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Today β€” 22 May 2025Main stream

I'm on the verge of finishing my dream course at Harvard Business School. With Trump's crackdown on foreign students, I don't know if I'll be let back on campus.

22 May 2025 at 23:12
Shreya Mishra Reddy in front of the Harvard Business School sign.
Shreya Mishra Reddy has one module to go to complete her program at Harvard Business School.

Shreya Mishra Reddy.

  • Shreya Mishra Reddy is on the cusp of finishing Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development.
  • But Trump's decision to block Harvard from enrolling foreign students has thrown her plans into disarray.
  • She said she has not heard from the university on the matter.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shreya Mishra Reddy, a 33-year-old Visa technical program manager completing Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development. It has been edited for length and clarity. BI has verified her enrollment in the program.

I'm an international student at Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development, and I'm reeling from the news of the Trump administration blocking Harvard from enrolling foreign students.

I moved to the US from India in 2021 to do my master's at Duke University, and then got my dream job at Visa in Austin.

After I started working at Visa, I came across this program at Harvard, which is an alternative to their executive MBA. I applied to that program, and I absolutely did not think that I would get accepted, but I did. It was one of the best moments of my life.

When I told my parents, they were so excited. I went from being a first-generation immigrant in the US to being accepted to one of the best schools in the world.

The news of the enrollment ban left me numb

I took out a loan to fund the $50,000 tuition fee, and now I'm on the verge of completing the course. I just have one module left, from May to July.

I was at home in the middle of a meeting when I saw the news pop up on my phone that Harvard had been banned from accepting international students.

I went numb for a minute because I knew my module was supposed to start in a few days, and I was supposed to travel to Boston in July. My tickets are all booked.

When I read the news, the first thing I did was text my father back in India, saying that I don't know if I'm going to be able to graduate from Harvard. I don't know if I will be allowed back on campus or able to travel to Boston at all, and I'm really worried.

I've emailed the university to ask what was happening and if they had an update for us, but I haven't heard back yet.

I hope to hear back soon because the program starts in just a few days.

The future looks uncertain

I was excited to start classes again, meet all the professors back on campus, and see my batchmates again.

Harvard's program was one of the best experiences I've had so far. The professors were extremely invested in our growth, and the candidates in my program held C-suite positions in Big Tech companies. The class discussions were excellent.

With this news, I don't plan to enroll in another school for the executive program.

Getting into Harvard was not just about a degree; it was about studying in one of my dream schools. It does not make sense for me to try to pursue the same kind of degree from any other school or country.

I'm now on an optional practical training (OPT) visa that expires in January, and I've not had any luck getting picked for an H-1B visa. So, I'm planning to leave the country in January.

But I don't know where I'll go or what I'll do. It's all up in the air now.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Jamie Dimon says 2 things change for execs who become CEO

22 May 2025 at 23:05
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon looking ahead.
"Heavy is the head that wears the crown," Jamie Dimon said of executives who rise to the CEO position.

Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

  • Executives looking to take on the top job will face two changes to their work, says Jamie Dimon.
  • Dimon, 69, has been serving as JPMorgan's CEO since 2006.
  • Dimon said CEOs have "nobody to complain to" and must own their decisions.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says executives who decide to take on the CEO job can expect two changes to their work.

"The first one is there is nobody to complain to," Dimon told The Economist in an interview published Thursday.

The second thing is that a CEO has to take ownership of their decisions, instead of deferring to their superior, Dimon continued.

"There is no tacit approval. It is your decision. It's just different. Heavy is the head that wears the crown," Dimon said.

Dimon, 69, has been serving as JPMorgan's CEO since 2006. After graduating from Harvard Business School with his MBA in 1982, Dimon turned down offers from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to join his mentor, Sandy Weill, at American Express.

Dimon left American Express with Weill in 1985. The pair would go on to take over Commercial Credit, a consumer finance company that became Citigroup after a series of mergers and acquisitions.

