Author: NY TIMES

Welcome back to Monday’s tennis briefing sports The story behind the story in court over the past week will be explained.This week, Miami opens Obtain singles title. Elsewhere, the men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner performed well in a match, with the sun not shining on the family players, while Mirra Andreeva used doubles to put his feet on the ground.If you want to follow our excellent tennis coverage, click here.How did the absence of the sinner make him the world’s number one without any difficulty?At this year’s Australian Open, BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, the highest rankings were…

Hank Steinbrecher, a soccer evangelist from Queens whose passion as a top United States official in the sport helped usher it into the American mainstream and who, in a previous career in marketing for Gatorade, helped popularize the ritual in which victorious players douse their coaches with coolers of sports drinks, died on Tuesday at his home in Tucson, Ariz. He was 77.His death, from degenerative heart disease, was confirmed by the United States Soccer Federation, of which Mr. Steinbrecher was secretary general from 1990 to 2000.Sunil Gulati, who was president of the federation from 2006 to 2018, said in…

The idea of getting her eldest child a smartphone had long felt inevitable, said Daisy Greenwell. But by early last year, when her daughter was 8 years old, it filled her with dread. When she talked to other parents, “everyone universally said, ‘Yes, it’s a nightmare, but you’ve got no choice,’” recalled Ms. Greenwell, 41.She decided to test that. A friend, Clare Fernyhough, had shared her concerns about the addictive qualities of smartphones and the impact of social media on mental health, so they created a WhatsApp group to strategize. Then Ms. Greenwell, who lives in rural Suffolk, in the…

Joe Grinsteiner is a gregarious online personality who touts the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin. In a recent Facebook video, he produced a tube of veterinary-grade ivermectin paste — the kind made for deworming horses.He gave the tube a squeeze. Then he licked a slug of the stuff, and gulped.“Yum,” Mr. Grinsteiner said in the Feb. 25 video, one of a number of ivermectin-related posts he has made that have drawn millions of views on Facebook this year. “Actually, that tastes like dead cancer.”Ivermectin, a drug proven to treat certain parasitic diseases, exploded in popularity during the pandemic amid false claims that…

The conductor Joana Mallwitz apologized for arriving late for her interview at the Metropolitan Opera House last week, but she had needed to catch her breath after rehearsal. “Conducting is sweaty business,” she said, as she settled into a straight-backed posture on a sofa in the press lounge, her striking hands with long fingers elegantly crossed at the wrists.On Monday, Mallwitz, 39 — the music director of the Konzerthaus Berlin and one of the fastest rising classical stars in her native Germany — makes her Met debut with Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” She has been in close relationship with…

The Israeli military issued a sweeping evacuation order for the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, signaling it could relaunch intensive operations in the area.The order — which came during the Eid al-Fitr holiday — heralded renewed hardship for Palestinians in the southernmost city of Rafah, which has been battered by the war between Israel and Hamas. The war restarted two weeks ago after a monthslong cease-fire collapsed.In the past, the Israeli military has ordered evacuations ahead of both aerial attacks and ground maneuvers that it has said were targeting Hamas.Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, on Monday posted a…

Paul Marchant, the chief executive of Primark, has resigned “with immediate effect” from his role leading the discount clothing retailer after an allegation about his behavior, the company announced Monday.Mr. Marchant, who joined Primark in 2009, left after the company hired lawyers to investigate “an allegation made by an individual about his behavior towards her in a social environment,” Associated British Foods, Primark’s parent company, said in a statement.It said that he cooperated with the inquiry, “acknowledged his error of judgment and accepts that his actions fell below the standards expected by the company.” Mr. Marchant apologized to the individual,…

Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, was found guilty of embezzlement by a criminal court in Paris on Monday, jeopardizing her plans to compete in France’s 2027 presidential election.The verdict was a major blow to the perennial presidential ambitions of Ms. Le Pen, an anti-immigrant, nationalist politician who was widely seen as a front-runner in the 2027 race, despite three past failed bids.Ms. Le Pen, 56, has long denied any wrongdoing in the case, which involved accusations that her party, the National Rally, illegally used several million euros in European Parliament funds for party expenses between 2004 and 2016.Her…

When it arrived at Grambling State in 2015, it entered the WNBA or created the idea that the incredible NCAA record never crossed Shakyla Hill.She has other wishes. She wants to become a lawyer.Recording four times the doubles in the game is never part of the plan. Gaining two people in a career isn’t even the same idea.However, this happens to student-athletes who prefer the law rather than layups.”I probably said that I was playing basketball for a hundred times in my first two years, and I was playing basketball for school. I didn’t play basketball at school,” Hill told…

In Washington, President Trump has said he is willing to meet with Xi Jinping, China’s top leader.In Beijing, Chinese officials and experts agree that a meeting between the heads of state must precede any broad reset of relations with the United States amid Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach to trade and foreign policy.But arranging a meeting is already proving slow and difficult.Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, who came to Beijing this month as an informal representative of Mr. Trump, said one of the main goals for his trip was to lay the groundwork for a presidential summit. After meeting China’s…