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      Commerce Dept. Is on the Front Lines of China Policy

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      The department has confronted the challenge of China by restricting key exports, a policy that is likely to continue in the Trump administration.The Commerce Department has traditionally focused on promoting the interests of American business and increasing U.S. exports abroad. But in recent years, it has taken on a national security role, working to defend the country by restricting exports of America’s most powerful computer chips.While the Trump administration is likely to remake much of the Biden administration’s economic policy, with a renewed focus on broad tariffs, it is unlikely to roll back the Commerce Department’s evolution.“I’m truthfully not terribly worried that the Trump administration will undo all the great work we’ve done,” Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, said in an interview. “Number one, it’s at its core national security, which I hope we can all agree on. But two, it is the direction that they were going in.”It was the first Trump administration that took the initial steps toward the Commerce Department’s evolution, Ms. Raimondo noted, with its decision to put the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei on the “entity list.” Companies on the list are deemed a national security concern, and transfers of technology to them are restricted.Ms. Raimondo came into the commerce job focused on confronting the challenge of China by building upon the Trump administration’s actions.She has overseen a significant expansion of U.S. economic and technology restrictions against China. The Biden administration transformed the tough but sometimes erratic actions the Trump administration had taken toward Beijing into more sweeping and systematic limits on shipping advanced technology to China.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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      Who is Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, Leader of Syrian Rebel Offensive?

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      After attracting little notice for years, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani spearheaded a stunning lightning offensive that led to the fall of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria after over 13 years of brutal civil war.Mr. al-Jolani, 42, is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group once linked to Al Qaeda that has controlled most of Idlib Province, in northwestern Syria, for years during a long stalemate in the conflict.“By far, he’s the most important player on the ground in Syria,” said Jerome Drevon, a senior analyst of jihad and modern conflict at the International Crisis Group, who has met Mr. al-Jolani several times in the past five years.In late November, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched the most significant challenge to Mr. al-Assad’s rule in a decade, sweeping through Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, before charging south, capturing territory across several provinces without facing much resistance.By Sunday, rebels were celebrating in Syria’s capital, Damascus, and declared it free of Mr. al-Assad. Syria’s longtime leader had left the country after holding talks with “several parties of the armed conflict,” according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry. It did not say where Mr. al-Assad might be.Born Ahmed Hussein al-Shara in Saudi Arabia, Mr. al-Jolani is the child of Syrian exiles, according to Arab media reports. In the late 1980s, his family moved back to Syria, and in 2003, he went to neighboring Iraq to join Al Qaeda and fight the U.S. occupation.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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      Bill Clinton on the Election, D.E.I. and One of His Regrets

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      The former president spoke with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the DealBook Summit.A month after losing the presidential election, Democrats are still unpacking what went wrong. Speaking at the DealBook Summit on Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton blamed a lack of time.When President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, he said, “nobody had a plan because nobody knew what was going to happen.” He added that a primary “would have been total chaos.”Ultimately, he said, Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t able to adequately introduce herself as a presidential candidate. “What happened was Kamala Harris was a stranger to them,” he said of voters.The former president also discussed Biden’s decision to grant a pardon to his son, Hunter; the Israel-Hamas War; D.E.I. policies; his new book, “Citizen: My Life After the White House,” and how much voters should focus on the character of politicians. Here are five highlights from the conversation.On Joe Biden’s pardon of his sonClinton said that Biden had not handled some aspects of the decision well. “I wish he hadn’t said he wasn’t going to do it,” he said. “It does weaken his case.” But ultimately he defended the decision:I personally believe that the president is almost certainly right that his son received completely different treatment than he would have if he hadn’t been the president’s son.On the Middle EastDuring his time as president, Clinton worked to make peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He was the last president to visit Gaza. At the DealBook Summit, he referenced failed peace talks that he convened in 2000 with the Palestinian leader at the time, Yasir Arafat, and the then-prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barak. Clinton blames Arafat for the deal falling apart, and he said that he tells young people today “what Arafat walked away from” and “they can’t believe it.” He added:I’ll go through all the stuff that was in the deal and it’s not on their radar or radar screen. They can’t even imagine that happening.Clinton added:You walk away from these once-in-a-lifetime peace opportunities, and you can’t complain 25 years later when the doors weren’t all still open and all the possibilities weren’t still there. You can’t do it.He grew emotional when discussing his past efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I’m an old guy. I have my regrets. That’s one of them.”Former President Bill Clinton at the DealBook Summit.Jeenah Moon for The New York TimesWe 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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      Assad’s Rule Ends

