Author: openjargon

• Cassindy Chao, 55, is a former finance executive turned matchmaker.
• After six years at Goldman Sachs, Chao decided to quit her job to take care of her ill mother.
• She said the decision allowed her to spend time with family, marry, and have children.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cassindy Chao, a 55–year-old matchmaker from Oakland, California, about quitting her dream job as a finance executive. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a 55-year-old matchmaker who used to live the "Crazy Rich Asians" lifestyle, working in finance.

I went into that line of work because I knew it was lucrative and felt like a responsible choice. After graduating from Wellesley College, majoring in Chinese studies and economics, I worked at a couple of finance jobs before being poached by Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong.

At Goldman Sachs, I made over $376,000 annually. I was on top of the world, traveling and buying myself jewelry and designer clothes. It was a very luxurious lifestyle. My co-workers and I would fly to Thailand, Japan, or Vietnam on weekends. I was in the center of it all.

Years after starting the new job in 1993, my mom got sick with ovarian cancer, and it was devastating. I quit Goldman Sachs in 1999 and moved back home to the Bay Area, where I became lonely and incredibly sad.

It was tough, at first, but now I can say leaving my dream job was all worth it.

I went from international jet setter to a stay-at-home caregiver

When my mom got sick, I tried to fly back and forth from Hong Kong to the Bay Area to care for her, but it was unmanageable. After about three months of traveling back and forth, I quit Goldman Sachs. It was awful. I went from an international jet setter with a beautiful showpiece duplex apartment and maid to living in an old four-bedroom home.

Instead of jewelry and expensive dinners, my days were filled with brewing tea and soup for my mom and driving her to doctor's appointments.

Over time, I watched people who worked below me at the company do incredibly well. I visited friends with many Hermès bags in their closets. They'd call me and chat about their far-flung excursions and show off their homes filled with priceless art. I initially felt sorry for myself, watching them lead my formerly fabulous life.

It was hard to come to terms with my new reality

I wanted to balance both careers, but being my mom's caregiver was practically a full-time effort — chemo, blood tests, tumor assays, finding alternative medicines, getting second opinions, driving, managing her records, bill payments, and insurance negotiations. I didn't want to hire a caretaker for my mom.

All of a sudden I had to budget and save money. But over time, I felt bad for feeling sorry for myself and realized the simple things are what truly matter.

I loved my family and the priceless time I got to spend with my mother. At Goldman, it was frenetic — deals, reports, deadlines, meetings, conferences, presentations. Back in the States, there was still plenty to do, but life slowed down significantly, and I could actually relax.

My mom said I'd never get married and have a family if I stayed at Goldman Sachs

Before quitting, I worked crazy hours, traveled constantly, and chased after Ivy League banker men out of my league. I ignored my mom's advice, as I enjoyed my life.

I was dating several other finance guys when I met my now-husband Fred, an engineer, at a party in Hong Kong. He seemed friendly and happy but wore a Jackie Chan T-shirt, shorts, and Teva sandals. My first thought was, "Oh, yuck."

We instantly clicked, but I saw him more as a friend.

However, during the first year of caring for my mom, Fred showed up where the other men didn't. He was solid and always there, making me realize he was a real keeper. When I decided to move back to the US permanently, Fred packed up all my stuff and brought it back for me. We started dating seriously, and he grew to have a tremendous bond with my mom. That same year he proposed, we married, and he moved to California to be with me.

He's a goofy engineer, not a slick, rich finance guy, different from the other men I dated. If I stayed in Hong Kong, I would probably have chased after unavailable men for years. Instead, we've been happily married for over 20 years.

Was it worth it to leave Goldman Sachs?

Now, I can say yes. My mom lived for 10 years as an end-stage ovarian/liver cancer survivor before passing. I mourned her and my former high-flying life when she died, but she taught me how to thrive in any situation.

My mom's ability to make the best of any situation inspired me. She made friends with her medical team, buying gifts and knitting hats. During chemo, she would say, "I'm going to be out of it for 14 days, but afterward, let's schedule seven days of fun." We'd spend days exploring the city, eating delicious treats, and socializing with friends.

I'm not rich, but I'm wealthy in happiness. I have a great marriage and three terrific kids who are now young adults. Although not everyone wants marriage and kids, I'd always assumed I'd have it.

Now that I'm older, I've found a new career I love as a matchmaker. It's not work; I love meeting so many interesting people all the time and nudging them to find someone super special.

I chose family over money, and I'm richer because of it.

If you quit a six-figure dream job and want to share your story, email Manseen Logan at mlogan@businessinsider.com.

