• David Head specializes in US history and lectures at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
• He outlines the presidential assassinations and attemps throughout US history.
• Head said presidential assassinations or attempts rarely if ever impact the election results.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a transcribed conversation with David Head, a historian specializing in American history, author, and lecturer at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL. It has been edited for length and clarity.

The photos of Donald Trump struck by a bullet with blood on his face are remarkable.

When I first read that the former President had been shot, I was shocked.

Then came a sinking feeling we were descending into the chaos of the 1960s and 70s, when political assassinations, bombings, and rioting marred campaigns in the US and globally.

Working as a historian and lecturer at the University of Central Florida, I'm interested in conspiracy thinking in American politics, both in the early period and in the 20th century, especially the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

However, I didn't think the attempt would significantly impact the 2024 election outcome. Throughout history, an election is won or lost based on the context in which it happened, not an assassination attempt.

The most similar historical assassination attempt to Trump's resulted in a loss

The closest parallel, although very different, was the 1912 assassination attempt on Theodore Roosevelt while he was running for president. Like Trump, Roosevelt had already been president but had left office for four years after two terms, leaving Republican William Howard Taft as president.

For the 1912 election, Taft had the official Republican Party nomination, but Roosevelt decided to run as a third-party independent candidate. They were both running against Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson.

At a campaign event in Milwaukee on October 14, 1912, Roosevelt was shot getting in his car en route to a campaign speech.

Despite his injury, he continued to the event and spoke. Roosevelt understood the drama of presenting his speech in a blood-stained shirt.

Like Roosevelt, Trump is a natural showman. He probably didn't need to think about how to react —he knew how powerful a defiant image captured by the media could be.

Roosevelt's popularity surged following the incident. The shooting happened in October, so it was very close to the election.

But in the end, the Republicans were split between Taft and Roosevelt. He went on to lose to Wilson. Whether Roosevelt had been shot didn't change the dynamic of the election campaign.

JFK and Robert Kennedy's assassinations had different electoral outcomes

After John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson became president. Johnson enjoyed significant popularity — over a 75% approval rating — on the coattails of Kennedy's assassination. He rode that popularity to win the US election in 1964 with a landslide victory.

Johnson's popularity waned, however, as the Vietnam War dragged on through his term. By 1968, his diminished support among Democrats led him to end his presidential bid early in the campaign.

While seeking the Democratic nomination, Robert F. Kennedy was shot and killed following a campaign event in Los Angeles in 1968. Due to his brother's legacy, he was a strong candidate to succeed Johnson and run against Nixon.

Robert Kennedy's assassination meant Johnson's vice president, Hubert Humphrey, had an easier time securing the Democratic nomination. However, Robert Kennedy's death and the chaos surrounding it reinforced the image of a Democratic Party in disarray. Richard Nixon, leading a unified Republican Party, won the presidency in 1968.

Two tragic deaths had opposing political outcomes based on the context of the race.

The dynamics of the political race are more influential than assassination attempts

In 1975, a year before the next presidential election year, Republican President Gerald Ford was shot at twice. Ford had taken over the presidency after Richard Nixon resigned in August 1974 following the Watergate scandal.

Ford pardoned Nixon and tried to move past Watergate, but the Republican Party couldn't overcome Nixon's stink and Ford's dismissal of his wrongdoings.

Ford went on to lose the 1976 election because of the underlying dynamic of the race — attempted assassinations had little to no impact.

As this race has suggested, elections can change quickly

And now, there is Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

Trump has been incorporating the assassination into his speeches and social media messaging. His ear was bandaged when he spoke at the Republican convention, and he recently said he "took a bullet for democracy."

I expect this will be a part of his campaigning from now on. The shooting galvanized the party at the Republican convention days later.

The intensity of Republicans' enthusiasm at the convention played a role in Biden dropping out. Biden was already facing calls to drop out because of concerns that his health would prevent him from winning in November.

But, just like in these historic assassination attempts, the context of the campaign is what matters on election day.

No one feels undecided about Trump right now. He's dominated political and cultural discussions since 2015. If people's opinions weren't already set, I don't think this shooting would change that.

Kamala Harris now gets a chance to make a first impression as a presidential candidate. We'll see what she does with the opportunity.

While it is helpful to consider the outcomes of historical presidential assassination attempts and what they could mean for our future, it's also not determinative. Things can change very quickly, as they have time and time again during this current campaign.

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• Since at least 2004, Trump has issued financial statements boasting of his billions in assets.
• The most recent was sent out in 2021, just as NY officials began publicly calling them fraudulent.
• A fraud monitor now says Trump "does not intend to develop any estimations of value" going forward.

It's the end of an error. Or, by New York Attorney General Letitia James' count, it's the end of at least 200 errors.

According to the latest report from his court-mandated fraud monitor, Donald Trump is officially through with boasting about his wealth in those wildly exaggerated net-worth statements he used to send out each year.

In fact, Trump is calling it quits on officially stating the value of even his individual properties, the report says. He is finished, in other words, with saying "I'm rich" in any financial document that could come back to bite him.

Trump's fraud monitor, Barbara Jones, revealed this new commitment to caution in a footnote to her latest report, made available in online court records last week.

Jones is the retired federal judge who has been monitoring Trump's real-estate empire, the Trump Organization, for almost two years, ever since the AG and state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found persistent fraud in a decade of those annual net-worth statements.

"Based on discussions with the Trump Organization, my understanding is that the Trump Organization does not intend to develop any estimations of value for any entity, the Trump Organization as a whole, or the guarantors' collateral," Jones wrote.

Any lender or "counterparty" who needs assurance of Trump's worth will be told to just do their own appraisals.

"Should a need arise to determine the value of any such entities or assets, the Trump Organization would first advise the counterparty that it should develop its own estimation of value (which may be based on information or access provided by the Trump Organization)," the footnote said.

As an alternative, "the Trump Organization would retain an independent appraiser to develop an estimate of value," the footnote continued.

The decision to stop announcing his worth each year is a departure for Trump. He has issued these net-worth statements — 20- to 30-page balance sheets formally called Statements of Financial Condition — since at least 2004.

According to evidence and testimony in James' five-year fraud case, Trump sent these "SOFCs" to anyone he hoped to dazzle.

He sent them to Forbes each year in hopes of a good spot on their "400 Richest People In America" list.

He sent them to insurers in hopes of lowering his premiums. And he sent them to banks he hoped would approve low-interest loans for a range of endeavors, including his 2014 bid to purchase the Buffalo Bills and the development of his golf courses and of his luxury hotel in Washington, DC.

"Hopefully, you will be impressed!" Trump wrote to a Deutsche Bank executive in a cover letter to his 2011 net-worth statement, which the AG would eventually show had exaggerated his net worth by $2.7 billion.

Not everyone trusted Trump's numbers, including his own outside accounting firm, Mazars USA. The firm declared the whole previous decade's worth of net-worth statements unreliable in 2022, saying it would stop preparing them.

Deutsche Bank, Trump's most proficient lender, also took the statements with a grain of salt, even while lending him more than $400 million ($125 million for his Miami golf resort, $107 million for his Chicago skyscraper, and $170 million to turn the Old Post Office in Washington, DC into a luxury hotel).

The bank typically lowered Trump's numbers by set percentages — adjustments they called a "Trump haircut" — in large part to account for what they presumed were his exaggerations.

Forbes, too, carefully fact-checked the statements, adjusting Trump's worth down accordingly. It was the magazine that first discovered Trump had been claiming for five years — in statements issued from 2012 to 2016 — that his Trump Tower triplex penthouse in Manhattan was 30,000 square feet when it's actually just under 11,000 square feet.

"A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud," Engoron wrote in a consequential September pretrial fraud finding.

Every statement Trump issued between 2011 and 2021 was eventually found to be riddled with wildly-exaggerated frauds by first by James' team of lawyers and investigators, and then by the trial judge, Engoron.

In that decade, the statements added from $1.9 billion to as much as $3.6 billion in fantastical padding each year. There were some 200 misrepresentations in all, James said.

Throughout the decade's worth of net-worth statements, Trump ignored generally accepted accounting principles, the AG and judge found.

He claimed he had cash on hand he didn't have. He ignored appraisals, deed limitations, zoning restrictions, and rent-control mandates that should have significantly lowered his property values. He changed his appraisal methodology without notice, and included intangible things like "brand value" despite saying in the statements that he hadn't done so.

The frauds continued throughout the five years James spent sending out subpoenas, taking depositions, checking the math, and taking Trump to trial.

Trump's "I'm rich" boasts continued too, just not on paper after the 2021 statement.

"We have a lot of cash," he told James in a deposition in April, 2023, a half-year before the trial started.

"When we testify," he added, "we're going to have numbers that are going to knock your socks off."

Ultimately, the most sock-knocking number would come from the judge, who said this of Trump's net-worth statements: "The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience."

Trump has been ordered to personally pay back $454 million in ill-gotten gains, plus accrued interest — money he pocketed by deceiving his banks and insurers.

The amount he owes to the state of New York will continue to rise by nearly $112,000 in interest each day — or by $1 million every nine days — as his appeals work their way through the courts over the next few years.

On Thursday, his debt to the state stood at $471 million.

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• I have five freelance jobs and still rely on my family for some financial support.
• I've had to compromise on what financial goals I'll actually be able to achieve in this economy.
• My family and I know I'll be financially independent one day, and I'm grateful for their help.

Over the past month, I've been dealing with moving apartments in New York City — which is a chaotic endeavor, to say the least. I knew that even switching my address for my WiFi would take multiple calls. But I was shocked when I was met with judgment for still being on my dad's phone plan.

Each time I spoke with a sales associate, they advertised adding their mobile services to my plan, which I declined on multiple occasions. Each sales associate jokingly asked if I was on my family's phone plan, and I sheepishly admitted I was. I thought we'd continue the conversation about my internet plan, but I was met with a chuckle and a comment about how I'd save money switching to their plan.

On one hand, I didn't care how they felt; they just wanted to sell me an added service. But on the other, I wondered why getting a little financial assistance from my family should be seen as a bad thing.

I graduated from Columbia Journalism School just over a year ago with my master's, and since then, I've been working five different freelance jobs in writing, editing, and publishing — all while trying to find a full-time position. It's felt like an uphill battle just breaking into the journalism industry, and even with a busy schedule balancing various jobs, I'm still not meeting my present or long-term financial goals.

My parents understand how difficult it's been for me to pursue my career while also living in one of the most expensive cities in the US — not to mention living with student loan debt looming over my head. So, they're happy to help me by letting me stay on the family phone plan and sharing their streaming services with me.

At a time when it's so expensive to live, I compromise on what's realistic financially

In today's economy, it's not surprising to me that fewer than half of young adults ages 18 to 24 are completely financially independent from their parents, according to a report from the Pew Research Center.

Many of my friends moved back in with their parents after college to save money, and I've debated doing the same thing. Currently, I can afford my general lifestyle — my rent payment, gym membership, and other basic needs to live my life — but my parents help offset some of my costs. It's not ideal, but it's where I'm at right now, and my family knows that I'm working hard to become financially independent.

Like anything, finances are all about balance and compromise. My boyfriend and I save up to go out to dinner every once in a while or do activities that might be costly. We try to enjoy nice nights in with our friends and take full advantage of the many outdoor spaces around the city. We both have side hustles and work to make ends meet.

But our future remains up in the air

I constantly think about our future and financial goals when it comes to buying a house, getting married, or having a child down the line. For my parents, these were all goals that were easily within reach. But buying a family home or paying for the wedding of my dreams seems so far off for me.

I've had many discussions with my boyfriend about forgoing some of these conventional aspirations, but that feels super sad. I want them and don't want to let those dreams go just yet.

Still, the thought of buying a house seems unattainable. We had to jump through many hurdles to rent an apartment in Manhattan. There are crazy income requirements, such as making 40 times the monthly rent — and we did not meet this requirement. Just to be able to apply for an apartment here, we relied on some family members to be our guarantors (and they have to make 80 times the rent).

I'm worried we will never be able to live on our own.

I'm grateful my family supports me and my goals

I remind myself that everyone is on their own timeline, and there's no "right" way to live. I'm lucky to live in this city and I don't take that for granted. I'm determined to land my big break here.

I'm grateful that my family is so supportive, and just knowing that makes me work harder to meet my goals. I know that one day, I'll be financially independent, and I'll be able to return the favor.

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• Ukraine's IT army says it has launched thousands of attacks on Russian organizations.
• The group, formed shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has members from around the world.
• Experts told BI that there are risks with putting so much responsibility in civilian hands.

Shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian government issued a clarion call to tech wizzes around the world to use their skills in the fight against the invading nation.

"We are creating an IT army. We need digital talents," Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's then-deputy prime minister, wrote on X at the time.

Eager volunteers quickly responded to the plea, and within a month, the group's Telegram channel counted around 300,000 subscribers.

As the number of members increased, so did the IT army's activity, and by late May, the group had already launched an estimated 2,000 cyberattacks on Russian organizations, Ukraine's Digital Transformation Ministry said on Telegram.

A spokesperson for the group, who goes by the name Ted, told Business Insider that they "currently see tens of thousands of devices and possibly thousands of people behind them."

"While we experience a constant decline in the number of subscribers [to the army's Telegram channel], the number of active devices involved is growing," Ted added.

Though the exact location of participants is unknown, the army is international in reach, Ted said.

The IT army website provides detailed resources that explain in Ukrainian and English how volunteers can help, with guides on how to install the "IT Army Kit," which contains tools required for conducting cyberattacks.

Volunteers can even use the toolkit to set up the attacks to run in the background, preventing tasks from disrupting their daily activities.

Leaderboard statistics are also posted to help gamify the process, increasing engagement and promoting competition among users.

Russian organizations are vulnerable to cyberwarfare, experts say

Russian organizations are particularly susceptible to things like a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack — which is an effort to overload a website or network.

In the West, there are a number of services that help protect companies from DDoS attacks, Alan Woodward, a professor at the Surrey Centre for Cyber Security at the University of Surrey, told BI.

In Russia, however, "they have the expertise but not necessarily the service providers who sit in front of organisations to detect and deflect DDoS attacks," Woodward added.

In June, the IT army said it had launched a major DDoS attack against Russian banks, including VTB, Gazprombank, Sberbank, and a number of others, as well as the country's Mir payment system — Russia's equivalent of Visa or Mastercard.

Woodward said the incident "certainly left the impression that the group is capable of mounting significant attacks."

The IT army and other hacktivist groups have also managed to hit Russian media outlets.

In June 2023, Russian state TV and other channels were targeted by hackers, with a video broadcast in Ukrainian warning viewers: "The hour of reckoning has come."

Cyberattacks such as these play a "very important role" in Ukraine's cyberdefense, Stefan Soesanto, a senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, told BI.

"While most of their DDoS efforts only cause short term disruptions, they are persistent when it comes to specific Russian businesses and platforms," he said. "They will target them over and over again."

Roskomnadzor, Russia's federal censorship agency, said it had repelled almost three times more DDoS attacks in the first quarter of 2024 than in all of 2023, Russian news website Kommersant reported.

Such attacks may also help "support defensive movements of the Ukrainian army," said Vasileios Karagiannopoulos, an associate professor in cybercrime and cybersecurity at the University of Portsmouth.

They can "help with countering misinformation efforts and facilitate things at a cyberespionage level," he said.

"It also helps to symbolically generate an image of vulnerability that can impact on the morale of the opponents and respectively boost the morale of Ukrainian troops and citizens," Karagiannopoulos added.

Ukraine's government may want to keep its distance from the group

The IT army has an internal team, which some experts believe was taken over by the Ukrainian intelligence service and the country's Ministry of Defense.

"The IT Army is managed by the SBU and the Ukrainian MoD," Soesanto said, adding that they receive support from Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation.

"The volunteers who are nowadays participating in the IT Army do not know which sites, IP addresses, and services they are DDoS [attacking]," he said, adding that it had all been "centralized, with a handful of people making the targeting decisions."

Ted told BI that "the MoD does not run the IT army, but there is collaboration to ensure efforts are synchronized."

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense did not respond to a request for comment from BI on the nature of its relationship with the IT army.

The Ukrainian government likely wants to keep the group "at arms length," Woodward said.

"Or at the very least organise matters such that there is plausible deniability by the Ukrainian government if an attack results in unwelcome, albeit unintentional, consequences," he added.

One of the main risks with the force, Karagiannopoulos said, is that sometimes "volunteers might not follow instructions" and "organize their own attacks," potentially impacting people "across different countries and networks.

It is also unclear "whether these individuals could be targeted by the Russian military as combatants when they are considered to take direct part in hostilities," he added.

Nonetheless, the IT army is a "world first," Karagiannopoulos continued. "We have an explicit call from government officials for people to join," yet these hackers are not a formal part of the Ukrainian military.

This will set a precedent for future conflicts as cyberwarfare becomes more common, he added.

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• Royal Caribbean Group oversees Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea.
• The three brands target different guests, from families with young kids to older wealthy travelers.
• Here's how the cruise lines compare and how to pick the best one for your needs.

You've probably heard of Royal Caribbean's cruises. But you might not know that it has two sister brands — and they're nothing alike.

The cruise line's parent company, Royal Caribbean Group, oversees three businesses that all target different cruising segments: families ( Royal Caribbean International), premium (Celebrity Cruises), and ultra-luxury (Silversea).

I've been on complimentary non-revenue sailings with all three. And let me tell you, they all had little in common.

Royal Caribbean is like a theme park at sea, Celebrity has a boutique hotel feel, and Silversea has floating five-star resorts.

But there is one feature that ties the trio together — a loyalty program.

Royal Caribbean Group announced in 2023 that travelers with status at one of its brands can now get equivalent status across all three cruise lines.

So, if you're a Royal Caribbean International regular who's cruise-curious and eyeing a Silversea sailing or Celebrity vacation, here's a guide to the trio and how to best pick the one for your needs.

Royal Caribbean International — the cruise line for families with young children.

The cruise giant's eponymous brand, arguably the most recognizable on this list, operates a fleet of 28 ships. Seven are the world's largest, including the title-holder 7,600-guest Icon of the Seas, which the company has repeatedly lauded as the "best-selling product in its history."

The six-month-old mega-ship perhaps best exemplifies the traits synonymous with Royal Caribbean International: giant vessels, a family-friendly environment, and uniquely exciting amenities.

Expect attractions like waterslides, mini-golf courses, surf simulators, and children's water playgrounds.

The cruise line's oldest ship, Grandeur of the Seas, offers amenities such as a rock climbing wall and outdoor movie theater.

On its newest, Utopia of the Seas, guests get three waterslides, an ice skating rink, an underwater-themed mini-golf course, and five pools. But even that pales to Icon, which has seven pools and a six-slide waterpark.

The cruise line is generally considered its parent company's most affordable brand.

Unfortunately, that also means there will be plenty of upcharges.

About half of the restaurants on its newest and largest ships cost extra, from casual dining venues like Johny Rockets to the upscale $200-per-person Empire Supper Club.

The same goes for some of its amenities, like the $49-per-person agility course. And the bars, of course, which include options like ones with robot bartenders, a sports bar, and even a karaoke lounge.

Beyond floating hotels, the brand also boasts Perfect Day at CocoCay, its $350 million private island in the Bahamas.

There, travelers can lounge at various beaches, take a dip in a large freshwater pool, or pay extra to access the waterpark and two private beach clubs, one of which is adults-only.

The Bahamian destination was exclusive to Royal Caribbean International guests for its first few years in operation — until April, when Celebrity Cruises announced that it, too, would start sailing to CocoCay.

Celebrity Cruises — the choice for travelers who want a premium, trendy ship.

Unlike Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises isn't known to be a vacation haven for young children.

Celebrity does offer onboard kids' clubs. But don't expect to see the waterslides and carousels of its mass-market sister brand.

Celebrity's contemporary lounges and rooftop gardens are designed to target Gen Xers.

Celebrity ships have trendy and polished spaces. Think restaurants that look like they belong at high-end beachside resorts, 2.5-acre lawns with live jazz, and glassblowing classes.

Instead of frozen beverages and karaoke, Celebrity has bars focusing on martinis, wines, and mixology. Newer ships also have the Magic Carpet, a moving bar suspended over the water.

Some of its dining venues also have fees.

Celebrity's newer Edge Class ships have at least 29 bars and restaurants. But if you want sushi, a steakhouse feast, or a dinner at famed chef Daniel Boulud's Le Voyage, you'll have to pay extra (it is still a Royal Caribbean Group brand, after all).

But just because it's a premium cruise line doesn't mean its ships are small.

Celebrity's latest and largest vessels, Celebrity Ascent and Beyond, have a double occupancy capacity of 3,260 guests. It's undeniably smaller than Royal Caribbean International's 5,000-plus-guest cruise liners but still large enough to give you that big-ship feel.

If you're craving a small, intimate vessel, that's what Silversea is for.

Silversea — the pick for wealthy travelers who prefer small, quiet ships and sumptuous amenities.

Silversea is best known for its expedition cruises and luxurious ships, the largest of which can only accommodate 728 travelers.

The average age of its guests also skewers older than Celebrity and Royal Caribbean's, averaging in the mid-60s, Andrea Tonet, Silversea's vice president of product strategy, told reporters during a June media panel.

The brand has started targeting younger travelers with its latest vessels.

And it's working — Silver Nova and Silver Ray have seen an influx in younger cruisers compared to Silversea's 10 other ships, Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, told analysts on Thursday.

"Younger," as in guests in their 40s, according to Tonet.

If Celebrity has minimal kid-oriented amenities, Silversea has none.

Instead, it leans further into Celebrity's focus on relaxing, high-end lounges and restaurants. But unlike its premium counterpart's colorfully contemporary decor, Silversea's latest ships look more subdued.

Think "whisper luxury" with bright, elegant spaces and an emphasis on good drinks and food.

Like other luxury cruise lines, Silversea has all-inclusive packages that include flights and excursions.

And unlike its sister brands, none of Silversea's cabins are inside and windowless.

Instead, they all have views, if not balconies, and a butler who can help with tasks like packing your luggage and reserving onboard restaurants.

It's also the only cruise line with SALT, an acronym for 'sea and land taste.'

The program launched three years ago turns its small ships into local cuisine-focused cruises.

This could include food-oriented shore excursions, onboard cooking classes, restaurants with menus that rotate according to the port, and bars that showcase regional spirits and ingredients.

Speaking of, it's also the only Royal Caribbean Group line with complimentary spa access and drinks.

Even the no-fee meals are high-end, from a restaurant with live jazz to room service with free caviar and foie gras.

Instead of a casual grab-and-go pizza stand, Silversea has an alfresco grill-it-yourself restaurant. And instead of an onboard Starbucks (like some of Royal Caribbean's ships), Silversea has a cafe with TWG teas and espresso drinks.

However, not everything is free. Like its sister brands, a handful of its restaurants, like the upscale French and Japanese options, are upcharged.

With these high-end amenities comes comparatively hefty fares.

Silversea's least expensive weeklong cruise in 2025 starts at $2,800 per person — steep compared to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity's cheapest seven-night cruises next year, which are $804 and $641 per person, respectively.

Pricing aside, Royal Caribbean should be your top pick if your vacation priority is keeping the kids entertained and happy.

If you want to keep the big-ship feel but prefer a cooler and more contemporary environment, Celebrity is your best bet.

But if you only care about relaxation, being pampered, and caviar, go with Silversea. The less kid-oriented atmosphere will hopefully give you the quiet you're craving.

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• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Saturday edition, a sampling of our top lifestyle reads.

Dating apps are out. Matchmakers are in. At least that's what Taylor Bannks says. The 33-year-old New Yorker dropped thousands of dollars for a matchmaker and said after her first date, the investment felt worth it.

On the agenda:

• Forget Spain. These under-the-radar countries actually want you to visit.
• Keens Steakhouse is worth the hype.
• Millennials are moving to amenity-rich communities to live like retirees.
• Ryan Reynolds' personal trainer shares the actor's fitness routine.

But first: Let the games begin.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

We're going to Paris!

The 2024 Olympic Games kicked off Friday in the City of Lights — and the opening ceremony immediately made history.

The summer games, which will run through August 11, opened along the iconic River Seine, becoming the first Olympics to kick off outside a stadium.

However, the festivities faced an early setback after a series of arson attacks damaged transport routes leading to the capital. The French prime minister called the attacks "acts of sabotage."

Still, picturesque Paris is turning out to be the perfect backdrop to watch our favorite sports.

Marathon runners will enjoy a route from Paris to Versailles. Triathlon competitors will swim in the "River Seine, bike on the iconic Champs-Elysees, and then run through the streets of Paris before ending up at the Pont Alexandre III bridge," writes BI's senior reporter Samantha Grindell.

Over 10,000 athletes — from gymnasts to tennis players to track stars — have descended upon the Olympic Village. And millions of fans are anticipated to cheer them on.

Former Estee Lauder director Sunny Choi will be among those representing the US. She left her corporate job to train for the Olympics as a breaker, or breakdancer as it's commonly called. The sport is making its debut at the 2024 games.

"I knew that the Olympics was a childhood dream, so it took some time to figure out what it was that was really stopping me and then figuring out whether it was actually worth not going for my dreams," Choi told BI's junior reporter Mykenna Maniece. "Turns out it wasn't worth it, so I quit."

Choi's advice to anyone watching breaking for the first time during the Olympics: "Be present and pick a favorite dancer."

Missed the opening ceremony? Here's how to watch the rest of the events.

Go where you're wanted

The world's most popular vacation locations are often overrun with tourists. The result is a lessened quality of life for locals, and swarms of crowds for visitors.

But some places, like Kenya, Taiwan, and Wales, are actively looking to boost tourism. Visiting an under-the-radar country can help alleviate stress on overwhelmed hot spots — and make for a less crowded vacation.

Where to go next.

Live like a retiree (at 30)

Retirement communities typically offer activities like golf and yoga to keep residents active. Now, some millennials want that lifestyle without waiting until 65 to get it.

Young professionals, eager for outdoor space and leisure amenities, are moving to resort-style communities to live the retired life early.

Why some millennials are hitting fast forward.

A worthy power lunch

Keens Steakhouse, a New York City institution, has been luring power lunchers for years. Opened in the 1800s, the restaurant has more than a century of history as a go-to dining room and social club.

Despite its history, it feels unpretentious. And don't let the price tag dissuade you — the mutton alone makes it a worthy splurge for a corporate lunch.

Read the full review.

Also read:

• The 5 red flags steak-house owners look for when dining at a high-end steak house.

Ryan Reynolds' fitness routine

Reynolds is back this summer as Deadpool alongside Hugh Jackman for "Deadpool & Wolverine." To prepare for the action-packed film, Reynolds worked with Don Saladino, his personal trainer of 15 years.

Saladino told BI he didn't just want Reynolds to have a superhero body — he also wanted to incorporate a longevity routine for the 47-year-old actor.

Inside the actor's health regimen.

Also read:

• Ryan Reynolds' trainer shares the actor's 'Deadpool 3' workout and diet plan for getting his best body ever.

What we're watching this weekend

• "Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam": The Netflix docuseries looks at Lou Pearlman, the controversial music manager best known for launching the careers of boy bands like *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.
• "Knox Goes Away": Michael Keaton stars as a contract killer in Max's new crime thriller.
• "The Decameron": Netflix's pitch-black comedy, set in 1348, is about out-of-touch nobles who flee to a villa in Italy with their servants when the plague breaks out, only for their getaway to turn chaotic.

See the full list.

Deals we love

• Quality seafood straight to your door: After testing dozens of options, we found the 13 best seafood delivery services for sustainable, fresh, and tasty fish.
• Not all lip balms are created equal: We narrowed it down to 18 of the best lip balms that offer hydration, plumping, tinted shades, and more.
• Dodge the power outages: With extreme weather conditions knocking out power nationwide, a portable generator is a must. Here are six of the best generators to ensure you don't get caught unprepared.

More of this week's top reads:

• Three reasons to book an ultra-luxurious, all-inclusive cruise.
• The oldest woman to compete in Miss Texas shares her advice for staying healthy.
• It's really expensive to be hot these days.
• Exploring Timor-Leste, one of the world's least-visited countries.
• Things you should never do in an airport lounge.
• Qatar Airways just unveiled an upgrade to the world's best business class.
• You can eat dinner at a cave in Bali — but it's not the best way to see the island.
• Add protein to your coffee with this tasty, undetectable method.
• When it comes to luxury shopping, people are still going to real-life stores.
• The secret to this couple's long marriage? Psychedelics.

The Insider Today team: Joi-Marie McKenzie, editor in chief of life, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York City. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, fellow, in New York.

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• Wall Street was tough on auto stocks after second-quarter earnings.
• For years, Tesla has managed to garner valuations more akin to tech than automotive stocks.
• Musk knows how much weight his promises hold.

It's a tough time to be a car company on Wall Street — unless, of course, you are Elon Musk.

Several major automakers reported second-quarter and first-half financial results this week, and regardless of the results, investors were hard on everyone.

General Motors posted a significant beat Tuesday, only for its stock price to close down more than 6% that same day. Ford's financial results were dinged significantly by higher-than-normal warranty costs, and a significant earnings miss sent its stock price down 13% immediately following those results.

Tesla, meanwhile, reported a mixed quarter. Musk's electric car company missed analyst expectations on earnings-per-share but beat on revenue, sending the stock price down around 7% that evening.

While all three companies were experiencing a stock bounce back Friday afternoon, the difference comes down to one thing: valuation.

On a per-share basis, GM made $3.06 in profit, and Ford $0.47. Those stocks were trading at $44.12 and $11.24, respectively, Friday afternoon.
Tesla, on the other hand, made a similar $0.52 per share yet maintains its lofty $220 stock price as it has for years, thanks to grand promises and industry-leading tech.

Why valuations matter, and how Musk uses Tesla's to his advantage

Legacy automotive executives and some industry experts have long bemoaned the imbalance in their valuations versus Musk's, particularly in the days before Tesla started turning a consistent profit.

It makes for an uneven playing ground between massive global car companies. With less money from investors, legacy car companies struggle to raise enough capital to invest in the futuristic technology and software innovations that these same investors are clamoring for.

While Tesla has a few unique advantages over its competitors, looking at the hard numbers can leave one wondering: how long can Musk keep investors on the hook?

You can see the difference in valuations in how each of these companies talked about their future technology on earnings calls this quarter.

While Tesla focused on non-autos revenue streams in the second quarter, Ford spent much of its earnings call reassuring investors about the future value of its EV business despite big losses — $2.5 billion in the first six months of the year — even as its EV sales soared.

Barclay's Adam Jonas, a longtime Tesla bull who also has an overweight rating on the Blue Oval, accused CEO Jim Farley of being overly optimistic about future EV profitability.

"Tesla struggles to make a positive profit in EVs. Why does Ford think it can?" Jonas wrote in a Thursday note to clients.

Tesla also continues to dangle a future robotaxi business and the value of its AI technology. In contrast, GM continued its pull-back on investments in its own Cruise robotaxi business, canceling production of the Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle to focus on the existing Chevrolet Bolt-based robotaxis.

GM blamed the decision on a complex regulatory environment, which Musk disputed on Tesla's quarterly earnings call.

"GM can't make it work," Musk said. "Waymo is doing just fine in those markets, so it's just that their technology is not far."

Musk's promises on robotaxis and AI technology have largely reversed a stock slide that hit the company earlier this year following poor sales results and a pushed-out timeline for its long-awaited affordable vehicle.

Despite any real timeline for this technology, as is typical for Musk, the promise alone is enough for his most ardent supporters.

Following Tesla's Tuesday earnings call, longtime Tesla bull Dan Ives of Webush wrote in a note to clients that Tesla's rescheduled robotaxi day in October "will unleash the beginning of the AI story at Tesla which we value at $1 trillion alone over the next few years."

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• People with dementia may need some extra care, but many still want to work and have social lives.
• Henriette Bringsjord's parents started Impulssenter, a farm where they can do just that.
• The farm acts as a sort of day care, providing relief to at-home caretakers.

Henriette Bringsjord grew up on a farm outside Oslo and spent her childhood raising chickens, harvesting eggs, and feeding cows. But 20 years ago, after her parents noticed how hard it was for people with dementia to work a normal job and enjoy a normal social life, they repurposed the farm as a "care farm."

Now, it's called "Impulssenter," a place where people diagnosed with dementia can live and tap into their impulses to work, socialize, and "be a part of life again," Bringsjord, who's since taken over the farm from her parents, said.

Instead of centering their identity on being a person who needs care, her goal is to give the farmers — "caretakers," she calls them — something that they can care for by assigning them simple tasks on the farm and creating an environment where they can enjoy being among nature and each other. While the farm doesn't replace full-time care, it functions as a sort of day care — offering part-time relief to at-home caregivers.

The farm is an example of 'social prescribing'

In 2015, Norway became one of the world's first countries to invest in a national dementia care plan, in which all municipalities are required to offer day care services providing meaningful activities and opportunities to connect with others with dementia, while offering relief from their primary caregivers.

Through the plan, the municipalities have a bidding round, and day care facilities like Impulssenter can apply to receive funding. To receive the funding, the center is required to meet certain housing standards, consent to a biannual check-in, ensure their staff are educated in the basics of dementia care, and have at least one onsite member with health education, Bringsjord said.

Working there helps people 'feel normal' again

From there, local municipalities handle requests from individuals struggling with dementia, who detail both the kind of care they need and the kind of care they want.

In doing so, the care farm represents an example of social prescribing, a rapidly spreading practice through which health workers shift from focusing on a person's symptoms and shortcomings and asking, "What's the matter with them?" to focusing on their interests and strengths and asking, "What matters to them?"

Bringsjord said the caretakers appreciate the shift. "We hear all the time, 'We come here to work, and it makes us feel normal again,'" she said.

Having a routine — and a job — can be helpful

The farm day begins when Bringsjord's husband picks each of the carers up from their house in his minivan and drives them to the farm. Then, at 10 a.m., the group eats breakfast at a nametag-laden dining room table, and after the caretakers pitch in to help with dishes, they go for a long morning walk. Finally, after another meal, it's time for 90 minutes of work.

Inside the main barn, Bjarne Bohler, one of the caretakers, proudly showed off the sheep — his "brothers and sisters," he joked — before explaining two of the day's workstations: one for polishing and boxing cartons of eggs and another for cutting up bread to feed to the cows.

There are plenty of tasks to do at the farm

"It's a really nice job because sometimes you need to see what another person is doing to remember how to do it yourself," Bringsjord said. "They kind of help each other." One of the most rewarding parts, she said, is for the caretakers to see the results of their work.

After the barn tour, Bohler was eager to return to the bread-cutting, which he said is his favorite task. He picked up the serrated knife and slowly sliced the stale loaf into bite-size pieces. But as he did, without prompting, he mentioned what he loves most about the farm. "Before I came here, I was sick," he said. "Now, I have a new life."

The farm offers a sense of community

After work, inside for the second coffee break of the day, Marianne Rogstad, another caretaker, cut a piece of cinnamon cake and told her story. Five decades ago, when she finished school, Rogstad moved to Switzerland on a whim and got the first hotel job she could find. She fell in love with the social aspect of the job and soon taught herself how to speak five languages.

Even after her dementia diagnosis, Rogstad still remembered how to speak those languages. "We had a German person come here, and Rogstad was the only person who could talk with him," Bringsjord said. But Rogstad soon found herself forgetting how to do other things, like how to drive a car, which left her homebound.

"I have two good friends I call on the telephone, and sometimes my son comes to visit, but I knew I couldn't sit still all day since I love to talk and meet new people," she said.

Working on the farm helps some people think about their dementia in a different way

For Rogstad, then, the best part of being prescribed a spot on the care farm isn't the work; it's socializing with her fellow workers.

"They pick us up, we walk around in nature, we have something to eat, we talk, we do a little work, they drive us home, it's harmless," she said. "It's much better than sitting at home."

Unlike Bohler, Rogstad doesn't have a favorite farm task. "It's all very low threshold." But she said being able to work on the farm has helped her think differently about her disease. "I may not be able to drive a car anymore or do certain things, but if I need help, I just ask for it."

Most of all, Rogstad said, for the sixth time that morning, the farm has reminded her of what she realized about herself in Switzerland all those years ago. "Without people, I couldn't survive."

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• Apple fell out of the top five smartphone shippers in China in Q2, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• Competitors like Vivo, Huawei, and Xiaomi are seeing increased shipments and demand, reports said.
• Apple's market share by sales dropped to 15.5%, with Greater China revenue down 8%.

Apple is still struggling to gain a strong foothold in China.

According to reports from Canalys and International Data Corp viewed by The Wall Street Journal, the iPhone maker fell out of the top five smartphone shippers in China during its second quarter. Another report by Counterpoint Research said that Apple's market share by sales decreased.

Meanwhile, competitors like Vivo, Huawei, and Xiaomi are seeing shipments increase, and demand for Chinese-made smartphones is on the rise, according to those same reports.

Apple's market share by sales in the second quarter was 15.5%, down almost 2% from the same time in 2023, according to the Counterpoint report viewed by the Journal. Still, smartphone shipments are on the rise even if Apple isn't seeing increases.

In May, it appeared that Apple was gaining ground as shipments in China surged, but the overall quarter yielded less optimistic results.

Apple's most recent earnings report that came out in May showed that Greater China accounted for 18% of its $91 billion revenue last quarter — an 8% decline from a year ago.

Apple will for sure have to answer questions about the Chinese market during its next earnings call on August 1.

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• The general public's attitude toward COVID is more relaxed than ever, even amid a summer surge.
• Doctors say relaxed COVID precautions are to be expected and are not necessarily a bad thing.
• But the risk of long COVID provides a compelling argument to stay vigilant, medical professionals said.

Gone are the days of scrubbing surfaces, sudden school closures, and social distancing.

Where a positive COVID-19 test once wrought panicked contract tracing and guaranteed two weeks of isolation, these days, a diagnosis sparks relatively little worry for most people.

Even amid a summer spike in cases — everyone from President Joe Biden to the 2024 Summer Olympians seems to be battling the virus — the general public's attitude toward the pandemic that upended our lives more than four years ago is more relaxed than ever.

The federal public health emergency for COVID expired in May 2023, officially ending the crisis, at least in name, more than three years after it was first declared. Since then, thanks to high infection and immunization rates, the country has continued climbing toward the herd immunity doctors so desperately sought in the early days of the pandemic, four medical professionals told Business Insider.

"The risk perception and anxiety around acute COVID infection has definitely lessened," said Dr. Anita Chopra, an internist at the University of Washington medical system. "People are interacting and mingling more like in pre-pandemic times."

Healthcare professionals told BI that the public's more relaxed attitude toward COVID is ultimately a good thing. A return to normality was the goal, after all.

But COVID is still very present and very much a potential threat, especially for the immunocompromised and those unlucky enough to develop long COVID symptoms — up to 10% of patients, according to some doctor estimates. Meanwhile, relaxed masking and declining vaccination rates, while to be expected at this point, could be linked to the rising case numbers doctors are seeing in clinics around the country, medical professionals told BI.

"We need to acknowledge that we're in a very different place now than we were at the height of the pandemic," said Dr. Eric Chow, chief of communicable disease epidemiology and immunizations at Public Health Seattle and King County. "But so long as COVID-19 continues to circulate, there are health implications to getting infected."

Evolving behaviors and beliefs

Many of the early-day pandemic precautions have all but disappeared in 2024. Chief among them, according to doctors, are masking, isolations, and vaccinations.

Soon after the pandemic emerged, medical professionals emphasized masking as a key way to slow the spread of the virus.

The face coverings quickly became a contentious cultural topic and among the most politicized aspects of COVID. But these days, even many who once championed masks have ditched the deterrent entirely. An August 2023 Yahoo News/YouGov poll of 1,665 US adults found that 12% of respondents said they were masking — down from 60% in January 2022. And doctors told BI that they've seen a steady decrease in masking since then.

"I think the public has appropriately adjusted their attitudes to what they hear in the news and what they see around them," said Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, infectious disease specialist with Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California.

More worrying to medical professionals is the decline in vaccinations.

While early immunization rates helped bolster immunity, vaccination uptake has been on the decline in recent years, and fewer and fewer people are keeping up to date with their booster shots, a preventive step the CDC recommends in its COVID guidelines.

Most medical professionals also recommend a yearly COVID-19 vaccine. There's a new shot coming out in September. But Chow, who previously worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the height of the pandemic, said most people aren't aware of the recommended vaccine schedule — a challenge that is indicative of a larger problem doctors are trying to navigate in this new COVID age.

"People are much more fatigued by COVID messaging," he said. "We're trying to right-size the appropriate message to make sure people continue to acknowledge the health impacts of COVID."

The long COVID scare

Relaxed attitudes are not necessarily a bad thing, according to doctors.

"I think it's to be expected as we learn more about the virus over these four years and as we've developed these other COVID countermeasures to address infection," said Dr. Jessica Bender, a primary care doctor at Harbor View Medical in Seattle and the co-director at the university's long COVID clinic.

On the one hand, people are generally not getting as sick as they once did when ill with COVID, medical professionals told BI. On the other hand, this summer seems to have brought yet another COVID surge with a spike in cases.

People don't typically equate respiratory illnesses with the warmer months, but an increase in summer socializing combined with the general decrease in preventive measures is likely fueling the uptick, Bender said.

For an unlucky subset of patients, a COVID diagnosis — even in this new relaxed era — could mean long-term challenges.

Doctors define long COVID as any infection related to the virus that is present for at least three months, said Chopra, who treats patients at the UW long COVID clinic. The often debilitating condition is indiscriminate in who it affects. Up to 10% of all people who get COVID are susceptible, according to Chopra, and patients of all ages, genders, races, and vaccination statuses can present with long COVID.

Even as the country relaxes its COVID response, doctors said they are still seeing many new patients presenting with long COVID each day. The condition has at least 200 known signs and symptoms that range from shortness of breath to chronic fatigue and brain fog.

Doctors told BI they'd treated several patients who have been forced to stop working or rendered unable to participate in any physical activity because of a long COVID diagnosis. A 2023 study published in the National Library of Medicine explored a possible link between long COVID and the risk of suicide because of the condition's tendency to inflict depression, anxiety, posttraumatic symptoms, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive deficits.

Medical professionals are doing their best to understand long COVID, but admit that there's still much to learn. According to the CDC, about 17 million people reported having long-term COVID-19 in March 2024.

For these people, the pandemic is still very real.

"When I treat people with long COVID, they are always masked," Chopra said.

The future of COVID

As doctors look to the future of COVID, little is for sure.

"We always say the one thing that is predictable about COVID is its unpredictability," Chow said.

But medical professionals told BI they are optimistic that even as the virus continues to evolve, the next few years will continue to look like the past year, with small seasonal surges and hopefully less intense illness.

While lax attitudes may be a welcome sign of a cautious new normal, doctors said it's important to remember the lessons we've collectively learned from COVID. The precautions that proved useful against the virus protect people from other illnesses, too.

Just because the world has adapted to COVID-19, medical professionals say, doesn't mean we should drop the hygiene, ventilation, and masking lessons learned along the way.

"We've learned so much about how we can protect ourselves," Chow said. "It's hard to see people leave some of those precautions behind."

Doctors recommend people gauge their individual risk, as well as the risk of those close to them when considering which precautions to take in this new COVID age. Most medical professionals still recommend masking, testing, and visiting a doctor after testing positive.

"We're aiming to get to a state where COVID is not a threat to our healthcare system," Bender said. "And not a threat to our lives and livelihoods.

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• Cava is plotting an ambitious expansion across the US. It opened 72 restaurants last year.
• I visited the Mediterranean salad chain's first Chicago restaurant and had to wait for an hour to order.
• But the ingredients were very flavorful and there was a lot of choice. Here's what my experience was like.

Cava, the Mediterranean build-your-own-bowl chain, is plotting an ambitious expansion across the US.

It opened 72 net new restaurants in fiscal 2023 and expects to open at least 50 in 2024. About 90% of new openings will be in suburban areas, away from the traditional office hubs you might associate with chains like Cava that sell quick, healthy lunches ideal for desk-workers.

At the start of 2022, Cava had 164 restaurants. As of 21 April, 2024, it had 323 restaurants, including the conversion of many Zoes Kitchen locations.

I visited one of Cava's restaurants to see what the hype was about.

I visited Chicago's first Cava restaurant, which opened in Wicker Park in April. Though it had already been open for three weeks by the time I visited, there was a huge line. And this was on a Friday night at 8 p.m. — not exactly when I'd expect to be peak salad time.

Cava had been doing a good job of creating a buzz, with ads for the restaurant plastered all over the local Metra station.

It had worked well: It took me an hour to get to the front of the line. None of the other customers I spoke to knew why the restaurant was quite so popular, other than that it was new.

William Blair analyst Sharon Zackfia joked during Cava's earnings call in May that you need a Disneyland-style fast pass to get into the restaurant.

A handful of people had cottoned on to the fact that they could place online orders to avoid standing in line for so long. They downloaded the app, placed their orders, left, and came back half an hour later — much quicker than the hour I spent standing in line.

Since 2015, Cava's restaurants have had dedicated production lines for pickup and delivery orders, which made up about 37% of sales in Q1, Cava told Business Insider.

Cava has a walk-the-line format like Chipotle. Customized grain bowls, salads, and pitas make up roughly 85% of Cava's orders, CEO Brett Schulman told BI in May. You can also get "curated" dishes — Schulman said that its most popular is the harissa avocado bowl.

You can choose greens or carbs as the base of your bowl. I opted for the SuperGreens base, which included raw kale and Brussels sprouts. Other base options include saffron basmati rice, black lentils, and spinach.

Then came the dips, which surprisingly were layered between the base and the "main." You can choose up to three of the six Mediterranean dips on offer, served with what were essentially ice-cream scoops, and I went for hummus and the roasted eggplant dip. A sign explained to customers what the dips were from in case they were unfamiliar with Harissa, hummus, or Cava's spiced "Crazy Feta."

Then came the mains. Some of these incur extra charges, so you must be careful with what you pick — like the harissa honey chicken, braised lamb, and spicy lamb meatballs. When I visited, falafel, roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, and roasted white sweet potato — four of the seven mains on offer — didn't cost extra.

I opted for half-and-half portions of sweet potato and falafel for my main and topped them with black olives, pickled pink onion, cabbage slaw, and garlic dressing, all of which were free. Cava is also well-known for its pita chips and crisps, the latter of which you can add to your bowl for free.

Because I didn't get any of the paid-for extras, I was just charged the base price of $12.05 before tax. With a drink, it came to $17.22 including tax.

My bowl looked monstrous. It tasted great, though. The white sweet potato wasn't as soft as I'd expected, and the pita chips soon became very soggy from the dressing, but other than that I loved my bowl. The ingredients all tasted fresh and were full of flavor.

Building my own bowl was fun. Everything was full of flavor, and there was plenty of choice of Mediterranean ingredients for meat-eaters and veggies alike. The 30-seat restaurant was so busy that I had to share a table, and the diner sat opposite me told me he'd relocated to Chicago from another state and had been excited to finally see one open in the Windy City.

The Chicago restaurant — Cava's entry into the upper Midwest — "is delivering exceptional results and generating significant buzz," Schulman told investors in May. I wouldn't wait in line for an hour for a Cava bowl again, but I left feeling very full — and pumped full of vitamins.

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• Project CETI is harnessing AI to understand the complex communication system of sperm whales.
• In a new study, the project's scientists used AI to decode thousands of sperm whale clicks.
• CETI founder David Gruber hopes this work will help humans protect whales from noise pollution.

Whales are highly intelligent, social creatures, so it makes sense that their songs and clicks are probably more than just random sounds. But just how complex is whale speak?

Researchers from Project Cetacean Echolocation Translation Initiative (CETI) are closer than ever to finding out by deciphering that language.

Using AI to decode clicks from sperm whales, the scientists discovered a sophisticated alphabet hidden in the animals' sounds.

That alphabet is the fundamental communications system of the sperm whale, David Gruber, founder and president of Project CETI, told Business Insider.

"It shows that there's a lot of information that can be carried, and they're living very complicated, interactive social lives," he said.

But this is just the beginning. Building this phonetic alphabet into their AI models should allow Project CETI to dive even deeper into the intricacies of whale speak, helping humans better understand and protect these gentle giants.

Cracking the codas

Sperm whales are the loudest animals in the ocean, filling the seas with codas — short bursts of rapid clicks that resemble Morse Code. And similar to Morse Code, their clicks are what they mainly use to communicate and socialize with other sperm whales.

The researchers used AI to analyze and look for patterns in roughly 9,000 codas collected by the Dominica Sperm Whale Project — an organization dedicated to studying sperm whales in the Eastern Caribbean.

Their goal was to answer one simple question: Could they predict the next click?

So, they trained a machine learning algorithm on 80% of the codas, and then ran it to see if it could predict the remaining 20%, Gruber said.

Their results, which they documented in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications, were astounding.

The algorithm predicted the remaining codas with about 99% accuracy, he added. It was a good sign that the codas followed linguistic patterns.

As they dug deeper into the database, the researchers discovered that the codas actually contain an entire phonetic alphabet, made up of different elements that the researchers call "rhythm," "tempo," "rubato," and "ornamentation."

These elements combine in various ways to form a vast array of distinct codas, suggesting that sperm whale language is more expressive and structured than scientists previously believed, the researchers reported in their paper.

Gruber and his colleagues are a long way from understanding what the whales are actually saying. But the team continues to dive deeper for clues, hoping to answer questions like: How much information can a single coda carry? And can we begin to translate their messages to better understand, and potentially protect, them?

To begin answering these questions, Project CETI is fishing for more data.

Thinking like baby whales

In partnership with the Dominica Sperm Whale Project, Project CETI observes and documents sperm whale communication using a variety of different technologies.

To record codas, they tag whales with acoustic bio-logging devices that capture the animals' vocalizations and provide data specific to each individual whale.

Project CETI is also working to build a fixed-bottom listening station in the island of Dominica, which will record sperm whale sounds across a wide area and create a three-dimensional, interactive map of the whales' locations at all times, Gruber said.

The researchers supplement these auditory recordings with drone surveys of the whales' body language and field observations taken by Project CETI researchers. This provides the necessary context that should help the team understand these sounds on an even deeper level.

"Think of a baby trying to learn a language. It's paying attention, it's looking for context. We feel a lot like we're baby whales," Gruber said.

How to help protect whales

"We ask every day, how is this going to service the whales? How would this benefit them?" Gruber said of the project's research.

One potential benefit is better noise pollution mitigation.

Studies suggest that shipping traffic is on the rise, and resulting underwater noise pollution is an issue of growing concern. It can impact whales' ability to hear each other and disrupt their behavior, according to NOAA.

If we have a better grasp on how whales communicate, it could help inform ways to manage underwater noise pollution and help us better understand its impact on the animals, Gruber said.

"I know that there will be amazing things to come from our understanding of these complex, majestic, beautiful animals," he said.

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• After nearly four years of marriage, my husband and I started having political arguments.
• We also realized we wanted different things for our futures, so we got divorced in our 50s.
• I will always love him, and he is still my friend, but we can no longer be together.

When my now ex-husband and I decided to divorce, it was just past our 25th anniversary. We had been together for 11 years before getting married, so we had been a couple for 36 years.

It's strange to feel you're part of a trend. There have been many recent articles about " gray divorces," which involve couples over the age of 50 parting ways.

After nearly four decades, it seemed impossible that the only answer for my husband and me could be divorce. But it was, and we did it —and we're happy we did.

Politics played a big role in our 'gray divorce'

I would say we sailed through most of our relationship with ease. When we announced our pending divorce, some friends declared that if we split up, nobody in the world had any hope of staying together. For the most part, it was a very good life together.

However, toward the end, we faced challenges that made it impossible for us to be happy if we stayed married. Some of the pressures were external, and some were internal.

At the time, I figured we were going through what many people call a political divorce. Toward the end, we fought more about politics than anything else. Throughout most of our marriage, we both considered ourselves pretty centrists. He was a little right of center, and I was a little left, but we agreed about most political things discussed in the news. We were privileged enough not to have to worry about most of it.

But we have two queer children, and they both came out within the last 10 years. They also are both intelligent, well-informed, and very vocal about their beliefs. Their arguments most definitely influenced me. My husband stayed on the other side ideologically. To be fair, it must have felt we'd ganged up on him. Through it all, though, he has shown full, unwavering support and love for our children. This is one of the reasons that, despite the divorce, I will always love him.

A strange result of our split was that, as soon as we decided to divorce, we weren't angry with each other anymore. Everything became easier to talk about, and we were nicer to each other. We went out for a drink the night before we turned in the paperwork and walked hand in hand to the office to file it. It was surreal. That's not to say we don't still disagree about many things, but he will always be family to me.

There were larger issues at play for us

With some distance, I can say that the political differences were most likely a stand-in for the frustration of the real issues that we didn't want to or couldn't find the words to fight about.

I spent the first part of our lives working alongside him in his field while also raising kids at home. But recently, I wanted to start a new career, and he wasn't interested in being a part of it. Separate health issues also contribute to how we view the second halves of our lives and how we want to spend them.

We are both sad that we couldn't get past the differences, but to continue the marriage, one of us would have had to be unsatisfied with how life would go. We felt it was better to fully support each other on our individual journeys than live a life that compromises what we want. Even the kids agree we work better divorced than married, and there is much less tension when we're all together.

When we married, I promised to love him for the rest of my life, and I now feel confident that I'll do that. It's not how we originally pictured it, but it's just right for us.

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• The FDA reported 74 illnesses in 28 states possibly linked to Diamond Shruumz products.
• Now the agency says it is investigating two deaths it suspects are associated with the products.
• Diamond Shruumz has recalled all its microdosing chocolate bars, infused cones, and gummies.

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating if products sold by Diamond Shruumz, the company that recalled its microdosing products in June, are now linked to two deaths.

The FDA shared the update with the public this week amid its investigation into illnesses the agency suspects are associated with Diamond Shruumz products.

"As of July 22, 2024, a total of 74 illnesses have been reported from 28 states," the FDA said. "Sixty-two (62) of the 74 people have reported seeking medical care, 38 have been hospitalized, and there are two potentially associated deaths under investigation."

"This advisory will be updated as additional information becomes available," the FDA added.

Diamond Shruumz markets its products as "microdose" edibles. Microdosing is when people take a small dose of a psychedelic drug — often containing psilocybin — because they believe it can boost mental health and creativity. The practice has become popular in Silicon Valley and with some CEOs.

On its website, Diamond Shruumz says its products don't contain "psychedelic substances," but its ingredients "offer an experience."

A July report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, found that some Diamond Shruumz gummies did contain psilocin, which is a Schedule 1 substance and illegal in Virginia, where the study was done.

The CDC also said five people had received hospital evaluations after eating gummies labeled to contain Amanita muscaria, a type of mushroom that is legal, according to the report.

Prophet Premium Blends owns the brand and has recalled all Diamond Shruumz products in coordination with the FDA.

The recall notice said the products contained a psychoactive compound called muscimol, which is found in Amanita muscaria. The FDA said muscimol can be a "potential cause of symptoms consistent with some symptoms observed in individuals who became ill after consuming Diamond Shruumz-brand products."

The FDA first advised consumers to avoid Diamond Shruumz microdosing chocolate bars in June before adding the brand's Infused Cones and Micro-Dose and Mega-Dose/Extreme Gummies later that month.

Consumers who fell ill after consuming Diamond Shruumz-brand products reported several symptoms, including seizures, central nervous system depression, abnormal heart rates, and vomiting, the FDA said.

"Due to consumers becoming ill after consuming the entire chocolate bar and some products containing higher levels of Muscimol than normal, it is crucial that all of our consumers refrain from ingesting this product while we, alongside the FDA, continue our investigation as to what is the cause of the serious adverse effects," a statement on the Diamond Shruumz's website said.

Representatives for Diamond Shruumz did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. The FDA referred to the July 23 update when asked for comment.

"Persons who purchase products advertised as psychedelic or nootropic mushroom gummies should be aware that package labels might not accurately represent the contents and that these products could contain substances that might produce unexpected and potentially toxic effects," the CDC report said.

Медиа: image / jpeg

Медиа: image / jpeg

The offers and details on this page may have updated or changed since the time of publication. See our article on Business Insider for current information.

Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us and terms apply to offers listed (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate banking products to write unbiased product reviews.

Banks are fighting for customer dollars right now, and people with cash to spare are well-positioned to benefit from a high rate environment. With rates rapidly changing, how can you feel confident that you're getting the best savings account or best CD?

We monitor rates from banks and credit unions daily to help you feel confident before you open a new account. Experts don't expect CD rates to go up in 2024, so now could be a great time to lock in a rate if you're ready. Here are the top rates for popular savings accounts and CDs on Sunday, July 28.

Featured Nationally Available Deposit Rates

Featured Nationally Available CD Rates

Savings Account Bonus

Alliant High-Rate Savings Account

Earn a $100 bonus when you deposit at least $100 a month for 12 consecutive months and have a balance of $1,200 or more at the end of the 12-calendar-month period (offer expires December 31, 2024).

See more savings account bonuses »

Leading Checking & Savings Combo Account Bonus

SoFi Checking and Savings (Member FDIC)

Earn up to $300 with qualifying direct deposit for eligible customers (offer expires 12/31/24, terms apply). Earn up to 4.60% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) with direct deposit.

See more bank account bonuses »

About High-Yield Accounts

High-yield savings accounts aren't the only accounts paying favorable rates right now. You'll typically see the highest rates at online or lower-profile institutions rather than national brands with a significant brick-and-mortar presence. This is normal; online banks have lower overhead costs and are willing to pay high rates to attract new customers.

High-Yield Savings Accounts

The best high-yield savings accounts provide the security of a savings account with the added bonus of a high APY. Savings accounts are held at a bank or credit union — not invested through a brokerage account — and are best for saving cash in pursuit of shorter-term goals, like a vacation or big purchase.

High-Yield Checking Accounts

The best high-yield checking accounts tend to pay slightly lower rates than high-yield savings, but even they are strong in today's rate environment. A checking account is like a hub for your money: If your paycheck is direct deposited, it's typically to a checking account. If you transfer money to pay a bill, you typically do it from a checking account. Checking accounts are used for everyday spending and usually come with checks and/or debit cards to make that easy.

Money Market Accounts

The best money market accounts could be considered a middle ground between checking and savings: They are used for saving money but typically provide easy access to your account through checks or a debit card. They usually offer a tiered interest rate depending on your balance.

Cash Management Accounts

A cash management account is also like a savings/checking hybrid. You'll generally see them offered by online banks, and, unlike a checking account, they usually offer unlimited transfers. A savings account often limits the number of monthly transfers, while a checking account doesn't. Cash management accounts typically come with a debit card for easy access, but you may have to pay a fee if you want to deposit cash.

Certificates of Deposit

The best CD rates may outpace any of the other accounts we've described above. That's because a certificate of deposit requires you to "lock in" your money for a predetermined amount of time ranging from three months to five years. To retrieve it before then, you'll pay a penalty (unless you opt for one of the best no-penalty CDs). The longer you'll let the bank hold your money, the higher rate you'll get. CD rates aren't variable; the rate you get upon depositing your money is the rate you'll get for the length of your term.

About CD Terms

Locking your money into an account in exchange for a higher interest rate can be a big decision. Here's what you need to know about common CD terms.

No-Penalty CDs

Most CDs charge you a fee if you need to withdraw money from your account before the term ends. But with a no-penalty CD, you won't have to pay an early withdrawal penalty. The best no-penalty CDs will offer rates slightly higher than the best high-yield savings accounts, and can offer a substantially improved interest rate over traditional brick-and-mortar savings accounts.

6-Month CDs

The best 6-month CDs are offering interest rates in the mid-5% range. Six-month CDs are best for those who are looking for elevated rates on their savings for short-term gains, but are uncomfortable having limited access to their cash in the long term. These can be a good option for those who may just be getting started with saving, or who don't have a large emergency fund for unexpected expenses.

1-Year CDs

The best 1-year CDs tend to offer some of the top CD rates, and are a popular option for many investors. A 1-year term can be an attractive option for someone building a CD ladder, or for someone who has a reasonable cash safety net but is still concerned about long-term expenses.

2-Year CDs

The best 2-year CD rates will be slightly lower than 1-year and no-penalty CD rates. In exchange for a longer lock-in period, investors receive a long-term commitment for a specific rate. These are best used as part of a CD ladder strategy, or for those worried about a declining rate market in the foreseeable future.

3-Year CDs

The best 3-year CDs tend to have rates that are comparable to 2-year CDs. These are usually less popular for your average investor, but can be an important lever when diversifying investments and hedging against the risk of unfavorable rate markets in the long term.

5-Year CDs

The best 5-year CDs will offer lower rates than the other terms on our list, but are still popular options for investors. These CDs are best for those looking to lock in high rates for the long term. CDs are generally viewed as safe investment vehicles, and securing a favorable rate can yield considerable earnings in year three and beyond — even if rates fall elsewhere.

Медиа: image / jpeg

• Regina Beraldo Kihwele went to North Korea's Songdowon International Children's Camp aged 16 and 17.
• Kihwele, from Tanzania, said she enjoyed every minute of it, including that there was no internet.
• Last month it was announced that some Russian kids would attend the camp this summer.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Regina Beraldo Kihwele, a 25-year-old artist in Tanzania who, in 2015 and 2016, attended North Korea's Songdowon International Children's Camp, which some Russian children are set to attend this summer.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

When I was 16, I attended the Laureate International School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where I followed the British curriculum.

I played sports, and my coach used to organize trips to North Korea.

I was 16 the first time I went in 2015, and 17 the second time I went in 2016.

The camp was very accommodating. All the time, we just felt special.

They were always on our case: "Do you guys need this? Do you guys need that?"

Also, as Africans, we usually tend to have very different traditions and cultural choices.

But out of all the countries that I've been to, North Korea is one of the few that actually has a linkage to our culture.

Linkage to Tanzania

I remember we spent two days in Pyongyang and went to the war museum and found out that our first president, Julius Nyerere, was actually friends with their first president.

It was a shocker to learn that because we live how we live, they live differently, like they are in their own world.

It was interesting to go there and hear about my country from their perspective because our ways of life were so different.

For example, North Korean kids didn't have phones, and even we were not allowed to use phones in the camp.

There was no internet network, but they had service, so we could call through landlines. It was like taking a network break.

I felt like I was at home

When we came out of the camp for visits in Pyongyang, North Korean civilians came and talked to us.

That reminded me of home. If you come to Tanzania, people are going to come and talk to you. They're going to want to get to know you.

In the camp, all the nationalities were kept apart, and we only mixed during activities that were arranged for all of us, like performances and competitions in cooking, swimming, marathons, and more. We also met during leisure activities such as swimming and games.

I competed in the cooking competition and won.

My little brother, who was also there, won the marathon and swimming competitions.

My favorite memory was performing in front of a thousand people. Both times I went to the camp, I had to represent my country as a singer.

Getting that exposure most definitely helped me build my confidence. It was a wake-up call.

The perfect hideout

Tanzanians complained a lot about not having internet on camp.

But that was just perfect for me because sometimes I try to look for the perfect hideout and don't find it.

The scenery was beautiful, lively, and natural.

The camp was surrounded by the military. That was very grounding.

I remember the lights at the hotel where we stayed in Pyongyang for one night. It was so magical — the lights at night when it's just so dark and quiet.

For me, that was the hideout. You just get all these things in one place.

Since there was no internet, nobody could call or text me, which I really enjoyed.

Life-long friends

I also really made long-term friends from the camp, especially with Russian kids.

I'm still in touch with them today. I wouldn't have met them here. Most of them are from Moscow, Nakhodka and Vladivostok.

The only thing close to propaganda that I saw was that when we were at the airport, a friend of mine had some sort of film about the US president and the North Korean president on his laptop.

When we were passing through the last checkup at the airport, authorities somehow saw the clip and had him delete it.

But I didn't feel scared anywhere in the country.

Медиа: image / jpeg

The offers and details on this page may have updated or changed since the time of publication. See our article on Business Insider for current information.

Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us and terms apply to offers listed (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate banking products to write unbiased product reviews.

Banks are fighting for customer dollars right now, and people with cash to spare are well-positioned to benefit from a high rate environment. With rates rapidly changing, how can you feel confident that you're getting the best savings account or best CD?

We monitor rates from banks and credit unions daily to help you feel confident before you open a new account. Experts don't expect CD rates to go up in 2024, so now could be a great time to lock in a rate if you're ready. Here are the top rates for popular savings accounts and CDs on Saturday, July 27.

Featured Nationally Available Deposit Rates

Featured Nationally Available CD Rates

Savings Account Bonus

Alliant High-Rate Savings Account

Earn a $100 bonus when you deposit at least $100 a month for 12 consecutive months and have a balance of $1,200 or more at the end of the 12-calendar-month period (offer expires December 31, 2024).

See more savings account bonuses »

Leading Checking & Savings Combo Account Bonus

SoFi Checking and Savings (Member FDIC)

Earn up to $300 with qualifying direct deposit for eligible customers (offer expires 12/31/24, terms apply). Earn up to 4.60% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) with direct deposit.

See more bank account bonuses »

About High-Yield Accounts

High-yield savings accounts aren't the only accounts paying favorable rates right now. You'll typically see the highest rates at online or lower-profile institutions rather than national brands with a significant brick-and-mortar presence. This is normal; online banks have lower overhead costs and are willing to pay high rates to attract new customers.

High-Yield Savings Accounts

The best high-yield savings accounts provide the security of a savings account with the added bonus of a high APY. Savings accounts are held at a bank or credit union — not invested through a brokerage account — and are best for saving cash in pursuit of shorter-term goals, like a vacation or big purchase.

High-Yield Checking Accounts

The best high-yield checking accounts tend to pay slightly lower rates than high-yield savings, but even they are strong in today's rate environment. A checking account is like a hub for your money: If your paycheck is direct deposited, it's typically to a checking account. If you transfer money to pay a bill, you typically do it from a checking account. Checking accounts are used for everyday spending and usually come with checks and/or debit cards to make that easy.

Money Market Accounts

The best money market accounts could be considered a middle ground between checking and savings: They are used for saving money but typically provide easy access to your account through checks or a debit card. They usually offer a tiered interest rate depending on your balance.

Cash Management Accounts

A cash management account is also like a savings/checking hybrid. You'll generally see them offered by online banks, and, unlike a checking account, they usually offer unlimited transfers. A savings account often limits the number of monthly transfers, while a checking account doesn't. Cash management accounts typically come with a debit card for easy access, but you may have to pay a fee if you want to deposit cash.

Certificates of Deposit

The best CD rates may outpace any of the other accounts we've described above. That's because a certificate of deposit requires you to "lock in" your money for a predetermined amount of time ranging from three months to five years. To retrieve it before then, you'll pay a penalty (unless you opt for one of the best no-penalty CDs). The longer you'll let the bank hold your money, the higher rate you'll get. CD rates aren't variable; the rate you get upon depositing your money is the rate you'll get for the length of your term.

About CD Terms

Locking your money into an account in exchange for a higher interest rate can be a big decision. Here's what you need to know about common CD terms.

No-Penalty CDs

Most CDs charge you a fee if you need to withdraw money from your account before the term ends. But with a no-penalty CD, you won't have to pay an early withdrawal penalty. The best no-penalty CDs will offer rates slightly higher than the best high-yield savings accounts, and can offer a substantially improved interest rate over traditional brick-and-mortar savings accounts.

6-Month CDs

The best 6-month CDs are offering interest rates in the mid-5% range. Six-month CDs are best for those who are looking for elevated rates on their savings for short-term gains, but are uncomfortable having limited access to their cash in the long term. These can be a good option for those who may just be getting started with saving, or who don't have a large emergency fund for unexpected expenses.

1-Year CDs

The best 1-year CDs tend to offer some of the top CD rates, and are a popular option for many investors. A 1-year term can be an attractive option for someone building a CD ladder, or for someone who has a reasonable cash safety net but is still concerned about long-term expenses.

2-Year CDs

The best 2-year CD rates will be slightly lower than 1-year and no-penalty CD rates. In exchange for a longer lock-in period, investors receive a long-term commitment for a specific rate. These are best used as part of a CD ladder strategy, or for those worried about a declining rate market in the foreseeable future.

3-Year CDs

The best 3-year CDs tend to have rates that are comparable to 2-year CDs. These are usually less popular for your average investor, but can be an important lever when diversifying investments and hedging against the risk of unfavorable rate markets in the long term.

5-Year CDs

The best 5-year CDs will offer lower rates than the other terms on our list, but are still popular options for investors. These CDs are best for those looking to lock in high rates for the long term. CDs are generally viewed as safe investment vehicles, and securing a favorable rate can yield considerable earnings in year three and beyond — even if rates fall elsewhere.

Медиа: image / jpeg

The offers and details on this page may have updated or changed since the time of publication. See our article on Business Insider for current information.

Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate mortgages to write unbiased product reviews.

Average 30-year mortgage rates are currently around 20 basis points down from where they were a month ago, according to Zillow data. Rates fell earlier this month and have been holding relatively steady this week.

It's also looking increasingly likely that mortgage rates will drop even further in the coming months. On Friday, the Commerce Department reported that the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, rose 2.5% year over year in June, a downtick from the previous month's reading.

As inflation continues to slow and the Fed is able to start lowering the federal funds rate, mortgage rates should trend down.

While the Fed is expected to keep its benchmark rate steady at its meeting next week, investors think it's very likely the central bank will start cutting rates in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. This will remove some of the upward pressure off of mortgage rates and allow them to fall a bit.

Current Mortgage Rates

Current Refinance Rates

Mortgage Calculator

Use our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates would impact your monthly payments. By plugging in different rates and term lengths, you'll also understand how much you'll pay over the entire length of your mortgage.

Click "More details" for tips on how to save money on your mortgage in the long run.

Mortgage Rates for Buying a Home

30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Inch Up (+0.08%)

The current average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 6.38%, up eight basis points from where it was this time last week, according to Zillow data. This rate is down compared to a month ago, when it was 6.58%.

At 6.38%, you'll pay $624 monthly toward principal and interest for every $100,000 you borrow.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the most common type of home loan. With this type of mortgage, you'll pay back what you borrowed over 30 years, and your interest rate won't change for the life of the loan.

20-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Up a Bit (+0.16%)

The average 20-year fixed mortgage rate is 16 basis points up from where it was last week, and is sitting at 6.27%. This time last month, the rate was 6.16%.

With a 6.27% rate on a 20-year term, your monthly payment will be $732 toward principal and interest for every $100,000 borrowed.

A 20-year term isn't as common as a 30-year or 15-year term, but plenty of mortgage lenders still offer this option.

15-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Barely Tick Up (+0.04%)

The average 15-year mortgage rate is 5.72%, just four basis points higher than last week. It's down compared to this time last month, when it was 5.98%.

With a 5.72% rate on a 15-year term, you'll pay $829 each month toward principal and interest for every $100,000 borrowed.

If you want the predictability that comes with a fixed rate but are looking to spend less on interest over the life of your loan, a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage might be a good fit for you. Because these terms are shorter and have lower rates than 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, you could potentially save tens of thousands of dollars in interest. However, you'll have a higher monthly payment than you would with a longer term.

7/1 ARM Rates Nearly Increase Somewhat (+0.18%)

The 7/1 adjustable mortgage rate is up 18 basis points from a week ago at 6.59%. It's almost flat compared to a month ago, when it was at 6.57%.

At 6.59%, your monthly payment would be $638 toward principal and interest for every $100,000 borrowed — but only for the first seven years. After that, your payment would increase or decrease annually depending on the new rate.

5/1 ARM Rates Rise (+0.10%)

The average 5/1 ARM rate is 6.52%, a 10-basis-point increase from last week. It's down compared to where it was a month ago, when it was 6.72%.

Here's how a 6.52% rate would affect you for the first five years: You'd pay $633 per month toward principal and interest for every $100,000 you borrow.

30-Year FHA Rates Essentially Flat (+0.01)

The average 30-year FHA interest rate is 5.55% today, up a single basis point from the week before. This rate was 5.99% a month ago.

At 5.55%, you would pay $571 monthly toward principal and interest for every $100,000 borrowed.

FHA mortgages are good choices if you don't qualify for a conforming mortgage. You'll need a 3.5% down payment and 580 credit score to qualify.

30-Year VA Rates Hold Steady (No Change)

The current VA mortgage rate is 5.66%, exactly where it was this time last week. This rate was 5.96% a month ago.

With a 5.66% rate, your monthly payment would be $578 toward principal and interest for every $100,000 you borrow.

Mortgage Refinance Rates

30-Year Fixed Refinance Rates Tick Up (+0.14%)

The average 30-year refinance rate is 7.22%, 14 basis points down from last week. It's up compared to a month ago, when it was 6.96%.

Here's how a 7.22% rate would affect your monthly payments: You'd pay $680 toward principal and interest for every $100,000 borrowed.

Refinancing into a 30-year term can land you lower monthly payments, but you'll ultimately pay more by refinancing into a longer term.

20-Year Fixed Refinance Rates Inch Down (-0.02%)

The current 20-year fixed refinance rate is 6.46%, which is down just two basis points compared to a week ago. This rate was 6.88% this time last month.

A 6.46% rate on a 20-year term will result in a $743 monthly payment toward principal and interest for every $100,000 you borrow.

15-Year Fixed Refinance Rates Up Slightly (+0.10%)

The average 15-year fixed refinance rate is 6.42%, which is 10 basis points higher compared to last week. It's also up compared to this time a month ago, when it was at 5.81%.

A 6.42% rate on a 15-year term means you'll pay $867 each month toward principal and interest for every $100,000 borrowed.

Refinancing into a 15-year term can save you money in the long run, because you'll get a lower rate and pay off your mortgage faster than you would with a 30-year term. But it could result in higher monthly payments.

7/1 ARM Refinance Rates Flat (No Change)

The average 7/1 ARM refinance rate is 6.41%, the same as it was last week. It's down from a month ago, when it was 6.74%.

Refinancing into a 7/1 ARM with a 6.41% rate means your monthly payment toward principal and interest will be $626 for every $100,000 you borrow. This will be the payment for the first seven years, then your rate will change annually unless you refinance again.

5/1 ARM Refinance Rates Fall (-0.35%)

The 5/1 ARM refinance rate is 6.24%, which is 35 basis points lower than it was this time last week. It's down compared to this time last month, when it was 6.33%.

A 6.24% rate will result in a monthly payment of $615 toward principal and interest for every $100,000 borrowed. You'll pay this amount for the first five years of your new mortgage.

30-Year FHA Refinance Rates Increase a Bit (+0.06)

The 30-year FHA refinance rate is 5.31%, which is up six basis points from this time last week. It was 5.79% a month ago.

A 5.31% refinance rate would lead to a $556 monthly payment toward the principal and interest per $100,000 borrowed.

30-Year VA Refinance Rates Drop Slightly (-0.08)

The average 30-year VA refinance rate is 5.80%, which is down eight basis points compared to where it was was last week. This rate was 5.96% a month ago.

At 5.80%, your new monthly payment would be $587 toward principal and interest for every $100,000 you borrow.

Are Mortgage Rates Going Down?

Mortgage rates started ticking up from historic lows in the second half of 2021 and increased over three percentage points in 2022. Mortgage rates also rose dramatically in 2023, though they started trending back down toward the end of the year. Rates spent the first half of this year relatively high, but they've recently dropped and may go down further throughout the rest of 2024.

For homeowners looking to leverage their home's value to cover a big purchase — such as a home renovation — a home equity line of credit (HELOC) may be a good option while we wait for mortgage rates to ease further. Check out some of our best HELOC lenders to start your search for the right loan for you.

A HELOC is a line of credit that lets you borrow against the equity in your home. It works similarly to a credit card in that you borrow what you need rather than getting the full amount you're borrowing in a lump sum. It also lets you tap into the money you have in your home without replacing your entire mortgage, like you'd do with a cash-out refinance.

Current HELOC rates are relatively low compared to other loan options, including credit cards and personal loans.

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• The youngest billionaires in 2024 owe their fortune to family inheritance, according to Forbes.
• This marks the first time in 15 years without self-made billionaires under 30.
• The list includes heirs from industries like gaming, pharmaceuticals, and eyewear, but no Americans.

Reaching billionaire status isn't easy, and doing so before 30 is an achievement that earns recognition.

But unlike previous entries on this list, which include disgraced FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, all of the youngest billionaires in 2024 have family succession to thank for their fortunes. According to Forbes, it's the first time in 15 years that there aren't any self-made billionaires under 30.

This year's list features the children of titans of industries like gaming, pharmaceuticals, and eyewear. These young billionaires come from all over, but there are no Americans under 30 on the 2024 list, Forbes reported.

Check out some of the youngest billionaires, according to Forbes, and how they achieved their status:

Firoz Mistry and Zahan Mistry

Net worth: $5.1 billion each

Irish citizens Firoz, 27, and Zahan, 25, are the richest entries on this list. Their 4.6% stakes in Indian conglomerate Tata Sons pushed both of their net worths over $5 billion in 2024.

Tata Sons owns over 100 companies and generates about $150 billion. The brothers received their inheritance after their 54-year-old father and 93-year-old grandfather died within months of each other in 2022.

Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio

Net worth: $4.8 billion

Del Vecchio is the 29-year-old son of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the Italian founder of eyewear brand EssilorLuxottica and former chair of Ray-Ban until his death in 2022. Upon their father's death, Del Vecchio and his six siblings each inherited a 12.5% stake in the family's holding company. This helped his younger brothers achieve a place on the list, too.

Luca Del Vecchio

Net worth: $4.8 billion

Luca Del Vecchio is the second Del Vecchio brother to make the youngest billionaire list in 2024. Like his older brother, he inherited a 12.5% stake in the family business when their father died in 2022.

At 22 years old, he's one of the richest and youngest on the list.

Clemente Del Vecchio

Net worth: $4.8 billion

Clemente Del Vecchio is the youngest of the Italian brothers on the under-30 list at 20 years old. He was only two months shy of being declared the youngest billionaire in the world by Forbes. He also owns a 12.5% stake in his family's eyewear empire.

Kevin David Lehmann

Net worth: $3.2 billion

Kevin David Lehmann once held the title of the world's youngest billionaire at just 18 years old. Now, at 21, he's still on the list. In 2021, he inherited his money from stakes in a German drugstore chain transferred to him by his father.

Remi Dassault

Net worth: $2.5 billion

When his father died in 2021, 23-year-old Remi Dassault inherited about 2.5% of the French software company Dassault Systemes and 4.1% of Dassault Aviation, according to Forbes.

Kim Jung-min and Kim Jung-youn

Net worth: $1.8 billion each

Sisters Kim Jung-min, 22, and Kim Jung-youn, 20, each hold 9% of Nexon, the South Korean-Japanese gaming company their father founded in 1994, Forbes reported. They inherited their stakes when their father died in 2022.

Alexandra Andresen and Katharina Andresen

Net worth: $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion

The Andresen family first built its wealth in the tobacco industry. After their father sold the cigarette business in 2005, their attention turned to their multibillion-dollar investment firm Ferd, Forbes reported.

Norwegian sisters Alexandra, 28, and Katharina, 29, both own 42% stakes in Ferd, which has made their reported net worths $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively. Ferd invests in real estate, oil service business Interwell, and the largest private medical laboratory in Norway, according to Forbes.

Livia Voigt and Dora Voigt de Assis

Net worth: $1.1 billion each

Livia Voigt is the youngest billionaire in 2024 at 19 years old with a net worth of $1.1 billion. She and her sister, 26-year-old Dora Voigt de Assis, who also has a net worth of $1.1 billion, are the granddaughters of Brazilian billionaire Werner Ricardo Voigt.

Their late grandfather cofounded WEG, an electrical equipment producer; each woman owns 3.1%. Neither of them work at the company.

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• The Young Victoria and Albert Museum recently won a "Museum of the Year" Award.
• The museum reopened after a three-year, $16.8 million redevelopment.
• The award includes a $155,000 prize and recognizes the museum's dedication to creativity.

The Young Victoria and Albert Museum in London describes itself as "the world's most joyful museum." In July, it was crowned "Museum of the Year" by nonprofit, Art Fund.

The award is given annually to a museum or gallery in the UK and includes a GBP120,000 ($155,000) prize.

After closing for three years as part of a GBP13 million ($16.8 million) redevelopment initiative, the Young V&A now includes three permanent exhibitions: "Play," "Imagine," and "Design."

Entry to the museum is free, except for its temporary ticketed exhibitions, which currently costs GBP9 ($11.70) for adults and children aged four and above.

I traveled to the Young V&A to determine if it really is the "world's most joyful museum."

Located on a busy road in East London, the Young V&A has a mighty presence from the sidewalk.

Upon entering, the museum offered multiple stations where parents can park their strollers, maximizing accessibility for those with young children.

It was clear that the museum prioritized accessibility. There were elevators and ramps throughout the museum, as well as large print and audio transcription guides for visitors with impaired vision and hearing difficulties.

Entering the "Japan: Myths to Manga" temporary exhibition, you immediately see that maximizing color was a priority for the designers.

The exhibition was interactive, with Japanese origami-making stations and several traditional musical instruments for kids to try.

It also offered something for adults, displaying work by traditional and more contemporary Japanese artists.

As well as showing established Japanese artists and designers, it also displayed work created by children all over the world, empowering young visitors to get creative.

I was impressed by the content of the exhibition.

The curators had thought carefully about how to balance information and artwork that is interesting for older kids and adults, while including exercises and activities made to keep the attention of younger visitors.

A gift shop at the end of the exhibitions sold plenty of Japanese toys for kids to take home too.

The next stop was the "Design Gallery," which explained the invention stories behind products like scooters.

Every item displayed in this exhibition was created to solve a human problem. These light shades are made of an organic material that's designed to be sustainable.

