Little-known photographer John Baer captured everyday life before putting down his camera in 1954. His son discovered the images decades later after his death, and John Baer: The Extraordinary Ordinary / A Memoir in Photographs, 1945–1954 marks their first public release

Are they put off by the hen parties, the tea rooms or the £5-an-hour parking? No matter. It’s time for my bold new approach ...

York may be falling out of fashion with tourists. The BBC reports January-to-June visitor numbers to my home town fell 8% compared with 2025, with visits to city attractions down by 17%.

This inspires a cocktail of conflicting emotions – selfish relief, a bit of huffiness (how dare they reject the birthplace of the Chocolate Orange and the KitKat?) and consternation. Slaloming through unpredictable, slow-moving tourist hordes in narrow medieval streets is far from my favourite activity (albeit probably good for my cognitive reserve), but tourists keep this city afloat. Our main economic activities in 2026 are “dressing up”, “tea and cake”, and “hen/stag night services (sub-categories: booze, kebabs, feather boas)”. This city runs on genteel treats and big, messy nights out: two things that are, yes, deeply incompatible. I wonder if that’s part of the problem – the bookshops, churches and scones crowd are put off by the inflatable-penis-toting, kebab-throwing party people, and vice versa – but most residents blame the £5-an-hour parking.

Hudson Theatre, New York
Allison Janney and Joe Keery co-star in a powerful drama about a family reunion turned political minefield

Just in time for the holidays, Jon Robin Baitz’s family reunion drama, Other Desert Cities, is back with an even starrier cast than its 2011 premiere. The revival is a headline-grabber for marking the stage debuts of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Joe Keery, alongside the Broadway returns of Ed Harris, Allison Janney and Lily Rabe.

But if this raises eyebrows as a takeover of Hollywood vanity, those concerns are easily quelled by the performances – especially those of the newcomers. John Benjamin Hickey’s staging is well attuned to its cast’s abilities, more than justifying its speedy return to Broadway. This Pulitzer finalist play still has a lot to say.

Suspect shot a man in his 30s on the E train platform of the 53rd Street-7th Avenue subway station, according to NYPD

A man was shot and killed in a New York City subway station Saturday afternoon, and the New York police department is searching for the suspect.

The suspect fatally shot a man in his 30s on the E train platform of the 53rd Street-7th Avenue subway station, according to a statement from the NYPD.

Actor experienced a ‘medical emergency’ on flight during which she allegedly injured crew members, statement says

Actor Selma Blair did not mean to hurt anyone during the recent flight which led to her arrest on allegations that she assaulted a pair of cabin crew members, a police officer and a nurse, her representatives said on Friday in a statement that characterized the episode as a medical emergency.

The lengthy statement also dismissed prior media coverage of Blair’s arrest after a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to New York as unsympathetic and inaccurate, singling out reporting from several outlets alleging that she tried to open the door of the airplane that she and her fellow passengers were on.

Students say the school is more interested in scapegoating fraternities than in committing to institutional change

In the wake of a lawsuit over an alleged gang-rape that took place at Cornell University in 2024, the school announced this week that it would be suspending parties and social gatherings at fraternity houses for the remainder of the academic year.

Last month, a former student, referred to in court documents by the pseudonym “Jane Doe”, filed a civil lawsuit against multiple parties, including the university, accusing seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of sexually assaulting her at a party at their fraternity house on campus in October 2024. All of the men named in the lawsuit have denied wrongdoing, and none have been criminally charged.

Rewritten indictment accuses ex-Venezuela president and wife Cilia Flores of leading campaign of torture

Nicolás Maduro insisted on Thursday during an appearance in a New York court that torture allegations in a rewritten drug trafficking indictment against the deposed Venezuelan president and his wife were “false accusations”.

Maduro, shackled at the ankles, was brought to court to face the new charges accusing the couple of leading a state-sponsored campaign of repression that tortured scores of victims, including three Americans.

Mamdani and city council leader agree on ban that would make it illegal to operate horse-drawn carriages in the city

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the leader of the New York City council have agreed to ban horse-drawn carriages from the city, a popular tourist attraction that has faced widespread scrutiny.

Mamdani has agreed to back a bill supported by Julie Menin, the speaker of the New York city council, that would make it illegal to operate horse-drawn carriages beginning in June 2028, Politico reported on Tuesday. The city council is expected to vote on the legislation next week.

University bans parties at frat houses for rest of academic year to conduct ‘thorough review’ of campus Greek life

Cornell University has announced that it is suspending parties and other social gatherings at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year amid intensifying backlash over its handling of allegations that a female student was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house in 2024.

The university has also said that Cornell will involve New York state police in investigating sex crimes on campus.

Actor, who allegedly punched one Delta attendant, bit another and tried to open plane door, was charged for two separate assaults after the plane landed

The actor Selma Blair was arrested on Sunday at John F Kennedy airport in New York after she allegedly attacked two flight attendants on a Delta Air Lines flight, and separately charged with two counts of assault for allegedly kicking a police officer and a nurse after landing.

