Divisions Among Finance Ministers Flare Over Seizing Russian Assets
Business

Divisions Among Finance Ministers Flare Over Seizing Russian Assets

Connected media - Associated media “While we should act together and in a considered way, I believe there is a strong international law, economic, and moral case for moving forward,” Ms. Yellen said. But Mr. LeMaire, who spoke just a few hours ahead of a private meeting with Ms. Yellen, pushed back on that assertion. “We don’t have the legal basis to seize the Russian assets and we should never act if we don’t obey by the international law and by the rule of law,” Mr. Le Maire said, according to a recording of his remarks. Western officials have been considering several options for how they can use the approximately $300 billion Russian central bank assets, most of which is held in the European Union, to provide economic and military support for Ukraine. That includes the European Co...
USWNT’s loss to Mexico was a jarring reminder that the team’s mystique is gone
Sports

USWNT’s loss to Mexico was a jarring reminder that the team’s mystique is gone

Connected media - Related media For those who weren’t following along during the 2011 World Cup qualifying cycle — in which the U.S. lost to Mexico in the CONCACAF semifinals before Alex Morgan finally sent the U.S. through in a playoff series against Italy — matches against Mexico might have felt like a rivalry in name only. The U.S. women’s national team had not lost to Mexico since that moment in 2010, and hadn’t lost to any CONCACAF opponent at home since 2000. Monday night threw that narrative out the window. The USWNT was outplayed in a 2-0 loss in front of a boisterous crowd in Carson, Ca., and while it didn’t match the low of that 0-0 draw against Portugal in the World Cup group stage last summer, the team’s final group stage match of this Gold Cup was (hopefully) a ...
Center for Public Integrity Weighs Merger or Shutdown Amid Dire Financial Straits
Business

Center for Public Integrity Weighs Merger or Shutdown Amid Dire Financial Straits

Associated media - Associated media “The board remains committed to C.P.I. and its essential mission, and is working hard to determine the best way forward for our journalism,” the nonprofit said in a statement. The financial peril facing the Center for Public Integrity threatens to extinguish a newsroom of about 30 journalists that has watchdogged powerful institutions for decades. Much of its funding has come from foundations interested in supporting investigative journalism, including the Knight Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. As its reserves dwindle, its board of directors is contemplating drastic action to address the situation. The Center for Public Integrity explored a potential combination this year with The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that publishes inves...
Scenes From More Than a Century of Sports
Sports

Scenes From More Than a Century of Sports

Linked media - Linked media As journalists from the Sports desk began other assignments across the newsroom — and, in a few cases, roles at The Athletic — Times Insider took a look back at the history of the desk. New York Times Sports has been home to a distinguished lineup of columnists — among them Arthur Daley, Red Smith, Dave Anderson and Selena Roberts — as well as reporters like Alan Schwarz, whose reporting on the deadly effects of concussions in the National Football League led to reforms at all levels of the game. Here are five occasions when Times sportswriters and columnists went the extra mile for a story. Carving Out a Unique Beat Walter Fletcher joined The Times’s staff in 1927 soon after graduating from City College of New York, where he was the campus correspondent f...
Inquiry Into Ouster of OpenAI’s Chief Executive Nears End
Business

Inquiry Into Ouster of OpenAI’s Chief Executive Nears End

Connected media - Related media WilmerHale, a prominent U.S. law firm, is close to wrapping up a detailed review of OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, and his ouster from the artificial intelligence start-up late last year, two people with knowledge of the proceedings said. The investigation, when complete, could give insight into what went on behind the scenes with Mr. Altman and OpenAI’s former board of directors, which fired him on Nov. 17 before reinstating him five days later. OpenAI, which is valued at more than $80 billion, has led a frenzy over A.I. and could help determine the direction of the transformative technology. Mr. Altman, 38, has told people in recent weeks that the investigation was nearing a close, the two people with knowledge of the matter said. The results ...
The tiny Brazilian club that fooled North Korea – ‘They would have been angry if we had won’
Sports

The tiny Brazilian club that fooled North Korea – ‘They would have been angry if we had won’

Linked media - Associated media Everyone seems to have a slightly different estimate of how many people were outside the stadium on that strange November afternoon, but the consensus is that it was a lot. As the bus crept through the crowd, the Brazilian footballers on board stared out of the windows. Locals — tens of thousands of them, on some accounts — flooded the streets. Most greeted the bus with diffident waves. A few ran alongside, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone they would not have recognised anyway. An hour later, those same footballers walked through a long underground tunnel, up a flight of stairs and out onto the pitch. They lined up in front of the dugout and sang Brazil’s national anthem. The match that began moments thereafter took place in 2009, but you would nev...