• A new Pentagon report said its troops earn more than most of their full-time civilian counterparts.
• It said that after one year of service, the top 70th percentile of enlisted earners get about $1,000 a week.
• But that figure includes far more than base pay, which Congress recently voted to raise significantly.

A Pentagon report said its troops often earn more than their civilian counterparts and would stand to lose out if they were to leave the service.

"Our military compensation package is strongly competitive with the civilian labor market," it wrote in its review for military compensation, which is released every four years.

The report comes just a month after Congress voted to raise basic pay for US troops by 4.5% across the board, citing concerns about recruitment difficulties and food insecurity among soldiers. Junior enlisted troops, who hold rank equivalents of E-1 to E-4, received an even bigger raise of 14.5%.

Many of these troops were earning less than $30,000 a year in basic pay, and the bill passed in December aimed to raise their salaries to that level.

However, the Pentagon uses a different metric that extends beyond basic pay, which it calls regular military compensation. This includes benefits such as tax advantages and housing and food allowances.

By that measure, the Defense Department's new report found that "military pay among Junior Enlisted Personnel is higher than 90th percentile of earnings for civilians with similar education and experience."

"Basic pay is a blunt and costly instrument," the report said. "And should be used only when there are system-wide problems, such as widespread retention and recruiting shortfalls, which cannot be solved more efficiently with other policy instruments."

Its findings relied largely on a benchmark that compared two things: the 70th percentile of compensation for enlisted soldiers and the 70th percentile earnings for full-time civilian workers with the same education.

The report said that for enlisted soldiers with one year of service, the top 70th percentile received about $1,000 a week in regular military compensation.

Meanwhile, the report listed the 70th percentile of civilian earners as needing 10 years of work experience to get $1,000 a week.

The Pentagon said that for enlisted soldiers with 10 years of service, the top 70th percentile of earners gets $1,500 a week.

On the other hand, the 70th percentile of officer earnings stands at $1,500 a week for those with one year of service, going up to nearly $2,500 a week for those with 10 years of service.

It compared those earnings to the 70th percentile of civilians with college degrees, whom the report said consistently earn about $200 to $300 less a week.

Overall, the report said that enlisted personnel earn more than 83 out of 100 civilian workers with the same education and experience, and officers earn more than 76 out of 100 civilian workers with the same background.

The Pentagon mostly recommended "quality-of-life" improvements instead of a pay bump. It asked the military to look more into expanding its retirement savings programs, providing better childcare access for serving parents, and asking its personnel to move less often to avoid hurting the careers of soldiers' spouses.

In its budget overview for the 2025 financial year ending September 30, the Defense Department said troop pay and benefits make up about 30% of its total budget request for $850 billion.

In the new report, the Pentagon said its current pay structure is mostly working.

"Recent retention is strong, recruiting has significantly improved, and favorable comparisons between military and civilian pay suggests that levels of basic pay are more than adequate," it said.

• Sephora is embarking on the largest capital project in its history — a complete redesign of its stores.
• Sephora CEO Artemis Patrick said the redesign would change how its North American shops look.
• She said the refresh aimed to provide a consistent consumer experience across all stores.

Sephora is betting big on its brick-and-mortar strategy by giving its entire fleet of North American stores a facelift.

The LVMH-owned beauty retailer, which operates over 2,700 stores in 35 countries, will revamp the design of all its North American stores in the next five years, CEO Artemis Patrick said at the National Retail Federation's Big Show on Monday.

Patrick said it will be the "largest capital project for Sephora in its history." She added that while some stores will only see minor changes, others can expect "major redesigns."

She said the company talked to "millions of consumers" and used heat maps to understand its customers' shopping habits.

One thing the retailer is rethinking is gondolas — stand-alone islands in its stores that display products from one particular brand. She said that the gondolas are "quite expensive."

"We're not a cheap date," Patrick said. "And we don't want our brands to be spending a ton of money on building these amazing fixtures, and then it's not productive and doesn't work out."

Instead, she said that Sephora was testing out a new layout format focused on Sephora's four key product categories — makeup, skincare, fragrance, and hair care — which would make updating stores easier.

Another change shoppers can expect to see is the location of the beauty studios, which will be moved to the sides of the stores.

"We talked to our millions of consumers, and the reality is, they didn't want their makeup being done in the window," she said. "Not shocking."

Patrick said that Sephora is also rethinking the section near the checkout counters where the mini sizes of products are placed.

She said that with Sephora's staff billing a fourth of customers via mobile devices around the stores, the minis section could be broken up and moved to the front of the stores instead of near the checkout counters.

She added that the redesign, as a whole, aimed to give Sephora customers in different regions a consistent experience.

"One of the things that was really, really important to us was ensuring that no matter what, where you are, whether you are in our Soho store, you're in Boise, Idaho, or you're in Vancouver Island, that experience is the same no matter where you go," she said.

She added, "Because we do believe we have that consistency with our beauty advisors, but maybe not necessarily in all our retail stores."

Sephora contributed heavily to LVMH's "selective retailing" division. In the first half of 2024, ending June 30, the division raked in $8.6 billion in revenues and saw a 7% increase in profits from recurring operations compared to the year before.

Its biggest competitors in the US include the cosmetics store chain Ulta Beauty and department store chains Nordstrom and Macy's. Macy's recently announced that it plans to shutter 150 stores by the end of 2026.

Representatives of Sephora declined to comment in response to a request from Business Insider.

• Cameron Diaz says she spent her 10-year break from acting "trying to stay alive just like every other mother."
• But she's set to make a return to Hollywood in the Netflix movie "Back in Action."
• Diaz joins a long list of celebrities — like Tom Brady — who have unretired.

Cameron Diaz was busy being a mother during her 10-year break from making movies.

In a video uploaded onto the "Still Watching Netflix" channel on YouTube, which goes behind the scenes on Netflix shows, Diaz spoke about what she had been up to during her hiatus.

"I was not keeping up with any kind of training," Diaz, 52, said. "I did nothing public."

The actor — known for films such as "Charlie's Angel" and "Vanilla Sky" — added that she "said no to everything," although she did start a wine company.

"That was what I was putting most of my focus on, if I was doing anything other than just sort of being a mom and living my day-to-day," Diaz said. "And that was pretty much it. I'm just trying to stay alive just like every other mother. I'm just trying to keep it going."

Diaz married Benji Madden of the rock band Good Charlotte in 2015. They welcomed their daughter, Raddix, in 2019 and their son, Cardinal, in 2024.

In an Entertainment Weekly interview in 2018, Diaz said she was "semi-retired" as an actor, before clarifying she was "actually retired." Per her IMDB page, her last role was in 2014's "Annie."

During Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit last year, Diaz shared that her decision to stop acting was something she "had to do."

"It felt like something I had to do to reclaim my own life. And I just really didn't care about anything else. Nobody's opinion, nobody's success, no one's offer, no one's anything could change my mind about my decision of taking care of myself and building the life that I really wanted to have," Diaz said. "It really comes to: What are you passionate about? For me, it was to build my family."

Diaz is set to return to acting in the Netflix movie "Back in Action," which premieres January 17 and also stars Jamie Foxx.

She joins a long list of celebrities who have unretired — most notably, Tom Brady.

Six weeks after retiring from the NFL in 2022, Brady announced he was unretiring in a post on X.

"I'm coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa," Brady wrote. "Unfinished business. LFG."

More recently, in December, Jim Carrey, 62, walked back on his comments about coming out of retirement because he was strapped for cash.

"I said I'd like to retire, but I think I was talking more about power-resting. Because as soon as a good idea comes your way, or a group of people that you really enjoyed working with and stuff, it just — things tend to change," Carrey told Comicbook.com.

A representative for Diaz did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.

• China is loading up on soybeans amid US trade war fears.
• China's soybean imports rose 6.5% in 2024, hedging against potential Trump trade policies.
• Intensifying US-China trade tensions could hit the soybean trade, impacting US farmers and rural economies.

China is stockpiling more than semiconductor chips amid its trade war with the US.

Last year, China imported a record 105.03 million metric tons of soybeans — a key crop that was embroiled in Donald Trump's tariff war with China during his first presidency.

China's import of US soybeans, in particular, also spiked last year, rising 6.5% from 2023, according to Reuters' calculations of official customs data.

Buyers from China — the world's largest soybean consumers — were likely stocking up on the crop to hedge any geopolitical risks ahead of Trump's second term, analysts said.

Trump has threatened to put 60% tariffs on all Chinese goods during his second presidential term, igniting fears of an intensification in trade tensions.

"If the US ramps up tariffs on Chinese imports, China could target US agricultural imports as retaliatory tariff countermeasures," Rajiv Biswas, an international economist and the author of "Asian Megatrends," told Business Insider.