• Costco has been clamping down shoppers using membership cards that don't belong to them.
• There are still ways to shop without a membership: online, with a gift card, or as a member's guest.
• The extra charges and hassle of workarounds can quickly add up to more than the annual fee, though.

Costco's Netflix-style crackdown on unauthorized membership sharing over the past year raises a perennial question about how to access the jumbo packs of toilet paper, tubs of peanut-butter pretzels, 40-pound bags of dog food, and other staples without signing up for a membership.

Access to the warehouse club and its bulk-price deals is primarily reserved for card-carrying shoppers with Gold Star, Executive, or Business memberships, which start at $60 per year and include two access for two shoppers who live in the same household (or work for the same business).

Still, there are a few ways to shop Costco's selection without paying the fee. Here are three:

1. Shop online without a Costco membership

While some of Costco.com is reserved for members, non-members are able to buy items through the site's Same-Day option, on Instacart, or with a brand new partnership with Uber Eats, where about 2,000 fresh, frozen, grocery, and household items are available for delivery.

The best prices on those platforms are reserved for members only, so the savings compared to another retailer, like Walmart or Amazon, might not be as substantial for non-members. Uber says members will pay 15% to 20% less than non-members, and non-members may be assessed a 5% surcharge on some orders processed through Instacart.

Analysis from Insider's Reviews team found the best prices on Costco items are found in-person at a warehouse, while online member pricing was slightly higher, and non-member prices were higher still.

For example, a 30-roll pack of toilet paper was available in-store for $19.99, but on Instacart cost $21.85 for members and $24.87 for non-members.

The Insider team created a sample shopping cart of popular items that totaled $131.10 for a non-member shopping via Instacart, but just $96.60 for a member shopping in-store, a savings of $34.50. In that scenario, the $60 membership fee basically pays for itself after just two trips to a warehouse.

2. Use a Costco gift card without a membership

Another popular workaround is to use a Costco gift card, known as a Shop Card, which allows shoppers to access the warehouse to use the funds.

The hitch with this approach is that Shop Cards are only available for members to purchase and have a minimum value of $25.

That $25 would quickly be used up in one visit, and could be a useful hack for helping friends and family stock up on back-to-school supplies, though you might catch some pushback trying to buy $200 more stuff than your gift card is loaded for.

It's an easy a way to let someone explore the club on their own, without the commitment of a membership, and if they do decide to sign up, the Shop Card funds are redeemable toward the annual fee.

3. Visit the Costco warehouse as the guest of a member

Costco's policy allows members to bring two guests with them to the warehouse, but once again there is a hitch: technically only the member is allowed to pay for purchases.

As with the Shop Card hack, this approach depends on a fair amount of trust between the member and the non-member, not to mention coordinating schedules to make a trip to the warehouse and sort everything out on Venmo afterward.

Bottom line: It probably makes sense to just pay the fee — it's refundable anyway

Given the costs and complications of trying to avoid shelling out the $60 membership fee, it actually makes financial sense to just pay the charge for shoppers who will make more than a couple Costco trips per year.

An Insider's Reviews team found, the prices of bulk-size items can add up quickly, and shaving a few percent off in fees means the breakeven point comes after just a few trips.

As the company puts it, "rest assured that the cost of membership can be recovered quickly thanks to massive price savings once you start shopping."

The math starts to get even more interesting when considering whether to upgrade to the $120 Executive level.

Either way, the real kicker is even simpler: if you don't think the membership is worth it, you can get a refund.

• The Massachusetts Senate approved a $58 billion budget that includes free community college.
• The budget also sets aside $75.5 million for tuition and stipends for low-income students.
• The state's new tax on millionaires would fund the universal free community college program.

The Massachusetts State Senate approved a nearly $58 billion state budget that guarantees universal free community college for state residents.

And it'll all be paid for by the state's millionaire residents.

In 2022, Massachusetts placed a 4% tax on residents earning $1 million or more a year. In its last fiscal budget, the state set aside $1 billion — collected through the tax — to provide free school lunches to all children in public schools.

The 2025 budget would fund MassEducate, a state-sponsored program that will cover the cost of community college tuition and fees, all paid for by the state's tax on millionaires. The budget now goes to the state House of Representatives, which has to vote before the fiscal year begins in July.

If passed, MassEducate will invest $75.5 million of state money to cover tuition and fees.

President Joe Biden proposed a plan for free community college nationally in his fiscal 2025 budget. There are currently 20 states that offer tuition-free community college education to residents.

State Sen. Michael J. Rodrigues, chair of the Senate's Ways and Means Committee, said the community college program will "bolster our educated workforce and lay the foundation for generations to come."

