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• The share of borrowers applying for adjustable-rate mortgages has increased to its highest level since November 2023.
• ARMs often come with lower interest rates than fixed-rate loans. But they're also riskier.
• While an ARM can save you money, it may be safer to get a fixed-rate mortgage if you plan to stay in the home long term.

As mortgage rates rise, more borrowers are looking for ways to keep their homebuying costs down. Could an adjustable-rate mortgage be the way to do that?

On Wednesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that for the week ending April 11, 2025, the share of borrowers applying for ARMs rose to its highest level since November 2023.

"Given the jump in rates, more borrowers are opting for the lower initial rates that come with an ARM, with initial fixed rates closer to 6% in our survey last week," Mike Fratantoni, MBA's SVP and chief economist, said in a press release.

MBA's data also showed that the average fixed 30-year mortgage rate increased 20 basis points to 6.81%. So it's possible that borrowers could get a significant discount by opting for an adjustable-rate loan. But is that a good idea?

Why more buyers are shifting to ARMs

"Generally, ARM rates are lower than fixed mortgage rates, however, how much lower depends on market conditions," says Jennifer Beeston, executive vice president of national sales at mortgage lender Rate.

Beeston says that ARMs have trended closer to fixed rates in recent years, but that they're starting to diverge more.

Because ARM rates are typically lower than fixed mortgage rates, they can help buyers find affordability when rates are high. With a lower ARM rate, you can get a smaller monthly payment or afford more house than you could with a fixed-rate loan.

How does an adjustable-rate mortgage work?

With a fixed-rate mortgage, your interest rate remains the same for the entire time you have the loan. This keeps your monthly payment the same for years.

As the name suggests, adjustable-rate mortgages work differently. You'll start off with the same rate for a few years, but after that, your rate can change periodically. This means that if average rates have gone up, your mortgage payment will increase. If they've gone down, your payment will decrease.

5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage example

The most popular type of ARM is the 5/1 ARM. We'll use it as an example to show how these types of mortgages work.

The first number tells you how long you'll keep the rate you were initially given. So, say you get a 5/1 ARM with a 6.20% interest rate.

For the first five years you have the mortgage, your rate will stay at 6.20%.

The second number tells you how often the rate will adjust after the initial fixed-rate period is over. With a 5/1 ARM, the rate adjusts once a year. If over those first five years market conditions cause interest rates to rise, you'll likely end up with a higher rate when it comes time to adjust.

Five-year ARMs also come in a 5/6 variation, which means that after the five-year fixed-rate period your rate will adjust once every six months.

Are adjustable-rate mortgages risky?

Because your monthly payment can go up over time, these types of mortgages are risky.

"Personally, I am not a huge fan of ARMs unless the borrower is educated on the risks and has a firm understanding," Beeston says.

ARMs do come with some limits on how much they can change each time they adjust. When you apply for an ARM, your lender will give you a loan estimate that spells out those limits and tells you how high your payments could ultimately go.

Don't assume you'll be able to refinance your way out of an ARM if your monthly payments go too high, Beeston warns.

"People always assume if that happens, they can refinance, but if rates overall are higher or if they do not qualify to refinance, they can end up in a bad financial position," she says.

Is an ARM better than a fixed-rate mortgage in 2025?

ARMs tend to be popular with borrowers who don't plan to stay in their homes for a long time. If you sell your house before the initial fixed-rate period is over, you won't have to deal with a changing mortgage payment.

If you plan to stay in your home for longer, Beeston recommends going with a classic 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

"A 30-year fixed is fantastic for risk-averse borrowers," she says. "Not all countries have 30-year fixed loans. We are very lucky in America to have the ability to lock the rate of our loan for the life of the loan."

How much can an ARM save you right now?

How much you could save by opting for an ARM depends on your mortgage lender and your finances.

Say you get quotes from a lender that show you can get a 5/1 ARM with a 6.20% interest rate or a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 6.80% interest rate on a $300,000 loan.

For the first five years, the monthly payment on the ARM (not including taxes and insurance) would be $1,837, while the monthly payment on the fixed-rate mortgage would be $1,955.

This is just an example. ARM rates can vary a lot, so if you're interested in seeing if an ARM could save you money, your best bet is to talk to a lender.

You can also keep an eye on Business Insider's daily mortgage rate coverage for the most up-to-date info on current ARM rates and how they compare to fixed-rate options.

• North Korea sent troops and weapons into Russia's war in Ukraine.
• Top US officials have suggested it could receive help with missiles and submarines in return.
• China appears to also be involved in a transactional relationship with Russia, a top admiral said.

Since North Korea went all-in on supporting Russia's war in Ukraine, sending weapons and even troops, US officials have been speculating what it could be receiving in return.

Last week, two top US military leaders in the Indo-Pacific region suggested that support could mean a host of potential wins for Pyongyang, from military capabilities to sidestepping sanctions.

At a US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the challenges and threats in the Indo-Pacific region, North Korea, Russia, and China were important topics of concern, particularly the deepening relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow.

The strategic partnership between the two countries, US Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, Commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and US Forces Korea, said in his opening statement, has significantly shifted the status of the theater.

The relationship has presented new opportunities for North Korea to circumvent international sanctions, fill gaps in its military, and pursue a new status on the world stage.

That includes a share "of space, nuclear, and missile-applicable technology, expertise, and materials" from Russia, the general added, some of which will enable advancements in North Korea's arsenal over the next few years.

North Korea's nuclear forces have already been improving. The country has developed new intercontinental ballistic missiles for its nuclear warheads. Further support will only accelerate advancements.

Other expected gains, Brunson and US Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo, the leader of US Indo-Pacific Command, said, include air assets, surface-to-air missiles, and submarine technologies.

These would be in addition to the valuable experience in modern war North Korea is receiving, as well as critical intelligence on how its weapons and troops perform in battle. North Korea's heavy artillery and tactical ballistic missiles have seen use in Russia's brutal conflict against the Ukrainians.

The South Korea Institute for Defense Analyses recently presented new research indicating that Pyongyang may also be receiving billions of dollars for its part in the war.

Potential North Korean gains from its involvement are part of a significantly larger "transactional symbiosis" between North Korea, Russia, and China, Paparo said, "where each state fulfills the other state's weaknesses to mutual benefit of each state."

In China's case, it provides support for Moscow and potentially receives help with its submarine program, which would be important in a maritime conflict in the Pacific with the US Navy.

"China has provided 70 percent of the machine tools and 90 percent of the legacy chips that have enabled Russia to rebuild its war machine," the Indo-Pacific commander said. "And then coming back to China is potentially submarine quieting help, as well as other help in some of the areas where Russia is strong."

Neither Beijing nor Moscow's embassies in the US immediately responded to Business Insider's request for comment.

Ukraine imposed sanctions on several Chinese companies on Friday for supporting Russia in the making of Iskander missiles. A day earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alleged that China was supplying Russia with weapons.

China and Russia have been building a partnership against the West, particularly the US, for years now, strengthening military ties.

North Korea and Russia formalized their emerging partnership last year through a mutual defense pact and Pyongyang's offer to deploy thousands of combat troops to fight alongside Moscow's forces in Kursk. Those soldiers, some of North Korea's better forces, have seen massive losses in combat.

Prior to the deployment, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for apparent discussions on an arms deal. Intelligence indicates Russia received thousands of artillery shells and missiles from North Korea.

The arms agreement has caused concern in the US and South Korea. Seoul had been sending Ukraine artillery indirectly through the US, which effectively put both North Korea and South Korea on opposite sides of the war.

• Meta will be one of the co-sponsors of the 2025 White House Easter Egg roll.
• Corporate sponsorships are expected to be a larger part of the 2025 event than past editions.
• Meta is facing an ongoing antitrust trial just blocks away from the White House.

First Lady Melania Trump on Friday announced that Meta will co-sponsor the 2025 White House east egg roll blocks away from a courthouse where the company's future continues to hang in the balance.

According to Trump's office, Meta will sponsor an "AI-Powered Experience and Photo Opportunity." Other tech companies, including YouTube, which is owned by Google, and Amazon, will also sponsor parts of the event that dates back to the 1870s.

A spokesperson for the first lady deferred comment to the White House Historical Association. CNN reported in March that all funds raised by sponsorships would go to the private nonprofit that helps preserve and educate the public on the White House's history.

The White House previously expressed interest in having more explicit corporate sponsorships, leading to the possible conflicts of interest that Meta's presence will underline.