"US soybean imports are likely to be a key target for China's retaliatory tariff measures due to the very large scale of China's soybean imports from the US," he added.

The power of the soybean market

The US is the world's second-largest soybean producer after Brazil. It accounts for about a quarter of China's import of the oilseed, which it typically uses for animal feed.

During his first term as president, Trump slapped heavy tariffs on Chinese imports.

In response, China imposed 25% tariffs on US agricultural produce, including soybeans, sending American soybean exports to China sharply lower.

The tariffs on some of these farm imports were waived ahead of the US-China trade deal in January 2020.

Impact on American farmers

A replay of retaliatory tariffs during Trump's second presidency could hit US soybean farmers.

"In a scenario where China imposes retaliatory tariffs on US soybeans in 2025, the impact would again likely be a substantial economic loss for the US soybean industry," said Biswas.

A study from the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association shows that a new trade war would result in an "immediate drop in corn and soy exports to the tune of hundreds of millions of tons."

"Brazil and Argentina would claim the lost market share, which would be extremely difficult for American growers to reclaim in the future," the two associations said in October, cautioning against a trade war.

There isn't enough demand from the rest of the world to offset a major loss of soybean exports to China, they added.

A trade war would create a "ripple impact across the US, particularly in rural economies where farmers live, purchase inputs, use farm and personal services, and purchase household goods," wrote the two agriculture trade associations.

As it is, Chinese soybean importers have diversified their sources since Trump's first presidential term, with Brazil a major beneficiary of the trend.

Any decline in Chinese soybean demand — made worse by the country's ongoing economic downturn — would also weigh on the trade in a well-supplied market.

"Although a Trump presidency could reignite US-Mainland China trade tensions and potential Chinese tariffs on US soybean exports, we anticipate that the expected decline in Chinese demand will mitigate price impacts," BMI Research wrote last week.

• LinkedIn is a social network for professional networking and career development.
• Microsoft acquired LinkedIn nearly a decade ago for a whopping $26.2 billion in cash.
• LinkedIn is free, but a subscription version called LinkedIn Premium offers additional features.

Like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and a dozen others, LinkedIn is a social network. And like other social networks, it's owned by a big tech company: Microsoft.

But unlike most social networks, LinkedIn is a professional networking site, designed to help people make business connections, share their experiences and resumes, and find jobs.

Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion in cash. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said at the time that the social network would complement Microsoft's business-focused software, such as Microsoft Office 365, the suite of productivity programs.

Like many tech companies, LinkedIn has had its ups and downs in the post-pandemic years. LinkedIn Premium earned $1.7 billion from subscribers in 2023, executives revealed on a Microsoft earnings call. However, the job cuts that have plagued the tech industry didn't spare the networking site; LinkedIn laid off hundreds of employees in 2023 and 2024.

But despite financial turbulence at the company, LinkedIn is still a valuable networking site used by millions of people and companies all over the world. Here's what you need to know about using the platform:

LinkedIn essentials

Despite the professional focus, LinkedIn is quite similar to social networking sites like Facebook. It's based on principles like connecting to friends (or, in the case of LinkedIn, "connections,"), posting updates, sharing and liking content, and messaging other users.

LinkedIn also puts a professional spin on ideas you know from Facebook. Your profile, for example, becomes a resume, complete with work experience, accomplishments, recommendations, and referrals from colleagues.

The site also offers things you won't find in other places, like a full-featured career board, where you can search for and apply for jobs.

Many employment services are now compatible with LinkedIn — when applying for a position, you may be able to share your LinkedIn profile, which sometimes means you won't need to painstakingly enter your work experience into a long online form.

If you're new to LinkedIn, here's a quick tour around the site.

A quick tour of LinkedIn

• Home is akin to Facebook's news feed. Here you can see posts made by other LinkedIn users, and make your own posts that others can see, like, share, and comment on. Like Facebook, you can limit your posts to just connections in your network, or share your thoughts with everyone.
• My Network is where you can see your existing network of connections, and search for LinkedIn users to invite to join your network. You can also see existing invitations you've received from others.
• Jobs is a comprehensive career site. You can search for and apply for jobs, get information about companies you're interested in, and much more. You can set up notifications and get emails when there are new job postings.
• Messaging leads to an instant messaging platform you can use to chat with people in your network. You can also use it to send messages to people outside your network with something called InMail, if you subscribe to certain tiers of LinkedIn Premium.
• Me is where you can find your profile, which is akin to your resume. Here, you can show your career history by posting your work experience, accomplishments, education, current location, and more. If you have a LinkedIn account, this should be as polished as your actual resume, as you can expect professional connections and recruiters to look at it.

What you can do with LinkedIn

It should be clear that LinkedIn is a tool you can use to enhance your professional networking and job searching activities.

Many people use the site to grow their contacts and find career opportunities, and the Jobs section of the site is a powerful tool for finding and applying for jobs. There are settings on LinkedIn that let you alert recruiters that you're actively job searching as well.

Some people use LinkedIn to enhance their professional reputation by making posts in the news feed, and commenting on other people's posts.

Like most other tech companies in recent years — including Microsoft and its new Copilot tool — LinkedIn has increasingly focused on AI products. LinkedIn has unveiled its own AI-powered writing assistant that can generate personalized suggestions for your profile.

LinkedIn Premium

LinkedIn Premium is a subscription version of LinkedIn that adds a number of additional features, such as online professional development classes, insights into who's viewing your profile, and the ability to instant message anyone on LinkedIn, even if they're not in your network.

LinkedIn Premium offers four types of plans with different price points, depending on your needs. Premium Career is for professionals and job-seekers looking to further their careers, while Premium Business, Sales Navigator, and Recruiter Lite are for employers, businesses, or sales professionals.

The most popular plan, LinkedIn Premium Career, costs $39.99 for one month, or you can purchase an annual package for $239.88. You can also try a one-month free trial.

• Israel and Hamas have reached a multiphase cease-fire and hostage agreement, negotiators announced.
• People in Israel and the Gaza Strip gathered to celebrate the news of the long-awaited accord.
• The tentative deal comes after 15 months of bloodshed that left tens of thousands dead.

Israel and Hamas have reached a tentative agreement to stop the war in Gaza, the White House announced Wednesday, a first step towards an end to 15 months of fighting that left tens of thousands dead in the Middle East.

As news of the long-awaited cease-fire deal reached Tel Aviv and the Gaza Strip, people gathered to celebrate what they hoped would be the end of hostilities and the anticipated return of their family and friends held in Hamas tunnels or Israeli prisons.

'Complex' multiphase agreement

Set to take effect on January 19, the complex cease-fire deal includes a phased approach. Lasting six weeks, the first phase consists of a "full and complete" cease-fire, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the release of hostages held by Hamas, US President Joe Biden said Wednesday.

Israel said it would reduce the number of forces operating in the Gaza Strip and expected to fully withdraw its military presence in a later phase of the deal. Hamas agreed to initially release nearly three dozen Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel but has not confirmed when the final hostages will return home.

Biden added that women, the elderly, and the wounded hostages would be released as part of the first phase, as well as American hostages being held in Gaza. Seven Americans are being held hostage in Gaza, three of whom are presumed to be alive.

To ensure both sides adhere to the terms of the cease-fire agreement, diplomats from the US, Qatar, and Egypt said they plan to create a "follow-up mechanism" to track reports of violations.

"We expect that the parties will adhere to the agreement and stay committed … but we know that these kinds of agreements are very complex and will have some issues down the line," Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said.

'A permanent end of the war'

Over the next six weeks, Biden said negotiations between Israel and Hamas will continue to work out the second phase of the cease-fire deal: a permanent end of the war in Gaza.

"There are a number of details to negotiate, to move from phase one to phase two," the US president said. "But the plan says if negotiations take longer than six weeks, the cease-fire will continue as long as the negotiations continue."

Biden added that Palestinians can return to their homes in all areas of Gaza as officials work to get humanitarian assistance into the war-torn territory.

In a possible third phase of the deal, Biden said the remains of hostages who have been declared dead would be returned to their families, and "a major reconstruction plan for Gaza will begin."

Palestinians rejoice in Gaza Strip

Photos and video taken in the Gaza Strip captured celebratory cheers and gunfire as Palestinians crowded the streets after learning that this could be the end of the humanitarian crisis that has gripped the Gaza Strip and forced the vast majority of them from their homes.

Israel's war against Hamas has leveled neighborhoods and led to the deaths of at least 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

Some gathered outside al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, a medical facility in central Gaza that doubled as a displacement camp that was frequently targeted by Israeli attacks. The Israeli military said they believed the complex concealed a Hamas command center.