"Tuition-free community college impacts individuals most in need and who otherwise would not be afforded this opportunity," Rodrigues said in a statement. "It will greatly help to keep our workforce graduates stand ready to meet the challenges of a global economy."

The state's community college program will offer additional assistance to low-income students. The program will also offer stipends of up to $1,200 for books, supplies, and other costs to students who make 125% or less of the state's median income, according to a statement announcing the program.

The initiative also includes a $10 million "student persistence fund" that aims to help community college students with financial struggles so great they jeopardize their studies.

• US officials fear North Korean military action ahead of the US election, NBC News reported.
• Senior officials told the outlet that such a move could be encouraged by Vladimir Putin.
• North Korea and Russia have formed close military ties in recent years.

US officials are preparing for potential North Korean military action — possibly encouraged by Russian President Vladimir Putin — in the run-up to the US election in November, NBC News reported, citing six senior US officials.

Such a move could be designed to create chaos in another part of the world as the election process ramps up, they said.

"We have no doubt that North Korea will be provocative this year. It's just a matter of how escalatory it is," one US intelligence official added.

Following the NBC News report, a campaign spokesperson for Donald Trump said, "The only 'October surprise' will be the look of shock" among reporters when Trump is reelected.

The officials' warning comes ahead of a likely meeting between North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and Putin, which the Kremlin announced earlier this week was "being prepared."

"President Putin has an active invitation for an official visit to North Korea. The visit is being prepared. We will announce the dates of the trip in due course," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, French news agency AFP reported.

Russia and North Korea have developed closer relations since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

For its part, North Korea has sent munitions to Moscow, ostensibly to help Putin's forces in their war against Ukraine, but also to take advantage of the opportunity to test its equipment on the battlefield, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

In return, North Korea "expects Russia to provide advanced weapons systems and technological know-how to significantly strengthen its defense, nuclear, and space programs," the think tank said.

The six US officials also told NBC News that the Biden administration was concerned that the relationship could lead to significant developments in Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities, increasing tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

However, one official said that China likely does not want instability in the region, and Russia might, therefore, hesitate to get involved ahead of the US election.

Nevertheless, Rachel Minyoung Lee, a Senior Fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center, expressed concern that North Korea's strengthening ties with Russia could "embolden" Kim to conduct more aggressive military or diplomatic action in the coming years.

North Korea has already sent a significant amount of military aid to Russia.

By November 2023, one South Korean lawmaker said North Korea had sent Moscow more than 1 million artillery shells to bolster its war effort.

But earlier this month, the office of Ukraine's top prosecutor, Andriy Kostin, told Reuters that North Korean-supplied weapons appeared to have a high failure rate.

"About half of the North Korean missiles lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air; in such cases the debris was not recovered," Kostin's office said, citing their examination of debris from 21 of around 50 North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles launched by Russia between late December and late February.

• Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian, two Yale researchers, have issued dire predictions for Russia's economy. 
• Their work has landed them on a list of sanctioned individuals in Russia. 
• In their view, the country's economy is in shambles, and Putin could end up losing support of the people. 

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian, two researchers at the Yale School of Management, have been targeted for their views on Russia's economy since the war in Ukraine began. 

Over the last few years, they've found themselves on Vladimir Putin's watch list for stating what they see as a simple truth: the Russian economy is in trouble, and there's only so much cherry-picking of the data that can obscure that fact. 

Moscow has fiercely defended its vision of a prospering economy, but the evidence speaks for itself, Sonnenfeld and Tian say. Soaring prices and ailing consumer sentiment have hit key sectors in Russia's economy, and Moscow is paying a huge cost to keep its war machine running.

The nation is in such dire straits that citizens could even start turning on Putin later this year, they predicted, assuming the West continues to supply military and financial aid to Ukraine. 

"We can list for you what Putin has concealed – suddenly – the past three years. If his economy was performing at the level he claims, he'd provide the data ad not hide those facts," Sonnenfeld told Business Insider in an interview. "Putin survives only by cannibalizing Russian businesses – throwing the living room furniture into the furnace to keep the fire burning."

The researchers, who met as a professor-student pair at Yale, have received a lot of criticism for their work on Russia, much of it in the form of hate mail and threatening phone calls.

"I've had a lot of threats on the phone, and my home has been vandalized," Sonnenfeld told BI last summer. "Now we have so many security cameras I can't even have my shirt tails untucked, let alone walk around in my shorts at home."

Both are barred from entering Russia and were put on the nation's sanctioned US citizens list in 2022. 

Still, neither of them regrets their work.

"We're pretty excited about it," they said of their research. "Any of the threats only motivate us to work down much harder."

