Author: Admin
Literally and metaphorically, luggage is the freight of air travel.It’s not just fees that deter fliers from checking bags; it’s the time and hassle involved in reclaiming them as well as the risk they’ll be lost, damaged or delayed. Nearly seven in 1,000 airline passengers globally experience mishandled bags, according to SITA, an airline technology provider.Promising to reduce travel friction, luggage-shipping services have flourished in recent years, offering unburdened transit and the delight of finding your bags waiting for you in your destination.The convenience often comes at a cost above a checked-bag fee. So, we wondered, is it worth it?How…
Births in the United States increased by just 1 percent in 2024, still near the record low rates that have alarmed demographers and become a central part of the Trump administration’s cultural agenda, according to data released on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.More than 3.6 million babies were born in the United States last year, a meager rise from the record-setting low in 2023. The fertility rate, approximately 1.6 births per woman over her lifetime, is well below the 2.1 births needed to maintain the country’s population through births alone.The new data represent “the continuation of…
The spread of measles in the Southwest now constitutes the largest single outbreak since the United States declared the disease eliminated in 2000, federal scientists told state officials in a meeting on Monday.The New York Times obtained a recording of the meeting. Until now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not publicly described the outbreak in such stark terms.More measles cases were reported mostly in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York City and New York State in 2019. But health officials regard those as separate outbreaks, because they were fueled by multiple introductions of the virus by international…
Shannon Sharpe, the host of the popular sports and pop culture podcast “Club Shay Shay” and a former N.F.L. player, was sued by an ex-girlfriend who accused him of rape and sexual assault during a nearly two-year relationship.The woman, who is described as being in her early 20s, submitted the complaint anonymously on Sunday in Clark County, Nev., and is seeking $50 million in damages. She says in the lawsuit that Mr. Sharpe, 56, raped her in her apartment in October and January.The lawsuit says that, during the encounters, Mr. Sharpe forced himself upon the woman as she sobbed and…
Boeing announced on Tuesday that it would sell a handful of navigation, flight planning and other businesses for more than $10.5 billion as the company works to refocus on manufacturing planes and other aircraft.The company, which also wants to reduce its large debt, said it would sell four businesses from a digital unit to Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm specializing in software. Those include Jeppesen, which provides navigational charts and information to pilots, and ForeFlight, an app that helps plan flights and monitor weather.“This transaction is an important component of our strategy to focus on core businesses, supplement the…
The Supreme Court appeared divided during arguments on Monday over the constitutionality of a provision of the Affordable Care act that can require insurance companies to offer some types of preventive care for free.At issue is a part of the 2010 health care law that established a task force that determines certain kinds of preventative health measures that insurance companies are required to cover.Two small Christian businesses that provide health insurance to their employees, along with some Texas residents, had sued the federal government, challenging the constitutionality of the task force.In particular, they had objected on religious grounds to the…
Outside the apartment, our situation was less predictable. As I strapped my son to my chest in a carrier and walked him around the city, his very first encounters with strangers were charged. His tongue usually rested outside his mouth, and they sometimes interpreted this as a provocation. People stuck their tongues out at him, then laughed in confusion when he didn’t pull his back in. They yelled after us as we walked away, hooting about the tongue’s size. They approached him in the park or drugstore and said, “Whoa!” or “Is he sick?” When I slipped his passport application…
The Federal Trade Commission sued Uber on Monday, claiming it used “deceptive billing and cancellation practices” to support Uber One, its premium subscription service. The lawsuit is the first filed by the commission against a major tech company since President Trump returned to office.In the complaint, the F.T.C. said Uber had enrolled some of its customers in the $9.99 monthly subscription service without their consent, misled them on the amount of money that they would save and made it “extremely difficult” to cancel their subscriptions.The lawsuit is the latest in a string of actions taken by the F.T.C. and the…
The Justice Department said on Monday that the best way to address Google’s monopoly in internet search was to break up the $1.81 trillion company, kicking off a three-week hearing that could reshape the technology giant and alter the power players in Silicon Valley.Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in August that Google had broken antitrust laws to maintain its dominance in online search. He is now hearing arguments from the government and the company over how to best fix Google’s monopoly and is expected to order those measures, referred to…
Mark Carney was just days away from announcing his bid to lead Canada’s Liberal Party in January when his face popped up on a viral right-wing Facebook page.Two photographs showed Mr. Carney, who became prime minister last month, at a garden party beside Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex trafficker and former confidante of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. There was no evidence that Mr. Carney and Ms. Maxwell were close friends, and his team dismissed the pictures as a fleeting social interaction from more than a decade ago.But they were perfect fodder for Canada Proud, a right-wing Facebook page with…