One of the celebrants, Alaa Abu Karsh, told CNN that the news of the cease-fire was a "very big surprise for the Palestinian people and the whole world."

"We wish many people could be celebrating this moment with us, but they are now in a better place," he said.

Protest-turned-celebration in Israel

Ahead of the announcement of the cease-fire agreement, thousands of Israeli protesters gathered outside the country's defense ministry to call for the return of the hostages still being held in Gaza.

The remaining hostages have been held for 466 days in abject conditions in Gaza after being seized by Hamas fighters during the Oct. 7, 2023 terror rampage into Israel.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant condemned National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom were against the hostage deal and threatened to quit the government if it was approved.

"It is neither Jewish, nor Zionist, nor humane," Gallant said at the rally.

However, the protests soon turned to celebrations as news spread to Tel Aviv that the cease-fire and hostage deal had been reached.

Demonstrators were seen embracing and crying as they held their picket signs depicting their friends and family still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Divided on hostage deal

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a volunteer-based organization, said the agreement is a "significant step forward" to bring Israeli hostages home, expressing "profound gratitude" to the US and international mediators involved in brokering the peace deal.

"Since November 2023, we have been anxiously awaiting this moment," the organization said in a statement, "and now, after over 460 days of our family members being held in Hamas tunnels, we are closer than ever to reuniting with our loved ones."

"However, deep anxiety and concerns accompany us regarding the possibility that the agreement might not be fully implemented, leaving hostages behind. We urgently call for swift arrangements to ensure all phases of the deal are carried out," the group continued.

Though a majority of Israelis support the peace deal, the Tivka Forum, a right-wing organization advocating for the release of hostages, said they believe the agreement includes steep concessions, like the release of Palestinian prisoners, that could compromise Israel's national security and its leverage against Hamas.

"The proposed deal endangers the hostages and endangers the State of Israel," the organization said in a statement. "It is high time we stop the immoral surrender to terror, and demand that all the hostages be released at once, unconditionally and immediately."

The forum added: "Our only option is to win this war and to remove any incentive to ever attack Israel again."

World leaders react

World leaders reacted with messages of hope for peace.

The peace deal came less than a week before Biden leaves office and US President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House, with both administrations taking part in the negotiations.

"In these past few days, we have been speaking as one team," Biden said, as his administration will work to implement the deal while the Trump administration will work to carry it out.

António Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, emphasized the importance of implementing the deal and getting humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

"It is imperative that this ceasefire removes the significant security and political obstacles to delivering aid across Gaza so that we can support a major increase in urgent lifesaving humanitarian support," Guterres said.

Netanyahu had yet to officially announce that Israel accepts the agreement announced by Biden and Al Thani on Wednesday, saying that some final details are still being agreed upon. The Israeli prime minister said he will release a statement "after the final details of the agreement, which are currently being worked on, are completed."

Hamas said in a statement that the cease-fire was "the result of the legendary resilience of our great Palestinian people and our valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip."

• A judge in Manhattan denied the Alexander brothers bail in their sex-trafficking case on Wednesday.
• The denial followed a contentious hearing over whether the three brothers are dangerous or a flight risk.
• The judge criticized a lawyer who argued a woman can't be incapacitated if she can still stand up.

A judge in Manhattan denied bail on Wednesday for the Alexander brothers in their federal sex trafficking case, meaning they will remain jailed in Miami pending trial.

Oren and Tal Alexander were luxury real-estate agents in Miami Beach and Manhattan before they and Oren's twin, Alon, were indicted in December. The three have denied wrongdoing and have pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges.

The bail denial by US District Judge Valerie E. Caproni followed a contentious three-hour hearing, during which one defense lawyer argued that the brothers were no longer "orgying" and another said a woman can't be incapacitated if she can still stand up.

That latter claim sparked a harsh retort from the judge.

"That is nonsense," Caproni told a lawyer for Oren Alexander, interrupting his attack on a key piece of evidence — a 2009 video showing either Oren or his twin, Alon, having sex with a woman that the government alleges was incapacitated.

"I'm just telling you, if that's your argument, you lose," the judge told the lawyer.

The testy exchange was begun by Deanna Paul, a defense lawyer for the twins' older brother, Tal, who told the judge that the sex-trafficking indictment is based on weak evidence.

The indictment alleges that for 10 years starting in 2010, the siblings conspired to use their wealth and prominence in the luxury real estate world to rape or assault more than 40 women, mostly in Manhattan and Miami and often through the use of the drug GHB.

Halfway through Wednesday's hearing, which the brothers did not attend, Paul mentioned that key prosecution evidence — the 2009 video. She criticized its probative value, telling the judge it "shows the lack of force" during a consensual sexual encounter.

"In my view, having sex with a woman who is physically incapacitated is basically rape," the judge responded, citing the prosecution's description of the video.

The judge asked prosecutor Andrew Jones to describe the video more fully, which he then did publicly for the first time. He called it a "trophy" tape that the government had seized as evidence, and said it depicts one of the twins having sex with a woman he said the government has not spoken to.

Jones said he wasn't sure if the video shows Oren or Alon, but that as it begins, "one of these very stone-cold sober defendants sets up a tripod."

"There's a woman on the bed. She's naked," Jones continued. "When she tries to speak, it's incoherent. She is mumbling," and she appears unable to move, he told the judge.

After the alleged rape, "she manages to stand on the floor, but then collapses back on the bed," the prosecutor said the video shows.

Later in the hearing, the video was mentioned again by a lawyer for Oren Alexander, Richard Klugh.

He referred to the woman in the video as "the sexual partner" of either of the twins and "the woman who stood up immediately after having sex."

He said prosecutors are misrepresenting evidence when they say the woman was unable to speak, given that "she was mumbling."

"You cannot call someone incapacitated who is able to stand up," he added — at which point the judge called his assessment "nonsense."

At the end of the hearing, Caproni rejected defense arguments that the siblings were neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk, and that, as Klugh put it, "there's been no more orgying. They're married."

She also turned down a $115 million bail package and a promise that the three would live together in Florida on home confinement. The home would have an in-house security team, window sensors, and an alarm system, the defense lawyers had said.

Caproni said her denial was based in large part on federal appellate case law from New York's Second Circuit that bars judges from accepting a two-tiered bail system where only wealthy defendants can spend money for 24-hour monitoring by an in-house security team.

"I have real problems with that," she said. "In the Second Circuit, if the only way I can mitigate danger to the community is to create a private jail, then I can't do that."

Caproni set the trio's next court date for January 29.

• Biden delivered his farewell address to the nation on Wednesday, days before he leaves office.
• Biden warned of an oligarchy taking shape in the US and a "tech industrial complex."
• He also said AI posed opportunities and risks and that the US must lead the way over China.

President Joe Biden delivered stark warnings for the American people during his farewell address to the nation Wednesday night, capping a 50-year career in politics less than a week before his one-term presidency comes to an end.

Biden highlighted some accomplishments of his term, including the passage of major climate legislation and a gun-safety law. But he also said he wanted to warn the country about "the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked."

"Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead," he said, adding that the wealthy needed to "pay their fair share of taxes" and play by the same rules as everyone else.

Biden also said he was concerned about "the potential rise of a tech industrial complex" that could pose real dangers for the US, citing a "concentration of technology, power, and wealth."

"Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling, editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact checking," Biden said, seemingly a reference to Meta moving away from third-party fact checkers. "The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit."

Biden said artificial intelligence posed both opportunities and risks for American society, security, and the economy.

"But unless safeguards are in place, AI could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation. We must make sure AI is safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind," he said, adding, "And as the land of liberty, America, not China, must lead the world of the development of AI."

Biden's remarks on AI came a day after he signed an executive order to speed up AI infrastructure projects in the US. On Monday he also announced new chip rules aimed at advancing AI development in US-allied countries in an effort to counter China.

At the start of the address, Biden briefly addressed the Gaza cease-fire agreement that the White House had announced earlier on Wednesday after more than a year of conflict in the area.

Biden said the plan was developed and negotiated by his team and would largely be implemented by President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration. "That's why I told my team to keep the incoming administration fully informed, because that's how it should be — working together as Americans," he said.

A senior administration official said in a call Wednesday evening the Biden administration worked for several months on the terms of the negotiation with officials from Egypt and Qatar, but in its final days, members of Trump's administration joined the discussions to help finalize the agreement. The official also said the transition from one president to the next helped to create a deadline for the negotiations.

In his message on Wednesday, Biden also emphasized his belief in and the importance of safeguarding American institutions and democracy.

Trump is set to be sworn into office on January 20, kicking off his second term in the White House.

Biden's presidency is ending after he dropped out of the presidential race last year to serve a second term amid concerns about his age and mental acuity.

