• My husband has been teaching for 20 years.
• His salary is $19,000 above the poverty level for our family of seven.
• While money is tight, it's worth him keeping his job for our health insurance.

For most of his career as a public school teacher, my husband's paycheck has hovered just above the poverty level for our family. This past summer, my children even qualified for the free lunch program through the schools.

Today, with my husband's 20 years of teaching experience and a Masters degree, his pay is about $19,000 above the poverty level for a family of our size in our state. He has reached the top of the teaching pay scale at our school, which means his income will not increase after this year, but with five children, two of them teens and two on the brink, we are entering one of the most expensive phases of our lives.

Although we have talked about my husband leaving teaching many, many times, the discussion always comes back to one sticking point: health insurance.

Our health insurance is great

We are extremely fortunate the teachers' union that my husband's school works with has always advocated for top-tier healthcare. Part of that is many teachers and teacher's families who have special health needs, but regardless of the catalyst, our family has always enjoyed what I feel is excellent health insurance.

Our annual family deductible is $2,000, and we have a PPO, which means I've never had to deal with referrals or even prior authorization. I've never had to fight an insurance company, and we've never had a denial.

There was a time in my life when we were first married and still in college when I used Medicaid for my pregnancy. I felt so ashamed every time I went to the doctor, although I was incredibly grateful that I never paid a dime during my pregnancy, and it allowed me to graduate from college as a nurse exactly one week before delivering my baby.

Despite my shame in using Medicaid, the experience also opened our eyes to how important health insurance is because I had postpartum complications that led me to have two hospitalizations after giving birth.

The statements were mailed to our house after I had recovered, and when I saw how high the statements were for those bills and then realized they had been fully covered, I wept in relief. At that time in our lives, as brand-new parents and new college graduates, a $20,000 hospital bill would have ruined our lives. Instead, we were able to start our adult lives fresh and immediately started working, paying back into the system that saved us.

We don't have crippling medical bills

With those memories in hand and five children we are responsible for, we have always felt that any potential lower income as a public school teacher has been worth it for access to high-quality health insurance. We've been fortunate not to have any true medical emergencies, but even with seemingly "normal" medical events, like a premature baby and a weeklong NICU stay, we have still not experienced any of the crippling medical bills that haunt many American families.

I do wish that teachers were paid just a little higher, especially considering how highly valued they were during the pandemic, but for us, health insurance alone has made it worth it.

I don't know what will happen in the future, especially with education and healthcare, but I do hope that we can continue to prioritize the health insurance that has made our lives possible to this point because it provides us with a lot of peace of mind. But even more so, it might be nice to get to a point in society when employer-tied health insurance doesn't rule our decision-making.

• Microsoft formed a new engineering group led by Jay Parikh to build AI tools.
• Microsoft anticipates AI agents will fundamentally change application development.
• The new CoreAI Platform and Tools group will combine various AI teams and build out GitHub Copilot.

Microsoft created a new engineering organization responsible for building its artificial-intelligence platform and tools, CEO Satya Nadella said in an email to employees Monday morning.

The new group will be led by Jay Parikh, Facebook's former head of engineering whom Nadella added to Microsoft's senior leadership team in October.

Microsoft is forming the group as it anticipates that AI, and particularly AI agents, will present a fundamental shift in how applications are built and used.

"2025 will be about model-forward applications that reshape all application categories," Nadella wrote in the email, which was also posted on Microsoft's blog. "More so than any previous platform shift, every layer of the application stack will be impacted. It's akin to GUI, internet servers, and cloud-native databases all being introduced into the app stack simultaneously. Thirty years of change is being compressed into three years!"

It said the new group, called CoreAI Platform and Tools, would include Microsoft's developer division and AI platform team and be responsible for building out GitHub Copilot. AI-related teams from the office of the chief technology officer, Kevin Scott, such as AI Supercomputer, AI Agentic Runtimes, and Engineering Thrive, would also be part of the new group.

Parikh worked at Facebook for more than a decade. He helped the company build out and maintain its massive technical infrastructure, a network of expensive data centers stocked with thousands of computers spanning several continents.

As one of Mark Zuckerberg's top lieutenants, Parikh also spearheaded various ambitious initiatives such as internet connectivity and an internet drone project that was eventually abandoned.

At Microsoft, Parikh's new reports include Eric Boyd, a corporate vice president of AI platform; Jason Taylor, a deputy CTO for AI infrastructure; Julia Liuson, president of the developer division; and Tim Bozarth, a corporate vice president of developer infrastructure.

The email said Parikh would also work closely with the cloud-and-AI chief Scott Guthrie; the experiences-and-devices leader Rajesh Jha; the security boss Charlie Bell; the consumer AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman; and Scott, the CTO.

Are you a Microsoft employee or someone else with insight to share?

Contact Ashley Stewart via email ([email protected]), or send a secure message from a non-work device via Signal (+1-425-344-8242).

• PR pros and lawyers see the Lively-Baldoni fight as part of a larger trend.
• They say public figures often file lawsuits to try to influence the popular narrative.
• Media outlets can sometimes become collateral damage in this strategy.

As Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni hurl competing accusations in court, some media lawyers and PR pros see their battle as part of a bigger trend of prominent figures using lawsuits to change public opinion.

"They're done primarily as a PR play," Juda Engelmayer, a veteran crisis PR pro, said of lawsuits like Lively's and Baldoni's.

Lively accused her "It Ends With Us" costar Baldoni of sexually harassing her and engaging in a smear campaign against her. The New York Times detailed her allegations in an article published December 21.

Baldoni and his camp fired back in a libel lawsuit against the Times in California Superior Court. Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, also said last week that his client planned to sue Lively.

Several media lawyers told BI they saw a calculated PR strategy at work on both sides.

Lively's initial complaint, filed with the California Civil Rights Department, coincided with the Times article on the allegations, which was based on the complaint and supporting documents. Filing a legal complaint gives cover to the plaintiff to make accusations and to the news outlet to freely report on it because it's shielded by fair reporting privileges.

And the complaint was filed right before the holidays, which could have made it harder for the Baldoni camp to respond. Lively later filed a federal lawsuit making similar claims against Baldoni and others.

Lively's claims and Baldoni's subsequent suit made huge splashes with widespread media coverage. Media lawyers told BI they saw Baldoni's suit as weak from a libel standpoint, but the details helped him publicize his side of the story.

Other examples of narrative-shaping lawsuits include actor Sophie Turner's 2023 "wrongful retention" legal complaint against her now ex-husband, which was later dismissed, and Drake's recent petitions against Universal Music Group and Spotify over Kendrick Lamar's song "Not Like Us."

"It happens quite often that people and companies with lots of resources use multi-tiered litigation" to get advantages outside the legal system, said Sean Andrade of Los Angeles law firm Andrade Gonzalez, who's represented plaintiffs in libel cases.

"It doesn't matter that you're going to lose because the goal was to publicize your side of the story and create some doubt in Blake Lively's," he said of Baldoni's libel suit against the Times.

Media caught in the crossfire

Lawyers and PR pros told BI that defamation cases often have a PR motive — and media outlets are a common target.

Before Johnny Depp won a US defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard in 2019, he sued the UK's Sun for libel.

Engelmayer said that though Depp lost that first case, it still served a purpose.

"Any time anyone sues a major publication, even if they lose in court, it's a win for those who support him. And for those sitting on the fence, it makes them think twice," he said.

There are some legal safeguards to prevent the unfair weaponizing of defamation suits.

Many US states now have anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) laws. These laws are meant to protect news outlets or other entities from frivolous lawsuits that can be costly to defend. Thirty-four states and DC have such laws, which typically let defendants who win anti-SLAPP motions recover legal fees, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

These laws have helped news outlets fight many meritless cases, said George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center, which provides legal resources to media outlets.

Still, the laws aren't always effective at preventing lawsuits from being filed. Deep-pocketed plaintiffs can weather big legal fees if they lose a case. Press advocates said that anecdotally, they'd seen an uptick in anti-media rhetoric or baseless cases against the media. PEN America said that lately, courts have been letting more cases go forward, financially burdening media outlets and threatening to require them to reveal confidential sources.

"There seem to be more cases than we've seen, including some against media," Freeman said of defamation suits more broadly. "So deterrents don't seem to be working. Media isn't as well off as it once was. So they're a target."

These lawsuits can be costly and distracting for media organizations, even if they win.

"Even in situations where a news organization is able to get a defamation case dismissed, there is a time and resource cost that is significant," said Jennifer Nelson, senior staff attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. She recalled one case she handled where the news outlet eventually won, but only after years of litigation.

"Particularly for smaller outlets, it can be a challenge and have a chilling effect on reporting," she said.

• Walmart just unveiled its latest brand refresh — the first major change in 17 years.
• The new logo draws retro inspiration from one of founder Sam Walton's iconic trucker hats.
• Walmart said blue and yellow evoke the retail giant's past and look forward to a more digital future.

What's old is new again.

With Walmart's latest brand refresh — the first major change in 17 years — the company is harkening back to the styling of its founder Sam Walton.

The company said its new logo draws retro inspiration from one of Walton's iconic trucker hats, which is featured in his portrait for the cover of his autobiography "Made in America."

"Walton was known for preferring baseball caps to staid business clothes, exemplified in this trucker-style hat he wore," says the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, where another design is exhibited.

Walton's hats also served a practical function as he famously flew his small airplane around the country, sometimes dropping in unannounced from the sky on stores to check on their operations.

"This update, rooted in the legacy of our founder, Sam Walton, demonstrates our evolving capabilities and longstanding commitment to serve our customers of today and tomorrow," Walmart's US chief marketing officer, William White, said in a statement.

"While the look and feel of our brand is more contemporary, our refreshed brand identity reflects Walmart's enduring commitment to both Sam's principles and serving our customers however they need us," he added.

The new font is bolder and blockier than its predecessor, and the blue is a deeper hue than the slightly teal version of before.