The Federal Trade Commission is currently prosecuting an antitrust case that alleges that Meta "cemented" its monopoly after acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014. If the FTC wins, they could ask that the social media giant be forced to sell two of its biggest acquisitions.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified over 10 hours in DC Circuit court this week. He has repeatedly tried to curry favor with Trump and his orbit. The New York Times reported that Zuckerberg has visited Mar-a-Lago and the White House multiple times. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Meta CEO held multiple meetings with top White House officials, including chief of staff Susie Wiles.

Meta donated $1 million ahead of Trump's inauguration amid a rush by companies to get closer to the incoming administration. Separately, Meta settled a lawsuit with Trump for $25 million.

In a statement before the antitrust trial began, Meta expressed confidence that it would prevail. Legal experts have said the FTC has a high bar to reach, especially since federal officials previously OKed Meta's acquisitions when they occurred.

Meta and the White House Historical Association did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• I was excited and terrified about becoming a father.
• My wife told me that we were raising an adult since we were not going to be there with him forever.
• Now, he is an adult, and like me, he is prioritizing his family.

When I got the news that I was going to be a father, a lot went through my mind. First, there was excitement and happiness. We weren't trying to have a baby, but we were also not trying not to. Then came fear and even doubt.

My wife once told me that we were raising an adult, not a child and that we wouldn't always be there for him.

So, from a young age, we raised our son to be his own person, to think for himself and make decisions. We taught him critical thinking, time management, and making choices with money. He didn't like team sports, so he chose taekwondo. He learned discipline, and it provided him with a personal challenge, which was in keeping with his personality.

He now has a daughter

He's grown up now. After graduating from a magnet high school technology program, he joined the Army, was awarded an ROTC scholarship, and was commissioned as an officer. He's now a construction manager, married, has bought his first house, and is a father to a little girl.

My son's job is just a 10-minute commute. He has the flexibility to come home for lunch or work from home sometimes. When he comes home, Jena runs to the door and calls to her daddy. No matter how long he's worked or how tired he is, he picks her up and excitedly says, "Hello, beautiful."

From my point of view, we have a lot to be proud of. But there are some who would say that I failed as a father. That I didn't raise my son to be a "man" because I didn't make him play football or because I interceded when there were issues in Scouts with bullies. I actually had a scoutmaster tell me that "boys will be boys," believing that fighting would somehow make them men.

Many in society will often look down on men who do not hold to their masculine ideals. A television host criticized a husband recently for grocery shopping with his wife. Some believe firmly in having only traditional gender roles. Where men are providers and women the caregivers.

I set the example that family came first

When my son was born, I decided that my family would come first. That meant prioritizing family time, being home for dinner, school events, after-school and weekend activities, and vacations.

There were times when I made career choices that weren't the best for me but were the best for my family. It meant taking jobs that weren't the highest salary but were stable, a short commute and prevented us from having to move to pursue a career. Turns out I was leading by example.

Like me, my son prioritizes family time, goes shopping with them, and pushes strollers. He goes on vacations, camping trips, and picnics in the park. He parents his daughter when his wife goes to yoga. And has even gone to work with nail polish after Jena decided to give him a manicure.

Maybe being a man means more than being physically tough and emotionally vacant. Maybe being masculine can mean making tough choices and not being defined by others.

The other night, my wife and I were at our son's house; it was nearly dinner time. A car backed into the driveway. Our granddaughter, now 3, ran through the kitchen, threw open the door, and shouted, "Daddy!" From outside, we heard a man say, "Hello, beautiful."

• Honeywell developed two new systems designed to make takeoffs and landings safer.
• Surf-A alerts pilots about potential runway collisions.
• Smart-X lets pilots know if they are taking off or landing on a taxiway instead of a runway.

Honeywell Aerospace Technologies has developed a series of new systems that alert pilots to impending danger during takeoffs and landings. They say the technology could help make aircraft collisions and near-misses a thing of the past

I recently took a demonstration flight aboard Honeywell's Boeing 757 test plane, showcasing its new Surface Alert, or SURF-A, and existing Smart-X systems.

Both systems are built into the plane's avionics software and warn pilots directly, giving them precious extra seconds to react.

"Pilots are our last line of defense. They are the ones who can help mitigate a disaster. These are tools, a third set of eyes to help increase their situational awareness," Thea Feyereisen, a human factors expert who helps lead research and development at Honeywell Aerospace, told Business Insider in an interview.

According to a recent study by Boeing, the minutes surrounding an aircraft's takeoff and landing account for nearly two-thirds of all deadly aviation accidents, but only 6% of a flight's total time.

Here's a closer look at my test flight.

The test flight started with an early morning briefing at the Signature Aviation private jet terminal on the northern edge of Atlanta's international airport.

The Honeywell team gave us an overview of its new SURF-A tech, which is expected to receive FAA certification next year. The system warns pilots if a plane is already on or about to cross the runway they are approaching.

The flight would also demonstrate their existing Smart-X technology that lets pilots know if they are about to take off or land on a taxiway or if there won't be enough runway to land safely.

Both systems are available as software upgrades on aircraft equipped with Honeywell's popular enhanced ground proximity warning systems, or EGPWS.

After the briefing, we boarded Honeywell's Boeing 757-200 test plane.

The Honeywell jet was the fifth 757 ever to roll off Boeing's assembly line. It entered service with Eastern Airlines in 1983 and was acquired by Honeywell in 2005.

Since joining the Honeywell fleet, the jet has clocked over 4,000 flight hours on more than 1,000 test flights.

It's set up to test everything from weather radars and in-flight WiFi to sustainable aviation fuel. The jet has also been fitted with an extra engine pylon on the starboard side of its fuselage to test turbofan and turboprop engines.

After boarding, the Honeywell team gave the passengers a pre-flight safety briefing.

Unlike most Boeing 757s, the aircraft features built-in air stairs that can be deployed at airports without the capability of supporting a jetliner of its size.

Here is my seat for the demo flight.

Seat 1B is an old-school domestic first-class seat immediately in front of the bulkhead.

In front of the seat is a large LCD screen connected to four cameras in the flight deck.

The four cameras let the passengers see the cockpit displays and gave us a pilot's eye view of the flight.

Soon, we were off the ground and en route to an airport in Albany, Georgia, about 180 miles south of Atlanta.

The test flight consisted of half a dozen simulated test scenarios, with a Honeywell-owned King Air turboprop test plane serving as the offending aircraft that triggered the safety alerts.

During the short 20-minute flight south, I had the chance to stroll around the cabin.

Here's one of the plane's two Rolls-Royce RB211 turbofan engines, each producing a whopping 40,000 lbs of thrust. The 757 has a reputation among pilots for being an absolute hotrod, even when loaded with passengers and cargo.

Further back in the cabin, a group of Honeywell engineers monitored the plane's systems.

Even though this was a demo flight with media, there was still precious data that could be collected.

The first scenario involves a plane on the landing runway.

SURF-A warned the pilots repeatedly with aural and visual signals about "Traffic on Runway" when it detected the King Air sitting at the end of the runway.

The scenario simulates how the system might have provided additional reaction time in situations like the February 2023 incident, in which a FedEx Boeing 767 cargo plane nearly landed on top of a Southwest Boeing 737 attempting to take off from the same runway in Austin.

The test flight also showed SURF-A alerting when a plane crosses the runway during takeoff.

This scenario is much like the incident from January 2023 when a Delta 737 had to slam on its brakes after an American Airlines jet crossed the runway from which it was trying to take off.

SURF-A is also designed to alert a landing plane if an aircraft is crossing the runway.

It could help prevent incidents like the Southwest Airlines flight that narrowly avoided colliding with a private jet crossing the runway as it descended to land at Midway Airport in Chicago in February.

Honeywell also showed off its Smart-X runway awareness and alerting system, or RAAS.

The system, already on the market, alerted pilots when they tried to take off from and land on a taxiway.

In March, a Southwest Airlines jet mistook a taxiway at Orlando International Airport for a runway and attempted to take off from it. The Boeing 737 accelerated to 70 knots before being ordered by air traffic control to stop.

Smart-X also alerts pilots when their landing approach is at too high an altitude or they've gone too far down the runway to stop safely.

After landing, the system will also call out the maximum distance the pilots have left to stop before the runway ends.

After completing the test scenarios, I had the chance to ride in the cockpit jumpseat for the short flight back.

We touched down safely back in Atlanta on Runway 28, concluding our two-hour-long test flight.

