Author: NY TIMES

Welcome back to Bracket Busters! We know you miss us, and we can’t wait to wow you with the unique look at NCAA Tournament upsets provided by our proprietary statistical model, Slingshot. We hope you will follow our work over the years. But if you’re new to Bracket Breakers, here’s the latest explanation of who we are, what we do, and the status of Slingshot.Over the next few days, we’ll be providing in-depth regional previews of every first-round matchup that qualifies for the Bracket Breaker tournament (meaning there must be at least a 5-seed difference). We’ll also provide upset odds…

As Giovanni Botta and Amanda Pinegar began planning their renovation of the house they bought in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn, they knew one thing for sure: The kitchen would have to be pink.“We had already decided on the refrigerator, which is pink,” said Ms. Pinegar, 44, a ceramic artist. “And we wanted a kitchen that would enhance that.”To complement the pink kitchen, they considered lots of other bright colors, too.“Amanda wanted it really bold,” said Mr. Botta, 42, a software engineer at Waymo, the driverless car company owned by Alphabet. This was nothing new: In their previous home, they had painted…

Japan’s economy has rocketed into the headlines this year as inflation returns for the first time in decades, workers win wage gains and the Bank of Japan raises interest rates for the first time in 17 years.But there’s another, longer-running trend happening in the Japanese economy that could prove interesting for American policymakers: Female employment has been steadily rising.Working-age Japanese women have been joining the labor market for years, a trend that has continued strongly in recent months as a tight labor market prods companies to work to attract new employees.The jump in female participation has happened partly by design.…

Next season, the New York Philharmonic will be without a full-time maestro or a designate music director for the first time in decades.But Gustavo Dudamel, the superstar conductor who takes over as the ensemble’s music and artistic director in 2026, will help fill the gap, leading three weeks of concerts, the Philharmonic announced on Tuesday.Dudamel, who currently leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is steadily ramping up his commitments in New York. He is already helping to shape programming and tours. And next season he might begin to take part in auditions, though talks are still underway, said Gary Ginstling, the…

At the request of President Biden, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, agreed on Monday to send a team of officials to Washington to discuss alternatives to a promised Israeli invasion of Rafah, the city that has become the last refuge for roughly half of Gaza’s population, according to Mr. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.In a phone call on Monday, Mr. Biden told the Israeli leader that sending ground forces into Rafah, as Mr. Netanyahu has vowed repeatedly to do, could be disastrous when there are other options for defeating Hamas, Mr. Sullivan said.“A major ground operation there would be…

When Catherine, Princess of Wales, confessed last week to digitally altering a photo of her with her children, news agencies began examining Catherine’s gallery of royal family photos for other examples of doctoring.It didn’t take long: On Monday, Getty Images placed an editorial advisory on a second photo taken by Catherine, of Queen Elizabeth II surrounded by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, saying the image had been altered before it was released by the palace.In a statement, the news agency said that “in accordance with its editorial policy it has placed an editor’s note on a handout image stating the image…

In a shock to the fashion world, Dries Van Noten announced that he was stepping down as creative director of the brand that bears his name. His fall 2024 men’s show, scheduled to take place in Paris in June, will be his last.“My dream was to have a voice in fashion,” Mr. Van Noten, 65, wrote in a letter sent to editors. “That dream came true. Now, I want to shift my focus to all the things I never had time for.”Mr. Van Noten was an original member of the Antwerp Six, the group of Belgian designers who changed fashion…

Slowing America’s rapid inflation has been an unexpectedly painless process so far. High interest rates are making it expensive to take out a mortgage or borrow to start a business, but they have not slammed the brakes on economic growth or drastically pushed up unemployment.Still, price increases have been hovering around 3.2 percent for five months now. That flatline is stoking questions about whether the final phase in fighting inflation could prove more difficult for the Federal Reserve.Fed officials will have a chance to respond to the latest data on Wednesday, when they conclude a two-day policy meeting. Central bankers…

Representative Ro Khanna, the California Democrat representing Silicon Valley, laid out his case against a sweeping ban of the social media platform TikTok on Sunday after opposing legislation that overwhelmingly passed the House last week, saying the bill would be ineffective.The legislation passed the House, 352 to 65, on Wednesday, with Mr. Khanna among 50 Democrats, mostly from the progressive wing, who voted against it. He said the focus should be on enhancing data privacy laws rather than banning a social media platform.“What is the actual evidence that you couldn’t pass a data privacy law or law banning data going…

“Illinoise,” a dance-driven, dialogue-free musical adapted from a much-loved 2005 album by Sufjan Stevens, will transfer to Broadway next month.The show, which is a collaboration between the celebrated choreographer Justin Peck and the Pulitzer-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury, is to open on April 24 at the St. James Theater; the run is to be limited, with a scheduled closing date of Aug. 10.“Illinoise” depicts a group of young creative people gathered around a campfire to share stories about their lives; it ultimately focuses on the life of a man who is finding his way while confronting grief. “A lot of…