• As Malaysia enters a period of political stability, its new dream is to become a regional tech hub.
• Investments and startups are flowing into the country, but it's still early days.
• Despite its last tech mega-project failing, insiders told BI they see a winning plan this time.

Kean Wei Wong's hands snapped from the wheel as we hit the highway in the midday rain.

His sedan, a Malaysian-made Proton S70, kept cruising on its own, flowing with the traffic snaking into Kuala Lumpur.

The bespectacled 28-year-old, a former insurance salesman, was taking me for a spin of what he and two college friends were selling: a plug-and-play dashcam that uses AI to drive your family car.

Their company is Kommu, one of the 4,000 Malaysian startups the federal government hopes will form a key pillar of a new Asian tech boom. As the nation exits an era of political turmoil, founders like Kean say they're hopeful.

"The younger generations are stepping up," he said as he crossed his arms, letting the car do the work. "We're no longer thinking of survival. It's more like we're in an innovation phase."

Born from years of tweaking open-source code, Kean's software controls limited steering and acceleration. It's nothing that EV makers like Tesla aren't already selling, but he and his buddies custom-engineered their product, made with Chinese phone parts, for Malaysia's national auto brands.

Their pitch is that for $800, the owner of a $10,000 hatchback can plug in Kean's dashcam via two cables and get partial self-driving.

Kean is unsure if their product is legal, though he said they haven't seen trouble from authorities and secured prize money from a government-affiliated competition.

"It's like a gray area. Malaysia isn't a very regulated country yet," he said. "That's why there are opportunities for startups like us."

Off to a good start

A political reckoning saw Malaysia cycle through five prime ministers in six years, until Anwar Ibrahim, the current prime minister, squeezed through the November 2022 national polls through a coalition.

As the dust settles, more than a dozen local tech insiders told Business Insider that Malaysia feels like it's on the cusp of a new chapter. Anwar champions the idea of the next era in the nation's economy, rallying his government for an all-out push to develop Southeast Asia's version of Silicon Valley.

The prime minister described Malaysia's new effort as "a clear break from the past," saying in May that the country had missed opportunities for tech investments in previous years.

Malaysia is banking on more than just stability. It commands vast reserves of land and water, useful for facilities like data centers run by Intel, Nvidia, and ByteDance. US-China tensions and the Ukraine war brought a wave of investors looking to park funds in new havens. And Malaysia's popular but spatially constrained neighbor, Singapore, is contending with surging living and business costs.

Anwar's government is touting Malaysia as an appealing alternative, announcing a plan in April to extend financial support, visa access, and job benefits to foreign startups moving in. State money, including the sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, is offering $27.6 billion for all local ventures over the next five years.

"It's different. Because this time, the government isn't doing too much," said Tan Eng Tong, a startup advisor who runs an education center for tech workers in Malaysia. He spent the 1990s building his career in Silicon Valley with Seagate and Hewlett-Packard.

Tan believes Malaysia's last tech mega-project in the 1990s was the result of a government trying to force a revolution. Then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad cleared land for global companies to settle down, dreaming of transforming greater Kuala Lumpur into an IT powerhouse.

But many of the prized multinationals eventually used their new Malaysian bases for low-cost labor in manufacturing and outsourcing. When a BI reporter visited Cyberjaya — a development near the capital meant to house the world's hottest startups — in 2022, the largely residential area was filled with abandoned business hubs and quiet malls.

5,000 startups by 2025

Now, the country is trying a new approach. Its semiconductor industry, largely based in the state of Penang, already houses Intel and Texas Instruments. Officials have announced a plan to bring in $100 billion in additional investment for the sector, without specifying a deadline.

Anwar is continuing the prior administration's goal of producing 5,000 local startups and five unicorns by 2025.

Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, the Belgian-Malay CEO of Cradle Fund, the government's agency supporting early-stage firms, said the country now has about 4,000 startups. The overwhelming majority are located in the capital and the state that surrounds it, Selangor.

But Vanhaecke says Malaysia's true near-term goal is to get on the map and have Kuala Lumpur join Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore on global lists like Startup Genome's ecosystem ranking.

Singapore and Indonesia have enjoyed the lion's share of venture capital activity in Southeast Asia. In 2023, they secured 651 and 165 deals, respectively, according to data from the investment database PitchBook.

Malaysia recorded 71 deals that year, and the total annual value of its deals has never reached $1 billion, per PitchBook. The total value of deals in Singapore has eclipsed $9 billion annually in the last three years.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, a government agency tasked with attracting tech investment, is trying to give foreign startups a "soft-landing zone" in Malaysia through coworking spaces.

The agency told BI that since 2016, it has partnered with 23 locations that have serviced about 600 startups. These firms are promised low business costs and potential access to government and private sector financing.

Malaysia opens its state funds to startups

Noor Amy Ismail, an analyst asked by the Malaysian government to assess the local VC scene in 2023, said she studied South Korea's 2014 tech drive for her recommendations. There, government funds set the stage, then petered off as private investors poured in.

Amy advised Malaysian officials to do the same.

"That is what our venture capital road map is trying to address, to get more corporate investors on board to support," she said.

State and national funds, which have long dominated investing in Malaysia, have been opening their coffers to startups.

One founder, Jimmy How, said state executives were far more risk-averse 10 years ago when he started his affiliate marketing company.

"Back then, guys like Khazanah wouldn't even look at startups like us," How said. Khazanah, Malaysia's main sovereign wealth fund, earmarked $1.3 billion in 2023 for startups and venture capital over the next five years.

How's company received an investment from Penjana Kapital, a national venture program, during a Series C funding round in 2023.

Gokula Krishnan, the founder of Vircle, a financial literacy app for kids, said his firm received a seed investment from Khazanah in 2023. It helped convince him to stay in Malaysia instead of leaving for Singapore.

"Talent is relatively cheap. Available office space is cheap. Cost of living is supercheap, even compared to Vietnam or Indonesia," he said about Malaysia. "I don't see any other country in Southeast Asia that has this mix."

No more 'shit-hole state of mind'

Khailee Ng, an energetic Malaysian with a mane of black hair flowing down to his shoulders, is perhaps the biggest name in Kuala Lumpur's venture capital scene. He's a managing partner with the US venture firm 500 Global, which has seeded at least six unicorns in Southeast Asia since 2014.

Malaysia, burdened by a history of infighting and policy reversals, has for too long wallowed in a self-defeating attitude — a "shit-hole state of mind," he said.

But Ng said he's seen far less of that among entrepreneurs in the last two years. "They're getting funding, they're kinda seeing that things are working. I think a lot of tech startups are starting to be open to the idea that something good will happen," he said.

His team analyzed 198 local startups from January 2023 to June 2024 and found that 33 were profitable, with at least 20% annual growth and $5 million in revenue.

Of that group, 11 had over 60% growth and $10 million in annual revenue.

"I was shocked," Ng said, adding that 500 Global has since invested in five of those 11 firms.

Stronger currency boosts purchasing power

In Puchong, a town about 10 miles south of Kuala Lumpur, entrepreneurs Amirul Merican and Chor Chee Hoe were preparing just after dawn to meet their startup's new landlord. They're looking to move into a factory to expand production at their firm, Qarbotech, by 50 times.

In a garage space on the outskirts of the capital, their workers hauled tubs of grounded carbon to be heated into a patented liquid via a dozen or so kitchen microwaves.

That liquid is their product, a spray that Amirul and Chor say boosts crop yields for rice paddies and vegetables through improved photosynthesis.

Amirul said the last two years of political stability were a boon for their expansion plans.

Malaysia's stronger currency has made purchasing American equipment cheaper — like a giant industrial-level microwave they bought to replace their kitchen appliances.

The ringgit has strengthened by over 3% against the dollar over the past year, peaking with a 13% gain against the dollar in September.

"That's crazy," Amirul said of the gains in September, when they bought the microwave. "We have a stronger currency, more international companies looking at Malaysia."

Quelling the brain drain

One of Malaysia's long-term challenges is quelling a brain drain to Singapore, Australia, and the West.

More than 1.1 million Malaysians lived in Singapore in 2022, about three-quarters of whom were skilled or semi-skilled workers.

Jayant Menon, a senior fellow who studies Asian trade and investment at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said if Malaysia does not fix issues like its talent exodus, the tech push could become a collection of short-term investments spilling over from the US-China trade war.

Amy, the analyst asked to assess Malaysia's tech scene, said the government should work on bringing middle-class female talent back into the workforce.

About 53% of Malaysian STEM graduates in 2021 were women, far higher than the global average of 29%.

"But the moment they enter the workforce, that number drops to about 43 to 44%," Amy said of how many working STEM professionals are women. Middle-income Malaysians are often under pressure to care for both their children and retiring parents, and many women choose to take on that role since they earn 33% less than men in the country, she added.

