• Internal documents show Amazon workers in the UK can apply to work from home for up to two days a week.
• Staff in the Netherlands are following previous guidance for three days in the office, BI has learned.
• Amazon implemented a global five-day-a-week return-to-office policy on January 2.

Amazon's five-day-a-week return-to-office policy appears to be more flexible for some European employees than their US-based counterparts.

Employees in the UK can apply to work from home for one or two days a week, while Amazon workers in the Netherlands are currently following previous guidance allowing them to work from home for up to two days a week, Business Insider has learned.

A copy of Amazon's "Flexible Work Arrangement" policy document for the US, seen by BI, does not explicitly state that employees can request to work from home for one or two days a week. The document, last updated on December 17, states that Amazon "may grant exceptions for work arrangements" to staff in the US "who are in good standing on a case-by-case basis."

It follows Amazon's September announcement that employees globally would be required to work from the office five days a week, starting January 2. Some locations have delayed a five-day RTO policy because of insufficient office space, BI previously reported. In other cases, it appears to have been delayed by local employment requirements.

Amazon's management team in the Netherlands sent employees an email, seen by BI, on December 20 that says it entered into discussions with its works council — an organization representing employees — to define and introduce a flexible working arrangement.

It says, "Until further notice, while everyone is welcome and encouraged to work from the office for five days per week, you may continue to follow the current in-office guidance for your role and team into the new year."

Under that guidance, employees in the Netherlands can work up to two days a week from home until they have been notified of the outcome of ongoing discussions between the works council and management, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Nafsika Karavida, an attorney at law firm Reavis Page Jump, told BI that the differences between Amazon's RTO rollout in Europe compared to the US are "most likely due to cultural, legal, and operational differences" that could limit its "ability to act unilaterally."

Karavida added that employers in the Netherlands cannot legally enforce an RTO policy without the approval of a works council.

Like Amazon employees in Germany, staff in the UK can make a formal application to work from home for one or two days a week, according to an internal policy document seen by BI. It states employees based in the UK have a "statutory right to make a formal application" to change their work location, among other working conditions. If an application is approved, it will be subject to a three-month trial period, the document says.

Karavida said that Amazon's policy in the UK is shaped by flexible working regulations that took effect last April. "Although these regulations do not grant employees an automatic right to work from home, they obligate employers to consider such requests reasonably on a case-by-case basis," she said.

Amazon faces RTO delays

The UK, Netherlands, and Germany are the latest examples of Amazon's five-day RTO being implemented in different ways and at different speeds. An internal list shows more than 40 locations where Amazon's full five-day RTO policy is delayed, including Santa Clara, California; Hamburg, Germany; and Belfast, UK.

Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, said in a September blog post that the decision to return full-time to the office was to help the company "further strengthen" its culture and teams.

An Amazon spokesperson referred BI to that same blog post, in which Jassy also said "it was not a given" that staff could work remotely two days a week before the pandemic and "that will also be true moving forward."

In the US, Amazon employees can submit requests for offsite work for the entirety of a week or more than 90 days, which are also reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

However, unlike the policies for the UK and Germany, the US flexible working document does not specifically mention the option for employees to formally apply to work from home for one or two days a week. It only details the offsite work arrangements and part-time work arrangements.

An internal Amazon FAQ document circulated at the time of the RTO announcement last year says that employees with existing approval, such as a "Military Spouse Remote Work Exception," do not need to change where they work.

• Firestorms in Los Angeles have burned over 5,000 acres, destroying homes and killing two people.
• One of the two biggest blazes, the Palisades Fire, could turn out to be the costliest in US history.
• The fires have spread so fast in part because of a windstorm and flood-drought whiplash.

All was well in Los Angeles at around 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Less than 24 hours later, 2,925 acres of the Pacific Palisades were ablaze in what is being called the worst wildfire in Southern California since 2011.

Three more blazes have ignited in the area, with one, the Eaton Fire, engulfing another 2,000-plus acres.

Firefighters were unable to contain any of the burning area as of Wednesday morning, the LA Fire Department reported.

More than 1,000 structures have burned, at least two people have died, and the blazes could get even worse in the coming hours.

California is no stranger to fires, but this situation is different and especially dangerous for a few reasons.

An 'urban firestorm' that could be the costliest in history

Few brush fires in California history have intruded into such vast areas of dense, urban housing.

The UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain declared it an "urban firestorm" as he assessed live imagery of the developing Eaton Fire on Tuesday morning.