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      We explain the latest developments in Syria.President Bashar al-Assad’s long and brutal reign in Syria has ended. After 13 years of civil war, Syria’s rebel fighters have stormed the capital, Damascus, and claimed victory.The government’s forces fled without significant resistance as rebel fighters poured into the city. Assad resigned and left Syria, Russia said, but his location could not be confirmed. The rebels appear to have taken over the state television, and they announced Syria to be “free of the tyrant.” The country’s prime minister, who remains in Damascus, said he would work on a transition government. The rebels called on their forces to stay away from public institutions until they could be formally handed over.The rebels said they are now continuing their advance into the east. Below, we explain what has happened and what may come next.What we knowAreas of control as of 10 p.m. local time Saturday. Rebels stormed into Damascus on Sunday morning.Samuel GranadosThe rebels’ rapid advance over the past two weeks was a dramatic end to a yearslong stalemate. (Read The Morning’s explanation of the war.)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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      Today’s Wordle Answer for Dec. 9, 2024

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      Scroll down for hints and conversation about the puzzle for Monday, Dec. 9, 2024.Welcome to The Wordle Review. Be warned: This page contains spoilers for today’s puzzle. Solve Wordle first, or scroll at your own risk.Wordle is released at midnight in your time zone. In order to accommodate all time zones, there will be two Wordle Reviews live every day, dated based on Eastern Standard Time. If you find yourself on the wrong review, check the number of your puzzle, and go to this page to find the corresponding review.Need a hint?Give me a consonantNGive me a vowelUOpen the comments section for more hints, scores, and conversation from the Wordle community.Today’s DifficultyThe difficulty of each puzzle is determined by averaging the number of guesses provided by a small panel of testers who are paid to solve each puzzle in advance to help us catch any issues and inconsistencies.Today’s average difficulty is 4.3 guesses out of 6, or moderately challenging.For more in-depth analysis, visit our friend, WordleBot.Today’s WordClick to revealToday’s word is FLUNG, a verb. According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, it is the past tense of fling, which means “to throw, esp. with force or violence; hurl; cast.”Our Featured ArtistChristina Chung is a queer Taiwanese Hong Konger American illustrator, raised in Seattle and Singapore and currently based in Brooklyn. Her work focuses on intricacies, color and symbolism, drawing inspiration from the natural world and powerful storytelling.Further ReadingSee the archive for past and future posts.If you solved for a word different from what was featured today, please refresh your page.Join the conversation on social media! Use the hashtag #wordlereview to chat with other solvers.Leave any thoughts you have in the comments! Please follow community guidelines:Be kind. Comments are moderated for civility.Having a technical issue? Use the help button in the settings menu of the Games app.See the Wordle Glossary for information on how to talk about Wordle.Want to talk about Spelling Bee? Check out our Spelling Bee Forum.Want to talk about Connections? Check out our Connections Companion.Trying to go back to the puzzle? More

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      South Korea’s Ex-Defense Chief Is Detained Over Martial Law Episode