Putin's top critics

Sonnenfeld, 70, and Tian, 25, didn't plan on getting their names added to a list of Putin's critics.

Neither are technically economists, but they began researching Russia's economy while compiling a list of companies that exited or scaled back their operations in Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.

That list went viral online, and was instrumental in getting more than 1,000 companies to scale back their business in the country, the Yale School of Management says on its website.

At that time, Tian and Sonnenfeld began noticing cracks forming in Russia's economy. Putin has claimed Russia is becoming the new "growth hub" of the world, and the IMF says Russia's economy is on track to grow over 3% this year, more than any other OECD economy, including the US. But that doesn't square with data Sonnenfeld and Tian are seeing, with some pockets of the country's economy in dire shape. 

Activity in Russia's car sector is down around 95%-99%, Sonnenfeld and Tian estimate, and activity in most industries is down at least 60%, they said, despite Putin frequently brushing off the impact of sanctions.

The nation, meanwhile, is still suffering from huge capital losses from when it first invaded Ukraine. Russia lost 1 million citizens, 15% of its millionaires, as well as $19 billion in foreign direct investment in 2022 alone, making its future growth prospects dismal, the researchers say. 

Among their biggest predictions is that the situation in Russia is so bad that the country could eventually turn on Putin, with a shift in the domestic temperament coming as soon as the November US presidential election this year.

That's because if Biden is re-elected, the US will likely continue supplying aid to Ukraine, forcing Russia to continue spending money and lives to keep waging war on Ukraine.  

"Putin has no grand strategy other than to hope Trump wins and cuts a favorable deal with Russia," Tian said. "Russia is in for a world of economic pain for a long time to come."

Positive forecasts on Russia's economy are based on a lack of visibility, Sonnenfeld and Tian say.

The pair began working together when Tian was an undergraduate at Yale, chasing Sonnenfeld around lecture halls. Eventually, Sonnenfeld became Tian's advisor and has mentored Tian for over eight years.

The two researchers are still working on ways to urge the West to tighten and enforce sanctions on Russia. They also continue to update their list of companies that have exited the country in the hope that it will encourage more firms to do the same. 

Colleagues describe Sonnenfeld as opinionated but generous and charismatic. Tian, meanwhile, has a near-photographic memory and is a highly analytical thinker, colleagues mentioned.

"Steven does a lot of the analytic heavy lifting, and I do the flamboyant color," Sonnenfeld said of their work together.

People who have worked with them also say the pair is extremely passionate about their work, and both are often known to answer emails at all hours of the night and early morning.

"We don't believe in regular sleep patterns," Sonnenfeld added. "Actually, we know it's very important, but sometimes when there's a sense of urgency, we do seriously dive into the crisis du jour. We just don't like bullies, whether or not it's Putin or some other bravado."

• A transgender soldier shared her coming out journey and her experiences over more than a decade in the military.
• Finding support in the queer community and organizations like SPARTA was key to her resilience in tough times.
• She found support, transitioned, and fought to change military policies.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sgt. Cathrine Schmid, an Equal Opportunity Advisor and Signals Intelligence Analyst for the 704th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Meade. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I didn't think of being trans as an identity or as a social group or as a movement, it was more just experiencing dysphoria and wishing I could be free of it.

Going back as early as six or seven, I remember thinking that I would be a lot better off if I had been a girl like my sisters were.

I know this almost makes me a walking stereotype, and obviously, this isn't the case for everybody, but I felt like I always knew something was wrong, that it wouldn't be wrong if I was more like my sisters.

At the same time, I was trying to do the best I could with what I had in a deeply religious, deeply traditional household.

A military presence

I was raised in an environment that talked about the military as a noble and valid life pursuit. Service was always something very, very close to my family. My dad was an elder in the local church, we were always doing stuff that served the community.

I was extremely religious, though I'm not anymore, and ended up going to Bible college after high school, lasting just three semesters. I flunked out of Bible college and didn't really have a life goal.

I did have a long-term relationship with my girlfriend, was deeply closeted, self-denying, and all of that, trying to overcome dysphoria through sheer force of will and old-fashioned self-denial through public service and marriage and family and all of the things that my upbringing had promised me will bring fulfillment.

While those things are incredibly important and fulfilling, they are not a cure for dysphoria, and that's how I eventually ended up in the Army. I needed that structure around me.

A lot to learn

During my first few years, I struggled. I kept re-enlisting, and in 2008, I had my ongoing undiagnosed dysphoria. Because I couldn't be honest with my doctors at the time, they diagnosed it as a depressive disorder and attempted to treat it as such, unfortunately, not very successfully.

I ended up having a brief hospital stay after some pretty strong suicidal ideation.

