Overlooked Stories

If you’re spending this Fourth of July holiday in the U.S. grilling or setting off Roman candles, we hope you have some time to take a break and read. Today, we have suggestions for readers anywhere in the world — 25 of the best stories from The Times this year so far.

They’re articles you may not have seen yet. We asked editors around the newsroom to pick their favorite stories that, for one reason or another, most readers overlooked.

There are beautiful photos of Spanish flamenco dresses, a tale of TikTok feuds and a peek inside a pacifist sect in Canada.

Enjoy these 25 stories:

• “Doing the work”: The language of therapy has taken over dating.

• Dolphins and whaaaaales use vocal fry to communicate.

• The El Rocío pilgrimage in Andalusia, Spain’s southernmost region, is filled with horseback riders and dramatic dresses. Look at the photos.

• Divorce is seen as shameful in many cultures. But in Mauritania, it’s not just normal, it’s a reason to celebrate.

• Medical students are honoring the lives of the cadavers they study with gratitude ceremonies.

• People in China are amassing huge followings and fortunes by filming themselves shopping.

• He was born into slavery, but became a writer, composer, merchant and voter. Read more about the polymath Charles Ignatius Sancho.

• Oklahoma wants to be the new Texas. But it needs visitors to give it a try.

• Meet two students who drove a battered Toyota through the fighting in Sudan, and saved at least 60 people.

• California’s salmon stocks are crashing.

• A.I. is writing campaign emails, blurring even further the boundaries of fact and fake in politics.

• Jay Shetty, the monk turned author and Instagram influencer, shares some dating advice.

• More migrants are trying to cross the dangerous Darién Gap, which connects Central and South America. Listen to the story of one mother and daughter who were separated on the journey.

• New York’s diamond district is hanging on to a dying trade. But it still has hustle, prerolled joints and TikTok feuds.

• A small town in England has presented new monarchs with a pie filled with a slimy, eel-like fish for 800 years. This year, the pie for King Charles was different.

• Because insects aren’t considered wildlife in some states, many aren’t legally protected. That’s a problem for the environment.

• At one professional tennis tournament, the women compete for less than half as much money as the men do. That’s tennis in 2023.

• These graphics show how Asian actors have been underrepresented at the Oscars for decades.

• The U.S. government is trying to hire someone to run the Capitol complex. The job is powerful, but scandal-plagued, and they’re struggling to find the right fit.

• Videos and photos of police violence affect the mental health of millions of Black people.

• More girls are being diagnosed with autism — but many are likely still being missed.

• The war in Ukraine is forcing a pacifist sect from Russia to question its national ties.

• SZA’s moody, enigmatic music made her a megastar. Can she learn to live with success?

• For Black horseback riders with natural hair, finding a helmet that fits can be virtually impossible.

• With replay cameras watching every call, it’s a really weird time to be an umpire.

THE LATEST NEWS

International

• Israel fired missiles at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, targeting militants and killing at least eight Palestinians.

• Vladimir Putin is scrambling to protect himself from a future coup, giving a nearly 11 percent pay raise to soldiers.

• On an upcoming trip to China, Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, is expected to discuss technology and human rights concerns.

• Fires in Canada have burned 20 million acres, upending the oil and lumber industries.

Fourth of July

“The Problem of Whiteness”: A class at UChicago stoked outrage after a student with a large online following posted about it.

Lives Lived: Joseph Pedott made Chia Pets a sensation. He died at 91.

SPORTS NEWS

N.B.A.: The Timberwolves signed Anthony Edwards to a max extension worth up to $260 million, The Athletic reports.

The frankfurter favorites: Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo are favored to win today’s Nathan’s hot dog eating contest. The Athletic asks: Can they beat their own records?

Women’s World Cup: An assault case that rattled one of France’s best soccer teams remains unresolved despite a series of arrests, The Times reports.

Wimbledon upset: Coco Gauff is out after losing her first-round match to Sofia Kenin yesterday. It was a shock for the rising star, The Athletic writes.

BookTok: TikTok has changed the way that readers discover books. Shops that once steered readers toward new authors now struggle to fill requests for writers who have gone viral on the app. BookTok, as the app’s book-loving community is known, is a force in the industry: Sales driven by authors with large followings there rose 60 percent last year. “To say it’s hugely important is an understatement at this point,” one publishing executive said.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, recently started its own publishing arm, Elizabeth Harris and Alexandra Alter report. It has been offering deals to self-published authors in genres that are popular on the app, such as fantasy, romance and mystery.

More on culture

• Political fights have come for school plays: People can’t agree on what shows are appropriate for students to stage.

• The Brooklyn Museum’s “Africa Fashion” exhibition is “something wondrous,” a Times review says.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS …