• Anna Wintour, Vogue's editor in chief, has been attending the Met Gala for nearly 40 years.
• As event chair, Wintour, 75, calls the shots, including who gets invited.
• Take a look at how Wintour's Met Gala style has evolved since the 1980s.

It's hard to picture a Met Gala without Anna Wintour.

Vogue's editor in chief has played an integral role in organizing the most talked-about fashion event of the year for 30 years, as she first co-chaired the fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in 1995.

The gala has become more extravagant with Wintour, now 75, at the helm. As the guest list became increasingly star-studded, the cost of a Met Gala ticket skyrocketed from around $2,000 to $75,000.

Author Amy Odell, who wrote "Anna: The Biography," told the Italian women's publication Grazia in 2016 that Wintour doesn't choose the theme. Still, she wields considerable control over how it runs. Importantly, Wintour decides who gets an invite — and is known to approve almost every outfit worn on the Met Gala red carpet.

Take a look back at every look Wintour herself has worn for fashion's biggest night.

Wintour wore a sparkly gold top for the 1989 Met Gala, which was themed "The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire, 1789-1815."

Wintour became the editor in chief of Vogue in 1988, a little over a year before the 1989 Met Gala.

The silhouette of Wintour's statement top nodded to the event's theme, as her pearl necklace and double-breasted top resembled the jackets soldiers wore during Bonaparte's reign.

Wintour let her top be the focus of her ensemble, pairing it with a black skirt and tights.

Wintour kept her outfit simple for the 1990 Met Gala.

The Met Gala theme in 1990 was "Théâtre de la Mode — Fashion Dolls: The Survival of Haute Couture."

Some attendees wore funky looks to the event, but it wasn't common for people to dress to theme at the time. Wintour kept her look simple in a silky minidress and trench coat.

Wintour attended the 1993 Met Gala in a purple gown, which honored former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.

Wintour stepped out at the "Diana Vreeland: Immoderate Style" gala in a silky purple dress with an asymmetrical hemline and a white cardigan.

Wintour's dress for the "Orientalism: Visions of the East in Western dress" gala in 1994 featured lace detailing.

Wintour's silver, silky dress hit her mid-thigh, and the bodice was covered in sheer lace. She paired the daring dress with a fuzzy coat featuring black and white stripes and a yellow necklace.

Wintour co-chaired the Met Gala for the first time in 1995, attending the "Haute Couture" event in an ivory halterneck gown.

For her debut as a Met Gala co-chair, Wintour nailed the straightforward theme of the night in a sleek, silky-looking floor-length white gown with matching opera gloves and minimal jewelry.

The look was refined and elegant, encapsulating the "Haute Couture" theme of the 1995 Met Gala, sponsored by designers Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace.

Wintour wasn't co-chair in 1996, but she attended the "Christian Dior" event in a floral gown.

The 1996 event paid tribute to Christian Dior, and Wintour arrived in a dress designed by John Galliano, who started his 14-year tenure at Dior later the same year.

The figure-hugging dress had a floral pattern and delicate spaghetti straps. She also wore a statement necklace and her iconic sunglasses.

Wintour became co-chair again in 1997, arriving in a gold dress for the Gianni Versace-themed Met Gala.

The 1997 Met Gala paid homage to Gianni Versace, who had died after being shot in Miami months prior.

The late designer was known for his love of working with metal embellishments and gold tones, so it's no wonder that Wintour took that on board with her look for the evening: a shimmery, liquid-like gold gown with thin spaghetti straps.

She paired it with coordinating stilettos and a sparkly silver necklace.

Wintour kept things simple in a slip dress for the 1998 Met Gala, which was themed "Cubism and Fashion."

Wintour's look, a lightweight gold slip dress paired with a silver necklace and two bracelets, didn't exactly scream "Cubism and Fashion."

But, in Wintour's defense, the trend of wearing an outfit that nodded to the Met Gala theme wasn't huge at the time.

In 1999, Wintour blurred the lines between high fashion and punk rock for the "Rock Style" Met Gala.

In 1999, Wintour graduated from being a standard co-chair to officially taking the reins as the Met Gala's chairperson.

That year, the theme was "Rock Style," highlighting how iconic performers like Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, and Alice Cooper, among others, influenced style trends.

Unlike the previous year, Wintour didn't shy away from the theme. Her eclectic John Galliano couture look consisted of a purple embellished skirt with a patterned white top layered under a tanned fur stole.

Wintour channeled Jackie Kennedy's preppy yet elegant style at the 2001 Met Gala that paid tribute to the former first lady.

The 2000 Met Gala failed to go ahead after an exhibit on the works of Coco Chanel was canceled, but the event returned in 2001 with a gala dedicated to the late Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis and her fashion legacy. The former first lady is remembered for her sophisticated wardrobe, including vibrant dresses, pillbox hats, turtleneck long sleeves, and chic evening gowns.

Wintour arrived at the Met that year in a timeless ensemble: a floor-length gown comprised of a classic flowing white skirt and a shimmery baby-blue, high-neck top with floral embellishments and shoulder pads.

The 2003 Met Gala's theme was "Goddess: The Classical Mode." Wintour arrived in an angelic Christian Dior ensemble.

Wintour's ethereal Christian Dior look was perfect for the 2003 Met Gala's "Goddess: The Classical Mode" theme, the first held after a hiatus in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks.

The Vogue editor's look consisted of a silky floor-length white gown paired with silver strappy stilettos and a cropped, fringed cardigan.

Her final accessory? Wintour's iconic black sunglasses, which she later told CNN she likes to wear to "avoid people knowing what she's thinking about."

She wore one of her quirkiest Met Gala looks for the 2004 "Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century" event.

Wintour partnered with Christian Dior again for her look at the 2004 Met Gala. She wore a pastel-green silk dress embellished around the neckline and a crystal-encrusted jacket with exaggerated shoulder pads.

The look is one of the most eclectic that Wintour has worn to the Met Gala. Still, it was in line with the year's theme, which focused on the "refined elegance and delicate voluptuousness" of interiors and style during the 18th century, according to the Metropolitan Museum website.

The fashion editor wore a silky white gown with a floral-embellished cardigan for the 2005 "House of Chanel"-themed Met Gala.

Wintour stayed on theme in an asymmetrical white Coco Chanel gown and a coordinating cardigan with floral appliqué.

She accessorized with silver heels and a statement pearl necklace that featured a fringed pendant.

The 2006 Met Gala was about honoring British fashion, a perfect theme for Wintour, born in London.

"AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion" was the theme of the 2006 Met Gala.

While Wintour opted not to work with a British designer on her look for the evening, instead choosing Chanel, her ensemble oozed English elegance.

It consisted of a black sequined gown with pink rose details along the train and chest, and a flowing beige coat, perhaps a high-fashion nod to the iconic Burberry trench coat.

Wintour went for an edgy look at the 2007 Met Gala in a black sequin-heavy ensemble with scale-like detailing.

In 2007, the Met Gala theme was "Poiret: King of Fashion," in honor of Paul Poiret, a designer famous for influencing the transition in women's fashion from corsets to looser clothing items.

For the event, Wintour wore a sequined Chanel gown with a segment of black and white scales embroidered down the center and on the shoulders.

She embodied power and fashion at the 2008 "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" Met Gala.

Wintour arrived on the red carpet in a silver Chanel gown designed by Karl Lagerfeld. The dress featured shell-shaped padding along the waist and shoulders.

The ensemble looked like it could've been pulled from the costume department of an epic sci-fi movie, proving she nailed the event's fantasy theme.

For the 2009 Met Gala, themed "The Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion," Wintour went for a black-and-white number.

Chanel designed her white dress, featuring a black oval pattern.

While it was one of the safer looks Wintour has worn to the Met Gala, it featured a few playful details, such as pointed shoulders and a thick black belt.

Wintour dazzled at the 2010 Met Gala in a silver-tiered Chanel dress.

She paired the silver Chanel dress with a sequin-heavy silver jacket and a necklace.

While elegant, it isn't Wintour's most on-theme Met Gala look of all time, given the event was themed "American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity."

In 2011, Wintour wore an ombré sequined dress that paid tribute to Alexander McQueen.

The theme for the 2011 Met Gala was "Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty," in honor of the late British designer known for his originality and meticulous tailoring.

Honing in on McQueen's mastery of tailoring, Wintour opted for a fitted Chanel gown decorated with tiny multicolored sequins to recreate a bold ombré pattern. It also had a section of gold sequins running down the center.

She looked glamorous at the 2012 Met Gala that honored not one but two iconic fashion houses.

The 2012 Met Gala's theme paid tribute to two iconic Italian designers: Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada.

In line with "Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations," Wintour chose to wear a textured white Prada gown with a white fur stole.

The dress may have been Prada, but that doesn't mean Wintour forgot about Schiaparelli. Her gown featured a large gold lobster, a not-so-subtle nod to the "lobster dress" Elsa Schiaparelli made in 1937.

Wintour put a playful, feminine spin on the 2013 Met Gala theme, "Punk: Chaos to Couture."

Wintour wore a floral Chanel dress with white stilettos.

To the untrained eye, the gown might not scream "punk," but the DIY-inspired pattern and the fact that a couture house created the dress nailed the theme.

The 2014 Met Gala was themed "Charles James: Beyond Fashion," to which Wintour wore a ball gown covered in floral details.

Wintour's Chanel gown had a sheer neckline and featured an array of red, blue, beige, and black flower petal appliqués. She accessorized with gold heels and a chunky silver necklace.

The ball gown was in line with the theme of the night, which paid tribute to the late designer Charles James, who was known for his "sculptural" and "scientific" approach to dressmaking, according to the Metropolitan Museum website.

The 2015 Met Gala theme was "China: Through the Looking Glass." Wintour arrived in an orange-and-red floral gown.

The dress, designed by Chanel, was covered in varying-sized floral appliqués in orange and red hues.

Wintour's color palette for the night was a subtle nod to the theme of the evening, "China: Through the Looking Glass."

Wintour wore an intricately beaded white gown with fringed sleeves for the 2016 Met Gala.

Joining forces with Chanel for yet another Met Gala, Wintour arrived on the red carpet in a floor-length beaded gown with fringe detailing along the sleeves and train and light-brown feathers stitched around the chest.

The intricate detail throughout the dress paid tribute to the "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology" theme, which delved into how fashion designers create through their handiwork and machinery.

In 2017, she wore a gold-embellished gown with a playful feathery segment and a sheer train.

The 2017 Met Gala was themed after Rei Kawakubo, a Japanese designer known for challenging classic silhouettes by playing with asymmetry and dress construction.

For the event, Wintour honored the theme and Kawakubo by wearing a technically adventurous Chanel gown that featured heavy embellishments, a feathery white skirt, and a semi-sheer train.

Wintour wore a semi-sheer silver dress with sleek cutouts and accessorized with a rosary at the "Heavenly Bodies"-themed Met Gala in 2018.

The 2018 Met Gala theme, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination," is among the most popular in recent history.

Wintour served a master class in abiding by the dress code when she arrived in a silver Chanel halterneck gown overlayed with a sheer cream fabric that had two delicate cutouts around the neck. The best part of her look had to be her dark silver rosary, which fit the theme perfectly.

The 2019 Met Gala was all about camp fashion, and Wintour delivered.

The 2019 Met Gala's theme, "Camp: Notes on Fashion," was about bold, exaggerated, playful looks.

Wintour, wearing Chanel again, nailed the assignment in a pink gown covered in pastel flowers and a coordinating pink-and-purple feathery stole.

Following a yearlong hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Met Gala returned with force in 2021 — and so did Wintour's fashion.

"In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" was the 2021 theme of the Met Gala, paying tribute to the evolution of fashion and culture in the US.

Wintour broke from her tradition of wearing Chanel by choosing an Oscar de la Renta dress. Boldly printed with sunflowers, lilacs, and posies, the long-sleeved dress featured ruffles along the train and neckline.

She returned to wearing Chanel at the 2022 Met Gala, emphasizing "Gilded Glamour."

It seems that Wintour and Chanel cannot be separated for longer than a year. In 2022, for the "Gilded Glamour" dress code, the Vogue editor in chief opted for a rainbow-colored dress embellished with tiny beads.

She added a touch more glamour with a coordinating feathery poncho.

The 2023 Met Gala honored the late Karl Lagerfeld, so it made sense that Wintour wore Chanel.

Lagerfeld, who died in February 2019 at age 85, was a fashion juggernaut best known for serving as the creative director of Chanel.

Paying tribute to the designer, with whom she was close friends for decades, Wintour attended the 2023 Met Gala in a white skirt and a sparkly sequinned coat designed by Chanel.

She also arrived alongside actor Bill Nighy, briefly stirring up romance rumors until his spokesperson said they are simply "great friends."

Wintour enlisted Loewe to create an ornate floral jacket for the 2024 Met Gala.

In line with the 2024 Met Gala's "Garden of Time" dress code, Wintour stepped onto the red carpet in a black wool floor-length jacket. Its satin collar was decorated with floral appliqués made of feathers, beads, and pearls.

According to Loewe, the jacket was inspired by an 1889 cape designed by Charles Frederick Worth — regarded by some as the father of haute couture. Wintour let it shine by donning it over an understated white silk satin long-sleeve dress.

• We sent three reporters to Chili's to try every burger on the menu.
• The double-stacked burgers were a little too heavy for our tastes.
• But we were pleasantly surprised by Alex's Santa Fe Burger, the most creative burger on the menu.

Chili's is having a moment … and attempting to prove it has the best-value burger.

The chain just released its newest burger, the Big QP, which bears striking similarities to McDonald's Quarter Pounder burger. It's available on its own or part of the chain's 3-For-Me deal, which Chili's is hoping will bring more value-conscious customers through its doors.

When Business Insider visited the chain's headquarters in April 2024, executives told us Chili's was leaning into advertising campaigns and new menu initiatives in order to improve brand awareness and traffic, a strategy that appears to be working.

The Texas chain has seen sales growth while other chains are struggling to win over value-conscious customers and Gen Z. In January, Chili's reported a 31.4% increase in comparable restaurant sales and a nearly 20% spike in foot traffic between Q2 2024 and Q2 2025, which ended December 25, 2024.

Business Insider coordinated with Chili's Grill & Bar to organize this taste test at our local restaurant, but BI paid for all of the meals.

The only exception was the Big QP, which Business Insider tried at a media event hosted by the chain. Chili's had no influence over the results of our ranking.

Here's every Chili's burger, ranked from worst to best.

Our least favorite burger was also the most decadent: the Bacon Rancher.

The Bacon Rancher burger cost $19.49, excluding tax, at our local Chili's in Glendale, New York.

The Bacon Rancher comes with two beef patties, six slices of bacon, ranch dressing, American cheese, sautéed onions, and pickles on a buttered brioche bun.

The bacon was arranged in a crisscross design on top of the burger patties and cheese. Two slices of cheese were on the burger patties, which were smashed and had a crispy texture.

This was the Mount Everest of Chili's burgers.

The ranch dressing worked well with the other ingredients in the burger and added a creamy, tangy flavor that offset the savoriness of the two burger patties and bacon.

However, we thought this burger bordered on too much meat. We couldn't clearly taste the bacon over the juicy, meaty flavor of the patties, and the moisture from the two burgers affected the texture of the bun, which struggled to hold its shape.

We also missed some of the fresher ingredients, like lettuce or tomato, that we enjoyed in the other burgers we tried.

Overall, this burger just wasn't to our personal taste.

We experienced similar issues with the Double Oldtimer, but liked the toppings better.

The Double Oldtimer with cheese cost $17.79, excluding tax, at our local Chili's in Glendale, New York.

The Double Oldtimer with cheese comes with two beef patties, cheddar cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and mustard.

The burgers were stacked neatly on top of one another, with the toppings under the beef. We thought this was interesting — we usually place burger toppings on top of the patties to prevent the bottom bun from getting soggy.

This burger tasted strongly of mustard, but we enjoyed the classic toppings.

A thin slice of cheese separated the two burger patties, and we thought the lettuce and tomato tasted fresh. However, we had mixed feelings about the mustard.

The mustard almost overpowered the other ingredients, and the additional patty made the burger so juicy that the bread was nearly flattened. Still, we thought the burger patties were cooked perfectly and had an excellent texture.

It was a great classic burger, similar to one we might make at a cookout. However, we all agreed that when dining out, we prefer to choose more creative options.

We also tried the single-patty Oldtimer burger without cheese.

The Oldtimer cost $13.29, excluding tax, at our local Chili's in Glendale, New York.

The Oldtimer comes with one burger patty, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and mustard.

We were interested to see how this burger compared to the others, which were all topped with cheese.

This was the simplest and most traditional burger we tried.

Unlike with the double, we could distinctly taste all the ingredients since there was no second patty to overpower the flavor of the toppings. We also surprisingly didn't miss the cheese — the burger was so juicy and moist, it didn't need it.

However, the mustard was still a little strong. One of us thought the addition of ketchup would have balanced out the burger more, but another reporter thought it was fine without it.

The Mushroom Swiss burger was divisive.

The Mushroom Swiss Burger cost $14.79, excluding tax, at our local Chili's in Glendale, New York.

The Mushroom Swiss burger comes with sautéed onions, mushrooms, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise.

This burger was stacked high, with mushrooms falling out of the bun. One of our reporters, in particular, is a big fan of mushrooms, and these ones looked perfectly cooked and came in a hearty serving. We were excited to try it.

The sautéed onions were crunchy and balanced out the moist texture of the mushrooms.

This burger tasted earthy but not overpowering, thanks to the generous serving of mushrooms, but the onions were the secret star.

The burger patty, which was cooked medium, kept its shape while adding moisture, as did the mushrooms. The lettuce, onions, and tomato balanced out the burger by adding crunch, and the creamy mayonnaise pulled it all together.

One of our reporters actually deemed this burger as their second favorite, but it was beaten in the overall ranking.

The BBQ Brisket Burger was our next favorite.

The BBQ Brisket Burger cost $17.59, excluding tax.

The BBQ Brisket Burger has one beef patty and is topped with pulled brisket, the chain's new housemade barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, and pickles.

The beef patty was topped with a slice of cheddar cheese, pickles, and a mound of pulled brisket slathered in Chili's sweet barbecue sauce.

The meat was by far the star of this burger.

The combination of the soft and moist pulled brisket and the crispy yet juicy patty worked well for this burger, especially when combined with the barbecue sauce that we caught a noticeable whiff of even before tucking in to eat.

The sweetness of the sauce also provided a solid balance to the tartness of the pickles.

One of our reporters, who usually reaches for ketchup when eating burgers, noticed she didn't feel the need with this burger.

Since we were splitting the burger, we didn't feel it was overwhelmingly meaty. However, as much as we enjoyed our smaller portions, we could imagine that eating the whole burger by ourselves could result in meat overload.

The Just Bacon Burger was reminiscent of a BLT sandwich.

The Just Bacon Burger cost $14.99, excluding tax.

The Just Bacon Burger has one beef patty topped with bacon, cheddar cheese, pickles, lettuce, red onion, tomato, and mayonnaise.

Despite its size and plentiful ingredients, this burger looked to be holding up decently within its bun. We were curious to see if that would be the case after we portioned it out. After cutting it into four pieces, each section held up.

The tomato was thick, and the bacon was glazed nicely.

The ingredients in this burger, besides the patty, reminded us of a familiar favorite: a BLT. But what worked so well was that we could taste each component, as none overpowered the other.

There was a generous amount of crispy bacon, the slice of tomato was thick and juicy, and the mayo-covered lettuce added a touch of freshness to each bite.

As much as we enjoyed it, we ended up placing two burgers ahead that were just as delicious but more unique.

We tried Chili's newest burger, the Big QP, at a media event in New York City.

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

The Big QP comes with two slices of cheese, diced red onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard.

Like the McDonald's Quarter Pounder, Chili's Big QP burger comes with a single burger patty. However, Chili's said its patty has 85% more meat than the McDonald's version.

Chili's culinary director Brian Paquette also told Business Insider that this is the first time the chain has introduced a burger with ketchup already added to it.

The burger patty was thick, juicy, and well-seasoned, while the condiments added a lot of flavor.

The pickles and diced red onions also added sharpness and crunch to the burger.

The "Big QP" name doesn't lie — it was a big burger and it tasted very similar to a Quarter Pounder, just a bit more elevated in terms of quality and portion size. Our only complaint was with the cheese.

The slices could have been melted just a bit more, but this could have been because we tried the burger at a media event and not an actual Chili's restaurant.

The Big Smasher was coated in a refreshing sauce.

The Big Smasher Burger cost $14.39, excluding tax.

The Big Smasher comes topped with shredded lettuce, diced red onions, pickles, American cheese, and Thousand Island dressing.

The Thousand Island dressing was dripping from all sides of the burger. One reporter remarked that we should've worn bibs.

It looked like the Big Smasher Burger was going to be a saucy mess, but the dressing turned out to be one of our favorite aspects.

The saucy burger was tangy, juicy, and ideal for the summer.

The Big Smasher Burger wasn't the easiest to handle, as it left our hands slick with sauce, but it made up for the mess with flavor.

The Thousand Island dressing was creamy and thick, yet refreshing and tangy, helped by an assortment of red onions and pickles. It completely coated the juicy patty. Despite the heavy amount of dressing and juices, the bun remained intact, unlike some other burgers on the menu.

It had a tasty zing that we felt made it an ideal burger to eat in the summer.

Our favorite burger was inspired by the Southwest.

The Alex's Santa Fe Burger cost $16.29, excluding tax, at our local Chili's in Glendale, New York.

Alex's Santa Fe Burger had the most distinctive toppings.

It came with one beef patty, avocado, pepper jack cheese, red onion, jalapeños, tomato, pickles, cilantro, and the chain's spicy Santa Fe sauce.

The burger — named for Chili's sous chef Alex Gomez, who created it — is as flavorful as it is colorful.

We reached a quick consensus that Alex's Santa Fe Burger was our favorite burger, as it was by far the most creative.

Created by Chili's sous chef Alex Gomez in 2018, the burger is jam-packed with as many flavors as it has colorful ingredients.

The jalapeños and slightly smoky Santa Fe sauce gave each bite a kick, but the slices of avocado and tomato, the juicy patty, and the cheese balanced it out. As one reporter noted, it was spicy but not to the level that had us immediately reaching for a glass of water.

The burger's brightness and freshness helped it live up to its Southwestern-inspired name and made it our top choice on the menu.

This definitely wasn't your average chain-restaurant burger — and it cemented Chili's as the casual-dining chain to watch, in our humble opinion.

• Buckingham Palace confirmed King Charles III was diagnosed with cancer in January 2024. 
• The announcement came after the British monarch sought treatment for an enlarged prostate. 
• The monarch was briefly hospitalized on Thursday due to side effects from his cancer treatment.

King Charles III had a bit of a setback in his cancer treatment.

The king, who was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of 2024 following a procedure to treat an enlarged prostate, took a trip to the hospital on Thursday due to side effects from his treatment, Buckingham Palace shared.

When his diagnosis was announced in February 2024, the palace said the king would briefly step back from public-facing duties to undergo a "schedule of regular treatments," though the palace never provided details to the public about what those treatments entailed.

When Charles was out of the spotlight — and his daughter-in-law Kate Middleton was also undergoing cancer treatment — other members of the royal inner circle, like Prince William, faced pressure to step up.

Here's a timeline of Charles' health struggles, from his diagnosis and return to the public eye to his latest health scare.

Buckingham Palace announced Charles was undergoing a "corrective procedure" on his prostate in January 2024.

On January 17, 2024, the palace shared in a statement with Business Insider that Charles would be heading to the hospital to receive treatment for an enlarged prostate.

At the time, the palace described Charles' condition as "benign" and said the procedure he was having was "common with thousands of men each year."

When asked to provide further details about the condition and the procedure, the palace said it would not "for privacy reasons" and that more information about his coming engagements would be confirmed "in due course."

The announcement came the same day Kensington Palace announced Kate was in recovery after a "planned abdominal surgery."

Weeks later, Buckingham Palace confirmed Charles had been diagnosed with cancer.

On February 5, 2024, less than a month after the king's prostate procedure, the palace made yet another unprecedented announcement: Charles has cancer.

The palace didn't specify the form of cancer Charles was diagnosed with in the statement shared with BI. However, it said the monarch's medical team discovered the cancer while he was undergoing his prostate procedure.

It added that Charles had already begun a "schedule of regular treatments" and was under advice to step back from "public-facing duties," though he would also be continuing "State business and official paperwork as usual."

The statement concluded with the palace saying Charles was "grateful" for his medical team's "swift intervention" and was looking forward to returning to "full public duty as soon as possible."

"His Majesty has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer," it added.

Charles kept working behind the scenes, praised the public for its well-wishes, and received support from his royal relatives — near and far.

In the months after Charles' diagnosis, the royal kept busy behind the scenes. Shortly after his condition was made public, a representative of Prince Harry told BI that he was scheduled to fly to the UK from California to see his father.

Weeks later, he was pictured meeting with then-British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and opening get-well-soon cards sent to the palace by members of the public.

In the interim, Charles also received treatment at the same clinic as Kate, whom he remained in the "closest contact with," a palace spokesperson told the BBC.

On March 28, 2024, Charles made his first public remarks post-diagnosis. In a pre-recorded audio clip shared at the Royal Maundy Service before Easter Sunday, he said it was "a great sadness" that he was unable to attend in person due to his condition and stressed the importance of extending "friendship" in times of need, Royal Central reported.

On Easter Sunday 2024, Charles was spotted alongside Camilla attending a service at St George's Chapel in Windsor. The service was smaller to reduce Charles' contact with others while undergoing treatment.

On April 26, 2024, the palace said Charles would return to public-facing duties.

After a "period of treatment and recuperation" following his cancer diagnosis, the palace said on April 26, 2024, that Charles was gearing up to return to public-facing duties "shortly."

The statement added that one of the first of several public events he was set to appear at was a visit to a cancer treatment center with Queen Camilla on April 30, 2024.

"In addition, The King and Queen will host Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan for a State Visit in June," the statement read.

As Charles approached the one-year mark following his coronation on May 6, 2023, the statement concluded by saying he and Camilla are "deeply grateful for the many kindnesses and good wishes they have received from around the world throughout the joys and challenges of the past year."

Charles opened up about experiencing side effects from cancer treatment while speaking to a British army veteran in May 2024.

On May 13, 2024, the king visited the Army Flying Museum in Hampshire, where LBC reported he spoke with a British military veteran who had undergone chemotherapy after being diagnosed with testicular cancer.

During the interaction, the individual, whom the UK news outlet identified as Aaron Mapplebeck, told Charles he lost his ability to taste as a result of the cancer treatment, a side effect that the king said he'd also experienced.

On the same day, Charles took part in a ceremony handing over his title as the Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps — a role he has held for over 30 years — to William.

The BBC reported that it was "unusual" for both the king and William to be present for the occasion, but Charles told attendees they were in good hands with his eldest son, who used to be a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot.

"I do hope you'll go from strength to strength in the future with the Prince of Wales as your new colonel-in-chief," Charles said. "The great thing is he's a very good pilot indeed. So that's encouraging."

The king briefly paused his cancer treatment in October 2024 for a trip to Australia and Samoa.

In October 2024, Charles and Camilla took an 11-day royal tour to Australia and Samoa.

Ahead of the trip, the Daily Mail reported that the king would pause cancer treatments during the overseas visit and restart his treatment course upon his return.

As the visit ended, a senior spokesperson for the palace told outlets like The Guardian and Town & Country that they were planning for Charles to take on normal travel in 2025.

"We're now working on a pretty normal-looking full overseas tour programme for next year," the spokesperson said. "Which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms, subject to signoff by doctors."

President Donald Trump said Prince William gave him an update on King Charles' health on December 9, 2024.

Trump and William met in Paris during the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in December 2024.

After their visit, Trump told the New York Post he spoke to William about Kate and Charles' health.

"I asked him about his wife, and he said she's doing well," Trump told the outlet. "And I asked him about his father, and his father is fighting very hard, and he loves his father and he loves his wife, so it was sad."

In December 2024, a royal source said Charles would continue treatment for his cancer in 2025.

On December 20, a royal source shared with ABC News that the king's treatment was ongoing.

The unnamed source described Charles' cancer as a "managed condition" to the outlet and said that "the treatment is heading in a positive direction, and King Charles will continue with his busy schedule."

The king was briefly hospitalized because of side effects from his cancer treatment on Thursday.

On Thursday, Buckingham Palace said in a statement that King Charles briefly went to the hospital as a result of side effects from his cancer treatment.

"Following scheduled and ongoing medical treatment for cancer this morning, The King experienced temporary side effects that required a short period of observation in hospital," the statement said. "His Majesty's afternoon engagements were therefore postponed."

"His Majesty has now returned to Clarence House and as a precautionary measure, acting on medical advice, tomorrow's diary programme will also be rescheduled," the statement continued.

The statement did not specify the king's temporary side effects. While recovering at Clarence House, he missed three visits with ambassadors on Thursday and a trip to Birmingham on Friday.

"His Majesty would like to send his apologies to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result," the statement also said.

King Charles was also photographed leaving Clarence House in a car on Friday, as shown above. He waved to members of the public from the vehicle.

• Some veteran holiday-makers are ditching Airbnb and hotels for long-term travel with home exchanges.
• Boomers and Gen-Xers swapping luxury homes say it's cheap, safe, and people are more respectful.
• Like in "The Holiday," some have also forged friendships with their home swap counterparts.

Denise Godreau knew next to nothing about Eswatini before 2022.

To be fair, the tiny southern African country formerly known as Swaziland is not exactly around the corner from her hometown of Orlando.

Godreau, a 60-year-old executive at private equity firm KSL Capital Partners, loves to travel. After moving from Puerto Rico to Florida in the 1990s, she worked in hospitality, theme parks, and hotel development, which took her around the world.

Still, Eswatini wasn't a destination she ever gave much thought to.

But when she got a message on her Home Exchange account from Jenni Hammond, 54, inquiring about a 12-day simultaneous home swap, her curiosity peaked.

"I told my husband, OK, we have this request from a family in Swaziland," Godreau told Business Insider. "He looked at the home, the location, and everything, and he was like, 'Yeah, that's a nice home.'"

Situated on a mountain on a roughly 64,500-square-foot property within a lush green nature reserve, Godreau wouldn't just have access to Hammond's house and its infinity pool but also the help of her staff, including a housekeeper and driver.

"Everybody was saying, 'You are crazy,'" Godreau said. "Nobody goes to Africa without a tour, without security, without someone telling you where to go and where not to go."

Cost-effective for long holidays

Godreau and Hammond were drawn to home exchanges during the pandemic, as they were searching for alternatives to booking long-term stays through Airbnb or at hotels.

There are several home swap platforms, but Godreau and Hammond are fans of Home Exchange, which offers several tiers of membership starting at $220 a year.

Within the platform there are different types of house swaps; users can book stays in people's homes using GuestPoints that they accrue from the location, size, and amenities of their homes. They can get more GuestPoints by hosting.

Hammond, for example, told BI she has 30,000 GuestPoints, or enough to book a "three-month holiday.

There are non-simultaneous swaps in which users swap homes on different dates. The third type is reciprocal swaps, à la "The Holiday," which are the hardest to arrange.

"It takes a lot of back and forth," Godreau said. "You're asking a complete stranger, like, 'Plan your getaway the same dates I want to plan mine'."

Users can charge cleaning fees in addition to the membership, but it's not mandatory, and some don't bother. Hammond, for example, doesn't charge a cleaning fee because she has staff, which means the only travel costs Godreau incurred going to Africa were flights, food, and activities.

Hammond, who has completed more than 70 exchanges, said the way she travels has helped her save thousands in travel costs when visiting the US.

In 2018, she took a 10-day road trip from Chicago to New Orleans that cost $7,900, most of which went toward hotel expenses. "You can get a rental for $400 in Africa," Hammond said.

More recently, she and her husband Brent wrapped a two-month trip to the US, vacationing in Arizona, Hawaii, and New York. Using home swaps for almost all their accommodation, spending just $7,000.

Not only have they found it significantly more cost-effective, but Godreau and Hammond aren't sacrificing comfort.

"When you do a home exchange, the place that you stay in is a far more luxurious accommodation than you would in any form of five-star hotel," Hammond said. "I tend to also book in places that are a certain caliber."

Forging friendships

Unlike Airbnb, which is predominantly used by millennials and Gen Zers, Home Exchangers skew older. According to data shared with BI, Gen Xers and boomers make up the majority of the platform's users.

Dorine Olive, a neighbor of Godreau's who has completed more than 40 stays through Home Exchange, told BI she rarely comes across "profiles of anybody in their early 20s."

There's a bigger sense of "respect and trust" than Airbnb, Godreau said, which Hammond echoed.

"The difference between home exchange and Airbnb and Booking.com is with home exchange, the people care about your home," she said. "They take cognizance that this is a home and this is a gift because there's been no monetary exchange."

But it's not everyone's cup of tea.

"Most of our friends think we're crazy for doing this," said Olive, 60.

She herself was wary during her first swaps and took care to lock up all her valuables. But after the first few experiences, Olive said she realized, "Nobody's looking at anybody's business."

"My only regret is that I didn't discover this 10 to 15 years ago," she added.

Trust aside, the home swappers said there's something a little bit more human about the process. Not only can they fully step into the shoes of a local, but they can also make real friendships.

Godreau, a recreational triathlete, was training for an Iron Man when she visited Eswatini. Knowing that, Hammond went out of her way to connect her with her own local running group so Godreau could keep up her training.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Hammond got to know Godreau's neighbors at a potluck they invited her and her husband to.

"I got to know each of her friends and also learned quite a bit about Denise, what she's like," Hammond said. "It was actually very precious."

• Vitus Stenhøj Schiøtz moved to Japan on a working holiday visa.
• He found Tokyo hectic so he ended up living in a small ski town north of the capital.
• He's making $8 an hour as a chef but has found the cost of living low enough to save money.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Vitus Stenhøj Schiøtz, 23, a Danish traveler who got a working holiday visa to live in Japan. He moved to Japan in late 2024 and works as a chef in a restaurant in Nozawaonsen, a small town northwest of Tokyo. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I'd always dreamed of seeing different places. Last summer, I came across a surf camp in Portugal and fell in love with traveling while you work.