I remember talking to the doctor and opening up, to what extent I could, about the way I felt about being male. The doctor was like, "Do you think you could be trans?" My answer at the time was "No." The doctor asked, "Why not?" And I said, "because if I say yes, I lose everything."

They gave me some antidepressants and some coping mechanisms for dealing with the generalities of suicidality. That was able to at least get me back on my feet. I started being more successful in the Army after that.

I really dove headfirst into service as an identity and trying to overcome my feelings of self-loathing and all the symptoms of dysphoria. If the Army says that all I need to do is follow these orders and exhibit these values and be honest and selfless and dedicated, then I can do that.

Around mid- to late 2013, I deployed to Iraq, and when you are not actively engaged in the mission, you just sit in your containerized housing unit.

I had a lot of time to myself and a lot of time to think about my life. I was not anywhere near actual fighting, but I was in earshot of things and thinking: "Is this the life I can continue living?"

I remember writing in a journal for the first time, "I think I am transgender."

I got back from Iraq on Christmas Day 2013. My ex and I had been married for a decade. We had two kids together. I told her none of the stuff that I'd been trying to do had worked, and I didn't think that it was depression.

I'm thinking I'm trans, and after a couple of long conversations, it came down to her saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm straight."

Moving pretty quickly

We ended up getting a divorce, she took the kids and went back home to Oregon where we had basically grown up and went to high school and everything together. She's still a very, very close friend, but at the end of the day, what I had at the time was completely unsustainable.

I ended up climbing over the rail on the Tampa Bay Bridge in March 2014. Instead of jumping, though, I called Military OneSource and talked to one of their counselors, and I remember saying I don't want to die but I can't live like this. They convinced me to go back to the hospital.

At the time, the Army regulations still had "transgenderism," which was written as something that was incompatible with military service. The doctor said that as an Army doctor, his hands were tied. He had to inform my chain of command because I had a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and the Army regulations said that he had to tell them of any diagnosis that could impact my eligibility for continued service.

The only options I had were to let the doctor inform my command or to simply out myself. I chose to out myself. I wrote a memo, signed it, and basically said, I wish this to be entered into the official record.

I threw myself at the mercy of my chain of command and said, I don't want to get kicked out, I promise I won't pursue any transition unless authorized to do so in writing. I'm getting help from the doctors. Here's my record, and here's the evidence that I'm good at my job and that benefits the unit. Please don't kick me out.

My command decided to retain me. The commander's guidance at the time was like, "Okay, I'm not going to pursue separation for this, but keep your nose clean because the reason I'm retaining you is because you're a benefit to this formation. If you stop being a benefit to this formation, then I will not be able to justify this decision any further."

He was doing everything in his legal authority to not end my career, and there were some individuals in the unit who weren't pleased with the command's decision. There were some people who were trying to find reasons for the command to not back me anymore. For the next 18 months or so I was living in absolute scrutiny like daily haircut inspections, just to try and build a case that I have some kind of pattern of lacking adherence to standards.

I had a couple of supervisors who supported me, who stood up for me, and who helped me going through that period of time.

After recently receiving an Army equal opportunity award, I called attention to the commander I had a decade ago and said that he saved my career. If you stand up for your soldiers now, then it's going to have positive results later, even if it means putting your own neck out in the moment.

Figuring out the system

I was stationed in Tampa, Florida. The queer community down there, at least a decade ago, was very strong.

I discovered the organization SPARTA in the spring of 2014, which came out of all of the people who were in the organization OutServe back in the day when Don't Ask Don't Tell, the discriminatory prohibition on gay and lesbian service members, was repealed and wanted to begin fighting for open transgender service.

Those people formed their own splinter organization less than a year before I came out. I found a community, and I found mentors and friends. I ended up meeting my now-spouse through one of the local queer groups there in Florida.

She and I got married right after Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage, in August 2015 because we had no idea whether it was going to stick.

By October 2016, the Army had procedures in place to get our gender marker changed in DEERS or Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, a large database for service member information.

I finished the medical portion of my transition, specifically I was able to get surgery, two years later in 2018, and I had a unit that was supportive.

If you're a benefit to the mission, and it is going to get accomplished better with you than without you, then nothing else really matters. That's the reason I kept re-enlisting in the first place. The mission is something that's meaningful to me.

Now what?

In 2017, I was stationed in Washington, and our morning formation was always 6:30 a.m. About 15 minutes before I was supposed to stand in formation and salute the flag, my phone started blowing up with people texting me saying, "Hey, did you see this?"

My phone just started exploding. The commander-in-chief had put out a new policy via Twitter that would place a ban on transgender military personnel, affecting thousands of service members throughout the country. And my immediate reaction was, "Well now what do I do?"

