Elections

It’s a genuine trend. Just look at Hedi Slimane’s Celine.A full week after the end of the fashion season, Hedi Slimane of Celine released his fall women’s wear collection — as a video. But while he may have been going his own way with timing and format, in one way he was right on trend: Rather than offering up yet another cool-girl-in-the-city collection (trench coats, jeans, blazers, vintage slip dresses), he swerved in an entirely different direction.It was one that focused on the three Ps — pearls, pussy bows and polish — of midcentury chic. The word “pert” also came to mind. Politesse, too. Oh, and pouting. Celine is getting in on the beauty game.In what was framed as an ode to the Celine founder, Céline Vipiana, as well as the photographer Richard Avedon, Mr. Slimane offered up a tight collection of late 1960s silhouettes: extremely short on the bottom (just brushing the rear), structured on the top, and defined overall by an ethos rooted not in rebellion but in the jolie madame. It was less night crawler than day bruncher. Little skirt suits with bright buttons alternated with jewel-encrusted balloon minidresses; neat peacoats with oversize bow blouses beneath carefully cropped jackets.Celine, fall 2024CelineCelineCelineCelineCelineCelineThere was not a pair of pants to be seen, though there were a lot of boots, exaggerated spitfire caps, shades and, always, pearls, in the form of button earrings or Babe Paley strands. Indeed, in aesthetic terms at least, Mr. Slimane and Ryan Murphy of “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans” seem to be on the same page in embracing the return of highly conscious, coordinated outfits — in embracing the idea of the outfit itself, retrieving it from the dustbin of the passé.There’s nothing casual or just-rolled-out-of-bed about these clothes. Nothing “Oh, this old thing?” Rather, they speak to the importance of dressing for the occasion, when every day is the occasion.The message was somewhat undermined by — buy? — the loving close-ups of the new lipsticks, as well as by Mr. Slimane’s insistence on using only very young, very skinny models. (In this, he is still unfortunately stuck in a rut.) But it’s still a striking message, and one that has been dormant for a long time.Ever since casual Fridays were introduced way back when, we’ve been on a slippery slope to the end of even an unspoken dress code. These clothes — this trend, which was also the biggest takeaway of the recent season — suggests there is value in moving in the other direction, in the idea of putting oneself together.In the end, it’s a form of self-care. Can’t everyone use a bit of that right about now? More

The president faces lagging energy in many key states. But in Wisconsin, which he will visit on Wednesday, rolling clashes over abortion rights and democracy have kept Democratic voters fired up.Across most of the battleground states, President Biden’s re-election campaign is trailed by worrisome polling, gripes about a slow ramp-up and Democratic calls to show more urgency to the threat posed by former President Donald J. Trump.Then there is Wisconsin.Mr. Biden — who is scheduled to travel to Milwaukee on Wednesday to visit his state campaign headquarters — did not have to rev up a re-election apparatus in Wisconsin. Local Democrats never shut down a vaunted organizing network they built for the 2020 presidential campaign and maintained through the 2022 midterm elections and a 2023 State Supreme Court contest that was the most expensive judicial race in American history.While in other presidential battlegrounds, Democrats are still trying to explain the stakes of the 2024 election and what a second Trump term would mean, Wisconsin Democrats say their voters don’t need to be told the difference between winning and losing.Democrats in Wisconsin spent eight years boxed out of power by Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans who held an iron grip on the state government, then four more with a gerrymandered Republican-led Legislature. Then they watched abortion become illegal overnight when a prohibition written in 1849 suddenly became law with the fall of Roe v. Wade. Party leaders in the state say there is a widespread understanding that the stakes are not theoretical.“We organize year-round in Wisconsin,” said Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez. “We already have the infrastructure in place. We know how to do this, and we’ve been able to activate the folks who know what’s on the line.”Mr. Biden has come to Wisconsin so many times — eight visits since he became president, and six for Vice President Kamala Harris — that for many Wisconsin Democrats, his visit on Wednesday comes almost as an afterthought.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The Russian leader struck a softer tone in an interview with state television than in last month’s state-of-the-nation address. He is aiming to project stability before this weekend’s vote.President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia tried to play down fears of nuclear war in an interview released on Wednesday and denied having considered using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine, aiming to bolster his domestic image as a guarantor of stability before the Russian presidential election this weekend.In a lengthy interview released by Russian state television, Mr. Putin struck a softer tone than in his state-of-the-nation address last month, when he said that the West risked nuclear conflict with Russia if it intervened more directly in Ukraine. In the interview, Mr. Putin described the United States as seeking to avoid such a conflict, even as he warned that Russia was prepared to use nuclear weapons if its “sovereignty and independence” were threatened.