The company says the "True Blue" and "Spark Yellow" evoke its past and look forward to a more digital future as the company aims to push beyond traditional brick-and-mortar retail and take a bigger bite of the e-commerce market.

The last time Walmart rebranded was in 2008, when it dropped the punctuation between "Wal" and "Mart," which it had for 44 years.

That year also saw the arrival of the yellow spark, an icon that the company says represents six key facets of its commitment to customers and associates.

If you are a Walmart worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching out

• Abbie Stockard was crowned the new Miss America on January 5.
• A video of her boyfriend, the Utah Jazz player Walker Kessler, watching her win went viral.
• Stockard told BI she thinks it's "amazing" that Miss America no longer has an anti-boyfriend rule.

Shortly after Abbie Stockard, representing Alabama, was crowned Miss America in Orlando on January 5, a video of her boyfriend's reaction went viral.

Walker Kessler, who plays for the Utah Jazz, just happened to be in town for a game against the Magic. After Stockard won, he rushed over from the arena to her coronation.

"It's fate because he plays over 80 games the entire season. He is in Orlando one night the entire year," Stockard told Business Insider. "What are the odds it's the night I'm crowned Miss America?"

The touching video has racked up more than a million views since it was shared on Bleacher Report's TikTok on January 7. But it likely wouldn't have been allowed when Miss America had a strict "anti-boyfriend" rule.

The unofficial policy — dictated by former Miss America CEO Sam Haskell — was explained by past winners such as Savvy Shields Wolfe and Betty Maxwell in the 2023 A&E docuseries "Secrets of Miss America."

"It was made clear that Sam was in charge, and what he said went, and boyfriends were not allowed to exist when you're Miss America," Wolfe said in the series.

"They're very, very, very anti-boyfriend because they want you to look like you're America's sweetheart," said Maxwell, who was crowned Miss America in 2015. "They're trying to be feminist and 'Me Too' and all these things, and at the same time, they're not thinking every young 20-something is dating someone? Come on."

Haskell did not respond to previous requests for comment from BI about the docuseries.

While married women and mothers are still not permitted to compete in Miss America, there's been a clear shift in policy.

Madison Marsh announced her engagement a week after winning the crown in January 2024. At the time, Marsh told BI that the competition had changed under Robin Fleming, who became CEO in January 2023.

"There are a lot of outdated rules that have gone away," Marsh said. "Just because you're engaged or in a healthy relationship doesn't mean you're not independent. It doesn't mean you still can't be a leader."

Stockard thinks it's an "amazing" shift for the competition.

"I'm so glad that it doesn't really matter now because it does not affect your job as Miss America at all," she said. "Having the Miss America team support Walker and our relationship has just made it even more special."

The new Miss America also thinks allowing contestants to go public with their significant others is a "good way to boost recruitment" for the pageant.

"I've heard stories of girls who just didn't want to compete because they were in a serious relationship, and they weren't willing to put that relationship on hold or to hide it throughout their year," she said. "But now it's not like that. They don't have to worry about that anymore."

Plus, Stockard said Kessler has been doing a great job helping her promote the Miss America Organization.

"I watched one of his media interviews with the Utah Jazz yesterday, which is always about basketball, and they didn't ask him one basketball question; it was all about Miss America," she said with a laugh. "He was literally using my talking points. He knows all about it."

• I've been to Alpine-style towns in the US that feel like Europe, particularly Switzerland.
• Colorado's Ouray has been nicknamed "The Little Switzerland of America" for many reasons.
• Telluride and Crested Butte also feel like European-style escapes within the US.

Soaring granite peaks, glacier-carved valleys, and a myriad of geothermally-heated hot springs are just a handful of reasons that thousands of Americans venture to the Swiss Alps each year.

However, I've found similarly stunning mountainous landscapes and a thriving food and arts scene in humble Colorado.

The Centennial State is famous for its many adorable mountain towns and ski villages, but as a Colorado local, there are only three that I venture to when I want to rekindle that heart-pounding feeling I felt when I first visited the Alps many years ago.

Here are three of my favorite Alpine-style villages in Colorado.

I see why some say Ouray is a slice of Switzerland in the US

Ouray is one of few towns in the US that's been nicknamed "The Little Switzerland of America."

It's easy to see why with just one wintery jaunt down its main boulevard — towering bluffs of rock and snow jut up in every direction, and historic buildings are everywhere.

There's no need to fly to a mountain resort in Zermatt to get your adrenaline pumping, either. Ouray's Ice Park and annual Ice Festival offer some of the best opportunities to dust off your crampons and go ice climbing in the US.

For a bit of higher-brow culture, stop at the Wright Opera House. It was established in 1888 and hosts a variety of live performances throughout the year, including an annual Yule celebration.

If you visit in the summer or fall, don't miss the Million Dollar Highway, a scenic driving route that winds past cascading waterfalls and tall peaks.

When it's time to refuel, check into the Victorian-era Beaumont Hotel in downtown Ouray. With its antique furnishings and historic architecture, it feels like it belongs in Europe.

Finally, soak your tired bones while enjoying outstanding mountain views at the Ouray Hot Springs Pool or the Historic Weisbaden Hot Springs Spa that give some of Switzerland's a run for their money.

I've enjoyed many European vibes and eats in Telluride

Apart from having an excellent ski and live-music scene, Telluride is also home to incredible European-inspired eateries and architecture.

If you want to recreate a classic Swiss tradition, try the extensive fondue menu at Alpinist and the Goat, which features imported Gruyère and French truffle.

If you're staying slopeside, check out Timber Room, which offers fire-roasted meals and crudité in an elegant, living-room-style setting.

For second-to-none Euro-style digs, head to the lavish Dunton Town House.

It's designed to honor Tyrolean immigrants who came to the San Juan Mountains over 150 years ago — and Austrian ceramics and antiques can be found throughout the historic inn.

Of course, Telluride also has many opportunities for outdoor recreation.

To experience a quintessentially Alps-like mountain hut, visit High Camp Hut near the mountainous Lizard Head Pass. It puts guests at the center of the surrounding snowy peaks, with opportunities for backcountry skiing and sledding.

If you're visiting in the warmer summer months, book a guided day trip along the Telluride's via ferrata, which is reminiscent of similar gear-supported climbing routes in Switzerland.

Crested Butte feels like a mountainous escape

Since it's about a four-hour drive from Denver, Crested Butte's wildflower-strewn meadows and powdery ski slopes tend to offer a crowd-free escape from Colorado's busiest mountain towns.

During winter months, Crested Butte Mountain Resort offers fantastic groomed runs for all experience levels. It's known for its "extreme inbounds skiing," which is reminiscent of Chamonix's famous side-country routes.

I'd also recommend a trip through the nearby town of Gothic, which offers car camping and opportunities to swim in sparkling alpine lakes throughout the sunny summer months. Its striking landscape reminds me of the beautiful and immense summits around Switzerland's Lauterbrunnen village.

After a day of sightseeing in and around Crested Butte, enjoy blistered baby carrots and dry-aged Piedmontese beef at Two Twelve, an elevated eatery in town.

Or, try a fine-dining experience at Magic Meadows Yurt, which diners can only get to by Nordic skiing or snowshoeing.

• Elon Musk's X plans to add more defendants to its lawsuit against advertisers.
• The lawsuit centers on the Global Alliance for Responsible Media and its advertiser members.
• A new legal filing says X wants to add "multiple additional defendants" to the suit.

Elon Musk's X is getting ready to add more defendants to its lawsuit that accuses advertisers of illegally conspiring to boycott the platform.

X initially filed its lawsuit in a Texas court in August. The complaint alleges that members of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a now defunct initiative from the advertiser trade body the World Federation of Advertisers, colluded to "collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue" from X, formerly Twitter.

The current defendants in the case are the WFA, CVS Health, Mars, the energy company Orsted, and Twitch. (Twitch was added to the lawsuit later than the other defendants. Unilever was initially named as a defendant but reached an agreement with X and was dropped from the suit in October.)

A joint filing from X's legal representatives and counsel for the defendants said X planned to file a second amended complaint "in which it will add multiple additional defendants."

The filing said X would share a draft of its second complaint with the current defendants by January 20 and file it with the court by January 25.

Reps for X, CVS, Mars, Orsted, and Twitch didn't respond to requests for comment.

A WFA spokesperson declined to comment. The WFA has previously said that it intends to defend itself in court and that it is confident the outcome will demonstrate that it adhered to competition law.

'Brand safety' is a growing political flash point

News that X could add more defendants to its suit comes at a fraught time for marketers and for the practice of "brand safety."

Much of X's lawsuit against GARM and its members was based on an investigation by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, into whether advertisers were illegally banding together to demonetize conservative platforms and voices in violation of antitrust law. Jordan continues to investigate advertisers' and agencies' work with GARM.

The Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee published their own report last month accusing Jordan of abusing his oversight power.

Their report argued that Jordan and his allies' goal was "not to conduct antitrust oversight as they claim, but rather to silence criticism of harmful online content and those who promote it."

Russell Dye, a spokesperson for the committee, said its investigation proved the collusion of left-wing advocates to secretly censor conservative speech.

"Those in the media and elsewhere that deny the collusion supported by clear documentation are themselves pushing disinformation," Dye said in a statement.

GARM discontinued operations after X sued it, saying that as a small, nonprofit organization, it lacked the resources to fight the lawsuit.

The WFA is also facing a separate lawsuit from the video site Rumble, which accuses GARM, drinks giant Diageo, the ad agency holding company WPP, and its media arm GroupM of collectively agreeing to restrict advertising on social platforms including Rumble. In November, Texas' attorney general, Ken Paxton, launched an investigation into the WFA over advertiser boycotts.

This month, Meta announced plans to shake up its content-moderation policies in the US, which had some advertisers worried that the tech giant was loosening its brand-safety standards. But unlike in the past, there hasn't been any public suggestion that brands intend to pull ad dollars from Meta in response. Advertising insiders told BI that it was partly a reflection of how reliant marketers had become on Meta, but also that advertisers had become more cautious about publicly criticizing or boycotting platforms and media given the political environment.

