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      Extremely Lifelike Dolls Cause a Frenzy in Brazil

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      A young woman posts a video that appears to show her holding her baby, Bento, and packing his bag for a trip to the hospital. She calls it “one of the busiest and scariest days for me.”She grabs onesies, a bottle and medical documents and tucks him in the back of a car. At the hospital, he is weighed and lies in a bed, where she removes his pacifier, bottle-feeds him and wipes a few drops of formula from his cheek.But this was not an actual medical emergency — it was role-playing by a content creator — and the baby was not a real baby. It was a shockingly lifelike doll, called a reborn doll, which is handcrafted to look and feel like a baby.The video, which received more than 16 million views on TikTok, is part of a social media craze that has turned into a cultural and political flashpoint in Brazil. Widely circulated videos show women taking the hyperrealistic dolls to the park in strollers, celebrating their birthdays with cake and songs, and simulating childbirth. (A select few even simulate the dolls’ having a nosebleed or potty training.)The YouTuber Gabi Matos with her collection of dolls in Campinas, Brazil, in May.Nelson Almeida/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images“The ones I like the most are the newborns,” said Juliana Drusz Magri, 36, who lives in Curitiba, the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná, and works in human resources. She said she began collecting the dolls in 2018 and now has 22.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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      Hope After Trump

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      Is President Trump irrecoverably damaging America?I’ve been pondering that lately, partly because several of my friends have been so traumatized by Trump that they are wondering whether to give up on America and move to Canada to rebuild their lives there. I’ve tried to reassure them that this is not 1938 Germany.They shrug and note that 1935 Germany wasn’t 1938 Germany, either — but that’s what it became.Yet in the post-Cold War era, the typical authoritarian model isn’t the police state conjured by Hitlerian nightmares. Rather, it’s more nuanced. It’s one in which a charismatic leader is elected and then uses a democratic mandate to rig democratic institutions.In such states, there are elections that aren’t entirely fair, news organizations that aren’t free but also aren’t Pravda, a repressive apparatus that may not torture dissidents but does audit and impoverish them. The rough model is Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Hungary, or the Law and Justice party’s Poland, or President Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines or Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India. You can call this competitive authoritarianism or a rigged democracy or something else, but a key feature is that elections still matter even if the playing field is tilted — and most important, such authoritarians are periodically ousted.These 21st-century authoritarians have gained ground in many countries, partly in reaction to surging migration. But the longer trend runs against autocrats, I think.That’s partly structural. Authoritarians surround themselves with sycophants, so that no one warns them when they proclaim dumb policies that tank the economy. Free from oversight, they yield to dissolution and corruption.I’ve been covering authoritarians around the world my entire career, and so often they seemed unassailable as they banned me “for life.” But it usually turned out to be the dictator’s life, not mine.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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      Russia Launches Broad Assault on Kyiv and Other Cities in Ukraine

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      Air defense crews in the capital were racing to combat a large-scale bombardment before dawn on Friday, officials said. Explosions rocked Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, before dawn on Friday as air defense crews raced to combat a large-scale Russian bombardment, the authorities said. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia had begun launching ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at the capital and other cities overnight. Multiple fires were reported across Kyiv, including at a 16-story apartment block. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least three people had been injured, and officials cautioned that the toll could rise as the attack was still underway. Russia has launched more than 1,000 drones per week at military and civilian targets in Ukraine in recent months, including more than 300 in a single night last week. On Wednesday, Russia’s leader, Vladimir V. Putin, warned President Trump that his country would retaliate against Ukraine for its audacious drone attack last weekend on airfields across Russia, according to Mr. Trump. On Thursday, Mr. Trump compared Russia and Ukraine to two fighting children who needed to work out their differences before their bloody war could end. “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,” he said in the Oval Office as Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, urged him to leverage the power of the United States to end the conflict. Mr. Trump avoided answering a question about whether he was willing to increase pressure on Russia. The Kremlin has repeatedly resisted his calls for an unconditional cease-fire. Since the beginning of this year, the Russian military has carried out attacks against Ukraine using nearly 27,700 aerial bombs, almost 11,200 Shahed drones, around 9,000 other attack strike drones and more than 700 missiles, including ballistic ones, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Thursday. “This is the pace of Russian strikes, and they deliberately set this tempo from the very first days of the full-scale war,” Mr. Zelensky said. “Russia has restructured its entire state, society, and economy to be able to kill people in other countries on a massive scale and with impunity.” Before the overnight bombardment, Russia launched high-explosive aerial bombs at the center of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Thursday morning, partially destroying the Regional State Administration building and damaging several surrounding structures. On Wednesday night, the Russians attacked the city of Pryluky in the northeastern Chernihiv region, killing at least five people, including a 1-year-old baby, Ukrainian officials said. More