Knowing the surf season would end, I started looking for somewhere else to go. I visited Japan and traveled for three weeks.

Kyoto was my favorite, and I felt very welcome there, but Tokyo felt a bit overwhelming. I tried to visit areas I thought would be less busy, but it's jam-packed everywhere. Areas like the crossing in Shibuya were too much for me. I got almost panicky.

It's not necessarily the locals' fault, but I felt out of place. People would say "Welcome," but not in the sense that they actually wanted to have anything to do with me.

As a foreigner solo traveling, I felt separated, and in a sense, I felt I was wrong for being there.

Still, I enjoyed Japan. I really love the culture, the people, and the way of life. In September, I started researching how a Danish guy like me could stay longer, and that's when I came across a working holiday visa.

I'd heard Japan has some of the best snow in the world, and I also wanted to work a ski season, so I researched smaller towns that get a lot of snow. Hokkaido was in the running, but then I heard about Nozawaonsen from TikTok.

I spoke to people who had been, and they said it was the most lovely town ever. I was sold.

Feeling at home in a tiny snow-capped town north of Tokyo

I came back to Japan in November after getting a job as a chef at Tanuki, a restaurant in Nozawaonsen. It's owned by a big corporation that has multiple restaurants and lodges. There are some Japanese workers but it's mostly foreigners.

My girlfriend came with me and found a job as a housekeeper.

Nozawaonsen is about 3.5 hours from Tokyo. You travel north by train and then take a bus into the mountains.

Going out of this huge city, all of a sudden, you see mountains around you and these valleys with autumn colors and leaves.

It's a little traditional village with two supermarkets and a convenience store. It's a very close-knit community.

Ski culture is also different in places like Switzerland, France, or Austria, where you have those huge parties that start in the middle of the day.

Here, it's a little more controlled. You ski in the day, have lunch, and then go to the "onsen," or public bath, in the evening.

I'm still very much a tourist, but I feel very welcome. People are very nice and greet me and say "Ohayou gozaimasu" when I walk by.

Life is cheaper than in Denmark

There's a misconception that travel has to be expensive, and I don't think it has to be.

My girlfriend and I live in the corporation's accommodation for workers with about 25 other people. It's 1100 yen (about $7) a night.

The thing I was scared about coming to Japan was I wouldn't necessarily be able to experience some of the restaurant scenes and buy the things that I wanted.

But before traveling, I heard that the yen was weak. It wasn't the reason I came, but it made me think Japan might not be as bad for traveling while you're young and on a budget.

When you go out in Denmark, you expect to pay about 6,000 yen ($38) just for one person for a meal with drinks. Here, you might pay 1,500 yen or 2,000 yen (between $9.50 and $12).

I make around 1,300 yen ($8) an hour. But with the living standards down here and how the company provides lunches and dinners, it's enough to actually save up money while working.

I don't see as much of the country while I'm working, but I do get off days where I get to experience the different areas.

My girlfriend and I are saving most of our money as we're planning to travel around Asia in April.

Coming from a background of office work, I really recommend finding a way to travel and work so you can stay in a place for months, make connections with people, learn, and grow.

• Major airlines are integrating an Apple AirTag location feature into their bag tracing services.
• Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic are some of the first to use the feature Apple announced in November.
• Lufthansa, which briefly banned AirTags in 2022, said it's part of ongoing "digital innovations."

A number of major airlines are rolling out a new baggage service that will come in handy for anyone using AirTags.

Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa announced this week that passengers can now share the location of their AirTags with customer service teams to help find and retrieve their lost luggage.

Lufthansa said in a press release that passengers can now "privately and securely" share the location of an AirTag with their baggage tracing service.

"The group's airlines integrate this information into their systems accordingly and can therefore digitally support baggage tracking," said the German carrier, which also owns Austrian, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and ITA Airways.

Corneel Koster, COO at Virgin Atlantic, said the innovation would give customers peace of mind on progress to locate a mislaid bag.

In November, Apple announced it was working with more than 15 airlines, including United, British Airways, Vueling, and Qantas on incorporating a new "Find My" software feature of iOS 18.2 into their "customer service process for locating mishandled or delayed bags."

Aviation news site Paddle Your Own Kanoo reports that the AirTag location-sharing feature also has additional security measures. Passengers can stop sharing the AirTag's location with the airline at any point, and location-sharing ends as soon as bags are returned.

"We have been able to achieve significant improvements in the last few months in the area of baggage tracing," said Lufthansa's Oliver Schmitt. "The integration of our customers' AirTag data opens up additional possibilities for us to act even more efficiently and quickly."

Lufthansa's integration of AirTags into its baggage tracing service comes after the airline briefly banned active AirTags in 2022.

As BI previously reported, the ban was scrapped a few days later after the airline decided the tracking devices did "not pose a safety risk."

• Before he entered politics, JD Vance was best known as the author of the memoir "Hillbilly Elegy."
• The former Ohio senator grew up in the Rust Belt and still has a house in Cincinnati.
• Take a look at all the homes linked to the Yale graduate, former Marine, and current vice president.

Inauguration Day is also moving day.

Donald Trump returned to the White House, and JD Vance headed to the vice president's residence.

Before politics, the 40-year-old Republican was best known as the author of "Hillbilly Elegy," a memoir of his childhood in the Rust Belt. Vance made thousands in royalties after it became a New York Times bestseller in 2016. It was adapted into a 2020 film of the same name starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close.

Vance attended Yale Law School after a four-year stint in the Marines and getting his bachelor's degree at Ohio State.

His rise to fame also cast a spotlight on his wife, Usha Vance, whom he met at Yale and married in 2014. Since tying the knot, the couple has welcomed three children and relocated several times.

When Vance worked at a venture capital firm connected to former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel, they lived in San Francisco. In 2022, Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022 as the representative of Ohio. Trump tapped him as his running mate in 2024.

From the house that inspired "Hillbilly Elegy" to his new home in the vice president's official residence, here's a closer look at Vance's real-estate journey. Representatives for Vance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vance's childhood home is a two-story detached property with a porch in Middletown, Ohio.

The steelworks town of Middletown, Ohio, was thrust into the spotlight thanks to "Hillbilly Elegy."

It's a relatively small city, less than an hour's drive from Cincinnati, with an estimated population of around 51,000. Vance was born and raised in Middletown but has roots in Kentucky, where his family still owns a small cemetery on the side of a mountain.

Vance lived at a light blue house on McKinley Street with his mom, whose struggle with addiction was documented in his memoir.

According to Realtor.com, the 2,000-square-foot house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms underwent an extensive renovation in 2017. The real-estate website also said that the property, which it estimates has a current value of $223,400, was considered "middle class" when Vance grew up there.

Zillow, however, reported that a house with the same square footage — that appears to match Vance's childhood home based on recent photographs — has four bedrooms, not three, and is currently valued at $219,300.

Vance and his wife purchased a historic home in a fairly liberal neighborhood of Cincinnati in 2018.

In 2017, Vance sold his rights to his memoir to Imagine Entertainment, an entertainment production company.

The move laid the foundation for the Ron Howard-directed film adaptation. While it wasn't considered a box-office hit, "Hillbilly Elegy" has seen a spike in interest following Vance's VP nomination.

Shortly after his deal with Imagine Entertainment, Vance and his wife bought a historic home on William Howard Taft Road in East Walnut Hills, Cincinnati.

The neighborhood is left-leaning. The New York Times reported that 85% of voters in the area voted for President Joe Biden during the 2020 election.

Before the sale, a local historian told local TV station WCPO that the house was a "rustic" blend of "mid-century Gothic Revival" and "High Victorian Gothic" design.

The five-bedroom property is described on the real-estate website Redfin as over 6,000 square feet set on 2.29 acres overlooking the Ohio River. Vance bought it in 2018 for just under $1.4 million.

In 2014, the Vances purchased a townhouse in Washington DC's Capitol Hill neighborhood, which they now rent to a tenant — who said they were good landlords.

As many senators and politicians do, Vance owns a home in Washington, DC's Capitol Hill neighborhood — about a mile from the US Capitol.

Property records show that Vance and his wife purchased the white-brick rowhouse in 2014 for $590,000. The two were recently married. Around that time, Usha was a clerk for Brett Kavanaugh, then on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

The house is located on a quiet, tree-lined street. Before the 2024 election, when a BI reporter paid a visit, many of the homes' small yards were adorned with red, white, and blue for the Olympics as well as tiny rainbow Pride flags — including one in Vance's yard.

The couple currently does not occupy the home and rented it out as recently as 2024. According to Redfin, the house was listed for rent in October 2023 for $3,700 a month.

The current tenant told the Washington Post in July of 2024 that she plans to stay there for a while and that her landlords are nice and responsive.

"I love this house. I love this block. I want to be here for a long time," she said. "So I want to be a good tenant. And I have great landlords — Usha's great."

After Vance became a senator, he bought a $1.64 million house in a DC suburb.

According to Politico and local publication the Washingtonian, Vance purchased another DC-area home in February 2023.

The house in Alexandria, Virginia — a city across the Potomac River from DC — sold for $1.64 million to an LLC, property records show.

Del Ray, the Alexandria neighborhood where Vance reportedly bought a home, is a fairly left-leaning neighborhood with Pride flags and other rainbow decorations in many local businesses on the main road. During the 2020 election, Biden captured 81% of the vote in Alexandria.

The more than 2,500-square-foot, five-bedroom house is near a small park.

Residents of the liberal neighborhood are mostly indifferent about the Vances' presence, according to the Washingtonian, but a local artist did "yarn-bomb" an area outside the home, hanging crocheted Pride, bi flags, trans flags, and a pink sign that read "Respect our Rights."

"I'm not the only person who was sort of baffled and, to be honest, a bit dismayed that someone who had so vocally expressed contempt for the kinds of people who live here and the kind of values that we hold had decided to be our neighbor," the yarn artist told the Washingtonian. "Knowing that this person has been really publicly antagonistic to LGBTQ people, to immigrants, to women's rights—it felt appropriate to publicly declare what we stand for in this community."

The Vances moved out of their Alexandria home in January, to move into the Vice President's mansion. The home is not yet on the market.

Now that the Trump-Vance ticket is in office, the Vances are occupying the Vice President's official residence.

In January, Vance moved his family into the Vice President's residence in Washington DC.

Located in Northwest Washington, DC, on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory, the Vice President's residence has been occupied by the second in command since Walter Mondale lived there in 1977.

The home, at 1 Observatory Circle, was originally built in 1893 and has been through several renovations since — the most recent renovations took place in 2021. Former Vice President Kamala Harris waited over two months before moving in as interior designer Sheila Bridges outfitted the first-floor public spaces with furniture, fixtures, and art made by American craftsmen. (After each administration, the furniture is boxed up and the art is returned to the people or museums that loaned it out, according to the Washington Post.)

The 9,000-square-foot house, with 33 rooms, sits on a 72-acre plot of land and is not open to the public.

• Super-wealthy homeowners are giving panic rooms the quiet luxury treatment.
• Dreary basement bunkers are being replaced by lavish "serenity zones" and "treasure rooms."
• High-end security suppliers say the revamped panic rooms offer security without sacrificing style.