I thought back to Col. Cammermayer who was an Army nurse back in Vietnam and made it all the way to colonel. To get promoted to general, she had to have her security clearance reviewed. She admitted to being lesbian, so she got discharged from the Army, but then successfully fought it and got reinstated.

She was one of the very few out, non-straight people in the military, but she was able to finish her career on her terms. Her story kept ringing in my mind.

I was the Army Service lead for SPARTA, and one person on the board reached out and said Lambda Legal is putting together a lawsuit. They represented Cammermayer back in the day as well, so I gave them my name. I have the distinction of being one of very few active-duty service members who have sued the Department of Defense and the President.

We were able to get the ban weakened, though not revoked entirely, allowing us to retain our careers and our medical benefits.

Living under threat

If you've been granted an exemption to be where you are, then that can always be revoked. Living under that threat is an incredible amount of pressure.

It's still less than living with dysphoria, but that was a rough couple of years as well. The biggest thing that helped me through that period of time was the community around me: the other trans people I knew, other soldiers, people in SPARTA, and the extended queer military community.

The queer community tends to be quite progressive, yet the military is very traditional. Being at the intersection of those two communities can be very isolating because it can result in a sense of not knowing where you fit in. The best advice I can give people in that place is that you aren't alone.

If I had to come out over again, would I do it differently? There are probably things I could have done better, but I don't have any regrets.

• Ali and Amira Sajwani want to revive Dubai's failed World Islands project.
• They're planning to build 24 mansions, a beach club, and two helipads.
• The siblings' father, Hussain Sajwani, is a billionaire who's close to Donald Trump.

The children of a billionaire Dubai property developer have come up with a plan to revive the emirate's abandoned "World Islands."

Ali and Amira Sajwani have teamed up to launch Amali Island, a property development that aims to revive the troubled project by building 24 mansions, a beach club, and twin helipads.

Nineteen of the 24 beachfront villas have already been sold, and the remainder are selling for upwards of $13.6 million, Ali Sajwani previously told Bloomberg.

One of the villas yet to be sold has seven bedrooms across 22,500 square feet on a plot of 56,000 square feet.

The siblings' father, Hussain Sajwani, is one of the United Arab Emirates' richest people with a fortune worth more than $5 billion, according to Forbes.

His children aim to regenerate Dubai's "The World" archipelago — some 300 artificial islands in the shape of a world map.

State-backed developer Nakheel Properties started building the project in 2003, but the 2008 financial crisis cut it short. Many of the islands were then abandoned.

The Amali project will be formed by joining up the islands that were supposed to represent Uruguay and São Paulo, per Bloomberg.

The elder Sajwani is the chairman of the luxury real-estate developer Damac Properties, which he founded in 2002, and is known in the West for his close business ties to Donald Trump.

Damac and Trump teamed up in 2013 to build a Trump-branded, Tiger Woods-designed golf course.

Sajwani has also been vocal in his support for the ex-President's trade war with China, remarking in a 2018 interview that he felt "sympathetic" toward Washington in its battle with Beijing.

"We have signed an agreement with the Trump Organization. We're very, very happy with them — their service and their quality," he told Bloomberg. "Without the organization, we would never have been able to build our golf courses."

The World was less successful than the Palm Jumeirah artificial islands project, which now boasts thousands of homes and other buildings.

• Russian jamming has rendered US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers "completely ineffective."
• A confidential Ukrainian weapons assessment was seen by The Washington Post.
• Jamming has also affected Musk's Starlink, causing serious communication issues for Ukraine.

US-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers have been rendered "completely ineffective" as a result of Russian electronic jamming systems, a new report said.

A confidential Ukrainian weapons assessment, seen by The Washington Post, stated that Ukraine has had to halt or scale back its use of many US-supplied arms because of targeting problems.

The report mentions weapons such as Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS.

"The Excalibur technology in existing versions has lost its potential," the assessment found. Its use on the battlefield in Ukraine had disproved its reputation as a "one shot, one target" weapon.

The HIMARS system, which can fire rockets up to 50 miles, was hailed early in the war as a lifeline for Ukraine but has now become much less of a threat on the battlefield, a Ukrainian military source told The Post.

"The Russians deployed electronic warfare, disabled satellite signals, and HIMARS became completely ineffective," the source told The Post. According to the assessment, Russian jamming can cause the missiles to miss a target by 50 feet or more.

Earlier this week, a report revealed that US-supplied glide bombs were also continually missing their targets as a result of Russian jamming.

Other systems, including the UK's Storm Shadow missile and the US Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), are far less susceptible to Russian jamming.