"Naturally, the women will stay at home," she said. "But we have all those women who we put on scholarships stuck at home."

Malaysia could also struggle with educational gaps for its future workforce.

Nearly a quarter of Malaysia's 17-year-old students failed math in the 2023 national exams, while another 28.9% scored a D or E grade, according to the Education Ministry.

The country has been grappling with inconsistent education policies, debating whether to offer science and math classes in English, Malay, or other mother tongues for the past two decades. Singapore's education and government are primarily in English, a decision that helped make the city-state a business hub.

On the global front, Malaysia must also overcome a hit to its reputation from a major 2015 corruption scandal, in which officials funneled $4.5 billion from its sovereign wealth fund 1MDB into their own pockets.

Kean, the founder who's building self-driving software, is aware of those potential pitfalls. But he said that for entrepreneurs like him, the only option for now is to keep going.

Since April 2022, Kommu says it has sold 400 dashcams, mostly to car enthusiasts. The company's next phase of development is creating software that can navigate to destinations and know when to exit highways.

His team is unsure where Kommu can take its dashcam or where their exits lie. But he hopes that a way up could come from local automakers noticing their work and reaching out.

"I think any entrepreneur will tell you that the best time to start is now," he said.

Correction, January 16, 12:45 p.m. SGT: An earlier version of this story misspelled a source's name. He is Kean Wei Wong, not Kean Wei Kong.

• Nate Anderson said he's disbanding Hindenburg Research after completing all its outstanding projects.
• Hindenburg, a short-seller founded in 2017, gained fame for its forensic financial research.
• The firm impacted major companies and plans to share its tactics publicly.

Nate Anderson, founder of the short-selling firm Hindenburg Research, is tapping out.

On Wednesday, Anderson wrote in a post titled "Gratitude" on the firm's website, "I have made the decision to disband Hindenburg Research. The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on," including reporting multiple cases to regulators.

"Building this has been a life's dream." But, he said, "the intensity and focus has come at the cost of missing a lot of the rest of the world and the people I care about."

Anderson launched Hindenburg in 2017 and rose to prominence in 2020 with a report saying that electric truck manufacturer Nikola Corporation had exaggerated and misrepresented its products to investors. The stock tumbled 11% in a single day, and Anderson was off to the races.

Other targets of Hindenburg's negative research and short-seller activity included Clover Health, Adani Group, and Icahn Enterprises. In each instance the entity in question saw sharp stock losses immediately after publication. The Adani Group situation was especially notable, because the market reaction to the firm's research resulted in tens of billions of dollars of lost net worth for one of Asia's richest individuals.

Unlike typical investors that seek to capture returns from rising stock prices, short-sellers bet on declines. Hindenburg carved a niche for itself by publishing negative research, often focused on highlighting what it argued to be fraudulent or misleading corporate behavior, while also positioning itself short beforehand. It's unknown how much money the firm brought in overall from its short bets.

Anderson said in his message that the firm's work held some of the most powerful companies accountable for their actions.

"Nearly 100 individuals have been charged civilly or criminally by regulators at least in part through our work, including billionaires and oligarchs. We shook some empires that we felt needed shaking," he wrote.

In the next six months, Anderson wrote that he plans to make the firm's tactics public through open-source materials and videos on their investigation process.

Anderson and representatives from Hindenburg didn't immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

• Pete Hegseth faced intense questioning over his comments about women in combat roles.
• Hegseth walked back his opposition but said he'd order a review of gender-neutral standards.
• The military does not have a quota for women in combat roles as Hegseth had suggested.

President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, walked back his outspoken opposition to women serving in the US military's combat jobs as he faced intense questioning from lawmakers on Tuesday.

Hegseth, an Army veteran of Iraq and Fox News host, had built a large following with blunt commentary that criticized female troops and claimed standards had been lowered to help them. But in the Senate hearing, he signaled he wouldn't attempt to ban women from combat roles, a backtrack that may have been necessary to get enough votes.

Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican and Iraq veteran whose support has been seen as pivotal, asked if Hegseth supports women continuing to serve in combat roles.

"Yes, exactly the way that you caveated it," Hegseth said. "Yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high, and we'll have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded in any one of these cases."

Hegseth said that if he's confirmed by the GOP-led Senate, he would initiate a review of gender-neutral standards within the Pentagon for combat jobs held by female service members.

Hegseth had been a vociferous critic of the 2015 lifting of combat exclusions for women.

"I'm straight-up just saying we should not have women in combat roles," Hegseth said in an interview after Trump's re-election in November. Combat roles include jobs in the infantry, artillery, and special operations, among others.

"They're gonna change the standards, they're gonna push the quotas," he continued during the interview. "They pushed that under Obama in a way that had nothing, zero to do with efficiency… with lethality," he said.

The military does not have a quota requirement for women who fill combat roles and Hegseth's claims to the contrary provoked a confrontation before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"Commanders do not have to have a quota for women in the infantry," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, said during questioning. "That does not exist."

According to Military.com, almost 700 female Marines currently serve in infantry jobs, over 700 serve in the Navy's submarine forces and nearly 4,000 in the Army hold combat-related jobs. Roughly 98% of the Army's armor and infantry jobs were held by men as of 2020.

Since opening ground combat jobs to women in 2015, critics have contended that women who passed notoriously grueling training is a result of lowered physical standards, putting combat missions at-risk of catastrophe.

Ground combat roles were opened to female service members only after years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan in which women routinely found themselves in a grey zone, operating outside the wire at a time when restrictions on women in combat at times burdened units with bureaucratic red tape.

In the hearing, Hegseth emphasized his focus would be on the Defense Department's warrior ethos and making troops and the arms they carry even deadlier, implying that his earlier opposition to women stemmed from concern over fair and rigorous standards.

"Our standards will be high, and they will be equal — not equitable, that is a very different word," Hegseth said in his opening statement. "When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense."

Since women began attending sought-after training schools, allegations have popped up about unequal treatment. Military news site Air Force Times reported in 2021 concerns from a female student at the Air Force's special operations course who questioned whether course standards were lowered for her.

The US Army has repeatedly said it did not lower standards for female soldiers at Ranger School, over 100 of whom now wear its coveted tab on their sleeve.

• Drake sued his own label, UMG Recordings, Inc, alleging defamation.
• He accused the label of approving and publishing Kendrick Lamar's diss track, which the suit said included false and dangerous allegations.
• UMG said it is fighting the case to protect other artists for "having done nothing more than write a song."

Drake filed a lawsuit against his own label, UMG Recordings, Inc., amid his ongoing beef with Kendrick Lamar.

The rapper, whose full name is Aubrey Drake Graham, accused Universal Music Group of approving and publishing Lamar's diss track "Not Like Us," which the complaint says includes allegations that UMG "understood were not only false, but dangerous."

The song "falsely accuses Drake of being a pedophile and calls for violent retribution against him," according to the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday.

"Even though UMG enriched itself and its shareholders by exploiting Drake's music for years, and knew that the salacious allegations against Drake were false, UMG chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists," Drake, through his attorneys, stated in the lawsuit.

Representatives for Drake and UMG did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

UMG told The New York Times that it intends to fight the lawsuit to protect other artists for "having done nothing more than write a song."

The complaint pointed to one incident in May in which someone opened fire outside his Toronto home, striking the front door and wounding a security guard, who the lawsuit described as "one of Drake's friends."

In the days following, the lawsuit said there were two attempted break-ins at his property, one of which involved an individual who dug under the property's gate with his bare hands and "managed to yell racist slurs and threats against Drake before being escorted off the property."

The complaint underscored that Lamar was not named as a defendant. It said UMG's actions in publishing the track were the cause of the string of incidents.

The complaint further said that UMG did not help Drake when he confronted company executives about the situation.

The lawsuit is another escalation in the ongoing beef between two chart-topping rappers that started more than 10 years ago.

What began as an exchange of subtle shots and coded lyrics in their songs turned into an all-out musical brawl last year after Lamar once again declared himself the king of hip-hop in a collaborative track with rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin. In the song, he directly responded to Drake's 2023 track, "First Person Shooter."

Within a month, Drake and Lamar exchanged several searing diss tracks, at one point going beyond rap and taking shots at each others' character and personal lives.

Music critics and listeners widely saw "Not Like Us" as the final, decisive blow in the rap beef as the song received widespread acclaim and remained on Billboard's number one spot on the Hot Rap Songs chart for 21 weeks, breaking a record that was set by Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road."

The Compton-born rapper took a victory lap in June when he hosted a one-night concert in Inglewood, California, where he performed "Not Like Us" six times in a row.