After our flight, the Boeing 757 was refueled and prepped for more demonstrations.

The aircraft spent a few days in Atlanta before returning to its base in Phoenix.

• AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps are bracing for cuts, throwing members' career planning into doubt.
• Volunteers told BI they thought their service would be a launchpad for future opportunities.
• Many said they don't have clear backup plans, especially with the difficult job market.

Javon Walker-Price was squashed in a van on Wednesday afternoon, driving from Nebraska to Iowa, when the news came: His group of AmeriCorps members was being sent home.

By Thursday, Walker-Price's whole crew had to be on planes. They were only three months into a ten-month service contract and had been preparing to go to Minnesota to fix cabins and trails at a campground.

"It happened so fast," Walker-Price, 20, said. "One minute we were working, and the next minute we were told to pack our bags and come back to Iowa as soon as possible to get on the flight. It took everybody by surprise."

Walker-Price is just one of the thousands of AmeriCorps volunteers who are dealing with — or bracing for — the firings that have decimated many other federal agencies. Members of the White House DOGE office visited both AmeriCorps and Peace Corps headquarters earlier this month, throwing the agencies' futures into question. A representative for the Peace Corps told BI that while the agency is subject to the federal hiring freeze, "volunteer recruitment activities continue," and no staff have been cut.

Founded in 1993 and 1961, respectively, AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps enroll hundreds of thousands of young adult volunteers each year domestically and abroad. They receive a stipend for living expenses to do a range of service work, from environmental conservation to education, in local communities. Those who complete their service can also get educational grants for graduate school or to pay off student loans. The experience is often a launchpad for a career in public service. Now, members waiting to see if they get the chop are worried their careers will falter.

"They should not be dumped out unceremoniously into a job market that is not prepared to receive them," said Curt Ellis, the CEO and cofounder of FoodCorps, a nonprofit that works with about 150 AmeriCorps members each year. A current AmeriCorps staff member said the competition in the job market "is just going to be insane for everyone."

Business Insider spoke to nine early-career AmeriCorps and Peace Corps members and full-time agency or partner organization staff about what the cuts mean for their futures.

The White House confirmed to BI that roughly 75% of full-time AmeriCorps employees were placed on administrative leave this week. The agency reportedly shut down a program that focuses in part on disaster preparedness, sending home all members and placing them on administrative leave. There's no clear timeline for when employees could return to work or be fired.

An administration official said that the staff shake-up comes because "AmeriCorps failed eight consecutive audits and is entrusted with over $1 billion in taxpayer dollars every year." Representatives for AmeriCorps did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Peace Corps rep said the agency is in "full compliance with executive orders and other presidential actions."

'I don't know what I'm going to do'

Though most of the members BI spoke with had not been cut at the time of writing, all said they're bracing for the possibility

"The writing is on the wall," a 24-year-old Peace Corps member in the South Pacific said.

"The whole AmeriCorps community that I'm involved with is just anxious about if cuts do happen, how do we pay our bills?" a 26-year-old AmeriCorps member working in Texas said. "How do we keep moving forward with our lives?"

For many, AmeriCorps seemed like a solid entryway to a stable career path — the 26-year-old said they thought of it as a "stepping stone" to a permanent job.

Meredith B., a 28-year-old AmeriCorps member in Boston, said she took her job, in part, because of a shaky labor market. "I said, 'Oh, I'll work for the government in an almost unrelated position that still employs my skills. This will be safe.'"

"They're willing to hire people who don't have much experience, and they teach you all the skills you need in a very open environment where it's OK to make mistakes and not know what you're doing," a 22-year-old AmeriCorps member in North Carolina said. "By the end, you have those skills to go into whatever other career you're trying to go into."

Now, members are wondering whether their months, or in some cases years, of service will still set them up for success.

"I wish I knew," the Peace Corps member said about his contingency plan if his job gets cut. "It's rough because a lot of the off-ramps I would've had previously have now either been cut or have been severely negatively affected."

He wanted to work for the federal government or a nonprofit organization that received now-slashed federal funding. He's worried that the few government jobs that are available will go to older people with more experience and degrees.

"They are being flooded by very, very well-qualified government workers that I cannot compete with. So right now I don't know what I'm going to do."

Meredith B. said that she doesn't have any sort of safety net, like many other people her age. All of her belongings were ruined in Hurricane Helene — what she has left fits in the two suitcases she brought with her to Boston.

"That's all the things I own in this world now, except I bought a pair of pants recently," she said.

A path forward, suddenly blocked

A former worker at the agency who served under Obama, Trump, and Biden also said AmeriCorps set young people up for a career in service.

"I've seen it time and time again," they said. "That service connected them to a lifetime of continued commitment and impact."

It's not just future jobs that hang in the balance — many members of AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps use education grants from the programs to pay off student loans or get another degree. Libby Stegger, the founder and executive director of Civic Bridgers in Minnesota, which partners with AmeriCorps, said she doesn't know what would happen to members' education awards if funding is cut.

"That is something that is very appealing to folks of all ages, and especially to folks who are early career," she said of the education grants. "Particularly for people who might otherwise not have access to those kinds of education funding opportunities, that is a tremendous benefit."

The 26-year-old AmeriCorps member said he "wouldn't even consider" grad school if his education award gets cut, and the Peace Corps member said going to grad school with the money had been key to his long-term goal of working in the federal government.

Cuts are also rippling down to students who are still in high school or college. Elizabeth Baz, 18, applied to AmeriCorps for a gap year.

"I was really hoping that AmeriCorps would kind of help me just get my life together and help me gain some more self-discipline and more life skills," she said. Baz said she still plans to take a gap year but doesn't know yet what she'll do.

The AmeriCorps member in North Carolina said it's upsetting to think that younger people won't have the same opportunities she did. The AmeriCorps member in Texas said his service made him feel more American, and he worries his family won't have that same experience.

"I have here on my desk a picture of my little nephews," he said, choking up. "And I think about all the work that we're doing now is to potentially have that same space for them to also experience whenever they're my age."

By Thursday night, Walker-Price had made it home to Virginia, but he had trouble sleeping in the quiet. He had gotten used to the sounds of his AmeriCorps colleagues, who had become more like family.

"We planned on being with AmeriCorps for 10 months," Walker-Price said, "and just being sent home immediately, now it's like, what am I going to do?"

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• The Trump administration's Ukraine peace deal faces a critical deadline, Rubio warns.
• Trump's patience is waning as progress on ending the Ukraine war remains elusive.
• US withdrawal could collapse the peace process, affecting sanctions and military aid.

President Donald Trump's negotiations to end the Ukraine war are going nowhere. Leaders from the US, Europe, and Ukraine met in Paris this week for peace talks. Russia did not participate and has signaled it's in no rush to agree to a cease-fire.

Now, Trump's top diplomat is signaling he could walk away from the table. It's a classic dealmaking technique straight out of Trump's 1987 book, "The Art of the Deal."

"We're not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday after tense meetings with European and Ukrainian officials. "So we need to determine very quickly now, and I'm talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks."

"If it's not possible," Rubio added, "then I think the president is probably at a point where he's going to say, 'Well, we're done.''

Trump, who campaigned on ending the Ukraine war quickly, wrote in his book to "know when to walk away from the table."

"The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it," he wrote. "That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you're dead. The best thing you can do is deal from strength, and leverage is the biggest strength you can have. Leverage is having something the other guy wants. Or better yet, needs. Or best of all, simply can't do without."

The book may be decades old, but it's as relevant as ever to Trump's negotiating strategies — at least according to some in his orbit.

"Many of you in the media clearly missed 'The Art of the Deal,'" Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters earlier this month in response to questions about Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs strategy. "You clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here."

Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Business Insider that "it is difficult to know how seriously to take Rubio's suggestion that the United States is ready to 'move on' if progress on ending the war in Ukraine is not in the immediate offing," because "the Trump administration's position on many policy issues changes on an almost daily basis."

"It remains unclear whether moving on means giving up on efforts to bring the war to a close, ending US support to Ukraine, abandoning the attempt to reset relations with Russia, or some combination of all three," added Kupchan. "Clearly, the Trump administration is frustrated that its pledges to end the war are not panning out."

Kupchan said Ukraine's best hope lies in striking a minerals deal with the US; those talks are ongoing.. "Kyiv has a compelling interest in convincing Trump not to walk away from supporting Ukraine, and the minerals deal can help achieve that outcome. An agreement of some sort looks likely, although its terms are still in play," he said.

