Vue lecture

After Whiskey With His Captors, Cuban Dissident Lands in a Miami Maelstrom

The former political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is unpacking 4,000 paintings he brought to Miami from Cuba and dodging criticism from exiles who once welcomed him.

© Martina Tuaty for The New York Times

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara with one of his sculptures last month in Miami.
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Yayoi Kusama Was the Avant-Garde Radical Who Became a Pop Icon

In her mass-produced ubiquity, Kusama became one of her own dots, spreading her image into every corner of our culture.

© Philip Fong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A video projection of “Song of a Manhattan Suicide Addict,” by Yayoi Kusama, in 2024. In her later years, Kusama was one of the most popular living artists in the world.
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New White House Counsel Isn’t a Yes Man, but He Won’t Say No, Either

Will Scharf has proved his loyalty to President Trump, even filming a TV ad in which he blows away documents from the president’s legal cases. His new role will be to provide in-house legal advice.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

Will Scharf in the Oval Office earlier this month.
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How Darline Graham’s Politics Compare With Her Brother’s as She Runs for Senate

Senator Darline Graham has spoken far more about her desire to support President Trump’s agenda than she has talked about her brother’s political goals — or her own.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

Ms. Graham has said she wants government to help people no longer rely on Social Security.
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The South Loved Dolly Parton. It Saw the Best of Itself in Her.

Even as her talents and work ethic opened up the world to her, she kept coming home. For many in the complicated region she’s from, that meant a lot.

© Will Crooks for The New York Times

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5 Things to Know About Mike Mazzei, Oklahoma G.O.P. Candidate for Governor

The former state senator, who was endorsed by President Trump, spent millions of dollars of his own money on the race.

© Jake Ramsey/Oklahoma Watch, via Associated Press

Mike Mazzei at a televised debate with Oklahoma Republican gubernatorial candidates earlier this month in Tulsa.
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5 Things to Know About Mike Mazzei, Oklahoma G.O.P. Candidate for Governor

The former state senator, who was endorsed by President Trump, spent millions of dollars of his own money on the race.

© Jake Ramsey/Oklahoma Watch, via Associated Press

Mike Mazzei at a televised debate with Oklahoma Republican gubernatorial candidates earlier this month in Tulsa.
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5 Things to Know About Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma G.O.P. Candidate for Governor

Mr. Drummond, the state attorney general, faces an opponent backed by President Trump and Gov. Kevin Stitt. The campaign has highlighted his independent streak.

© Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma’s attorney general, in Oklahoma City in 2023.
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Dolly Parton’s Death Hits Home for Tennesseans: ‘She Was One of Us’

The country music star kept her home state at the forefront of her music and work. “She inspired Tennesseans to be better,” one resident said.

© Landon Edwards for The New York Times

As the nation mourned Dolly Parton’s death on Tuesday, the grief was perhaps the most profound in Tennessee.
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How Two British Historians Made a Smash Hit Podcast

They took on topics as diverse as fall of the Aztecs, the French Revolution, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and history’s greatest monkeys. The rest is history.

© Andrew Testa for The New York Times

Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland last month at Hampton Court Palace in southwest London. The podcast they began during the pandemic now gets about 30 million downloads and streams a month.
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Close and Loving, or Oppressive? A Novelist Takes Aim at Italian Families.

Many Italians see themselves in Andrea Bajani’s latest novel, a portrayal of the family as a “little totalitarian system” shaped by psychological and physical violence.

© Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio, via Getty Images

Andrea Bajani in Rome last year. An English translation of his best-selling novel, “The Anniversary,” will be published on Tuesday.
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Giorgia Meloni Has a Lot to Say: The Takeaways

The Italian prime minister is leading what will soon be the longest-lasting government in the country’s postwar history. She shows herself by turns funny and fierce in a rare interview.

© Davide Monteleone for The New York Times

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy.
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U.S. Citizen Who Deleted Phone’s Data Says His Prosecution Puts Privacy at Risk

Samuel Tunick, who faces a felony charge for deleting his phone’s data during an airport customs search, called the government’s peering into people’s private lives “creepy.”

© Samuel Tunick

Samuel Tunick faces a felony charge for deleting his phone’s data during an airport customs search last year.
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Giorgia Meloni Cuts the Hard Right a Path to Power

In a rare interview, the onetime political outcast reflects on her route from “the uncomfortable side of history” to the threshold of leading Italy’s most durable postwar government.

© Davide Monteleone for The New York Times

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy at Palazzo Chigi in Rome last month.
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‘Posh George,’ the Convicted Fraudster in Nigel Farage’s Inner Circle

George Cottrell’s close alliance with Mr. Farage is back in the spotlight now that the Reform U.K. leader has returned to Parliament.

© John Thys/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Nigel Farage and George Cottrell in Brussels in 2020, as the European Parliament ratified the terms of Brexit, which both men campaigned for.
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Professor’s Death Leaves Behind Hard Questions for Cambridge on Race and Hiring

Jason Arday, the school’s youngest Black professor, was found dead on Friday. The school ignored a series of warnings about his life story and his work.

© Joe Giddens/Press Association, via Getty Images

Cambridge University in May. Jason Arday was hired in 2023, becoming the university’s youngest Black professor.
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The Man on a Mission to Build India’s Most Livable City

The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh has 25,000 workers building his dream capital with waterways, bike lanes and a “Quantum Valley” tech hub.

© Priyadarshini Ravichandran for The New York Times

The construction site for a tech hub labeled “Quantum Valley” in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, India.
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