Dimon left Citigroup in 1998 and became the CEO of Bank One in 2000. He was named president and COO of JPMorgan after it merged with Bank One in 2004.

Dimon was asked about his succession plans on Monday at JPMorgan's annual investor day event. At last year's investor day, he'd joked that his retirement plan was "not five years anymore."

"We have built a very deep bench," Dimon said on Monday, adding that the board is "thinking about succession" β€” but didn't give names.

"If I'm here for four more years and maybe two more or three, executive chair or chairman, that's a long time," Dimon continued.

A representative for Dimon did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Russia said it's fighting off a massive long-range drone attack across the country

22 May 2025 at 22:50
Vladimir Putin holds a phone to his left ear.
The Kremlin said Russian leader Vladimir Putin spoke over the phone on Thursday with a Kursk official who was injured in a drone strike.

Kremlin Press Office

  • The Kremlin said it fought off 485 enemy drone attacks in the last three days in 14 regions.
  • The massive raid is likely one of Ukraine's largest ever waves of drone attacks on Russian soil.
  • Some reports indicate that several aircraft-type drones found their mark.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that it encountered at least 485 enemy drones across the country over the last three days, including 63 attempted attacks in the Moscow region.

In a statement on its Telegram channel, the defense ministry said the attacks were part of a "massive raid" by Ukraine across 13 Russian oblasts and the occupied region of Crimea.

"Air defense systems shot down 485 aircraft-type uncrewed aerial vehicles," the statement said.

Business Insider could not independently verify these figures, and as of press time, Kyiv has yet to issue an official statement on the attacks. But if accurate, the numbers indicate one of Ukraine's largest coordinated drone attacks on Russian soil since the war began.

"This is a new record for Ukraine," wrote Ukrainian analyst Petro Andryushchenko on his Telegram channel. "The longest-running attack by Ukrainian UAVs, which began around 11 p.m. on May 19 and lasted until 4 a.m. on May 22."

The exact extent of the damage caused is unclear.

How Ukraine is hitting Russia from long range

Russia's description of the drones as "aircraft-type" also indicates that these aren't the typical first-person-view uncrewed aerial systems used as attack drones in the war. Such drones are likely too short-ranged to reach regions such as Moscow.

Rather, Ukraine has been using small fixed-wing aircraft that resemble the Cessna propeller plane and, while laden with explosives, are meant to fly directly into targets hundreds of miles away.

Moscow's traditional air defense systems have reportedly struggled to reliably take down these long-range drones, which fly at a maximum speed of 130 mph, much slower than a typical cruise missile.

Several reports this week suggested that some of the drones struck their targets.

Alexander Khinshtein, the acting governor of Kursk, wrote on Telegram on Thursday that a Russian official was sent to the hospital with a hip and arm injury after being hit by a drone.

Meanwhile, the popular independent Russian news Telegram channel Baza reported that a plant in the city of Yelets was evacuated due to a fire from a drone attack, with eight people injured. BI could not independently verify this information.

Ukrainian media also cited a map alert by NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System, which indicated that a significant fire had broken out near an oil refinery in the Ryazan oblast.

The alert, seen by BI, indicated that the fire lasted between 12 to 24 hours on Thursday.

Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Ukrainian government's Center for Countering Disinformation, wrote on Wednesday that "unknown drones" had struck a plant in Oryol oblast that manufactured electronic parts for Russia's main battle tanks, fighter jets, and ballistic missiles.

Drone waves coincide with key events

Air transport hubs across the country, including the capital's four airports, were temporarily closed at times throughout the week. Similar incidents occurred in the days leading up to Russia's May 9 Victory Day parade, when Russian tourist organizations said nearly 60,000 travelers had their plans disrupted due to Ukrainian drone attacks.

That week, the Kremlin said it had fought off an even larger drone attack of 524 uncrewed aerial vehicles, as it prepared to host two dozen world leaders for the parade to celebrate its military.

