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    100 Notable Books of 2024

    If you read Ferris’s original 2017 graphic novel, you can’t forget it: a beguiling, haunted hybrid of personal memoir, murder mystery and 20th-century time portal. This surreal and densely referential follow-up, drawn in Ferris’s signature cross-hatched style, continues to follow 10-year-old Karen Reyes in circa-1968 Chicago as she wrestles with loss, sexual identity and a […] More

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    Has Social Media Advice Affected Your Finances? We Want to Hear From You.

    If you have come across misleading personal finance advice online, tell us. We may include your experiences in an article.Social media and other platforms have helped make information on financial literacy, investing and trading more accessible than ever. Many accounts share information that can help people manage their money. But others are sharing advice that regulators say can be misleading.Some content creators might promote financial products like credit cards along with goods like vitamin supplements and electronics. Others — whether or not they have expertise — might lift the veil on their own financial journeys or share investment strategies. But sorting through the helpful from the deceptive can be a challenging task, especially when it comes to the vast landscape of social media. Financial regulators have warned people to be wary of advice from so-called fin-fluencers.I’m a New York Times reporter who writes about a broad range of topics, including the impact of digital trends on everyday life. I’ve written about sailors trading tips online over orca attacks and how savvy TikTok marketing revived a restaurant’s business. I’d like to hear from people who have lost money after following financial advice from someone online, whether that’s investing in a risky asset, signing up for a service or something else.I will read each submission and may use your contact information to follow up if I’m interested in learning more. I will not publish any details you share without contacting you and verifying your information. More

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    Walmart Pulls Back on D.E.I. Initiatives Amid Conservative Pressure

    The retailer is the largest company to be targeted by the conservative activist Robby Starbuck.Lowe’s. Tractor Supply. Harley-Davidson.Now Walmart.The company, which is the nation’s largest retailer with some two million employees, is pulling back on some of its initiatives for diversity, equity and inclusion, known as D.E.I.Robby Starbuck, an anti-D.E.I. activist and a social media influencer, declared victory on Monday, saying that Walmart, the country’s largest private employer, was taking several actions in response to his threatened conservative consumer boycott before the holiday shopping season. A spokeswoman for Walmart confirmed the changes, some of which were already in motion.The retailer, like many other companies, has been reviewing its practices since the Supreme Court knocked down affirmative action at colleges last year.“We’ve been on a journey and know we aren’t perfect, but every decision comes from a place of wanting to foster a sense of belonging, to open doors to opportunities for all our associates, customers and suppliers, and to be a Walmart for everyone,” the company said in a statement.As a result of the changes, third-party merchants will no longer be able to sell some L.G.B.T.Q.-themed items on Walmart.com that are marketed to children. The company will also stop funding the Center for Racial Equity, a nonprofit initiative that Walmart has backed with $100 million, when the agreement expires next year. And the company will stop sharing data with the Human Rights Campaign, a nonprofit that tracks businesses’ L.G.B.T.Q. policies. It will also stop using the terms D.E.I. and Latinx in official communications.Mr. Starbuck has waged online campaigns against several companies whose policies he deems to be too “woke.” While Mr. Starbuck is benefiting as much from a trend to reverse D.E.I. policy as he is instigating it, companies across the United States have been preparing for the potential of possible attacks by activists. Walmart’s actions underline the risk it may see in a public fight, particularly as the anti-D.E.I. agenda gets a boost after Donald J. Trump’s election.In a post on social media, Mr. Starbuck said he had told executives at the company that he was working on a story about “wokeness” at Walmart, but instead the two sides had “productive conversations.”Mr. Starbuck initially focused on companies with customers whom he thought would most likely be sympathetic to his cause, like Tractor Supply and John Deere. Walmart represents a different kind of company: one with employees and customers on both sides of the political divide.“America just voted, and we voted against ‘wokeness,’” Mr. Starbuck said in a video posted on X, as he announced his next targets: Amazon and Target. More

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    Trump’s Tariff Threat Roils Global Markets