Rubio's ultimatum landed just as Vice President JD Vance, meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome, expressed optimism about ending the "very brutal war." Rubio's comments from Paris, where he presented a US peace framework that reportedly received an "encouraging reception," painted a more urgent picture.

The Kremlin acknowledged "some progress" but has insisted any deal would hinge on protecting Russian interests. Rubio's explicit "matter of days" deadline suggests Moscow's pace isn't matching Washington's demands.

If the US does step back, the implications are stark. Without Washington wielding its unique leverage — the threat of tougher sanctions on Russia or cutting off Kyiv's military aid pipeline — most observers believe the peace process would likely disintegrate.

Tom Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former Biden administration official, called it "absolutely absurd" that the administration is about to throw in the towel on negotiations on the Russia-Ukraine war without even trying to put pressure on Russia. "Ukraine wants an immediate cease-fire. Putin's maximalist objectives and desire to subjugate Ukraine are the main obstacles to peace," Wright said.

Ian Bremmer, the founder and president of Eurasia Group, told BI that "US coordination on negotiations with Europe and Ukraine in Paris sends a clearer message to Putin that if he wants a deal with Trump (which has lots of long-term strategic advantages for the Kremlin), he's going to have to accept a cease-fire. Your move, Putin."

• China's air force is capable of denying US superiority in the first island chain, the top US commander in the Pacific said.
• Adm. Samuel Paparo said that China's fighter fleet, bombers, and missiles are enough to cause problems.
• He said that neither side would see air supremacy in a potential war.

China can prevent the US from achieving air superiority within the key first island chain, America's top commander in the Indo-Pacific region said.

Last week, Adm. Samuel Paparo, the head of US Indo-Pacific Command, gave China "high marks" in its ability to prevent the US from achieving air superiority in the first island chain, the strategic archipelagos in East Asia that includes Japan, Taiwan, and the northern Philippines, among other territories.

In a hearing with the US Senate Armed Services Committee, Paparo pointed to China's air force. He said that China now has 2,100 fighters and 200 H-6 bombers and a production rate for fighters that's currently 1.2 to 1 over the US.

China still operates a lot of older airframes, but the number of capable fourth-generation platforms is on the rise, as is its number of fifth-gen fighters. And the country continues to work on new aircraft designs.

"Furthermore," Paparo explained during the hearing, "their advanced long-range air-to-air missiles also present a tremendous threat." China has prioritized building up its missile stockpiles and capabilities in recent years, particularly ones capable of targeting US and allied forces and installations, including insufficiently defended airfields, in the region.

Air superiority, like the US military has enjoyed in conflicts in the Middle East in recent decades, requires securing a substantial degree of control over the skies with little interference from the enemy, meaning aircraft can operate with flexibility and provide support for other forces.

Ceding that air superiority, Paparo said, "is not an option if we intend to maintain capability against our adversaries and the ability to support our allies," especially in the first island chain.

But both the US and Chinese air forces have been rethinking what air superiority would look like in a conflict and questioning whether that is even possible for more than brief windows of time.

With both sides employing advanced sensors and long-range weapons, including formidable air defenses, permanently controlling the skies seems increasingly unlikely.

That said, the admiral explained that he has "some game," too. In a conflict, neither Beijing or Washington's forces would likely achieve air supremacy, or complete control, Paparo said.

"It will be my job to contest air superiority, to protect those forces that are on the first island chain, such as 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force," the commander explained to lawmakers, "and also to provide windows of air superiority in order to achieve our effects."

Officials and experts have often discussed what the future US Air Force strategy against China should look like, the role of unmanned aerial systems in that, and how air power could determine the outcome of a war.

Also important is considering how China's air defense systems would protect important targets, such as critical command and control centers, air bases, and radar sites.

Researchers have said that China could more easily devastate American airpower than the other way around.

Some have pointed to the importance of hardening US airbases and bolstering air defenses in the Indo-Pacific to improve the survivability of American aircraft should China launch a missile strike. Lawmakers in Washington have said the US isn't doing enough in that regard.

• I fly often and thought I'd upgrade to business class one time just to experience it.
• Instead, I fell in love and have made business-class upgrades my new normal.
• I love that I can easily sleep, get work done, and relax in comfy seats in business class.

I have visited more than 35 US states and 42 countries on four continents.

Since I have such an intense affinity for world travel, I've previously had to figure out ways to keep costs low enough so that I can continue onwards to my next adventure.

I usually book economy flights even though I've always struggled with leg space as a taller woman — my overall desire to travel superseded concerns about short-term comfort.

However, something changed last fall when I (somewhat impulsively) upgraded my long-haul flight from Zurich to Seoul to business class.

It was meant to be a one-off thing, but it's changed how I want to experience travel. I've had three long-haul flights since that "fateful" day in September ... and I've upgraded to business class each time.

I've found it's easy for me to justify shelling out extra funds for upgrades

In business class, I'm able to enjoy my long-haul journey as much as my destination. The bigger seats with ample legroom and in-air dining and flowing libations have been eye-opening.

The upgraded seat gives me room to stretch my legs and have enough space to be comfortable and productive when I have work to do, too.

Although the overall experience of business class is worth it, I find the most value in how I feel upon arrival.

The 180-degree lie-flat seats give me an opportunity to sleep (even if I can only manage a few hours). This is especially great on long, overnight flights that usually have morning or daytime arrivals.

While heading to my next destination, one of the greatest gifts I can give myself is the best opportunity to rest, relax, and recharge while on a flight. Business class gives me the comforts to do just that.

Now that I've felt the perks of business class, it's hard to want to travel any other way

The typical cost of business-class upgrades can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands (unless you use frequent-flyer or credit-card points) and may not be feasible for every budget.

Personally, I break down the cost of an upgrade by looking at the flight time. So, for example, if the flight is 12 hours, and the upgrade costs $1,000, that's about $83 an hour. To me, that cost is often worth it.

Although it took me 37 years to try business class, I don't know if I can travel in economy again, especially not for long trips.

Moving forward, for any flight longer than nine or 10 hours, I'll be trying to purchase an upgrade.

• The initial screening of jurors for Diddy's NYC sex-trafficking trial is set to begin April 28.
• In a last-minute lineup change, prosecutors had asked to call 3 prior accusers to the stand.
• On Friday, the judge said that the two with the most "explosive" accusations cannot testify.

The Manhattan judge for Sean "Diddy" Combs' coming sex-trafficking trial dealt the rap entrepreneur an important pretrial victory Friday — barring testimony by two prior accusers.

The two women, whose names were not revealed in court, would have given jurors "potentially explosive" testimony about uncorroborated prior abuse, some of it stretching back decades, US District Judge Arun Subramanian said.

The judge added that he will, however, allow federal prosecutors to call a third prior sex-assault accuser to the stand, a woman referred to as "Victim 5" who would testify using her name.

Victim 5's testimony may bolster the prosecution's arguments that Combs intentionally coerced and sexually abused four women already mentioned in the indictment, the judge said.

Subramanian's decision on accuser testimony was one of many in a fast-moving court hearing Friday.

The judge denied Combs' request to delay the start of the trial for two months. Combs also lost his bid for a much longer juror questionnaire.

In other wins for Combs, the judge ordered that the defense team can have access to all of the drafts of a memoir written by key prosecution witness Cassie Ventura.

Ventura, an R&B singer who dated Combs for a decade, will testify next month under her own name.

The judge also allowed Combs to subpoena Warner Bros for raw footage from interviews of two accusers who appeared in "The Fall of Diddy," a docuseries that aired in January on the studio's subsidiary, Max.

"GREAT JOB!" Combs wrote on an orange sticky note at the end of the hearing, passing it to lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo.

After court, Combs was allowed to turn his chair and speak briefly to his mother, Janice, who sat in the audience.

"I love you," Combs told her, smiling and sounding cheerful. "Everything is good. I'm feeling good," he told her.

"My son? He always looks good to me," Janice Combs later told Business Insider.

Prosecutors had fought hard last week to add the three new accusers to the trial witness list, arguing that their testimony was vital to the case, even though some of their sexual abuse allegations are decades old and are not part of the indictment itself.

Combs' lawyers fought against allowing their testimony, telling the judge that, taken together, the trio's "horror show" claims of being abused by Combs would be "far worse and far more inflammatory than the charges."

Not so, prosecutors had countered in court filings this week.

