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    Russia Claims to Have Retaken Final Village in Its Kursk Region

    Ukraine denied that it had been pushed out of the region and said that its military operations inside Russia were continuing. Russia’s top military commander said on Saturday that Moscow’s forces had retaken the last village that Ukraine was holding in the Kursk region of western Russia, though Ukrainian officials denied that their brazen campaign in the area had finally come to an end.The Russian claim was made by Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, who has managed the invasion of Ukraine and defense of Russia as chief of the general staff. His statement came six weeks after his forces retook all but a tiny sliver of the Russian territory that Ukraine had been holding since a surprise offensive into Russia’s western Kursk region last summer.In a televised video, General Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir V. Putin that Russian forces had on Saturday recaptured the village of Gornal, on the border with Ukraine. Speaking to Mr. Putin via a video link, General Gerasimov said that the advance had “completed the defeat of the Ukrainian armed forces that attacked the Kursk region.”The Ukrainian General Staff denied that its forces had withdrawn fully from the region, saying the country’s military operation there was ongoing.“The operational situation is difficult, but our units continue to hold their positions,” the General Staff said in a statement.The expulsion of Ukrainian troops from Russia’s Kursk region could remove one of the major complications vexing the peace talks pushed by President Trump, whose special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Mr. Putin for more than three hours in Moscow on Friday to discuss a deal that could end the conflict.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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    This Is Not the America My Immigrant Father Was Determined to Reach

    As the Trump administration disappears immigrants into foreign prisons and sees this as a source of American strength, I think back to when my dad was disappeared, why he came to America and, indeed, why I exist.My dad’s journey through war and concentration camps teaches me that authoritarianism does not strengthen a nation and that, notwithstanding Elon Musk’s warning that empathy is “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization,” it has been one of our national strengths — and that because of our president, it is now in peril.My father’s family was Armenian. During World War II, my family members were living throughout Eastern Europe and were secretly involved in a network that was spying on the Nazis and transmitting information to the West. The Gestapo uncovered the network, and my dad’s heroic cousin Izabela was arrested in Poland in 1942 and sent to Auschwitz, along with her daughter, Teresa. Izabela died in Auschwitz, and Teresa was subjected to medical experiments by the Nazis.My father and other immediate family members were arrested as well for being part of the spy network. But they were detained in Romania, where officials and the police — the “deep state” — shielded them from the Gestapo, so they were imprisoned for a time but survived and were eventually released. (Bribery helped.)Izabela’s son-in-law, Boguslaw Horodynski, a Pole, oversaw the spy network and survived the war. But the Soviets, seeing a freedom fighter as a potential threat to the emerging Communist bloc, arrested him and dispatched him to a labor camp in the Siberian gulag. We believe Boguslaw was enslaved in a mine in Kolyma — which the Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn described as the “pole of cold and cruelty.”Romania’s prime minister personally asked Stalin to show mercy. But Stalin wouldn’t budge.Perhaps this is the prism through which Stalin saw Boguslaw: He’s an immigrant in Romania, he’s potentially a risk to national security, and due process is a silly concept that would slow us down, so we’re sending him to a prison in another country.

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    Massive Iran Port Explosion Kills 4 and Injures Hundreds

    There was no immediate indication that the blast was caused by sabotage or a deliberate attack. State media said it was likely caused by containers of chemicals catching fire.A massive explosion on Saturday at the Iranian port of Shahid Rajaee in Bandar Abbas killed several people and injured hundreds, according to state media. The exact cause of the blast was not immediately clear, although there was no suggestion of an attack or sabotage.Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/Islamic Republic News AgencyA massive explosion at a port in southern Iran on Saturday killed at least four people and injured more than 500, according to state media.The exact cause of the blast at the Shahid Rajaee port in the city of Bandar Abbas was not immediately clear. But Iranian authorities did not suggest it was sabotage or a deliberate attack.The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted an official as saying the ignition of containers of chemicals most likely set off the explosion. The blast sent up clouds of black smoke, according to footage from the scene distributed by an Iranian broadcaster and video from social media that was verified by The New York Times.Bandar Abbas is strategically located along the Strait of Hormuz, a busy Persian Gulf shipping lane for the world’s oil and natural gas.In 2020, Israel launched a cyberattack that hampered operations at the Shahid Rajaee port as part of its long-running shadow war with Iran.Israeli officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday’s explosion.The explosion came around the time that American and Iranian officials began meeting in the Gulf sultanate of Oman on Saturday for a third round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program.Last week, The New York Times reported that Israel had planned to attack Iranian nuclear sites as soon as next month, but it was waved off by Mr. Trump, who wanted to negotiate an agreement with Tehran instead. But Mr. Trump has also vowed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, including by military action if necessary. More