The exhibit was informative and inspires young people to take the information and use it creativity. There were also multiple spaces for kids to draw and design.

The different exhibitions were tailored to children of varying ages, making it easier for parents with more than one child. The mini-museum is a space exclusively for babies to learn through play.

The museum prioritizes 'touch' as a method of learning and engagement. The Young V&A's "Play" exhibition helps improve motor skills, such as at the sand table.

After looking at all the exhibitions, it was time to test the food. To ensure young visitors were being fed well, I ordered the Jungle Safari kids meal for GBP6 ($7.80) and an oat latte for GBP3.65 ($4.70).

Even though the kids meal is meant for young children with limited palates, I thought the cheese sandwich with one thin slice of cheddar was lackluster.

I also had a slice of carrot cake, which was priced at GBP4.50 ($5.80). It was moist and the frosting was delicious.

The museum felt joyful and deserving of its title. I appreciated that the curators had gone out of their way to ensure that different exhibitions were accessible for children of all ages.

The objects and explanations displayed seemed to inspire young people to use the information creatively. I particularly liked that children were always encouraged to touch the displays and make designs of their own based on what they had seen.

For me, the "most joyful museum in the world" sparked joy from watching children explore their curiosity and learn from the world around them.

I left feeling hopeful and inspired by the human capability for creativity.

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• Companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats have spent years building delivery services.
• But the CEO of Domino's says the company is seeing a surge in carryout orders.
• Customers who want pizzas delivered have different priorities from those who want carryout, he said.

Startups, retailers, and brands have spent over a decade figuring out how to make delivery to customers work.

But Domino's, the pizza chain known for delivery, is having success drawing customers to its restaurants to pick up their own orders.

"Our carryout business is on fire," CEO Russell Weiner told Business Insider in an interview. "This is something we didn't even contemplate years ago."

That business was a bright spot for Domino's during its second quarter. The company's carryout comparable sales grew 7.9%, while delivery comparable sales rose 2.7% during the same period.

People who order for delivery and those who stop by a restaurant to carry their orders out are mostly two separate groups with different priorities, Weiner said.

Delivery is about convenience, and customers who order their food for delivery are willing to pay the extra fees and tip their driver, he said. Besides operating its own delivery service, Domino's also offers delivery through Uber. The third-party service accounts for roughly 3% of Domino's sales, Weiner told BI.

"We see only about 15% overlap between our carryout and delivery customers," he said.

But other, more budget-conscious consumers realize that they can get "more than another pizza" with the money they spend on delivery fees and tips, he said, adding that delivery is an "expensive convenience" for many US consumers.

Delivery services gained popularity during the pandemic as consumers stayed at home and had everything from a restaurant meal to electronics delivered by the likes of DoorDash, Instacart, Uber Eats, Walmart Spark, and other services.

But as society reopened and prices soared for many consumer goods, especially food, many customers cut back on their delivery habits. Some also realized that they were paying a big premium to have stuff brought to their door.

One Instacart customer posted on TikTok after realizing that she had paid close to $100 in markups on her groceries — excluding delivery fees and a tip.

Many people are also opting to drive to their local Domino's and pick up orders themselves for another reason: Control. Many carryout customers prefer the option over delivery because they're worried about what they'll have to do if something is wrong with their delivery order or whether it will show up in time for a party.

"This person's like, 'I don't care if it's out of my way, I'm going to pick it up because it's going to be right,'" he said. "It is a completely different customer."

Domino's has also attracted many new carryout customers by opening more restaurants and cutting the distance that customers have to drive, thus making picking up an order less of a hassle.

"They don't want to drive past three or four pizza places," he said of Domino's customers. "They're going to the first one."

Do you work in the restaurant industry and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com

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• Before Airbnb was even invented, my husband and I started renting our home to make extra money.
• We bought multiple homes that we rented on Airbnb throughout the years.
• Airbnb income is not passive, and now I don't rent my home anymore.

Renting your home to strangers for money wasn't even on the horizon when my husband and I bought our first house almost 20 years ago.

But the little bungalow in Louisville, Kentucky, wasn't far from the racetrack where the famous Kentucky Derby runs every May. I thought renting our house to race-goers would be an easy way to make a quick paycheck.

So in 2007, before Airbnb was even invented, we'd started what would eventually be called house-hacking — renting your own home to generate income to pay for itself. We could earn enough over the race weekend to cover three months of mortgage.

We were early Airbnb adopters

It didn't go well at first, though, with our first guests writing us a bad check. So when Airbnb came along with some guardrails to protect hosts, we were super early adopters.

Although it's commonplace now, in those early days, friends thought we'd lost it when we let strangers stay in our house. "What if they lick your plates and put them back?" I'll always remember one aghast friend asking.

Renting out that house led to the idea that we could Airbnb a $17,000 triplex in Detroit we bought in 2014 after I fell in love with the city while visiting. We were able to use the income to recoup the renovation costs, and we double-dipped by renting our Louisville house anytime we were in Detroit. We divided our time between cities, keeping that house for a year and a half. That experience propelled us to buy a sprawling Victorian in a historic neighborhood of Louisville in 2016.

"We could Airbnb the shit out of this!" my husband's text read when he sent me the $200,000 listing. A beautiful house that just needed some work, with a third floor guest suite and a carriage house, it had tons of potential as a short-term rental rental. We estimated we could probably cover the renovation cost and maybe even the mortgage with the income. Income that we thought would be passive.

It didn't turn out to be passive, though, at least when it came to the amount of work and worry that went into eventually becoming one of Airbnb's longest-tenured super hosts. Even switching to renting to travel nurses during COVID didn't come without stress, and we eventually sold the house in 2023.

Realtors know that people are looking for short-term rentals

I've been househunting and have lost count of the number of listings I've seen promising income from short-term rentals.

Now, we're not in the old days anymore, and most cities have licensing requirements for short-term rentals that restrict the number in any given area and impose tax collections. But not everyone plays by those rules, and sometimes, listing agents on behalf of sellers promote this revenue stream on houses that don't have the required license — and aren't even eligible for one.

After spending a lot of money and time getting the legal permits and licenses for my home, I think this practice is pretty unsavory — especially from a profession that's supposed to have strict ethical guidelines. Even when the listing truly does have legal income potential, it's not a magic bullet or a fast path to riches.

Maybe rentals can be considered passive by IRS definitions, but here's the truth from someone who's been doing this for more than 15 years: rentals are endless work.

Not just the cleaning, or calendar management, or the trying to delight guests or respond to issues. It's also the emotional labor of worrying about reviews. You're only ever as good as your last two or three, and I stressed every detail trying to keep up my all-five-star superhost status.

I've had so many issues with my rental

Owning a home built in the late 1800s can be a source of worry in the best of circumstances. However, inviting a rotating cast of strangers under the roof, strangers who can leave reviews that can make or break your business, brings its own host of additional worries.

Just like I could never turn off my phone in case a guest needed something, I couldn't turn off the worry, either.

When it rained, I worried about leaks — which happened. When it was cold, I worried about the mini-split HVAC going out, which it did — on a freezing Christmas Day. When it was hot, I worried the AC couldn't keep up — which it often couldn't in a 130-year-old third-floor space where guests thought they could set the temperature to 60 on 100-degree days.

But the money was good when it was good, so it was worth it. Until competition ratcheted up, and with that, a push from Airbnb to discount prices. Even before COVID, I'd grown tired of their incessant reminders to cut my price. So when the pandemic hit, I made the pivot to renting to travel nurses at my two spaces. That wasn't a ton less money, but a lot less work. Instead of doing laundry and cleaning and answering a fresh batch of questions every two or three days, it was every three months.

I recommend people do their homework before becoming hosts

To anyone tempted to buy a property just for its rental potential, I say proceed with caution.

Do your own homework to make sure you can legally rent it; don't rely on the listing claims. Check local listings to see how much competition you'll have and how much they're getting. Consider how much time you can siphon from your other job to run your rental, and what that will cost. Evaluate your budget to make sure you can carry the mortgage indefinitely if misfortune — pandemic, natural disaster, terrorist attack, major repairs, a pest infestation — strikes and you lose that income.

As for me, my new home is a single family. Nope, no income to subsidize the mortgage, but also no suitcases rolling around above my bedroom, no nagging worry about what-ifs, and nobody to worry about pleasing but, well, myself.

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• Traffic patterns have shifted since the pandemic.
• US drivers are taking 23% more car trips in the middle of the day than they did in 2019.
• For commuters, the typical nine-to-five workday has been replaced by a more fluid schedule.

After roads went eerily quiet during the early months of the pandemic, traffic is back with a vengeance. Traffic congestion is as bad as it was pre-pandemic in about half of the world's top urban areas, but traffic patterns have shifted, according to a new report by INRIX, a transportation data and analytics company.

Congestion no longer reflects the traditional nine-to-five work schedule. These days, as many Americans start a car trip at noon as do at five pm. Average hourly traffic during the middle of the day is up 23% since 2019, INRIX found.

New remote and hybrid work schedules and a rise in car ownership in recent years have transformed traffic and congestion patterns.

The INRIX report found that the traditional morning peak rush hour has given way to a steadier pace of trips starting later in the morning. The number of weekday car trips starting in the 6 AM hour fell from around 80 million a day in 2019 to about 50 million in 2023, while about 60 million trips began in the 9 AM hour in 2023, up from a little over 40 million in 2019. Over 75 million trips now start between noon and 1 PM.

On the reverse side of the day, midafternoon trips are up and evening trips are down. Putting that all together, it looks like many Americans have shifted from a traditional 9-to-5 commute to a noon-to-4 or even more truncated workday.

Bob Pishue, a transportation analyst at INRIX, said that midday travel started to rise when COVID hit, and that pattern hasn't dissipated. Despite many employers pressuring their employees to spend more time in the office, remote work has endured. With more flexible work schedules, people are making more midday trips to the grocery store and the gym, or getting to work late or leaving early.

"They're either going into work late so that they can continue to drop kids off at school," he said. And "people are still doing midday or two o'clock trips" or leaving early for vacation.

Congestion in cities varies based on where jobs are located. "The importance of downtown as a destination for commuting is much different in Dallas than it is in New York," Pishue said, noting that downtown Manhattan is home to far more of its region's jobs than downtown Dallas.

INRIX calculates congestion by gathering data from millions of anonymized sensors and vehicles and commercial vehicle data. The report calculated commute times using the time taken to drive "to and from major employment centers within an urban area from surrounding commuting neighborhoods."

This travel shift has many implications for policymakers and transportation planners. Mass transit schedules, road tolls, and even traffic lights have long been designed around the 9-to-5 workday and the rush hours that it creates. But traffic data shows cities might need to adjust their schedules and redesign their physical infrastructure to fit the new post-pandemic, remote work paradigm.

"This is something that now needs attention," Pishue said.

Congestion is here to stay

Since the pandemic hit, mass transit ridership has plummeted while driving has become more popular.

New York City had the worst congestion of any city in the world in 2023, the INRIX report found. Last year, New Yorkers lost an average of 101 hours to congestion delays. The city saw a 13% year-over-year increase in vehicle trips into its downtown — the sharpest increase in the country.

Car ownership has also risen in recent years, including in New York.

Car ownership in the five boroughs has soared over the last decade. While the population of New York City residents rose 1.4% between 2012 and 2021, the number of registered passenger vehicles rose by 12%. Still, about 54% of city households reported not owning a car in 2021.

A year into the pandemic, Americans drove more despite many closed offices. People drove 2% more, measured by mileage, across US cities in March 2021 than in February 2020 and 20% more than in March 2020, when pandemic lockdowns first took effect.

The shift from denser urban living to suburban and even rural living is part of this uptick in driving. Many city dwellers moved into far-flung, car-dependent exurbs and rural towns during the pandemic — and that trend appears to be continuing. For many, this means more time in their cars.

Have you changed your commute in the last couple years? Tell your story to this reporter at erelman@businessinsider.com

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• Morgan Dalton moved from California to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2022.
• He applied to the Tulsa Remote program, which paid him $10,000 over a year.
• He finds the pace of life in Tulsa a pro but misses the culture in Los Angeles and the broader West Coast.

Morgan Dalton, 47, said he was a lifelong West Coaster but knew he would likely move out of Los Angeles. He said he didn't "have a timeline in mind until after" he was accepted into the Tulsa Remote program in Oklahoma in 2021.

He then said goodbye to the West Coast and moved to Tulsa in March 2022. One perk of the program, which is targeted at full-time, remote workers, is getting $10,000.

Dalton got this money over the course of a year and said the initial payout was helpful for his moving costs. "I drove myself out here, but I hired a moving service to move all my furniture, which arrived about a week or so after I had arrived in Tulsa myself," he told Business Insider. "That really came in handy and just was able to save some of that money, get some new furniture, and take some road trips. But that was obviously a great incentive."

Dalton said the cost of living and pace of life are pros of living in Tulsa. However, he said he missed the culture, people, and restaurants of Los Angeles and the West Coast.

"Tulsa is a pretty small city in the middle of the country, and for a city this size, there's a nice little restaurant and food scene here," Dalton said. "But coming from Los Angeles, missing the sushi, the Korean barbecue, the Mexican. I was really spoiled."

Dalton said he missed the "liberal big-city culture" as well as "living in a community with like-minded people."

"Even though everyone here is super friendly, many of the native Tulsans grew up hunting and camping and drive huge raised pick-up trucks, which is a big part of Oklahoma culture," Dalton said.

Still, he has found people are welcoming and kind in Tulsa. "I've been accepted with open arms here, even though culturally it's pretty different from the way I grew up from a lot of locals here," Dalton said.

"This is the Bible Belt. It's a conservative state," he said, adding he "grew up in a liberal entertainment industry family" and is an atheist. "I thought, 'I'm going to be a square peg in a round hole here,' but I've never been judged."

Several people who have participated in the Tulsa Remote program, which launched in late 2018, have previously talked to BI about their moving experience. One person who moved from Texas said the city "is a lot smaller than Houston but still has everything a big city has to offer" and called out the city's "ridiculously low" cost of living.

Dalton said the money, meetups, and other offerings through the program were helpful as a new resident of Tulsa. The program webpage said people can get discounted tickets to and "big name" concerts at BOK Center and local sports in Tulsa.

"It's not just here, move here, we'll give you money and kind of figure it out," Dalton said.

Applying to the program and life in Tulsa

Before moving to Tulsa, Dalton made a burnout-inspired career switch from the behavioral health industry to being a remote content manager for a chef. The new remote job would help him qualify for a move from California to Oklahoma through the Tulsa Remote program.

The new job paid less, but he could catch his breath after feeling so burned out from the long hours and the emotional toll of his previous work, such as working with "clients who are struggling with" addiction or other things.

"I also knew I wanted to eventually, at some point, leave LA," he said, adding that with his new salary, "it was going to be kind of hard for me to maintain my quality of life" and living standards in Los Angeles.

While Dalton sometimes misses the bustling life of Los Angeles, he's not feeling burned out anymore. He's enjoying a different pace of life and the cost of living in the much smaller city of Tulsa.

"I had to kind of get used to slowing down here," Dalton told Business Insider. "In the behavioral health industry and living in Los Angeles, it was just wake up and just go, go, go. And I was kind of living my life as a chicken with his head cut off. It was just pretty chaotic."

Tulsa's slower pace of life gives Dalton more time to enjoy life and have fun with others.

"It's easy living here," he said. "I can jump in my car and drive to Trader Joe's on a Sunday or Saturday when you think everyone would be there. And it's a little bit busy, but it's just not nearly as busy as the big cities are."

Dalton does sometimes miss LA's energy, however. "I think the bigger cities, things just get done a little faster. There's a little more accountability. There's a punctuality that I think I miss in LA."

Additionally, he said you would find people outside enjoying the weather all the time in Southern California. "Out here, it's not so much the case because you get some pretty bleak days, although it's not a Northeast winter," he said. "But I remember moving out here in March, and it was just right at the end of winter, and all of a sudden spring hits, and everything gets green and beautiful, and things start blooming, and then everyone starts coming out."

He noted that Tulsa does offer some great places to hang out, like Guthrie Green, a park that has activities and events. "There are a ton of free concerts at night throughout the summer," he said. "There's free fitness classes right on the lawn."

Dalton, a baseball fan, also gets to enjoy going to Tulsa Drillers minor league baseball games. "The games are very inexpensive," he said. "I go often after work and on the weekends, and I'll go with my girlfriend on a Friday night."

Dalton found the noise and air pollution from vehicles as downsides of Tulsa. "Oklahoma does not have smog check laws," he said, adding that he finds nights on the weekend downtown loud.

He also noted " lack of reproduction rights" and Oklahoma being among "the poorest states in the US which greatly affects public education, health care in the state, and infrastructure" as downsides.

Dalton's advice for anyone considering moving to Tusla is to be open-minded. He finds there's a fit for all, including those who are digital nomads or want to create a business.

Dalton said he's unsure how long he will still live in Tulsa, but he and his girlfriend are considering buying a home and could use it as a rental house if they decide to move away eventually.

"Depending on the job market and what happens here with her job, there is a pretty good chance that at some point we'll probably relocate to maybe a bigger city — maybe to New York, DC, San Francisco, quite possibly LA," he said. "I can work anywhere, obviously, in the country. So it's kind of up to her what happens."

Where have you moved to? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

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• 7-Eleven stores in Japan usually have a wider variety of food than their US counterparts.
• That variety is now coming to the US.
• Getting more fresh food on shelves is a key priority for the retailer.

When Americans land at busy Japanese airports like Haneda or Narita for the first time, it has become a trend for these jet-lagged travelers to drag their luggage toward a konbini like 7-Eleven before checking in at a hotel.

Despite 7-Eleven either operating, franchising, or licensing more than 13,000 stores in North America, its Japanese branches form part of a distinct convenience store culture — led by other konbini chains like FamilyMart and Lawson — that has given them top billing on tourist itineraries.

TikTok and YouTube vlogs guiding first-time visitors highlight not only popular locations, like Shibuya Scramble Crossing and the ancient Buddhist Senso-ji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa area but also a menu of konbini offerings that America's 7-Eleven's struggle to match.

Hot dogs and Slurpees in stateside stores give way to a variety of foods and drinks such as onigiri rice balls, cheap fried chicken, egg sandwiches on milk bread, and make-your-own frozen smoothies that are kept fresh on shelves with multiple daily deliveries informed by sales data.

These convenience stores also double up as pit stops that live up to their name by offering customers access to ATMs and printers, as well as other services like bill payments and buying concert tickets.

They are night and day from their US counterparts, then. That said, Americans who want to enjoy some of the Japanese 7-Eleven magic closer to home won't have to wait much longer.

America's 7-Elevens get a Japanese makeover

Though 7-Eleven started in Dallas in 1927 as an American company that sold ice, it has been wholly owned by Tokyo-headquartered retail conglomerate 7 & i Holdings since 2005.

This year, its CEO Ryuichi Isaka — who has led multibillion-dollar acquisitions of competitors like Speedway in the US — has made clear that he is ready to give larger 7-Eleven US branches a makeover that puts them more in line with the Japan stores.

It feels like a much-needed move.

Typical drivers of sales at American convenience stores, such as cigarettes and gasoline, have started to decline or are projected to decline, leading Isaka to seek a strategy that gives US 7-Elevens new life.

As Isaka told Bloomberg in February, that strategy is now all about getting "fresh food" on shelves. "We are in the process of building a system to supply fresh, high-quality products to stores," he said at the time.

That process is being helped by Warabeya Nichiyo, a key food supplier for 7-Eleven Japan, as it looks to build its third plant in the US, costing $81.5 million.

It is also being helped by an intricate data system that gives real-time oversight of items being sold to help determine what shipments need to be made to restock a store at different times of the day.

The Wall Street Journal reported that America's 7-Elevens were at one point only receiving two deliveries per week, with many items being ordered that consumers had little to no interest in. That was clearly a waste.

American consumers can expect to see products on shelves at their local 7-Elevens that they might previously have had to venture all the way to Japan to buy, as well as a fresher variety of options that meet the tastes of locals.

In a statement, 7-Eleven told BI that the company was working with its partners in Japan to "introduce new items like chicken teriyaki rice balls, miso ramen, and sweet chili crisp wings to US customers."

"We are constantly evolving the fresh food assortment in our stores, tailoring the offerings at each location to meet the needs and preferences of local customers," the company said.

Instagram user @greenonionbun, based in Orange County, California, posted about a trip she said she'd taken to a local 7-Eleven after hearing that the convenience store chain was going to start stocking Japanese snacks in the US.

She said the egg sandwiches seemed more Japanese-style as they were made with fluffy milk bread, for example, but there were subtle differences, too.

Good news for Americans wanting to taste Japan's 7-Eleven selections: they should soon be able to get similar bites closer to home to satisfy cravings until their next trip to the country.

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• My husband and I have never wanted kids.
• Remaining child-free has allowed us to travel, make more time for each other, and save money.
• We've never regretted our decision, even when others have questioned us.

We were sitting at the restaurant picnic table, entertaining three of our five nieces with jokes and songs over a long wait for food, when 8-year-old Annabelle turned to my husband — her Uncle Rich — and asked, "Why don't you and Aunt Shawna have any kids?" Her eyes turned to me across the table, then to her mom's, perhaps wondering if she had asked the wrong question.

"Because they're a pain in the butt!" Rich said with a mischievous smile, leaning toward her. Her eyes opened wide at the unexpected answer and naughty word. The other kids giggled.

"I'm not a pain in the butt!" she exclaimed. Maybe even a little offended, as she and her sisters had been arguing over who got to sit next to him just moments before. This was the (f)uncle who had pushed her and her sibling all day on the swings, shared his Star Wars toys, and introduced her to licorice, after all. Grandma, sitting nearby, looked surprised.

"No, you're not. But a lot are," Rich answered, just about when Annabelle's little sister, 6-year-old Lily, started to melt down from the heat and the long wait. I laughed, thinking, "That's my guy, the one with no filter."

Their mother stepped in. "People don't have kids for lots of different reasons," she said, leaving it at that as the appetizers arrived and we turned our attention elsewhere.

People have questioned our decision for years

The issue didn't come up again over the long holiday weekend, but it had for years before, when we first met in our 20s, then married in our 30s, with a few relatives asking what we were waiting for.

My polite answers at first were meant to keep them at bay: "Let me finish grad school," or "We'd like to buy a house first," to which we got responses like, "There is never a perfect time! Just do it!" Rich suggested I state, "I'm barren," just to see their reactions.

The truth was that neither of us could imagine adding another person into our mix. We were both financially struggling artists for many years — he a musician, me a writer — who lived with low overhead and found ways to travel, eat well, and make time for friends, family, and creative work, and quite liked it that way.

When our siblings had kids, and there were grandchildren to enjoy, some of the heat was taken off of us.

We've never regretted not having kids

Many said we would change our minds, yet here we are in our 50s, content with our decision. And anyone who knows us knows we are not kid haters. In our roles as auntie, uncle, godparents, and mentors, I hope we have been a source of love and support for those who chose to have children.

To the age-old question, "Who will care for you when you're old?" I say that is what our retirement fund is for. And be honest, any caregiver can tell you that not every adult child even desires or is capable of caring for their older parents. To me that seems the weakest reason to procreate.

By knowing our limitations for the all-in forever commitment that good parenting requires, we have shown love to ourselves by honoring our own wishes despite societal pressure. For us this decision means one less unwanted child in the world, less resources used, more flexibility to help with our own aging parents, and more time together as two middle-aged adults.

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• Some airlines are doubling down on premium economy.
• Passengers are tempted by an upgrade to more luxurious seating without blowing their budget.
• Experts said that premium economy hits the "sweet spot" between luxury and cost.

Premium economy is having a moment.

Some airlines have revamped their premium economy services in recent months, with passengers increasingly tempted by the prospect of upgrading to more luxurious seating without blowing their budget.

Delta plans to roll out a premium economy service to transcontinental flights in September, while Singapore Airlines announced its updated premium economy class in March with a 200-item food menu.

This budget luxury arms race has been fueled by rising demand for more comfortable flying.

Both Delta and United saw double-digit rises in revenue from premium seating, which includes business class and first class, in the first quarter of 2024. While, Alaska Airlines said at a recent industry conference that premium sections now account for nearly a third of revenue, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"We have seen the demographics of travelers changing from what we saw before the pandemic," Collin Heller, Vice President at aerospace consultancy Counterpoint Market Intelligence, told Business Insider.

"Business travel has not returned to normal in many regions, but the leisure traveler demand is fairly strong. We are finding that many of these travelers are willing to spend more for quality and are often less price-sensitive," he added.

'The sweet spot between cost and luxury'

Airlines have become increasingly adept at playing on this desire for more bougie transport through "upselling," the art of bombarding passengers with carefully timed offers and emails to convince them to upgrade.

Counterpoint director and aircraft interiors expert Rob Semple told BI that the key to convincing passengers to upgrade was to make premium economy "visibly better" than economy class to increase the sense of FOMO — while still maintaining a luxury gap between premium economy and the more expensive business class.

"Many passengers now view long haul economy travel as a feat of endurance, so are prepared to pay to travel in more comfort to 'escape from the madness,'" said Semple, who described premium economy as a "sweet spot" between cost and luxury.

"Passengers in premium want to feel rested and ready when they disembark after a flight. They want additional space with better privacy, an enhanced ability to 'control' your space so that you can decide to work, rest or relax, and a better on-board service level," he added.

Bougie on a budget

Premium economy is also increasingly appealing to businesses, with many seeing it as an opportunity to transport their employees in relative luxury without splashing out on business class.

Travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt told BI that many businesses now considered premium economy good enough for shorter long-haul flights and are choosing it over business class — much to the chagrin of some employees.

"For flights that are going to be under seven or so hours, especially on a daylight flight, daytime flight premium economy is often considered comfortable enough for an employee," he said.

"This decision has not been met with open arms by travelers who frankly enjoy flying business class," he added.

He warned that airlines would have to walk a fine line to avoid premium economy sections from cannibalizing more expensive business class seats as they become the default option for many luxury-seeking travelers — but said the popularity of economy-plus was unlikely to go away anytime soon.

"We all know that economy class sucks on pretty much every airline. In fact, it's a deliberate decision in the case of some airlines to make economy so intolerable that travelers will pay a premium to move up," said Harteveldt.

"The benefits are compelling…premium economy is an affordable way for travelers to have a much better journey while still staying within a budget," he added.

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• Some young professionals say they're moving to communities to enjoy outdoor activities like golf and yoga.
• They said the pandemic helped them value outdoor space and leisure time — akin to living like retirees.
• Real estate developers cater to them by adding resort-style perks to new buildings and neighborhoods.

Each generation follows a similar journey: Rent in a city when you're young, move to the suburbs once you're ready to settle down and have children, and, eventually, retire in a well-maintained community. But some millennials and Gen Zers are choosing to fast forward to retirement-style living.

Most retirement communities offer activities to keep residents active — yoga, golf, and water aerobics, to name a few — and younger generations don't want to wait to enjoy those perks. Pandemic-mandated lockdowns also helped popularize outdoor activities like golf and pickleball.

A few real-estate developers noted this preference for more vibrant and relaxed living spaces, adding resort-style amenities to their new apartment buildings and gated communities.

Take Brandon and Chelsea Lehmann, a young couple working in the electrical distribution industry. In 2019, they moved from the Bay Area to Bend, Oregon, a city three hours south of Portland known for its robust outdoor scene.