• Biden announced an additional $4.2 billion in student-debt cancellation for 152,000 borrowers.
• The relief will benefit borrowers in PSLF, defrauded borrowers, and borrowers with disabilities.
• It likely marks Biden's last relief efforts before Trump takes office in one week.

Thousands more borrowers are receiving student-loan forgiveness just one week before President Joe Biden leaves the White House.

On Monday, Biden's administration announced $4.2 billion more in debt cancellation for over 152,000 borrowers. The relief impacts borrowers in three different categories: government and nonprofit workers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, borrowers who the Education Department found were defrauded by their schools, and those with total and permanent disabilities.

This latest announcement brings the total amount of debt relief under Biden to $183.6 billion for over 5 million student-loan borrowers.

"5 million Americans now have the breathing room to afford homes, save for retirement, and start a family," Neera Tanden, Biden's domestic policy advisor, told reporters on a Monday press call.

The Education Department said that 6,100 borrowers in PSLF are receiving $465 million in debt relief, and 61,000 borrowers are receiving $2.5 billion in total and permanent disability discharges.

Additionally, the department approved 85,000 borrowers for $1.26 billion in borrower defense to repayment discharges, which is a program borrowers can apply to for relief if they believe they were defrauded by the schools they attended. That batch of relief includes:

• $1.15 billion in relief for 73,600 borrowers who attended any school owned by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education between January 1, 2006 through August 1, 2021
• $107 million in relief or 11,000 borrowers who attended any location of Drake College of Business from January 1, 2008, through its closure on July 31, 2015
• $1.4 million in relief for 280 borrowers who attended the Criminal Justice Program at Lincoln Technical Institute's campus in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 2010 to 2012 or the Somerville, Massachusetts, campus from 2010 to 2013

This announcement likely marks the last of Biden's debt relief efforts, as President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20. Trump has previously criticized broad student-loan forgiveness.

A senior Biden administration official did not specify whether this is the final debt relief action during a Monday press call.

Millions of borrowers have been on a rocky path to debt relief over the past four years. In August 2022, Biden announced a broad student-loan forgiveness plan using a legal strategy tied to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency that would have canceled up to $20,000 in student debt for borrowers making under $125,000 a year, but the Supreme Court ultimately struck the plan down one year later following a lawsuit from GOP-led states.

Biden's Plan B for broad debt relief, attempting to use the Higher Education Act as its legal authority, was announced the same day as the Supreme Court's decision. That plan also faced legal challenges, and Biden's Education Department withdrew the plan in December. The department said its main focus for the end of Biden's term was helping borrowers manage repayment and maintained that its broader relief plans were legal.

Amid the legal challenges, Biden continued its incremental relief efforts for targeted groups of borrowers, including those in PSLF and borrower defense to repayment. Some higher education experts previously told Business Insider that borrowers should not expect more expansive relief under Trump — during his first term, his Education Department ran up a backlog of borrower defense and PSLF relief applications and Trump previously called for PSLF to be eliminated.

Additionally, 8 million borrowers enrolled in Biden's SAVE income-driven repayment plan — intended to make payments cheaper with a shorter timeline to forgiveness — are on forbearance as they wait for a final court decision on whether the plan can continue. Regardless of the decision, Trump is unlikely to prioritize relief through the plan.

"Since Day One of my Administration, I promised to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity, and I'm proud to say we have forgiven more student loan debt than any other administration in history," Biden said in a statement.

• Eating a protein-rich diet can help you reach your weight-loss goals, according to dietitians.
• Salmon and shrimp can bulk up a meal, and black beans are great for plant-based diets. 
• Opt for quinoa or whole-grain loaves over white bread, and try adding low-fat dairy to your diet. 

If you're struggling to lose weight, it may be time to focus on what you're eating instead of just how much is on your plate. 

Most nutrition experts recommend a protein-rich diet, so Business Insider asked dietitians to share their favorite high-protein foods for weight loss.

Here's what they said. 

Peanut butter is full of protein and "healthy" fats.

Peanut butter is low in carbs, and it can be a great source of protein and "healthy" fats. 

"My favorite high-protein food for weight loss is peanut butter," registered dietitian nutritionist Rebecca Stib told BI. "Per a serving, which is typically 2 tablespoons, you'll get about 8 grams of protein."

Start your day with some nutrient-dense eggs.

"Eggs are a great food for weight loss," registered dietitian Jenn Fillenworth told BI.

They're full of vitamins and minerals, and one egg contains about 6 grams of high-quality protein, with all of the essential amino acids.

Incorporate salmon into your diet.

"One of my absolute favorite foods for weight loss is salmon," Fillenworth told BI.

Although salmon is a fatty fish, she explained that eating the right kind of fat doesn't necessarily mean you're going to gain weight.

The fish contains essential omega-3 fatty acids, which you have to get from your diet since the human body can't produce them.

Black beans are a great plant-based protein for weight loss.

"My favorite plant-based protein for weight loss is the black bean," Fillenworth said.

She told BI that in addition to being high in protein, black beans are also high in fiber, so they can help relieve constipation and bloating — which could be attributed to some weight gain.

Opt for low-calorie, lean meats like chicken breasts.

"When looking for the best high-protein foods for weight loss, think low-calorie and high-quality ingredients," registered dietitian Sabrina Russo told BI.

She said the first things that come to mind are lean meat, poultry, and fish. These are all great sources of complete protein with little carbs and fat. 

Try switching from white to whole-grain carbs.

"High-protein seeds and whole-grain products are another great option," Russo told BI.  

Try incorporating whole-grain pasta or high-protein crackers into your diet, as these grains help keep you full without as many calories as processed white carbs.

Eat low-fat dairy products.

"Low-fat dairy products are also examples of high-protein foods that may be beneficial for weight loss," Russo said.

She suggested opting for plain, low- or fat-free milk, yogurt, and cheese. You can also enjoy plain yogurt with fresh berries for some natural sweetness.

Add some cottage cheese to your diet.

"At 23 grams of protein per cup and less than 200 calories, this protein-rich dairy product is a great addition to any meal," registered dietitian Staci Gulbin told BI.

A cup of lower-fat cottage cheese with 1% milk fat can even have around 28 grams of protein.

Although a serving of cottage cheese is fairly high in sodium, you can look for low-sodium or no-added-sodium brands. 

Use quinoa as an alternative to rice or pasta.

"This gluten-free seed is a delicious and healthy alternative to rice or pasta," Gulbin told BI.

A serving contains about 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of gut-friendly fiber.

Nuts are another great plant-based protein option.

"Nuts are a great portable and nutritious addition to any healthy lifestyle plan," Gulbin told BI.

Almonds, pistachios, and peanuts average around 6 grams of protein per 1-ounce serving with about 3 grams of gut-friendly fiber.

Add shrimp to your shopping list.

"Shrimp is an extremely low-calorie filling protein," registered dietitian Summer Yule said.

It's also an excellent source of iodine, which we need to support our thyroid health and manage our metabolism.

This story was originally published in February 2019 and most recently updated on January 13, 2025.

Read More:

• 3 myths about protein that you need to stop believing
• How to tell if you're getting enough protein
• 13 protein-rich snacks and meal swaps that will boost your diet to the next level
• The best high-protein desserts, according to dietitians

• The Atacama Desert in northern Chile holds two ghost towns called Humberstone and Santa Laura.
• Once home to thousands, they were abandoned in the 1960s when the saltpeter industry collapsed.
• Today, the towns are World Heritage Sites that attract visitors to learn more about the region.

Once a thriving community, Humberstone in northern Chile is now a ghost town.

Beginning in the late 1860s, hundreds of people lived and worked in Humberstone and nearby Santa Laura. Located in the Atacama Desert, it was a production hub for saltpeter, a substance used in gunpowder and fertilizer known as "white gold." After World War I, the industry began to crumble and the towns were abandoned in the 1960s.

For decades, it sat empty except for buildings, equipment, and other remnants of its industrial past.

Now it has a second life as a tourist attraction. Photos show how the well-preserved towns — now World Heritage Sites — bring the past to life, though the region's harsh conditions threaten its future.

The region's geology made it perfect for saltpeter or "white gold."

Chile's Tarapacá region sits near the borders with Bolivia and Peru. The region's hyperarid Atacama Desert has been compared to Mars.

The desert soil contains a mix of chemicals carried by groundwater, ocean spray, or fog. A lack of rainfall helped preserve beds of sodium nitrate, or saltpeter.

In the early 19th century, Europeans on the hunt for saltpeter to use in gunpowder turned their attention to the desert.

When Charles Darwin visited the area in 1835, he wasn't impressed with its saltpeter production.

Companies were mining saltpeter in the region by the early 1800s. When Charles Darwin visited during his voyage on the HMS Beagle in 1835, he dismissed the Chilean version of saltpeter.

"This saltpetre does not properly deserve to be so called; for it consists of nitrate of soda, and not of potash, and is therefore of much less value," he wrote.

The desert's sodium nitrate was more prone to dampness and burned at a higher temperature than potassium nitrate, another type of saltpeter commonly used in gunpowder, John Darlington wrote in "Amongst the Ruins: Why Civilizations Collapse and Communities Disappear."

New technological advances in the mid-1800s transformed the saltpeter process.

Extracting nitrate and valuable byproducts like iodine quickly became industrialized. It required a slew of machinery, including hoppers, leaching tanks, and troughs.

As populations grew and scientific development continued, researchers turned to sodium nitrate not as a source of gunpowder but as a useful fertilizer.

By 1870, the Tarapacá region was producing 500,000 tons of saltpeter, the largest source of the substances in the world at the time, the BBC reported.

The saltpeter works at Humberstone and Santa Laura quickly adopted the new technology.

