Noah Baumbach on telling a love story through divorce in ‘Marriage Story’
While Noah Baumbach’s latest film, “Marriage Story,” is about a painful divorce, the writer-director describes it also as a love story. When he sat down with Times film writer Mark Olsen for “The Reel” podcast, Baumbach explained what inspired this latest movie. “In telling the story of a marriage coming apart, I could actually focus…
Escapes: A toast to Napa and Sonoma, unscathed
Take a breath, travelers. By today, you should be where you are supposed to be if you were traveling. If you weren’t in motion, maybe you’re wrapped in a blanket and watching the rain turn our landscape into the Southwestern version of Monet’s “Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies.” My name is Catharine Hamm,…
Holiday retail sales climb, and there's more shopping ahead
More Americans did their shopping online during the shortest holiday shopping season in years, helping to push total sales higher. U.S. retail sales from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 rose 3.4% compared with last year, according to early data from Mastercard SpendingPulse. Online sales rose at a faster pace, up 18.8% from last year. Online…
Nasdaq tops 9,000 for the first time as stocks climb to new records
Retailers and technology companies powered stocks broadly higher on Wall Street on Thursday, extending the market’s record-setting run. The Nasdaq composite climbed above 9,000 points for the first time as Apple led technology stocks higher. The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index also climbed to new highs. The benchmark index is…
Packing T-shirts? There’s a Uniqlo robot for that
There was only one job that robots could not do when Fast Retailing, the owner of Uniqlo, replaced 90% of its workers with robots at its flagship warehouse in Tokyo last year. But now, with the help of a Japanese start-up called Mujin, the world’s third-largest retailer says it has cracked the final barrier to…
Susan Wojcicki is pushing to make YouTube responsible. PewDiePie is not pleased
YouTube spent 2019 answering critics with some of the most drastic changes in its 15-year history. With each step, it gave those activists, regulators and lawmakers more reasons to attack its free-wheeling, user-generated business model. Susan Wojcicki, YouTube’s chief executive, announced her goals in April. “My top priority,” she wrote, “is responsibility.” Her company spent…
Israel’s embattled Netanyahu wins landslide in primary
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won a landslide victory in a primary election for leadership of the ruling Likud party, giving the embattled leader an important boost ahead of the country’s third election in less than a year. Official results announced early Friday showed Netanyahu capturing 72% of the votes, compared with 28%…
Congolese woman dies after entering U.S. border custody
HOUSTON — A 41-year-old Congolese woman died Wednesday in U.S. government custody shortly after she entered a border station in south Texas, Customs and Border Protection said Thursday. The agency said the woman, whom it did not identify, had arrived at an official port of entry in Laredo, Texas, early Tuesday afternoon. The woman came with…
Japan OKs divisive plan to send naval forces to Mideast
TOKYO — Japan on Friday approved a contentious plan to send naval forces to the Middle East to ensure the safety of Japanese ships transporting oil to the energy-poor country that heavily depends on imports from the region. The Cabinet’s decision reflects tensions that have escalated between Iran and the U.S. since President Trump withdrew from…
Russia commissions intercontinental hypersonic weapon
MOSCOW — Russia’s defense minister reported to President Vladimir Putin that a new hypersonic weapon of intercontinental range became operational Friday following years of tests. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered combat duty, the Defense Ministry said. Putin unveiled the Avangard among other…