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    Who Is Kielce Gussie, the American Who Did the First Reading at Pope Francis’ Funeral?

    Kielce Gussie is a reporter with Vatican News. She has been working in Rome since 2019.The honor of delivering the first reading at Pope Francis’ funeral Mass on Saturday fell to Kielce Gussie, an American who works as a reporter with Vatican News.It was, she said on social media, “a great way to say goodbye” to the pontiff.In a strong, resonant voice before the many thousands of mourners who had gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Ms. Gussie read from the Acts of the Apostles 10: 34-43, a Bible verse that Francis chose for the service and that holds large significance for Catholics.Ms. Gussie, 28, grew up in Florida, and graduated from Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland with a degree in theology, according to her LinkedIn profile. She began working in Rome in 2019, according to her profile, and last October joined Vatican News — a news agency that Francis created to bolster news coverage of the church and the Vatican.“I’m really happy to be here because it’s a great way to say goodbye to Pope Francis,” Ms. Gussie said on social media outside St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday morning before the Mass. She added that her last memory of Francis was from her birthday. “He gave me a little blessing,” she said. “It’s really a special way to spend my birthday.”She said it had been difficult to see Francis grow frail in his final days, “but he gave everything until the end.” More

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    Decoding the Vatican: Key Terms in the Papal Transition

    From “camerlengo” to white smoke, here’s what to know about the words and phrases that guide the process after a pope dies.The transition from one pope to the next can be a mystifying time for those who aren’t familiar with the workings of the Roman Catholic Church — and even to some who are.The process is governed by centuries-old rules and traditions that come with their own vocabulary, much of it in Latin. The election of a new pope is likely to play out over weeks or months as a small group of Catholic prelates decides on the next leader of a global flock of more than a billion faithful.With the first papal transition in more than a decade underway following the death of Pope Francis, who was laid to rest on Saturday, here are some terms to know:ConclaveThis is the meeting of cardinals, set to begin next month, that will elect the next pope. The word comes from the Latin “with key,” and refers to the isolation imposed on the men (and they have always been men) as they make their decision inside the Vatican. They cannot leave the conclave except in rare cases, and phones, the internet and newspapers are not allowed. The cardinals vote by secret ballot until a two-thirds majority is reached, and a new pope is elected. The process was recently dramatized in the movie “Conclave,” which papal experts said presented a fairly accurate depiction. (The New York Times has written about some of the possible contenders.)College of CardinalsCardinals, known as the “princes of the church,” are the second highest ranking Catholic prelates, and together they are known as the College of Cardinals. There are 252 cardinals, appointed by the pope to assist and advise him on Church affairs, and when a pope dies, it falls to the college to choose a successor.The word cardinal comes from the Latin “cardinalis,” which means “serving as a hinge.” The group is led by a dean, a position currently held by Giovanni Battista Re, a 91-year-old Italian who has spent most of his career serving in the Roman curia. He will preside over the meetings that lead up to the conclave but will not attend the gathering, as only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote for pope.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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    Melania Trump, Prince William and Zelensky Among Famous Faces at Pope Francis’ Funeral