Anything the three newly surfaced witnesses would add to their accounts "will be no more inflammatory than the evidence that the jury will already have before it at trial," prosecutors said.

Combs' indictment cites the accounts of four female accusers who suffered "years' worth of beatings, drug-fueled coercive sex marathons, and multiple rapes," prosecutors wrote.

Since his arrest in September, Combs has denied the charges and promised through his lawyers to prove that the behavior charged in the indictment was consensual and that his accusers are financially motivated.

Federal judges often allow testimony about prior abuse

Since the 1990s, federal judges have commonly allowed sex-crime juries to hear that a defendant may have committed prior sex crimes.

Two sex assault accusers, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, were allowed to testify at the 2023 E. Jean Carroll defamation trial, at which a federal jury in Manhattan found the now-President Trump liable for sexual abuse. Trump is appealing the verdict.

In the Combs case, federal prosecutors warned the defense in early March that once the trial begins, they plan to call three additional sex assault "victims" to testify against the rap entrepreneur.

Prosecutors told the judge in court filings this week that their testimony is necessary to counter Combs' consensual-sex defense.

The indictment alleges that over the past two decades, Combs used violence, drugs, and threats to force three girlfriends and a female employee to "fulfill his sexual desires." To date, only one of the accusers, Ventura, has been named publicly.

Prosecutors allege that Combs forced his girlfriends to perform in so-called freak offs, elaborately staged and often videotaped sexual performances that could last for days and often involved hired male sex workers.

The three newly-surfaced accusers would bolster the testimony of the indictment's four alleged victims by demonstrating Combs' "history of refusing to take no for an answer," prosecutors wrote.

"Thus, when the defendant inevitably argues at trial that he had no clue these four women did not want the sexual experiences that he demanded, the Government should be able to point out that someone as practiced as he is in sexual assault surely recognized the signs of non-consent," prosecutors wrote.

The defense fought against letting the three prior accusers anywhere near the jury. Their allegations are "salacious," unproven, and stretch back into the 1980s, lawyers for Combs complained in their own court filings this week.

"The government should not be permitted to pollute the trial with decades of dirt," the defense wrote, saying the only purpose for the proposed testimony would be "painting Mr. Combs as a bad guy who must have committed the charged crimes."

Disproving the trio of accusers' claims "would require weeks-long mini-trials," the defense also complained.

If convicted of racketeering and forcible sex trafficking, Combs faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison.

Questioning of prospective jurors is scheduled for May 5, with opening statements expected May 12.

• Netflix says it hasn't been affected by economic headwinds and isn't changing its forecasts.
• A UBS report found the streamer is cheaper than its peers in terms of cost per hour viewed.
• That gives Netflix an edge amid market turbulence.

As economic anxieties mount, Netflix is looking like quite the bargain in a crowded streaming market.

During its earnings call Thursday, the streamer said it hadn't seen any major changes amid emerging economic headwinds — and it isn't adjusting its forecasts.

Co-CEO Greg Peters said subscriber retention was stable, consumers weren't shifting significantly to lower-priced plans, and the price increases unveiled in January had rolled out as expected. He added the company's cheaper, ad-supported plan — starting at $7.99 — would only add to its resilience.

"Historically, in tougher economies, home entertainment value is really important to consumer households, and Netflix is a tremendous value in absolute terms — and certainly in competitive terms," co-CEO Ted Sarandos added.

A recent report by UBS analysts lends credence to Sarandos' comments about Netflix's value.

In fact, the analysts found that, in terms of cost per hour of viewership, Netflix is cheaper than its peers.

Ad-free subscribers pay 39 cents an hour to stream Netflix, according to UBS. And ad-supported subscribers pay a mere 18 cents an hour, making the service cheaper than traditional TV.

UBS wrote that the low ratio is being driven by how much people watch Netflix. One sign of strong engagement? Viewing hours on Netflix's Top 10 lists was up 5% year-over-year in the first quarter, driven by titles like "Squid Game" and "The Night Agent," per the report.

Netflix declined to comment.

The streaming giant crushed its earnings Thursday — the first time it did so without disclosing subscriber figures — reaffirming why it has been trading like a "recession-resistant" stock. Shares are up nearly 10% year-to-date.

Beyond Netflix, streaming has generally been considered a recession-resistant sector. One financial influencer interviewed recently by Business Insider advised consumers to make use of their streaming services in lieu of going out as a budgeting hack. Other areas of entertainment may fare less well, though live music is well-positioned.

• A congressional funding shortfall is putting federal judges' safety at risk, the US judiciary said.
• The judicial branch's budget is $391 million less than requested.
• Two judges outlined their concerns in a recent letter to members of Congress.

Congress is putting the safety of federal judges at risk at a time when threats against court officials are on the upswing, the US judiciary has warned.

The federal judiciary announced Friday that a shortfall in congressional funding this year is hampering the judicial branch's ability to maintain courthouse security amid the rise in threats on US judges.

Judicial Conference secretary Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. and Judge Amy J. St. Eve, the chair of the Conference's Budget Committee, sounded the alarm in a letter last week to members of Congress serving on the House and Senate appropriations committees.

"We have significant concerns about our ability to properly secure federal courthouses given current resource levels," Conrad and St. Eve wrote in the April 10 letter.

The latest congressional appropriations left the judicial branch with an $8.6 billion budget for fiscal year 2025 — $391 million less than the Judicial Conference had requested last year.

As a result, the US judiciary said, many of the judicial branch's accounts are frozen for a second consecutive year, leaving them operating at fiscal year 2023 levels.

Funding for court security remains stagnant at $750 million, it said.

"Consecutive years of flat security funding comes at a time when threats against federal judges and courthouses are escalating, making this situation unsustainable in the current environment," Conrad and St. Eve wrote in the letter.

Representatives for the members of Congress to whom the letter was addressed did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter pointed to US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' 2024 year-end report on the federal judiciary, in which he said there had been a significant uptick in threats to the courts.

Roberts wrote at the time that over the past five years, the US Marshals Service had investigated more than 1,000 serious threats against federal judges.

"Some of these threats have necessitated additional security measures by the US Marshals Service, and approximately 50 individuals have been criminally charged in connection with threats," Conrad and St. Eve wrote to the Congress members.

The letter said that currently, 67 judges involved in high-profile cases are receiving "enhanced online security screening services" provided by the Administrative Office of the US Courts and the Marshals Service.

"In extreme cases, the US Marshals Service has been required to take extraordinary measures to ensure the safety of judges," Conrad and St. Eve wrote. They said they're also concerned about the impact of hiring freezes and staffing losses at the Marshals Service and General Services Administration on courthouse security.

Additionally, Conrad and St. Eve said that the Judiciary's Defender Services program and court staff salaries have also been greatly underfunded.

The judiciary is scheduled to submit its budget request for fiscal year 2026 this month, and Conrad and St. Eve wrote that "adequate funding of that request will be critical to mitigating the adverse impacts" of the recent budget gaps.

• China is building warships much faster than the US, a top US admiral said.
• The head of US Indo-Pacific Command said the rate of Chinese ship production to that of the US is 6 to 1.8.
• China's military buildup and modernization efforts have been a top priority for leader Xi Jinping.

China's military is outbuilding the US on warships, the top American commander in the Indo-Pacific said.

This isn't a new revelation, but the rate at which a top rival is outpacing the US in a critical area is astonishing.

Last week, the head of US Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Samuel Paparo, testified in front of the US Senate Armed Services Committee on the regional challenges, with China a top talking point.

Asked about China's ability to produce military assets, Paparo said it's building naval combatants at the rate of 6 to 1.8 to the US, roughly three times as many warships.

"And I could go through every force element that we are talking about," he added. He said the rate at which China is building fighter jets compared to the US is 1.2 to 1.

Beijing's military buildup has raised concerns among officials in Washington about what a conflict between the two powers could look like — and whether the US can catch up.

The military buildup, which Paparo suggested had seen staggering growth in recent years, said that "in the last 20 years, they have increased their military 10- to 15-fold."

China is a top priority for the military, especially INDOPACOM. Asked how much time he spends trying to plan for and anticipate potential Chinese actions, Paparo said it "consumes my duties."

In his prepared statement for the committee, Paparo said that China continued "to pursue unprecedented military modernization and increasingly aggressive behavior," citing not only its continually growing military force but also development of cutting-edge technologies, namely artificial intelligence, hypersonic and advanced missiles, and space-based capabilities.

"China is outpacing the US in testing not only these critical technologies," he said, "but also technologies from across their military industrial base."

