Author: NY TIMES

Amy McIlquham was 21 when she was asked to go to Gstaad, Switzerland, for a long weekend with her boss.Ms. McIlquham had joined Harrods, the luxury department store in London, in 1993. A Canadian on a work-abroad program, she was promoted from the shop floor to become a personal assistant to Mohamed al-Fayed, who co-owned the business with his younger brothers, Salah and Ali.In early 1994, she recalled, she boarded the company’s private jet and flew to Gstaad to work as an assistant to Ali.Once she got there, however, there was no work to do, she said. She was alone…

Rows of white concrete buildings near the Pearl River in southern China house one of the world’s fastest-growing industries: Gritty workshops are churning out inexpensive clothing that is exported straight to homes and small businesses around the world. No tariffs are paid, and no customs inspections are conducted.The laborers who make these goods earn as little as $5 an hour, including overtime, for workdays that can last 10 hours or more. They pay $130 a month to sleep on bunk beds in tiny rooms above factories packed with sewing machines and mounds of cloth.“It’s hard work,” said Wu Hua, who…

When Elon Musk bought X for $44 billion in 2022, more than a quarter of that was financed by loans from banks including Morgan Stanley. Banks normally quickly sell off such loans, but in this case they kept much of that debt because investors were reluctant to bet on the social media company’s floundering business.Mr. Musk’s newfound power in President Trump’s administration has helped change investors’ minds.On Thursday, the banks sold roughly $4.7 billion of X’s debt, according to two people familiar with the transaction, more than the $3 billion that they had originally intended to sell. Mr. Musk, who…

Louisiana’s top health official said in an internal memo to the state’s Health Department on Thursday that it would no longer use media campaigns or health fairs to promote vaccination against preventable illnesses.The official, Dr. Ralph L. Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, wrote in the memo that the state would “encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider” but would “no longer promote mass vaccination.”The letter came on a day when the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has raised questions about vaccines, as the new U.S. health secretary. But it was not…

There’s a dressing room backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville called “It Takes Two” that’s filled with photos of some of country music’s most famous duos. It’s Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter’s favorite spot to get ready before they perform there as the War and Treaty, which is so often, they’ve lost count. They hope to become members someday. (It’s on Tanya’s vision board.) And they don’t want to just be inducted. They want to be the first Black artists on that wall.“How about right over there, by Marty Stuart and Connie Smith?” Michael, 42, said last…

Hamas said on Thursday that it was still committed to upholding the cease-fire deal with Israel, including releasing more hostages this weekend, a sign of diplomatic progress amid widespread concern about the future of the precarious truce with Israel.Mediators between the two sides were following up “to remove obstacles and close gaps” after “positive” talks with senior officials from Egypt and Qatar, Hamas said in a statement. Along with the United States, Egypt and Qatar have been brokering the cease-fire, which began with a six-week truce in late January.There was no immediate comment from Israel on Hamas’s latest statement. Hamas…

Erling Haaland scored for the first time in his career with Real Madrid.Then score.But Manchester City still lost at the Champions League holder’s home.Pep Guardiola and his team kicked a 2-1 lead on Etihad for four minutes of normal time with a 2-1 lead, which would feel very familiar, their former player Brahmin Brahim Diaz first got the stinging Jude Bellingham, who moved the ball from close range to home in additional time.Oh, and earlier in the game, Kylian Mbappe scored on the shin.Carlo Ancelotti’s side entered the second leg of the playoffs at Bernabeu with a 3-2 advantage, taking…

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent became the first senior Trump administration official to visit Ukraine, arriving on Wednesday for talks on an agreement that would trade access to Ukrainian natural resources for continued military support.Mr. Bessent’s trip comes amid anxiety in Kyiv and among American allies about whether U.S. support for the Ukrainian war effort will be maintained with Mr. Trump’s return to the White House.In opening remarks at a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Bessent said that “President Trump has a plan to end this war,” and that “we would like an economic cooperation agreement. In exchange for this…

For years, journalists have written about the social media posts of government employees to help reveal the positions, motivations and actions of public officials.But when a journalist recently trained that same lens on Elon Musk’s new government efficiency program, the billionaire suggested that the reporting might be illegal, joining other powerful figures connected to the Trump administration who have made similar claims in recent weeks.The offense, they argue, is doxxing: publishing private information about someone with malicious intent. The term refers to a revenge tactic, originally used by hackers, to bully, harass or intimidate people online, and can incite third…

X has agreed to pay in the range of $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump over the 2021 suspension of his account on the social media platform, according to a person briefed on the matter.The company, then known as Twitter, removed Mr. Trump from its platform after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, citing his inflammatory posts and arguing they could lead to more violence. Mr. Trump sued, claiming Twitter and other tech firms that removed his accounts had wrongfully censored him.Elon Musk, now X’s owner and a close adviser to the…