Americans with disabilities act

WASHINGTON — Adam Sandler brought his trademark loopy but charming sense of humor to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday night, as he was recognized for three decades of writing, acting and directing with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. “As I look at this goofy award, I can’t help but think that one day it just might be the weapon used to bludgeon me to death,” Mr. Sandler said in his familiar silly cadence during his acceptance speech. He is the 24th comic to be awarded one of the industry’s top honors, which has annually celebrated a heavyweight in American comedy, from film and television's greatest comedic actors to social critics and playwrights. Each, including last year’s honoree, Jon Stewart , has been recognized for having an impact on American society, according to the Kennedy Center. Mr. Sandler, 56, thanked his friends and family for helping build his confidence throughout his career, which began performing stand-up five nights a … [Read more...] about Adam Sandler Is Awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 On a recent trip to Vietnam, I’m pretty sure I found one key to a happy and harmonious urban life. During the drippy, languid hours of mid-day heat in Ho Chi Minh City, which many also call Saigon, I frequently ducked into every hẻm, or alleyway, that I saw for a little bit of shade. They quickly became my favorite places in the city. Lined with homes and storefronts that opened up directly into the street, these alleyways were filled with scooter parking, lush potted trees, craft workshops, shrines wafting with incense smoke, and baskets of various things for sale. Cars, still a rarity in this city, occasionally snagged parking at alley entrances when they could. In these alleyways, where the vast majority of residents live, the division between one’s own property and the street is more of a suggestion rather than a rule. Life spills out of the home and onto the streets, where … [Read more...] about What Vietnam’s alleyways can teach the Bay Area about bureaucracy and community

After Apple discovered in June that certain MacBook laptops could overheat, posing a fire hazard, the Consumer Product Safety Commission quickly issued a warning, along with information about consumer burns and smoke inhalation. But after Apple learned that its FaceTime video chat app was enabling consumers to listen in on the conversations of people they called — even when the recipients did not answer their phones — there was no designated federal protection agency to warn Americans or collect reports of privacy invasions. After Fitbit wristbands began causing people to develop skin rashes and blisters a few years ago, the consumer safety agency announced a recall of about one million of the fitness-tracking devices. But after Strava, a popular fitness-tracking app, posted a granular map of its users’ workout routines last year, exposing their locations — including for personnel on remote military bases in Iraq — there was no agency to alert people to the risks or stop … [Read more...] about The Government Protects Our Food and Cars. Why Not Our Data?

Follow our live coverage of the election protests at Brazil’s National Congress . President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took the reins of the Brazilian government on Sunday in an elaborate inauguration, complete with a motorcade, music festival and hundreds of thousands of supporters filling the central esplanade of Brasília, the nation’s capital. But one key person was missing: the departing far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. Mr. Bolsonaro was supposed to pass Mr. Lula the presidential sash on Sunday, an important symbol of the peaceful transition of power in a nation where many people still recall the 21-year military dictatorship that ended in 1985. Instead, Mr. Bolsonaro woke up Sunday thousands of miles away, in a rented house owned by a professional mixed-martial-arts fighter a few miles from Disney World. Facing various investigations from his time in his office, Mr. Bolsonaro flew to Orlando on Friday night and plans to stay in Florida for at least a month. Mr. … [Read more...] about Lula Becomes Brazil’s President, With Bolsonaro in Florida

Halfway through a 10-day tour in Israel, Risa Nagel had a decision to make. The 25-year-old grant writer from Seattle had hiked the hills of Galilee and wandered the ancient market in Jerusalem. But then some of the friends she had just met told her they were planning to walk off the tour to visit a Palestinian family, an act of protest that was bound to cause pain and controversy. “We will be able to see for ourselves what’s going on,” one of them told her. “Do you want to come?” Ms. Nagel agonized. The next day, after the group held a moment of silence at the Western Wall, her friends announced that they were walking off. She followed them. Over nearly two decades, a nonprofit organization called Birthright Israel has given nearly 700,000 young Jews an all-expense-paid trip to Israel, an effort to bolster a distinct Jewish identity and forge an emotional connection to Israel. The trips, which are partly funded by the Israeli government, have become a rite of passage for … [Read more...] about Birthright Trips, a Rite of Passage for Many Jews, Are Now a Target of Protests

