Elections

President Biden will face another round of organized protest votes over his wartime support for Israel on Tuesday, when New York and three other states hold presidential primaries.The outcome of the contests is not in doubt for Mr. Biden. But activists infuriated over his handling of the war in Gaza are urging participants to vote “uncommitted” or leave ballots blank to maintain pressure on the president.They have put particular emphasis on New York, a large Democratic state that has been a center for demonstrations against the war, including one during a star-studded Biden campaign fund-raiser last week.Unlike other states, New York does not allow participants in its primary to vote “uncommitted” or write in other options. So organizers have urged voters to register their disapproval of Mr. Biden by leaving their ballots blank instead.The “Leave It Blank” campaign has the support of the local Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party, New York’s influential left-leaning party. But two of the president’s most trenchant Democratic critics around the war, Representatives Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have not promoted it.Antiwar activists argue that the “uncommitted” protests, which began in Michigan in February, have had an effect. After offering Israel unflinching support in the aftermath of Hamas’s deadly attack on Oct. 7, Mr. Biden has grown more openly critical of the American ally’s war strategy in recent weeks. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has also accelerated after months of Israeli bombardment.Groups are organizing similar votes in three other states holding primaries on Tuesday. In two of them, Connecticut and Rhode Island, primary participants will have the option of voting “uncommitted” if they want to register a protest against the president. In Wisconsin, a crucial swing state, they can choose a similar label, “uninstructed,” to show concern.In another twist, neither Mr. Biden nor his critics are likely to know the size of the protest vote in New York on election night.A spokeswoman for New York’s Board of Elections said the body did not typically report the number of blank ballots cast in presidential primaries in initial, unofficial results because they have no effect on the allocation of party delegates.Organizers of the “Leave It Blank” campaign have threatened to sue the board to pressure it to share the result more quickly. But on Monday, the spokeswoman, Kathleen McGrath, said the board had no reason to change its practice. She said the tally of blank ballots would be public within two weeks. More

International aid workers from World Central Kitchen, a disaster relief nonprofit that has become a crucial source of food for desperate Gazans, were killed in an airstrike in Gaza, according to José Andrés, the chef who founded the organization.Mr. Andrés said on the X platform that “several of our sisters and brothers” were killed in the airstrike, which was reported late Monday in Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza. He said the Israeli military had carried out the strike, though that could not be immediately confirmed. Graphic video footage from the aftermath showed five dead bodies, three of which had passports on their chests identifying them as citizens of Poland, Australia and Britain. Some of the victims wore protective gear with visible World Central Kitchen patches. The nationalities of the other two could not be immediately confirmed. The Israeli military said in a statement early Tuesday that it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”The military said it “makes extensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, and has been working closely with W.C.K. in their vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia said that the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was “urgently investigating” the reports that an Australian aid worker had been killed.“I’m very concerned about the loss of life that is occurring in Gaza,” he said. “My government has supported a sustainable cease-fire, we’ve called for the release of hostages, and there have been far too many innocent lives — Palestinian and Israeli — lost during the Gaza-Hamas conflict.”World Central Kitchen has become a key organization in the perilous, politically fraught efforts to distribute humanitarian aid to desperate Gazans. Israel has severely limited the aid that reaches Gaza through land crossings, leaving shipments by sea as an increasingly important means of delivering food to the enclave. A vessel carrying 400 tons of food left Cyprus for Gaza on Saturday. The Israeli military has said that it provided security and coordination to the organization in prior operations.World Central Kitchen said in a statement on Monday that it was “aware of reports” that its staff members were killed “in an I.D.F. attack while working to support our humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.“This is a tragedy,” the organization said. “Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be a target. Ever.”Mr. Andrés said in his social media post that the Israeli government “needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. “It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.” Damien Cave More

Billy Bratton has decided to extend his stay.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTUESDAY PUZZLE — In the constructor notes that accompanied his last New York Times Crossword, in July 2023, Billy Bratton left us on a cliffhanger:This may be my last one for a while, but I shall return …With these words — and our reaction to them — Mr. Bratton may have unwittingly given us a major hint to today’s puzzle, in which the theme hinges on a synonym for the phrase “Stop right there!” In any case, I’m glad that he has decided to return to us mere months later, as his latest grid offers the perfect Tuesday challenge: It’s crunchy in all the right places, but satisfyingly simple to unwrap. And it doesn’t crumble! (Am I talking about a puzzle or a granola bar at this point? It’s anyone’s guess.)Let’s descend into the valley of the solve.Today’s ThemeThe revealer at 39-Across asks us to come up with another way to say “Stop right there!” But we have to figure out an expression that might also serve as a “hint to the first words of 17-, 23-, 47- and 59-Across.”Let’s run briefly through our theme set:A “Black Friday offer, e.g.” (17A) is known as a DOOR BUSTER, even if most of these deals are no longer worth busting down any doors for.“Something extended to a borrower” (23A) is a LINE OF CREDIT.A “Gymnastics sequence involving tumbling” — or triple-double flips, in the case of Simone Biles — is a FLOOR ROUTINE (47A).The “Expansive medical center headquartered in Rochester, Minn.,” (59A) is the MAYO CLINIC.Per the revealer, we’re concerned with only the first words of these entries: DOOR, LINE, FLOOR and MAYO (if you play Connections, another one of our games, you may find this similar to a round of that game). What could precede each of these words to form four distinct expressions? Another way of saying “Stop right there!” is HOLD IT. And voilà: Hold the DOOR, hold the LINE, hold the FLOOR and hold the MAYO.A note for newer solvers: I tend to unpack the theme here in the order that best explains it, but those revealer “hints” can be used in whatever way helps you crack the puzzle. Let’s say, for instance, you had only the entries containing MAYO and FLOOR. You might then discover HOLD IT, at 39A, and deduce the other themed entries by guessing at expressions with the word “hold.” Some prefer to solve the puzzle entirely before identifying the theme; others kick things off with themed entries. It’s really your journey! I’m just the walking stick. Or something.Tricky Clues16A. “Debriefed?” is an adjective here, and a winking one at that. It signifies someone without briefs on: in other words, NAKED.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