More combat capability has enabled Chinese assertive and aggressive behavior in the region, the admiral added. That has been especially seen in disputes with the Philippines in the South China Sea, activities around Taiwan, and more.

Paparo specifically cited China's military exercises surrounding Taiwan, which he said have grown in scope, scale, and complexity in recent years and aren't just demonstrations of power but "dress rehearsals for forced unification."

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has made military reform, buildup, and modernization his top priorities throughout his time in office. He has set benchmarks for when China should be ready to invade Taiwan, fully modernized, and a world-class military. Some of those deadlines are fast approaching.

The endeavor has faced some hiccups, though, including corruption and graft across the military that has raised questions among top US officials about whether these goals are possible. The US cannot afford to bank on that though.

China's military capabilities have long been a significant concern for the US military.

Across reports on China's military power and US strategic posture in the Indo-Pacific, American defense officials have detailed Beijing's ongoing efforts to bolster its naval fleet, airpower, and missile forces.

Much has been made of China's shipbuilding empire, with its shipyards rapidly producing new and big warships, including surface combatants and aircraft carriers. China has the largest navy in the world and is the top shipbuilder in terms of capacity.

The US shipbuilding industry, in contrast, has atrophied. There are ongoing efforts to revitalize it, but experts and officials say the problems won't be fixed overnight.

Paparo and others have noted that uncrewed systems could be a stopgap answer for what the US lacks in numbers of crewed warships, and the Pentagon is pursuing attritable, affordable drones at scale. But that, too, is a work in progress.

• I tried Chili's new Big QP burger at a pop-up event in New York City targeting fast-food prices.
• The burger is part of the 3-For-Me menu, which starts at $10.99 for an appetizer, drink, and entrée.
• The burger tasted similar to a McDonald's Quarter Pounder, but was a lot bigger and more flavorful.

Chili's is starting beef with McDonald's once again.

On a sunny spring afternoon in New York City, I stepped into Chili's latest bold play against fast-food giants: its Fast Food Financing pop-up in Union Square, where the chain was serving its newest burger, the Big QP.

From its name to its ingredients, the Big QP bears striking similarities to the McDonald's Quarter Pounder, which has been on the fast-food chain's menu since 1971.

Both burgers consist of a single burger patty, two slices of American cheese, diced onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard.

The key difference between the burgers lies in the weight of the patties: the Chili's burger has 85% more beef than the McDonald's version, the company said.

McDonald's did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the Big QP's similarities to the Quarter Pounder.

Here's what it was like to attend the pop-up, and a look at why Chili's new burger is the perfect weapon to take on McDonald's in the value wars.

Chili's is narrowing in on value and taking aim at high fast-food prices.

"Value, especially for Gen Z, is no longer defined by price alone — it's about the entire dining experience," Hope Neiman, the chief marketing officer at Tillster, an ordering provider for brands like Burger King, Baskin-Robbins, and Popeyes, told Business Insider.

"That's why brands like Chili's are starting to resonate more with younger diners. At a sit-down chain, Gen Z can get more than just a meal — they're getting a place to gather, linger, and connect, all while still finding affordable menu options," she continued.

Neiman said that Chili's new Big QP taps into a "unique sweet spot" of indulgence and value, two things that resonate with Gen Z.

"Meanwhile, fast food is no longer the default value play," she said. "With inflation squeezing wallets, many diners now treat fast food as a splurge. When the cost of a drive-thru meal approaches the price of a casual dine-in, Gen Z is asking, 'Why not make it count?'"

When included in the chain's 3-For-Me meal deal, Chili's Big QP burger costs $10.99. It also comes with an appetizer like a salad or chips and salsa, a bottomless drink, and fries.

The burger with fries costs $14.39, excluding tax, at my closest Chili's in Glendale, New York.

At my local McDonald's in Brooklyn, New York, a Quarter Pounder meal with a medium drink and fries costs $14.49, excluding tax. The burger on its own costs $7.69, excluding tax.

When Chili's talks about value, they're not talking about price alone, its CMO previously told Business Insider.

"I think a lot of brands mistake the lowest price point for being [the best] value, and I don't think that's giving consumers enough credit," Chili's CMO George Felix told BI in January. "So for us, we believe value is the entire holistic experience of what you pay for what you get."

This isn't the first time Chili's has taken on McDonald's with a copycat burger.

In April 2024, Chili's launched its Big Smasher burger, which featured similar ingredients to McDonald's iconic Big Mac.

"We've always had incredible burgers on our menu, but for about a year now, we've been hearing more and more frustration from fast-food fans over rising costs," Chili's director of culinary, Brian Paquette, told BI at the time, adding that it's one of the reasons the chain wanted to deliver "some of the favorite drive-thru flavors" on its menu.

Both burgers include shredded lettuce, onions, pickles, American cheese, and a Thousand-Island-style dressing, though Chili's version has "twice the meat of a Big Mac," the company said.

When I compared the two burgers, there was a clear winner for me: I thought Chili's delivered a larger, better burger. And, when included in the 3-For-Me meal deal, I got more food at Chili's for the same price as McDonald's.

When I arrived to try Chili's new burger, I was greeted by a sign-spinner advertising the event.

I attended a media preview of the pop-up on April 15, a day before it opened to the public for a limited two-day window on April 16 and 17.

While there, I tried the chain's new burger and explored the Fast Food Financing pop-up space and adjoining "Chili's speakeasy."

The event, which was a play on financing store experiences, was located right next door to a McDonald's in Union Square in Manhattan. Well played, Chili's.

Signage throughout the event called out high fast-food prices.

One sign inside the front door read, "Stop overpaying for fast food today!" Similar signs were posted throughout the space.

Another sign directly targeted inflation prices.

McDonald's chief financial officer Ian Borden told analysts at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference in March 2024 that the chain raised US prices by around 10% in 2022 and 2023, blaming inflation.

McDonald's is taking steps to address higher-than-usual prices as people tighten their wallets by offering lower-priced meal deals.

The interactive experience involved getting approved for a gift card that would help finance a future fast food visit.

I also received several promotional materials at the event, including a brochure for Fast Food Financing that included fake testimonials about the high price of fast food.

"As an international mega-businessperson type, I figured I would make enough money for fast food. But I was wrong. Sure, I was rich — but not like, fast food rich. Thank you, Fast Food Financing, for helping me finance the tiny burger I had to get for lunch," read one review inside the pamphlet I received.

After being approved, I got to enter the Chili's speakeasy to try the new burger.

The new burger launched in restaurants nationwide on April 15, but I got to try it at the pop-up event.

The Big QP, which the chain said features "familiar fast food flavors," consists of a burger patty, two slices of American cheese, diced red onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard on a Brioche bun.

When ordered through the chain's 3-For-Me menu, Chili's said it delivers "a dining experience that's less expensive than a comparable meal at McDonald's."

The burger was piled high with toppings.

Chili's culinary director Brian Paquette said at the event that this is the first time the chain has introduced a burger with ketchup already added to it.

I thought the Big QP was a lot heartier than a McDonald's Quarter Pounder.

The burger patty was thick, juicy, and well-seasoned, while the pickles added a tart crunch. Admittedly, it tasted very similar to a Quarter Pounder, just kicked up a few notches in terms of flavor and size.

The ketchup and mustard added moisture and flavor to the burger, while the red onions added sharpness. As a huge fan of the Quarter Pounder — it's my go-to burger at McDonald's — I was extremely happy with the overall flavor profile.

The name also doesn't lie — this was a big burger. I struggled to get more than a few bites in after already filling up on chips and salsa, which are also included in the meal deal.

I had to agree with Chili's that this is an excellent deal. While you might pay more for the Big QP than the Quarter Pounder if you ordered them à la carte, the $10.99 3-For-Me deal makes the Chili's burger the obviously better value.

"Rather than relying on deals to drive short-term traffic, Chili's is delivering value through quality, portion size, and cultural relevance," Neiman told BI, calling the Big QP launch "a bold move that taps into social media buzz and generational preferences."

"It's not the cheapest burger out there, but it resonates with consumers' preferences for craveability, freshness, and conversation," she said.

• More men are getting cosmetic treatments and anti-aging procedures.
• A plastic surgeon in New York said he's seen an uptick in male clients.
• He shared the most popular treatments requested by men, from fillers to breast reduction.

Women aren't the only ones getting Botox injections.

Dr. Mark Epstein, a dual-board-certified plastic surgeon, told Business Insider he's seen an uptick in male clients over the past decade.