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      In N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race, Mamdani Responds to a Call for His Deportation

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      Vickie Paladino, a councilwoman from Queens, called Zohran Mamdani a “radical leftist” who hates America, and warned against “future Zohrans.”In his surprising rise to New York City’s top tier of mayoral hopefuls, Zohran Mamdani has battled opponents’ attacks on his inexperience, his leftward politics and his criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.But this week, Mr. Mamdani found himself facing a new attack that was both pointed and illogical, when a Republican city councilwoman from Queens called for him to be deported. (Mr. Mamdani is a U.S. citizen.)The remark by the councilwoman, Vickie Paladino, who is known for her incendiary social media posts, quickly became a talking point in the Democratic mayoral primary race, just a day before the candidates were to face off in their first debate.Ms. Paladino recirculated a 2019 social media post from Mr. Mamdani in which he said he couldn’t vote for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont for president in 2016 because he was not a citizen at the time. She was incredulous that Mr. Mamdani was being treated seriously as a mayoral candidate.“Let’s just talk about how insane it is to elect someone to any major office who hasn’t even been a U.S. citizen for 10 years — much less a radical leftist who actually hates everything about the country and is here specifically to undermine everything we’ve ever been about,” Ms. Paladino wrote on X late Monday evening. “Deport.”Mr. Mamdani, who is polling second behind former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in the June 24 primary, soon responded.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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      Mexico Votes in Sprawling, First-Ever Judiciary Election

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      Voters were choosing the nine members of the Supreme Court on Sunday, along with more than 2,600 other judges and magistrates.Voters across Mexico went to the polls on Sunday to elect thousands of judges, from the local level to the Supreme Court, pressing ahead with one of the most far-reaching judicial overhauls ever attempted by a large democracy.The process will transform the judiciary away from an appointment-based system, a change that leaders of the governing Morena party say will help root out corrupt officials, democratize the courts and give citizens a voice in who administers justice.But although most Mexicans agree that their justice system is broken, the overhaul being enacted on Sunday has drawn sharp criticism from opposition figures and legal experts. They argue that it risks giving Morena extraordinary power over a third branch of government, throws out the old system’s career requirements and opens the door to candidates who could be influenced by drug cartels.Because the election is so ambitious — more than 2,600 judges and magistrates will be elected, out of more than 7,700 candidates — some election experts expected voter turnout to be low. As voting got underway, relatively few voters could be seen lining up to vote around the country.In Tultitlán, in the state of Mexico, Jazmín Gutiérrez Ruiz, 37, was among those who cast ballots. She said that she hoped the election would root out corruption from the judiciary, and that her reasons were personal. Two of her brothers have spent two years in prison, accused of a murder “they didn’t do,” she said.“I want the magistrates and judges to change, and for them to take the time to carefully look at the cases,” said Ms. Gutiérrez Ruiz, who works for a processed meat company. “Just like my brothers, there are many people locked up unjustly.”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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      México vota en las primeras elecciones del poder judicial en su historia