Judging by what we see in the movies, panic rooms are bunkers devoid of natural light, lined with concrete, and bolted shut with a hulking slab of door that only opens from the inside.

Those sorts of "panic rooms are so yesterday" in some super-luxury residences, said Matthias Fitzthum, CEO of Bespoke Home & Yacht Security, a company designing security systems for the super-wealthy.

Clients want customized safe rooms that not only "look nice" but are fully "integrated into the living space," said Jon Harris, chief security officer of Fortified Estate, a high-end security supplier.

He likens the quiet luxury upgrade for panic rooms to a "performance watch — it's both beautiful but also, or equally more important, functional."

Hello 'serenity zones'

At Fitzthum's company traditional panic rooms have almost entirely been replaced by what he calls "serenity zones."

Instead of a dreary basement bunker that makes you feel like you "are locking yourself up in your grave," serenity zones are installed in areas that are regularly used — typically a bedroom — so that clients don't have to scramble too far in the event of a threat or intruder, Fitzthum said.

"You are feeling super comfortable because this is a section of the building you really love and it's reducing your stress level," he said. "A panic room was increasing your stress level."

Serenity zones can be customized with features like bulletproof windows, walls, and doors, satellite phones, emergency oxygen, and first aid, but are always designed to blend into the existing interiors, he added.

"Our security in the serenity zones is something you cannot see," he said.

Italian security company Agresti began offering a product it calls the "Treasure room" in 2015, said Gabriele Garrè, chief commercial officer of the bespoke safe specialist.

Treasure rooms can be customized and use premium Italian materials to and "mix the security with the beauty," he told BI.

"Now the client is not just asking for having a bunker in their home — they want to have a space that can be used every day."

Security is more important in luxury real-estate than ever

The new iteration of the panic room cost a pretty penny.

Agresti products range from about $3,000 to $1 million, while Bespoke Home & Yacht Security clients can spend anywhere between $500,000 and $5 million.

Those price tags don't seem to be deterring the super-wealthy. By contrast, over the last two years, Fitzthum said demand has soared.

"In the past, we had maybe 2 inquiries per working day on average," he said. "Today, we are closer to 10."

What may be driving growth is an accumulation of events and incidents, such as the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, Harris said.

"Different events certainly stoke interest," he said. "Over the last few years, there's been so many events. When you get to build your next house, those things have accumulated in your mind."

In Los Angeles, Coldwell Banker's real-estate agent Jade Mills says security has become a priority, particularly for women.

"Women are looking No. 1 to feel safe in their home," Mills told BI, adding that affluent people in general are "taking the security room to the next level."

The same can be said abroad. For example, one of the biggest projects Garrè recently took on was for a client in India who requested a tailor-made safe for their watches. To accommodate the collection, the safe ended up the size of a "small loft," he said.

Garrè's clients, the likes of international royals, business moguls, and politicians, "always want to have something unique," he said.

And for the right price, high-end security suppliers are more than happy to oblige.

"We can do whatever clients want," Fitzthum said. "It's just a question of money and time."

• Henk Rogers is a video game designer who helped make Tetris a global gaming phenomenon.
• After experiencing a near-fatal heart attack, he stopped "chasing the almighty dollar."
• Now, Rogers' big concerns are the climate crisis and building human settlements on the moon.

Henk Rogers may be the man behind Tetris, but gaming is no longer top of his agenda.

Along with the Tetris creator, Alexey Pajitnov, Rogers is best known for bringing the best-selling video game out of the Soviet Union to the masses in the 1980s.

The Tetris origin story is one filled with twists and turns, enough to inspire a 2023 Apple TV thriller starring Taron Egerton.

But reality is a different story, and the game of sliding colorful blocks into place is just one chapter in the life of the Dutch-born game designer.

Rogers met with Business Insider at Outernet, an installation in central London that hosted a huge multiplayer Tetris game to mark its 40th anniversary.

He was awestruck to see the game played across 23,000 square feet of high-definition screens: "I came here not really knowing what it was going to be, and it was way better than I imagined."

As much as Rogers played a pivotal role in making Tetris a global phenomenon, his own story took a left turn after a near-fatal heart attack in 2005.

"In that ambulance on the way to the hospital, I said, 'No, I'm not going,'" Rogers said. "'I still have stuff to do.'"

New mission: Solve the climate crisis

After his brush with death, Rogers stopped "chasing the almighty dollar" and refocused his attention on several new missions.

One of the most pressing agenda items is the climate crisis, which Rogers wants to help tackle through initiatives like the Blue Planet Alliance and Blue Planet Energy, organizations he founded to help governments and communities achieve a fossil fuel-free future.

"We are all living in what I would consider a lifeboat, and the lifeboat has holes in it," he said. "There are people who have the jobs to make to drill more holes in the lifeboat. That's insane. That is not a job. That's a crime. A crime against humanity, a crime against nature, and we have to recognize it as such."

That might sound gloomy, but Rogers is optimistic: "I don't have hope — I have determination."

Still, the climate crisis is just one item on Rogers' to-do list. Others include discovering "how the universe ends," finding a means to end wars — a goal Rogers admits he hasn't "gotten anywhere" with yet — and last, but not least, bringing people to space.

Carving a niche in the new space race

It's no secret that there's a "billionaire space race" going on — there's Elon Musk with Space X, Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin, and Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic, to name a few heavyweights.

The field may be crowded, but Rogers isn't focused on competing.

"Everybody else is thinking about how to get there," he said. "I'm thinking about what do we do when we arrive."

The answer to that, Rogers said, is building settlements suitable to sustaining human life on the moon, Mars, and beyond. The goal is lofty, but he's actively working toward it through the International Moonbase Alliance, an organization he started in 2017 in Hawaii, where he spends a lot of time whenever he's not at home in New York.

"As far as we can tell, there's no other place in the universe that has our life as we know it," Rogers said. Therefore, it's "an unacceptable risk" not to have a "backup of life," he added.

Working with NASA, the alliance has completed five missions, during which people spend months at a time in a facility simulating environments on other planets.

Although Rogers is not particularly a fan of President Donald Trump, who has indicated that space exploration is a priority of his second term, he is open to funding from the current administration.

"A lot of the business leaders have said, 'You know what, we got to put up with this for four years. So let's figure out how we can move the ball forward instead of fighting,'" Rogers said.

Once a gamer, always a gamer

Rogers may be busy with other projects but hasn't totally abandoned the gaming world.

He remains the president of The Tetris Company, which he founded with Pajitnov, and keeps an eye on the changing video game industry.

Esports, for example, have become "a little too violent" for Rogers' taste. "I made a vow early in my career as a computer game designer that I would never work on a game that I didn't want my children to play."

While he no longer considers himself a gamer, he still scratches the gaming itch from time to time.

During his visit to Outernet's Tetris installation, Rogers said he was in awe seeing the game he helped become a cultural phenomenon played across 23,000 square feet of screens.

"I came here not really knowing what it was going to be, and it was way better than I imagined," he said.

But in his day-to-day, Rogers said racket sports have become his gaming go-to — table tennis when he's in New York and pickleball whenever he's in Hawaii.

Roger said racket sports are how he gets in his "cardio." He doesn't enjoy exercise without an element of competition and there's little chance you'll catch him at the gym: "If I had a trainer that was gamifying it, then I might."

• The richest Gen Zers are confident about being able to build up wealth.
• When it comes to flexing, young people are splashing on vacations and vintage luxury goods.
• At home, a well-stocked pantry is a top priority as they're hosting more supper clubs.

Gen Z may be "Generation Stay at Home," but some of them are rich — and more confident than other generations in their ability to build up wealth.

And, like generations before them, those who can afford it are doing luxury in their own way.

While their millennial elders are obsessed with kitting out laundry rooms, spoiling pets, and getting Botox, affluent Gen Zers are inclined to spend money on luxury brands and experiences that align with their values.

Here are six ways they're flexing their spending power.

Rich Gen Zers are booking lavish trips to flaunt on social media.

Gen Zers are either dictating their wealthy parents' travel itineraries or splurging on lavish trips for themselves.

Those who are still traveling with mom and dad are calling the shots on vacation, suggesting activities and destinations based on what's trending on social media.

Julia Carter, the founder of the luxury travel agency Craft Travel, previously told BI that Gen Zers care the most about accommodation.

"You can go to London or Paris," Carter said, "But unless you get these money shots, as they say, how do you show that you really did it in style? The hotel is the proof."

Gen Zers also have a penchant for luxury all-inclusive trips, BI previously reported.

"With social media being so big and being an integral part of their lives, many people are motivated by sharing highly curated content and ultra-luxury resorts," said Malley Goodwin, a luxury travel advisor at Embark Beyond.

They're splashing on brands and experiences that align with their values.

Rich Gen Zers are less inclined to be materialistic with their spending.

When it comes to travel, a press representative of Black Tomato, a UK-founded luxury tour operator offering curated private trips to places such as Mustique and Seychelles, said the company is finding that younger clients want "authentic, hands-on travel experiences" focusing on "sustainability, wellness, and cultural immersion."

Gen Z's value-led spending trend is picking up globally and across other spending categories, such as retail. In China, home to a large population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, younger generations are eschewing flashy logo-heavy brands to splurge on items and experiences representing their values for bettering the environment and themselves.

Jien Goh, a trend forecaster at WGSN, previously told BI: "At the heart of this trend lies a desire for mindful, slower-paced living and a newly emerging mindset that sees wellness and longevity as the ultimate marker of luxury."

When they buy luxury clothes and accessories, they're often opting for secondhand.

Gen Z prefers the flashiest items in their wardrobe to be pre-loved.

Claudia D'Arpizio, senior partner and global head of Fashion and Luxury at Bain, told BI that, instead of purchasing designer goods new, most Gen Zers are sourcing them secondhand via resale platforms like The Real Real.

Their sustainable values are likely part of the equation. However, D'Arpizio said these platforms are a hit with Gen Zers because they're using them to buy vintage finds and sell them to generate extra cash.

"There is an element of gamification and entertainment that is also interesting for this generation," she said.

At home, Zoomers are prioritizing the pantry.

American Gen Zers are outpacing previous generations when it comes to home ownership, per a 2023 Redfin study that found 30% of 25-year-olds owned their home in 2022, compared to 28% of millennials and 27% of Gen X at that age.

At home, the pantry and what it's stocked with have become markers of social status. A McKinsey survey published in December found that groceries, tied with beauty and personal care, are one of the top three categories Gen Z consumers plan to treat themselves to, behind restaurants and apparel.

Gen Zers are stocking up on expensive snacks, beverages, and condiments, and some are flaunting their pricey grocery store hauls from hot spots like Erewhon, a celebrity favorite in Los Angeles, on social media.

It comes as Elizabeth Tan, a senior culture strategist for WGSN Insight, said food and dining have become a way for younger consumers to express "their values and cultural identity."

Smelling good is a marker of status.

A spritz of the right perfume has become a tell-tale sign of wealth and status among Gen Z.

While the luxury goods industry has suffered this past year, particularly from dwindling demand in China, Bain's D'Arpizio said fragrance was one of the few resilient categories.

Fragrances weathered the luxury downturn partly because the category is popular with younger generations, who have continued indulging themselves in smaller, more affordable luxuries while holding back on bigger purchases like handbags or coats.

Perfumes and colognes have also evolved into a medium for Gen Z to carve out their personal brand, as BI previously reported.

The generation is using certain fragrances to identify themselves with popular aesthetics. For example, Upton Clark reports that a Gen Zer hoping to exude a "Clean Girl" vibe might opt for Maison Margiela's Replica Bubble Bath, while one aspiring to give off an air of "Quiet Luxury" might don Maison Francis Kurkdjian's Baccarat Rouge 540.