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      Prosecutors are investigating whether President Yoon Suk Yeol and his followers committed insurrection when they briefly put South Korea under martial law.Kim Yong-hyun, the former defense minister of South Korea, was taken into custody early Sunday as prosecutors investigated his role in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived effort last week to impose martial law. That episode set off political upheaval in South Korea, including an opposition-led attempt to impeach the president and huge protests.Mr. Kim is the first person to be detained as prosecutors begin their investigation into allegations made by President Yoon’s political opponents​. The opposition asserts that Mr. Yoon and his followers in the ​government and military​ committed insurrection and other crimes when they sent soldiers and police officers into the National Assembly to seize the legislature shortly after the president declared martial law on Tuesday night.Mr. Kim, who surrendered himself to investigators early Sunday, was arrested with​out a court warrant. The police and prosecutors ​can use such an “emergency​ arrest” when they have grounds to suspect a person committed a serious crime and there is risk of them fleeing or destroying evidence. ​They must apply for a court warrant​ within two days to formally arrest the suspect.Mr. Kim, a key supporter of Mr. Yoon’s martial law plan, resigned after the extraordinary move fell through. The military rule lasted only six hours, after the National Assembly voted against it early Wednesday and forced Mr. Yoon to back down.It was unclear whether Mr. Kim had a legal representative. Before his arrest, in an interview with the daily Dong-A Ilbo, he said he had been involved in Mr. Yoon’s declaration of martial law, but that it was imposed according to legal procedures.​For most of the two and a half years he has been in office, Mr. Yoon has endured low approval ratings and been in a near-constant political standoff with the opposition. They have tussled especially over his refusal to accept their demands that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate allegations of corruption involving his wife.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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      Ruby Slippers From ‘Wizard of Oz’ Sell for $28 Million at Auction

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      The slippers, worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,” were stolen from the museum that bears her name in 2005 before investigators recovered them in 2018.The ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore as Dorothy in the 1939 production of “The Wizard of Oz” were sold for a record-breaking $28 million on Saturday during a live auction in Dallas in the latest turn for one of the most recognizable and storied artifacts in film history.Heritage Auctions sold the slippers on behalf of a collector, Michael Shaw, who owned them. The slippers — which sold for vastly more than the $10 million that the auction house’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, believed they would — are one of only four known surviving pairs worn by Ms. Garland in the movie.The auction house did not immediately disclose the identity of the buyer.“There is simply no comparison between Judy Garland’s ruby slippers and any other piece of Hollywood memorabilia,” Mr. Maddalena said.The final bid of $28 million was the largest sum spent at an auction for a piece of entertainment memorabilia, the auction house said. It exceeded the previous record-holder, Marilyn Monroe’s subway dress from the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch,” which sold in 2011 for $5.52 million with fees, the auction house said. Including taxes and fees, the slippers sold for $32.5 million.During the auction, which was peppered with “Wicked” and “Wizard of Oz” references and puns, the auctioneer excitedly held a crouching position — like the Wicked Witch of the West in the story — as he pointed to people around the room, who called out bids in $100,000 increments. At times, a bidder, often on the phone with a client, would elevate the top bid by $800,000 or more, which garnered some stifled “ooohs” and “ahhhs” from attendees.The auction included other pieces of “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia. A Wicked Witch of the West hat worn by the actress Margaret Hamilton sold for nearly $3 million, the auction house said.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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      Miho Nakayama, Japanese Music and Movie Star, Dies at 54

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      A top-selling pop singer as a teenager in the 1980s, she also had an award-winning career as a dramatic actress.Miho Nakayama, a reigning J-pop star of the 1980s who broke through to become a critically acclaimed dramatic actress and gained international attention for her starring role in the sentimental Japanese drama “Love Letter,” died on Friday at her home in Tokyo. She was 54.Ms. Nakayama was found dead in a bathtub, according to a statement from her management company. The statement added, “We are still in the process of confirming the cause of death and other details.”The Japan Times reported that Ms. Nakayama had canceled an appearance at a Christmas concert in Osaka, Japan, scheduled for that same day, citing health issues.Born in the city of Saku in Nagano Prefecture on May 4, 1970, and raised in Tokyo, Ms. Nakayama — known by the affectionate nickname Miporin — rocketed to fame in 1985, becoming one of Japan’s most successful idols, as popular young entertainers there are known, with the release of her first single, “C.” That same year, she took home a Japan Record Award for best new artist.She exploded on both the big and small screens that same year with starring roles in the comedy-drama series “Maido Osawagase Shimasu” (roughly, “Sorry to Bother You All the Time”) and the film “Bi Bappu Haisukuru” (“Be-Bop High School”), an action comedy set on a dystopian campus filled with uniformed schoolgirls and brawling schoolboys.Such stories were popular teenage fare at the time, as evidenced by her subsequent role in “Sailor Fuku Hangyaku Doumei” (“The Sailor Suit Rebel Alliance”), a television series that made its debut in 1986, in which Ms. Nakayama played a member of a group of martial arts-savvy girls who squared off against wrongdoers at a violence-marred high school.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