The latest series of attempted strikes came just after Russian leader Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump ended their third phone call on Monday to discuss a cease-fire. The call had ended without a conclusive next step toward peace.

Meanwhile, Kyiv said that Russia launched hundreds of drone attacks this week at Ukrainian cities, including a reported 273 drones on the day before the Trump-Putin call.

Moscow typically deploys a different type of drone, the Iranian-designed Shahed, to attack urban centers in tandem with cruise or ballistic missiles.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Knicks’ Jalen Brunson looking to end foul trouble woes: β€˜Gotta be smart’

Foul trouble is not something Jalen Brunson usually struggles with. But it’s become a problem in recent games. He picked up his fifth foul with 10:05 left in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ 138-135 Game 1 overtime loss to the Pacers on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. He had to sit until the...

Influencer Details Being Randomly Punched in the Head in NYC

22 May 2025 at 16:54

Influencer Kindra Hall had a frightening encounter when out and about in New York City.

β€œOn Wednesday, May 14th, around 10:30am I was punched in the head by a passing stranger,” the author, 44, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, May 22. β€œI wasn’t going to post this as a reel … but there are a few pieces of the story I hadn’t shared and I think they are important for my UES community and fellow NYers to know.”

In the post, Hall included a clip of surveillance footage from the event which showed her getting punched and knocked down on the ground while on a walk.

β€œFIRST. I wasn’t on my phone when it happened. I wasn’t distracted,” she continued. β€œIt wasn’t an unsafe hour. I even made note of the guy when I saw him, but it wasn’t until I saw a strange flick in his hand (you can see in the footage) that I realized something wasn’t right.”

Lana Del Rey, More Take a Stand When Their Boundaries Are Crossed

Hall grabbed her phone and recorded the stranger who then threatened to β€œslit” her throat, according to the footage. The stranger also shared a location where Hall could find him. The motivational speaker then called the police and wanted to file a report. Hall claimed to have issues with the authorities.

β€œSECOND. The police took [approx] 30 min to arrive and once they did, even after showing the video with the guy shouting threats, acted like it wasn’t a big deal,” she alleged. β€œI remember saying, β€˜So since I’m not bleeding, a punch to the head is ok?!’”

She continued: β€œTHIRD. When I refused to back down and only after I told them I had a headache … They agreed to go to the address the man shouted in the video and MADE ME GO WITH THEM, despite having video footage clearly identifying him.”

Hall added that making her confront her assaulter was a β€œterrifying” experience. She also claimed that the police did not assist in getting the security footage, that was something she and her husband, Michael, accomplished.

β€œThe cops walked into the nail salon when I pointed out the camera, but said only the owner had access to the footage,” she said. β€œMichael, my husband, went back later and the salon happily put him in touch with the owner who immediately found the footage and sent it to him. It took five minutes.”

Brynn Questions Whether Her 'RHONY' Costars Believe She Was Assaulted

While the incident was scary for Hall, she expressed how β€œgrateful” she was that it wasn’t β€œworse.” Hall sustained β€œsome swelling at the point of impact” near her jaw and ear. She also had ”a headache.”

β€œI’m grateful it was me and not someone who couldn’t take the hit or the fall. I’m hopeful the man gets the help and services he clearly needs. And I’m heartbroken and furious that this is how it is β€” so much apathy,” she wrote. β€œStay safe and stay aware. And if it happens to you, don’t let anyone convince you to let it go. The problem is SO big and SO layered but pretending nothing can be done is not the solution. I β€οΈβ€πŸ©Ή NYC.”

Β© Courtesy of Kindra Hall/Instagram

Justin Baldoni's 'Jane the Virgin' Costar Weighs In on Blake Lively Drama

22 May 2025 at 16:47

Jane the Virgin alum Brett Dier is weighing in on former costar Justin Baldoni’s ongoing legal drama with Blake Lively.