They're splurging on skincare and treatments to stay young.

The oldest Gen Zers aren't yet 30. While that might be relatively young, they're just as concerned (if not more so) about aging.

In an article on the rise of "Collagen banking," a noninvasive skincare treatment that seeks to boost collagen production, Vogue Business reported that market research firm Circana found 70% of Gen Zers use antiaging serums daily.

As BI previously reported, Gen Z's skincare obsession might be linked to how they are the first generation to grow up with a wide array of social-media platforms and filters, fueling the rise of "prejuvenation" — a trend of mixing skincare with cosmetic treatments to stave off the effects of aging.

The younger generations' desire to maintain their youthful appearances is also changing the cosmetics industry, as Circana reports half of US consumers now look for makeup products that double as skincare, aligning with the attitude of over 60% of Gen Z and millennials.

• Global trend forecaster WGSN says Gen Z is bringing back supper clubs.
• It comes as young people are seeking social activities that don't involve alcohol.
• A Gen Z supper clubber said she and her peers are "graduating" from their clubbing phase.

When Ananya Sharma, a 25-year-old marketing manager, moved from India to London in 2023, she knew next to no one.

Having grown up in a tight-knit community where close friends or family were never too far, isolation dawned on her.

"I felt like, 'I'm pretty much the only person in London that doesn't have friends'," she told Business Insider.

While there's no shortage of events and apps geared toward in-person socializing in cities like London, Sharma wasn't a fan. They're "intimidating," she said, and often make you feel as if "you almost have to perform a little bit to appeal to people."

At the same time, like many Gen Zers, the idea of going to a bar or nightclub to meet new people had lost its charm. As Sharma puts it, she's "graduating" from her clubbing and drinking phase into enjoying "more wholesome activities."

Options limited, Sharma turned to supper clubs — a dining concept that commonly involves hosting friends and perfect strangers for a meal in your own home.

Although supper clubs date back to the 1900s, global trend forecaster WGSN says they're making a 21st-century comeback with an increasing number of young people "hosting their own supper clubs, themed parties, and unique dining experiences for their chosen families."

A connection you can only find at home

Sharma likes to call her version of a supper club an "at-home café."

When she started it last year, the first iterations were relatively low-stakes — the guest list comprised a couple of neighbors, her landlady, and her landlady's daughters, and the menu included coffee, matcha, and homemade cookies.

Things soon picked up. After posting about her supper club online, Sharma said hundreds of strangers started reaching out — some of whom have become friends.

"I recently did one with a bunch of my friends that I've made through TikTok," Sharma said. "It was a great way to sit down and have conversations in an intimate setting."

For Aidan Brooks, a professional chef who runs an established supper club called Eleven 98 from his home in east London, the young generations' fascination speaks to their changing values.

"Each subsequent generation is becoming more health conscious, more environmentally conscious," he said. "If people are looking for a more socially and health-conscious type of thing to do, supper clubs kind of pop up at the top of both of those lists."

In an era when prices are rising yet dining options seem endless, Punam Vaja, host of another east London supper club called Khao Suppers, told BI that supper clubs offer young people a chance to form connections over a more budget-friendly experience that you "probably won't find in a restaurant."

Unlike restaurant chefs who stick to certain menus, supper club hosts can easily take "creative liberties," Sharma, the Gen Z supper club host, said.

"I've seen so many other people who do regional cuisines or themed dinners or lunches," she said. "I heard someone do a 1980s Italian disco-themed supper club, which I thought was so cool."

Looking for friends, IRL

In the years since the pandemic, Gen Z has developed a reputation as "Generation Stay At Home." They care less about climbing the corporate ladder, are more health conscious, and very much enjoy spending weekends "bed rotting," aka tucked between the sheets with snacks, TV, and books on rotation, rather than at a bar.

That doesn't mean they aren't social. On the contrary, supper clubs may go to show that they are even more open to connecting with others than older generations.

Vaja said young people are more open to a supper club experience that requires entering a stranger's house than "older people" who "might be a bit hesitant" because they're used to restaurants.

To Ariel Pastore-Sebring, a supper club host based in Portland, Oregon, the supper club renaissance may be a symptom of how Gen Z missed years of socializing during the pandemic.

"It's so intimate, and I think that's what this next generation is craving, especially after COVID," she said. "I could see why the idea of cramming into some New York City apartment with strangers at a candlelit table sounds pretty cool."

As a night out on the town loses its cool, 2025 could be the year of the supper club.

• Liang Wenfeng is the founder of AI lab DeepSeek, whose AI chatbot shook tech stocks this week.
• In a rare interview in 2023, he gave insight into his hiring strategy.
• "Experience is not that important" when aiming for long-term success, he said.

Liang Wenfeng, the founder of the Chinese AI lab DeepSeek, has an unusual take on hiring: favoring creativity over experience.

Liang rarely gives interviews, but he has come into the spotlight since DeepSeek startled the tech world with its cost-efficient AI models that appear to match the capabilities of US rivals despite using less advanced chips.

In 2023, the year he launched DeepSeek as an offshoot of his hedge fund, he gave an interview to 36KR, a Chinese tech publication, where he shared insight into his hiring strategy and why he doesn't think "experience" guarantees long-term success.

Liang was asked whether he'd consider recruiting talent from overseas and possibly within the pool of employees at US AI giants like OpenAI and Facebook's AI Research.

"If you are pursuing short-term goals, it is right to find people with ready experience, "he said. "But if you look at the long-term, experience is not that important. Basic skills, creativity, and passion are much more important. From this perspective, there are many suitable candidates in China."

When asked why he didn't think experience was so important, he said, "Having done a similar job before doesn't mean you can do this job."

"Our core technical positions are mainly filled by fresh graduates or those who have graduated one or two years ago," he said.

He continued, "When doing something, experienced people will tell you without hesitation that you should do it one way. But inexperienced people will repeatedly explore and think seriously about how to do it, and then find a solution that suits the current actual situation."

"We will not deliberately avoid experienced people, but we look more at their ability," he added.

In a separate interview with Chinese media in July last year, Liang said his company's selection criteria "have always been passion and curiosity."

"So many people have some unique experiences, which are very interesting," he added. "And a lot of people thirst for the opportunity to do research — and that desire far exceeds their need for money."

Since the market's DeepSeek-induced sell-off on Monday, AI stocks such as Nvidia have steadied. DeepSeek has been a hot topic on earnings calls as tech companies, including Meta and Microsoft, face questions over their huge AI infrastructure investments in the face of DeepSeek's more efficient approach.

Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, said that his company would accelerate the release of "better models" in response to DeepSeek. On Wednesday, the company said it was reviewing whether DeepSeek "inappropriately" replicated "advanced US models."

• Bernard Arnault said he spoke about Meta job cuts with Mark Zuckerberg.
• The CEO of LVMH referenced layoffs at Meta when discussing job cuts at Tiffany on an earnings call.
• Arnault described laid-off Meta workers as being "promoted outwards."

Bernard Arnault drew parallels between layoffs at Tiffany & Co. and job cuts at Meta on an earnings call Tuesday.

The CEO of the luxury conglomerate LVMH said he talked with Mark Zuckerberg last week about letting low-performing Meta staff go. Arnault said those workers were being "promoted outwards, so to speak."

The pair, who are worth a combined $445 billion, might have had a moment to chat about layoffs at President Donald Trump's inauguration, which they both attended last week.

Arnault added on the call: "We didn't have a choice. At Tiffany, we had to let go of some people."

He described the luxury jewelry brand as a "sleeping beauty" that was awakened in 2021 after being acquired by LVMH.

"When you're used to sleeping for 10 years, and you're all of a sudden asked to become fierce, and when you're expected to achieve high objectives, some people can't," he said. "Unfortunately, we were not able to keep everyone."

His comments came shortly after Meta announced a new round of layoffs.

Business Insider reported last week that Hillary Champion, Meta's director of people development growth programs, described the jobs in an internal memo as "non-regrettable attrition."

Meta isn't the only company using linguistic somersaults when it comes to job cuts — possibly to make them sound more positive or attempt to maintain the morale of remaining employees.

Amazon often describes layoffs as "unregretted attrition," while TechCrunch recently told BI that job cuts were necessary to meet the company's "evolving needs."

• A home on an island with links to the Magna Carta was taken off the market after failing to find a buyer.
• The River Thames island has a house that's available on Airbnb for more than $1,000 a night.
• Its owner couldn't find a buyer for the house and guests who have stayed there can see why.

A rustic home on a UK private island with ties to British history that was priced at £4.5 million (about $5.6 million) was taken off the market after struggling to find a buyer.

Nestled on the banks of the River Thames in the village of Wraysbury, roughly an hour's drive from London, Magna Carta Island is named for the 800-year-old charter signed by King John that crystallized the idea that British monarchs and the government were not above the law.

The Magna Carta, which influenced the Bill of Rights in the US, is said to have been sealed on a stone slab that is now kept in a special room within the six-bedroom, three-bathroom house on the 3.73-acre private island.

Listing agent Soren Ravaux of Waterview was running the sale before the house was withdrawn from sale last year. He told Business Insider the owner is a Chinese businessman who bought the property for its "heritage" in 2013 for about £3 million.

Ravaux said the owner never used the private island as a permanent residence, instead letting it as an Airbnb to cover the running costs.

Per the Airbnb listing, bookings start from about $1,449 a night, and the property can accommodate up to 15 guests. The owner did not respond to requests for comment.

As grand as the home appears when you drive over the small bridge and catch a glimpse of it surrounded by lush greenery, Ravaux said it's "what you might call rustic" and in need of repair.

So does a guest who stayed there in the past — take a look.

The two-story house was built in 1834 and is dotted with quirky features.

From the stained-glass windows to the open fireplace, circular chimneys, and wooden beam ceilings, the 4,708-square-foot house is oozing with history.

It's Grade II-listed, meaning it's legally protected in the UK for its historical significance, but the house can and should be partially renovated, Ravaux said.

"While you have a lot of the original woodwork and original features, you've probably got to rewire the whole place," he said. "The bathrooms probably haven't been touched since the late 1980s."

An Airbnb guest who hosted a 30th birthday party there says the house is beautiful but somewhat neglected.

Shay Khan, 31, told BI he booked a one-stay night at the Magna Carta house in November 2023 to celebrate his 30th with friends and family.

The night's theme was a murder mystery, so Khan said the building's "gothic" style and "old architecture" were well-suited.

He said the state of the interior was disappointing. "Some rooms were absolutely fine, but some of them had massive black stains on the carpets in the bedrooms, and the quality of the infrastructure of the beds wasn't that great."

Khan said the Airbnb cost £1,400 ($1,766) and had separate cleaning and service fees, which he said he was "slightly disheartened" to pay.

"Perhaps it was overpriced for the experience that we got," he said.

His experience was echoed by a colleague of his partner, who he said had booked the venue a few months prior.

"They had some great memories as well," but also faulted the "cleanliness and general upkeep," Khan said.

The main house has a banquet-style dining room, and there's a guest cottage — but it needs repairs.

According to Ravaux, the two-bedroom guest house also needs renovation after a falling tree damaged it a few years back.

Khan said he noticed it when he arrived on the property for his birthday. The roof was caved into the point where he didn't know what the purpose of the building was as he said it wasn't mentioned in the Airbnb listing.

On the bright side, the dilapidated structure "went with the theme of the murder mystery," Khan said.

