National Lifestyle

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence and the uncertainty of the geopolitical moment, it seems appropriate to start 2025 with some surreal fiction.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Feb. 2-8: Feb. 2: Singer Graham Nash is 83. Singer Howard Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers is 79. TV chef Ina Garten (“Barefoot Contessa”) is 77. Actor Jack McGee (“The McCarthys”) is 76.

NEW YORK (AP) — Organizations that track the removal of books from schools and libraries are denouncing a Department of Education announcement that called bans a “hoax” and dismissed 11 complaints that had been filed during the Biden administration.

NEW YORK (AP) — Expect some mayhem this spring, courtesy of Lady Gaga. The Grammy-winning songwriter and actor will release her seventh studio album March 7, which press materials say will explore “themes of chaos and transformation.

PARIS (AP) — Cameroon-born designer Imane Ayissi fused sumptuous satin and taffeta with ancestral African crafts in a couture collection that celebrated heritage while embracing modernity.

Marigold Hart walked out on her billionaire husband, taking their 7-year-old daughter with her. She moved cross country to New York City and has been living under an assumed name.

Paul Brightman, a former hedge fund manager, has been keeping a low profile, changing his name to Grant Anderson and making a modest living as a boat builder in a small New Hampshire town. But Paul fears it’s only a matter of time before he’s found.

If you read enough, you sometimes come across a book that defies description. That’s a decent enough way to start a review of “Old Soul,” the new novel by Susan Barker.

Kay Sohini’s move from India to New York was an escape, rebirth and reunion all wrapped in one, leaving behind an abusive relationship and broken family to start anew in the melting-pot city that already felt like an old friend because it's where her

NEW YORK (AP) — Allison Burk's teenage daughter struggled with uncontrolled emotions, a shrinking attention span and a growing tendency to procrastinate.