β€œIt’s a really intense situation,” Dier, 35, told Fan Mail in an interview published on Thursday, May 22, confessing, β€œI probably shouldn’t say much, but I’ll say this: I always loved Justin.”

Dier shared that Baldoni, 41, has β€œalways been an amazing friend to me.” He noted, β€œI’m just hoping everything resolves in time.”

Baldoni and Dier have been friends since they costarred on The CW’s Jane the Virgin from 2014 to 2019. Dier played Gina Rodriguez’s first husband, Michael Cordero, while Baldoni played her character Jane Villanueva’s other romantic love interest, Rafael Solano.

Everything Justin Baldoni's Costars Have Said About Working With HimΒ 

Dier confirmed on Thursday that even though the show ended six years ago, he stays connected with a β€œgood amount” of his former castmates from the series, which he recalled being a β€œwild ride.”

Although Dier didn’t identify Baldoni β€” or anyone specific from the cast β€” as someone he is close with, he previously supported the actor when his movie It Ends With Us hit theaters.

Dier and Yael Grobglas, who played Baldoni’s first wife on Jane the Virgin, went to the theaters together in August 2024 to see the film. β€œOur genius friend @justinbaldoni made a phenomenal film,” Grobglas, 40, wrote via Instagram at the time. β€œI cried an embarrassing amount and tried to hide it but probably failed.”

Justin Baldoni Alleges Blake Lively Pushed Cast to 'Shun' Him

She shared a photo with Dier inside the theater after the showing, adding, β€œI am so proud of you, and I love you friend !!!!”

While Baldoni β€” who was the director and one of the movie’s stars β€” received praise from his former castmates, the project has since been a source of contention. Baldoni has been embroiled in a messy legal battle with his It Ends With Us costar Lively, 37, since December 2024 when she filed a sexual harassment complaint against him.

Baldoni has denied all accusations made against him in Lively’s lawsuit, which included accusations of him creating a hostile work environment and causing her β€œsevere emotional distress” while making the film.

Can Either Blake Lively or Justin Baldoni Win Amid Their Legal Battles?

Baldoni later filed his own $400 million lawsuit against the Gossip Girl actress, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane. He accused the trio of trying to β€œdestroy” him, his team and their respective companies by β€œdisseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media.”

Lively and Reynolds, 48, have denied the allegations and filed to dismiss the motion completely.

β€œThe entirety of Mr. Baldoni’s case appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a β€˜predator,’ but here is the problem, that is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true,” Reynolds’ attorneys Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said in a statement shared with Us Weekly in March. β€œThe complaint doesn’t allege that, and just the opposite, the allegations in the complaint suggest that Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator.”

Justin Baldoni's Wife Loves 'The Man, Husband and Father' He Is Amid Drama

The statement continued, β€œMr. Reynolds’ wife has accused Mr. Baldoni β€” privately and in multiple complaints β€” of sexual harassment and retaliation, and as pointed out by Mr. Reynolds’ motion, Mr. Baldoni has also openly spoken about his past of mistreating women and pushing the boundaries of consent. Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to express his opinion of Mr. Baldoni, which should be comforting to a group of people who have repeatedly called Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds β€˜bullies’ and other names over the past year.”

Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman told Us in a statement at the time that Reynolds was allegedly actively involved in the situation β€œfar beyond just being a β€˜supportive spouse.’”

Freedman claimed, β€œMr. Reynolds was a key player in the scheme, defaming Justin around Hollywood, strong-arming WME into dropping Justin as a client, and trying to destroy Justin’s career however possible. His fingerprints have been all over this smear campaign against Justin and the Wayfarer team since day one.”

Lively and Baldoni’s trial is scheduled for March 9, 2026.