The Magna Carta House has ties to modern royal history.

"When Queen Elizabeth was alive, she was doing a national tour of the country, and she planted a commemorative tree on the grounds," Ravaux said.

The island is a rare piece of real estate but may need a revamp to be worth the asking price.

Ravoux's agency deals with several private island sales in the area, but he said Magna Carta Island is unique as "very few of them have just one house."

History is one of its major draws and Ravoux can see it becoming a boutique hotel.

"Even if you take the heritage out, it's just a beautiful old building on this entire private island surrounded by water with these incredible views," he said.

But to be worth the price tag it had before being pulled from the market, Khan said it would benefit from some TLC.

"It's a beautiful venue, just slightly neglected," he said.

• Bad Bunny's new album, "Debir Tirar Mas Fotos," dropped earlier this month.
• It features traditional folk music from Puerto Rico, where the artist is from.
• The lyrics touch on the gentrification of Puerto Rico and draw a stark parallel with Hawaii.

Pristine sandy beaches, lush green rainforests, and azure waters that stretch as far as the eye can see.

To some, Hawaii is a paradise — but Bad Bunny has a different view.

His new album "Debir Tirar Mas Fotos," or "I Should've Taken More Photos," notched up more than 150 million streams in its first week of release this month, overtaking Taylor Swift on Billboard's Top 200. He's been one of the most-streamed artists on platforms such as Spotify for several years.

Infused with traditional Puerto Rican folk music like plena, salsa, and bomba and featuring independent artists from the island like Los Pleneros de la Cresta and Chuwi, "Debir Tirar Mas Fotos" is an homage to Puerto Rico. It shows that Bunny no longer has to "lean on reggaeton" to dominate the charts, Nuria Net, a Latin music and culture journalist, told Business Insider.

But aside from the catchy rhythms and Bunny's viral moments promoting the album on TV chat shows, "concern pervades this entire record," Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor of American studies and co-creator of the Bad Bunny Syllabus, told BI.

It's most obvious on track 14, "Lo Que Pasó a Hawaii," which translates to "What happened to Hawaii" — a song reflecting growing concern among some Puerto Ricans that their island is in danger of suffering the same overdevelopment as Hawaii.

A symbol of displacement

Those who grew up in Puerto Rico say it wasn't uncommon to hear Hawaii mentioned in debates around statehood — a question the island has wrestled with for more than a century.

Like Hawaii, Puerto Rico was annexed to the US in the late 19th century. While the former went on to become a fully-fledged state, the latter remains a territory with limited voting privileges.

"There was a tendency of comparing," said Daniel Nevárez Araújo, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras and coauthor of "The Bad Bunny Enigma: Culture, Resistance, and Uncertainty," recalling his childhood.

For those in favor of statehood, Hawaii was often held up as a "model example of what Puerto Rico should be — progress and fully American," Net said.

But the comparison has become more complicated in recent years, Illeana Rodriquez-Silva, an associate professor of Latin American and Caribbean history at the University of Washington-Seattle, told BI.

She said a wave of affluent settlers from the US mainland came in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which destroyed tens of thousands of homes in 2017 and forced about 130,000 people to relocate.

Lured by tax breaks that sought to help Puerto Rico bring in investment and entrepreneurship, they bought up property and land, Rodriguez-Silva said.

"That's when I started hearing, 'we're going be like Hawaii,'" she said. "And what they are referring to is this moment in the late 19th century where US white elites were able to come in and actually start taking land" in Hawaii, she added.

Just as some Hawaiians lament tourists treating their islands like theme parks and increasing the cost of living, Puerto Ricans started feeling the impact of gentrification, Nevárez Araújo said.

"If you look at Rincon, Aguada, even Mayagüez, Aguadilla, there's a massive exodus of expats coming here buying properties," he said. "Everyone else can't afford to go to the grocery store."

Nevárez Araújo said Bad Bunny is vocalizing concerns that the island is "slowly being emptied out" and becoming a place that's "not for Puerto Ricans."

Tempered optimism

On "Lo Que Pasó a Hawaii," Bunny calls on Puerto Ricans to retain their flag and not forget their roots.

It's a stark warning, but in "subverting the narrative" that the island should aspire to be like Hawaii, Net said it offers hope and pride to Puerto Ricans who have grappled with a "nagging feeling that nothing we do is ever good enough."

Rivera-Rideau said the song also captures the political spirit of a new generation of Puerto Ricans, who, like Bunny, grew up seeing the island's problems mount and now want change.

"His concerns about electricity and infrastructure, gentrification, tourism, the economy, opportunities, growth for the future — those are concerns that many Puerto Ricans have," she said.

In recent years, events like the ousting of the island's former governor Ricardo Rosselló after widespread protests have shown that "young adults are really energized," Rivera-Rideau said.

In "Marketing Puerto Rico," Bunny runs a risk of attracting more mainlanders, people who listen to the music simply because they find it "exotic" and catchy, Nevárez Araújo cautioned.

Still, for many young Puerto Ricans, "Debir Tirar Mas Fotos" is "the closest they will get to voicing those fears and those anxieties" about the island's future, he said.

Some TikTok users have taken to posting photos and videos of people and places they've lost, set to the album's title track, indicating that Bunny's music is resonating on the island and further afield.

"Many of these songs are pointing out the story of displacement," Rodriquez-Silva said. "That is something that is so real to many of us today."

• CNN said it would cut about 200 roles focused on its TV operations.
• The news organization also plans to hire about the same number in digital-focused positions.
• CEO Mark Thompson said last year that he wanted to "future-proof" CNN.

CNN, the cable-news giant owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, said it would cut about 200 TV-focused roles as part of a digital pivot.

The company also said it would hire about the same number of staffers in digital-focused roles and aim to fill 100 of them in the coming months.

The cuts would affect about 6% of CNN's workforce, though the new roles mean total head count is unlikely to be significantly affected.

WBD is providing $70 million in funding as part of a drive to reach $1 billion in digital revenue by 2030.

Mark Thompson, the CEO of CNN, told staff in a memo on Thursday that he aimed to "shift CNN's gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting and, by doing that, to secure CNN's future as one of the world's greatest news organizations."

CNN also said it planned to introduce a streaming-news product accessible on devices in the US and elsewhere.

In October, CNN brought in a paywall, charging some of its most loyal readers $4 a month for access to digital content.

Thompson, a former CEO of The New York Times Company and director-general of the BBC, took over at CNN in 2023. He cut about 100 jobs in July as part of what he called a drive to "future-proof" the company against cable news' decline.

Read the memo Thompson sent to CNN staff.

Dear All,

Two weeks ago, at our first town hall of 2025, I told you that I knew there was plenty of anxiety at CNN about future organizational change and that, as soon as we were able to go into detail about the changes, we'd do it right away. That moment has arrived and today you'll be hearing not just from me but from several of my senior colleagues about the next phase of change at CNN.

The changes we're announcing today are part of an ongoing response by this great news organization to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news. From linear to digital, fixed to mobile, traditional long-form broadcast to any number of different formats and use-cases. It isn't and can't be a single set of changes but a process of investment, experimentation and adaptation that will last years. Our objective is a simple one: to shift CNN's gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting and, by doing that, to secure CNN's future as one of the world's greatest news organizations. America and the world need high quality, fair-minded, trustworthy sources of news more than ever. This difficult and sometimes painful process of change is the only way to make sure we can still provide it.

Today's news is first and foremost about investing in that future. Yes, there are job-losses — around 6% of the current CNN workforce will be impacted — but we don't expect total headcount to fall much this year, if at all. That's because of the $70 million we're investing in our digital plans and the many new jobs it will pay for. Some of that money's going in product and tech, but a lot is also going into new high-quality journalism and storytelling. It's what we stand for. It's also the heart of every successful digital news strategy. At the same time, I know that whatever the total number of job losses, the impact on the individuals involved can be immense. The process of change is essential if we're to thrive in the future, but I both acknowledge and regret its very real human consequences.

My colleagues will go into more detail about the changes, but here is a summary of key headlines:

STREAMING

CNN Max has been a tremendous resource for us. We have been able to get our journalism and storytelling content in front of Max's 110 million global subscribers and test and learn to see what programming a mass streaming audience engages with, spends time with, and returns time and time again to the service to consume. We'll continue to have a strong presence on Max, but we also believe it is not a complete answer to the future of the great linear CNN experience.

Today, I can announce that we plan to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose. It's early days but we've already established that there's immense demand for it not just in America but across much of the world. We'll have more to say about this new digital product in the coming months, including content plans and how we will work with our existing and future distribution partners to bring this to market.

DIGITAL

The new Digital Products & Services organization has accomplished a great deal in the short nine months since Alex MacCallum joined CNN to lead it, including establishing our first direct-to-consumer subscription product, launching vertical video carousels on all of our digital platforms, refreshing the whole CNN.com site, launching the Digital Magic Wall and the live commentary module, creating new innovation teams and building new data analytics and digital business support capabilities, and much else besides.

Now, in addition to the work of developing that new streaming product, Alex will announce a set of further initiatives, including a further major pivot to digital video, the development and launch of CNN's first lifestyle-oriented digital product, working with News to innovate in our multimedia storytelling capabilities, and creating new premium digital ad experiences to drive sustainable and scalable advertising revenue.

She will also detail a restructure of her leadership team, to include the creation of new Content and Transformation, Audience and Features teams to round out her direct reports. With this, we are also posting many new roles at all levels of the organization as part of Warner Bros. Discovery's investment in this strategic work and CNN's path forward. Recruiting the right people will take some time, but we hope to open up and fill at least 100 new posts in the coming months to help execute the new plans.

A FRESH NEW TV SCHEDULE

Innovation also touches our traditional TV experience. For many years ahead and, notwithstanding our streaming plans, the most economically significant expressions of the CNN TV experience will be our two great television services: CNN, the historic US cable channel that enters its 45th year in 2025, and CNN International. Today, we are announcing refreshed schedules for the weekday domestic lineup that bring energy and competitive edge to our delivery. A revised international schedule will follow in a few days' time.

These changes are intended to strengthen our domestic schedule throughout the day and deliver international programming to a wider audience around the world. We're able to achieve that with this new schedule, which will be shared and distributed broadly later today, while also placing our production costs on sustainable footing to match the changing economics of linear television platforms. Like the rest of our industry, we have to respond to these economics if we're to maintain high quality services for our loyal existing audiences.

We're also streamlining and adjusting some important aspects of how we produce our TV programming going forward. The changes we made in morning programming a year ago both improved performance and reduced costs. Building on that successful experiment and with similar objectives in mind, we now plan to change the way we deliver programming elsewhere in the schedule. Starting today, Eric Sherling and John Davies will walk colleagues through these changes.

FURTHER MODERNIZING OUR NEWSROOM

In 2024, our newsroom took on the complex and challenging task of merging into a single integrated organization, breaking down silos between separate digital, TV and international newsrooms. After just a few months of the new structure, we've seen measurable progress and clear signs that our new Follow the Sun structure is working. We've seen it help us capture global breaking news as it happens and deliver the resulting content simultaneously across multiple formats and platforms. The newsroom has also risen to the challenge of providing outstanding distinctive subscriber-only content to support our new digital subscription business as well as playing a key role alongside Digital Product & Services in developing our plans for verticals and features.