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      Los mexicanos eligieron el domingo a los nueve miembros de la Suprema Corte, junto con más de 2600 jueces y magistrados.Los votantes de todo México acudieron a las urnas el domingo para elegir a miles de jueces, desde los tribunales locales hasta la Suprema Corte, impulsando una de las modificaciones judiciales de mayor alcance jamás intentadas por una democracia grande.El proceso transformará el sistema judicial, que dejará de estar basado en nombramientos, un cambio que, según los líderes del partido gobernante, Morena, ayudará a erradicar a los funcionarios corruptos, democratizar los tribunales y dar voz a los ciudadanos para decidir quién imparte la justicia.Sin embargo, aunque la mayoría de los mexicanos concuerdan en que su sistema de justicia es deficiente, la modificación que entra el vigor el domingo ha suscitado duras críticas por parte de figuras de la oposición y expertos jurídicos. Argumentan que se corre el riesgo de otorgar a Morena un poder extraordinario sobre el tercer poder del gobierno, que elimina los requisitos de carrera del antiguo sistema y que abre la puerta a candidatos que podrían estar influenciados por los cárteles de la droga.Dado que las elecciones son tan ambiciosas —se elegirán más de 2600 jueces y magistrados, de entre más de 7700 candidatos—, algunos expertos electorales esperaban que la participación fuera baja. A medida que se iniciaba la votación, se podían ver relativamente pocas personas haciendo fila para votar en todo el país.En Tultitlán, en el Estado de México, Jazmín Gutiérrez Ruiz, de 37 años, se encontraba entre quienes emitieron su voto. Dijo que esperaba que las elecciones erradicaran la corrupción del poder judicial, y que sus motivos eran personales. Dos de sus hermanos han pasado dos años en prisión, acusados de un asesinato “que ellos no hicieron”, dijo.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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      Aide to Rep. Nadler Is Handcuffed Amid Confrontation With Federal Agents

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      Captured on video, the episode occurred in the congressman’s Manhattan office, shortly after the aide observed agents detaining immigrants outside a courtroom.Federal officers entered Representative Jerry Nadler’s office in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday and handcuffed and briefly detained one of his aides. The confrontation happened shortly after the aide observed federal agents detaining migrants in a public hallway outside an immigration courtroom in the same building as the congressman’s office.The episode was recorded by someone who was sitting in Mr. Nadler’s office. In the video, an officer with the Federal Protective Service, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is shown demanding access to a private area inside the office. The video was obtained by Gothamist, which earlier reported the confrontation.“You’re harboring rioters in the office,” the federal agent, whose name tag and officer number are not visible in the video, says to a member of Mr. Nadler’s staff.There were no riots reported on Wednesday at the federal building on Varick Street, though protesters and immigrant rights advocates gathered inside and outside the building earlier in the day. The immigration court is on the fifth floor and Mr. Nadler’s office is on the sixth.The agents entered Mr. Nadler’s office because they had been told that protesters were there and were concerned for the safety of his staff members, according to a statement on Saturday from the Department of Homeland Security.When they arrived, “one individual became verbally confrontational and physically blocked access to the office,” the statement said. That person, an aide to the congressman, was detained so the officers could complete their safety check, according to the 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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      The Meaning of a Trump-Inspired Style

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      The Times’s chief fashion critic unravels the Trump-inspired style that has spread quickly across Washington.President Trump has changed a lot about Washington over the past four months, including how it looks.I’m not talking about the city’s architecture, although he has made clear his disdain for the brutalism of many federal buildings (an aesthetic that I’m personally quite fond of).I’m talking about the city’s style.Trump and his inner circle of aides and family members cannonballed into Washington’s ocean of understated suits and blouses with a bold and strikingly consistent approach to clothing, cosmetics and, well, personal enhancements. (Nothing points up its consistency so well as the occasional departure, like the T-shirts and blazers Elon Musk has worn to the Oval Office, including today.) If style is a way to send a message, and politics is largely a matter of communication, the maturation of a “MAGA style” in Trump’s second term is a development worth understanding.So I reached out to our reigning expert: Vanessa Friedman, The Times’s chief fashion critic, who has covered political image-making for years (and who, as it happens, writes an excellent newsletter). We discussed the language of Trumpist fashion, the way it has evolved since Trump’s first term and what it means for men as well as for women.OK, let’s start with some visual aids. Who, to you, really embodies the aesthetic of the people around President Trump?Why don’t we take a look?Clockwise from top left: Maansi Srivastava for The New York Times, Sarah Blesener for The New York Times, Doug Mills/The New York Times, Haiyun Jiang/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