Imagine walking into a party where you know almost no one (pathetic) — a party at which I, a stranger to you (probably), have arrived well before you (sorry). Should this occur in real life, it is inevitable that shortly after your entrance, as you are tentatively probing the scene in search of safe ingress into social traffic, I will yank you, abruptly, into the middle of a conversation. I will turn to you and start talking as if you’d been involved in the discussion for an hour. I will lob questions at you that are tailored so that any answer you give can be right. Soon, you will forget I dragged you into this interaction; your easy popularity will seem, in retrospect, inevitable. You will most likely feel at least vaguely friendly toward me, because I so clearly want to be your friend. And the whole time I am doing this — because, despite your rewritten recollections, I am the one doing all of this — I will be thinking: Oh, my God, I’m doing it again. I hate this. I hate this. Why … [Read more...] about 13 Women, 30 Activities and One Goal: Make Friends

JERUSALEM — As Israelis get ready to go to the polls on Tuesday, a stark, fateful and long-deferred choice has suddenly reappeared to confront them after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unexpected promise to begin extending sovereignty over the West Bank if he is re-elected. Do voters want to make permanent their country’s control over the West Bank and its 2.6 million Palestinian inhabitants? Or do they want to keep alive the possibility that a Palestinian state could be carved out there one day? That question has been made newly urgent by Mr. Netanyahu , who is facing a career-threatening challenge from a unified centrist party headed by a team of former army chiefs. His shocking announcement about Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank appeared to be a last-ditch effort to rally his right-wing base and stay in power. For supporters of annexation, it is not only this week’s vote that is on their minds but the American election in 2020: They call President Trump’s … [Read more...] about As Netanyahu Seeks Re-election, the Future of the West Bank Is Now on the Ballot

Lithium, the common ingredient in almost all electric-car batteries, has become so precious that it is often called white gold. But something surprising has happened recently: The metal’s price has fallen, helping to make electric vehicles more affordable . Since January, the price of lithium has dropped by nearly 20 percent, according to Benchmark Minerals, even as sales of electric vehicles have soared. Cobalt, another important battery material, has fallen by more than half. Copper, essential to electric motors and batteries, has slipped by about 18 percent, even though U.S. mines and copper-rich countries like Peru are struggling to increase production. The sharp moves have confounded many analysts who predicted that prices would stay high, or even climb higher, slowing the transition to cleaner forms of transportation, an essential component of efforts to limit climate change. Instead, the drop in commodity prices has made it easier for carmakers to cut prices for electric … [Read more...] about Falling Lithium Prices Are Making Electric Cars More Affordable

close Video Benjamin Hall recalls the moment deadly Russian shells struck his car in Ukraine Fox News foreign correspondent Benjamin Hall describes the moment Russian shells hit the car he, Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and consultant Oleksandra 'Sasha' Kuvshynova were in while covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine one year ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the International Criminal Court (ICC) Sunday for issuing an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The comments came the day before the Russian leader hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping. The ICC charged Putin with war crimes, although Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court and is not likely to turn Putin over on the charges. Nevertheless, Zelenskyy claimed the charges were a "turning point" in the war and show the international community is recognizing atrocities committed in the Russia-Ukraine war, which reached its one-year … [Read more...] about Zelenskyy: Putin’s arrest warrant marks ‘turning point,’ he’ll be held responsible for ‘every destroyed life’

The images appeared on Twitter in late 2016 just as the presidential campaign was entering its final stretch. Some featured the message “vote for Hillary” and the phrases “avoid the line” and “vote from home.” Aimed at Democratic voters, and sometimes singling out Black people, the messages were actually intended to help Donald J. Trump, not Hillary Clinton. The goal, federal prosecutors said, was to suppress votes for Ms. Clinton by persuading her supporters to falsely believe they could cast presidential ballots by text message. The misinformation campaign was carried out by a group of conspirators, prosecutors said, including a man in his 20s who called himself Ricky Vaughn. On Monday he will go on trial in Federal District Court in Brooklyn under his real name, Douglass Mackey, after being charged with conspiring to spread misinformation designed to deprive others of their right to vote. “The defendant exploited a social media platform to infringe one of the most basic and … [Read more...] about Trial of 2016 Twitter Troll to Test Limits of Online Speech