Jamming is a very inexpensive tactic as the software is relatively cheap and it can take out munitions worth tens of thousands of dollars, Defense One reported.

The Russian jamming system operates from the ground, projecting a "cone" that prevents weapons from communicating with satellites. These satellites guide the missiles toward their targets.

Russia "has continued to expand their use of electronic warfare," a senior US official, who was not named, told The Post. "And we continue to evolve and make sure that Ukraine has the capabilities they need to be effective."

However, earlier this month Mike Nagata, a retired US Army lieutenant general who led special operations in the Middle East, said that the US is "still falling behind" in its electronic warfare capabilities, Defense One reported.

"The gap between where the United States should be and where we are, in my judgment, continues to expand not everywhere, but in far too many places," Nagata said at the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida. He called on the US to get more creative to regain its dominance in electronic warfare.

Russia's jamming technology has even targeted Elon Musk's Starlink service in Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine's military has used SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service to communicate and coordinate attacks.

But earlier this month, the Russian military succeeded in disrupting Starlink, creating serious problems for Ukraine's frontline troops, according to The New York Times.

Members of Ukraine's 92nd Assault Brigade said Starlink became extremely slow as Russian troops launched a major assault across the northern border toward Kharkiv.

"One day before the attacks, it just shut down," a soldier who goes by the call sign Ajax told the outlet. "It became super, super slow."

"We're losing the electronic warfare fight," Ajax said.

• I'm an interior decorator who visited Crate & Barrel to see what items were worth picking up. 
• I'd elevate kitchen and bar areas with the store's aesthetic appliances, glassware, and decanters. 
• I recommend using accent chairs and unique cabinets to showcase your personal style.

As an interior decorator, I love finding high-quality decor and furniture at popular stores like Crate & Barrel.

The retailer, which has eight outlets and nearly 90 locations in the US and Canada, plans to expand within the US this year. The store also has a popular e-commerce site, which attracts over 100 million online visitors.

Recently, I visited Crate & Barrel to look for items I'd buy for my own space or put in my clients' homes. I found lots of contemporary designs, including furniture and smaller decorative items.

Here are the eight Crate & Barrel items I'd use in my own designs.

Linens are a great way to refresh a table setting.

I love bringing color into the dining room with tablecloths, runners, and cloth napkins. It's a relatively inexpensive way to refresh a space with new colors or swap out seasonal decor.

Crate & Barrel has a great collection of linens for mixing and matching items in a coordinating palette. Customers can also order embroidered napkins for a customized set or gift.

Though they can be pricey, I trust the quality of Crate & Barrel's European Flax-certified linens because they're made with premium flax fibers sustainably grown in Western Europe.

The store had lots of stylish dishware.

One of the best parts about shopping at Crate & Barrel is picking out a table setting in the showroom and feeling the weight and texture variety in the dish sets.

I like going into the store to play around with plates and bowls from different collections to create a dimensional layered look. Most items are sold both individually and in a set, so you can get creative with plates, chargers (a decorative base that goes under the plates), bowls, and silverware to fit a specific style.

I like that Crate & Barrel makes the process easy. Once you know which pieces you want, an employee will place an order for you or wrap your purchases while you browse.

The right drinking glasses will wow dinner guests.

A fancy cocktail is more impressive when it comes in a beautiful glass. I recommend investing in timeless, good-quality drinking glasses that complement an evolving style.

Once you have basic glassware, you can experiment with some cool statement glasses to pair with those everyday cups.

Decanters are the ultimate bar-cart accessory.

If you need to declutter a countertop or bar cart, I recommend swapping the jumble of liquor bottles with beautiful decanters.

The variety of cohesive designs at Crate & Barrel resemble cut crystal, giving an aristocratic-heirloom vibe for a reasonable price. A sophisticated, timeless decanter setup will turn a messy bar area into an elevated centerpiece.

Stylish countertop appliances enhance an otherwise basic kitchen.

Crate & Barrel offers several small kitchen appliances with an elevated aesthetic. Though these items can be expensive, I think upgrading to a more luxurious option is worth it.

For example, if you keep a kettle on the counter for daily use, the modern minimalist Fellow Stagg EKG one could be a great choice.

Functional style and personality can also be added to the kitchen with SMEG's colorful 50s-inspired appliances or the colorful KitchenAid options.

Accent chairs can add flair to the living room.

I always encourage clients to invest in a plain, no-frills sofa that can withstand different trends. However, the accent chair is an opportunity to get quirky.

Crate & Barrel has a great selection of modern-yet-classic styles, which customers can personalize with fabric options and features to match their desired look.

