business

The joke was nothing too unusual for political comedy. But in India, where there is little room anymore to make fun of politicians without drawing court cases or mob violence, all hell quickly broke loose. Just hours after video from a stand-up show in Mumbai was posted online Sunday, supporters of a state political leader … Read more

A court in Tokyo on Tuesday ordered the Japanese branch of the Unification Church to disband, three years after it came under scrutiny following the assassination of the former prime minister, Shinzo Abe. The shooting of Mr. Abe by a man with a grudge against the church led to revelations that the fringe religious group … Read more

China has released five employees of an American corporate investigations firm, the Mintz Group, two years after they were detained as part of a crackdown by Beijing on foreign business consultancies. “We understand that the Mintz Group Beijing employees who were detained, all Chinese nationals, have now all been released,” the firm said in a … Read more

Kristine Carroll plopped herself down in the only shade on the beach — a triangle cast by the makeshift lifeguard station — and slathered sunscreen all over her freckled skin. Squinting at the scorching midday sun, she glanced over at her 8-year-old daughter, Zoe, who had already plunged into the blue-green water without hesitation. “She’s … Read more

Han Jong-Hee, the co-chief executive of Samsung Electronics and a nearly four-decade veteran of the South Korean consumer technology giant, died on Tuesday. Mr. Han, who was 63, suffered a sudden heart attack, according to a company spokeswoman. Mr. Han had shared chief executive duties with the head of Samsung’s semiconductor business since 2022, and … Read more

Trump targets Venezuela with new tariffs President Trump said yesterday that countries that bought oil or gas from Venezuela would be forced to pay a tariff of 25 percent on their exports to the U.S., starting April 2. He claimed that Venezuela had “purposefully and deceitfully” sent criminals and murderers into the U.S. Later in … Read more

For most of the last three years, the most clever, artful and progressive act in K-pop has been NewJeans, a five-member girl group — Danielle, Haerin, Hanni, Hyein and Minji — with an almost preternatural musical and aesthetic sophistication. With one elegantly rendered chart-topping single after another, the artists, who range in age from 16 … Read more

The United States has lifted multimillion-dollar bounties on three senior Taliban officials, according to Afghan authorities and a senior American official, a significant shift by the Trump administration toward some of the most blood-soaked jihadists from the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. The move comes days after a U.S. hostage envoy, Adam Boehler, made the first … Read more

Andre Lee bought a used Kia Forte to boost his career as an insurance agent in Singapore. In his mind, he saw himself zipping across town in his black coupe, impressing potential clients. “It’s the same as being dressed in formal wear with leather shoes, or wearing a Rolex,” Mr. Lee, 33, said of the … Read more

Ahead of President Trump’s next big trade move, his administration invited companies to weigh in on the economic barriers they faced abroad. The list of complaints was both sprawling and specific. In hundreds of letters submitted to the administration in recent weeks, producers of uranium, shrimp, T-shirts and steel highlighted the unfair trade treatment they … Read more