In 2023, they bought a lot to build a new home in Juniper Reserve, a members-only wellness resort in Bend with two 18-hole golf courses — one designed by retired pro player Jack Nicklaus — and a spa.

Residents of Juniper Reserve, which has more than 20 homes for sale ranging from $1.2 million to $3.5 million as of July 2024, also enjoy luxuries such as on-site casual dining restaurants and weekly "wellness programming."

They said their nearly 3,000-square-foot house — off the eighth-hole pond of one of the golf courses — will be finished in the next two years. The lot cost them $246,000, including a one-time membership fee of $115,000, which they can pay monthly at $1,200.

A membership allows the couple to take advantage of all there is to do even before their house is complete. After work and on weekends, Brandon, 29, told Business Insider, they golf and do yoga.

Chelsea, 28, said that while they're not the only young couple living in Juniper Reserve, most of their neighbors are in their 50s or 60s.

"Our neighbors, and the people we would be spending the most time around, would definitely be in the retirement age or semi-retirement," she told BI.

The Lehmans have embraced the opportunity to bond with their older neighbors, creating a multi-generational community.

"They do want some younger, fresher blood in there, and I think it's just been great for everyone," Chelsea said.

"It's not just retirement-age people that like all the amenities — us young people like to be taken care of, too," she added.

Having a golf course close to home is an attraction for some young people

Millennials are keeping the lights on at some golf-course companies, said Keith Poliakoff, a managing partner at a Florida law firm, Government Law Group, that has several golf-design firms as clients.

"When COVID happened, there was almost an overnight change that could be recognized as far as interest in golf occurred," Poliakoff told BI.

"We saw a huge uptick in the younger population that were looking to do a sport and to have something to do so that they were not cooped up in their homes the entire time," he added.

The National Golf Foundation (NGF) told Business Insider in an email that the 30 to 39 age group has the second-highest participation in the sport, with nearly 4.4 million golfers. Meanwhile, the 18 to 34 age group is the largest, with 6.3 million golfers. NGF estimated both age groups have added roughly 200,000 golfers each since 2019.

Kevin McDonald, a 44-year-old "cusper" (or a Gen Xer who sits right outside being a millennial), describes himself as a huge golfer.

In 2022, he and his wife, Kristie, 38, bought a property at Hualalai Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii after living just outside Toronto for most of their lives. The resort, which has a few homes starting at $7 million and condos starting at $2.5 million, has two golf courses, a spa, and on-site shopping and dining.

Their house started as a secondary home, but golf and other activities have them living in Hawaii for around five months out of the year with the hopes of living there full-time soon. The McDonalds said they wanted a home to suit their active lifestyles.

"We have so many friends who work until they're 65 and 70 — some choose to, and some have to," Kevin told BI. "But then you might not be young enough or active enough to take advantage of all those things like golf and tennis."

They don't mind that only a handful of other homeowners they've met or seen are their age.

"Everyone we talked to says we are the youngest couple at the property," Kevin said.

Real estate developers are responding to young people's shifting preferences

Some young people even live in places better known for welcoming retirees.

St. Petersburg, Florida, for example, is evolving to suit younger residents, said Nick Pantuliano, the head of development at real-estate firm PTM Partners. The firm mainly builds commercial and residential spaces in lower-income areas of Florida and beyond.

"St. Pete was regarded as a retirement community not that long ago," Pantuliano said. "My first introduction to St. Pete was the movie 'Cocoon.' All the shuffleboard scenes were filmed there. Now it's not older folks playing shuffleboard; it's all younger people playing."

Now PTM is intentionally planning projects that cater to younger audiences, Pantuliano added.

Plans for PTM's Edge Collective, a mixed-use development in downtown St. Petersburg, include a Moxy hotel with a rooftop pool and restaurant, a 7,000-square-foot communal garden, and 3,400 square feet dedicated to "health-focused retail," including the boutique fitness studio Solidcore.

"Doing outdoor in a creative way — so that you're never too far away from fresh air or some sunlight or some energy — is really important to us when we try to approach programming these projects," Pantuliano said.

Having intentional outdoor amenities seems to be paying off in places like Juniper Reserve. For Chelsea, a golf course community's "selling point" was simply the ability to enjoy nature.

"I could go either way on living on a golf course — it didn't really matter to me," she added. "But the idea that when the golf course is closed, then you have this great big space between you and your neighbors. It's empty, it's dark, and it's also pretty to look at. It's like living on parkland."

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• Costco offers its members unlimited returns on most items.
• The policy, unsurprisingly, has meant some people have donated particularly old or gross items.
• Despite some abusing the policy, it keeps on working for Costco.

A big perk of a Costco membership is the unlimited returns offered by the company.

Customers can return almost anything without a time limit. Certain exceptions, like electronic goods, have a 90-day cap, and diamonds must be returned within 48 hours. Meanwhile, cigarettes, alcohol, gold bars, and silver coins aren't eligible for return.

Aside from the handful of exceptions, customers have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

But it's a policy ripe that's for abuse.

The internet is awash with examples of people using the policy outside its original intention and returning particularly old and/or gross items.

Wildest returns

Earlier this year, a photo that appeared to show someone returning a TV from 2002 to a Costco store started to circulate on Reddit, and once again drew attention to Costco's liberal returns policy.

While the returns policy on electronic goods is now 90 days, until 2007, Costco members had an unlimited returns policy on electronic goods — excluding personal computers.

It's far from the only example of Costco returns.

A woman went viral on TikTok in January after she said that she successfully returned a 2.5-year-old couch to the store without a receipt.

Yuliana Martinez and Louis Orellana also previously told Business Insider that they got a full $200 refund on their two-year-old used Costco mattress.

It's up to the discretion of Costco store managers whether they accept a return — and many of them have their own stories to tell about the wildest returns.

Costco employees who have previously spoken to BI have shared that some customers have brought back "half-eaten food," that they said wasn't up to par.

Another Costco employee previously told BI that a woman had returned two dirty, five-year-old toilets to the warehouse.

Other retailers have cracked down on returns

It seems like a way to hemorrhage money to refund customers half-eaten food, or well-worn pieces of furniture, but Costco continues to offer the policy while others have abandoned it.

L.L. Bean used to offer a legendary lifetime returns policy but switched to a one-year return limit in 2018 after some customers abused it.

Even online retailers are cracking down on returns.

People have grown accustomed to using free shipping and no-cost returns to try on a range of different sizes and styles in the comfort of their own homes, at the retailer's expense. However, some have taken it to the extreme and have been barred from online shopping by various retailers for returning thousands of pounds of goods.

So why does Costco still offer the policy?

Costco's business model relies on maintaining customer loyalty, and unlimited returns help.

"I think it is one of the underpinnings of the company's success. Costco likes to go further for members, and this is one of the services that helps demonstrate that, " Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, told BI.

"Some people always abuse returns policies. However, most customers don't. And that's why the math stacks up for Costco," Saunders added.

Katherine Black, a partner at global strategy and management consulting firm Kearney, told BI that it also encourages customers to splash out on big-ticket items and make impulse purchases, knowing that they can return them.

Demonstrating trust in its members is a core part of maintaining customers' relationships with Costco. The club model "inspires loyalty, affinity, and accountability," Gina Logan, principal analyst at Kantar, told BI.

"By providing essentially infinite returns, it's keeping that promise to take care of its members, ensuring that they renew, and adding to the value of the upfront cost of the annual fee," she said.

Even the crazy returns themselves help to bolster Costco's brand.

"The viral posts and articles about outrageous returns don't do anything to hurt Costco. In fact, they just add to the legend," said Logan.

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The Olympics are here, which means that it's time for another summer of the world's best gymnastics. We've scoured the TV guides to highlight everything you need to know about where to watch Olympic gymnastics, including when you can expect to see Simone Biles compete.

Olympic gymnastics are divided into three official categories: artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline. The events are carried out at different times throughout the tournament, beginning with the qualification subdivisions and working up to the finals. Men's gymnastic events kick off on Saturday and run throughout the day, and the women's component of the tournament begins on Sunday.

Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all time, returns to the Olympic stage for the third time, with seven gold medals under her belt. She will make her first appearance at the Paris Olympics during the women's qualifying round on Sunday (in Subdivision 2 at around 5:40 a.m. ET). She's also expected to participate in the women's team, all-around, vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.

No matter where you are, we'll show you how to tune into Olympic gymnastics this year. For a full breakdown of the Olympics and specific events, you can check out our streaming guide on how to watch the Olympics.

• See also: Where to watch Olympic football | Where to watch Olympic handball | Where to watch Olympic rugby

Where to watch Olympic gymnastics in the US

The best way to see absolutely all parts of the Olympic gymnastic events in the United States is through Peacock. The streaming service, which costs $7.99 monthly, covers every event at this year's Olympics.

Olympic gymnastics will also be available through NBC and USA in the US, although this coverage will be slightly more selective. If you're a cord-cutter, you can still access these channels through a live TV streaming cable alternative like Sling TV or Fubo.

Sling TV will be the cheapest option, at $40 a month. Plus, new customers can usually get a slight discount on their first month. The Slign Blue plan carries NBC and USA, but local channels (like NBC) are only available in select regions, so you should look up your zip code before subscribing to make sure you can actually get the channels you want.

Fubo has extensive NBC and USA coverage around the country. At $79.99 a month, it's the more expensive option, but it comes with more than 180 channels. New users can try Fubo free for one week.

Where to watch Olympic gymnastics in the UK

Olympic gymnastics and the entirety of the 2024 Summer Olympics will be available to stream on Eurosport through Discovery+ in the UK. Subscriptions start at GBP3.99 a month. Select Olympic coverage will be available for free through BBC iPlayer, but gymnastics do not appear to be a part of this coverage in the coming days.

Where to watch Olympic gymnastics in Australia

9Now will carry lots of free Olympics coverage in Australia, and only account creation is required to use it. You can consult the TV guide to see if any gymnastics coverage is available on a day-to-day basis, but for full coverage of all gymnastics moments, you'll need to subscribe to Stan Sport. For Olympics coverage, you'll need to purchase the Stan Sport Add-on (for $15 a month) in addition to a Stan base plan (which starts at $12 a month, but the first 30 days are free).

Where to watch Olympic gymnastics in France

The French home of the Olympics is through France.TV. This free option only requires account creation to use. You can consult the TV guide to find gymnastics coverage.

How to watch Olympics gymnastics from anywhere

Fans who will be away at any point during the Olympics can still keep up with the above free streaming options using a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are useful devices for many reasons. Chief among the perks is that they allow individuals to temporarily alter the virtual location on their devices so that they can use all of their usual websites, no matter where they are in the world. They're often used by folks hoping to boost their privacy on the internet and keep up with their streaming apps while traveling.

ExpressVPN, an easy-to-use option, is our go-to VPN recommendation. Plus, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find that it's not what you're looking for. Our ExpressVPN review has full details, and you can see highlights of the service below.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

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• China's Xi stressed the primacy of the Communist Party over the military in a recent speech.
• An account of his speech may aim to show that Xi is in firm control despite recent purges.
• Xi has purged some military leaders and expressed concern about the military's readiness.

China's military is loyal and will faithfully execute the policies set down by the Communist Party. Or, at least that's what China is trying to convince the world.

In June, Chinese Leader Xi Jinping reminded the Central Military Commission — the country's top political-military body — that the military reports to the Communist Party. "Xi emphasized the need to uphold the Party's absolute leadership over the military and to build a high-quality cadre team that is loyal, clean, responsible, and capable of fulfilling the mission of strengthening the military," reported the state-controlled Global Times newspaper.

"Xi stressed that political work is always the lifeline of the country's military. The armed forces must always be led by those who are reliable and loyal to the Party, and there must be no place for corruption within the military," per Global Times, which often serves as a mouthpiece for China's hawks.

Xi's reminder comes after purges that have resulted in several senior People's Liberation Army officers being removed or jailed for corruption. But with China trying to project an image of military might, anything that hints of a split between the politicians and the generals is worrying.

"If I were Xi, I would be concerned about the perception that massive shakeups of the PLA may have led to the outside, particularly Western world, thinking that I am vulnerable and there is dissension between the PLA and the Party," Shanshan Mei, a political scientist at the RAND Corp., a US think tank, told Business Insider.

For years, Xi has been expressing concerns about China's military, his showpiece for the nationalism he's stirred in his unprecedented third term and his most kinetic instrument for seizing Taiwan, confronting the US and projecting Chinese power abroad. But for more than a decade, the PLA has been shaken by corruption scandals as he'd tried to rein in the corrupt businesses run by many officers, from bribes paid to top officers for promotions, to rocket fuel that turned out to be ordinary water. Most recently, the commander and the political commissar of the elite PLA Rocket Force — which controls nuclear missiles — were replaced by officers from other military branches.

Do Xi's latest warnings reflect a lack of faith in his military, or the prelude to more purges? "We don't know," Mei said. "Xi has doubts and he's been explicit about if his commanders at all levels are capable enough to command and lead for a very long time."

However, Mei pointed out that the article on Xi's speech in Global Times, which is an English-language publication, is different than what appears in official Chinese-language media. "Xi stresses PLA's political loyalty at crucial meeting held in old revolutionary base," read the Global Times headline.

But "all official Chinese websites use the standard story with less sensationalizing titles," said Mei. "If anything, this propaganda piece is more about projecting an image of unity of the CMC to the outside world than revealing weakness," she said, referring to the Central Military Commission that Xi chairs.

For democracies, the notion that a head of state would have to publicly remind a nation's armed forces to be loyal and obedient seems bizarre. But in many authoritarian nations, the military is both the guarantor of the regime's survival, and the lone force that can overthrow the government.

Thus in China — as in the former Soviet Union, from which China learned much — the Communist Party keeps a close eye on the military. Political commissars are assigned to military units, ships and submarines, where they share authority with the regular unit commander, with particular oversight over unit morale and political indoctrination.

But reconciling political control with military efficiency is a challenge. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Red Army commissars functioned as co-commanders in military units. After repeated disasters caused in part by confusion and paralysis over who was in charge, Stalin eventually agreed to subordinate the commissars to the regular commanders.

Xi, the son of a political commissar, believes that China's armed forces need more political motivation. During the June speech, he "analyzed the deep-seated problems that need to be addressed in military political work, emphasizing that a root cause of these problems lies in the lack of ideals and beliefs," Global Times said.

Beyond military corruption, Xi also is concerned about what he sees as decadence in Chinese society — especially among young people — which is undermining Chinese military power. In his mind, "younger PLA folks don't want to die for their motherland," said Mei. "They prefer video games, Korean boybands and quiet quitting."

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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The 2024 Summer Olympics are officially underway in Paris, and swimming kicks off today. All heats and medal competitions will take place in the first half of the Olympics, from July 27 to August 4. We'll show you everything you need to know about how to watch Olympic swimming, highlighting options from around the world.

The Olympic swimming schedule is absolutely packed, with multiple medal events each day through August 4. The days begin with early heats and conclude with finals. American Katie Ledecky returns for her fourth Olympics, where she's attempting to add to her impressive collection of seven Olympic gold medals.

Ledecky begins her Paris run on Saturday, July 26, at 5:24 a.m. ET in Heat 3 of the Women's 400m freestyle. If she qualifies again, she'll compete for the medal later that day at about 2:52 p.m. ET. She's slated to compete in the women's 1500 freestyle and the women's 800 freestyle. She'll also possibly participate in group relays.

Keep reading to learn how to watch swimming at the Olympics, including free streaming options. And don't forget to bookmark our Olympic streaming guide, which we'll keep updated throughout the coming weeks.

• See also: Where to watch Olympic football | Where to watch Olympic rugby | Where to watch Olympic handball

How to watch Olympic swimming in the US

Swimming, along with the rest of the Olympics, will be available through various NBCUniversal fixtures in the US. Peacock will be the most comprehensive option, featuring every single swimming heat and medal event. Subscriptions start at $7.99 a month.

NBC will be the main Olympics coverage channel in the US, with the USA network providing additional coverage. If you don't have cable, you can stream both through a live TV package like Sling TV or Fubo.

Sling TV's Sling Blue plan will be the cheapest option for you today. Local channel coverage, including NBC, varies from region to region, so you should look up your zip code before subscribing to ensure you can access the channel. Subscriptions cost $40 a month, but new users can usually shave a few dollars off their first month thanks to the service's frequent introductory offers.

Fubo has broad coverage of NBC and USA, in addition to more than 180 other channels. It's a bit more expensive, at $79.99 a month, but first-time customers can try the service free for one week.

How to watch Olympic swimming in the UK

Select Olympics coverage, including events like the swimming finals, is available for free through the BBC and BBC iPlayer in the UK. Viewers just need to create a login to use the service if they don't already have one. For complete Olympic coverage, including early heats, British fans must subscribe to Eurosport through Discovery+, where subscriptions start at GBP3.99 a month.

How to watch Olympic swimming in Australia

Olympic swimming coverage will be available for free on 9Now in Australia, and viewers just need to create a login to use it. While the coverage is fairly broad, Australian fans who want to see absolutely every part of the Olympics will need to subscribe to Stan Sport, which covers every single part of every event at the 2024 Olympics. A Stan base plan and the Stan Sport Add-on costs $27 a month in total, but new users can try the base plan free for 30 days (although they'll still need to pay $15 up-front for the Sport Add-on).

How to watch Olympic swimming in France

Olympic swimming will be available to watch and stream for free through France.TV in France. The service just requires account creation to use.

How to watch Olympic swimming from anywhere

If you'll be away from the above countries during any event and still want to access the free options, you can do so using a VPN (virtual private network). VPNs let users change their device's location on a temporary basis so that they can still use their usual websites from anywhere. These tools are often utilized by people hoping to upgrade their online security and keep up with their go-to apps while traveling.

We recommend ExpressVPN due to its beginner-friendly nature and 30-day money-back guarantee. Our ExpressVPN review covers everything you might want to know about the service.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

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• Henley & Partners reports a surge in Americans seeking secondary passports.
• Obtaining a secondary passport is complex and costly, with varying requirements by country.
• Applications require extensive paperwork and costs range from hundreds of thousands to over $1 million for couples, the firm said.

Global citizenship firm Henley & Partners has experienced a major uptick in Americans seeking secondary passports.

The increase started around the pandemic, but uncertainty over political tension and a rise in antisemitism have led application numbers to continually grow, a spokesperson for the firm told Business Insider.

While most people wouldn't decline a backup option in another country, the process of obtaining a secondary passport can be quite complicated — and expensive.

Business Insider spoke to Judi Galst, who manages Henley & Partners' New York office, about the general steps required to get a secondary passport.

The specific requirements vary by country, Galst said. Here's what you should keep in mind.

Finding the right place

Galst said it's important to consider how fast you need the passport.

If you're planning ahead for a retirement home, you might be OK with waiting a few years. But, for example, if you're concerned about the presidential election turnout, you might want a more immediate backup option.

"The Caribbean is going to be your fastest path," Galst said. "Right now, we usually see approvals in a country like Antigua somewhere between four to six months after we submit the application."

Other programs, like Portugal, have a backlog of applicants and could take up to two years.

Galst said another important consideration is the applicant's intention. Those looking for full access to country benefits and lifelong natural rights would want citizenship. If not, a residency could work. Residencies allow you to live in the country of residence up to 12 months a year. But it usually comes with conditions or requirements to maintain the residence and it has to be renewed.

Countries like Spain are slow for citizenship approval, but have a relatively quick path to residence through investment, Galst said. Applications for Spain residence by investment are approved in about 20 business days after submission, she said.

Lots and lots of paperwork

Galst said many programs will require that the client open a bank account in the country where they are applying for residence. You may also have to obtain a tax ID number, which can be a complex process, she said.

Clients may also need to provide FBI and police reports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, bank statements, a copy of Social Security cards, driver's licenses, passports, bank reference letters, professional reference letters, or resumes. The requirements vary depending on the country.

Galst said certain documents also require an apostille, which is a specific type of certification that permits a document created in one country to be used in another country.

Once you complete the paperwork, Galst said applicants sometimes have to provide medical records, do HIV testing, and go through an interview.

Be prepared to pay a high price

Galst programs generally have three categories of investments: real estate, financial instruments, and nonrefundable contributions.

To apply for a Portugal golden visa, one qualifying option is to make a nonrefundable contribution to an approved cultural organization, Galst said.

In the Caribbean, you can make a contribution toward funds the government designed to help invest in varying sectors, like infrastructure. Some Caribbean countries also allow you to qualify for citizenship by purchasing real estate, Galst said.

Galst said the cost range also varies depending on different countries. The Caribbean has the lowest cost, and it requires a $200,000 contribution or $300,000 investment in real estate per application.

"Whether a dependent child can be included is going to vary depending upon are they in full time school, what their age is, what the age cutoff is for the program," Galst explained.

Galst said a popular but pricey option is Malta's Citizenship by Naturalisation by direct investment, which requires a 750,000 Euro nonrefundable contribution to the Maltese economy. Applicants must pay 50,000 Euros for each qualifying dependent, lease or purchase a property in Malta for about six years, and donate 10,000 Euros to a Maltese charity.

"So a couple can be at a million plus," Galst said.

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• Carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower recently returned home after a deployment for the history books.
• The aircraft carrier sailed on the front lines of the Red Sea fight against Houthi attacks.
• Photos show the Ike's twice-extended deployment in the Middle East.

A US Navy carrier and its strike group returned home earlier this month after a grueling nine months fighting Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

During the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower's twice-extended deployment, the carrier bore the brunt of the fight in the Red Sea as its air wing and destroyer squadron fended off relentless Houthi attacks and struck inside Yemen, in the process notching some firsts in warfare.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, left the Middle East on June 22 and returned to its homeport at Naval Station Norfolk on July 14. The Red Sea fight has attested to the combat power of carrier strike groups while still increasing strain on a fleet that can't fight this way forever.

USS Theodore Roosevelt, also a Nimitz-class carrier, is en route to replace the Ike Carrier Strike Group in the fight against the Houthis.

Photos captured operations on and off the storied aircraft carrier during its historic nine months at sea.

Virginia, USA

A week after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, the Pentagon deployed the Ike and its strike group as a show of power and support for Israel.

Alongside the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, the Ike Carrier Strike Group was the second one sent to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to deter escalation in the Israel-Hamas war.

The crew aboard the Ike manned the rails as it departed its homeport of Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia on October 13, 2023.

Mediterranean Sea

While transiting the Mediterranean in early November, the Ike participated in a photo flyby with the Ford and other warships, including Italian frigates, operating in the region in a "show of force" in the eastern Mediterranean.

Gulf of Aden

While the Ike was initially deployed to the eastern Mediterranean as a show of force against Hamas, the Pentagon later shifted the carrier's focus to defending key shipping lanes and international vessels from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen.

Gulf of Oman

In November, the Ike briefly moored in the Port of Duqm, Oman, for a three-day visit — one of the few port calls the carrier made throughout its monthslong deployment.

Thanks to supporting vessels in its strike group, including the replenishment oiler USNS Kanawha, the dry cargo ship USNS Alan Shepard, and the fast combat ship USNS Supply, the Ike was able to sustain itself for long stretches of time with minimal port calls.

Persian Gulf

In late November, the Eisenhower and its escorts entered the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first time a Navy carrier had been present in the maritime flash point since carrier USS Nimitz in 2021.

While it was "conducting routine flight operations" in the Persian Gulf, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, then-commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, said an enemy drone flew dangerously close to the carrier.

No injuries or damages were reported in the November 2023 incident.

Cooper said the unmanned aerial vehicle, which was "visually identified as Iranian," came as close as 1,500 yards to the Ike, violating safety precautions directing drones to stay at least 10 nautical miles away from the vessel.

"This unsafe, unprofessional, and irresponsible behavior by Iran risks US and partner nation lives and needs to cease immediately," NAVCENT said in a statement at the time.

Southern Red Sea

But the near-brush with the Iranian UAV was the first of many encounters the Ike and its fellow warships would have with Houthi drones and missiles as 2023 came to a close.

The destroyers USS Laboon, Mason, and Gravely, all of which deployed with the Ike, defended and assisted several commercial ships targeted by the Houthis.

The Navy destroyers collectively took out dozens of drones, as well as multiple land attack and anti-ship ballistic missiles, launched by the Houthis.

During the last weekend of December, the Ike and destroyers Laboon and Gravely responded to a distress call from MV Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-registered, Danish-owned cargo ship that came under fire from Houthi rebels in the southern Red Sea.

USS Gravely shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles, while Navy helicopters embarked on the Eisenhower "returned fire in self-defense" as Houthi militants attempted to board and seize the commercial vessel, CENTCOM said in a statement at the time.

The Gravely and helicopter squadron sunk three Houthi small boats and killed 10 crewmembers — the first time the US Navy killed Houthi fighters since the Red Sea conflict began.

Red Sea

As the conflict in the Red Sea continued to escalate into the new year, F/A-18 fighter jets aboard the Ike supported the Navy destroyer squadron and the British warship HMS Diamond after Houthi rebels launched "complex" airstrikes on ships in the Red Sea.

Two cruise missiles, one ballistic missile, and 18 Iranian drones were shot down in the combined effort that took place in early January, which was seen as a final warning to the Houthis to stop threatening international shipping vessels.

Cmdr. Benjamin Orloff, commanding officer of the Rampagers, an F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter squadron attached to the Ike, said the operations in the Red Sea required an "incredible amount" of collaboration, innovation, and ingenuity to "come up with new tactics, to tweak systems that we already have, in order to optimize our employments."

"We developed an awful lot from this fight that I think has an incredible amount of applicability to current and future conflicts around the globe," Orloff told USNI News.

Strikes inside Yemen

The US and UK launched a series of retaliatory airstrikes against the Houthi militants in mid-January.

Armed forces led by the US and UK, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, used more than 100 precision-guided munitions on more than 60 Houthi targets in Yemen.

A little over a week following the intense multinational strikes, the US continued to pummel Houthi targets, including an underground storage site and key missile and air surveillance locations.

Capt. Marvin Scott, commander of Ike's Carrier Air Wing 3, acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the Ike operating at the front lines in the Red Sea.

"It was something we really haven't seen — for a carrier strike group to be close to that kind of fight — really since World War II," Scott said earlier this month, referring to the high-tempo combat environment that took place in the Pacific theater.

"We responded precisely, violently to degrade their capability, destroying their methods to wage war — essentially, their one-way attack UAVs, their anti-ship ballistic missiles, their anti-ship cruise missiles," he added. "That's what we've been targeting to get them to stop targeting merchant vessels and the Red Sea."

Souda Bay, Greece

In late April, the Eisenhower traveled back to the eastern Mediterranean and moored at US Naval Support Activity Souda Bay in Greece for four days to refuel, resupply, and rearm after more than 150 consecutive days at sea.

Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, commander of Carrier Strike Group 2, said the long-awaited port visit was "well-deserved."

"The sailors of Carrier Strike Group 2 have worked tirelessly for six months straight to keep us operating on station in the most challenging, dynamic combat environment the Navy has seen in decades," Miguez said in a statement.

Though the carrier strike group was nearing the end of its scheduled seven-month deployment — the standard duration for US carriers — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin extended their operations in the Red Sea as the conflict showed little signs of slowing down.

Northern Red Sea

The Ike and its accompanying destroyers continued to operate in the northern Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia. The group participated in a photo exercise with Italian navy vessels, including aircraft carrier Cavour and guided missile frigate ITS Alpino, as well as French anti-air frigate Forbin.

