The Indian internet is a boisterous place, not always for the faint of heart. But sometimes India itself turns fainthearted in the face of the internet. Or livid, when family values are at stake. Until a couple of weeks ago, Ranveer Allahbadia, 31, was riding high as a podcaster, influencer and all-around successful hyper-bro — a Joe Rogan for online Indians, especially young men. His handle, BeerBiceps, presented him to his eight million followers as a lighthearted, overgrown boy’s boy. He interviewed celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Priyanka Chopra, as well as government ministers who build highways and plot foreign relations. He signed deals with brands like Sony, Skechers and Spotify. Last April, he shared a stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi while being named “Disrupter of the Year” at India’s first National Creators Awards. It all came crashing down for BeerBiceps on Feb. 8, when “India’s Got Latent,” a...

Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams had to shave. So did Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. But now Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and the rest of the current Yankee roster will be allowed to grow “well-groomed beards” if they so choose, after the club on Friday announced a change to its longstanding grooming policy. The all-clear for beards was announced by Hal Steinbrenner, the team’s managing general partner whose father started the beard ban — and vigorously enforced it for years. “After great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward,” Steinbrenner said in a statement on Friday. “It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.” Since the 1970s, the Yankees have barred their players, as well as staff members, from having beards or long hair. George Steinbrenner, Hal Steinbrenner’s father and...

This is troubling enough. But with all the recent commotion, the country has lost sight of another problem that is just as pressing as immigration or the decline of the trans-Atlantic alliance: a faltering, flatlining economy. Two years into a recession, Germany is trapped in a vicious cycle of poor growth and low productivity, and nobody seems to know what to do about it. Whatever the result on Sunday, the country is in serious trouble. There’s agreement, to be fair, on one point: The threat of permanent decline is real. Businesses are burdened by high energy prices, excessive bureaucracy and increasing competition from China. An aging population means that there are fewer highly qualified workers to fill important jobs. Years of underinvestment in infrastructure are taking a toll. In a looming global trade war, Germany’s export-oriented economy stands to lose more than others. A jury of economists and journalists, appointed...

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York plans to announce on Thursday that she will not exercise her authority to remove Mayor Eric Adams from office at this time, but will seek to impose strict new guardrails on his administration of New York City, according to two officials familiar with her thinking. Ms. Hochul’s actions could curtail the mayor’s independence at a time when he is battling accusations that he entered a coercive arrangement with the Trump administration in exchange for the federal corruption charges he faces being dropped. It could also further damage his re-election prospects this year, even as it makes it more likely that he will be allowed to serve the remainder of his term. Ms. Hochul, a Democrat who has been a key ally to the mayor, plans to admonish Mr. Adams for his conduct on Thursday and portray her proposals as necessary to reassure New Yorkers...

Delta Air Lines said on Wednesday that it was offering $30,000 to each passenger who was aboard the flight from Minneapolis that crashed and flipped upside down this week while trying to land in Toronto. All 80 people — 76 passengers and four crew members — who were on Delta Flight 4819 survived after the jet made a rough landing and rolled over, ending belly-up with its right wing sheared off at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday. Of the 21 passengers who were taken to hospitals, all but one had been released by Wednesday morning, Delta said. None of the passengers had life-threatening injuries. Delta confirmed on Wednesday that it had made the $30,000 offer to passengers. Its representatives were telling the passengers that the offer came with “no strings attached and does not affect rights,” a company spokesman said via email. It came as Rochon Genova, a Canadian...

Abortion clinics in the staunchly Republican state of Missouri this week resumed procedures for the first time in years, despite a continued push by conservative state leaders to block a constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights that voters approved in November. It was a remarkable moment after an extended fight. Missouri was the first state to enact an abortion ban after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Then in 2024, it became the first state with a near-total ban to approve a citizen-sponsored abortion rights amendment. On the day after voters approved the constitutional amendment, abortion rights groups sued to overturn the ban as well as a host of other restrictions on abortion that preceded the ban. Planned Parenthood, the only provider of abortions outside of hospitals in the state, resumed abortion procedures after a judge on Friday granted a temporary injunction that blocked state licensing requirements imposed...

In a different scenario, the governor’s race in California would already have taken shape. Aspiring candidates would have been making appearances around the state. Donors would have begun bankrolling their favorites, and organizations would have started to announce endorsements. Instead, Kamala Harris came home. The former vice president, after a stinging defeat in the presidential race last year, has shaken up the 2026 governor’s race by her mere presence in California. Speculation has grown each week since her return from Washington: Will she or won’t she enter the race? After flying back to Los Angeles last month, Ms. Harris has stood with firefighters in Altadena, greeted evacuees at a Red Cross shelter and toured fire damage in Pacific Palisades. During her most recent stop, she did little to quell speculation. “I am here, and would be here, regardless of the office I hold, because it is the right thing to...

ASAP Rocky, the Grammy nominated hip-hop artist, was found not guilty on Tuesday of shooting a former collaborator. The jury deliberated for nearly three hours in a case that threatened to derail his multifaceted career. Rocky, 36, born Rakim Mayers, faced two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, stemming from an altercation with his one-time friend, Terell Ephron, known as ASAP Relli, near a Hollywood hotel in 2021. Rocky dove into the gallery to hug family including Rihanna, the singer, businesswoman, and mother of his two young sons, and embraced his lawyer, Joe Tacopina, after the verdict was read. “Thank y’all for saving my life,” he told jurors. The trial hinged on jurors’ assessment of the gun used in the incident, which prosecutors said was a semiautomatic firearm and witnesses for the defense testified was instead a prop gun acquired at the filming of a music video. No...

Senior American and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the most extensive negotiations between the two countries in at least three years, as President Trump pushes to end the war in Ukraine and the Kremlin seeks warmer ties with Washington. Ahead of the talks in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Russian officials said they would pursue “normalization” with the United States, even holding out the possibility that major American oil companies could return to Russia. Ukraine and Europe were watching from a distance with deep apprehension, amid fears that Mr. Trump could try to force a peace deal on Ukraine that would be favorable to Russia. The meeting comes less than a week after Mr. Trump’s lengthy phone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Trump said afterward that the two leaders had spoken of “the great benefit” that the United States and Russia “will someday...

A Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis crashed and overturned while landing at Toronto Pearson Airport on Monday afternoon, with photos showing the plane with its belly up on the tarmac. Delta Flight 4819 crashed while landing around 2:45 p.m. local time, Federal Aviation Administration officials said in a statement, as powerful gusts of wind and drifting snow were reported in the area. All 80 people onboard were evacuated, F.A.A. officials said, though the full extent of injuries was still uncertain. Nine people were injured, including one who was critically hurt but whose injuries were not life-threatening who was airlifted to a trauma center, said Lawrence Saindon, a supervisor with the Peel Regional Paramedic Services. One pediatric patient was also in critical but non-life-threatening condition. The remaining seven who were injured were taken to hospitals with minor-to-moderate injuries. In a statement, Delta said it was aware of reports of the...