We’re doing something a little different over the next two weeks. We’ll still give you the latest news. But we’ll start each day’s newsletter by sharing some of our favorite reads of the year and some other cool end-of-2025 stuff. We hope you’ll enjoy the chance to slow down a bit.
I left Germany when I was 17 to study in the United States and then Britain. My brother, five years my junior, followed suit, studying in France, the U.S. and then — just to do me one better — China.
We recently talked about our very ordinary, small-town German upbringing and the fact that neither of our parents ever left Germany. What were the chances, we mused, that both of us ended up leading international lives? Perhaps higher than you might think. Read my colleague Susan Dominus’s surprising and insightful magazine piece about how much siblings influence one another. You’re in for a treat.
The surprising ways siblings shape us
By Susan Dominus
When we think about the forces that shape us, we inevitably turn to parents.
The parent-child relationship is the basis of probably half a millennium’s worth of psychoanalytic conversation and intellectual discourse; parenting books are perennial best sellers, with advice that fluctuates as often as the health advice on what to eat or drink and how much.
But the choices so many loving parents agonize over — whether to co-sleep or not, whether to enforce the rules rigidly or sometimes let them go — don’t matter nearly as much as we imagine they do. That doesn’t mean that genes are all-powerful; it’s just that nurture comprises so much more than parenting — the environmental factors children are exposed to are vast, and they include (just to start) the media they consume and the friends and teachers in whose company they spend most of the day.
And then there are siblings. “I think the influence of siblings on each other is an area in psychology that has not nearly received the attention it deserves,” said Lisa Damour, a psychologist and author who writes about adolescence.
Anyone raising more than one child, Damour said, or who has a sibling, intuitively knows that sibling relationships play a powerful role in affecting who we become. Psychologists have long believed that siblings tend to find ways to differentiate themselves from one another, sharpening some edges, softening others, forcing one another into roles that can coexist within the space of their family. That certainly bears true for the siblings in one extraordinary family I met.
OTHER NEWS
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The U.S. Coast Guard intercepted an oil tanker linked to Venezuela and boarded another carrying Venezuelan oil, the latest escalation in President Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
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The father-and-son suspects in the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia appeared to have met with local Muslim religious leaders during a trip to the Philippines weeks before the attack, according to intelligence authorities.
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Political divisions over immigration are emerging in Australia as the country mourns the victims of the shooting at a memorial in Sydney.
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The U.S. deputy attorney general said the Justice Department would not remove references to Trump from the government’s files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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European leaders agreed to lend Ukraine 90 billion euros, shelving plans to use frozen Russian assets.
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Global experts reported that famine conditions in Gaza City had been alleviated but that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still face major difficulties getting food.
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At least nine people were killed in a mass shooting in South Africa, after nearly a dozen gunmen opened fire in a tavern near Johannesburg.
PREDATOR AND PREY OF THE DAY
Pumas vs. penguins
— In the early 20th century, sheep ranching pushed pumas out of Patagonia, on Argentina’s coast. With those predators gone, Magellanic penguins moved in. Now, conservation efforts have brought the pumas back, and they’re snacking on their favorite new flightless, feathered food source.
AROUND THE WORLD
What they’re watching … in Japan
“Black Box Diaries,” a searing documentary by the Japanese journalist Shiori Ito about her fight against Japan’s patriarchal judicial system, was nominated for an Oscar after its release last year. But the film, in which Ito details her accusation of rape against a prominent television journalist, had not been shown in Japan, partly because of privacy concerns. That changed this month, when an edited version of “Black Box Diaries” had its Japanese premiere in Tokyo. (Several scenes were changed to protect the identities of some individuals, including a group of female journalists, a taxi driver and a police investigator.)
The initial screenings have been sold out and have won praise from viewers. But Ito, who became the face of the #MeToo movement in Japan, has continued to draw criticism for not doing enough to protect the privacy of people featured in the film. Ito said she was grateful that “Black Box Diaries” could finally be shown in her home country, saying at a recent news conference, “I’m just so happy that today, finally, we can tell this story.” — Javier C. Hernández, Tokyo bureau chief
REPORTER RECOMMENDATIONS
Paris
My colleague Ségolène Le Stradic reports on France from her hometown, Paris. She shared some tips for enjoying the city, especially during the holidays.
Eat on the Rue de Ménilmontant or the Rue de Belleville. These two parallel streets in the northeast of Paris are packed with the city’s best and cheapest restaurants, serving mostly Asian and African food. If you’re desperate for traditional French food, Rond has the best crepes in town. Head up the street to the Belvédère de Belleville for a panoramic view of the city.
Catch a movie at Le Louxor. With its neo-Egyptian facade, this movie theater is instantly recognizable, and it has become a landmark after more than a century in the neighborhood. Watching a movie from the balcony of the main hall feels like stepping back in time, and the upstairs bar has a view of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Montmartre.
Skate at the Grand Palais, a large, glass-roofed exhibition space that has been turned into an ice rink until Jan. 13. At night, a huge mirror ball over the rink turns the spot into a disco. It’s near the Champs-Élysées, another Christmas must-see.
RECIPE
These not-too-sweet Korean honey cookies, fried and then soaked in gingery syrup, are uniquely soft and chewy on the outside and flaky on the inside. Called yakgwa (yak meaning “medicine,” and gwa meaning “confection”), these treats date back to the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) and are seeing a resurgence in popularity in Seoul and around the world, thanks to social media.
WHERE IS THIS?
Where is this palace?
TIME TO PLAY
Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.
You’re done for today. See you tomorrow! — Katrin
Correction: In Wednesday’s newsletter, an incorrect pronoun was used to refer to a person who shared their breakup story with The Times. Lu Valena uses they/them pronouns, not she/her.
We welcome your feedback. Send us your suggestions at [email protected].
Katrin Bennhold is the host of The World, the flagship global newsletter of The New York Times.
The post The Sibling Bond appeared first on New York Times.