Where men used to make up about less than 2% of his clientele about 10 years ago, they now make up closer to 10%.

"Men are definitely getting more and more interested in taking care of themselves and looking good — it's not just for women anymore," Epstein told BI.

Age-wise, they run the gamut — 18 to 80 — requesting treatments for anti-aging and weight loss. Even facials and skin-tightening procedures, previously only performed on female clients, are seeing more male interest, Epstein said.

Epstein shared the most popular procedures men are asking for, from facial fillers to breast reduction.

Men want more hair, minus the plugs

Epstein's most popular non-surgical procedures are tied to male pattern baldness, which affects 50 million men in the US, studies suggest.

In the US, hair transplants can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000. (Or you can go to Turkey for $3,500).

Transplants can also cause scarring if not done well. Epstein believes that offices should specialize in hair transplants for clients to get the best results, not as an add-on with other treatments.

He offers a less invasive (and less expensive) option: platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, an increasingly buzzy treatment that stimulates hair growth after platelet-rich plasma is injected into the scalp.

"A lot of patients don't want to undergo a surgical procedure; they want to take advantage of PRP and all the other male hair restoration technology that is now available," he said.

Filler facelifts continue to rise

Men are becoming more interested in filler and other injectibles, whether it's for their face or penis enlargement, Epstein said.

The former is more popular in his office, with men getting Botox to smooth wrinkles and filler to make up for volume loss and skin laxity that comes with aging — a form of filler facelift that's cheaper and less invasive than a surgical one, which is nearly $12,000 on average.

Another popular non-surgical option is using "lifting threads," dissolvable sugar strands that "give a little bit of regional hike to the skin," he said.

Breast reduction is more common than you may think

Another popular option in Epstein's office is breast reduction to treat gynecomastia, or enlarged breasts in men. He's had patients ranging from their teens to their 70s, as enlarged breasts can be caused by everything from hormones and steroid use to aging.

While it's technically a surgical procedure, he said it's minimally invasive and only takes a few weeks to recover from, making it more appealing to men who want to get back into their workout routines.

Men over 40 look to eyelid lifts

Epstein's older male clients in their 40s to 60s are increasingly interested in eyelid lifts, which can reduce the appearance of aging and fatigue by removing excess skin and fat around the eye.

With over 30 years of experience in the field, Epstein said the surgery has evolved over time and is "much better than older procedures" at hiding the surgery scar and preserving the eye shape.

It's also not as expensive as a surgical facelift, costing around $3,300-$3,800 on average (though it varies on location).

Liposuction is still hot, especially in the age of Ozempic

Despite the popularity of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro, which are used for weight loss, Epstein said he's "busier every year" with liposuction clients, including a growing number of men.

Unlike weight-loss drugs, liposuction is more targeted, Epstein said. "I like to call it 'lipo-sculpture,'" he said. "It's not just removing bulk fat, it's about sculpting the body." In fact, he said his liposuction clients are usually fit or have recently undergone some weight loss.

They just want "a little bit of tweaking," such as removing fat around their midsection to reveal their muscles more.

Men want their muscles to pop

Some of Epstein's male clients are primarily focused on toning their bodies. They opt for treatments like CoolSculpting, which uses a device to freeze fat cells in certain areas, and CoolTone, which uses electromagnetic waves to stimulate muscle contraction, thereby defining muscles more.

"You really feel it's like doing 10,000 sit-ups," Epstein said.

• Dakota Meyer reenlists in the Marine Corps Reserve after 15 years as a civilian.
• Meyer said he felt compelled to return after advising another Marine on reenlistment.
• Meyer was the first Marine in 40 years to receive the Medal of Honor in 2011.

The Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer reenlisted on Thursday, returning to duty 15 years after he received the nation's highest honor for valor.

It immediately raises the question: why?

Meyer, now 36 years old, said in a statement he felt called to return to military service, this time to the Corp's Reserve component. His decision, he explained, came after a question from a Marine during a speaking event about whether that Marine should reenlist for another tour or leave the Corps.

Meyer encouraged the Marine to remain in the service.

Reflecting on his response later on, Meyer asked himself, "How could I ask them to continue to serve and sacrifice without doing it myself?"

"You've got to be who you say you are and live by the standards you expect everybody else to live by," Meyer said in a Marine Corps release on his return. "I had to look in the mirror and lay out who I wanted to be, then turn around and assess all my decisions and habits and decide if they were helping me get closer to who I needed to be."

The Marine Corps published a video on social media Thursday morning before the reenlistment ceremony showing Meyer working out with other Marines, sporting the "high and tight" haircut Marines are well-known for.

"I would say that there has probably not been a day that I've been out that I haven't wanted to come back in," Meyer told reporters during a press briefing before the ceremony.

"I finally just got to a point where I felt like I would be an asset and I felt like I could come back in and contribute," he said.

Meyer has served as an ambassador for the Marine Corps since leaving active duty and has traveled the country to speak with Marine units.

He has two children with his ex-wife, Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin.

Speaking at the reenlistment ceremony Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that he asked Meyer if he was sure. "He was. Dead sure," the defense chief said.

Meyer became an outspoken critic of the Biden administration, particularly amid the disastrous US withdrawal from Afghanistan. He knows Hegseth personally, along with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Hegseth previously served with the Army National Guard, leaving the service as a major. Gabbard is still in the reserve, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel.

"This is a guy who's put it all on the line, done the most difficult things you can imagine, testing human resolve, and yet after all of that, he's standing before us today saying 'I want to do more,'" Hegseth said Thursday. "That's an example."

Meyer was the Corps' first Marine in almost 40 years to receive the Medal of Honor.

He received the award in 2011, just two years after a brutal gunfight in Afghanistan's Kunar Province which saw five US servicemembers killed. Meyer entered an ambush zone multiple times to rescue wounded troops, which the DoD estimated saved almost three dozen US and Afghan personnel.

Medals of Honor often become mired in bureaucratic red tape throughout the often complex and inefficient military awards process, leaving some recipients waiting even longer, sometimes seeing other valor awards upgraded years later.

The official story from the Marine Corps came under question after the 2011 award ceremony. A reporter who was embedded with Meyer's unit during the gunfight said that while Meyer deserved the Medal of Honor, the Corps unnecessarily embellished some of the details to secure the award for a living recipient.

The Marine Corps challenged those claims in an official rebuttal statement, breaking down the investigation process concerning the details of what Meyer called the "worst day of his life."

• Internships are commonly filled by high school or college students.
• But graduates may increasingly be leaning on internships in a cooling job market.
• "It's harder and harder for folks to get onto the career ladder in the first place," Glassdoor lead economist Daniel Zhao told BI.

As anyone looking for a job now can probably attest, the job market is cooling.

A rising number of recent college graduates applying to internships could be a sign of these challenging times.

Careers site Glassdoor this week released its list of the best internships of 2025, based on median salary, overall reviews, and ratings of workplace factors like career opportunities, culture and values, and work-life balance.

In the report, Danny Cao, who leads the company's internship program, spoke of a trend he's seen among their own prospective interns.

"While the majority of our internship applicants are current students, I've noticed a slight increase this year in recent graduates applying for summer internships," he noted in the report. "This could potentially be a growing trend that showcases how internships are evolving into a stepping stone for not only students but also early-career professionals navigating a challenging job market."

Trainee programs and apprenticeships aren't unheard of for recent graduates. But more new grads applying for internships that are traditionally filled by students could mean early-career workers are struggling to find job prospects out of college.

"The fact that you have more of these new grads applying to internships is a sign of the slower job market and the bunching that we're getting down at the bottom of the career ladder where progress up the career ladder has slowed," Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor, told BI.

"Whether that means new grads or interns, there is this difficulty that folks are facing with getting their foot in the door in the first place," Zhao said. "So some new grads are turning to internships to get their foot in the door, whereas in a hotter job market, they would just go straight to an entry-level job."

Glassdoor's report pointed out that last year saw the most competitive season for internships since the pandemic. Applicant pool aside, a dearth of internships from employers' end is also contributing to the cut-throat competition.

"As companies have slowed down hiring, they've also pulled back on entry-level and new grad opportunities in addition to internships as well, so that's I think why we're seeing such high competition this year," said Zhao. "The slower job market overall means that companies are less willing to invest in their internship programs this season."

So what should applicants do in a highly competitive market? It's important to remember to "consider the rest of the applicant pool," Zhao said.