Perhaps the best historical comparison, the 1991 Tunnel Fire that raged through more than 1,500 acres of Oakland, was smaller than either of the two giant blazes in Los Angeles. It killed 25 people and injured 150, and ranks as the third-deadliest and third-most-destructive fire in California history.

The true toll of this week's fires won't be clear until later.

Swain said that he and multiple colleagues have estimated that the Palisades Fire could turn out to be the costliest on record in the US, due to the number of structures burning and the fact that those homes are some of the most expensive in the world.

"We are looking at what is, I think, likely to become the costliest wildfire disaster in California, if not national history, along with a number of other superlatives," Swain said.

A historic windstorm spread the fire fast

A powerful windstorm buffeted the flames throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, with gusts of wind reaching up to 90 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

During a two-and-a-half hour period overnight, the Palisades Fire's size more than doubled, per the fire service's reports.

On Tuesday evening the winds were so powerful that water- and retardant-dropping aircraft could not fly.

It's a phenomenon that scientists have warned about: A deadly combination of high winds and dry, open land — such as the brushland currently being swept by flames in Los Angeles — amounting to fires that can move faster than emergency responders can keep up with.

"It's certainly unusual how fast it's grown," Douglas Kelley, an expert in wildfires at the UK's Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, told Business Insider. "It's definitely a lot faster than I guess a lot of people were expecting in the area at the time."

A study published in Science in October last year has found that while only about 3% of US fires over a nearly two-decade period could be considered "fast fires," they did disproportionate amounts of damage.

"The most destructive and deadly wildfires in US history were also fast," wrote the study's authors, led by University of Colorado Boulder's Jennifer Balch.

Between 2001-2020, fast fires accounted for 78% of fire-destroyed buildings and a full 61% of suppression costs — or $18.9 billion, the scientists wrote. And they are getting more frequent, the study said.

The windstorm was bad luck. But the other primary factor in the fires' rapid explosions — the fuel — is strongly linked to the climate crisis.

Weather whiplash made abundant fire fuel

The last two winters in Southern California have actually been quite wet with heavy rainfall and flooding, which is a huge part of the problem.

Abundant rainfall spurred an explosion of grasses and brush, which is the primary fire fuel in Southern California. Then the last few months saw very little precipitation in the area, flash-drying all that vegetation.

Kelley said those dry conditions made the Palisades especially susceptible to fast-spreading fire.

This is part of a growing phenomenon that Swain calls "hydroclimate whiplash" or weather whiplash. As global temperatures rise, many parts of the world, especially California, are seeing more violent swings between extreme wet and extreme dry conditions.

The same confluence of weather whiplash and extreme winds was behind the Camp Fire, Swain said. That November 2018 blaze in Paradise, California was the deadliest and most destructive in the state's history, destroying 18,804 structures and killing 85 people.

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he's fine with renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
• Only, though, if Trump works with them to lower costs for Americans, he said.
• Schumer said it "may be a zany new idea" but it won't "help people save money at the grocery store."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday that Democrats were open to President-elect Donald Trump's idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America."

However, he noted that he'd only do so if Trump works with Democrats on "an actual plan to lower costs for Americans."

"That is what the American people want us to focus on first, not on renaming bodies of water," Schumer said in a floor speech, adding that his party's priorities "are so much more closely aligned with the concerns of the American people than Donald Trump's seem to be."

Trump floated the idea at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, where he also refused to rule out the use of military force to take control of Greenland or the Panama Canal.

The Democratic leader's comments essentially amount to a challenge to Trump to focus on the economic issues that helped him regain the presidency, rather than merely changing names.

Over the next several years, Democrats will be making the case that their economic agenda is more beneficial for the working class than Trump's.

"Renaming the Gulf of Mexico may be a zany new idea, but it isn't going to help people save money at the grocery store. It's not going to make trips to the pharmacy more affordable," Schumer said. "If Donald Trump wants to rename a gulf to sound more patriotic, I'd say we will help him on one condition and only one condition: let's come up with a real plan first — not a concept of a plan — to lower prices for Americans."

• I spent two weeks on a luxurious Explora Journeys cruise exploring the Mediterranean with friends.
• When broken down, we spent about $480 a person per night for an ocean-view suite.
• The ports were great to explore, and we had delicious meals and fun experiences on board.

Having previously visited Greece and enjoyed it, I wanted to explore more of the Adriatic with some friends and family for my 40th birthday.

Since we'd be traveling during peak season, flights and hotel rates were quite high. So, I decided to look into a luxury cruise instead — it seemed like an especially good value if we wanted to see multiple places.

I ended up booking a two-week itinerary throughout Greece and the Adriatic Riviera with Explora Journeys, a luxury line from the MSC Group. Our ship stopped in places like Italy, Montenegro, and Croatia.

