded more than 360 antisemitic episodes. That is an average of four a day — and an increase of 300 percent over the same period in 2023, the government said.“To attack a French person because he is Jewish is to attack all French people,” Gabriel Attal, the prime minister, wrote on the social media platform X before the arrest, adding that nearly 200 law enforcement officers had been mobilized to find the suspect.The attack has sharpened anxiety and reopened painful memories for Jews across France, which has the largest Jewish population in Western Europe and a history of deadly, antisemitic attacks and messaging.The war in Gaza has only heightened tensions and debates about antisemitism in France, where antisemitism and support for Israel emerged as prominent themes in the recent national elections.The far-right National Rally party, once known for antisemitism and tinged with Nazi nostalgia, emphatically expressed its support for Israel. The left, by contrast, tends to be pro-Palestinian in policies and statements. The attack on the synagogue in La Grande Motte could have been far worse. Five people, including the rabbi, were inside when the vehicles exploded. No one was killed, but one police officer responding to the explosions was hurt when a gas bottle near one of the vehicles exploded, the antiterrorism unit said.National antiterrorism prosecutors are investigating the episode as a terrorism-motivated assassination attempt, among other charges.“We probably avoided an absolute tragedy,” Mr. Attal, the prime minister, wrote on X.Aurelien Breeden More

The police say they have arrested a man they believe killed three people and wounded eight others at a festival in the town of Solingen, in western Germany.An attack on a crowd by a man armed with a large knife at a festival that left three dead and eight wounded in the city of Solingen, in western Germany, is being treated as terrorism, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Sunday.The suspect is a 26-year-old man from Syria who was living in a refugee residence only a few hundred meters from where the attack took place, the police said on Sunday. The man, wearing bloodstained clothes, approached a police car and gave himself up after 11 p.m. Saturday, the police said.In the attack on Friday night, the assailant aimed for his victims’ necks to inflict as much damage as possible, the police said.Besides planning to bring murder and attempted murder charges in the case against the man, the federal prosecutor is looking into whether he was a member of a foreign terrorist organization, Ines Peterson, a spokeswoman for the office, said on Sunday in an emailed statement.The Islamic State extremist group praised the attacker as a “soldier of the Islamic state,” but it was unclear whether the group had any connection to this particular attack.The far-right Alternative for Germany party, which has campaigned largely on an anti-foreigner platform and is poised to make significant gains in three state elections next month, jumped on the news. Even before the identity of the attacker was confirmed by the police, one of its leaders called for changes to “migration and security policy.”The authorities had earlier arrested two people who were later determined unlikely to have been the actual attackers, Herbert Reul, the state interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Solingen is, said in an interview on Saturday with a German broadcaster, ARD.A 15-year-old boy, who was arrested early Saturday, is being investigated for not having alerted the police when he learned about imminent plans to attack, prosecutors said. A man arrested by a heavily armed police unit on Saturday evening in the refugee housing facility where the main suspect also lived is being treated as a witness, the police and Mr. Reul said.On Saturday, Solingen’s mayor, the state governor and other political leaders gathered on a downtown square several hundred yards from where the attack took place to mourn the victims. It was an eerie repeat of a similar impromptu service held in Mannheim, another town in western Germany, where only three months ago an Afghan refugee attacked an anti-immigrant rally with a knife and killed a police officer trying to intervene.On Sunday, which was supposed to be the final day of a festival celebrating a city best known for making knives and scissors, a group of mourners met at a service held in a church next to the site of the attack. More