En route to the Mediterranean

In mid-June, the Ike also hosted a change-of-command ceremony.

Rear Adm. Kavon Hakimzadeh, who previously commanded the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, relieved Rear Adm. Miguez as commander of CSG-2.

"Words cannot express how honored I am to have served among these battle force warriors," Miguez said during the ceremony, adding that the Ike strike group delivered "decisive combat power to preserve freedom of the seas."

The battle's tally

Austin announced that the Ike strike group would stay in the Red Sea for a little while longer after extending their deployment for a second time in June, underscoring their critical role in deterrence efforts.

After nearly nine months of battling the Houthis in the Middle East, a Navy tally released in mid-July reported that the Eisenhower and its attached warships and aircraft fired nearly 800 munitions, including Standard Missile interceptors, Tomahawk strike missiles, air-to-air missiles, and air-to-surface weapons.

The Ike CSG's aircraft logged more than 27,000 flight hours over 12,000 sorties, according to Lt. Cmdr. Lauren Chatmas, a Navy public affairs officer.

A few weeks after the deployment extension, the Pentagon deployed the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group to the Middle East.

The carrier and its cruiser returned to Souda Bay for another brief port visit in preparation for the long journey home. The destroyers in the strike group were initially set to remain in the US 5th Fleet, USNI News reported, but have since returned to their respective homeports at Naval Station Norfolk and Mayport.

Ionian Sea

In late June, the Eisenhower briefly operated in the the US European Command area of responsibility, where the carrier participated in the final photo flyby of its deployment.

Virginia, USA

After 275 days at sea, USS Eisenhower returned to its homeport following its historic, twice-extended deployment.

Sailors and crew aboard the Ike came back to a tearful homecoming, reuniting with their loved ones after enduring nine months of intense combat.

President Joe Biden addressed sailors over the intercom, commending the ship's crew for their service.

"You're part of the greatest navy — this is not hyperbole — the greatest navy any nation has ever, ever put to sea," Biden said. "That's a fact."

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With so many sports events happening right now in Paris, it can be hard to track down the specific ones you want. That's why we've put together everything you need to know about where to watch free Olympics tennis live streams. Wherever you are in the world, we can help you tune in.

Rafa Nadal is the payer on everyone's minds this year, as this might end up being the last event for the iconic player. He's currently planning on playing in the singles tournament on Sunday and is also pairing up with one Carlos Alcaraz first in the doubles. If that's not enough for you, you don't like tennis.

Andy Murray has confirmed this will be his final tournament, and he recently pulled out of the singles to concentrate on his doubles partnership with Dan Evans. Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Jasmine Paolini, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and Naomi Osaka are all vying for Olympic glory, too, in a star-studded schedule. Notable players not competing include Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalanka, Ons Jabeur, Elena Rybakina, and Emma Raducanu.

The Olympics is being streamed for free in various countries around the world. If you want a piece of the action gratis, too, we can help you bypass geo-blocks that would usually stop overseas viewers from accessing the free Olympics tennis live streams. A VPN (virtual private network) changes the digital location of your viewing device (phone, laptop, Fire TV Stick, etc) to a country of your choosing, unlocking the international options from the box below, along with a range of other international streaming options.

• See also: How to watch every Olympic event free | Free Love Island UK live stream | Free Olympics rugby live stream

How to watch a free Olympics tennis live stream from anywhere

If you're not currently in one of the countries mentioned above and are struggling to find a decent option locally, you can use a VPN to temporarily change your viewing device's location to act as if you were located elsewhere. VPNs are an essential tool for any sports fan nowadays, as shown in our vast collection of streaming guides. They're not just great for streaming, as they protect your digital privacy online on all your devices at home and, more importantly, on vulnerable public WiFi.

If you fancy taking one for a spin, I recommend ExpressVPN. It's an efficient, user-friendly option that I've been using for years, and it has a 30-day money-back guarantee policy. You can find full details in our ExpressVPN review.

How to watch Olympics tennis with a VPN

• Sign up for a VPN if you don't have one.
• Install it on the device you're using to watch the tennis.
• Turn it on and set it to an Australian location.
• Go to 9Now.
• Create a free account.
• Watch Olympics tennis online.

How to watch Olympics tennis in the USA

The best, and by far the cheapest, option to watch Olympic tennis in the USA is Peacock. The streaming service is covering the entire Olympics and you can enjoy it all for just $7.99. This is for a rolling one-month plan that you're under no obligation to keep once the Olympics end on August 11. With a strong selection of on-demand content to watch, you might end up keeping it for a while longer, though.

We'd only stump up for the ad-free $13.99 tier if you're going to dive into the on-demand content, as ads still show on live sports coverage. So you're not missing out on any additional coverage or panelist discussion if you get the cheapest option - we've tested both this week to make sure.

Some Olympic coverage will also be broadcast on TV via NBC and the USA Network, but only for select events. If you don't mind missing some of the action and want a more comprehensive cable alternative, you can try a live TV package like Sling or Fubo.

Sling is $40 a month (but the first month is reduced to $15 at the moment) and offers NBC ( in select regions) and USA Network (in all regions) through its Sling Blue subscription. Fubo is $79.99 a month and offers comprehensive NBC and USA Network coverage. It's pricey, but you can also enjoy a one-week free trial.

Where to watch Olympics tennis in the UK

The UK's BBC will show select Olympics tennis events for free via the BBC iPlayer. This option covers a great deal of the major Olympic events, making it one of the best free options around the world. Better yet, it has zero ads. Just create a free account, and you're all set. If you're not in the UK right now and looking for a VPN-compatible option, the UK is a great pick.

For more comprehensive tennis coverage, if you find a specific match isn't being covered by the BBC, you'll be able to see it on Eurosport, which is only GBP3.99 a month during the Olympics.

Where to watch Olympics tennis in Australia

Vast amounts of Olympic coverage will be available to live stream on 9Now in Australia, a free option you can access after creating a free account. Select tennis matches will be included in this coverage. To watch absolutely every part of the Olympics and every round of tennis in Australia, fans can subscribe to Stan Sport for $27 a month ($12 for Stan's base subscription and $15 for the necessary Sport Add-on).

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

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• The FBI confirmed on Friday that Donald Trump's ear was hit by a bullet or a bullet fragment.
• The FBI's director previously said there's "some question" whether Trump was hit by a bullet or shrapnel.
• A firearms expert told BI that a bullet or shrapnel would have done a similar amount of damage.

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump earlier this month, the former president said in a post on his Truth Social platform that he was "shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear."

The FBI confirmed Trump's assertions Friday evening, saying that the shooter who aimed his rifle at the former president had indeed hit his ear.

"What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject's rifle," the FBI said in a Friday statement, per multiple news outlets.

Prior to Friday, FBI Director Christopher Wray cast some doubt when he said before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee that it was not clear whether Trump was struck by a bullet or shrapnel at Trump's July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

"I think, with respect to former President Trump, there's some question about whether or not it's a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear," Wray said on Wednesday.

His comment was in response to a question from the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who asked where the eight shots fired by gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks went.

Wray added, "So it's conceivable, although as I sit here right now I don't know whether that bullet, in addition to, you know, causing the grazing, could have also landed somewhere else. But I believe we've accounted for all of the shots in the cartridges."

Jordan followed up, "It's my understanding that the very first one was the one that hit the president. The very first shot. Or is that not accurate?"

"As I sit here right now, I don't know the answer to that. I believe we know the answer to that. I just don't have it in front of me," Wray responded.

The gunman — who was shot dead by the Secret Service —opened fire from a rooftop just minutes into Trump's July 13 rally, leaving the former president's ear bloodied, one attendee dead, and two others injured.

When asked for comment Thursday regarding Wray's testimony about there being a question of whether Trump was hit by a bullet or shrapnel, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Business Insider: "Anyone who believes this conspiracy bullshit is either mentally deficient or willfully peddling falsehoods for political reasons."

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, appointed Wray as FBI director in 2017.

The FBI told BI in a statement that since the day of the attack the agency "has been consistent and clear that the shooting was an attempted assassination of former President Trump which resulted in his injury, as well as the death of a heroic father and the injuries of several other victims."

"FBI Director Wray provided extensive congressional testimony on Wednesday about the FBI's investigation. This was a heinous attack and the FBI is devoting enormous resources to learn everything possible about the shooter and what led to his act of violence. The FBI's Shooting Reconstruction Team continues to examine evidence from the scene, including bullet fragments, and the investigation remains ongoing," the agency said.

Meanwhile, firearms expert Peter Diaczuk told BI that whether a bullet or shrapnel struck Trump, both would have done a similar amount of damage to his ear and that the former president would not have known the difference.

"They're both going to rip the ear apart. They're both passing by at a relatively high rate of speed," said Diaczuk, a professor of forensic science at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Additionally, Diaczuk told BI that it's most likely that it was, in fact, a bullet that hit Trump's ear instead of shrapnel.

In order for a bullet to break up and cause a fragment, "it's got to hit something substantial to disrupt its integrity," Diaczuk explained.

"And from what I saw — clearly, I don't have as much information as people who have been to the scene looking at things — but from what I saw the day of and the day after, was that it was a clear line of sight between the sniper's nest and the podium," said Diaczuk. "And if that's the case, then there's nothing to cause the breakup of a bullet."

"I don't see any indication of an intervening object to cause the bullet to fragment," he said.

Republican Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, who served as Trump's White House doctor, said in a previously released note that the former president "sustained a gunshot wound" that caused "significant bleeding" and "marked swelling" of his entire upper ear.

"The bullet passed, coming less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head, and struck the top of his right ear," the memo read. "The bullet track produced a 2 cm wide wound that extended down from the cartilaginous surface of the ear."

Update July 26, 2024: This story was updated to include a statement from the FBI that a "bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces," hit Trump's ear.

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• Amid a lackluster earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he plans to make Dojo compete with Nvidia.
• But his fledgling supercomputer has a long way to go before competing with the chip-producing giant.
• It's not the first time Musk has made an extremely optimistic promise about what his tech can do.

Elon Musk made another big promise this week during a lackluster earnings report that sent Tesla stock tumbling more than 7% before he logged off the call and didn't recover all week.

The Tesla CEO said the company will "double down" on developing its Dojo supercomputer, in hopes of competing with the chip-producing giant Nvidia.

"We do see a path to being competitive with Nvidia with Dojo," Musk told investors and analysts during Tuesday's call. "And I think we kind of have no choice because the demand for Nvidia is so high, and it's obviously their obligation essentially to raise the price of GPUs to whatever the market will bear, which is very high. So I think we've really got to make Dojo work, and we will."

It's not the first time Musk has made a grandiose promise about what his tech could do without certainty he'd reach his desired outcome — and it's not clear he'll be able to follow through with this one, either.

Musk first mentioned Dojo, the supercomputer designed to improve Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, in 2019. While the company has invested heavily in the ultra-powerful training computer and associated hardware, analysts agree Dojo doesn't yet compare to Nvidia.

The most bullish investors, like Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, see Tesla as just starting the next chapter in its "growth story" via its investments in AI. Though Musk has big goals for advancement in AI technology, Ives predicted in a recent company report for Tesla that "that vision is on the doorstep."

Nvidia, which was founded in 1993, has market dominance with a $2.78 trillion market cap — and its GPUs are in such high demand (from clients including Musk's Tesla and xAI) that the CEO Jensen Huang has had to assure analysts that the company is allocating them fairly.

Roey Kosover, director of the investment fund FinYX Fund SPC, told Investing.com that shareholders have benefited tremendously from Musk's businesses, but "some of his assertions are not always accurate." Dojo, he estimated, has a capability roughly 10 years behind Nvidia's current power and Nvidia has an "incredible record of continuing to evolve and expand."

"So perhaps his recent claim that Tesla's Dojo would rival Nvidia shouldn't necessarily be taken at face value," Kosover told the outlet, adding: "Where Nvidia is now is not where they will be in the future, if and when Dojo has the capability to do that."

Representatives for Tesla and Nvidia did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

When addressing questions about continued delays to Tesla's Robotaxi project, Musk acknowledged during the Tuesday call that his predictions "have been overly optimistic in the past."

With his various business ventures, Musk has made massive strides in turning EVs into a status symbol, bringing forth innovations in space exploration with his reusable rockets and low Earth orbit satellites with Starlink. But while the billionaire has big dreams to innovate across industries, he's been off with his timeline — when his ideas make it to market at all.

Musk, in 2016, promised Teslas would have fully functional FSD technology within two years. In 2019, he predicted regulatory approval for his still-yet-to-be-revealed Robotaxi project would take about a year. He estimated in 2014 SpaceX would take people to Mars by 2024. The startup that tried to bring Musk's 2013 Hyperloop idea to life shut down last year.

For now, it remains unclear if Musk's planned competition with Nvidia will meet the same fate.

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• A NASA official said SpaceX's Crew Dragon is the "backup option" to bring home two astronauts in limbo.
• Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore flew to the space station aboard Boeing's Starliner but got stuck.
• NASA and Boeing are troubleshooting and trying to bring them back on the glitchy Starliner spaceship.

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck on the International Space Station for nearly two months due to thruster issues and helium leaking on Boeing's Starliner spaceship.

It's looking more and more like SpaceX may have to step in and bring them home. The company's Crew Dragon spaceship has been successfully flying astronauts to and from the ISS for years.

"We have two different systems that we're flying," Steve Stich, the manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said in a press briefing on Thursday. He was referring to the Boeing Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon.

"Obviously, the backup option is to use a different system," Stich added. "I would rather not go into all those details until we get to that time, if we ever get to that time."

SpaceX got astronauts to space a lot faster than Boeing

The Commercial Crew Program funded SpaceX and Boeing to develop their respective spaceships into reliable astronaut vehicles for NASA.

SpaceX did it much faster and cheaper. Crew Dragon completed its first astronaut flight in 2020. Starliner is fumbling its own first astronaut flight right now.

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, even posted about the disparity on the day of Williams' and Wilmore's launch.

"Too many non-technical managers at Boeing," he wrote on X.

How long Boeing's astronaut crew has been stuck

When the astronauts arrived aboard Boeing's Starliner spaceship on June 6, they were supposed to stay on the space station for about eight days.

Their mission is a test flight, after all, and they are the spaceship's first crew. The point was just to fly there, leave the spaceship docked to the station for a week for testing, and return to Earth, proving Starliner was up to the job.

"We kept saying 'eight-day minimum mission.' I think we all knew that it was going to go longer than that. We didn't spend a lot of time talking about how much longer," Mark Nappi, the vice president and program manager of Commercial Crew Program efforts at Boeing, said in the briefing on Thursday.

"It's my regret that we didn't just say, 'We're going to stay up there until we get everything done that we want to go do,'" Nappi said.

NASA had pre-ordained a maximum of 45 days for Starliner's stay, based on how its batteries might perform in space.

As of Friday, the astronauts and their spaceship had been on the station for 51 days.

Now NASA says Williams and Wilmore might stay there until mid-August while Boeing's troubleshooting continues. The agency has extended the 45-day battery waiver to 90 days.

"We don't have a major announcement today relative to a return date. We're making great progress, but we're just not quite ready to do that," Stich said in the briefing.

NASA's plan to bring the astronauts home

It was the second press conference in about a week where NASA announced there was still no return date.

That's because the agency is testing a spare Starliner thruster at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico and hasn't finished yet. Engineers have been replicating the thruster issues that developed while Williams' and Wilmore's ship was on its way to the space station.

The next step is replicating the return journey, Stitch said, to see if Starliner's thrusters could safely bring the astronauts home.

"NASA always has contingency options. We know a little bit of what those are, and we haven't worked on them a whole bunch, but we kind of know what those are," Stich said. "But right now we're really focused on bringing Butch and Suni home on Starliner."

In the meantime, both NASA and Boeing have repeatedly said, Williams and Wilmore are safe.

"Someday Starliner could be a backup to a Dragon mission," Stich added.

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Handball is among the handful of Olympic sports to kick off early, with the women's portion of the tournament beginning ahead of the official Olympic start date. We'll show you everything you need to know about where to watch Olympic handball, including free streaming options.

Since debuting at the Olympics in 1936 and becoming a regular fixture in 1972, handball has slowly gained traction at the Summer Olympics. The Tokyo Olympics saw France dominate the sport, with both the men's and women's teams returning home with gold medals. For the women's competition, the ROC won silver, and Norway won bronze. For the men's portion of the tournament, Denmark won silver, and Spain won bronze.

So far, in the women's handball portion of the competition, Sweden, France, South Korea, Brazil, Netherlands, and Denmark have all won one game. Norway, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Angola, and Slovenia have all been on the losing side. The men's part of the tournament kicks off on Saturday, and the next games in the women's preliminary round continue on Sunday.

No matter who you're rooting for, we'll show you how to keep up with handball at the 2024 Olympics. And make sure to bookmark our Olympics streaming guide for additional info and notable daily events.

• See also: Where to watch Olympic football | How to watch WNBA | Where to watch MotoGP

Where to watch Olympic handball in the US

American fans' best bet to see every single handball match is through Peacock in the US. The streaming service is one of the most comprehensive hubs for all things 2024 Olympics. Subscriptions start at $7.99 a month.

People seeking out a live TV option beyond just the Olympics (who don't mind missing some matches) can follow select handball matches and Olympic events through NBC and USA broadcasts in the US. For example, women's Slovenia vs. Denmark, Netherlands vs. Angola, and Hungary vs. France will all air live on USA on July 25. If you don't have cable, you can access these channels through live TV packages like Sling TV and Fubo.

The Sling Blue plan carries NBC ( in select regions) and USA (in all regions). A subscription includes access to over 40 channels, including FS1, FX, and the new USA 4K for top-tier Olympic viewing. Plans start at $40 a month, but new users can get their first month for just $15 right now. Fubo offers more than 180 channels, including broad NBC and USA coverage. Subscriptions start at $79.99 a month, but new users can try the service free for one week.

Where to watch Olympic handball in the UK

In the UK, select Olympic coverage is available for free through the BBC and BBC iPlayer. For comprehensive coverage, viewers will need to subscribe to Eurosport through Discovery+, with subscriptions starting at GBP3.99. While later handball matches might be available through BBC, early coverage will only be found on Eurospot.

Where to watch Olympic handball in France

France.TV is the streaming home of the Olympics in France, and the host country's coverage is impressive. The service is free to use, and viewers just need to create a free account to sign up. If you're not in France right now, you can access the channel via a VPN.

Where to watch Olympic handball in Australia

9Now is the free Olympic streaming home in Australia. The service only requires account creation to use. Australia's handball team doesn't usually qualify for the Olympics, so there's not a ton of coverage of early handball matches, but later stages will most likely be available here. Stan Sport has full handball (and every other Olympic sport) coverage in Australia, for $27 a month (a $12 base subscription and a $15 Sport Add-on price).

How to watch Olympic handball from anywhere

Handballs fans who will be away from the above countries during matches can keep up with the free streaming options using a VPN. VPNs, short for virtual private networks, enable people to temporarily alter their device's virtual location so they can keep up with their usual websites from anywhere. They're often used by those looking to add an extra layer of online privacy or hoping to access their usual apps while traveling.

Our go-to recommendation for the VPN-curious is ExpressVPN, a straightforward and user-friendly option with a 30-day money-back guarantee policy. You can find all the details in our ExpressVPN review, and see below for highlights.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

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• NASA's Perseverance rover has found potential evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars.
• Scientists must bring the rock to Earth for further study, but three key features make it promising.
• The discovery is a crucial win for NASA after a series of budget cuts and mission setbacks.

NASA has snagged a chunk of rock on Mars that could someday prove to be the first clear evidence of alien life.

To be clear, NASA is not declaring that it's discovered Martian life. Rather, its Perseverance rover has drilled a sample from a rock with attributes that could have come from ancient microbial activity, the agency announced Thursday.

To confirm their suspicions, scientists would need to bring the rock sample to Earth and study it in more detail.

"This is exactly the kind of sample that we wanted to find," Katie Stack Morgan, a lead scientist on the Perseverance mission, told Business Insider.

3 key features could point to alien life

The rock, nicknamed Cheyava Falls, has three critical features:

• First, white veins of calcium sulfate are clear evidence that water once ran through it.
• Second, the rock tested positive for organic compounds, which are the carbon-based building blocks of life, as we know it.
• Third, it's speckled with tiny "leopard spots" that point to chemical reactions that are associated with microbial life here on Earth.

However, both the organic material and the leopard spots could have come from non-biological processes. That's why scientists need to study the sample more closely on Earth to know for sure.

The rover has reached the limit of what it can learn about the rock.

"We're not saying there's life on Mars, but we're seeing something that is compelling as a potential biosignature," Stack Morgan said.

A biosignature is any feature that points to the presence of life.

"This is a very significant discovery," she added.

It's a much-needed win for the space agency. In recent months, NASA has taken hit after hit from budget limitations and technical errors across missions.

NASA needs this win

Earlier this year, the agency's first attempt to return to the moon since 1972 failed. The NASA-funded Peregrine moon mission, by the company Astrobotic suffered a fuel leak shortly after launch, forcing it to return to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. (The next attempt, a mission by the company Intuitive Machines, also funded by NASA, successfully landed on the moon.)

Then, new budgeting decisions came down. NASA's budget proposal for 2025 effectively defunds the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which is still a highly productive and functional mission.

And just last week, NASA officials announced they were scrapping the VIPER moon rover that the agency has already spent $450 million to build. NASA plans to disassemble it and reuse some of the parts for future moon missions.

Meanwhile, two astronauts have been stuck on the International Space Station for 51 days because the NASA-funded Boeing spaceship that carried them there is leaking helium and having thruster malfunctions.

Even Perseverance wasn't spared. In April, NASA announced it was canceling its $11 billion plan to send a follow-up mission, called Mars Sample Return, to collect the rover's tubes of Martian rock and carry them back to Earth. That was the plan that could've brought scientists the Cheyava Falls rock sample.

Instead, NASA is asking companies to step in and propose their own cheaper, faster versions of the mission.

The Cheyava Falls rock especially needs the extra studying.

"This rock is also one of the most complex rocks we've seen on the surface of Mars. There is a lot going on in this rock," Stack Morgan said.

Is it aliens? Check the CoLD scale

For now, this discovery is just a "step one" on the seven-step "confidence of life detection" (CoLD) scale.

The CoLD scale is a rough rating of scientific confidence in any potential alien-life discovery.

"We've taken us up to the start of that scale, and I think that's what the rover was sent to Mars to do," Stack Morgan said.

A possible biosignature can climb to higher levels of confidence as evidence builds. For example, if scientists can confirm that known non-biological processes didn't create the leopard spots, the Cheyava Falls rock might ascend to step two or three.

But they need to get the sample to Earth first. And NASA needs to figure out how to do that.

"We're hoping that our most recent sample can play into the conversation about whether this effort is worth it," Stack Morgan said. "And we believe that it is."

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• The 2024 Paris Games kicked off with an impressive opening ceremony.
• There were several allusions to famous French works of art, including "Les Miserables."
• The bells of Notre-Dame were rung for the first time since the destructive fire in 2019.

The 2024 Olympics are being held in Paris this year, kicking off with Friday's opening ceremony.

The final budget for this year's Games is set to come in under $10 billion, which is only 25% more than the city's initial number. And nothing shows off the production value of the Summer Games quite like the opening ceremony.

From incredible performances to a parade of boats, here's what you may have missed during the opening ceremony.

The ceremony opened with a reference to the French Revolution.

The first section of the ceremony after the opening performance was titled "Ca ira."

The phrase, which was also the title of a popular song during the French Revolution, roughly translates to, "It will be OK."

The parade of nations took place right on the River Seine.

Instead of walking into the arena, athletes from each country paraded down the Seine on boats of all shapes and sizes. Some countries shared vessels, and others appeared on smaller boats.

The Seine has been a major character in these Olympics so far. Even though swimming in the river has been illegal for the public for about 100 years, Olympians from several water sports are meant to compete in it throughout the 2024 Paris Games.

Paris put over $1 billion into cleaning the river for the events, but there are still concerns about E. coli levels. It's unclear which (if any) events will actually be able to happen in the river.

Lady Gaga paid tribute to an iconic French performance style.

Lady Gaga — surrounded by dancers holding pink feathers — was the first entertainer to perform at the opening ceremony.

She sang "Mon Truc en Plumes," a cabaret song made famous by French ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire.

Jeanmaire debuted the song wearing a black outfit while dancing with men holding pink feathers, making Lady Gaga's performance a fitting tribute.

Simone Biles wasn't at the opening ceremony, but her family was.

American gymnast Biles was not at the opening ceremony. Her events start on Sunday, and it's common for athletes competing in the opening weekend to skip the long ceremony day.

But Snoop Dogg interviewed her family, who were watching the parade of nations from the banks of the Seine.

Louis Vuitton cases will be featured throughout the Games.

Part of the performance honored the legendary French fashion house Louis Vuitton with a routine centered on extra-large cases on luggage carts.

Later in the Games, the medals will be handed out in (much smaller) Louis Vuitton cases.

Each one of this year's Olympic medals contains a sliver of the Eiffel Tower.

The Monnaie de Paris made the medals for this year's Olympics, and each one contains a sliver of the Eiffel Tower.

Michael Phelps and Martin Fourcade made a somewhat strange cameo.

US swimmer Phelps holds the record for the most Olympic medals in history, and Fourcade is the most successful French Olympian.

Although it's not surprising that they were present at the opening ceremony, it was a little odd that they were just briefly shown standing next to the water in the midst of a dance performance.

The bells of Notre Dame rang for the first time since 2019.

Paris' famous Notre-Dame experienced a devastating fire in 2019. During the opening ceremony, the iconic cathedral's bells rang for the first time since then.

Earlier in the ceremony, dancers dressed in construction gear performed around the scaffolded cathedral to highlight the reconstruction. The repairs are set to be completed by the end of the year.

Performers recreated an iconic scene from "Les Miserables."

The "Liberte" section of the opening ceremony opened with a hommage to the musical "Les Miserables."

Dancers performed around a barricade in the center of a stage as the masked torchbearer made their way through the theater.

Marie Antoinette, complete with a severed head, opened up a heavy-metal performance.

A performer dressed like Marie Antoinette (after her head was severed) sang the opening lines of a heavy-metal musical performance during the ceremony.

The ceremony almost got a little NSFW.

Part of the performance played into Paris' romantic reputation by featuring diverse couples and unique performances.

Scenes set in a library were intercut with the live performances of dancers suspended in the air above the bridge. The dancers gracefully (and safely) fell from suspended heights during the routine as it began raining heavily.

Affectionate moments and kisses were shown between various couples, including a trio that entered a bedroom together (possibly representing a polyamorous relationship).

All 58 of Ethiopia’s Olympic medals are for track and field.

As the Ethiopia delegates and athletes sailed down the Seine, the US hosts on the NBC broadcast highlighted the team's unique Olympic record.

All 58 of the country's medals have been won for track and field events.

The Statue of Liberty made an appearance.

During an animated segment of the show, the torchbearer flew in a hot air balloon past a number of recognizable figures, including the titular character from the famous French novella "The Little Prince" and the Statue of Liberty.

The French famously gifted Lady Liberty to the US in the late 1800s, and a smaller version of the statue sits in Paris.

Statues of women appeared on the Seine during the “Equalite” section.

During the section of the ceremony celebrating equality, statues of significant women in French history rose from the Seine in an hommage to the gender disparity of statues in Paris.