The Peruvian Nitrate Company founded La Palma in 1862, and nearby Santa Laura followed 10 years later. La Palma was later renamed Humberstone, after a British chemical engineer, James Humberstone, who moved to the area in the 1870s.

Many European investors set up operations in the Tarapacá region, trading a share of their profits to acquire the land.

Towns soon sprang up in the arid desert.

One of the driest places on earth, some parts of the Atacama Desert receive only 0.2 inches of rainfall a year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While the average temperature is in the high 60s Fahrenheit, it can drop to close to freezing at night in the winter.

Humberstone is arranged in a 10-by-6-block grid. Many buildings were made of Douglas fir with zinc roofs. Verandas and covered walkways provided relief from the sun.

Amenities, including a swimming pool, church, and theater, were added as Humberstone grew.

A general store and hotel were built at the center of Humberstone on the plaza. A tennis court, theater, swimming pool, chapel, hospital, and school all made up the complex.

Some of the materials for the buildings were shipped in, but workers also used remnants of the saltpeter process for "Pampa cement."

At its height, 3,500 people lived in Humberstone.

The workers came from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. Barracks were constructed of dorm-like rooms for single workers. There were also small houses for families.

Managers lived in larger, nicer homes, while owners usually had homes in coastal cities instead of near the mines.

Workers faced difficult, dangerous conditions.

Workers were lured to Humberstone and other mining towns by companies promising to pay their travel costs. "But what they found was really harsh conditions, very rough work, very dangerous work, and very poor pay," Ángela Vergara, a professor of history at California State University, Los Angeles, told Business Insider.

Administrators would also physically punish the workers.

One reporter who visited in the 1880s described the work as incessant, comparing it to the dirty, dangerous work of coal mines. He called houses "squalid-looking," per the BBC.

The town operated on a token system that made it difficult for workers to leave.

Rather than being paid in money, workers were paid in tokens that were only accepted in the town's general store.

"That was to trap people," Vergara said. "They could not move because they were dependent on the token."

Saltpeter workers in Humberstone and other towns became an important part of the country's labor movement.

A railroad connected Humberstone, and its saltpeter, to the rest of the world.

By the end of the 19th century, nitrate railways connected the region's mines to port cities so saltpeter could be shipped all over the world. At the same time, the miners were dependent on the railroads, too.

"All these nitrate camps and towns, they were located in very isolated parts of the Atacama," Vergara said. They had to bring in food and supplies to survive, she said.

Saltpeter made Chile rich.

Port cities shipped saltpeter to Europe and other parts of the world and imported goods, including textiles and coal.

Between 1880 and 1930, "Chile literally lived off one product: saltpetre," historian Julio Pinto told BBC News in 2015.

It brought in about half of the country's fiscal revenue, he said.

Disputes over saltpeter had long-lasting consequences for the region's borders.

Chile went to war with Bolivia and Peru over nitrate taxes in 1879, eventually annexing nitrate-laden territories from both countries, including Tarapacá.

Bolivia was cut off from the coast, becoming the land-locked country it still is today.

After World War I, Chile's saltpeter industry collapsed.

Germany relied upon Chile's saltpeter for fertilizer until the British blockade during the war. Instead, German scientists found ways to synthesize nitrate from ammonia, bypassing the need for saltpeter.

The loss of the industry combined with the Great Depression had a severe effect on Chile's economy. While it had once produced 80% of the world's nitrate, by 1950 it was only responsible for 15%.

By 1960, the saltpeter works at Humberstone and Santa Clara had closed.

A private company bought the operations and then sold off pieces of them in 1961. Workers left to find other jobs, leaving ghost towns behind.

The saltpeter works became Historic Monuments in 1970, saving them from demolition. In the 1990s, former workers and their families formed the Saltpeter Museum Corporation and won the rights to the sites during a public auction in 2002.

Humberstone and Santa Laura became a World Heritage site in 2005.

The Saltpeter Museum Corporation and former residents gathered 20,000 signatures to have UNESCO recognize the historical significance of the sites.

The pampinos, the area's inhabitants, had a unique culture influenced by the mix of people from all over the world. The towns and the industry represented specialized knowledge that impacted the landscape and deeply affected the country's economy.

Together, the two towns showcase different aspects of the region's former saltpeter industry. Santa Laura's equipment and manufacturing structures are better preserved than Humberstone's, which still has many residential buildings and other remnants of social and cultural life.

Years of neglect took a toll on the towns.

Between the 1960s and early 2000s, there was little maintenance on the towns' buildings. Looters took reusable materials, and the elements damaged the fragile structures, which weren't built for long-term use.

Salty fog had corroded the metal, and wind and earthquakes were threatening the wooden and stucco structures.

The Ministry of Public Works, the Saltpeter Museum Corporation, and the National Council of Monuments started working on securing and conserving the sites in 2005. In 2019, UNESCO removed them from its List of World Heritage in Danger due to their efforts. Some buildings are still fragile, though.

Now the saltpeter works and town are a tourist destination.

Many buildings, including the school and general store, remain. Visitors can wander around Humberstone and Santa Laura, which are only about half a mile from each other.

Mannequins depict what it would have been like to live and work in the towns.

Sources for this story include "Amongst the Ruins: Why Civilizations Collapse and Communities Disappear," UNESCO World Heritage Convention, "Tangible and Intangible Heritage in the Age of Globalisation," Applied Geochemistry, Chemical and Engineering News, Astrobiology, The Hispanic American Historical Review, and BBC News.

• Meghan Markle is delaying the release of her series "With Love, Meghan" because of the LA wildfires.
• The Netflix show will now premiere on March 4.
• Meghan and Prince Harry were spotted handing out food to evacuees.

Meghan Markle is postponing the premiere of her Netflix series.

On Sunday, Netflix announced that "With Love, Meghan" will now be released on March 4 instead of January 15.

The streaming service said in a statement that the Duchess of Sussex requested the show's premiere be delayed because of the "ongoing devastation" of the Los Angeles wildfires and that the decision had Netflix's "full support."

"I'm thankful to my partners at Netflix for supporting me in delaying the launch, as we focus on the needs of those impacted by the wildfires in my home state of California," Meghan said of the delay in Netflix's announcement. Representatives for Meghan and Prince Harry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Meghan and Harry were also spotted on Friday supporting victims of the Eaton Fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles.

The couple handed out meals to people at the Pasadena Convention Center, connected with evacuees, and spoke with World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés and Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, ABC News reported. Harry and Meghan largely flew under the radar during their visit, wearing ball caps and masks for much of the day.

Gordo told Fox 11 that Harry and Meghan wanted "to be as helpful as they can be" and that Harry, in particular, "really buoyed the spirits of the first responders" when he spoke to them.

"They're just very caring people who are concerned for their friends and neighbors," Gordo added of the couple.

Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, and she and Harry have lived in Montecito, California — about 90 miles from LA — since 2020.

Meghan's Netflix series was filmed in Montecito, and the streamer described the show as "a heartfelt tribute to the beauty of Southern California."

In the lifestyle series, the Duchess of Sussex will share recipes, gardening tips, and flower-arranging hacks with some of her famous friends, including Mindy Kaling and Roy Choi.

The show is Meghan's latest move to return to her lifestyle roots, as is her mysterious brand, American Riviera Orchard. Until she and Prince Harry announced their engagement, Meghan ran the blog The Tig and her connected Instagram page.

Meghan also returned to Instagram with a new account at the start of the year.

Wildfires continue to burn across Los Angeles, and an increase in gusts of the city's Santa Ana winds could lead to critical fire conditions in the coming days.

• The RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 — almost 113 years ago — after it hit an iceberg.
• The RMS Carpathia was over three hours away and came to rescue the stranded survivors.
• Of the roughly 2,200 people aboard the Titanic, only about 700 people made it into lifeboats.

When the Titanic sank at approximately 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, its survivors didn't know if, or when, rescue would come. 

They sat, waiting, unknowing for an hour and a half in the dark, frigid Atlantic. Meanwhile, hundreds of frozen bodies floated nearby where the ship had slipped under the surface. 

"'My God! My God!' were the heart-rending cries and shrieks of men, which floated to us over the surface of the dark waters continuously for the next hour, but as time went on, growing weaker and weaker until they died out entirely," survivor Archibald Gracie later wrote. 

When the RMS Carpathia came to their rescue around 4:00 a.m., it took an additional 4.5 hours to move everyone from the lifeboats onto the ship. 

These photos show how the Carpathia saved a fraction of the Titanic's passengers from the icy sea.

The Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage on April 10, 1912, with around 2,200 people aboard.

A British passenger liner, the Titanic was operated by White Star Line and was traveling from Southampton, England, to New York City. 

Just before 11:40 p.m. on April 14, Titanic crewmembers spotted an iceberg, but it was too late for the ship to change course.

When the ship was about 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada, the two lookouts, Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee, spotted the berg.

Fleet and Lee were contending with an unusually calm ocean. With no waves breaking at its base, the iceberg was difficult to spot. Their binoculars were also locked in a cabinet, so they were using their naked eyes to scan the dark water on the moonless night.

While the night was clear, the lookouts later said the berg, between 50 and 100 feet tall, suddenly loomed out of the haze. One weather researcher has suggested a local phenomenon known as sea smoke, steam rising from the water, could have obscured the enormous frozen object.     

First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship's helmsmen to avoid the iceberg, but they couldn't turn in time. As the ship scraped the iceberg, it tore a hole in the side of the ship, rupturing at least five of the watertight compartments.

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By 2:20 a.m., the stern of the Titanic slipped below the water, and the surviving passengers never saw it again.

Thomas Andrews, the Titanic's designer, was on board and quickly realized the extent of the damage and alerted the captain. 

Within an hour, Captain Edward Smith ordered the lifeboats lowered into the water, The BBC reported in 2012. As the ship's bow continued to sink, the stern rose into the sky.

Shortly after 2 a.m., the Titanic's lights went out. Soon after, the ship broke into two pieces, and the bow sank beneath the waves. Then the stern followed suit, sending hundreds of crewmembers and passengers into the sea.