The rivalry escalated in November when Drake involved the courts by filing a legal petition — which comes before a lawsuit — that accused UMG and Spotify of devising a scheme in order to make "Not Like Us" a viral hit at the expense of the Toronto rapper.

UMG previously denied the claims and called Drake's filing "contrived" and "absurd."

In a second legal petition from November, Drake attorneys' hinted at defamation claims against Universal and said that the label should have prevented the release of Lamar's "Not Like Us" due to the statements in the song.

• Teens say that TikTok has a culture that other apps can't replace.
• Many of them became emotionally attached to the community during the pandemic.
• Some teens are pushing back on the ban by seeking out other Chinese apps.

Over the past few weeks, Madeira Semins, 18, has spent a lot of time thinking about TikTok — and experiencing a range of emotions about the possibility of the platform going away.

"It's a coping mechanism for many people in my generation," Semins, who attends college in Ohio, told Business Insider. "It seems dramatic to say that I feel uncertain about what my life will look like without TikTok in it, but it really has been such a quiet influence that I didn't even realize was happening until I started to think about what I'd do without it."

Last week, the Supreme Court heard testimony on a law that requires TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell its US operations by January 19 or face a ban. Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, ByteDance plans to end US access to TikTok on that date.

While some teens say they'll simply move to other social media outlets, others are frustrated by what they see as a lack of understanding about TikTok's role in their communities, as well as overreach by the federal government.

A generation uses it to interact with the world

Like many teens, Semins and her 16-year-old sister started turning to TikTok during the pandemic when they were isolated at home. The app kept them "sane and in touch with the world," she said.

Since then, the app has become an easy way for her to connect with her peers both online and in person, serving as a source of memes and trends that it seems everyone knows.

"Losing TikTok seems like it has immense potential to drastically change the ways my generation interacts with the world and each other," Semins said.

Not just a way to pass time

Elizabeth Conley, a 19-year-old from Indiana, uses TikTok for her work with BridgeUSA, a multi-partisan student movement that promotes diverse voices in politics.

"TikTok isn't just a way to pass the time; it's been a huge tool for engaging with people on campus and raising awareness about important issues," she said. "Losing that platform would mean rethinking our outreach strategy entirely."

Conley also uses TikTok for humor and quick connection with peers by laughing over memes or popular trends. But she says the platform also helps her "discover new ideas and creative content that sparks conversations with people I care about."

Some teens are turning to RedNote in protest

Rayyan Ahmed, 19, says he uses TikTok as a "low-effort way to keep constant communication" with friends. Now, he sees his peers taking a critical look at the idea of the government banning an app.

"There's a popular sentiment about the app that the government should focus on stronger data privacy laws instead of banning one certain app," said Ahmed, who lives in New Jersey.

Some teens he knows are moving to another Chinese app, RedNote, in "defiance of the ban," Ahmed said, adding that he believes teens are moving there because the app is Chinese.

Given that, Conley wonders if the TikTok ban will have the desired impact.

"I'm not sure a ban would fully achieve its goals because people might just find other ways to access TikTok or turn to different platforms without really addressing the underlying issues," like concerns about security and the influence of social media on youth, she said.

Ahmed himself hasn't transitioned to RedNote, and said he'll likely just spend more time on Instagram Reels. Many of Semins' friends also plan to switch back to Instagram Reels, but that app has a different feel for her. Whereas TikTok was purely for her friends and peers, former teachers and adult friends of her family follow her on Instagram.

"I can't imagine myself posting TikTok-inspired reels to the same audience," she said. "Part of what makes TikTok so successful, in my opinion, is that it has always been a more casual space, and I'm not confident in Instagram's ability to integrate that playfulness successfully."

The ban could isolate disconnected teens

Jackson Jordan, 15, told Business Insider that there's no other social media platform that matches the opportunities to connect with peers that TikTok has given him.

Jordan's mom, Titania, is Bark Technologies' chief parent officer and founder of Parenting in a Tech World. She's talked with him extensively about misinformation, addictive algorithms, bullying, digital footprints, and other online dangers, but she's also allowed him to be "very active" on TikTok, she said.

Although Jordan is clear-eyed about the dangers of TikTok, he and his mother both also see the app's potential, from allowing content creators to build careers to creating connections for teens. Losing that concerns Jordan.

"This ban would further isolate an already disconnected generation of internet users, including myself," he said.

Jordan doesn't think the government should have the right to do that.

"I feel upset," he said. "It is an unfair violation of our right to free speech. Banning TikTok isn't a matter of national security; it is outright government censorship."

Some teens are ambivalent about the ban

Not all the teens that Business Insider spoke to are as concerned about the potential ban. Aidan O'Donnell, 18, has already started migrating from TikTok to Instagram Reels.

"I honestly don't care now" about TikTok's future, O'Donnell said.

Semins and her friends hope they'll spend more time offline if TikTok goes away.

With the app on all of her friends' phones, she often finds herself scrolling side-by-side as her friends do the same.

"In those moments, I often wish we were talking instead or doing something more collaborative and interactive," she said. "The app is just so addictive, and the algorithm is so personalized that it can feel almost impossible to just stop."

• About 10% of people in the world are left-handed.
• Lefties have to endure lots of little daily struggles righties might not think about.
• Swiping credit cards and cutting with scissors are just two harder tasks.

The world isn't always easy for left-handed people. While they may have the advantage in some sports, many everyday tools were designed for their right-handed counterparts.

Because only around 10% of the population is left-handed, most notebooks, scissors, and tape measures are made for righties. The placement of objects like pens and gearshifts is also typically geared toward those with a dominant right hand.

Here are 19 simple, daily tasks or experiences that can be a hassle for left-handed people.

Zipper flaps on pants block easy access from the left side.

Lefties have to reach around the flap and zip up from the other side.

If you hold a glass measuring cup in your left hand, you have to know the metric system.

Measurements in cups and ounces face right-handed users. Frequent bakers might want to invest in a left-handed version.

Writing in spiral notebooks and three-ring binders is pretty annoying.

The rings make it impossible for left-handed people to lay their hands flat on the page and write normally. Notebooks with spirals on the top or right side are much easier to use.

In general, writing on paper is tough for lefties because they tend to smear pen ink or pencil graphite as their hands move across the page.

Desks with chairs attached are very uncomfortable.

Right-handers get to rest their arms on the surface, but lefties have to keep their elbows hovering in midair.

Pens at the bank are attached on the right side.

When you pull the pen over to the left side, the cord gets in the way of what you're trying to write.

Other parts of banking are awkward, too.

Credit card machines are designed for right-handed people.

Holding a credit card in your left hand and swiping it downward in a machine feels weird, but so does switching to your right hand if you're a leftie. Luckily, many machines are tap-to-pay now.

The pen on credit card terminals is also attached on the right side.

The cord may not be long enough to comfortably write with your left hand. If you use your right hand, your signature is probably going to be less legible.

Old-school can openers only work well in the right hand.

Lefties have to reach across the can and turn the crank at an awkward angle, which is difficult. There are left-handed can openers to avoid this issue.

US drivers almost never have cup holders on the left of their cars.

Grabbing a piping hot coffee with your non-dominant hand can be a recipe for spillage.

The number pads on keyboards are on the right.

A few companies do make left-handed keyboards for those who like to hit the number keys with their dominant hands.

If you're using a public computer, there's a good chance it's set up for right-handed users.

The mouse is probably on the right side, for example.

A typical pair of scissors presents problems for people who use their left hands.

Left-handers have to angle the blade to make an accurate cut and then squeeze the two handles together in an uncomfortable way.

Lefties need special guitars.

Some, like Jimi Hendrix, simply play a typical guitar upside down.

Some vegetable peelers don't work for lefties.

If a vegetable peeler only has one sharp side, left-handed cooks may find it difficult to position the blade and get a smooth peeling motion.

Many important camera buttons and controls are always on the right.

It may take left-handers a bit to adjust to a camera's setup.

When lefties draw along a ruler, their hands cover the numbers.

The numbers on left-handed rulers move from right to left so lefties can see them clearly as they move their pens.

When you hold a tape measure in your left hand, the numbers are upside down.

It's still readable, but it's a little more inconvenient.

Power tools typically have safety and shut-off switches on the right side.

Righties have an easier time using these switches for safety and better control whereas lefties should be extra cautious.

Rectangular dining tables can be a nuisance.

Lefties are the odd person out at rectangular dining tables. To avoid bumping elbows with the person next to them, they need to be selective about where they sit. This is less of a problem at circular tables.

This article was originally published on November 16, 2016, and was last updated on January 15, 2025.

• A Chinese social app called RedNote has risen to the top of the Apple app store.
• TikTokers are flocking to RedNote as they brace for a possible shutdown due to a divest-or-ban law.
• Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House committee on the CCP, said RedNote may be the next divestment target.