The women featured were Olympe de Gouges, Alice Milliat, Gisele Halimi, Simone de Beauvoir, Paulette Nardal, Jeanne Barret, Louise Michel, Christine de Pizan, Alice Guy and Simone Veil.

After the ceremony, the statues will be gifted to Paris.

Coco Gauff is the first tennis player to carry the flag for the US.

This year, basketball player LeBron James and tennis player Gauff were the two US Olympians carrying the flag during the parade of nations.

Gauff is the first tennis player to be named a flag bearer for the US.

French rapper Rim'K mentioned Snoop Dogg during his performance.

When French rapper Rim'K performed, he mentioned Snoop Dogg.

The American musician, who was working as a commentator at the ceremony, could be seen smiling and dancing throughout the performance.

America has the largest number of athletes in the 2024 Olympics.

America's boat for the parade of nations held 594 athletes, making it the largest team at this Olympic Games.

France is No. 2 with 579 competitors.

A message calling for peace appeared after “Imagine” was performed.

John Lennon's "Imagine" has been performed at a number of Olympics opening ceremonies. This year, pianist Sofiane Pamart and singer Juliette Armanet took on the quasi-tradition.

After a passionate dance performance meant to represent different turmoils, the musicians performed the peaceful song while floating down the Seine on a flaming stage.

After "Imagine" ended, a message appeared on the screen: "We stand and call for peace."

The torchbearers weren't all French.

Toward the end of the opening ceremony, famed athletes from the host nation typically carry the torch to the cauldron.

The final procession started with French soccer player Zinedine Zidane. But in a twist of events, he passed the torch to Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, who holds the record for the most French Open titles (14).

The tennis player then boarded a speedboat with Romanian gymnast Nadia Comanect, US tennis player Serena Williams, and US track and field star Carl Lewis.

After a short ride on the Seine, the torch was returned to the hands of famous French athletes who lit the cauldron together in the Tuileries Garden.

Celion Dion performed in a rare appearance.

French Canadian singer Dion performed at the end of the ceremony, a rarity since she has been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome.

She performed "Hymne a l'amour," a song made famous by French singer Edith Piaf, on the Eiffel Tower.

Медиа: image / jpeg

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Fitbit's wearables do almost everything. From counting steps and tracking workouts to monitoring sleep patterns and stress levels, the best Fitbit can help improve your well-being. And there are a variety of Fitbit models designed for different types of users.

Our top pick is the Fitbit Sense 2. Although it's an average smartwatch, it's a quality health and fitness tracker offering multi-day battery life, a suite of health-monitoring tools, and comprehensive activity tracking. For a budget pick, we recommend the Fitbit Inspire 3 — an effective entry-level wearable with basic health and fitness tools for less than $100.

We chose our list based on tracking accuracy, fit and comfort, battery life, and ease of use. Although every Fitbit offers similar activity-tracking capabilities, some are better for certain users. Picking the best Fitbit depends on your intended use and the advanced features you need.

Our top picks for the best Fitbit

Best overall: Fitbit Sense 2 - See at Amazon

Best budget: Fitbit Inspire 3 - See at Amazon

Best for style: Fitbit Luxe - See at Amazon

Best for kids: Fitbit Ace 3 - See at Amazon

Best overall

Fitbit's flagship, the Sense 2, nails everything a quality fitness tracker should be. It offers a variety of activity tracking and useful fitness insights, tracks sleep, stress, and menstrual cycles, and has built-in GPS and a battery that lasts around five to six days on a single charge.

It does lack in one major area, however: smarts. Though it's touted as a "smartwatch," it doesn't quite stack up in that department the way an effective smartwatch should. For starters, it doesn't offer third-party app support, which is disappointing, and it doesn't allow access to things like Google Assistant. It also can't store or play music.

But those drawbacks don't equate to being a dealbreaker. The Sense 2 offers a suite of useful health and wellness insights that put it on par with some of the best in the industry. There's a skin temperature sensor, ECG readings, and a real-time stress tracker.

The stress tracker is especially interesting as it not only charts your body's stress levels but also provides feedback on how to lower it, and can paint a picture of how your body handles stress overall.

It's also an accurate fitness tracker. Its built-in GPS synced well during our tests, and it's compatible with a variety of activities and exercises. Plus, its interface is easy and intuitive to use, making it a great watch for beginners.

Read our full Fitbit Sense 2 review.

Best budget

Fitbit's Inspire line of entry-level activity trackers is the brand's most basic offering. Its latest model, the Inspire 3, features a slim, vertical screen that sits comfortably on your wrist while offering a suite of advanced health and fitness tracking features right at your fingertips. It even has a skin temperature sensor and can track your sleep habits. The original Fitbit has come a long way.

But what makes the Inspire 3 especially attractive is its price, which makes it appealing for beginners or those new to wearing activity trackers. At under $100, it delivers a wearable experience similar to the Sense 2 without the large touchscreen, downloadable apps, or built-in GPS. It's also compatible with a range of the best Inspire 3 bands to change its look slightly.

That may seem like the Inspire 3 lacks key features, but those are typically hallmarks of a smartwatch, and the Inspire 3 is a bonafide fitness tracker. That is, it offers straightforward health and fitness features in an easy-to-use and intuitive package. It uses the same fitness tracking tech as all of Fitbit's other wearables, tracks heart rate, skin temperature, and sleep patterns, and even offers the brand's new Daily Readiness Score feature.

That's a lot in such a small, budget-friendly package. Advanced athletes may view the lack of built-in GPS as a dealbreaker, but for anyone looking for a basic, straightforward activity tracker, the Inspire 3 is the best Fitbit has.

Read our full Fitbit Inspire 3 review.

Best for style

Although the Fitbit Luxe looks similar to the Inspire 3, it has a few subtle design features that give it some style. There's a stainless steel casing that achieves a nice, clean look for either the office or a night out, a bright AMOLED screen, and the ability to swap out the band for something like a chic mesh or metal option.

As a quality health and fitness wearable, the Fitbit Luxe tracks basics like running and cycling. It offers insights into sleep patterns, stress management, and fitness trends. Some features require a paid subscription to Fitbit Premium (as is the case for several watches in this guide), but even the basic features are highly useful.

One area where it lags is in the smartwatch department, but it was never designed to be one in the first place. However, it can still display text and phone call notifications, and you can use things like timers and alarms, but that's about the extent of it. It also has a battery that lasts upward of six days.

Read our full Fitbit Luxe review.

Best for kids

Most fitness trackers are inherently designed for adult use. Then, there's the Fitbit Ace 3, an activity tracker designed entirely for kids ages six and up, outfitted with features such as parental controls, a custom kid-friendly stat viewer, and fun customization options.

What makes the Ace 3 great for kids is its whimsical approach. There are band options with Minion-themed designs, as well as colorful custom watch faces. It is also water-resistant up to 50 meters or 164 feet, so kids can wear it in the pool.

One of the Ace 3's best features is its focus on gamification. The wearable offers various challenges and badges that can motivate kids as they achieve a certain step goal or complete an activity.

It's also a great communication tool for parents as it delivers text notifications. What's particularly great about this is that parents can utilize the parental controls to manage exactly what connections are permitted on the watch. These controls are set up via the Fitbit app and require a family account, but they can be customized at any time, with or without the watch nearby.

These parental controls ultimately make it a better purchase for kids than, say, the Inspire 3. While the Inspire 3 offers a similar tracking experience, the ability to customize and tailor everything from the wearable's settings to the specific activity goals makes the Ace 3 a more family-friendly option.

Models we don't recommend

Our favorite budget Fitbit that's also a smartwatch rather than purely a fitness tracker, the Versa 3, was discontinued to make way for the Versa 4. However, we cannot recommend the Versa 4, unless the budget smartwatch you're looking for has to be a Fitbit. Even then, you should look at the Pixel Watch 2 from Fitbit's parent, Google, which is a terrific fitness tracker and smartwatch, albeit compatible with Android only.

The Versa 4 offers few or no appreciable upgrades over the Versa 3 and actually omits features that made the Versa 3 a great option for the price, including third-party app support and music playback. The Versa 4's watered-down experience would have been acceptable if it had a lower price than the Versa 3, but it has the exact same price tag.

How we test Fitbits

In addition to testing past iterations of Fitbit trackers and smartwatches when they launched, I tested each on the list below for several days (some weeks, even), wearing them 24/7 in most cases. I wore each during different workouts, from runs and walks to strength sets and yoga. I also wore the trackers to bed and for mindfulness sessions.

Here are the key features I looked for when testing:

Workout tracking

To successfully record stats during a workout and easily check these as you go, it's important that a watch clearly displays numbers, and quickly and continuously connects to the GPS, particularly if it's built into the watch. I judged the trackers and watches on whether I could easily see my current pace, distance, and time, and if I had quick access to metrics like average pace and heart rate.

Additionally, I ran another fitness tracking app on my phone to test the accuracy of the watch's distance and pace. For every Fitbit featured, the numbers were always relatively close (and within the normal range you'd find if you compared almost any other fitness tracker).

Because Fitbit offers automatic tracking, I did a few workouts without manually pressing the start button to confirm that it picked up my movement, which it almost always did.

Tracking and comfort while sleeping

I wore these watches and trackers to bed to test the automatic sleep tracking. I checked these stats in the morning to make sure they recorded my time in bed and wake-up times throughout the night. I also wore the devices when occasionally taking naps throughout the day, which they also picked up on.

The devices needed to be comfortable enough to wear all night to get those stats, too. While the bands occasionally stuck to my skin if I got sweaty at night, it never disturbed my sleep — I only noticed this after waking up.

Battery life

I tested the battery life of each Fitbit by charging it to 100% battery and wearing it through workouts, nights of sleep, and throughout the day to see how long each would last. They all surprised me, too — the life lasted even after several workouts, including those using the built-in GPS (which typically drains batteries quickly).

App usability

One huge perk of Fitbit is the built-in stress-reducing apps, so how easy these were to use was a key part of testing. I tried Fitbit's mindfulness program, the Relax app, on all devices, and the EDA scan app on the Sense 2, which contributes to stress management numbers. I looked for ease of use, visuals, and the stats provided after recording a mindfulness session, like changes in heart rate.

FAQs

Are Fitbits worth it?

Yes, especially if you want a reliable fitness wearable. A Fitbit can be beneficial for anyone who keeps active each day, even if that activity is walking a few blocks around the neighborhood or lifting weights at home.

They do an excellent job of counting steps, tracking a wide range of activities, and providing other useful health information like sleep insights and calories burned. You don't need to be an avid fitness pro or athlete to get a lot out of a Fitbit, and with so many options in the brand's lineup, finding one that's "worth it" means just picking out the option that best fits your lifestyle.

Plus, Fitbits are device agnostic, so they're compatible with devices running iOS or Android. This versatility places them among the best Android smartwatches and best fitness trackers you can buy.

What is Fitbit Premium?

Fitbit Premium is the brand's monthly membership option that offers access to more in-depth health and fitness features like nutrition insights, advanced sleep tracking, and the Daily Readiness Score.

It also provides access to guided meditations, exclusive video workouts, in-depth goal setting, various unique challenges, and other health insights such as blood oxygen level readings, heart rate variability, and breathing rate.

All Fitbit Premium features are accessible via the Fitbit app and do a lot to elevate the base Fitbit experience, especially for wearables like the Sense 2 or Versa 4. The brand does offer a free trial to new Fitbit users, allowing you to test out the service before committing to its recurring membership fee (which costs $10/month).

Is a Fitbit better than an Apple Watch?

This ultimately comes down to personal preference. The best Apple Watch models are undoubtedly more powerful and full-featured, but if you don't need access to a suite of apps, then a Fitbit will suffice. Both watches offer deep tracking capability for activities like running, cycling, and lifting weights, and each comes standard with a user-friendly interface.

One area where Apple outdoes Fitbit is in terms of its ecosystem. Anyone using an iPhone can get more out of an Apple Watch than a Fitbit (but as mentioned below, it's not always enough to be considered a dealbreaker).

And although the Apple Watch now offers a deep well of fitness and activity tracking capability, it still leans more heavily toward being a smartwatch (similar to Fitbit's Versa line), so if it's basic fitness tracking you're after without the frills, something like Fitbit's Charge would be more your speed.

What are the advantages of owning a Fitbit?

Perhaps the biggest advantage of a Fitbit is that no matter the price point or type (tracker versus smartwatch), it comes with all the foundational features you want in a health and fitness tracker, including the ability to automatically track sleep and activity, which is the best thing about the brand, in my opinion.

Then, all the models track pace, distance, and calories burned during your workouts and calculate your heart rate training zones, including fat burn, cardio, and peak. For sleep, you not only get the total hours you slept, but the time you spent in deep and REM sleep, plus the percentage of time you spent below your resting heart rate.

With some models, these stats are easier to access than others — namely, the Sense 2 and Versa models because their larger screens are easier to read at a glance. But even with the smaller, more narrow faces of models like the Charge 6, the numbers are very large, which is nice to have. The Inspire 3 is the hardest to glance stats quickly off of.

The Fitbit app, accessed via your phone, is easy to navigate and displays steps, miles, active zone minutes, daily calorie burns, mindfulness days, exercise, and activity per hour. It also reminds you to take 250 steps per hour. Additionally, you can track your menstrual cycle, food and water intake, and weight (though these require more manual entries).

What are the disadvantages of owning a Fitbit?

The main disadvantage of owning a Fitbit would be its lack of ecosystem outside of the wearable itself and the Fitbit app. The Apple Watch Series 9, or, for instance, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, offers advanced compatibility with iOS- and Android-compatible smartphones, respectively. That allows each to offer features specific to those devices and operating systems.

However, this shouldn't be seen as a total dealbreaker. Not being able to customize text responses or notifications doesn't have to preclude you from buying a Fitbit.

What's the battery life like on a Fitbit?

Each Fitbit in the line has top-notch battery life, lasting days even with auto-activity and auto-sleep tracking turned on, so you don't have to worry about charging it every night.

Officially, the battery for all Fitbits featured lasts six to 10 days, depending on the device and your usage. In my experience, the Sense 2 lasts an average of six days on one charge, while the Inspire 3 lasts up to 10 days, for instance.

Are Fitbits customizable?

Almost all Fitbits offer plenty of customization options. Each wearable comes with a basic band, but all have different colors and material bands you can purchase, from stainless steel mesh for a professional look to expressive prints to more breathable sports bands. The only watch on our list that doesn't offer a sport-specific band is the Inspire 3.

You can also customize the watch faces for aesthetics and readability, and to personalize shortcuts on the devices and what's displayed on the main app page. The Sense 2 and Versa models have the most options for watch faces. You can even download third-party designs or use your photos, which you can't do with the other models.

What's the lifespan of a Fitbit?

This depends on the model. While Fitbit releases new models annually, that doesn't always mean the prior generation version becomes unusable. For example, when the Fitbit Versa 4 was released in 2022, the previous-generation Versa 3 was still available for purchase and, in some ways, was the better wearable overall.

So, even if you own a Fitbit that's a generation or two older than the current model, rest assured that it's only outdated by its model number and not regarding its actual performance or capability.

Best overall: Fitbit Sense 2

Fitbit's flagship, the Sense 2, nails everything a quality fitness tracker should be. It offers a variety of activity tracking and useful fitness insights, tracks sleep, stress, and menstrual cycles, and has built-in GPS and a battery that lasts around five to six days on a single charge.

It does lack in one major area, however: smarts. Though it's touted as a "smartwatch," it doesn't quite stack up in that department the way an effective smartwatch should. For starters, it doesn't offer third-party app support, which is disappointing, and it doesn't allow access to things like Google Assistant. It also can't store or play music.

But those drawbacks don't equate to being a dealbreaker. The Sense 2 offers a suite of useful health and wellness insights that put it on par with some of the best in the industry. There's a skin temperature sensor, ECG readings, and a real-time stress tracker.

The stress tracker is especially interesting as it not only charts your body's stress levels but also provides feedback on how to lower it and can paint a picture of how your body handles stress overall.

It's also an accurate fitness tracker. Its built-in GPS synced well during our tests and it's compatible with a variety of activities and exercises. Plus, its interface is easy and intuitive to use, making it a great watch for beginners.

Read our full review of the Sense 2.

Best fitness-tracking: Fitbit Charge 5

If you want a tracker to record your workouts and daily movement, but don't care about fancy features like answering calls via your watch or connecting with Alexa or Google Assistant, the Charge 5 is your watch.

This tracker records and displays all the stats you want from your workout: current and average exercise pace, distance, heart rate zones, total time, steps taken, and calories burned. Within the Fitbit app, you can also see a map of your run, complete with intensity zones showing where your heart rate climbed highest and dipped lowest.

One of its best features is its built-in GPS, which is often a rare inclusion on wearables this small. This allows it to natively provide accurate activity tracking, which is a huge plus for those who don't like to tote their smartphone while working out.

It's not completely without smart features, either. You can sync your calendar and get app updates, as well as text, email, and phone call notifications. The Charge 5 also offers in-depth sleep tracking that charts sleep patterns and habits and allows you to see how much REM, deep, and light sleep you get each night.

The battery life on the Charge 5 is longer than both the Versa and the Sense, too. Plus, the design is smaller and takes up less space on your arm, which is nice for folks with smaller wrists. It's also compatible with a variety of the best Charge 5 bands, which help upgrade its look or make it more useful for certain activities.

Best budget: Fitbit Inspire 3

Fitbit's Inspire line of entry-level activity trackers is the brand's most basic offering. Its latest model, the Inspire 3, features a slim, vertical screen that sits comfortably on your wrist while offering a suite of advanced health and fitness tracking features right at your fingertips. It even has a skin temperature sensor and can track your sleep habits. The original Fitbit has come a long way.

But what makes the Inspire 3 especially attractive is its price, which makes it attractive for beginners or those new to wearing activity trackers. At under $100, it delivers a wearable experience similar to the Sense 2 without the large touchscreen, downloadable apps, or built-in GPS. It's also compatible with a range of the best Inspire 3 bands to change up its look a bit.

That may seem like the Inspire 3 lacks key features, but those are typically hallmarks of a smartwatch, and the Inspire 3 is a bona fide fitness tracker. That is, it offers straightforward health and fitness features in an easy-to-use and intuitive package. It uses the same fitness tracking tech as all of Fitbit's other wearables, tracks heart rate, skin temperature, and sleep patterns, and even offers the brand's new Daily Readiness Score feature.

That's a lot in such a small, budget-friendly package. Advanced athletes may view the lack of built-in GPS as a dealbreaker but for anyone looking for a basic, straightforward activity tracker, the Inspire 3 is the best Fitbit has.

Read our full review of the Inspire 3.

Best budget smartwatch: Fitbit Versa 3

The Versa is Fitbit's line of true smartwatches. And while the Fitbit Versa 4 is the latest model, the older Fitbit Versa 3 is the better option.

What makes the Versa 3 especially attractive is its compatibility with third-party apps, which Fitbit scrapped when developing the Versa 4 (perhaps Google wants people to look to the Google Pixel Watch for a true smartwatch experience).

But it's not just the third-party app support that gives the Versa 3 an edge over the Versa 4. It's also a more reliable fitness tracker. Whereas the Versa 4 is plagued by connectivity and tracking issues, the Versa 3 tracks activities like a charm, leaning on its built-in GPS to deliver consistently accurate data.

Plus, it has a similarly large display, useful for glances at real-time stats while you work out. You can easily check total workout time, average pace, and heart rate zones by tapping the watch face, even mid-activity.

Factor in its other health features like sleep monitoring, menstrual cycle tracking, and 24/7 heart rate monitor, and the Versa 3 is much more powerful than the latest model. It's one of the best smartwatches Fitbit sells and the best version of the Versa.

Read our full review of the Versa 3.

Best stylish: Fitbit Luxe

Although the Fitbit Luxe looks similar to the Inspire 3, it has a few subtle design features that give it some style. There's a stainless steel casing that achieves a nice, clean look for either the office or a night out, a bright AMOLED screen, and the ability to swap out the band for something like a chic mesh or metal option.

As a quality health and fitness wearable, the Fitbit Luxe tracks basics like running and cycling. It offers insights into sleep patterns, stress management, and fitness trends. Some features require a paid subscription to Fitbit Premium (as is the case for several watches in this guide), but even the basic features are highly useful.

One area where it lags is in the smartwatch department, but it was never designed to be one in the first place. However, it can still display text and phone call notifications, and you can use things like timers and alarms, but that's about the extent of it. It also has a battery that lasts upward of six days.

Read our full review of the Fitbit Luxe.

Best for kids: Fitbit Ace 3

Most fitness trackers are inherently designed for adult use. Then, there's the Fitbit Ace 3, an activity tracker designed entirely for kids ages six and up, outfitted with features such as parental controls, a custom kid-friendly stat viewer, and fun customization options.

What makes the Ace 3 great for kids is its whimsical approach. There are band options with Minion-themed designs, as well as colorful custom watch faces. It is also water-resistant up to 50 meters or 164 feet, so kids can wear it in the pool.

One of the Ace 3's best features is its focus on gamification. The wearable offers various challenges and badges that can motivate kids as they achieve a certain step goal or complete an activity.

It's also a great communication tool for parents as it delivers text notifications. What's particularly great about this is that parents can utilize the parental controls to manage exactly what connections are permitted on the watch. These controls are set up via the Fitbit app and require a family account, but they can be customized at any time, with or without the watch nearby.

These parental controls ultimately make it a better purchase for kids than, say, the Inspire 3. While the Inspire 3 offers a similar tracking experience, the ability to customize and tailor everything from the wearable's settings to the specific activity goals makes the Ace 3 a more family-friendly option.

What's Fitbit Premium?

Fitbit Premium is the brand's monthly membership option that offers access to more in-depth health and fitness features like nutrition insights, advanced sleep tracking, and the Daily Readiness Score.

It also provides access to guided meditations, exclusive video workouts, in-depth goal setting, various unique challenges, and other health insights such as blood oxygen level readings, heart rate variability, and breathing rate.

All Fitbit Premium features are accessible via the Fitbit app and do a lot to elevate the base Fitbit experience, especially for wearables like the Sense 2 or Versa 4. The brand does offer a free trial to new Fitbit users, allowing you to test out the service before committing to its recurring membership fee (which costs $10 per month).

How we test Fitbits

In addition to testing past iterations of Fitbit trackers and smartwatches when they launched, I tested each on the list below for several days (some weeks, even) wearing them 24/7 in most cases. I wore each during different workouts, from runs and walks to strength sets and yoga. I also wore the trackers to bed and for mindfulness sessions.

Here are the key features I looked for when testing:

Workout tracking

To successfully record stats during a workout and easily check these as you go, it's important that a watch clearly displays numbers, and quickly and continuously connects to the GPS, particularly if it's built into the watch. I judged the trackers and watches on whether I could easily see my current pace, distance, and time, and if I had quick access to metrics like average pace and heart rate.

Additionally, I ran another fitness tracking app on my phone to test the accuracy of the watch's distance and pace. For every Fitbit featured, the numbers were always relatively close (and within the normal range you'd find if you compared almost any other fitness tracker).

Because Fitbit offers automatic tracking, I did a few workouts without manually pressing the start button to confirm that it picked up my movement, which it almost always did.

Tracking and comfort while sleeping

I wore these watches and trackers to bed to test the automatic sleep tracking. I checked these stats in the morning to make sure they recorded my time in bed and wake-up times throughout the night. I also wore the devices when occasionally taking naps throughout the day, which they also picked up on.

The devices needed to be comfortable enough to wear all night to get those stats, too. While the bands occasionally stuck to my skin if I got sweaty at night, it never disturbed my sleep — I only noticed this after waking up.

Battery life

I tested the battery life of each Fitbit by charging it to 100% battery and wearing it through workouts, nights of sleep, and throughout the day to see how long each would last. They all surprised me, too — the life lasted even after several workouts, including those using the built-in GPS (which typically drains batteries quickly).

App usability

One huge perk of Fitbit is the built-in stress-reducing apps, so how easy these were to use was a key part of testing. I tried Fitbit's mindfulness program, the Relax app, on all devices, and the EDA scan app on the Sense 2, which contributes to stress management numbers. I looked for ease of use, visuals, and the stats provided after recording a mindfulness session, like changes in heart rate.

FAQs

Are Fitbits worth it?

Yes, especially if you want a reliable fitness wearable. A Fitbit can be beneficial for anyone who keeps active each day, even if that activity is walking a few blocks around the neighborhood or lifting weights at home.

They do an excellent job of counting steps, tracking a wide range of activities, and providing other useful health information like sleep insights and calories burned. You don't need to be an avid fitness pro or athlete to get a lot out of a Fitbit and with so many options in the brand's lineup, finding one that's "worth it" means just picking out the option that best fits your lifestyle.

Plus, Fitbits are device agnostic, so they're compatible with devices running iOS or Android. This makes them one of the best Android smartwatches you can buy, as well as one of the best fitness trackers.

---

Is a Fitbit better than an Apple Watch?

This ultimately comes down to personal preference. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 are undoubtedly more powerful and full-featured but if you don't need access to a suite of apps, then a Fitbit will suffice. Both watches offer deep tracking capability for activities like running, cycling, and lifting weights, and each comes standard with a user-friendly interface.

One area where Apple outdoes Fitbit is in terms of its ecosystem. Anyone using an iPhone can get more out of an Apple Watch compared to a Fitbit (but as touched on below, it's not always enough to be considered a dealbreaker).

And although the Apple Watch now offers a deep well of fitness and activity tracking capability, it still leans more heavily toward being a smartwatch (similar to Fitbit's Versa line), so if it's basic fitness tracking you're after without the frills, something like Fitbit's Charge would be more your speed.

---

What are the advantages of owning a Fitbit?

Perhaps the biggest advantage of a Fitbit is that no matter the price point or type (tracker versus smartwatch), it comes with all the foundational features you want in a health and fitness tracker. This includes the ability to automatically track sleep and activity, which is the best thing about the brand, in my opinion.

Then, all the models track pace, distance, and calories burned during your workouts, and calculate your heart rate training zones, including fat burn, cardio, and peak. For sleep, you not only get the total hours you slept, but the time you spent in deep and REM sleep, plus the percentage of time you spent below your resting heart rate.

With some models, these stats are easier to access than others — namely, the Sense 2 and Versa 3 because their larger screens are easier to read at a glance. But even with the smaller, more narrow faces of the Charge 5, the numbers are very large which is nice to have. The Inspire 3 is the hardest to glance stats quickly off of.

The Fitbit app, accessed via your phone, is easy to navigate and displays steps, miles, active zone minutes, daily calorie burns, mindfulness days, exercise, and activity per hour. It also reminds you to take 250 steps per hour. Additionally, you can track your menstrual cycle, food and water intake, and weight (though these require more manual entries).

---

What are the disadvantages of owning a Fitbit?

The main disadvantage of owning a Fitbit would be its lack of ecosystem outside of the wearable itself and the Fitbit app. The Apple Watch or, for instance, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, each offers advanced compatibility with iOS- and Android-compatible smartphones, respectively. That allows each to offer features specific to those devices and operating systems.

However, this shouldn't be seen as a total dealbreaker. Not being able to customize text responses or notifications doesn't have to preclude you from buying a Fitbit.

---

What's the battery life like on a Fitbit?

Each Fitbit in the line has top-notch battery life, lasting days even with auto-activity and auto-sleep tracking turned on, so you don't have to worry about charging it every night.

