Author: NY TIMES

Watches make up only a small fraction of sales for LVMH, the biggest luxury goods empire in the world. The group is far better known for Louis Vuitton leather handbags and Moët Champagne. But lately, with Swiss watch exports reaching record highs and growing interest in fancy timepieces from a new generation of wealthy global consumers, LVMH is showing heightened focus on its fine watchmaking business, which includes TAG Heuer, Hublot and Zenith.Last week, Miami hosted LVMH Watch Week. On Tuesday, a glittering new prize was unveiled at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the soaring glass museum designed by Frank Gehry…

Disney is deploying Taylor Swift and Moana as part of a campaign to revitalize its entertainment lineup.The company said on Wednesday that it had reached a deal with Ms. Swift to bring her blockbuster “Eras Tour” concert movie to streaming for the first time. “The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)” will include five additional performed songs, including the fan favorite “Cardigan,” and exclusively arrive on Disney+ on March 15.“The Eras Tour” movie has sold more than $260 million in tickets at cinemas worldwide. In a statement, Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, called it “electrifying” and “a true phenomenon.”Separately, Disney said…

The U.S. government announced charges in two separate cases on Wednesday aimed at enforcing laws blocking the transfer of critical technologies, part of a broader campaign to hamper military efforts and weapons production in rival countries.One of the complaints was against a U.S. citizen born in China who has been arrested and accused of stealing trade secrets from a private company. The technology, according to court documents, “would be dangerous to U.S. national security if obtained by international actors.”A Justice Department complaint filed in U.S. District Court in California said the stolen material would help the development of technology that…

When Taylor Swift announced at the Grammys that the title of her new album would be “The Tortured Poets Department,” what was your reaction?Maybe it was: “My gosh! Her first new album in more than a year. I can’t wait!”Maybe it was: “Ho-hum. I’d rather listen to Shostakovich/Metallica/Baby Shark.”Or, just possibly, it could have been:“Shouldn’t there be an apostrophe in that title?”Yes, plenty of people, upon hearing the biggest music announcement of the year, started thinking about diacritical marks and then talking about them on social media.“I ruined this album release for my students by making it a lesson on…

Prince William, the heir to the British throne, stepped back onto the public stage Wednesday, trying to project a steely sense of normalcy, two days after the announcement that his father, King Charles III, had been struck by cancer.But as William carried out an honors ceremony at Windsor Castle and attended a charity fund-raiser in London, a shadow of uncertainty hung over the 41-year-old prince. Nobody, aside from Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, faces more lingering disruption from the king’s cancer diagnosis than his eldest son.The advocacy work, family life, and zone of privacy that William has carved out…

The NFL’s gambling rules have drawn widespread criticism and questions ahead of the Super Bowl in Las Vegas as the league seeks to balance its sports betting partnerships with policies that prevent players from betting on games.Gambling was a major topic during NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s annual Super Bowl press conference on Monday, where he said the “integrity of the league” was a top priority.”We want to make sure that when people watch an NFL game, they know that the action on the field is real and free from any outside influence,” Goodell said.With just days to go before a…

Bailey Cormier was browsing the Saks Fifth Avenue website one evening when she decided to buy a blue and white, porcelain ashtray, for $275. When her order arrived a few days later, the 25-year-old attorney was excited to open the Dolce & Gabbana Casa box, wrapped in cellophane and nested inside a standard cardboard shipping box. Nothing seemed amiss, but when Ms. Cormier opened the sleek black package, she found something else entirely: a can of Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore Tuna, worth about $1.99.Though she’d never posted on TikTok before, Ms. Cormier was so perplexed, she created an account…

The United States is on pace to add nearly $19 trillion to its national debt over the next decade as the mounting costs of an aging population and higher interest expenses continue to weigh on the nation’s fiscal outlook, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday.But the report did offer a sliver of relief: Recently enacted legislation to curb federal spending and a U.S. economy that has been growing faster than expected are making the fiscal picture slightly less bleak. Annual deficits over the next decade are 7 percent smaller than the $20.3 trillion the budget office forecast last…

Right in the middle of the exhibition “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys,” which opens Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum, is Kehinde Wiley’s 25-foot-long 2008 painting “Femme Piquée par un Serpent.” Showing a Black man in snappy but casual dress reclined in a distinctively twisted position, with a background of Wiley’s signature flowers, it borrows both title and pose from an 1847 marble sculpture by Auguste Clésinger. What you think of it really depends on what you’re asking for.If you view the painting as a Venti-size iteration of Wiley’s ongoing project, his decades-long attack…

Missiles streaked into Kyiv early Wednesday in a Russian attack that killed at least five people, according to local officials, jolted residents awake with air alarms and explosions, and ignited a fire that sent plumes of smoke billowing over the Ukrainian capital.The barrage, which directed missiles and drones at cities across the country, coincided with a moment of heightened uncertainty for Ukraine. Russian forces are pressing assaults in towns and villages along the front, American aid is in doubt, and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is preparing for what he has hinted will be a major shake-up in his government…