Blair’s arrest happened at about 11pm, after Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials said they responded to a call “about a physically abusive passenger aboard Delta Air Lines flight 938 which was parked at the gate” at JFK after arriving from Los Angeles.

Mayor calls for end to agency’s operations in city after agents shot and wounded man with five-year-old in car

The New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, on Sunday compared US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s recent shooting of a man in the Manhattan enclave of Marble Hill to a mass shooting scene – and called for an end to the agency’s operations in his city.

Mamdani’s joined MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff for his first media interview since ICE agents shot and wounded Oscar Belgal, 28, during an enforcement operation while he was in his car with his five-year-old child also inside.

While most of the crowd at a Stop Sexual Violence rally in New York City was women, men of all ages were in attendance too

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered at city halls and college campuses across the country on Thursday to demand an end to sexual violence. The nationwide rallies followed weeks of public outcry over the mishandling of campus sexual assault cases at Cornell University and Louisiana State University.

The protest organizers – including Women’s March, Feminist Generation and Me Too International – demanded justice for Jane Doe, who said she was drugged and gang-raped by seven students at a Cornell frat party; Kendall Francis, who said she was raped by an LSU football player; and all survivors harmed “from the frat house to the White House”. They also called for reform of Title IX, a set of protections for sexual misconduct victims and LGBTQ+ students that the Trump administration has slowly stripped away.

Artist Deana Lawson uses beauty supply store surveillance images to analyze power and personhood in her exhibition at the Gagosian in New York City

In her essay The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators, writer and philosopher bell hooks explains that the relationship between Black people and the act of “looking” has been traumatic since slavery. Black people, many of whom are still subject to the constant surveillance that originated during enslavement, have historically been punished with severe consequences, such as lynching, for looking back at those who subjugate them. Despite these risks, hooks writes, they rebelled by secretly looking at white people, as well as their surroundings, rejecting the white gaze as the singular framework of reality. We can, as bell hooks writes, “interrogate the gaze of the Other but also look back, and at one another, naming what we see”.

I thought of this analysis when I visited Edge Control, artist Deana Lawson’s latest photography exhibition at the Gagosian gallery in New York City. Edge control refers to the gels and pomades that slick the hairs along the edges of a Black woman’s hairline, but in Lawson’s exhibit, the phrase takes on an additional meaning. It’s at once a styling product for Black haircare devotees as well as a tool to examine the beauty industry, consumerism and how surveillance and race intersect.

Edge Control is on view at the Gagosian in New York City until 24 October

Jane Doe wurde an der Cornell University mutmaßlich von mehreren Männern vergewaltigt. Manche werfen ihr vor, „widersprüchlich“ gehandelt zu haben. Doch gibt es überhaupt ein typisches Verhalten in solchen Fällen?

Immigration officer shot man in car where five-year-old child was sitting, sparking fierce protests

Leading New York Democrats expressed anger and demanded curbs on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence after a federal officer shot a man driving a car in which his five-year-old son was sitting, sparking fierce protests.

At least seven shots were reportedly fired and the man was hit in the neck late on Thursday afternoon as children were coming home from school in the busy Marble Hill neighborhood of New York City. Marble Hill is considered part of Manhattan, but is physically located in the Bronx.

Manhattan prosecutors say murder case over 2024 killing can proceed under ‘exception’ to state double jeopardy law

Manhattan prosecutors filed paperwork on Friday opposing Luigi Mangione’s arguments for dismissing his state-level case in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.

Mangione on 14 August pleaded guilty to federal charges in Thompson’s 4 December 2024 killing outside a Midtown hotel – weeks before his scheduled 8 September New York state murder and weapons trial. The killing prompted an intense manhunt but also sparked an outpouring of rage against the practices of the for-profit US healthcare industry.

Police say man taken to hospital and mayor says child physically unharmed as he demands Trump stop ICE enforcement in city

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot and wounded a man in New York City on Thursday afternoon during an enforcement operation, federal officials said.

The man was conscious and hospitalized, authorities said, and the shooting quickly sparked angry protests from local residents and elected officials in the neighborhood.

Ousted Venezuelan president and Cilia Flores have been in jail in New York since early January

Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted for alleged conspiracy to commit torture, according to Manhattan federal court papers unsealed Thursday.

The superseding indictment was unsealed shortly before Flores appeared at court in her ongoing push for pre-trial release – which was denied by Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Maduro and Flores have been held in a New York City jail since early January.

School trustees appoint Sally Yates to review policies as university grapples with fallout from alleged frat gang rape

A former high-ranking Department of Justice official will look at how Cornell handles sexual misconduct complaints, university trustees announced on Tuesday as they tried to address an outpouring of anger over allegations of a 2024 gang rape at a fraternity house.

Sally Yates, who was a deputy attorney general in the Obama administration, will spearhead the review, the trustees said. The assessment is to include how the Ivy League university investigates reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment, how the disciplinary process works, the adequacy of campus police responses, and more.