New York Times - Top Stories

Trump Tosses Lifelines to the Struggling Coal Industry

The Energy Department ordered two coal-burning power plants to remain open, and the Environmental Protection Agency gave utilities more time to tackle toxic coal ash.

5 min read

Private Letters Between Harvard and Trump Signal New Escalation in Dispute

It is the latest twist in the marquee battle of the Trump administration’s campaign to rein in colleges and universities it views as too liberal.

7 min read

Kennedy Center’s Christmas Eve Show Canceled After Trump Name Added to Building

2 min read

Man Shot in ICE Confrontation in Maryland, Officials Say

3 min read

A Million More Epstein Documents Have Been Found, Justice Dept. Says

Democratic lawmakers accused the Trump administration of violating the law mandating that the files be released by last Friday.

3 min read

What We Know About the Epstein Documents Released So Far

4 min read

Redacted Material in Some Files Is Easily Recovered

2 min read

Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell sitting outside a lodge-like building. — Department of Justice

Honduras Declares Trump-Backed Candidate Winner of Presidential Election

Nasry Asfura was endorsed by President Trump in a contentious election. His opponent, Salvador Nasralla, said he would not accept the results.

5 min read

A man in a blue shirt, surrounded by journalists with cameras, holds up one hand, pinky extended. — Marvin Recinos/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Why Russia Is Likely to Reject the New U.S.-Ukrainian Peace Plan

The first draft essentially called for Ukraine’s surrender. This version includes the security guarantees Kyiv wants to prevent future Russian aggression.

3 min read

A bearded man with wide eyes looks through a shattered window with mangled curtains. — Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press

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‘Jingle All the Way’ and the Super Bad Dad Superhero

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, Phil Hartman and Rita Wilson served a platter of high-octane holiday high jinks in this unhinged 1996 comedy.

3 min read

A boy and a man sit at table in a home. There are arts and crafts in front of them. They are looking at each other in the eye. — 20th Century Fox

Intense California Storm Brings Flash Floods and Mudslides, Forcing Evacuations

Forecasters said heavy rain was expected to drench much of Southern California through the holidays, and officials warned the storm could be deadly.

4 min read

Weather

Family Mourns ‘Strong Mom’ Killed in Nursing Home Blasts

Muthoni Nduthu was one of two people killed by explosions at an eastern Pennsylvania facility that was plagued by poor ratings, citations and fines.

5 min read

A brick building with a damaged window and its blinds blown out. — Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer, via Associated Press

Mail Carriers Keep Making the Rounds, Despite a Murky Future

As the much-derided Postal Service loses billions, its workers quietly, and sometimes heroically, serve their communities.

6 min read

A white Postal Service truck is on a snowy road on a blue-sky day. A mail carrier in a yellow beanie approaches a mail delivery hub. — Arin Yoon for The New York Times

After a Plane Crashed in the Texas Fog, 2 Stories of Rescue

A plane from Mexico was on a medical mission on Monday when it crashed into Galveston Bay, and two men on the water that day helped save two lives.

4 min read

Rescue workers and a small boat in the water near a wrecked plane. — Sky Decker Jr., via Associated Press

Why China, a One-Party State, Is Backing Elections in Myanmar

The vote, widely seen as a sham, is a bid for legitimacy by the military government. It is also a way for Beijing to exert its influence in the country.

5 min read

People seated at two long tables facing each other, with flags and a Chinese landscape mural in the background. — Pool photo by Andres Martinez Casares

Did We Underestimate Kate Hudson?

For years she was pigeonholed as a rom-com star. Her turn as a blue-collar mom with a love of Neil Diamond just might vault her back to the Oscars.

7 min read

Movie Review

‘Song Sung Blue’: A Christmas ‘Caroline’

3 min read

Long Carrier Deployment Projects U.S. Strength, and Carries Costs

The U.S.S. Ford has been deployed for six months and is now part of the pressure campaign on Venezuela. Maintenance woes and strains on sailors could mount.

5 min read

The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford in the North Sea in September. Neither the Navy nor the Pentagon has said when the ship’s deployment in the Caribbean will end. — Jonathan Klein/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

These Service Dogs Help Treat Veterans’ PTSD

4 min read

Simar Bajaj

Research suggests that service dogs can provide relief for PTSD, which affects about 10 percent of U.S. military veterans. But shortages and long wait times are hampering their potential.

Simar Bajaj

These dogs watch veterans’ backs, create space in crowds and wake them up before their sleep fractures into nightmares. And perhaps most importantly, they offer constant companionship.

Simar Bajaj

After Becca Stephens returned from Iraq, she faced mood swings, isolated herself and became addicted to heroin. She said Bobbi, her yellow lab, was the foundation for getting and staying sober.

Simar Bajaj

Marshall Bahr described his dog, Party, as his battle buddy. Another veteran, Keith Hudson, said that his dog, Cessna, can’t fully stop his anxiety from bubbling up, but helps him manage it.

Simar Bajaj

But it’s not easy to get access. It costs $50,000 to train a service dog, and waiting lists can be yearslong. For now, nonprofits, not the V.A., are providing veterans with service dogs.

Jeff Swensen and Dustin Miller for The New York Times

Opinion

Filippo Grandi

I’ve Been the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees for a Decade. This Is the Crisis I See.

4 min read

A cartoon-style illustration of a long dining table with a tablecloth, festively decorated, winding off into the distance. — María Jesús Contreras

Jeremy McCarter

Christmas Dinner With Family Can Feel Endless. Embrace It.

4 min read

Nicholas Kristof

This Is What the Murder of a Whole City Looks Like

5 min read

Printed documents from the released Jeffrey Epstein files, with entirely blacked-out pages.

Molly Jong-Fast

The Epstein Files Should Not Have Been Released This Way

6 min read

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The debut followed the North’s first test of a new surface-to-air missile and the arrival of a U.S. nuclear-powered attack sub for a port call in South Korea.

3 min read

Peng Peiyun, Official Who Renounced China’s One-Child Policy, Dies at 95

She was given the “hardest job under heaven”: upholding often brutally enforced birth limits. She came to support softening the policy, then abolishing it.

6 min read

What Parents in China See in A.I. Toys

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Venus Williams Announces Marriage to Andrea Preti

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