A Chinese social app called Xiaohongshu is surging in the US this week. But the good times may not last, as it could become a target of the same divest-or-ban law that's plaguing TikTok, according to the chair of a US House committee focused on competition with China.

RedNote jumped to the top of Apple's app store rankings this week. Some have tied its rise to a looming TikTok shutdown, as TikTok "refugees" try out other social apps.

Like TikTok, Xiaohongshu, commonly called RedNote in the US, is owned by a company in China, a country the US government has deemed a foreign adversary. An April law requires social apps with foreign-adversary owners to divest from their US assets or effectively shut down.

Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House select committee on the strategic competition between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, told Business Insider when asked if the app is subject to the same divest-or-ban law as TikTok, that the decision would be up to President-elect Donald Trump.

"Chairman Mao's Little Red Book was instrumental in China's communist cultural revolution," Moolenaar said as part of a statement. "Today, a Chinese app of the same name wants to be the next TikTok — complete with Chinese control."

Xiaohongshu translates to "little red book."

"The good news is that President Trump has the authority under the TikTok bill to force divestment of other CCP-controlled applications that pose national security risks as well," Moolenaar added.

Xiaohongshu did not respond to a request for comment.

TikTok has previously said that it does not share information with the Chinese government and that its content-moderation efforts are run by a US-based team that "operates independently from China."

Trump has pledged to try to save TikTok from a ban. He hasn't said whether he'd take action on other apps with Chinese owners.

Xiaohongshu functions similarly to Instagram and TikTok, with commerce tools. The platform began in China but has since expanded into other parts of the world with around 300 million monthly users, per Bloomberg.

• I made Ina Garten's ravioli en brodo soup, an Italian twist on chicken noodle. 
• The soup features cheese ravioli, plus carrots, celery, and Parmesan cheese. 
• I've made over 40 of Garten's recipes, and the ravioli en brodo is one of my absolute favorites.

After making my way through Ina Garten's delicious pastas and desserts, I decided to try some of her comforting soups. 

I've whipped up the Barefoot Contessa's savory chicken chili and soothing minestrone, but the soup I've been most excited to try was her ravioli en brodo — an Italian spin on chicken noodle. 

I also decided to challenge myself and make Garten's homemade chicken stock for this dish, and it was definitely worth the extra effort. Here's how it went.

A day before I made Ina Garten's ravioli en brodo, I whipped up her homemade chicken stock.

Ravioli en brodo appears in Garten's most recent cookbook, "Go-To Dinners." She said the key to its flavor is "rich homemade chicken stock."

I usually take the quicker option because, as the Barefoot Contessa herself says, "store-bought is fine!" But since the broth is clearly the star of this dish, I decided to try her homemade chicken stock.

To make Garten's homemade chicken stock, you'll need:

• 3 (5-pound) roasting chickens
• 3 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered
• 6 carrots, unpeeled and halved
• 4 celery stalks with leaves, cut into thirds
• 4 parsnips, unpeeled and halved
• 20 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 20 sprigs fresh dill
• 15 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in half
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns (not ground)

Place all the ingredients in a 16 to 20-quart stockpot, add 7 quarts of water, and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and simmer your stock uncovered, skimming off any foam that comes to the top, for at least four hours. (I let it simmer for about six.)

Let the stock cool, then strain through a colander and discard the solids.

Garten's ravioli en brodo features the homemade stock, plus plenty of veggies.

To make Garten's ravioli en brodo for a serving of 4-6, you'll need:

• 8 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions (about 2 onions)
• 2 cups (½-inch thick) diagonally sliced carrots (about 3-5 carrots)
• 1 ½ cups (½-inch) diced celery (3 ribs)
• 1 ½ cups (½-inch) diced fennel, top and core removed
• 1 Italian Parmesan cheese rind (about 2 x 3 inches)
• 1 pound cheese ravioli, fresh or frozen
• Freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese, for serving
• Minced fresh dill or parsley, for serving
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice, for serving

I began by prepping my vegetables.

I chopped the onions, peeled and sliced the carrots, and diced the celery and fennel.

I threw my veggies in a pot and sautéed them for 15 minutes.

I added ¼ cup of olive oil to a pot placed over medium heat. Then, I threw in the onions, celery, carrots, and fennel and cooked them for 15 minutes, making sure to stir occasionally until they had softened.

Then, I added the homemade chicken stock.

I also threw in 2 cups of water, per Garten's instructions.

I threw in the Parmesan rind and seasoned the broth with 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper.

One thing I've learned in my soup-making season is that a Parmesan rind can add so much extra flavor to your broth.

As explained by Food & Wine, the Parmesan rind — which is completely edible — releases a "savory and nutty" depth as it begins to melt and also helps give soups a "silky consistency." You can store Parmesan rinds in a Ziploc bag in your freezer for up to a year, so it's always on hand whenever you need to add a little more umami to your dinner.

I brought my soup to a boil, then lowered the heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Garten says you should let the soup simmer partially uncovered.

While the soup was simmering, I prepped the ingredients I needed for serving.

I grated my Parmesan cheese and minced some dill for the soup toppings.

I also began to cook the ravioli.

I cooked my ravioli in a pot of boiling water with two tablespoons of salt for about four minutes.

Every pasta is different, so make sure to follow the specific directions on the package of your ravioli.

I drained the ravioli and spread them out on two plates.

Garten says doing this step will ensure the ravioli squares don't stick together.

Once my soup was done simmering, I removed the Parmesan rind.

It was time to serve dinner!

Per Garten's instructions, I placed the ravioli in a bowl before adding the soup.

I started with four raviolis but quickly realized I wanted more.

I poured the broth over my ravioli, then sprinkled Parmesan and dill on top — along with a squeeze of lemon juice.

There's something about this soup that just looks so elegant and impressive. The broth has such a lovely golden hue, and the pops of color from the carrots and dill give it a rustic charm.

And did I mention it smelled phenomenal?

Garten's ravioli en brodo is one of my all-time favorite recipes by the Barefoot Contessa.

I've probably made close to 40 of Garten's recipes, if not more, over the past few years, and her ravioli en brodo is easily one of the best I've ever tried. The broth is so rich and full-bodied that it really blew me away. I made this for my boyfriend for dinner one night, and he couldn't resist getting seconds (and thirds).

"A lot of broths are kind of bland or lacking, but this broth alone was just exploding with flavor," he told me.

The dill and lemon also add some lovely brightness to the soup, which pairs perfectly with the cheesy pasta. I opted for a cacio e pepe ravioli and would highly recommend it, as I loved that extra kick of pepper.

My only complaint about Garten's ravioli en brodo is that it ruined store-bought chicken stock for me. But an extra day of work is absolutely worth it for this soup, which I know I'll be making forever.

• Trump is pushing Ramaswamy to fill JD Vance's former Senate seat in Ohio, a source familiar with the matter told BI.
• Vance resigned the seat on Friday as he gets ready to become vice president.
• Ramaswamy is the co-head of DOGE and it's unclear what would happen to his role if he joins the Senate.

President-elect Donald Trump is pushing Vivek Ramaswamy to fill the empty Senate seat in Ohio if the governor offers it to him, a source familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

The seat belonged to Vice President-elect JD Vance, who resigned it on Friday as he prepares to begin his duties at the White House. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will select someone to fill the seat for two years, before a special election in November of 2026.

"Neither Governor DeWine nor our office has commented on any possible candidates for the pending appointment," DeWine's press secretary Dan Tierney said in a statement to Business Insider.

DeWine has previously said he's not interested in a placeholder. He wants someone who can win a primary and general election next year and then do it all again in 2028 to win a full term.

Ramaswamy is set to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk. Should Ramaswamy be offered and accept the seat, it's unclear what would become of his responsibilities at DOGE.

The Washington Post reported the news earlier on Wednesday. Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

• US special operators are shifting away from counterterrorism toward peer-adversary conflict.
• There are five areas the US special operations community can focus on to best do that, new research says.
• These areas harken back to the strengths of special ops in the Cold War and the War on Terror.

As the US shifts its priorities toward countering near-peer adversaries like Russia and China, its special operations forces are adapting to new challenges.

Best practices for that ongoing adaptation may lie in Cold War lessons, new research on how the US can best leverage the skills of the special operations community says.

An Atlantic Council's report on ways the US can use special operations forces in the next decade was released Tuesday and notes that "three realities" facing the Department of Defense lend themselves to leveraging American special operations forces "more in strategic competition."

US special operations forces offer critical flexibility amid stagnation in defense spending and force size and can counter aggressors elsewhere while the military prioritizes the Indo-Pacific and Europe. Special operators can also use irregular capabilities to prevent competition from turning into armed conflict.