His advice is to look for a qualification that can differentiate you, whether it's additional project experience or even a past internship that may not be particularly on-topic but can add interesting value to your application.

"It's really important to stand out and to really try to make your application pop so that it gets that second look over from the hiring manager," he said. "Ultimately, your goal as an applicant is not to show that you are qualified for the job, but to show that you are the best candidate for the job."

• I'm a first-generation graduate student who enrolled in Columbia Journalism School.
• While there, some of my classmates were rich and didn't have to work part-time like I did.
• I struggled to fit in with the richer students, but they motivated me.

Most of my peers were jet-lagged, but I was too excited to sleep.

My Columbia University journalism school classmates and I were on a 10-day trip to Ireland for our "Covering Religion" class. We would soon meet and interview people of all faiths, spending time at churches, synagogues, mosques, and a Buddhist retreat. We'd speak to Sikhs, Protestants, Catholics, Hare Krishnas, and even the then-president of Ireland, Mary McAleese.

While my upper-middle-class peers had traveled to Europe and across the globe, my trip to the Emerald Isle in March 2009 was my first time on a new continent and only the second foreign country I had visited.

So, when my classmates and I left the airport and hopped on a charter bus to start our journey, I couldn't contain my excitement.

"I've only ever been to Canada and a handful of states," I told my seatmate, who was surprised that I had only ever visited one country.

At the time, I was a reporter at a newspaper, earning $34,000 a year before taxes and living with my parents to make ends meet. However, it still wasn't enough to cover my commuting expenses and other bills. I could never measure up to some of my Ivy League classmates.

I come from a family with not a lot of money

While my graduate school was filled with people from all different backgrounds, I found that some of my Columbia classmates took a year off to attend graduate school full time. Meanwhile, I had to continue working and attending school part-time. I couldn't afford to take an entire year off and risk not getting a job immediately after graduating — not to mention dealing with loans and interest payments.

As a first-generation graduate student, I didn't come from money. At the time, my mother was retired and living off a modest pension.

During my undergraduate years at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, there was more of a sense of parity between my peers and me. Many of the people in my friend group and I met during the summer of 2001 at an Educational Opportunity Fund program session. The program provides financial assistance and support services for kids like me who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Several of my friends and I worked on-campus jobs to help cover the costs of what EOF and other scholarships didn't cover. Many of us stayed in the tri-state area during the summers and either worked or took extra classes. I did both.

Many of my classmates were also from different parts of New Jersey with similar stories: We were either from immigrant families, the first in our families to go to college, or both.

I struggled to fit in with my Columbia classmates

By contrast, I experienced culture shock when I enrolled at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

While there were some students like me, many others I met in grad school came from wealthy backgrounds. Some were even children of diplomats. For the first time, I had classmates from all over the country and the world.

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Whereas at Rutgers, I would have theoretical discussions about journalism in certain European countries, at Columbia, I'd have real-world talks with classmates from France, Germany, and other locations about what constitutes media objectivity.

But we struggled to connect beyond our shared interest in media. Most of my classmates used the word "summer" as a verb. I typically avoided talking about nonexistent upcoming vacations that would call out my socioeconomic status.

I'm now living the life I've always dreamed of

I'm 41, and over a decade after earning my graduate degree, I've paid off most of my debt.

I also allocate a significant portion of my disposable income toward traveling. Since then, I've visited all 50 states, 25 countries, and counting.

I'm happy to finally be financially able to travel to faraway places, but a huge part of me still feels like that working-class girl scraping to get by.

Carmen Cusido is a Cuban-American writer based in northern New Jersey.

• Smartphone shipments rose overall in China in the first quarter, but iPhone shipments fell 9%, according to IDC data.
• Apple's Chinese competitors are hitting growth milestones boosted by government subsidies.
• Xiaomi now leads with 39.9% market share, retaking the top spot.

New numbers are out for China's smartphone market — and they're a troubling sign for Apple.

Overall smartphone shipments in China grew 3.3% in the first quarter, according to a Thursday research report from the International Data Corporation, but iPhone shipments notably fell by 9% year over year.

Apple was the only major smartphone maker to lose market share during the quarter, according to IDC.

Local rivals dominated the Chinese market, a key region for Apple that CEO Tim Cook has called "the most competitive market in the world," driven by government subsidies that include smartphones.

IDC analyst Will Wong wrote that the relatively high price of the iPhone meant Apple was largely left out of the subsidy-fueled growth.

Apple's smartphone shipments in China "declined as its premium pricing structure prevented it from capitalizing on the subsidies," Wong said in the IDC report. Apple's iPhones accounted for 9.8 million, or 13.7% of the 71.6 million smartphones shipped in the first quarter.

Local rival Xiaomi, on the other hand, retook the top spot for the first time in nearly a decade with a 39.9% increase in shipments, making up 13.3 million units of the total shipments.

In January, the Chinese government extended subsidies intended to stimulate consumer spending to smartphones and other tech devices. The benefit is capped at products less than 6,000 yuan, or $821, making some Apple phones too pricey for consumers to have 15% of the sale covered.

An iPhone 16 Pro, for example, starts at 7,999 yuan, or $1,095. Local smartphone makers, like Xiaomi and Huawei, have more affordable models that can be discounted using the benefit.

Government subsidies aren't the only challenge Apple is facing in China. President Donald Trump's 145% tariff on Chinese goods still hangs over its head, though Apple's devices are temporary exempt from the higher rate. China is Apple's largest supply chain hub for iPhones. While Trump largely gave the tech industry a break from the highest tariff rate for goods produced in China, he later said that companies like Apple would be subject to separate tariffs down the line.

"Looking ahead, the market is expected to face challenges as the US-China trade tensions may lead to cost increases and tighter consumer budgets," Arthur Guo, senior research analyst at IDC, said.

Apple has plenty of ground to make up in the country as its numbers continue to indicate that the iPhone is losing its foothold. Its share of the smartphone market in China for Q4 2024 was 17% — down 21% from the previous year.

The iPhone giant releases its first-quarter earnings report on May 1, which will give Wall Street a better look at how the company is doing in the highly competitive market.

• Trump is considering Kevin Warsh for Federal Reserve Chair, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• Trump has criticized Powell's performance and says he has the authority to remove him before 2026.
• Warsh, a former Fed governor, advised against prematurely firing Powell, according to the Journal.

President Donald Trump wants to shake up the Federal Reserve, and he has sights set on the right person for the job.

Trump is considering Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, to replace Jerome Powell as the Chair of the Federal Reserve, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

Publicly, the president made it clear that he's not happy with Powell. In private, Trump has discussed ousting Powell before his Fed term is up in May 2026, the Journal reported.

Trump blasted Powell in a Truth Social post on Thursday, saying the Fed chair is "always TOO LATE AND WRONG" before adding that "Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!" Also on Thursday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he has the authority to get rid of Powell, despite Powell's position that such a move is against the law.

"If I want him out, he'll be out of there real fast, believe me," Trump said.

Trump has already had meetings with Warsh at Mar-a-Lago about potentially selecting him to replace Powell before Powell's term is over, The Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Warsh, 55, is a former Morgan Stanley banker who served as an economic advisor to President George W. Bush from 2002 to 2006 and a governor of the Federal Reserve Board from 2006 to 2011. Warsh helped rescue struggling banks following the 2007-2008 financial crisis, and helped shape the country's larger response to the crisis.

Warsh also worked on Trump's second term transition team, and was previously one of the president's top picks for Treasury Secretary before he ultimately selected Scott Bessent. During his first term in office, Trump had also considered Warsh for Fed Chair in 2017 before choosing Powell.

Warsh, who studied public policy at Stanford University before attending Harvard Law School, has invested in crypto-related startups including now-defunct cryptocurrency platform Basis and asset management platform Bitwise, which offers cryptocurrency index funds, according to Pitchbook. Warsh wrote in a 2022 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal that crypto offers both "promise and peril for the American-led global financial system," and advocated for the Federal Reserve to adopt a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to compete with China's digital yuan.

Warsh, a known financial hawk, has been critical of the US's expanding debt, saying in July that inflation is the fault of "irresponsible government spending and excessive money printing."

He is married to Jane Lauder, an Estée Lauder heir and daughter of Ron Lauder, who helped spark Trump's obsession with buying Greenland.

Whether Warsh actually wants the job is not clear, and the financier did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Warsh has, however, advised that Trump should not prematurely fire Powell and should let the Chair carry out his full term, The Journal reported.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.