In 1963, a geophysicist named John Tuzo Wilson proposed that the islands, which are covered with layers of volcanic stone, sit above a magma plume, which forms when rock from the deep mantle bubbles up and pools below the crust. This “hot spot” continually pushes toward the surface, sometimes bursting through the tectonic plate, melting […]
Month: December 2022
The Drummer Who Reminds People That ‘You Can Play Music as You Like’
BUENOS AIRES — The crowd at a recent concert exploded into rapturous cries as the group’s frontman walked onto the stage and began setting a drum beat, launching his band on an improvised journey across musical genres that culminated an hour later in a standing ovation. Over a 30-year career, Miguel Tomasín has released more […]
After Half a Century, Prince Edward Island’s Musical Tradition Takes a Break
Prince Edward Island’s best-known figure, Anne Shirley, is a fictional character. But that doesn’t deter tourists from around the world, and Japan in particular, from traveling to Cavendish to visit Green Gables, the farm that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery’s 1908 novel about the sassy orphan from the town of Avonlea, itself another fiction. And since […]
As Macron Loses His Sheen at Home, Harmonious U.S. Visit Is ‘Regenerative’
NEW ORLEANS — Serenaded by a jazz band at the airport, cheered by crowds as he strolled through the French Quarter and even attempting a few dance steps, President Emmanuel Macron plunged into the most French of American cities on Friday, the last lap of his state visit to the United States. After a state […]
Paul Whelan, American Prisoner in Russia, Contacts Family After Weeks of Silence
Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia, called his family on Friday morning, breaking a silence that his family called highly unusual and that led the Biden administration to express concern for his well-being. “Paul called our parents today at around 5:30 a.m. Eastern,” Mr. Whelan’s brother, David, wrote in an email to supporters. He […]
EU Agrees to Russian Oil Price Cap: Live Updates
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, which was raided by Ukrainian security services in November.Credit…Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called for the nation’s largest and oldest branch of Christian Orthodoxy to be outlawed as long as it continues to answer to church leaders in […]
New Zealand and Australia Ponder a Lower Voting Age
The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. When the New Zealand Supreme Court ruled last week that the voting age of 18 breached the human rights of younger people, it reignited the debate both there and in neighboring Australia. The question of voting age […]
Prosecutor Drops Australia Parliament Rape Case, Citing Toll on Accuser
Prosecutors have dropped a rape charge against a former parliamentary staff member in a case that has gripped Australia for months, a decision they called necessary to protect the plaintiff’s health after she had endured rounds of grueling questioning in an initial mistrial. The plaintiff, Brittany Higgins, 28, had accused a colleague, Bruce Lehrmann, 27, […]
Biden Promises Protections for Nevada’s Spirit Mountain
WASHINGTON — President Biden pledged Wednesday that he would preserve the Spirit Mountain area in southern Nevada, which contains some of the most biologically diverse and culturally significant lands in the Mojave Desert. “I’m committed to protecting this sacred place that’s central to the creation story of so many tribes here today,” Mr. Biden told […]
Russian Shelling Cuts Power to Kherson as Lavrov Defends Strikes: Live Updates
Waiting at a food stand operating on a generator in a darkened city after a wave of Russian missile strikes on energy facilities across Ukraine last week.Credit…Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times As Ukrainian officials warned that Moscow was preparing to launch yet another wave of missile strikes aimed at destroying the nation’s energy […]