Unfortunately, this exact itinerary no longer seems to be available, though similar ones can be found on the Explora Journeys website.

I shared an ocean-terrace suite with one other person, and we each paid about $480 a night. Our fare included all of our food and drinks (except for one meal at a specialty restaurant), gratuities, and port charges.

Here's what our experience was like on a luxury sailing with Explora Journeys.

The ship felt impressively big.

We began our cruise in Piraeus, Greece, and the process was quick and easy.

Within minutes of arriving at our ship, we were brought on board and given Champagne.

Every cabin on this ship is a suite.

When booking our spots on the 813-foot-long ship, we could choose from three tiers of cabins: suites, penthouses, and residences. Residencies are the highest tiers and can come with butlers and private jacuzzis.

My roommate and I were happy with our 377-square-foot, entry-level ocean-terrace suite, which had two twin beds, a balcony, a walk-in closet with a dressing room, and a lounge area.

My favorite feature was the heated floor in the bathroom.

The heated floors were a nice touch in our fairly spacious bathroom.

I also loved the sizable walk-in shower, strong water pressure, and ample counter space.

The room featured a Dyson hairdryer and other solid amenities.

The dressing room was spacious, with ample storage and a vanity area complete with a light-up mirror.

My friends were particularly excited that cabins come with a quality Dyson hair dryer, as some cruise lines restrict the wattage you can use for these devices.

There were also nice touches throughout the room, like wireless charging pads for cellphones built into the nightstands.

Our cabin host also ensured our complimentary minibar was fully stocked with coconut water, ginger beer, Belvedere, and other items throughout our trip.

I loved that our terrace had a daybed.

All cabins come with private outdoor spaces. Ours had a comfortable daybed and a table with two chairs.

The ship has multiple restaurants, but Fil Rouge was my favorite.

The ship had numerous dining options, from a pan-Asian eatery to a steakhouse. Fortunately, meals atmost were included in the cost of our cruise fare.

My favorite was Fil Rouge, as I thought its French-inspired menu was very well executed. Standout dishes included crab cakes, escargot, lobster thermidor, veal Wellington, and daily soufflés.

My second-favorite eatery was the ship's only added-cost dining room.

Meals at the onboard Italian-inspired eatery Anthology were not included in our cruise fare, but we headed there for my birthday.

We participated in its seven-course tasting experience for 140 euros a person, plus an extra 60 euros each for wine pairings. It wasn't cheap, but we paid for it with onboard credits that came with our booking.

Our food was excellent, with bites featuring Oscietra Royal caviar, lobster, truffle, and A5 Japanese wagyu.

There were also bars and lounges on board.

We had plenty of spots to hang out in on the ship, from a whisky bar to a mixology lounge.

My favorite was Lobby Bar, which was centrally located on the ship. Some of my friends preferred the Explora Lounge, which served afternoon tea and offered sweeping views of the ocean.

I also liked the onboard spa, high-end retailers, and pools.

I had two incredible massages at the onboard spa, which was fantastic. Much to my surprise, going there didn't cost me extra — on most cruises, travelers must pay for spa access.

There were also numerous pools and jacuzzis on board and some seriously high-end retailers. We looked through luxurious pieces from brands like Cartier and Piaget, and my friend was even able to purchase a Rolex.

Still, the ports really made this cruise.

Our cruise stopped in numerous places throughout Greece, Italy, Croatia, and Montenegro.

The Greek island of Paros was a highlight for me. Its beaches were truly stunning, and I loved how authentically Greek the towns felt.

We also particularly loved Dubrovnik in Croatia. As my friends enjoyed shopping for leather goods, I relished walking through the walled city made even more famous by HBO's "Game of Thrones."

My favorite experience, though, was visiting the walled city of Kotor, Montenegro, and spending the afternoon at nearby Nikki Beach.

Overall, my Explora Journeys cruise gets high marks from me.

I was really impressed by the service, amenities, and rooms on this cruise.

Plus, we stopped in so many places and our small ship spent a decent amount of time docked in each. I really felt like I could take my time experiencing every city because we'd typically arrive at port very early in the morning and sometimes leave as late as 11 p.m.

As the MSC Group continues to grow Explora Journeys by adding new itineraries and ships, I think it will become a really prominent player in the luxury-cruise space.

Apple’s AirPods lineup is stronger than ever following the launch of , which now include many features formerly exclusive to AirPods Pro 2. But for me personally, there are still three key Pro-exclusive features that make the more expensive AirPods worth the upgrade.