I love the store's swivel chairs because they can fit into smaller spaces. The round swivel chairs also work great in living rooms with open floor plans since they can serve as dividers between the room's functional spaces.

I love the metal cabinets at Crate & Barrel.

I use various materials to balance a space and enhance my design style visually.

I love the metal cabinets at Crate & Barrel because they hint at an edgier industrial feel. However, because their chic design can also soften a look, they can work well in several home styles.

I love contrasting these pieces with warm wood tones and using them as a room's centerpiece to display art and sculptural work.

Pass-through bookshelves can make great room dividers.

Crate & Barrel's open bookshelves provide a practical way to divide a space into distinct areas without completely closing it off. They create a sense of separation while allowing light and airflow to pass through, maintaining an open feel within the room.

I use these shelves to create a designated entryway in homes where a front door might open directly into a living room. They function like a wall without closing the area off.

I recommend lightly styling these shelves with picture frames, books, or sculpture work for a beautiful display that doesn't feel too cluttered.

• USS Bataan extended its deployment last year and sailed into the Red Sea to combat the Houthis.
• The US amphibious assault ship joined a fight largely meant for other ships, a senior officer said.
• The Bataan is currently in New York City this week as part of Fleet Week 2024.

As war broke out between Israel and Hamas and the Iran-backed Houthis began terrorizing commercial shipping vessels, the US Navy warship USS Bataan changed its plans and rushed at "best speed" into the Red Sea.

That move accompanied an unexpected extension of its deployment and brought the Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, into a fight largely meant for other warships like carriers, destroyers, and cruisers, a senior officer told Business Insider.

Now, a few months after the Bataan finally returned home, the warship is docked in New York City for Fleet Week 2024, allowing the public a rare chance to meet its sailors and Marines.

Aboard the Bataan on Wednesday afternoon, US Fleet Forces Command leader Adm. Darryl Caudle commended the ship's deployment, especially its actions in the Red Sea.

Eight-and-a-half months, he said, is "a long time to be away from home, your families, and conducting business on behalf of the Navy and our nation. And I think I would characterize what they did as remarkable." Caudle added that he'd recently been briefed on the deployment.

The Bataan arrived in the Arabian Gulf in August, where it was expected to spend the duration of its deployment, but when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, the big-deck amphib booked it to Kuwait, picking up Marines and then sailing out "at best speed" toward the Red Sea, where the Bataan remained through the end of the year.

"Ultimately, we were there [for] presence ops, but we were also launching AV-8s to intercept KAS-4s that were airborne, and we were in position in some cases to take self-defense shots," Capt. Trace Head, the ship's executive officer, said, referring to the vessel's Harrier jump jets and a type of Iranian-made drone.

Head explained that the Houthis "weren't necessarily shooting" at the Bataan, rather aiming at Israel and commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea, "but we were in the trajectory of those missiles to where we could take shots at them."

The role of the Bataan was deterrence, but he said that "largely that mission is a destroyer/cruiser mission where they're taking shots with their surface-to-air missiles, and they're much better fitted for that."

US Navy destroyers like USS Carney and USS Gravely have, for instance, been on the front lines of the Houthi fight, shooting down dozens of threats in recent months. When the Pentagon decided to keep the Bataan in the Red Sea for a period, there were at least three guided-missile destroyers in the area. The amphibious assault ships are highly versatile though, and bring different capabilities into combat.

The Bataan was involved in retaliatory airstrikes on Houthi forces in Yemen in January, according to a BBC report.

Some of the Bataan's different aircraft were on display at Fleet Week, including AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft, MV-22B Osprey assault support tiltrotors, and Super Cobra attack helicopters. The Bataan is armed with a few weapons systems, including two RIM-7 Sea Sparrow ant-air missile launchers.

Perhaps the most notable feature of this amphibious assault ship is its well deck, which allows for boats and other water vehicles to dock within the ship. It also lets the Bataan load land vehicles, such as battle tanks and armored personnel carriers, onto water vehicles to get taken to shore.

Marine Forces Command leader Lt. Gen. Brian Cavanaugh told BI that having the Bataan, as well as other elements of the amphibious readiness group, in the Red Sea at the time sent "a signal."

"It's a great deterrent," he explained, saying that "there's a lot of lethality on the ship, so we can go and punch somebody in the face if we need to on behalf of the nation."

Aboard the Bataan at NYC Fleet Week, Petty officer second class Bradley Rickard told BI the sudden retasking was "all very surprising," but they adapted, highlighting the crew's flexibility.

"A lot of the deployment was not what the crew was expecting initially," he said, "but we were ready to meet the call. We went and we did our mission in the areas that we were asked to be there for."