This weekend is one for reflecting and looking ahead; for family, friends and football; for sleeping in and starting things off right; for bundling up and bingeing on good (or bad) TV. Whatever you’re doing, take a minute, or a bit more, and indulge in some great journalism. Happy New Year!
The lives they lived
The magazine embarks on its annual remembrance of some of the artists, innovators and thinkers we lost in the past year. The collection includes essays on Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Dick Gregory and Sam Shepard (whose hat is pictured above). Magazine
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10 cultural battles that ruled 2017
Trump versus Hollywood. Echoes of the Confederacy. Taylor Swift and the alt-right. Here’s a not-so-nostalgic look back at some of the year’s fiercest fights. Arts & Leisure
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Francine Prose’s Oaxaca: An immersion course in mexico’s delights
Oaxaca has become popular during the holiday season when the temperate weather, the food and the festive spirit attract travelers from near and far. Travel
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Chef gives up a star, reflecting hardship of “the other France”
Most chefs work a lifetime for a Michelin star. Jérôme Brochot is giving his back. Why? He can’t afford it. Neither can his declining old mining town. International
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We asked 615 men about how they conduct themselves at work
The victims of sexual harassment who have recently come forward are far from alone: Nearly half of women say they have experienced some form of it at work at least once in their careers. But there has been little research about those responsible. In a new survey, about a third of men said they had done something at work within the past year that would qualify as objectionable behavior or sexual harassment. Upshot
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Why every pop star wants a piece of Starrah
With hits for Drake, Rihanna and Maroon 5, an intensely private woman is the secret queen of streaming. Arts
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San Francisco’s skyline is transformed by tech
Salesforce Tower, which at 1,070 feet is the tallest office building west of the Mississippi, will be inhabited in January, signaling tech’s triumph in the city. Business
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When Italian bombs lead to Yemeni deaths
How Italian Bombs Killed Yemeni Civilians
We followed shipments of bombs from a holiday island in Italy to Saudi Arabia, then found those bombs at the scene of civilian deaths in Yemen. Is Italy capitalizing on a brutal conflict or just doing business?
By MALACHY BROWNE, BARBARA MARCOLINI and AINARA TIEFENTHÄLER on Publish Date December 29, 2017. . Watch in Times Video »Bombs made in Sardinia are being used in Yemen’s civil war by Saudi Arabia, some of them in attacks on civilians. Italy isn’t the only country arming Saudi Arabia, but an investigation by The Times uncovered a massive increase in the export of these bombs in 2017. Video
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The fantastical adventures of Fabulous Flournoy
He is the beating heart of British basketball, and his journey has taken him from the Bronx to Buckingham Palace. And, at 44, he is still going. “In his mind, age doesn’t apply.” Sports
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CryptoKitties, explained … mostly
Every new technology gets a game that helps bring it careening into the mainstream. Social networks had FarmVille. Mobile phones had Angry Birds. And, its investors hope, blockchain has CryptoKitties. Blockchain technology like Bitcoin and Ethereum, ledgers for recording virtual currency transactions, is booming, and CryptoKitties is the first big blockchain game. Styles
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Want to be happy? Think like an old person
The Times reporter John Leland started following the lives of six New Yorkers over the age of 85, one of the fastest-growing age groups in America. He found that when the elders described their lives, they focused not on their declining abilities but on things that they could still do and that they found rewarding. Metropolitan
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