Aurelia Butler

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    Trump Rebukes Putin, Calls Escalation of Attacks ‘Absolutely Crazy’

    “He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” President Trump said of his Russian counterpart.President Trump on Sunday condemned the decision by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to unleash one of the largest offensives in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and said he was considering imposing more sanctions on Russia in response.Speaking to reporters in New Jersey before boarding Air Force One, Mr. Trump said he was “not happy” with Mr. Putin escalating his attacks, especially as the two countries negotiate a cease-fire deal to bring the three-year war to an end.“He’s killing a lot of people, and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Mr. Trump said. “I’ve known him a long time. Always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all.”He added, “We’re in the middle of talking, and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities.”Mr. Trump continued criticizing Mr. Putin hours later, writing on social media that his Russian counterpart “has gone absolutely CRAZY” and was shooting missiles and drones into Ukraine’s cities, “for no reason whatsoever.”“He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers,” Mr. Trump wrote.Mr. Trump, who has largely focused on trade and other benefits to Russia if it ended its war against Ukraine, also wrote that Mr. Putin’s continued incursion could have dire consequences.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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    ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Finale Recap: The Monster at the End

    Dina learns the truth. Ellie learns a hard lesson about the unintended consequences of vengeance.‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 7In an interview with Collider last week, “The Last of Us” co-showrunner Craig Mazin estimated that it will take four seasons for him and the video game’s co-creator Neil Druckmann to adapt the two “Last of Us” games properly. I found this comment a bit surprising. Mazin and Druckmann covered most of the first “Last of Us” game in an action-packed Season 1. After this week’s Season 2 finale, is there enough story left in “The Last of Us Part II” for two more seasons?Having never played the game, I do not know the answer to this. But I do know that Season 2 — as good as it has generally been — has raised some questions about where this show is ultimately headed. Season 1 was something of a quest saga, about a one-of-a-kind hero traveling to the place where she was meant to sacrifice herself and save the world. Then Joel ripped up that script. In the Season 1 finale, Joel didn’t just move the narrative goal posts, he tore them down.So what’s the endpoint now? What does a “chosen one” do when she is no longer chosen?The Season 2 finale wrestles with these questions in ways both exciting and somewhat perplexing, before ending in someplace unexpected and potentially promising. If nothing else, the episode does have a strong arc for Ellie, as she realizes that missions of vengeance are messy and unsatisfying.We begin with Ellie’s return from Lakehill Hospital, where — contrary to how it appeared in last week’s episode — she did not club the infected Nora to death. As Ellie explains to Dina, she beat on Nora until she gave up clues Abby’s location. (The words “whale” and “wheel” were mumbled.) Then Ellie took off, leaving Nora to get zombified.Ellie says all this in hushed, even tones, admitting that torturing Nora was easier for her to do than she had expected. Still in a confessing mood — and in an especially vulnerable place, as Dina is washing the wounds on her bare back — Ellie finally tells Dina why Abby and her crew came after Joel in the first place. Dina’s icy reply? “We need to go home.”After this opening, much of the first half of the episode follows Ellie and Jesse as they head out to find Tommy so that the Jackson contingent can get the heck out of Seattle. This is not a happy journey. Jesse, understandably, is in no mood for Ellie’s flippant attitude; and Ellie does not have much use for Jesse’s sanctimony.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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    Texas Doctor Who Filed $118 Million in Fraudulent Medical Claims Gets 10 Years in Prison

