Author: NY TIMES

When President Trump ordered military strikes last weekend against the Houthi militia in Yemen, he said the militia’s attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea had harmed global trade.“These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk,” he said on Truth Social.But getting shipping companies to return to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal could take many months and is likely to require more than airstrikes against the Houthis. For over a year, ocean carriers have overwhelmingly avoided the Red Sea, sending ships…

Elon Musk declared last month that the federal government was engaged in “utterly insane” activity, claiming without evidence that it had distributed $100 billion to people without Social Security numbers.Two days after Mr. Musk’s comments, one of his key lieutenants, Steve Davis, began pressing the Social Security Administration for information. Mr. Davis called the agency’s leaders to insist they give a young engineer from Mr. Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency access to databases that contained sensitive information about Americans.Mr. Davis’s demand was “unprecedented,” Tiffany Flick, a former Social Security official, said in a sworn statement this month for a…

The Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that it would delay by 30 months a requirement that food companies and grocers rapidly trace contaminated food through the supply chain and pull it off the shelves.Intended to “limit food-borne illness and death,” the rule required companies and individuals to maintain better records to identify where foods are grown, packed, processed or manufactured. It was set to go into effect in January 2026 as part of a landmark food safety law passed in 2011, and was advanced during President Trump’s first term.Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, has expressed interest…

Every week, our critics spotlight notable new songs on the Playlist. Here’s more about 11 artists behind them, selected by the pop music critics Jon Pareles, Jon Caramanica and Lindsay Zoladz; a culture reporter, Joe Coscarelli; and Caryn Ganz, the pop music editor for The New York Times. (Listen on Spotify and Apple Music.)an interview withJensen McRaeJensen McRae writes constantly: journals, poems, fiction, screenplays and, most publicly, songs. “I’ve always wanted to do a million things with regard to writing and telling stories,” she said. “But music was always the first choice.”Born in Santa Monica, Calif., and still based in…

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was expected on Thursday to formally fire the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, despite growing street protests and scuffles over the move that have further roiled a deeply divided country still at war.The Israeli cabinet was set to convene for a nighttime vote on the dismissal of the Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, just days after Mr. Netanyahu announced his intention to oust him, citing a lack of personal trust between them. It comes after Israel’s military resumed a deadly campaign in Gaza that has raised concern among many Israelis about…

They billow like paper lanterns. They can reach the ankles, or cinch into two large puffballs around the upper thighs. They may not be sexy to anyone but the person who’s wearing them — and that’s sort of the point.“It’s a bit of a rebellious thing,” said Charlie Hourston, the founder of the Los Angeles-based label Charlie Beads, which has sold more than 2,000 of these pants, known as bloomers, in the last 18 months.Ms. Hourston’s designs ($68) are made of fabrics like French terry, pinstripe cotton and gingham and are of the shorter, Lolita-esque variety. Other riffs on the…

Indonesia’s Parliament on Thursday unanimously passed a controversial overhaul of a law that will allocate more civilian posts for military officers, defying student protests and raising fears of the erosion of freedoms in the world’s third-largest democracy.The revisions were proposed by allies of President Prabowo Subianto, a feared former general who served under the dictator Suharto. The move sets up a potential showdown between the government and critics, who have warned for weeks that the amendments evoke Indonesia’s authoritarian past.Mr. Prabowo won a landslide election victory last year with the backing of his predecessor, Joko Widodo. His ascent to power…

The NCAA Championship’s 32 games held on Thursday and Friday are one of the most anticipated TV shows of the year. You should watch as much game as you can, but if you need priority, here is the “No error” to watch, which is from sportsBrendan Marks, CJ Moore and Lindsay Schnell. – Dan ShanoffThursdayThe best game(6) Missouri (11) Drake7:35 PM ETSomehow, the best game in the first round was divided into TRUTV, which is known primarily for its perennial March queries: “How do I find Trutv?”Missouri is scheduling gloves through the SEC schedule, but Drake is led by former…

Private equity likes the long ball The San Francisco Giants, one of Major League Baseball’s most successful franchises, have sold about 10 percent of the team to the private equity group Sixth Street, Ken Belson and Lauren Hirsch are first to report.The team will use the cash to help pay for upgrades to the franchise’s 25-year-old stadium and other facilities, as well as the Mission Rock real estate development adjacent to the ballpark.Details of the purchase, which was approved by Major League Baseball Monday, were not disclosed. But the team was last valued at $3.8 billion by Forbes. The Giants…

European Union regulators on Wednesday ramped up their efforts to force Apple and Google to change key parts of their businesses, despite potential pushback from the Trump administration over the regulation of American tech companies.The European Commission, the executive branch of the 27-nation bloc, said Apple and Google had violated a law passed in 2022 that was intended to ensure fair competition in the digital economy.The decisions add a new layer to geopolitical tensions between the United States and European Union on issues ranging from trade and tariffs to Ukraine and military defense.The commission said a preliminary judgment had found…