    The dollar gained and investors sold off stocks after the president-elect promised to levy new restrictions on the United States’ biggest trade partners. President-elect Donald Trump’s economic policy is already roiling global markets.Brendan McDermid/ReutersThe other Trump trade Investors and policymakers are getting a dose of Trumponomics déjà vu this morning.Global stocks are falling, and the dollar is climbing. The volatility comes after President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to impose tariffs on the United States’ biggest trading partners — Canada, China and Mexico — on Day 1 in office in an apparent effort to clamp down on the flow of cross-border drugs, like fentanyl, and migrants.The latest:Trump wants to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico “on ALL products coming into the United States,” he said on Truth Social. He also wants an “additional” 10 percent tariff on imports from China, which Trump blames for the fentanyl crisis, a charge that Beijing has repeatedly disputed.The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso fell sharply against the dollar. Europe, Japan and South Korea weren’t even mentioned in Trump’s announcement, but stocks have fallen there, too. That suggests rising fears that a new trade war could scramble global supply chains and dent profits.Automakers are some of the hardest hit stocks, with Volkswagen, Stellantis and Nissan, which run manufacturing operations in Mexico, all down.Today’s losses have reversed some of yesterday’s “Bessent bounce” rally. Investors were relieved after Trump picked Scott Bessent, the market-friendly hedge fund mogul, to run the Treasury Department.But the reverberations show that it’s Trump calling the shots. The president-elect has made no secret of his desire to use tariffs to further his America-first agenda, and he has yet to announce his pick to be U.S. Trade Representative. (Another tariff supporter, Robert Lighthizer, is in the running.)Trump’s latest threats may be just a negotiating tactic. That’s the belief of some Trump backers, including Bill Ackman, the billionaire financier. But they are a reminder of how Trump set off alarm bells across diplomatic channels and international markets during his first term often via social media posts. “Waking up to check the tweets for any policy announcements could become the norm,” Mohit Kumar, an economist at Jefferies, wrote in a note this morning.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada spoke to Trump about trade and border security after the president-elect’s announcement, The Times reported. China pushed back. “No one will win a trade war,” a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement.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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    Sign Up to Learn the 10 Best Books of 2024

    On Dec. 3, we’ll announce our picks. Make sure you’re among the first to find out.Good news, book lovers! We’ve arrived at our list of the 10 Best Books of 2024, and we can’t wait to share it with you. On Dec. 3, we’ll reveal our choices, and subscribers to our Books newsletter will be among the first to see the list. Sign up to make sure you’re one of them. After our picks are announced, you will receive our newsletter (featuring book recommendations, publishing news and more) every week.If you already receive the Books newsletter, you will automatically receive the updates, and will not see a way to sign up below. You can find out which newsletters you are signed up for here. More

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    The Metamorphosis of Pete Hegseth

    Diana NguyenCarlos PrietoMary Wilson and Lisa Chow and Marion Lozano and Listen and follow ‘The Daily’Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadioNow that Matt Gaetz has withdrawn from consideration as attorney general, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s most controversial cabinet pick is his selection of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense.Dave Philipps, who reports on war and the military for The Times, discusses three major deployments that shaped how Mr. Hegseth views the military — and why, if confirmed, he’s so dead-set on disrupting its leadership.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.On today’s episodeDave Philipps, who reports about war, the military and veterans for The New York Times.As a host on Fox News, Pete Hegseth portrayed some troops charged with war crimes as “heroes.”Tierney L. Cross for The New York TimesBackground readingHis military experiences transformed Mr. Hegseth from a critic of war crimes into a defender of the accused.What to know about Mr. Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary.There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.Face-checking by More

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    Barack Obama’s Big Lesson

    We cover an analysis of the 2024 election. It remains Barack Obama’s most underrated political skill: his appeal to working-class voters, including those who are white.Obama won most voters without a four-year college degree in his two presidential campaigns. Those majorities helped him win Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in both campaigns. He even won Indiana and North Carolina once.He did so by both speaking to the economic frustration that resulted from years of slow-growing wages and signaling that he, like most Americans, was moderate on social issues. He made clear that he understood people’s anxiety about the speed of cultural change.He talked about “an awesome God” in the 2004 speech that made him a national figure. He rejected sweeping new policies like single-payer health care. He traveled to the University of Notre Dame as president and said he wanted to reduce the number of abortions. He supported civil unions rather than same-sex marriage when most voters felt similarly.He went on MTV and complained about people who wore their pants too low. (“Some people might not want to see your underwear — I’m one of them,” Obama said.) He took a middle ground on immigration, criticizing both family separations and companies that undercut “American wages by hiring illegal workers.”As time has passed, I think some people have forgotten how conservative Obama could sound. This approach sometimes angered progressives. They called him a sellout, a neoliberal and “the deporter in chief.” But Obama was genuinely moderate in some ways. He also hated treating political disagreements as existential and opponents as the enemy.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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    Trump’s Dramatic Tariff Plan, and a Cease-Fire Takes Shape in Lebanon

    Listen to and follow “The Headlines”Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadioSalman Masood and Jessica Metzger and On Today’s Episode:Trump Plans Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China That Could Cripple Trade, by Ana Swanson, Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Simon RomeroJack Smith Seeks Dismissal of Two Federal Cases Against Trump, by Alan Feuer, Charlie Savage and Devlin BarrettTop Trump Aide Accused of Asking for Money to ‘Promote’ Potential Appointees, by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan SwanNetanyahu Signals Openness to Cease-Fire With Hezbollah, Officials Say, by Ronen Bergman, Patrick Kingsley and Jack NicasPakistan Deploys Army in Its Capital as Protesters and Police Clash, by Salman MasoodOzempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry. But It Is Fighting Back, by Tomas WeberWho Needs Congress When You Have Cameo?, by Joseph BernsteinPresident-elect Donald J. Trump said that he would impose tariffs on all products coming into the United States from Canada, Mexico and China on his first day in office.Edmund D. Fountain for The New York TimesTune in, and tell us what you think at theheadlines@nytimes.com. For corrections, email nytnews@nytimes.com.For more audio journalism and storytelling, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. More