    Jorge Zamora-Quezada falsely diagnosed patients with a chronic disease and subjected them to unnecessary treatments to help fund his lavish lifestyle, officials said.For nearly 20 years, a Texas doctor falsely diagnosed patients as having a chronic disease, administered unnecessary, toxic treatments and filed more than $118 million in fraudulent health insurance claims to fund his lavish lifestyle, which included a private jet, luxury cars and high-end properties, prosecutors said.The doctor, Jorge Zamora-Quezada, 68, of Mission, Texas, was sentenced to 10 years in prison this week, according to the Justice Department.From 2000 to 2018, he falsely diagnosed patients with rheumatoid arthritis and administered dangerous, medically unnecessary treatments to defraud federal and private health insurance companies, the Justice Department said.Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes a person’s immune system to attack healthy tissue. Some of Mr. Zamora-Quezada’s patients were as young as 13, the Justice Department said.Mr. Zamora-Quezada’s medical license was canceled in 2021, according to Texas Medical Board records.His scheme funded what prosecutors described in court documents as his “lavish and opulent lifestyle,” with properties across the United States and Mexico, as well as a private jet and a Maserati that he used to travel between his offices in the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio.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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    Suddenly: A Mirror!

    On This Week’s Episode:A show about people who are suddenly confronted with who they are.Kelly MalkaNew York Times Audio is home to the “This American Life” archive. Download the app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. More

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    Trump Delays E.U. Tariffs Until July 9

    President Trump said he would give the European Union more time to negotiate a trade deal before 50 percent tariffs take effect.President Trump said on Sunday that he would delay imposing 50 percent tariffs on all imports from the European Union until July 9 to allow more time for trade negotiations.In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said that he had spoken to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, about his recent threat to enact the tariffs on June 1 if a trade deal could not be reached in the next week.Mr. Trump has expressed frustration over negotiations with the E.U., saying that the union has been slow to offer trade concessions during a 90-day window to reach a deal that satisfies the administration. But his threat to hit the union with a steep tariff raised the chances of an economically destabilizing trade war with one of the world’s largest economies.On Sunday, Mr. Trump appeared to relent, at least for now.“The Commission President said that talks will begin rapidly,” Mr. Trump wrote, referring to Ms. von der Leyen. The European Commission is the executive arm of the European Union.Ms. von der Leyen, in a separate social media post on Sunday, said that she had a “good call” with Mr. Trump and had conveyed to him that the E.U. needed extra time to reach a trade deal. She said that talks would advance “swiftly and decisively.”“The E.U. and the U.S. share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship,” she wrote.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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    NYT Crossword Answers for May 26, 2025

    Ari Halpern keeps a close watch.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesMONDAY PUZZLE — Today is a federal holiday in the United States, so I hope that at least some of you had the luxury of tackling the New York Times Crossword without feeling harried by work tasks. It’s a different kind of special occasion for Ari Halpern, who constructed today’s puzzle, because it represents his return to The Times after 17 years! The grid itself feels like a nod to prolonged absences, in that the theme is nostalgic for a tradition of days gone by.Let’s reel in the years together, shall we?Today’s ThemeI wasn’t around to appreciate the [1970s-’80s TV staple] that serves as today’s revealer, but the wordplay here is firmly for all ages. MOVIE OF THE WEEK was a prime-time ritual, notably on ABC, and in this puzzle serves to highlight entries at 16-, 25- and 42-Across, each one a movie title that contains a day of the week.The [1999 sports drama co-starring Al Pacino] is “ANY GIVEN SUNDAY” (16A). The [1973 marital drama co-starring Elizabeth Taylor] is “ASH WEDNESDAY” (25A). And the [2003 fantasy comedy co-starring Lindsay Lohan], which I was most definitely around for, is “FREAKY FRIDAY.”Tricky Clues5A. Dentists, keep scrolling: I was not aware that there was a term for the little bumps on our back teeth. [One of four on most molars] is a CUSP.36A. The clue [Firmly declares] may solve to either of two very similar words. A number of you no doubt recall having been misled in this year’s cruel (but funny) April Fools’ Day puzzle, which presented a series of penciled-in entries that seemed correct, but weren’t. [Declare openly] was penciled in as “aver,” but had to be corrected to “avow.” So, too, in this puzzle: The answer is AVOWS, not “avers.”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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    A Quiet Funeral in Israel for Victim of Washington Shooting