    President Trump, Melania Trump, Prince William and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine were among those who paid respects to the pontiff in St. Peter’s Square.Among the tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday for Pope Francis’ funeral were monarchs, world leaders, at least one former president and other familiar faces.Filling up the rows of nondescript chairs, according to Vatican protocol, reigning monarchs went first, including King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain. Then came heads of state, in alphabetical order according to the name of their country in French.Only Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy and President Javier Milei of the pope’s native Argentina had priority seating toward the front.Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron of France sat across an aisle from President Trump, and Melania Trump, the first lady, and the two presidents shook hands at one point in the service. Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a Catholic, sat farther away with Jill Biden, the former first lady.Crowds watching on big screens around the square applauded when President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine took his seat. Leaders from Africa and Asia, regions where the Catholic Church is growing, also took their seats, including President William Ruto of Kenya and President Droupadi Murmu of India.Other royals who aren’t heads of state, including Prince William, sat in a group just in front of visiting government ministers and other dignitaries.Away from the world leaders, among the crowds, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who was imprisoned after his website published secret government documents in the 2010s, paid tribute to Francis with his family.“Now Julian is free, we have all come to Rome to express our family’s gratitude for the Pope’s support during Julian’s persecution,” read a message on social media attributed to his wife, Stella Assange. The post said that the pope had written to Mr. Assange while he was in prison. More

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    Why We Let Fads Dictate What We Eat

    For a few weeks last fall, I was eating a deflated rectangle made of cottage cheese, eggs and shredded Cheddar every day for lunch. When this unholy concoction first came out of the oven, it would seem so fluffy and filled with promise; warm and buttery yellow. By the time this egg bake made it to my plate, it fell into a sad lump. It always tasted fine; I’ve had much worse. But it’s certainly not what I would have chosen to eat regularly if I had not listened to the siren song of #proteinfluencers.Protein has been the hot macronutrient for a while now. Longtime readers may recall that I gently mocked my husband for his protein obsession back in 2023. He had been listening to health podcasts and social media posts, and various protein powders made their way into our pantry. In the two years since I wrote that piece, protein has become even more ubiquitous. This month, The Wall Street Journal noted that “In the year to Feb. 22, the fastest-growing grocery items were those with the most protein per serving — 25 grams or more, according to NielsenIQ data.” The extended Kardashian clan, who never met a trend they couldn’t capitalize on, is in the mix. Khloe Kardashian just announced a new line of protein popcorn called Khloud.Protein-forward diets are easy to market because they appeal to both men and women. Dieting in general is female coded, but men can focus on protein without feeling emasculated because body builders do it, and it comes in the form of literal red meat (hello beef tallow, my old friend) and gym-rat powders.In general, I try to eat in a way that makes me feel physically and mentally good. I thought that I had grown beyond fads and that I could not be swayed. I try to resist outside influences because I was raised on a steady diet of teen magazines and “America’s Next Top Model” and the fiction that celery is a negative calorie food. I don’t need to flood my brain with any more self-loathing nonsense.Still, I don’t want to be ignorant of ways to keep myself fully functional. I turned 43 this year. I’m competitive about my athletic prowess. I’m trying to get my fastest mile run under 7 minutes. I have been reading about how muscle mass starts to decline in your 30s — especially for women — and consuming enough protein is essential for building new muscle.I’m also not immune to social media, in part because it’s my job to analyze what is popular and how trends are sold to a captive audience. But I am also part of the audience.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 Pope’s Funeral

    We are live from the Vatican.VATICAN CITY — A patchwork of clergy in red, white, purple and black vestments. World leaders including President Trump seated on the stairs of St. Peter’s Basilica for an outdoor ceremony. A simple cypress casket. Haunting chants and some 200,000 faithful embraced by Bernini’s colonnade.In a solemn and majestic funeral that ended moments ago, the Roman Catholic Church laid to rest Pope Francis, the first South American pope, whose humble style and pastoral vision both reinvigorated and divided the institution that he led for a dozen years. He was 88.It’s warm and clear here in Rome. A group of refugees and homeless people, like those Francis advocated for around the world, joined presidents, prime ministers and the church’s cardinals — one of whom will be the next pope — to bid the Holy Father farewell.During the funeral.Eric Lee/The New York Times“He was a Pope among the people, with an open heart towards everyone,” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re said in the homily. “The guiding thread of his mission was also the conviction that the church is a home for all, a home with its doors always open.”He spoke in Italian. Texts were also read in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Portuguese.Before the service, priests from Myanmar talked about how Francis had energized their small church when he visited and elevated their bishop to a cardinal. Pilgrims from Ecuador said he had made them feel seen. Conservative clerics from the Czech Republic said they still weren’t sure what to make of him.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