Officially, the battery for all Fitbits featured lasts six to 10 days, depending on the device and your usage. In my experience, the Versa 2, Versa 3, and Sense last an average of six days on one charge, the Charge 5 for seven days, and the Inspire 3 for up to 10 days.

---

Are Fitbits customizable?

Almost all Fitbits offer plenty of customization options. Each wearable comes with a basic band but all have different colors and material bands you can purchase, from stainless steel mesh for a professional look to expressive prints to more breathable sports bands. The only watch on our list that doesn't offer a sport-specific band is the Inspire 3.

You can also customize the watch faces for aesthetics and readability, and to personalize shortcuts on the devices and what's displayed on the main app page. The Sense 2 and Versa 3 have the most options for watch faces. You can even download third-party designs or use your photos, which you can't do with the other models.

---

What's the lifespan of a Fitbit?

This depends on the model. While Fitbit releases new models annually, that doesn't always mean the prior generation version becomes unusable. For example, when the Fitbit Versa 4 was released in 2022, the prior generation Versa 3 was still available for purchase and, in some ways, was the better wearable overall (which is why it's in our guide and the Versa 4 isn't).

So, even if you own a Fitbit that's a generation or two older than the current model, rest assured that it's only outdated by its model number and not regarding its actual performance or capability.

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• I've always struggled with budgeting. I try different tactics but always abandon them fast.
• But a conversation with a friend turned things around for me, and now I'm saving more than ever.
• She taught me how to build a budget that's realistic, flexible, and helps me achieve my goals.

For most of my life, the idea of setting and sticking to a budget seemed impossible. I'd make a draft of how much I wanted to spend for the month ahead, have a loose plan, and end up forgetting about the budget a few days later.

One of my biggest goals for this year was to get over that bad habit and take budgeting more seriously. I researched other people's best tricks and tips (like using a budget worksheet, putting money in envelopes for the month, and paying for things with just cash) but I found myself still wary that any of those approaches would stick with me.

I brought this up to a friend of mine, who is a mother of three kids and prides herself on being true to her budget. She sat me down, showed me her process, and sent me away with five techniques that I've put into place. The result? I've stayed on budget every month this year and even found ways to save an extra $1,000 a month. Here's what has worked for me, inspired by that friend's worthwhile advice.

1. Be realistic

One of the biggest mistakes I routinely made when I tried to budget was vowing to spend a certain amount each month, which just was not realistic. It was always at least 25% less than what I had spent in the months before.

Rather than try to fix two habits (overspending and not sticking to a budget), my friend taught me to pick one goal at a time. Setting a budget that is in line with your current spending is a good way to get on track and organized. After that, you can adjust the budget to reduce spending in certain categories to help you save more.

I not only did that, but I also made sure to plan my budget around what I knew would pop up that month. Every single month, the amount I budget to spend varies. Some months, I spend more and save less, and others, I do the reverse.

2. Update it regularly

The art of creating a budget is not only a process, it's also something that can be super time-consuming. Even if you use someone else's budget worksheet, you still have to adjust categories based on what applies to you and also audit your spending so you know how to make the plan personalized for you.

Once I put in the hard work there, I usually found that I abandoned the budget a few days later.

Instead, updating my budget and tracking my spending has now become a daily practice. Every night, after dinner, I sit down with my Excel spreadsheet, write down what I spent that day, and soak in how my spending for the month is looking. This helps me be more aware and in tune with what's going on financially and not get surprised or shocked at the end of the week by any purchases I didn't plan properly for.

3. It's OK to move money around

I always thought the secret to staying on budget was making sure you stayed very strict. According to my friend, the opposite is true. It's OK to look at your spending week by week and see what categories need to be adjusted.

Let's say you overspend in your dining category, but you have been underspending in your clothing category. You can move money from one category to the other.

I sit down every Sunday and move allocated money around based on my spending needs for that month. The lesson: Stay strict with the amount you've budgeted for that month, but be more casual about where exactly that money is going.

4. Plan for unexpected expenses

I never had an emergency category in my budget, so whenever something happened that I didn't plan for (a health bill, a home repair, etc.) I would get frustrated and abandon the budget. While we can't predict what might happen during the month, putting aside a few hundred dollars for any pop-up or last-minute expenses can help you stay true to your budget.

Since I've been doing that, it's allowed me to feel less pressure and anxiety if something happens that I didn't plan for. I just pull the money from that emergency category and supplement the rest of that expense from my general emergency fund.

5. Learn to say no

Having a budget allows you to know how much you can spend that month on everything from groceries to activities with friends. Having this sort of structure has allowed me to know in advance what I can say yes to and what I have to decline.

It's made it much easier for me to say no to things in advance (whether events, happy hours, or weekend travel). If I didn't put it in and can't make it work that month by cutting back spending in other categories, it's a no. This has helped me save money throughout the year and not give into extra expenses that are "nice to have" but not must-haves.

This article was originally published in September 2021.

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• Second gentleman Doug Emhoff pushed back after Sen. JD Vance criticized Vice President Kamala Harris.
• In a 2021 interview, Vance claimed that Harris was part of a clique of "childless cat ladies."
• Harris co-parents two children Emhoff had from a previous marriage.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff on Friday slammed Sen. JD Vance of Ohio after it emerged that Vance had previously criticized Vice President Kamala Harris over not having children even though she is a co-parent to Emoff's two children from a previous marriage.

"What he said was abhorrent. It was stupid, uninformed, and I think the reaction of not only the country but the world — I mean, look at what Jennifer Aniston said — it has touched a chord in a way that has just upset nearly everyone, because everyone's family is their family " Emhoff told former US Attorney Preet Bharara on Bharara's podcast in an episode published on Friday.

Emhoff said that Vance's remarks show he doesn't appreciate the reality of a modern family.

"So you're telling many people in this country and this world that they don't matter," Emhoff said.

"That the only thing that matters is this so-called, you know, old fashioned view of, you know, traditional quote unquote family," he added. "And it is so abhorrent and I am so proud of Kirsten, who we love so much and we are so close and we have coparented, the three of us, so brilliantly and seamlessly and it hurt. It hurt my feelings. It was upsetting and I was so proud of our daughter, Ella, who supported her mother and her mothers."

Emhoff's daughter, Ella Emhoff, and his ex-wife, Kerstin Emhoff, had already teed off on Vance over previously coming after their family. Both Ella and her brother Cole were teenagers when Emhoff and Harris were married.

"These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I," Kerstin Emhoff said in a statement to CNN. "She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it."

Vance's comments have only exacerbated his struggle to introduce himself to the nation. He's already set a record for being the most disliked major vice presidential nominee, even after a party convention.

Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance, said that the senator's old remarks were being mischaracterized.

"Once again, the leftwing media have twisted Senator Vance's words and spun up a false narrative about his position on the issues. The Democrats are in complete disarray with the most unpopular Vice President in history as their party's nominee," Van Kirk said in a statement to Business Insider.

In the 2021 interview, Vance, who went on to get elected to the US Senate, was railing against the next generation of Democratic leadership for not having children.

"We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too," Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Vance has stressed that he wasn't poking fun at people who couldn't have kids, but he did lump Harris into the group even though she has been a stepmother to Emhoff's two children since they married in 2014.

On Friday, Vance tried to clean up some of his old remarks amid the backlash. He did not retreat from his belief that the Democratic Party is "anti-family."

"Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I've got nothing against cats. I've got nothing against dogs," Vance told former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly on her podcast. "People are focusing so much on the sarcasm, and not on the substance of what I actually said. And the substance of what I said Megyn, I'm sorry, it's true."

In selecting Vance, former President Donald Trump made clear that he was elevating someone who could lead the populist movement that has supplanted the traditional conservativism within the Republican Party.

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The 2024 Summer Olympics are finally here, and the world's best athletes have descended on Paris for the chance to bring home the gold for their country. We've combed through all of the global watch options and compiled everything you need to know about how to watch the Olympics, including free streaming options.

The summer Olympics pick back up only three years after they were last held, at the Covid-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This time, Paris hosts the games, and the weeks ahead are already shaping up to be memorable. A few sports began competition early, but now that the Opening Ceremony has taken place, most major sports kick off this weekend.

Some of the most-anticipated events include those from the gymnastics, swimming, athletics, tennis, and basketball categories, among others. Gymnast Simone Biles, swimmer Katie Ledecky, sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, tennis player Rafael Nadal, marathoner Eliud Kipchoge, and basketball player LeBron James are just a few of the can't-miss athletes slated to compete in Paris. This year will also bring back surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, and 3x3 basketball, which each debuted in Tokyo, for their second appearance at the Olympic games. Additionally, 2024 will introduce the sport of breaking (breakdancing) to the competition.

No matter where you are in the world, we'll show you how to watch the Olympics. And keep an eye on our streaming section for more guides on specific sports and events.

• See also: Where to watch Olympic football | Where to watch Olympic rugby | Where to watch Olympic handball

How to watch the Olympics in the US

As usual, the Olympics will air on NBC, USA, and Peacock in the US. Peacock will be your cheapest option, with plans starting at just $7.99 a month, and will serve as a bonafide hub for all events. You can upgrade to ad-free for $13.99 or try an annual plan, which offers savings across both tiers. If you miss an event, you can also watch it on-demand here.

If you'd rather watch NBC and USA through traditional methods and don't have cable, you can try out a live TV package like Sling TV or Fubo. When it comes to Sling, you'll need to subscribe to Sling Blue to get NBC and USA. Sling has fairly selective local channel coverage, so you should look up your zip code before subscribing to ensure you will be able to stream NBC in your region. Sling subscriptions start at $40 a month, but the service often offers introductory promos that will knock a few bucks off your first month if you're a new user.

Fubo is another solid live TV cable alternative that carries NBC and USA, in addition to more than 180 other channels. It's a particularly sports-friendly service. Subscriptions cost $79.99 a month, but new customers can get a one-week free trial right now.

How to watch the Olympics in the UK

Olympic coverage will look a little bit different in the UK this year. While lots of coverage will be available for free on BBC and BBC iPlayer, Eurosport has the rights to full Olympic coverage this year. If you're only looking to watch something specific, it'll be worth checking the BBC TV guide to see if it's available and, if not, signing up for Eurosport. BBC iPlayer is free to use and only requires account creation. Eurosport subscriptions through Discovery+ start at GBP3.99 a month.

How to watch the Olympics in Australia

Extensive Olympic coverage will be available through 9Now in Australia. Viewers just need to make a free account, and they'll be good to go. For Olympic fans who want to watch every single event of every sport, Stan Sport will offer complete coverage of all parts of the Olympics. Base Stan subscriptions start at $12 a month, and Olympic coverage requires the $ 15-a-month Sport Add-on for a total of $27 (although new users can try the base portion of Stan, not the add-on part, free for 30 days).

How to watch the Olympics in France

The Paris Olympics will fittingly be available to watch on France.TV in France. People just need to create a free account and they'll be able to stream the entire games in one place.

How to watch the Olympics from anywhere

If you'll be away from Australia, the UK, or France at any point during the Olympics and still want to keep up with the free streaming options, you can do so using a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs let you temporarily change your device's virtual location, allowing you to use your usual websites from anywhere. They're especially popular among people looking to boost their online privacy and keep up with their usual apps while traveling abroad.

Our go-to recommendation is ExpressVPN, an easy-to-use option with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Check out our ExpressVPN review for additional information, and keep reading to learn how to use it.

How to watch the Olympics with a VPN

• Sign up for a VPN if you don't already have one.
• Install it on the device you're using to watch the event.
• Turn it on and set it to the location of the streaming service.
• Go to 9Now (Australia), France.TV (France), or BBC iPlayer (UK) and create a login if necessary.
• Enjoy the Olympics.

How to watch the Opening Ceremony

The Olympics Opening Ceremony was held on Friday, July 26, at 1:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. BST / 1:30 a.m. AWST (Saturday). The ceremony occurred over a four-hour-long period on the River Seine in Paris, France. Athletes floated down the river on boats, and LeBron James and Coco Gauff were flagbearers for the US team.

In addition to the iconic Parade of Nations, there were several performances, including musical acts from Lady Gaga and Celine Dion. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke, and beloved Olympic figures like Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal made appearances. If you missed the Opening Ceremony, most of the options we've outlined above allow you to stream it on-demand.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

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• Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy blasted Sen. JD Vance's idea of taxing childless adults.
• "This is fucking idiotic," he wrote. "If you can't afford a big family don't have a ton of kids."
• The missive reveals an interesting split within conservatism over the role of government.

On Friday, Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy blasted Sen. JD Vance's idea of taxing childless adults at a higher rate than parents with children.

The Ohio senator floated the idea on a podcast with conservative influencer Charlie Kirk in 2021, saying that "we should reward the things that we think are good, and punish the things that we think are bad."

"Let's tax the things that are bad, and not tax the things that are good," Vance, now Donald Trump's running mate, said at the time. "If you're making $100,000, $400,000 a year, and you've got three kids, you should pay a different, lower tax rate than if you're making the same amount of money and you don't have any kids."

ABC News first reported on the unearthed clip on Friday. In response, a spokesman for Vance told the outlet that the idea was "basically no different than the Child Tax Credit," a policy that Democrats have long supported.

But that idea didn't go over well with Portnoy, who called it "fucking idiotic."

"You want me to pay more taxes to take care of other people's kids? We sure this dude is a Republican? Sounds like a moron," Portnoy wrote on X. "If you can't afford a big family don't have a ton of kids."

Though the missive may seem to simply be the opinion of one man, it's indicative of a broader ideological fault lines in the modern GOP.

Portnoy is himself an influential figure on the right, whose media empire has helped to popularize a strain of political thinking dubbed "Barstool Conservatism."

That movement, popular especially with young men, is defined by a strong opposition to political correctness or "wokeness," a generally libertarian outlook, and at times, more socially liberal impulses. Portnoy, for example, opposed the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

On the other hand, Vance is closely associated with the New Right and national conservatism, defined by its championing of nationalism and social conservatism, but also populism and a willingness to use governmental power to achieve certain ends. Both strains of conservatism have seen their influence grow in the Trump era.

Having been selected as Trump's running mate, Vance is now in a strong position to lead the party after a second Trump term.

But the popularity of his ideas, and of national conservatism more broadly, remains to be seen, and for now appears particular vulnerable to criticism in a movement that's long been defined by libertarian thinking.

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• Lockheed Martin's new hypersonic missile can be fired from most US fighter jets, including the F-22.
• It can engage air- and sea-based targets within enemy defenses or at longer ranges at Mach 5 speeds.
• US Navy warships could also potentially deploy the Mako if equipped with a booster.

Lockheed Martin has released new details about the air-launched hypersonic Mako missile, which promises to be the first hypersonic weapon in the world that can be launched from the internal weapons bay of not just the F-35, but the F-22 Raptor as well.

This new missile has been under development for seven years and has been touted by Lockheed officials as a "multi-mission" weapon system capable of maritime strike, counter-air defense, and a variety of other surface-attack operations. It was originally developed for the US Air Force, but now may find a home with the US Navy instead.

Hypersonic missiles are weapons that are capable of achieving sustained speeds in excess of Mach 5 while maneuvering. But while speed may draw most of the headlines, it's the combination of velocity and unpredictable course changes that make these weapons so difficult to intercept.

"Mako does not travel in a pure arcing ballistic flight path. It is a true hypersonic weapon that operates and maneuvers in a high-altitude hypersonic regime," Paul Sudlow from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control previously told Sandboxx News. "Its high speed and maneuverability enable it to penetrate advanced air-defense systems, engaging targets at or below hypersonic speeds, depending on mission requirements," he added.

Adding the Mako missile to America's stealth fighters

The Mako missile was developed under the auspices of the Air Force's Stand-In Attack Weapon program. A total of some $35 million was awarded to Lockheed Martin in three separate developmental contracts (associated with developmental phases 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3).

The aim was to field a weapon that could effectively engage China's anti-access/area denial assets in the Pacific — so the weapon has to be quick, powerful, and survivable.

Hypersonic missiles are traditionally too large to fit inside the internal weapons bays of stealth fighters. This is because they usually require a large rocket motor and sufficient fuel stores to carry them to high speeds and altitudes. They then separate from the booster and continue on unpowered or under an alternate form of propulsion (as is the case with the Air Force's scramjet-powered Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile).

The Mako missile's ability to be launched from within America's stealth fighters dramatically increases the potential vectors the weapon can attack from, substantially complicating matters for air defenses tasked with identifying and intercepting inbound threats.

Intercepting a maneuvering Mach 5+ weapon launched from a fighter or bomber you can see on radar might be an extremely difficult proposition today for even the most advanced air defense systems, but intercepting one from seemingly anywhere would be even harder.

As Sudlow told Sandboxx News today, this high-speed weapon is also designed to allow for stealth aircraft, like America's 5th-generation fighters, to fly out ahead, locate a target, and then relay that target data back to Mako-armed 4th-generation fighters carrying Lockheed Martin's Sniper Networked Targeting Pod for engagement.

This will allow older 4th-generation platforms to play a vital role in combat operations, even against targets in highly contested airspace, and further increase the destructive capabilities of 5th-generation jets.

To this end, Sudlow also confirmed that the Mako missile has already been fit-checked to be carried externally by the F/A-18 Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler, F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16C Fighting Falcon, and even the P-8A Poseidon. In effect, Lockheed Martin designed this weapon to be carried by nearly any aircraft in the US arsenal carrying fairly standard 30-inch lugs.

That means the Mako missile could be another new long-range weapon in the Navy's arsenal, alongside its recently revealed AIM-174B air-to-air missile. Both Mako and the AIM-174B are believed to offer ranges well into the hundreds of miles, meaning these two weapons could provide a significant long-range one-two punch against air- and sea-based targets. Lockheed Martin even says the Mako missile could be fired from the vertical launch tubes on the Navy's warships if equipped with a booster, similar to what's been done with the AGM-158C LRASM.

Nevertheless, in the long run, this weapon could find its way back to the Air Force — assuming the Navy opts to put Mako into production. This could see it carried by 4th-generation fighters supporting forward F-22 or F-35 operations, or even see it carried internally by the F-22 Raptor itself — which is still the stealthiest fighter ever to reach service.

The weapon can also be carried internally by the Air Force's F-35As and Navy and Marine Corps F-35Cs. The only American stealth aircraft that can't fit this new missile is the vertical landing F-35B, as its internal storage capacity is limited by the presence of the aircraft's lifting fan.

Named after the fastest shark in the sea

Mako was originally developed as a part of the US Air Force's Stand-In Attack Weapon (SiAW) program. That effort aimed to field an air-launched weapon meant specifically to counter elements of anti-access area denial defenses like air defense radar platforms, surface-to-air missile systems, and anti-ship missile launchers.

That contract ultimately went to Northrop Grumman for a new missile system derived from its radar-hunting AGM-88G Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile-Extended Range (AARGM-ER).

But Lockheed Martin recognized that its entry to the competition could have much further reaching implications than the suppression of enemy air defenses alone. As such, the company is pitching this new missile design to the Navy as a multi-purpose air-to-surface weapon.

"For the US Navy, this is a multi-mission, highly capable system, highly survivable, affordable, so you're going to hold many targets at risk with one weapons system that's ready now," Rick Loy, Senior Program Manager at the company's Missile and Fire Control division told Naval News.

Its name, Mako, is derived from the world's fastest shark, the Shortfin Mako, which is capable of swimming as fast as 45 miles per hour (74 kilometers per hour). It's a fitting name for a weapon that's capable of screaming across the sky at better than 3,836 miles per hour.

At 13 feet, the missile is, appropriately enough, about as long as a Mako shark might grow. At 1,300 pounds and about 13 inches in diameter, this broadly capable missile is only about an inch longer than the AIM-120 AMRAAM that America's stealth fighters were designed to carry; though Mako comes with significantly more heft, at nearly twice the AMRAAM's diameter and more than three times the weight.

Designed in a 'digital engineering ecosystem'

This new Mach 5+ missile was among Lockheed Martin's first to be designed from the ground up entirely within a digital environment, which is in keeping with broader Pentagon efforts to use digital design and testing to reduce the real-world costs associated with testing and design revisions.

By designing and then testing the weapon in the digital world first, Lockheed Martin can produce a much more mature design at the onset of operational testing.

Likewise, despite the high level of capability promised by this new weapon, Lockheed went out of its way not to invent any unnecessary components. Instead, when possible, it pulled from several already-fielded systems with existing and proven supply chains to reduce the number of variables that could potentially affect a production order.

As Lockheed Martin's press materials point out, the firm also brought manufacturing engineers in at the earliest stages of development to help streamline the sometimes messy transition from advanced prototyping to serialized production.

Lockheed Martin has not been specific about the guidance system carried inside the Mako, but that could be by design. The weapon's original intended mission set for the Stand-in Attack Role suggested the use of a multi-mode seeker that would likely include anti-radiation (radar-hunting) capabilities alongside GPS/inertial guidance and potentially a millimeter-wave radar seeker to boot, allowing the weapon to close with just about any target on the surface of the earth whether moving or stationary.

Yet, as Lockheed Martin has pointed out in promotional materials, the Mako was specifically designed with modularity in mind, allowing for the "rapid integration of mission-specific elements like warheads and seekers."

Further, Lockheed specified that this modular design fully embraces the concept of open system architecture, meaning the Pentagon would not be beholden to the firm for future upgrades or updates. This is in keeping with force-wide Pentagon initiatives to field a new generation of weapon systems and platforms that are easier (and cheaper) to upgrade over decade-spanning service lives that are common for many of today's military technologies.

Making hypersonics affordable?

One of the biggest challenges facing the laundry list of hypersonic weapons in active development for the US military is cost. In 2021, the Defense Department projected that some of America's hypersonic missiles may cost as much as $106 million per weapon — more than the purchase price of a brand-new F-35 — leading many to argue that these missiles simply aren't economically viable.

As a result, significant efforts to reduce the overall cost of these weapon systems have been underway for some time, with more recent assessments out of the Congressional Budget Office now projecting the per-unit cost of another Lockheed Martin-sourced hypersonic missile, the AGM-183 ARRW, at roughly $15-$18 million a piece.

And Mako continues this pursuit of cost savings by leaning into new additive manufacturing — or 3D printing — technologies. The Mako missile's guidance section and fins are all produced through this additive manufacturing process, which Lockheed claims is ten times faster than traditional production methods while coming in at just 1/10 the cost.

Lockheed Martin has not disclosed the price point for this weapon, but it would certainly be predicated on projected order size, which would be impossible to assume at this point, with no contract yet in place for any branch to purchase this new weapon.

READ MORE FROM SANDBOXX NEWS

• Navy wants to add decoys to its F-35s in preparation for a near-peer conflict
• SOCOM and Marines will get new machine gun that breaks the mold to replace old classic
• Video: The wild story behind America's rocket-powered C-130s
• Russia and China are gaining ground on the US in Latin America, US commander says
• Navy brings in consulting company to improve its submarine production — but it should be careful

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Paris trains came to a halt, delaying athletes and tourists ahead of the Olympics opening ceremonies. Authorities are looking for the suspected arsonists who sabotaged the Paris Games.

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The Midwest Princess Tour initially kicked off in September 2023 and with the singer's viral success, has since been extended into six legs worldwide. The "Hot to Go!" singer still has a few concert dates remaining in her 2024 North American leg before heading to Europe for eight shows. After her European stint, Chappell Roan will return to North America for a few festival appearances and an extension of her tour through October 2024.

Chappell Roan recently announced that she would extend The Midwest Princess Tour with additional dates in 2024. This includes appearances at the All Things Go Music Festival on September 28 in New York City and September 29 in Columbia, Maryland. Roan will also perform in Franklin, Tennessee, on October 1, Rogers, Arkansas, on October 2, and Council Bluffs, Iowa, on October 3. To close out the 2024 tour, Chappell Roan is making two appearances at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on October 5 and 12.

We've got you covered if you're looking for how to get tickets to Chappell Roan's 2024 tour. Here's our breakdown of The Midwest Princess Tour 2024 schedule, purchasing details, and price comparisons between original and resale tickets. You can also browse ticket and concert details on StubHub and Vivid Seats.

• See also: Outside Lands tickets | Taylor Swift tickets | Paramore Tickets | Gracie Abrams tickets | Olivia Rodrigo tickets | Stevie Nicks tickets | Billie Eilish tickets | All Things Go tickets

Chappell Roan 2024 tour schedule

Including 12 shows in North America, there are still 21 concert dates remaining in Chappell Roan's 2024 tour. All but three of her upcoming concerts in North America are part of music festival appearances. Chappell Roan's 2024 European tour takes her across six countries for nine shows, closing in London on September 21. The final date of Roan's 2024 tour is currently scheduled to be on October 12 at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas.

All concert times are listed in local time zones.

Need travel arrangements?

• Flights & hotel: Booking.com | Expedia
• Flights: Booking.com | Expedia
• Accommodation: Booking.com | Expedia | Airbnb
• Parking: Spot Hero | The Parking Spot

How to buy tickets for Chappell Roan 2024 concert tour

You can purchase original tickets for Chappell Roan's 2024 tour on Ticketmaster or for her festival appearances through each festival's respective personal site. However, this year's demand is extremely high for the hit artist's shows, so the number of remaining original tickets is limited.

Tickets for The Midwest Princess Tour's upcoming 2024 shows can be purchased through verified resale ticket vendors such as StubHub and Vivid Seats. But, it's important to note that these sites don't sell tickets for all music festivals and international dates where Chappell Roan will be performing.

How much are Chappell Roan tickets?

Many of her upcoming performances are at music festivals with other high-profile headliners, so tickets to Chappell Roan's 2024 tour are relatively expensive. Most of her 2024 concert dates have already sold out of standard original tickets, and those that remain are generally pricier. For instance, the least expensive standard original ticket still available is $226 for her Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco.

You may find better luck with prices and availability through resale ticket platforms. On StubHub, the cheapest tickets for Chappell Roan's 2024 tour range from $127 for her Montreal show on August 2 to $1,695 for her Amsterdam concert on September 4, though the latter is a major outlier in the prices. Generally, the prices on StubHub fall around the $225 to $350 range.

Vivid Seats offers comparable prices for resale tickets to Chappell Roan's 2024 tour dates. The least expensive tickets on Vivid Seats range from $207 for her Council Bluffs, Iowa, show on October 3 and Austin performance on October 12 to $776 for her Hinterland Music Festival appearance on August 4. Like StubHub, however, the lowest prices on Vivid Seats generally fall around $200 to $300.

Who is opening for Chappell Roan's tour?

There are no confirmed opening performers for Chappell Roan's upcoming 2024 tour dates. However, since many of her concerts are for music festivals, she'll be appearing in the lineups alongside many high-profile artists. For instance, her Austin City Limits Music Festival appearances in October 2024 have her shows booked alongside Blink-182.

Will there be international tour dates?

There are 10 international tour dates scheduled for Chappell Roan's remaining 2024 shows. These include one show in Canada and nine concerts in Europe. Here's a breakdown of Chappell Roan's upcoming 2024 international tour dates:

• Montreal, QC, Canada – August 2, 2024
• Berlin, Germany – August 31, 2024 (tickets go on sale on August 1)
• Paris, France – September 3, 2024
• Amsterdam, Netherlands – September 4, 2024
• Manchester, England – September 13, 2024
• Glasgow, Scotland – September 15, 2024
• Dublin, Ireland – September 17, 2024
• London, England – September 19, 2024
• London, England – September 20, 2024
• London, England – September 21, 2024

Медиа: image / jpeg