“I don’t think that everything is rushing head-on here,” Mr. Putin said when asked whether Washington and Moscow were headed for a showdown. He added that even though the United States was modernizing its nuclear force, “this doesn’t mean, in my view, that they are ready to start this nuclear war tomorrow.”“If they want it — what can we do? We’re ready,” Mr. Putin said.The comments appeared aimed in large part at the Russian electorate, coming two days before polls open in the presidential election, which runs from Friday to Sunday. While Mr. Putin is all but assured to win a fifth term, the Kremlin is keen to drive up turnout to present the vote as a stamp of approval for the president and his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, critics of Mr. Putin have increasingly taken aim at what he has long presented as perhaps his biggest domestic selling point: the notion that he brought security and stability after Russia’s chaotic 1990s. Russians appear particularly nervous about the prospect of nuclear conflict; 55 percent of respondents told an independent pollster in January that they feared a new world war.But in his dealings with the West, Mr. Putin sees the threat of Russia’s enormous nuclear arsenal as one of his most effective instruments. He has repeatedly made reference to that arsenal when trying to deter Western nations from more actively supporting Ukraine, most recently in his Feb. 29 annual address, when he portrayed the deployment of forces from NATO countries to Ukraine as a step that would lead to nuclear war and the “destruction of civilization.” We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Mathias Vicherat, the director of Sciences Po, and his former partner are expected to face trial over mutual accusations of violence. His resignation prolongs years of tumult in the school’s highest ranks.One of France’s most elite universities found itself without a leader for the second time in just three years on Wednesday after its director, Mathias Vicherat, resigned to face a court case over accusations of domestic violence.The university, Sciences Po in Paris, has produced five of France’s last eight presidents and over a dozen prime ministers, as well as top business leaders, well-known journalists and scores of high-ranking civil servants. It has been striving to grow even stronger by diversifying its student body and competing internationally for students.But the resignation of Mr. Vicherat, 45, who denied any wrongdoing and said he was stepping down to protect Sciences Po’s standing, was the latest in a series of episodes of internal turmoil that have tarnished the school’s reputation.Mr. Vicherat’s predecessor, Frédéric Mion, stepped down in 2021 after admitting that he had not taken action against a longtime professor and board member despite knowing of incest allegations against him; an investigation into the professor by prosecutors was later dropped because the statute of limitations had expired. The school’s previous director, Richard Descoings, was found dead in a Manhattan hotel room in 2012 — a death that was followed by an embarrassing government audit over the school’s use of public funds.Sciences Po said in a statement on Wednesday that it had “taken note” of Mr. Vicherat’s resignation “to safeguard the institution,” but did not comment on the unrest surrounding his departure.Laurence Bertrand Dorléac, who heads the National Foundation of Political Sciences, a private entity that oversees the university’s budget and governing strategy, said in a message to faculty members and students that a provisional administration would be appointed in the coming days.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

It was a record sixth win for Seavey in the sled dog race, despite a harrowing close encounter with a large mammal and a strange punishment.Dallas Seavey won his record sixth Iditarod sled dog race on Tuesday, despite an eventful race that included a penalty for failing to properly gut a moose.Seavey was cruising in the race last week near Skwentna, Alaska, when his dog team became entangled with a moose. Sledders in the race are permitted to carry firearms and Seavey used his to shoot and kill the moose. One of his dogs, Faloo, was critically injured in the encounter, but underwent two successful surgeries and was expected to survive.Seavey’s problems were not over when he shot the moose. The ethics of the Iditarod race require that when a large animal like a moose or caribou is killed during the competition, its meat must be taken and distributed. So the sledder involved in the accident must stop and gut the animal.Unfortunately for him, Seavey was judged not to have done so adequately. As a result, he was assessed a two-hour penalty. Nonetheless, he overcame that setback to win the race.The Iditarod covers about 1,000 miles in Alaska from Anchorage to Nome. Seavey completed the race in nine days, two hours, and 16 minutes, crossing the burled arch finish line at 5:16 p.m. local time. Seavey’s sixth win surpasses the five victories of Rick Swenson between 1977 and 1991.Seavey, 37, raced in his first Iditarod in 2005, the day after he turned 18, making him the youngest musher ever to enter.His first win came in 2012 when he was 25, and he also became the youngest winner ever. He won back-to-back-to-back races in 2014 to 2016, and added his record-tying win in 2021.His father, Mitch, won the race three times, and his grandfather Dan has also participated in the race.“This one was supposed to be hard,” Seavey said after crossing the finish line. “It had to be special, it had other be more than just a normal Iditarod. And for me, it was.” More