The report's authors, Clementine Starling-Daniels and Theresa Luetkefend, argue that US special operations should return to their "roots" and Cold War practices.

"USSOF's unconventional warfare support of resistance groups in Europe; its support of covert intelligence operations in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America; its evacuation missions of civilians in Africa; and its guerrilla and counterguerrilla operations helped combat Soviet influence operations worldwide," they wrote.

"During that era, special operations became one of the US military's key enablers to counter coercion below the threshold of armed conflict," the authors added, noting they can do the same again now.

Keeping an eye on non-priority regions

Rivals and foes around the world are pulling the US military in different directions. It's facing threats from an aggressive Russia, a rising and often confrontational China, and joint challenges from increased cooperation between China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Threats from non-state actors also remain.

So where do special operations come in?

"While traditional elements of the Joint Force are likely to focus on the Indo-Pacific region and Europe, the DoD can mitigate risks and extend its global reach by leveraging USSOF for persistent, low-footprint operations in under-addressed regions," the new Atlantic Council's report says.

These areas include the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Arctic as prime examples.

US adversaries like Russia and China look to extend their presence and influence in these areas, meaning the Pentagon could use special ops to protect US interests and preserve situational awareness.

Preventing full-blown conflict with unconventional, irregular warfare tactics

To deter conflict, the US military can use special ops to up activities in the cyberspace and information environment that expend adversary resources. Some of SOF's biggest strengths are in this area, including intelligence campaigns, warping information and communications spaces, unconventional tactics that target US adversaries and create narratives favorable to Washington, sabotage, and deception.

Two prime examples could include supporting Taiwan's resilience against a potential Chinese invasion or blockade and Eastern European resistance to Russia's hybrid warfare and disinformation tactics.

During the Cold War, special operations forces conducted similar operations against the Soviet Union, bolstering resistance groups in Europe and undermining Soviet campaigns.

Skills from the Global War on Terror can be applied as well. Over the past 20 years, the US has relied on special operations for unconventional and difficult missions, including running shadowy helicopter assaults to kill or capture enemy leaders. These activities advance national security objectives.

Building connections with key allies and partners

Christopher Maier, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, said earlier this week that the other strength of special ops comes with its widespread global footprint and cultural awareness, which helps build connections between the US and its allies and partners.

Special ops leaders have long recognized that language and cultural sensitivity are absolutely critical to the force's success, but a recent watchdog report raised concerns about those skills.

Between 2018 and 2022, most Army and Marine Corps Special Operations Forces didn't meet the necessary foreign language proficiency goals.

Such skills have been vital for US military cooperation with allies in the past. Us Army Special Forces, the Green Berets, have been training and advising foreign armies and guerrillas since the early 1960s.

Similarly, US special operations cooperation with foreign SOFs is critical, the Atlantic Council paper says, and vital to building resilient relationships with partners that can help deter and deny the influence of US adversaries.

Putting the "integration" in integrated deterrence

US government and military responses to crises and conflict often need to be integrated responses, something special operations forces can help provide, the report argues.

"USSOF operations often bridge the activities of interagency and intelligence community partners, allied and partner militaries, and the rest of the joint force," the paper says, adding that special operations could be the "connective tissue."

That special operations "tissue" could connect US government departments like State, Justice, and Treasury Departments, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.

Using SOF's technological prowess to US advantage

Future warfare is expected to span across all domains, including information and cyber. As technological capabilities, such as artificial intelligence, develop at breakneck speed, special operations can play a pivotal role as a "pathfinder for technological solutions that can be scaled across the Joint Force," the report says.

Such a "pathfinder" role could include facilitating data sharing across the military and government and identifying and fielding cutting-edge technologies, especially in unmanned systems.

SOF's procurement process and culture has given it the opportunity to quickly develop and deploy innovative technologies and systems before the larger joint force.

That also sets special ops up for focusing on what the demand of future warfare could be, which could "support DoD's information and decision advantage over its competitors," the Atlantic Council report adds.

• Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai will attend Donald Trump's inauguration.
• That's not a shock — everyone else in tech is going, and Google/Alphabet already announced it was donating $1 million to the event.
• It's most definitely a sign of the times.

The tech contingent heading to Donald Trump's inauguration next week is getting bigger every day: Google CEO Sundar Pichai will be there as well, according to a person familiar with his plans.

Pichai joins a long list of Silicon Valley CEOs who plan to be in Washington when Trump is sworn in, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla's Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi. Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Apple CEO Tim Cook will also be in attendance.

It shouldn't be a surprise that Pichai will join as well. Last week, his company announced that it would be making a $1 million donation to Trump's inaugural committee — as many other tech giants have also announced.

It's also worth pointing out that when Trump won his first presidential election in 2016, he also got a gathering of tech CEOs to pay him a visit.

But that trip was to Trump Tower in New York City — before his 2017 inauguration — and most of it was primarily off-camera.

This time around, the whole point is to make sure that everyone knows you're there — and that Donald Trump knows everyone knows.

• The app Clapper has surged in downloads amid a potential TikTok ban in the US.
• Clapper is a social-video app founded in 2020 and based in Texas.
• It offers an ad-free experience and monetization for creators.

Clapper, an upstart video and livestreaming app, has soared to third place in the free iPhone app download charts. The surge comes as TikTok awaits a decision from the Supreme Court about whether it will face a ban in the US.

Clapper was founded in 2020 when the first Trump administration initially floated the possibility of a TikTok ban. Bita Motiie, Clapper's head of operations, told BI that since then, Clapper has seen spikes in user growth any time the topic has been in the news.

"We've seen skyrocketing numbers of users joining us recently due to the fact that people are actively now looking for an alternative," Motiie said.

The top trending topic on Clapper on Wednesday was #TikTokRefugees.

A similar dynamic seems to have pushed the TikTok-like app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, to No. 1 on the free iPhone apps leaderboard.

The US Congress passed a divest-or-ban law last year that will force TikTok to stop operating in the US if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, doesn't sell the app. TikTok told the Supreme Court that the app would "go dark" in the US on Sunday if the divestment deadline isn't extended. A Supreme Court decision on TikTok's future is expected this week and legal experts told BI they thought the justices would uphold the law.

"A lot of our focus right now is helping all these TikTok users join our platform and learn about the differences," Motiie said.

Clapper shares much of the same vertical video functionality as TikTok but differs in a few key ways. It's only available to users 17 or older and doesn't carry ads.

"People are being bombarded with ads 24/7 through their phones, and we want to provide a safe haven where creators can focus on that genuine connection with others," Motiie said.

Creators can earn money on Clapper by receiving gifts from other users in livestreams, group chats, and direct messages. Creators can also sell subscriptions to their content or items on Clapper Shop. Clapper takes a 30% commission from these earnings.

Clapper's content can appear rougher around the edges than some other social-media platforms. On opening the app in the UK on Wednesday morning, BI was served a video of a man seemingly getting a horrific eye injury after being hit in the face, a woman almost being gored by a bull, and sexually suggestive "thirst traps."

Users can turn off "not safe for work" content. The app also forbids sexually explicit content or nudity.

Motiie said Clapper was focused on hiring three to four additional community managers and utilizing AI moderation tools. Clapper is a small business at present, with around 20 staff based in Dallas, Texas.

A Clapper spokesperson said the company hadn't taken on any outside funding since 2023, when it raised $3 million in seed financing. The spokesperson said the company is profitable and that it is not currently seeking further investment.

Industry insiders say Clapper needs to move quickly to seize the moment

Asti Wagner, CEO of Invyted, an app that connects brands with influencers, said Clapper would need to move quickly to appeal to creators and refine its marketing to ensure its overnight popularity translates into lasting business success.

"TikTok was lucky in that it massively boomed in lockdown when everyone was on their phones," Wagner told BI.

"The 'no ads' thing is really interesting, but I don't know how long that will last," Wagner said. Social platforms, in general, tend to derive most of their revenue from ads.

Motiie said it was very unlikely Clapper would introduce ads over the next couple of years. However, that doesn't mean brands can't collaborate with Clapper creators, she added. Clapper is also encouraging brands to set up their own profiles on the app.

Gigi Robinson, a creator with more than 150,000 followers on TikTok, joined Clapper in 2020.

She's only posted four videos and grown her audience there to around 1,000 followers. However, Robinson said that in light of TikTok's precarious position, she's considering posting more content on Clapper and has been in touch with the company's partnership team to get her profile verified.

Whatever TikTok's ultimate fate is, Robinson said the potential of the app going dark has highlighted that creators shouldn't be over-reliant on any single platform for their audience and earnings.

"A majority of creators are scrambling right now," Robinson told BI. "That's going to be the lasting impact."