Today, we're making further announcements in the Global News organization. We're creating a new Video News Editorial organization as the next stage in our effort to coordinate and strengthen our video capabilities across all platforms, including linear TV. We're transforming our DC bureau to align it with our new multiplatform model, which we introduced elsewhere last summer. We're integrating CNN en Español more closely into CNN's main Global News operation. We're opening an important new senior role in the news organization and welcoming some outstanding new leaders — including Phil Rucker from the Washington Post as SVP Editorial Strategy and News and a new London Bureau chief you'll hear about shortly.

JOB IMPACTS

As I noted at the top, some of today's announcements mean significant new job opportunities at CNN, but others will lead to the loss of some valued colleagues. That too is an unwelcome but inevitable part of the change process. We will aim to contact every colleague who will be impacted by these changes as soon as we possibly can — and will of course help and support them in any way we can thereafter. In the year and a quarter since I arrived at CNN, we've had an incredible period of news and have already made significant progress on our transition to the future. I am grateful to every one of these colleagues for everything they've done for this company in my time and the years before.

MOVING FORWARD

2025 has only just begun and yet we've already seen more than enough news at home and abroad to be reminded just how important it is that this great news organization succeeds. Given our brand and reputation, given the incredible talent at our disposal, given that spirit of innovation and commitment that has always been a hallmark of CNN, I truly believe that we can do just that.

Thank you for everything you do for CNN and for the audiences across America and around the world that depend on us.

Mark

• The cost of a permit to climb Mount Everest will soon jump by 36%.
• A permit for the spring season will cost $15,000, up from $11,000.
• A veteran mountaineer says new prices will have little impact on people's desire to climb Everest.

Conquering Mount Everest is no easy feat for the body, mind — and the bank account.

Nepal plans to increase the price of Everest climbing permits by about 36% in the first rise for almost a decade.

Narayan Prasad Regmi, the director-general of Nepal's tourism department, told Reuters the fees "had not been reviewed for a long time. We have updated them now."

From September 1, foreigners must pay $15,000 for a climbing permit for the spring season, up from $11,00.

Permits for the less popular autumn and winter seasons will rise from $5,500 to $7,500 and $2,750 to $3,750 respectively.

The increases may be aimed at boosting Nepal's revenues, but if the intention is also to reduce the number of climbers on Everest, veteran mountaineers like Jake Meyer say it will have little impact.

Business Insider previously reported on the growing discontent in Nepal about the volume of climbers on Everest and all the trash they leave behind.

In 2024, officials began requiring climbers to carry poop bags while scaling the mountain.

"Chances are that the price increases are extremely unlikely to reduce numbers on the mountain," Meyer, who has climbed Everest twice, told Business Insider via email. "There remains an ever-increasing interest by 'climbers' from across the globe to attempt to summit the highest mountain in the world."

Meyer, who compares the costs of climbing Everest to "buying a new car," also said the price hikes may seem significant but only represent "an equivalent average increase of 3.5% a year over the last 10 years."

As the full cost of Everest expeditions can range from $40,000 to $150,000, he said new permit prices might only raise the total price of the cheapest expeditions by 10%.

Meyer added: "What is still very clear is that the 'cheaper' your ticket to climb, the higher the likelihood of death." That's a reference to the number of deaths over the past two years involving climbers or guides on relatively cheaper expeditions.

"The sad reality is that it's often the most inexperienced climbers who sign up for lowest-cost services, which are the ones which essentially require the most self-sufficiency."

• Some athletes who took podium spots at the Paris Olympics say their medals are deteriorating.
• Chaumet, a fine jewelry brand owned by LVMH, designed the medals.
• The International Olympic Committee said it will replace all "defective" medals.

All that glitters is not gold — and, as some athletes who competed in the Paris Olympics are finding out, even gold can lose its luster.

Since the 2024 Olympic Games last August, some Olympians who took home bronze, silver, and gold have taken to social media to complain that their medals are already showing signs of wear and tear.

They include French swimmers Clément Secchi and Yohann Ndoye Brouard, who posted photos on X of their gold medals in less-than-ideal shape in December.

"Paris 1924," Brouard wrote alongside crying face emojis in a post with images of his deteriorating gold medal.

The complaints mirror those of Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston. Shortly after the Games, he took to social media to show that his medal was already "looking rough."

"Olympic medals, we've got to step up the quality a little bit," Huston said in an Instagram story.

The medals were produced by the Monnaie de Paris, the French Mint, in partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Last week, the IOC said in a statement to France 24 that it was reviewing complaints and replacing "defective" medals.

In a statement to Business Insider, the Monnaie de Paris said it first received medal complaints in August, after which it "modified the varnish" used and "optimized its manufacturing process" to make them "more resistant to certain uses by athletes."

It also said it would replace and identically engrave "all damaged medals."

While the French Mint did not reveal the number of medals replaced, The New York Times reported on Tuesday that more than 100 athletes have issued complaints since the games.

Questions have also arisen for LVMH, the luxury conglomerate that partnered with the Olympics in 2024.

Ahead of the games, LVMH said that its fine jewelry brand Chaumet would design each medal — a task that the Maison embarked on with "creativity and passion," according to the LVMH website.

The Olympics marked one of the few highlights of 2024 for LVMH, a year in which its brands reported disappointing sales amid a widespread downturn in the luxury industry.

At the time, the Olympic partnership was a major marketing boost for LVMH, which — in light of the unfortunate medal situation — may no longer be the case.

This year is shaping up to be more promising for the French company. Its stock has risen sharply and and CEO Bernard Arnault's net worth is up almost $18 billion since January 1 to $194 billion, putting him in fifth place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

LVMH and the IOC did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• TikTok returned for US users less than 24 hours after it went dark over the weekend.
• Some creators who thought the app was gone for good used the ban to expose their own secrets.
• DuoLingo revealed the face of its mascot, while TikToker Charli D'Amelio confessed to an old rumor.

Ahead of what looked like a TikTok apocalypse in the US, some of the app's most popular creators made last-ditch confessions and exposed their own trade secrets.

They might be regretting those decisions now.

Less than 24 hours after the Chinese-owned app went dark for US users on Sunday in compliance with a divest-or-ban law, TikTok announced it would restore service after President-elect Donald Trump said he'd issue an executive order to "extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect."

But before the U-turn, some creators used a catchy sound from "Family Guy" to expose their long-running bits, confess to fake content, and debunk internet lore surrounding them.

DuoLingo, the language-learning app with over 14 million TikTok followers, revealed the face of its giant owl mascot: a staffer named Mark.

"Well this is awkward," DuoLingo wrote in the comments of its face-reveal video on Sunday after the app began making a comeback in the US.

Charli D'Amelio, a TikToker who rose to fame on the app in 2020, also took part in the trend. She confessed that a device she was caught using as a teenager wasn't actually an "anxiety pen," leading those who suspected it was a vape to say they'd been vindicated.

In the since-deleted clip, D'Amelio said: "While we're admitting things, if TikTok's going away, it wasn't an anxiety pen. I still, to this day, don't know who came up with that, but I'm sorry."

Other popular TikTokers used the trend to confess to faking parts of their content, such as Kaeli Mae, a TikToker with 14.5 million followers known for posting content of elaborate ice cubes with fruit.

Mae's confession? She's never used the ice cubes herself.

Mae's comment section was soon filled with questions and comments criticizing her for wasting food.

"Just sitting here thinking about all of the creators who made videos admitting their content was fake," one user wrote in a video referencing Mae's admission. "The ice cub girl? I cannot. I wanted to be like her so bad."

Mae later clarified that her friends and family enjoy the cubes because she prefers drinks at room temperature.

While TikTokers might have some explaining to do, others who said they'd face "devastating" income losses without it are likely breathing a sigh of relief.

Ahead of the TikTok ban, some US creator criticized the move as infringing upon their rights to freedom of speech and said they wouldn't file taxes in protest.

• Tatiana Smith spent five years teaching English as a second language in China.
• She lived in Beijing mostly, which was much bigger and busier than her hometown in Illinois.
• Smith said the cost of living is more affordable, but she experienced racism as a Black expat.

This as-told-to essay is based on conversations and emails with Tatiana Smith, 36, who spent five years teaching English as a second language (ESL) in China. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

For the vast majority of my life, I've lived in Illinois.

I grew up in a very impoverished environment, so I didn't believe that I would ever see the world. When I was 29, I joined the Peace Corps. I traveled to Liberia, an African country full of people who look just like me, which is cool but also impacted how I related to the country.

I could blend in, but I was very curious to know what it would be like to go someplace where they did not think I was native.

In 2018, I visited China and explored Zhengzhou, in the Henan Province on a tourist visa. In 2019, I officially moved to Beijing on the Z-visa, or the worker's visa. To get it, you need a job that will write you a letter, a physical, and a clean background check.

I came back to America in August 2024 to spend time with my family. By that time, many of my friends, other expats, had also left.

I've noticed big misconceptions between the US and China since I've returned.

China is surprisingly capitalistic

The unspoken rule of talking about politics when you are in China is that you do not talk about Chinese politics. That was made very clear to me.

I've heard a lot about how China's communist regime, but in terms of what I experienced it felt just as, if not more, capitalist than America.

Luxury is big in China. There is a whole section of Beijing where all the luxury stores and expensive places are.

In China, they promote entrepreneurship. There's a lot of opportunity to open a business and the threshold to do so is very low if you're Chinese.

There's also a lot of business turnover. If a business left an area, something else entered very quickly. In Beijing, if I'd walk by a closed shopfront that used to be a grocery store, a month later, it was like a hair salon.

As a teacher, life is more affordable

When I came back to the US and explained my lifestyle to people, there was a real cognitive dissonance around life in China.

For example, a teacher in America does not make a whole lot. As an expat teacher in China, my starting salary was 28,000 RMB, roughly a bit over $4,000 a month now.

In China, they have their version of Uber called DiDi. I could take a DiDi to and from work for less than $10 a day. Taking a US Uber for 15 minutes now costs me $20.

I made enough that I was able to eat out almost every day. Cooking was something that I did so rarely that it was an event, and I would invite my friends over.

I could finally pay off all my bills back home and have money to travel. It was much harder to escape a scarcity mindset in the US.

Chinese food in America is nothing like Chinese food in China

When I had Chinese food in China, it was dramatically different. At an American Chinese food restaurant, it's basically American cuisine coated in sugar.

But I'd say the bigger differences were in the style of eating.

As an American, we eat from our own plates, but in a lot of Asian countries, particularly China, you have a shared eating situation.

It wasn't like Thanksgiving, where you're served your portion on your plate. You order multiple plates and actively eat out of the same plate that everybody else was eating out of.

That took some getting used to, but hot pot, for example, became one of my favorite things. You can do individual hot pot, but the group ones were always the most fun.

Racism and discrimination arise differently

For the most part, I felt very welcomed in China. But I don't want to paint China as a glorious, perfect place because it's not.

The Uygurs and other minority groups are being persecuted in China.

As a Black expat, I dealt with some racism. Part of Chinese culture is the idea that being white is a sign of wealth and privilege, so the lighter you are, the more beautiful you are.

One time, one of my co-teachers said to me: "Oh my god, Black is so ugly. I can't get darker." She didn't recognize how I would take it.

It was an intense experience with COVID.

When America started reacting with anti-Chinese sentiment, there was a strong anti-American sentiment in China as a response.

One time, I went to the bank to transfer money, and one of the tellers threw my passport back at me, and they were just like, "We won't serve you."

In the US, people have been killed in racist attacks. Whereas in China, racism is prevalent, but felt less dangerous.

The pandemic wasn't scary, but I will say uncomfortable. The pro side was that the expat community bonded. We were more open and tried to build friendships because it was necessary for our mental health.