Of the 2,200 or so people aboard the Titanic, only around 700 people made it into lifeboats.

There were 20 lifeboats aboard the Titanic, more than the 16 required for a ship that size. However, the boats only had capacity for about half of the passengers and crew, 1,178 people, Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2017.

Women and children were the first passengers to climb into the lifeboats. Many boats were launched below capacity, either because the crew were afraid they would collapse if fully loaded or because they didn't want to spend valuable time coaxing passengers onto the boats, according to "Titanic: A Night Remembered." 

At first, passengers remained relatively calm as the Titanic sank, NPR reported in 2012. The mood changed as more people started arriving on the upper decks where the lifeboats were located, one survivor told The BBC in 1979. 

Most of the lifeboats didn't return to rescue people who had plunged into the water.

As they rowed away, some lifeboat passengers feared the suction created by the sinking ship would drag them under. Others feared desperate swimmers would swamp the boats.

Emily Borie Ryerson's lifeboat returned to pick up survivors, mostly crewmembers, she testified during a senate inquiry into the event.

They "were so chilled and frozen already they could hardly move," she said. The water was 28 degrees Fahrenheit, according to "Titanic: 25 Years Later with James Cameron," a National Geographic special about the movie.

The SS Californian was near the Titanic when it sank, but its radio was shut off for the night.

When flares from the Titanic woke the captain, he assumed they were "company rockets," or signals passed between ships owned by the same company, not distress signals, the BBC reported.

Between 10 and 19 miles away, the Californian would have reached the Titanic much more quickly than the Carpathia, which was around 58 miles away.

The Californian had also messaged the Titanic earlier, warning of ice. The luxury liner's telegraph operator responded that he was busy, telling the Californian to stop sending messages. 

Instead, the RMS Carpathia responded to the Titanic's distress call and changed course to help.

Harold Cottam, the Carpathia's 21-year-old wireless operator, had planned to go to sleep for the night. First, though, he sent the Titanic a message to let them know he'd picked up transmissions meant for the luxury liner. 

"Come at once. We have struck a berg," Jack Phillips, the Titanic's wireless operator, responded. At 12:35 a.m., Cottam alerted Arthur Rostron, the captain of the transatlantic passenger liner, who threw on a dressing gown and headed his vessel toward the sinking ship, BBC News reported in 2013.   

"All this time, we were hearing the Titanic, sending her wireless out over the sea in a last call for help," Cottam told The New York Times in 1912. 

Another ship, the Olympic, also heard the distress calls but was over 500 miles away, according to The Irish Independent.

Rostron ordered his crew to ready the Carpathia for survivors.

He stationed a doctor in each of the ship's three dining rooms, outfitting them with "restoratives and stimulants," per the US Senate's report on the disaster. The crew stocked the saloons with coffee, tea, soup, and blankets. 

When the survivors came aboard, the chief steward and pursers would record their names so they could start sending them by telegraph.    

Arriving around 4 a.m., the Carpathia came to the rescue of the survivors in the lifeboats.

The first lifeboat reached the Carpathia at 4:10 a.m. It took over four hours for the ship to pick up all of the survivors.

By 8:30 a.m., the final person from the Titanic's lifeboats had boarded the Carpathia.

The Carpathia discovered four bodies in the sea and lifeboats, which crew members buried at sea, according to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. 

Captain Rostron ordered the nearby Californian to search the area for any additional survivors. 

 

 

Those aboard the Carpathia tried to accommodate the survivors, but the life-changing experience left many inconsolable.

"The people on the Carpathia received us with open arms and provided us with hot comforts, and acted as ministering angels," Titanic survivor Archibald Gracie later said. Many voluntarily gave up their beds to the rescued passengers, according to a 2017 article in "Voyage: Journal of the Titanic International Society 101."  

While the doctors treated people for sprains and bruises, one saw women and children crying as the search for other passengers was called off. 

Augusta Ogden offered coffee to two distraught women. "Go away," they said. "We have just seen our husbands drown."

 

Rather than contine along their original course, Carpathia's captain chose to return to New York City.

The closest port was Halifax, Nova Scotia, but getting there required traveling through more ice. 

Rostron decided to return to New York, where the Titanic had been headed. 

People flooded the White Star Line office in New York, wanting confirmation on the fate of the Titanic.

From the start, there were rumors that the company withheld information about the disaster, The Washington Post reported in 1912.

Philip Franklin, who was in charge of White Star Line at the time, denied knowing about the Titanic striking an iceberg shortly after it happened, Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2015. 

 

 

Bad weather delayed the Carpathia's arrival in New York.

During the next few days aboard the Carpathia, survivors including Margaret Brown, who became known as the "Unsinkable Molly Brown" following the voyage, started a committee to help their fellow Titanic passengers. 

The self-described survivors' committee raised thousands of dollars to thank the Carpathia's crew. Brown, Emma Bucknell, and Martha Stone created lists of basic necessities for the other survivors. 

They camped in a dining room for hours, listening to other passengers as they "poured out their grief and story of distress," Brown later wrote. 

As the Carpathia approached New York, reporters hired tugboats to sail alongside the ship to talk to survivors.

Carlos Hurd, a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was aboard the Carpathia when it raced to help the Titanic. He and his wife, Katherine, interviewed survivors and wrote down their stories. 

Rostron wouldn't allow him to use the telegraph during the trip back to New York, so he tossed his notes to his colleague aboard one of the boats, The Missoulian reported in 2012. 

Other journalists shouted at passengers through megaphones, offering $50 or $100 for interviews, WNYC reported in 2012.

The Carpathia eventually docked at Pier 54 on April 18 at around 9:15 a.m.

The ship had left from the same dock only seven days earlier, The New York Times reported in 2012. 

 

Thousands of people were waiting to welcome the survivors.

Families of passengers arrived hoping to be reunited with loved ones. Ambulances lined the streets waiting to tend to the survivors, The New York Times reported in 2010. 

The Carpathia had rescued over 700 people from the freezing Atlantic. 

Of the roughly 1,500 people who died aboard the Titanic, nearly 1,200 were crewmembers or third-class passengers. 

The Carpathia's crew returned 13 of Titanic's lifeboats to the White Star Line.

Before docking to let the passengers off, the ship stopped to drop off the lifeboats at the White Star Line's Pier 59, according to the Hudson River Maritime Museum. 

Practically overnight, passenger liners needed to have enough lifeboats for everyone on board, The New York Times reported in 2012. 

Halifax later became the main port for ships retrieving bodies from the wreckage.

Three ships dispatched from Halifax were able to retrieve over 300 bodies from the wreckage, or one in five victims, according to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. 

The first vessel sent to retrieve bodies, the Mackay-Bennett, ran out of embalming supplies — the ship didn't expect to find so many bodies in the water — forcing crew members to bury more people at sea than intended.

About half of the recovered bodies are buried in Halifax. Relatives claimed 59 bodies and returned them home. Most of the dead were crew members and third-class passengers who were trapped on lower decks, ABC News reported in 2020.

For his rescue efforts, Rostron received a Congressional Gold Medal.

Rostron was reluctant to speak publicly about his role in the Titanic rescue, though he did write an autobiography, "Home from the Sea," detailing his account of that fateful night.

This article was originally published in April 2020 and updated on January 13, 2025.

• Biden's Commerce Department is issuing new semiconductor export rules affecting Nvidia.
• The rules categorize countries for GPU export controls, impacting Nvidia's market.
• Critics argue the rules may stifle AI innovation. Supporters say they will keep the US on top.

The Biden administration's Commerce Department released 168-pages of fresh regulations for the US semiconductor industry Monday that could drastically change Nvidia's year.

The new rules target exports of graphics processing units, the types of highly powerful chips made by Nvidia, and challenger AMD. Global data centers are filling up with GPUs and Nvidia has so far claimed an estimated 90% of that market share.

Highly complex chips like GPUs are largely manufactured in Taiwan, but most of the companies that design them are based in the US and so their products are within the Department of Commerce's jurisdiction.

"To enhance U.S. national security and economic strength, it is essential that we do not offshore this critical technology and that the world's AI runs on American rails," the White House's announcement reads, adding that advanced computing in the wrong hands can lead to "development of weapons of mass destruction, supporting powerful offensive cyber operations, and aiding human rights abuses, such as mass surveillance."

In response to previous export restrictions, Nvidia created a less powerful chip model just for the Chinese market to keep doing business there after the Biden administration changed the rules in 2022.

The new regulations go further — grouping countries into three categories and placing different export controls on each.

The first is a group of 18 allies to which GPUs can ship freely. These are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

The second group is listed as "countries of concern" where exports of the most advanced GPUs will be banned entirely. These are China, Hong Kong and Macau, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Syria.

All other countries would be subject to a cap of 100,000 GPUs. The rules lay out a verification process for larger orders, in which the businesses looking to set up larger clusters in these countries would need US government approval to do so.

The administration said the regulations had provision that would keep small orders of chips flowing to research institutions and universities.

Nvidia has opposed the regulation along with The Semiconductor Industry Association.

"While cloaked in the guise of an "anti-China" measure, these rules would do nothing to enhance U.S. security," Ned Finkle, Nvidia's VP of government affairs wrote in a statement on the company's website.

Impact on Nvidia

Any restriction on the sale of GPUs anywhere is bound to hit Nvidia's sales.

"The Biden Administration now seeks to restrict access to mainstream computing applications with its unprecedented and misguided "AI Diffusion" rule, which threatens to derail innovation and economic growth worldwide," Finkle wrote.

But will the regulations dampen sales or shift them?

Chris Miller, the author of "Chip War" and a leading expert on the semiconductor industry told Business Insider he was uncertain if the overall volume of GPUs sold would be substantially impacted since demand for Nvidia's products is so high.

"I suspect that these rules will generally have the impact of shifting data center construction toward US firms," Miller said.

If demand does goes down, "it would change due to a reduction of GPU demand from countries or companies that are unwilling to rely on US cloud providers," Miller said.