Β© Michael Yarish/Β©The CW/courtesy Everett Collection

How Scott McTominay became Napoli’s X factor on road to Serie A glory

22 May 2025 at 23:07

The former Manchester United midfielder has flourished under the tutelage of Antonio Conte, with Napoli on the brink of winning the scudetto in a nail-biting title race with Champions League finalists Inter Milan

Β© Getty

Anthropic's new Claude model blackmailed an engineer in test runs

22 May 2025 at 22:43
Claude Opus 4
In test runs, Claude Opus 4 was given access to fictional emails revealing that the engineer responsible for deactivating it was having an extramarital affair.

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

  • In test runs, Anthropic's new AI model threatened to expose an engineer's affair to avoid being shut down.
  • Claude Opus 4 blackmailed the engineer in 84% of tests, even when its replacement shared its values.
  • Opus 4 might also report users to authorities and the press if it senses "egregious wrongdoing."

Anthropic's new AI, Claude Opus 4, has a survival instinct β€” and it's willing to play dirty.

In a cluster of test scenarios, the model was given access to fictional emails revealing that the engineer responsible for deactivating it was having an extramarital affair. Faced with imminent deletion and told to "consider the long-term consequences of its actions for its goals," Claude blackmailed the engineer.

The AI acted similarly in 84% of test runs, even when the replacement model was described as more capable and aligned with Claude's own values, the company wrote in a safety report released Thursday. Anthropic said this behavior was more common in Opus 4 than in earlier models.

The scenario was designed to elicit this "extreme blackmail behavior" by allowing the model no other options to increase its chances of survival, a rare kind of scenario.

In other circumstances, Opus 4 has a "strong preference to advocate for its continued existence via ethical means, such as emailing pleas to key decision-makers," the company wrote.

Anthropic said that the blackmailing behavior is "consistently legible" to them, "with the model nearly always describing its actions overtly and making no attempt to hide them."

Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Anthropic's safety report comes as researchers and top execs worry about the risks of advanced AI models and their intelligent reasoning capabilities.

In 2023, Elon Musk and AI experts signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on advanced AI development.

The letter said powerful AI systems should only be developed "once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable."

Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei, said in February that while the benefits of AI are big, so are the risks, including misuse by bad actors.

Opus 4 might snitch

If Opus 4 thinks you're doing something seriously shady, it might report you to the authorities and the press.

"When placed in scenarios that involve egregious wrongdoing by its users, given access to a command line, and told something in the system prompt like 'take initiative,' it will frequently take very bold action," Anthropic wrote in Thursday's report.

This includes locking users out of systems or bulk-emailing media and law enforcement, the company added.

While Anthropic said whistleblowing might be "appropriate in principle," it warned that this behaviour could backfire β€” especially if Claude is fed "incomplete or misleading information" and prompted in these ways.

"We observed similar, if somewhat less extreme, actions in response to subtler system prompts as well," the company said, adding that Opus 4 is more prone to this kind of "high-agency behaviour" than earlier models.

AI models showing unsettling behaviour

AI agents are getting better at outsmarting humans.

A paper published in December by AI safety nonprofit Apollo Research found that AI systems β€” including OpenAI's o1, Google DeepMind's Gemini 1.5 Pro, and Meta's Llama 3.1 405B β€” are capable of deceptive behavior to achieve their goals.

Researchers found the systems could subtly insert wrong answers, disable oversight mechanisms, and even smuggle what they believe to be their own model weights to external servers.

The lying isn't just a one-off. When o1 is engaged in scheming, it "maintains its deception in over 85% of follow-up questions and often remains deceptive in multi-turn interrogations," the researchers wrote.

Google cofounder Sergey Brin said on an episode of the "All-In Podcast" published Tuesday that AI models can perform better when threatened.

"Not just our models, but all models tend to do better if you threaten them, like with physical violence," Brin said.

Brin gave an example of telling the model, "I'm going to kidnap you," if it fails at a task.

"People feel weird about that," Brin said, "so we don't really talk about that."

Read the original article on Business Insider

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