President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday secured the delegates necessary to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations, according to The Associated Press, cementing a general election rematch in November months in the making.Both men and their campaigns have long anticipated this moment. Mr. Biden faced only token opposition in the Democratic primary, as is typical for a sitting president, while Mr. Trump had been his party’s dominant front-runner for months.Their November collision began to look even more likely after Mr. Trump scored a decisive win in Iowa in January. His victory cleared the field of all but one of his major Republican rivals and put him on a glide path to his party’s nomination. His last remaining primary challenger, Nikki Haley, suspended her campaign last week, further clearing a path that had already been remarkably free of obstacles.The Associated Press named Mr. Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee after projecting his victory in Georgia, while Mr. Trump was designated the presumptive Republican nominee after he swept the G.O.P. contests in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington State.Tuesday’s results cleared the way for a 2024 general election campaign that, at just under eight months, is set to be one of the longest in modern American history and will be the country’s first presidential rematch in nearly 70 years.Already, Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden had shifted their focus away from the primaries. With the president facing no significant challengers, Mr. Biden’s campaign speeches emphasized not just his record but the danger he believes is posed by Mr. Trump.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The Colorado Republican, who announced his retirement last fall, said he would leave Congress at the end of next week, further shrinking his party’s already minuscule majority.Representative Ken Buck, Republican of Colorado, announced on Tuesday that he would leave Congress at the end of next week, cutting short his final term in office in a move that will further shrink his party’s already tiny majority.The decision, which caught House Republican leaders by surprise, is the latest in a long string of losses for Speaker Mike Johnson and his party, who will control just 218 out of the chamber’s 435 seats after Mr. Buck departs.In a brief statement, Mr. Buck, a veteran conservative, thanked his constituents and said he hoped to remain involved in the political process while also getting to spend “more time in Colorado with my family.”Last year Mr. Buck said he would retire at the end of this term, citing his party’s election denialism and the refusal by many Republicans to condemn the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. His plans were seen as unlikely to affect the ultimate balance of power in the House, given that Republicans would be all but certain to hold his solidly conservative district in eastern Colorado.And losing Mr. Buck, who has broken with his party on some major issues — including the recent impeachment of Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary — was not exactly seen as costing the party a loyal vote.But Mr. Buck’s decision to leave months before the end of his term on March 22, the same day as the deadline for Congress to pass a package of spending bills to avoid a partial government shutdown, creates yet another headache for House Republicans who have lurched from chaos to crisis for more than a year, leaving them with even less of a cushion to wield their small majority.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Drew Schmenner proves that constructing puzzles is his forte.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesWEDNESDAY PUZZLE — As my colleagues and I have oft repeated in this column, there are many ways to solve a crossword puzzle. You can go Across, then Down; or Down, then Across. You can fill in only the three-letter entries or zigzag around the grid until you’ve found all of your gimmes. You can use the revealer — the clue that cracks a puzzle’s theme — either to fill in missing pieces of the puzzle or to interpret the meaning of an already completed grid. It’s your game to play.To decipher Drew Schmenner’s crossword, I had to use my solving techniques like battering rams against challenging parts of the grid. I broke through eventually, but Mr. Schmenner’s original clue phrasing and deceptively simple theme put up a brilliant defense.Shall we storm the crossword castle together?Today’s ThemeI don’t watch much basketball, but I found the “March Madness component” at 61A — which served as our “phonetic hint to 18-, 23-, 38- and 50-Across” — easy enough to discern from the themed entries I’d already filled in.A “Flag-waver’s specialty” (18A) is SEMAPHORE. “When the going gets tough, the early bird gets the worm” (23A) is an example of a MIXED METAPHOR. Already, a phonetic pattern is emerging. These answers, coupled with the spanner CHIWETEL EJIOFOR, the “Best Actor nominee for ‘12 Years a Slave’” (38A), give us a solid sense of it: March Madness’s FINAL FOUR (61A) is playing on a sound common to the end of each of these answers.The last of Mr. Schmenner’s entries is a New York Times Crossword debut: If something took place “In an unprecedented manner” (50A), it happened AS NEVER BEFORE. I expect this was tricky for several solvers, since a more colloquial — and common — phrasing replaces “as” with “like.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More