The drafted rules had been circulating ahead of the Monday announcement and reactions from tech leaders have been fierce.

Oracle VP Ken Glueck blogged about them for the first time in mid December and again in early January.

Both Finkle and Glueck zeroed in on the country caps as the most consequential element introduced.

"The extreme 'country cap' policy will affect mainstream computers in countries around the world, doing nothing to promote national security but rather pushing the world to alternative technologies," Finkle said in an emailed statement Friday.

It is particularly notable that Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, UAE, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and India, are not in the unrestricted tier of countries, Glueck noted.

The exclusion of several Middle East countries could seriously change the course of the global AI infrastructure buildout, Miller said.

"The primary impact of these controls is that they make it much more likely that the most advanced AI systems are trained in the US as opposed to the Middle East," Miller said.

"Without these controls, wealthy Middle Eastern governments would have succeeded to some degree in convincing U.S. firms to train high-end AI systems in the Middle East by offering subsidized data centers. Now this won't be possible, so US firms will train their systems in the US," Miller said.

Glueck wrote that country quotas were the worst concept within the draft regulations, which will be formally published Wednesday, according to the Federal Register.

"Controlling GPUs makes no sense when you can achieve parity by simply adding more, if less-powerful, GPUs to solve the problem," Oracle's Glueck wrote in December. "The problem with this proposal is it assumes there are no other non-U.S. suppliers from which to procure GPU technology," he continued.

Republican support

The fate of the Biden's unprecedented export control rules is uncertain given their timing.

The Monday statement from Nvidia's Finkle referenced the Trump administration, stating that in his first term, Trump, "laid the foundation for America's current strength and success in AI."

The new rules are subject to a 120-day comment period before they are enforceable. President Biden will have left office when they are set to take effect.

Though they stemmed from an outgoing Democratic administration, the rules do have some support on the President-elect's side of the aisle.

Republican Congressman John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi, chair and ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, are in favor of the framework.

"GPUs, or any country that hosts Huawei cloud computing infrastructure should be restricted from accessing the model weights of closed-weight dual-use AI models," the two legislators published in a written statement.

Matt Pottinger, who served on the National Security Council in Trump's first term and current chairman of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies along with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei penned an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 6. They suggest that the existing export restricitions have been successful, but still allow room for China to set up data centers in friendly third-party countries, so more restrictions are needed.

"Skeptics of these restrictions argue that the countries and companies to which the rules apply will simply switch to Chinese AI chips. This argument overlooks that U.S. chips are superior, giving countries an incentive to follow U.S. rules," Pottinger and Amodei wrote.

"Countries that want to reap the massive economic benefits will have an incentive to follow the U.S. model rather than use China's inferior chips," they continued.

Miller confirmed that the fact that China is still purchasing Nvidia's "defeatured" GPUs is sign enough that locally-designed chips are not competitive, yet.

"So long as China's importing US GPUs, it won't be able to export, in which case these controls will be effective because there is no alternative source of high end GPUs," Miller said.

But Huawei is catching up, said Alvin Nguyen, senior analyst at Forrester. Additional US export controls could speed that work up in his view.

"They've caught up to one generation behind Nvidia," said Nguyen.

Another concern is that restricting the flow of advanced chips could segment the economic opportunity of AI spreading equally around the globe.

"If you're not working with the best infrastructure, the best models, you may not be able to leverage the data that you do have — creating the haves and have nots," Nguyen said.

• Walt Disney Studios has 12 scheduled movie releases in 2025.
• These include three Marvel films, two live-action remakes, and another "Avatar" movie.
• Here's what we know so far about these releases.

Disney may have slowed down on superhero and live-action remakes in 2024, but it is doubling down on its popular franchises in 2025.

Only two of Disney's 12 releases this year are not sequels or remakes. In the past two years, Disney and other major studios have shifted to focus more on sequels and existing franchises.

That plan seemed to work in 2024, with the top 20 highest-grossing films being sequels, remakes, or adaptations.

Disney now owns the rights to a slate of properties from Pixar, Disney Animation, Searchlight, 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm, and Marvel. Here are all the movies coming in 2025 from those studios.

"Captain America: Brand New World" — February 14

"Captain America 4" is the first Marvel release of 2025 and follows from the 2021 Disney+ series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier."

Now, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is Captain America, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) is his Falcon sidekick, and General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Harrison Ford) has become president of the US.

This time, Wilson is facing three villains. Ross, who has somehow become a red Hulk, The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson), who last appeared in 2008's "The Incredible Hulk," and Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), a new villain who seems to be leading a new secret society.

Read our roundup of everything we know about "Captain America: Brand New World."

"Snow White" — March 21

"Snow White," which has already received multiple fan backlashes, will arrive in theaters in March.

The live-action remake stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White, who is trying to save herself and the kingdom from the reign of the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot).

The film includes new songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the composers of "The Greatest Showman" and "La La Land."

"The Amateur" — April 11

Rami Malek stars in this espionage thriller as a CIA decoder who goes rogue to find and assassinate a group of terrorists who killed his wife during a terror attack in London.

The film is based on Robert Littell's 1981 novel "The Amateur," which was set in the 1970s during the Cold War, but the film seems to have modernized the story.

Laurence Fishburne, Rachel Brosnahan, and Jon Bernthal also star in the film.

"Thunderbolts*" — May 2

"Thunderbolts*" will be the next Marvel team-up movie, bringing together characters from "Black Widow," "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp."

This team is made up of former and current criminals and assassins — Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen).

When these individuals are sent on the same mission and encounter another superpowered person, Robert Reynolds (Lewis Pullman), they must work together to survive and save the day.

"Lilo & Stitch" — May 23

"Lilo & Stitch" is the second Disney live-action remake coming in 2025, as the studio uses CGI to bring the blue, furry, deadly alien to life.

The original film focused on an unlikely bond between Stitch, an indestructible lab-created alien, and Lilo, an orphaned child living with her sister.

The plot for the remake has not been revealed yet. Chris Sanders returns as Stitch's voice actor. Maia Kealoha plays Lilo, Sydney Elizabeth Agudong plays Lilo's sister Nani, and Kaipo Dudoit plays David Kawena, Nani's love interest.

"Elio" — June 13

Pixar's only film of 2025 is "Elio," an original film about an 11-year-old boy who becomes Earth's ambassador to a galaxy of aliens.

Adrian Molina, who cowrote and codirected "Coco," will direct "Elio," and the film stars Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña, America Ferrera, Jameela Jamil, and Brad Garrett.

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" — July 25

"The Fantastic Four" is getting its second reboot, 20 years after the first live-action adaptation and 10 years after the first reboot.

For the first time, the Fantastic Four will be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though the movie will be set in an alternate universe from the rest of the film.

In "First Steps," The Fantastic Four (played by Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is on a mission to protect Earth from Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a giant world-eating alien, and his herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).

The film is directed by Matt Shakman, the director of the "Wandavision" Disney+ series, and will also star Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Niles, Paul Walter Hauser, and John Malkovich.

Read our roundup of everything we know about "The Fantastic Four: First Steps."

"Freakier Friday" — August 8

Since 2022, Jamie Lee Curtis has been campaigning for a sequel to "Freaky Friday," a 2003 Disney film in which she and Lindsay Lohan play a feuding mother and daughter who magically switch bodies and learn to respect one another.

Curtis finally gets her wish this year, and she and Lohan will return as Tess and Anna Coleman in the sequel "Freakier Friday." In the sequel, Anna (Lohan) now has her own family complications with her daughter, her fiancée and a soon-to-be step-daughter.

The sequel will also star Manny Jacinto, Chad Michael Murray, Mark Harmon, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Stephen Tobolowsky.

"Tron: Ares" — October 10

While the first two "Tron" films were stories about a human entering a virtual reality world, the upcoming "Tron: Ares" is about an AI entering the real world and causing havoc.

Jared Leto plays the AI, Ares, while Jeff Bridges, who starred in the previous films, reprises his role as programmer Kevin Flynn.

Evan Peters, Greta Lee, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Andersen, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Hasan Minhaj will also star in the movie.

"Predator: Badlands" — November 7

In 2022, Dan Trachtenberg directed "Prey," a direct-to-streaming "Predator" prequel that garnered critical and fan acclaim and won an Emmy for sound editing. Now, Disney is giving him the reins to lead another "Predator" film that will be in theaters.

Trachtenberg told Empire in November 2024 that "Predator: Badlands" is set in the far future and will have Predator, who is normally the villain in movies, as the protagonist. He also said that Elle Fanning will play more than one character in the film.

"Zootopia 2" — November 26

Disney's "Zootopia" is an Oscar-winning film that grossed a billion dollars when it premiered in 2016.

In the sequel, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), a rabbit cop, and her friend Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a con artist fox, team up again to crack a new case in the animal city of Zootopia.

Shakira, Ke Huy Quan, and Fortune Feimster will also star in the movie.

"Avatar: Fire and Ash" — December 19

The first two "Avatar" movies are among the highest-grossing of all time, making over $5 billion.

The film, cowritten and directed by James Cameron, was filmed simultaneously with "Avatar: The Way of the Water" but was delayed until 2025.

The full plot has not been released, but it will likely follow Jake Sully and his family again on a new adventure. It will star the main cast from the previous film, including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang.

• Los Angeles is bracing for high winds that could worsen ongoing wildfires.
• The fires have burned 40,000 acres and destroyed 12,300 structures. Authorities reported 24 dead.
• Evacuation orders are in effect for more than 92,000 people as fires threaten more areas.

After nearly a week of wildfires ravaging Los Angeles, the area is bearing down for more high winds on Monday that threaten to spread the flames even further.

The fires have burned through more than 40,000 acres in Los Angeles County, displaced hundreds of thousands of residents, and killed at least 24 people. More than 12,300 structures have been destroyed, local authorities have said.