    Yaron Lischinsky, 30, was buried on Sunday in the small town where his family lived.Weeks before, Yaron Lischinsky had made plans to travel to Israel on Sunday with his partner, Sarah Milgrim. He wanted to introduce her to his family for the first time and, relatives said, propose to her.Instead, Mr. Lischinsky, 30, was laid to rest on Sunday at sunset, in a small cemetery a short walk from his family home in the village of Beit Zayit, nestled in the wooded hills west of Jerusalem.Mr. Lischinsky and Ms. Milgrim, 26, were gunned down on Wednesday night outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington as they left a reception for young professionals and diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee.The gunman, identified by the police as Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, cried out “Free, free Palestine!” as he was being apprehended — a call heard in protests around the world against Israel and its war in Gaza, which was ignited by the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.Mr. Rodriguez has been charged with the murder of foreign officials, first-degree murder and other crimes. The U.S. authorities said they would also be investigating the attack as a hate crime and a crime of terrorism.For their part, Mr. Lischinsky, a research assistant in the political department at the Israeli Embassy, and Ms. Milgrim, who organized and worked with delegations, were both known as peace-seeking bridge-builders, according to their colleagues.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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    American Charged With Trying to Firebomb Embassy Building in Tel Aviv

    Joseph Neumeyer, 28, is also accused of threatening President Trump. He appeared in federal court in Brooklyn on Sunday.An American citizen was charged with trying to firebomb a U.S. Embassy office in Tel Aviv, after he approached the building with Molotov cocktails and had threatened to kill President Trump in a series of social media posts, federal prosecutors said on Sunday.The man, Joseph Neumeyer, 28, of Colorado, was deported to the United States on Saturday and appeared Sunday in Federal District Court in Brooklyn before Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo. He is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center without bail.Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that Mr. Neumeyer had been charged with “planning a devastating attack targeting our embassy in Israel, threatening death to Americans and President Trump’s life.”A lawyer for Mr. Neumeyer, Jeff Dahlberg of the Federal Defenders of New York, declined to comment.Mr. Neumeyer’s arrest comes at a time of unease for embassy officials in Israel and the United States. Last week, two Israeli Embassy employees were shot and killed outside the Jewish Museum in Washington. A man, Elias Rodriguez, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the shooting; he said he “did it for Palestine,” according to an F.B.I. affidavit.Mr. Neumeyer, a dual citizen of the United States and Germany, began making a series of disturbing posts on his Facebook account in late March, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of New York.“We are killing Trump and Musk now,” read one post from March 22, in an apparent reference to Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and adviser to Mr. Trump. It was followed by subsequent posts that month that wished death upon Mr. Trump.Mr. Neumeyer left the United States in February and arrived in Israel on April 23, prosecutors said. On May 19, Mr. Neumeyer wrote on Facebook, “Join me this afternoon in Tel Aviv — we are burning down the US embassy.”The U.S. embassy was moved to Jerusalem in 2018, but the United States maintains a branch office in Tel Aviv.That afternoon, according to prosecutors, Mr. Neumeyer approached the employee entrance of the Tel Aviv office carrying a dark backpack. He spat at a guard, who then tapped on Mr. Neumeyer’s shoulder and tried to apprehend him.In trying to stop Mr. Neumeyer from fleeing, the guard grabbed his backpack and discovered a bottle with a black cloth jutting out, which the guard understood to be a Molotov cocktail bottle after smelling an odor of “pure” alcohol, prosecutors said.Mr. Neumeyer got away but was later arrested by Israeli police officers at his hotel, where he said his backpack had Molotov cocktail bottles with vodka inside. According to prosecutors, Mr. Neumeyer’s backpack contained three bottles with ethanol.“Death to America. Death to the West,” read one of Mr. Neumeyer’s final posts on May 19, according to prosecutors. More