Donald Trump had in recent days targeted the daughter of Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing his criminal trial in Manhattan, in blistering social media posts.The New York judge overseeing Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial later this month expanded a gag order on Monday to bar the former president from attacking the judge’s family members, who in recent days have become the target of Mr. Trump’s abuse.Justice Juan M. Merchan last week issued an order prohibiting Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as their relatives. That order, however, did not cover Justice Merchan himself or the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, who brought the criminal case against the former president.And although the ruling issued on Monday still does not apply to the judge or the district attorney, Justice Merchan, granting a request from Mr. Bragg’s office, amended the gag order so that it does now cover their families.In his ruling, the judge cited recent attacks against his daughter, and rejected Mr. Trump’s argument that his statements were “core political speech.”“This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,” Justice Merchan wrote. “It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for defendant’s vitriol.”Mr. Bragg’s office had asked the judge to clarify that their relatives were included, calling such protection “amply warranted.” Noting Mr. Trump’s track record of issuing “threatening and alarming remarks,” Mr. Bragg’s office warned of “the harms that those family members have suffered.”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 guarantee means that New York’s attorney general will not be able to pursue Donald Trump’s assets and bank accounts until Mr. Trump’s appeals are settled.Former President Donald J. Trump averted a financial disaster on Monday, reaching a deal that will spare him from paying a $454 million judgment in his civil fraud case while he appeals the penalty.The lifeline came in the form of a bond that will prevent New York’s attorney general, who brought the lawsuit that led to the judgment, from collecting the $454 million until Mr. Trump’s appeal is resolved. The attorney general, Letitia James, accused Mr. Trump of fraudulently inflating his net worth by as much as $2 billion, and a judge ruled in her favor.Mr. Trump secured the bond after an appeals court last week granted his request to lower the bond amount, setting it at $175 million and staving off a financial crisis for Mr. Trump. He otherwise would have had to post a bond for the full $454 million, which his lawyers declared a “practical impossibility.” Had he failed to do so, Ms. James could have frozen his bank accounts.The clock had been ticking. When the appeals court ruled last week, it gave him 10 days to line up the bond, making Thursday the deadline.The $175 million bond came from Knight Specialty Insurance Company, a California company that handles such deals. In providing the bond, which is a legal document, not an actual transfer of money, the firm essentially promised New York’s court system that it would cover the judgment against Mr. Trump if he loses his appeal and fails to pay.Many details of the deal are private, but the former president most likely had to pay the company a fee and pledge cash and other liquid investments as collateral.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

Our critic, Pete Wells, drops his annual ranking. See what’s new, what moved and what left the list. More

The legislation expands protections and creates a new charge of “stirring up hatred.” The “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling criticized the law for omitting women and said it was “wide open to abuse.”A sweeping law targeting hate speech went into effect in Scotland on Monday, promising protection against threats and abuse but drawing criticism that it could have a chilling effect on free speech.The law, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2021, expands protections for marginalized groups and creates a new charge of “stirring up hatred,” which makes it a criminal offense to communicate or behave in a way that “a reasonable person would consider to be threatening, abusive or insulting.”A conviction could lead to a fine and a prison sentence of up to seven years.The protected classes as defined in the law include age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Racial hatred was omitted because it is already covered by a law from 1986. The new law also does not include women among the protected groups; a government task force has recommended that misogyny be addressed in separate legislation.J.K. Rowling, the “Harry Potter” author who has been criticized as transphobic for her comments on gender identity, said the law was “wide open to abuse by activists,” and took issue with its omission of women.Ms. Rowling, who lives in Edinburgh, said in a lengthy social media post on Monday that Scotland’s Parliament had placed “higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls.”“I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offense under the terms of the new act,” she added, “I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”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

Another officer patrolling Far Rockaway said he noticed Guy Rivera carrying a gun before he fatally shot Detective Jonathan Diller, according to the authorities.A police officer saw the man accused of killing Detective Jonathan Diller carrying what appeared to be a gun before the confrontation that led to the fatal shooting last week, according to new details released by the Queens district attorney.The officer, who was on patrol in the Far Rockaway section of Queens and has not been identified by the authorities, noticed that the man, Guy Rivera, had the gun in the front pocket of his sweatshirt, the district attorney, Melinda Katz, said in an indictment on Monday.After Mr. Rivera stepped into the passenger side of a car, Detective Diller, who was promoted posthumously, and other officers approached the vehicle, prosecutors said. They asked Mr. Rivera several times to roll down his window before they managed to get the car door open, according to the indictment.Mr. Rivera then took out the gun and shot Detective Diller in the stomach at almost point-blank range, Ms. Katz said in a statement. Mr. Rivera has been charged with first-degree murder.The details provide a possible new explanation for why the officers went up to the vehicle. Officials had previously said that the officers had approached Mr. Rivera and the driver, Lindy Jones, because they were illegally parked at a bus stop.Mr. Rivera, 34, was also charged with attempted murder for attempting to fire his gun at another police officer after shooting Detective Diller.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