7-Eleven stunned shoppers by announcing it will shutter 645 American stores as part of a reorganization by its Japanese parent, Seven & i Holdings—mere days after Macy’s pledged to whittle its brick-and-mortar footprint by another 14 outlets and, ev…
Donald Trump approved a measure reauthorising U.S. agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreigners’ communications—a programme birthed post-9/11 that inevitably sweeps in Americans’ data, say critics. Congress, sharp-eyed about election year optics yet rubber-armed in actual reform, narrowly passed the bill after a perfunctory privacy debate. Surveillance skeptics fumed, but as ever, we seem to prefer safety with a side order of ambiguity.
A study in Neurosurgery reveals e-bike and scooter injuries at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital soared from under 10% to over 50% of such cases between 2018 and 2023, with half of the nearly 1,000 patients needing surgery. As New Yorkers pedal, zoom and occasionally collide—often sans helmets—city officials scramble for remedies, though the law of unintended consequences seems to travel at least as fast as any Citi Bike.
New York will shutter its cavernous Bellevue shelter on 30th Street by April’s end, rerouting homeless men to 8 East Third Street and families without minors to Bowery. Mayor Zohran Mamdani touts brighter prospects, though advocates carp that accessible ramps and beds lag behind the schedule—never mind one elevator of dubious virtue. The city promises round-the-clock staffing, but for some, entry may remain a steeper climb than advertised.
With New York bracing for an estimated 1.2 million visitors during the FIFA World Cup, City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu has proposed legislation demanding a bathroom expansion plan by June 1—no small feat in a city with one public toilet per 8,500 residents. The metropolis seems poised to prove whether a flush of funds and temporary loos can outpace the sneakered stampede—or just trickle by.
Omer Bartov, a Brown University genocide scholar raised in Israel, warns in his book “Israel: What Went Wrong?” that Zionism has tilled the field for extremism and recent atrocities in Gaza, insisting the real brake on Tel Aviv’s ambitions sits in Washington. As American political support wears thin on both left and right, we wonder if “shock therapy” might do less harm than its medical analogues.
A poll commissioned by Darializa Avila Chevalier suggests only 42% of likely Democratic voters would stick with five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat in New York’s 13th Congressional District, a patch stretching from Upper Manhattan to The Bronx. Once respondents heard a spot of positive spin, the challenger took the lead, though the pollster’s family ties are unknown. With June’s primary looming, we suspect complacency is an endangered species uptown.
New York’s annual Persian Parade threaded its way down Madison Avenue with customarily colourful costumes, yet this year’s mood was sober, as organizers—citing Iran’s continuing unrest—dedicated the proceedings to those facing repression at home. Attendees mingled pride in their heritage with calls for change, while chants for regime reform echoed nearby. Celebrating amidst sorrow, we learned that keeping tradition alive sometimes involves walking on eggshells.
A chunk of stone facade from a 130-year-old building on Broadway left a man in Manhattan with fewer fingers but, mercifully, stable after an early-morning collapse prompted hasty police and fire department arrivals and a fresh yellow safety citation for landlord Buchbinder & Warren. A neighbour likened the blast to a bomb—reminding us that New York’s timeless charm sometimes falls a bit too literally.
