Oscars Draw 18 Million Viewers, an 8% Drop

The Academy Awards drew 18 million viewers on Sunday, ABC said, citing Nielsen data. That is an 8 percent drop from the 19.5 million who watched last year. The audience decline ends a three-year streak when Oscar ratings had been on the rise. The decline follows a trend among other award shows, which have seen … Read more

In Face of Trump Tariffs, Mexico Embraces Nationalism

Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, stood underneath a giant Mexican flag and before troops at a military installation in Mexico City. It was Flag Day last month and she used her speech as an opportunity to, figuratively and literally, rally around it. “Mexico must be respected,” she said, adding later: “Its people are brave. … Read more

Lutnick Remarks on Removing Government Spending in GDP Data Raises Fears

Comments from a member of President Trump’s cabinet over the weekend have renewed concerns that the new administration could seek to interfere with federal statistics — especially if they start to show that the economy is slipping into a recession. In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, suggested that … Read more

The Problem With Car Tariffs: What’s an Import?

Source: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The New York Times President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico could be felt particularly acutely by automakers — and car buyers — because of the number of vehicles and parts that come into the United States every day as they head to market. … Read more

How ‘Silo’ and ‘Paradise’ Envision Housing After the Apocalypse

“Paradise” is a TV show on Hulu about a postapocalyptic society that lives underground in a suburb. “Silo” is a TV show on Apple TV+ about a postapocalyptic society that lives underground in an apartment tower. Both are propelled by mysteries. Both feature curious heroes. Both have shifty leaders who lie, blackmail and murder to … Read more

China Targets U.S. Biotech Firm in Broadening Blacklist

China signaled on Tuesday that it is willing to go further than before in its trade tit-for-tat with President Trump by hitting a top American biotechnology company. China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would ban Illumina, a San Diego company, from importing its gene-mapping products in China. Illumina is the world’s leading producer of gene-sequencing … Read more

China Retaliates Against Trump, Imposing Tariffs and Blacklisting U.S. Companies

Minutes after President Trump’s latest tariffs took effect, the Chinese government said on Tuesday that it was imposing its own broad tariffs on food imported from the United States and would essentially halt sales to 15 American companies. China’s Ministry of Finance put tariffs of 15 percent on imports of American chicken, wheat, corn and … Read more

Is It Time to Transfer Frozen Russian Assets to Ukraine? Calls Grow Louder.

President Trump’s rancorous threat to abandon Ukraine is stoking support for a long-debated proposal to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine and finance its reconstruction. The money — roughly $300 billion owned by Russia’s central bank — was frozen by the United States, the European Union, Britain and … Read more