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The decision is a crucial step in getting shots to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the center of the outbreak.The World Health Organization has given its authorization to a first vaccine to protect against mpox, a decision announced in such haste on Friday that it caught even the head of the company that makes the vaccine by surprise.The vaccine, made by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, has been approved by the regulatory authorities in Europe as well as the United States and other high-income countries since a global mpox outbreak in 2022. But low- and middle-income countries rely on the W.H.O., through a process called prequalification, to determine which drugs, vaccines and health technologies are safe and efficient uses of limited health funding, and the organization had declined to act until now.The W.H.O. had come under increasing criticism for declaring a global public health emergency for mpox last month without giving a vaccine that prequalification stamp of approval, or a more provisional form of approval called emergency use authorization. Bavarian Nordic first submitted its safety and effectiveness data on the vaccine, called Jynneos, to the W.H.O. in 2023. The W.H.O. had defended its slow pace of review, saying that it needed to subject the vaccine to careful study because it, and two others that have been used to protect against mpox, were originally designed as smallpox immunizations, and because delivering it in low-resource settings such as Central Africa would involve factors different from those relating to its use in high-income countries.But on Friday morning, the W.H.O. suddenly said it was authorizing the shot.“This first prequalification of a vaccine against mpox is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreaks in Africa, and in future,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O. director general, said in a statement.Paul Chaplin, Bavarian Nordic’s chief executive, said he was among the many who had been caught off guard.“We’ve got there eventually — I don’t know quite how,” he said. “But it’s good news. It’s going to make the regulatory pathway much easier.”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

Gordon was a tropical storm in the North Atlantic Ocean Friday morning Eastern time, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The tropical storm had sustained wind speeds of 40 miles per hour.  All times on the map are Eastern. By The New York Times Where will it rain? Flash flooding can occur […] More

A major exhibition in London focuses on the painter’s final years, finding new feelings in some of his most famous works.The two vivid portraits — the poet and the lover — hang together in the first room of the exhibition, as they did above van Gogh’s bed in the so-called Yellow House in a working-class neighborhood of Arles, France.It was there, roughly two years before his death by suicide in July 1890, that he dreamed of creating a “Studio of the South” — an artist commune that would produce avant-garde art bathed in the golden light of southern France. (“I know that it will do certain people good to find poetic subjects — THE STARRY SKY — THE VINE BRANCHES — THE FURROWS — the poet’s garden,” he wrote to his brother, Theo.)Van Gogh’s friend, the painter Paul Gauguin, came to stay for two months in late 1888 (ending with the dispute in which the Dutchman famously lopped off part of his own ear), but van Gogh was otherwise alone in Provence. It was a prolific period during which — despite emotional turmoil, mental breakdowns and periodic institutionalization — the artist produced some of his most famous, inventive and moving works.“Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers,” which runs through Jan. 19, 2025, at the National Gallery, in London, brings together over 50 works (some of them rarely on loan) to present a fresh and tender vision of the well-known artist. The show is a centerpiece of the museum’s 200th anniversary celebrations.“Sunflowers,” (1888).The National Gallery, LondonThe exhibition’s focus is on the painter’s two final years, when his distinctive writhing line, hallucinatory palette, impastoed surfaces and romantic visions reached new heights. It also highlights how he displayed his works in the Yellow House, carefully arranging them to create an environment of images in conversation, and his desire to make paintings that transformed what he observed in ordinary life into a kind of poetry.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 Menopause Society announced a new initiative to support workers during this life stage. Whether employers implement it is another story.Two years ago, Dr. Stephanie Faubion stood at the microphone at a meeting of the Menopause Society thinking, “This is going to be a problem.” Someone in the room had asked a question about the challenges of going through menopause in the workplace, and the conversation had turned to ways employers could step in. Dr. Faubion, the organization’s medical director, worried that asking for additional provisions for women would fuel more gender discrimination — if women required special treatment, employers would have more reason to not hire or promote them. “What are we going to do, give women a cold room?” she remembers saying.But last spring, she and other researchers published a study on the costs of menopause at the office that helped change her thinking. Women were missing work — $1.8 billion worth of working time each year. Some quit altogether because of menopause. “I was like, alright, we can’t just bury our heads in the sand over this,” Dr. Faubion, director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health, said. “We’re going to have do something.”Today, the Menopause Society rolled out an initiative providing employers with guidance on how to support women going through menopause. It includes tips for managers to talk about menopause at work and policies employers can consider, like ensuring that the health care plans they offer cover treatment options for menopause symptoms.The program, called Making Menopause Work, also provides suggestions for making it easier for menopausal employees to get through the workday, like flexible bathroom breaks for those dealing with unpredictable or heavy bleeding, and improving ventilation and using uniforms made with breathable fabrics so that hot flashes are less uncomfortable. There are talking points workers can bring to their employers and an assessment to gauge how well a workplace responds to menopause.The initiative is the latest symbol of growing recognition that menopause takes a toll on women in the workplace. This year, Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission stated that employers are legally obligated to make “reasonable adjustments” for women experiencing menopause symptoms if they are severe enough to amount to a disability. In 2021, the European Menopause and Andropause Society released its own recommendations urging employers to address menopause in the workplace through measures like explicitly covering menopause in sick time policies, and allowing women in customer-facing jobs to take breaks to manage symptoms like hot flashes. Some companies in the United States and abroad have started offering menopause-specific benefits.The question now is whether all this will translate into actual change.“The cynic in me is like, ‘Yeah, good luck with that,’” Dr. Faubion 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