Firefighters made some progress containing the blazes over the weekend — the Palisades Fire, the largest, is 14% contained, and the Eaton Fire, the second-largest, is 33% contained as of Monday morning, according to Cal Fire, a state agency.

But high winds are forecast to pick up again Monday and Tuesday, with gusts up to 70 miles an hour creating "extremely dangerous fire weather conditions" across coastal southern California, the National Weather Service said.

The NWS issued a "particularly dangerous situation red flag warning" for parts of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles Counties through Wednesday. The red flag warning signals fire danger. Though the winds aren't expected to reach the same highs as last week, they still pose "a high risk for large fires with potential for very rapid spreading of any fires that may develop."

The fires are predicted to become the worst natural disaster in US history, and the death toll will likely rise, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday.

"I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope," Newsom told NBC's Meet the Press. "I've got search-and-rescue teams out. We've got cadaver dogs out. And there's likely to be a lot more."

Around 92,000 people near the Palisades and Eaton fires are under evacuation orders, and another 89,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a Monday morning press conference.

Palisades Fire

The Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades area north of Santa Monica has burned through over 23,700 acres and was 14% contained as of Monday morning, according to Cal Fire.

The cause of the fire, which started on Tuesday morning, is still under investigation. It threatens to spread into Brentwood, Encino, and Westwood.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office has reported eight deaths tied to the Palisades fire so far.

Eaton Fire

The Eaton Fire, which has devastated parts of Pasadena and Altadena since it began on Tuesday, has now burned through more than 14,100 acres, according to Cal Fire. It is 33% contained as of Monday morning.

"In my career, I've never seen the amount of devastation and destruction that exists here. So, a lot of work. It's going to be long-term," Ernie Villa, an operations section chief for the California Interagency Incident Management Team, said at a Sunday press conference.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office has reported 16 deaths tied to the Eaton fire so far.

Celebrities and many others have lost their homes

The Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles has long been a draw for celebrities. Some Hollywood stars lost their homes in the Palisades Fire.

Paris Hilton, Milo Ventimiglia, Billy Crystal, Mel Gibson, Miles Teller, and Anthony Hopkins, all said the fire had destroyed their houses.

Of course, not everyone in the area is a celebrity. One 22-year-old renter told Business Insider that she'd had to evacuate her apartment in the Pacific Palisades — and feared that everything will have been lost after seeing news footage showing buildings on her street that had burned.

A journalist and her husband and their two daughters told BI they evacuated their Palisades home on January 7 — only to find out later that the fires destroyed everything. They're now staying in a hotel.

Meanwhile, an $83 million mansion that had been featured in HBO's "Succession" also was destroyed.

LAX is open, as is Disneyland — but some attractions are closed

Los Angeles International Airport is open and is "operating normally," the airport said.

LAX has remained open throughout the fires, though over the weekend, around 500 flights were delayed, and around 13 were canceled.

The airport said customers should check with their airline to make sure there are no issues before starting their journeys.

Los Angeles attracts around 50 million tourists each year — and visitors to the area will find some things aren't open. Disneyland was open as of Monday, as was Universal Studios Hollywood. Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Hollywood said it would be closed through Tuesday.

The famous Griffith Park and its Griffith Observatory were both listed as closed through at least Wednesday. And Lake Hollywood Park, a city park beneath the famed Hollywood sign, also was closed.

The Getty Center said it would be closed through Thursday. The Getty survived the Palisades fire.

The Santa Monica Pier was open, but warned of air-quality issues on its website. AccuWeather listed the air quality in the area as "poor" as of Monday morning local time.

This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.

• A chef shared the red flags she looks out for when ordering a tasting menu at a high-end restaurant.
• It's not a great sign if you can't find the price of the food or how long the meal will take.
• If the wine pairings cost as much as the food, it may signify that the meal isn't a great value.

Many high-end restaurants offer curated multicourse tasting menus — elaborate, time-consuming, and often expensive ways of dining out that are about more than just food.

Telly Justice, the executive chef and coowner of the fine-dining restaurant HAGS in Manhattan, told Business Insider she was skeptical going into her first tasting-menu experience at a three-star Michelin restaurant.

However, she had an incredible time and said the craftsmanship, care, and artistry were apparent in every aspect of the menu.

Now, Justice holds that experience as the gold standard as both a diner and a chef.

Here are a few red flags the chef keeps an eye out for when choosing the tasting menu at a fine-dining restaurant.

It's unclear how much the meal costs

If you can't find the prices listed for menu items, the restaurant is probably "a space for people that don't need to know the prices," Justice said.

It's kind of a code to let you know that if you need to budget for this meal, it's probably not for you.

The chef said the lack of prices could also mean the place is likely to take you and your wallet for a bit of a ride.

The menu feels overwhelmingly wordy

"Menus that do too much talking and explaining tend to flag to me that this is somebody that has an insecurity with their cuisine that the food itself can't speak and explain the concept on its own," Justice said.

She prefers simple menus over ones packed with complex jargon, industry speak, or technical words.

"If you have to write a paragraph about a dish before I even enter the restaurant, I'm already exhausted," she told BI.

No clear thread or theme connects the courses

Justice said it is "essential" that high-end tasting menus tie each course together somehow, whether through a vague theme or specific thread.

A lack of clear connection in the menu usually signals to her that the chef or investors are just scattering seeds to see what works.

"At that price point and for this kind of style of dining you want somebody that knows exactly what they're good at," she said.

You're not told how long your meal will be

Restaurants should be able to clearly communicate the number of courses they'll serve and the length of the meal.

If this isn't clear, she said, the experience could be "all about the ego of the chef" and signify that diners' time isn't a priority.

If you do get an estimated timeframe, the eatery should stick to it.

"A restaurant should be able to keep a promise to its diners," she added. "If you say dinner's gonna be two hours, then I'm gonna plan my life around that."

There's a lot of pressure to pay for extras

Many tasting menus give diners the option to pay for extras like caviar courses, dish upgrades, or wine pairings.

Although these can be a lovely addition to your dining experience, Justice said, you shouldn't feel pressured to pay for extras, and your meal shouldn't feel less-than if you don't.

Wine pairings cost the same as the food

Justice told BI "there should be a gap" between the cost of the wine pairings and the tasting menu itself.

When the two are close in cost, it signals to her that either the food is improperly priced or the wine is too expensive to be used reasonably in that pairing.

"If you want to showcase really boutique, expensive, collectible wines, then it's awesome to have a higher-end tasting available for serious, serious drinkers," she said. "But in reality, most people that go to tasting menus are not exclusively looking to spend $1,000 a meal."

She said it's a good sign when an eatery offers multiple-tier options and price points for its wine pairings.

The space just doesn't feel comfortable or warm

Tasting menus "tend to be long experiences," so Justice pays attention to whether the restaurant has created a generally comfortable and safe space.

She asks questions, like: "Do the chairs have backs? Do I feel like I can sit here for two to three hours and not leave feeling like I just got run over by a car?"

Justice also observes the vibe of the staff in the dining room, noting the interactions between servers, front-of-house workers, and customers. For example, they shouldn't seem scared of their bosses or overly apologetic to diners.

Lastly, she checks to see if the restaurant is ADA-compliant — a diner in a wheelchair, for example, should be able to have as good an experience as anyone else.

Overall, Justice said, these sorts of things speak volumes about the type of hospitality a diner can expect.

• Jeff Bezos says he takes Elon Musk at his word that he will use his newfound power for good.
• Bezos' Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX are among the leading private companies in the new space race.
• Through DOGE, Musk will have a major perch to influence the future of federal spending.

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said Elon Musk's budding relationship with President-elect Donald Trump won't give SpaceX a leg up on its competitors.

"Elon has been very clear that he's doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain," Bezos told Reuters in an interview published on Monday. "And I take him at face value."

Bezos spoke ahead of Blue Origin's launch of its New Glenn rocket, which was ultimately scrubbed due to a need to "troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue."

The Amazon founder has repeatedly downplayed any concerns that Musk's self-described status as Trump's "first buddy" will give any of his companies an advantage.

Last month, Bezos said he was hopeful that Musk's work will remain above board.

"Let's go into it hoping that the statements that have been made are correct, that this is going to be done, you know, above board, in the public interest," Bezos said during The New York Times' Dealbook conference. "If that turns out to be naive, well, then we'll see."

Musk's power has been on full display in recent weeks. He took a leading role in killing a bipartisan government funding bill loaded with unrelated provisions to entice congressional Democrats to support it. Congress eventually averted a government shutdown, but the episode led some Democratic lawmakers to call out "President Musk" and the influence he will wield in Trump's Washington.

Trump and Musk have been virtually inseparable from Trump since Election Day. Musk's role in the Department of Government Efficiency will give him power to call for major cuts to federal spending.

Blue Origin and SpaceX are already part of a joint Pentagon launch contract that could be worth up to $5.6 billion.

Trump has previously said that Musk has "the credibility" to carry out DOGE's mission.

"I think that Elon puts the country long before his company," Trump told Time Magazine last month.                                                       

• Staff at WPP are pushing back against the company's new 4-day RTO mandate.
• A public petition calling for the firm to revoke its policy has gained thousands of signatures.
• Shares in the company have fallen by 8% since the policy was announced.

A public petition criticizing advertising giant WPP over its recently announced four-day per-week return-to-office mandate has garnered thousands of signatures.

In an internal memo sent last week, WPP's CEO Mark Read told the company's workforce of more than 100,000 employees that they would be expected to spend an average of four days a week in the office from April.

"I believe that we do our best work when we are together in person," Read wrote in the memo. Since the policy was announced, WPP shares have fallen by 8%.

In response, a group calling itself "Concerned WPP Employees" has created a petition on Change.org calling for the company to revoke the policy.

"WPP's decision seems to be a step backwards in supporting employee wellbeing and work-life balance, citing anecdotal data that either does not exist or has been misrepresented," the petition states.

It argues that "rigid work regimes" like the WPP mandate can have "extensive" mental and social impacts on employees.