More from our inbox:Why Trump Doesn’t Want Another DebateTrump’s Mental FitnessCancel the Sentinel Missile ProgramA Walker in Manhattan Eli DurstTo the Editor:Re “D.E.I. Is Not Working in Colleges. We Need a New Approach,” by Paul Brest and Emily J. Levine (Opinion guest essay, Sept. 5):Mr. Brest and Dr. Levine underscore the importance of inclusion for all students’ academic success. I agree: For students to succeed, they must have access to a rigorous learning environment in which they also feel they matter.But I disagree with the professors on the history and roles of diversity offices that are responsible for fostering such a sense of belonging. Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education are mission-driven, evidence-backed, research-informed and tailored to meet the particular needs of each campus.These practices seek to bring people together and collaboratively eliminate barriers to success, and they have evolved with legislative and judicial efforts to address decades of discrimination against protected categories under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.Given the complexities of differing institutional types, historical legacies and current contexts, the solution includes acknowledging that we live in a pluralist society, that we can value differences as a community of learners, and that doing so is not contrary to academic freedom and critical thinking.There is work ahead to ensure we can continue to meet the needs of our ever-evolving communities. There always will be work ahead; the pursuit of progress is, by definition, unending.Paulette Granberry RussellWashingtonThe writer is the president and C.E.O. of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.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

Much has been said about the increased workload of top players, the Barcelona star said, but the mental toll of expectations and fame is just as likely to lead to burnout.This week’s newsletter has been subject to a friendly takeover by my friend, colleague and occasional padel partner Tariq Panja, who spent some time talking to Robert Lewandowski a few weeks ago. The fruits of their conversation are below. But because I dislike not getting the chance to sound off on things on a regular basis, and would otherwise have to bore my wife with my thoughts on the #Barclaysman phenomenon, I’ve contributed some thoughts after his bit.Robert Lewandowski has been famous for a long time. And as one of the most successful players of his generation in the world’s most popular sport, he knows that attention comes with the job. But he is also a dad.So, like most elite soccer players, he must do a lot of planning and preparation when it comes to something as simple as going out for a stroll with his family, particularly if he leaves Castelldefels, the exclusive coastal enclave near Barcelona where he now lives.Over the years, he developed a tool kit for outings. Sunglasses and a cap are standard, even if they probably won’t fool the fans liable to mob him. But now any such outing also includes a preliminary chat with the person who decides how much Lewandowski can, and should, interact with the public: his daughter Klara.“We have an agreement that she can always tell me, ‘Yeah, you can do this’ or, ‘No,’ if she’s feeling stressed,” Lewandowski said in a recent interview. “Because for the kids, it’s not a normal situation.”In Europe, players of Lewandowski’s caliber, even as he nears the end of a trophy-laden career, are catnip for hordes of selfie-seeking soccer fans. So having a few hours out with the family can often mean striking a balance between meeting the needs of an eager and demanding fan base, especially one as large and as passionate as Barcelona’s, and those of his young family.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

Recent studies show that certain feather pigments can help neutralize toxic pollution. It means darker, duller birds could have a survival advantage.Some popular city dwellers appear to be losing their colorful allure, and not just the dirty birds.According to a study published this summer in the journal Landscape and Planning that looked at 547 bird species in China, birds that live in cities are duller and darker on average than their rural counterparts. A similar conclusion emerged from an analysis of 59 studies published in March in Biological Reviews: Urban feathers are not as bright, with yellow, orange and red feathers affected most.Often, city birds are covered in grime. But even if you could give them all a good bird bath, chances are their brightness still wouldn’t match that of their country cousins. That’s because of the way pollution, and heavy metals in particular, can interact with melanin, a pigment that makes feathers black, brown and gray.Studies show that melanin can bind to heavy metals like lead. That means toxic chemicals may be more likely to be stored in plumage in darker and duller birds. And that, in turn, can confer a survival advantage.“The more melanin you accumulate, the better able you are to sequester these harmful compounds in feathers,” said Kevin McGraw, a biologist at Michigan State University who studies the colors of animals to understand the costs, benefits and evolution of visual signals.Urban pollution affects avian colors in other ways, too. Research shows that compared with rural plants, city trees store fewer natural pigments called carotenoids, and pollution is the likely reason. Carotenoids are produced by plants, algae and fungi. They’re what makes red peppers red and carrots orange.When leaves are low on these pigments, the effects go up the food chain: Leaf-munching caterpillars become deficient in carotenoids, and so do caterpillar-munching birds.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

States voting on abortion One measure Two measures Voters in a record 10 states will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions this fall. In Nebraska, voters face two measures: one favoring abortion rights and another that would ban abortion after the first trimester. Supporters of abortion rights hope to continue their […] More