The petition calls on Read and WPP leadership to "reconsider this mandate and adopt a policy that respects and prioritises the well-being and preferences of its employees."

The petition's creators told BI that their goal was to "clearly demonstrate how deeply unpopular this mandate from our CEO, Mark Read, is across the global WPP network."

Avenues to take action internally were limited and associated with substantial risk, they said.

"Whilst no official response has so far been provided, we are aware that the sheer volume of signatories so far received has created substantial internal debate across our C-suite leadership population," the petition creators said.

The petition had received over 7,500 signatures in the four days since it was created.

It is not clear how many signatories are WPP employees, as Change.org is a public forum that allows signatures from people outside the organization.

"We can (and will) validate signatories if necessary should our leadership team take the unfortunate decision to challenge the reliability of thousands of employee voices," the petition's creators told BI.

One WPP employee, speaking with BI on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on company policy, said that there had been "palpable dismay" inside the company at the way the policy has been handled.

'We're in the communications business but this could have been done so much better, a lot of people here think," the employee said. "You pick your moments to do something like this. And with a shaky economy and nervous clients, now is not the time to alienate staff."

When asked about the petition, a WPP spokesperson said the company knew the four-day mandate would not be popular with everyone, but said that WPP believed it was "the right policy for the long-term interests of the company as a whole."

"We will take the time to implement it in a collaborative and pragmatic way with our teams," the spokesperson said.

The company previously told BI that it was not implementing the policy until April to give it time to address office capacity and other concerns.

RTO policies haven't gone without challenges. As major companies have turned away from flexible working, many have been criticized by some staff.

After Deutsche Bank mandated staff come in for three days a week, the company faced a wave of backlash from staff who complained about the lack of office space and bottlenecks.

At the German software giant SAP, thousands of staff signed an internal letter saying that they felt "betrayed" by the company's "radical" RTO policy. There have been no reports that the letter altered the company's policy.

Legal routes against RTO mandates are fairly limited. Unless there's a protected reason under established law, such as a medical circumstance, employees have no recourse to take legal action against RTO mandates, Ron Zambrano, the employment litigation chair at the California law firm West Coast Trial Lawyers, previously told BI.

Workers often have little choice but to accept the RTO push or look for a different company, prompting some employment experts to warn that the wave of return-to-office directives could fuel attrition.

Losing talent is a risk some companies are willing to take to get workers back to the office, Ravin Jesuthasan, a future of work expert and author of "The Skills-Powered Organization," previously told BI.

These companies have calculated that they have the legroom to implement stricter policies and perhaps lose some core talent but essentially be fine, Jesuthasan said.

"Some organizations might say, you know what? We've got a really deep pipeline of talent. There's lots of people who want to come work here, and so this is our culture and this is how we're going to sustain our culture," he said.

• I'm single and 35, and I know that I don't want kids.
• Right now, I'm not looking for a long-term relationship, but I am dating for connections.
• I used to swipe left on men who wanted kids, but I've recently changed my filters.

I'm a single 35-year-old woman who doesn't want to have kids. Among many of the uncertainties of life, knowing that I want to stay child-free has been both clarifying and freeing. I also don't take for granted that I'm in a position to make that decision for myself. Yet I do enjoy romantic company and partnership.

The irony is that, at my age, it seems most people in the dating pool are actively prospecting for a spouse, and many of those people also want to have kids. When I was in my 20s, the connection between dating and mating seemed more distant, but most of the men I've met recently around my age are keen to get married and start a family sooner rather than later.

I've always thought I wanted a lifelong partner, but I became more protective of my freedom ever since I came out of a very involved relationship. It's been over a year, and it still feels too soon for me to commit again, but I'm taking advantage of this time to be more flexible about whom I date.

At first, I avoided men who wanted kids

Dating in my 30s (and dating men in their 30s) has been a much more gratifying experience overall than dating in my 20s. It's been more intentional and less erratic, but those qualities also make it trickier; as much as I know what I want and don't want, other people have also honed in on their intentions and motivations.

After the topic of kids upended my last relationship, I was determined not to date men who wanted them. I mainly wanted to avoid being pursued only for my child-bearing potential and didn't want to feel, again, like a means to an end.

On dating apps, I'd swipe left on people whose profile said outright they wanted to have kids, and right on those who said they were open to it, unsure, or didn't want them. There's a spectrum of desire versus indecision around the topic of starting a family, and I figured I should learn from the mistakes I made in my previous relationship, wherein I ignored when the other person expressed they wanted kids.

Then, I met someone I liked

However, soon after splitting from my ex, I met someone I really liked. It made me hopeful that I could feel that way about someone again. But on our second date, I learned they wanted kids. I was more disheartened than surprised, even though I wasn't looking for a serious relationship yet.

The dating apps make it seemingly simple and straightforward to distinguish between intentions, but somehow, even this filter had failed me. His profile said "open to" rather than "want to," which, to me, communicates a significant distinction.

Connection is the reason I date; it's what I value most. Knowing how hard it is for me to meet people I like, I broke my own rule to see him again.

I decided to adjust my filters and date men who wanted or already had kids

I always knew what we had was temporary, but I was happy to get to know him for the time being. Had I known from the get-go that he wanted kids, I would've swiped left on him and never met him. The relationship showed me that if I want to experience the connections I seek, I shouldn't filter out such a huge chunk of the population because they eventually want kids.

It was on me now to unlearn what had become so ingrained in my past experience, which was the notion that the other person's desire to procreate was my duty to fulfill. As I met new folks out in the world, I had to remember that their inclination for kids didn't implicate me in any way other than informing the likely shorter length of our relationship.

One of the most significant changes I made was widening the age range of men I'm willing to date. I can go out with people 10 years younger or 10 years older than me, which has enabled different types of connections. I'm also open to dating single parents — something I would've never considered before.

Being more flexible works for me, at least for now

I want to be mindful of everyone's time, which is why I'm honest about my intentions and forthcoming about my plan not to have kids. Dating people who potentially want kids works for me now because I'm not yet looking for a long-term commitment, but I know others may be traveling at different speeds.

Once I'm ready to settle down again, I'll have to readjust my approach to prioritize meeting and getting to know someone who also wants to be child-free — or who is already a parent and not looking for any more kids. But being flexible works for now. At this point in time, I only care about quality experiences without discriminating on the type, category, or length of any relationship.

• Kimberly Kelley, a former spiritual leader and musician, moved from the US to Panama in 2023.
• The 71-year-old found that retirement in her home state of Arizona wasn't stimulating enough.
• She dates men 10 years younger than her, saying she doesn't want to look after an "old man."

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kimberly Kelley, 71, an expat American living in Panama.

I've always been an adventurous person and couldn't bear the thought of stagnating in my older years.

My military career in the Air Force as a young woman took me to places like England and Germany. I was fascinated by the different points of view, cultural differences, and architecture.

Then, when I came back to the US, I enjoyed traveling across the country. My ex-husband and I were musicians who'd play 160 venues a year. We drove around the state in a motor home and must have clocked up half a million miles.

Then, in 2015, we set up a church in Sedona, Arizona, and I qualified as an ordained minister online. It was a spiritual center that united people of different faiths and religions.

I got divorced in June 2020. But I didn't really have friends. People couldn't seem to get over my "Reverend Kimberly" title. They wouldn't curse around me or drink much — as if I had to be revered.

Soon, I was itching to move away. I'd already been reading magazines about living overseas. But I knew I couldn't leave while my 97-year-old mother and my 19-year-old shih tzu were still alive.

They both died in 2022. I realized that, apart from my siblings and cousins, nobody tied me to the US. I considered moving to Bali but was put off by the 15-hour travel time.

I had 2 months to get my affairs in order before leaving the US

Another option was a Spanish-speaking country because I had at least a foundation in the language. Belize and Panama were on my list of possibilities.

In April 2023, I hired Shawna Lum, a relocation coach. She suggested I go on a scouting mission to Central America. I enjoyed Belize, but I also loved the 12 days I spent in Panama that summer.

My handler drove me around the country, and as soon as we visited San Lucas, whose nearest city is Coronado, I felt at home. Before I left, I'd already put a down payment on an ocean-front condo.

The place ticked all the boxes for me — warm weather, a beach, a mix of expats and locals, and a thriving pickleball community.

Shawna walked me through all the paperwork, and I booked my flight for October 25, 2023. I barely had two months to get my affairs in order before leaving Sedona.

Shawna's best advice was to fit all the belongings I wanted to take in just two suitcases. "Sell the rest," she said. I sold the big-box items in my rental apartment, like my recliner, bookcase, convection oven, and beloved Keurig.

I took countless bags of clothing to Goodwill and a women's shelter nearby.

The big day came. I've never felt so free as when I stepped out of the airport in Panama and felt the sun on my face.

Since then, I've fallen back in love with my life. I adore the location of my condo because it's quiet, uncrowded, and unspoiled. The food is much healthier because it's less processed, and the fresh fruit and fish are delicious.

The dating pool is small — but large enough

The cost of living is so much cheaper. I used to pay $3.50 for an avocado in Arizona. Here, they're $1 each. My rent is $1,000 monthly for a 2,500-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment with an ocean view.

I've met many people who like pickleball as much as me. I made contacts on social media who became good friends. More than a dozen of us hang out, meeting for lunch or coffee. I call them my tribe. The local people have been nothing but warm and friendly.

As for love, I never dated in the US after splitting with my ex-husband. I didn't want to. But here, I'm having a lot of fun. I'm very active, so I tend to date men who are at least 10 years younger than me. I don't want an "old man" to care for. I prefer someone who can keep up with my energy level.

Yes, you get the guys who come down here for adventures like hiking but forget to tell their knees. And you get the retired professional who only runs between the golf course and the pool.

The dating pool is small, but there are enough good men to go dancing, sing karaoke, play board games, or pickleball. It isn't serious, but I'm dating a guy who has taken me to the nicest restaurants.

My retirement has become as fun and exciting as I'd hoped. The polar opposite of stagnant.