Citadel's Ken Griffin filed plans alongside Vornado and Rudin for a 62-story NYC skyscraper.
The mayor's office said the building would bolster an ongoing revitalization of midtown.
Beyond NYC, Griffin has said also Miami could become the US' next financial hub.
Citadel's Ken Griffin is planning a 62-story skyscraper in the heart of midtown that New York City's mayor hopes will bolster the ongoing revitalization of the neighborhood after many buildings went vacant during the pandemic.
Real estate developers Vornado Realty Trust and Rudin Management filed plans for the project alongside Griffin (whose Citadel and Citadel Securities will serve as anchor tenants), the mayor's office said Tuesday.
Located at 350 Park Avenue, the building is expected to be completed in 2032, and will house over 6,000 jobs. It will also comprise a public concourse with seating, green space, and art.
Developers purchased air rights from St. Patrick's Cathedral and Saint Bartholomew's Church in order to construct the building. The prices they paid will fund upkeep for both churches, the Mayor's office said, to the tune of $150 million.
"This project will build on our continued efforts to energize Midtown Manhattan as the world's most important business address and an economic engine for working-class New Yorkers," Adams said in a statement.
There have been signs that New Yorkers are increasingly working in person. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the city's return-to-office rate had reached almost 80% of pre-pandemic levels, according to a new study.
For his part, Griffin highlighted in a statement the building's "incredible light, 360-degree views, and spacious layouts in one of the leading financial centers in the world."
Griffin has previously discussed how remote work can harm corporate culture, and a spokesperson for Citadel told Business Insider the company has been back in the office full-time since June 2021.
But Griffin doesn't have his sights set exclusively on New York. In November, the billionaire hedge fund manager said Miami — where Citadel moved from Chicago in 2022 — could one day overtake New York as the financial hub of the United States.
An undersea cable connecting mainland Germany to Hiddensee Island in the Baltic Sea.
Jens Köhler/ullstein bild via Getty Images
A NATO commander says sea cables and pipelines holding sensitive materials are vulnerable.
Suspicious activity and instances of damage raise alarms about the potential threats from Russia, he said.
NATO countries are using AI software, sensors, and more to protect vulnerable underwater networks.
Important deep sea cables and pipelines are at risk, warns NATO's Allied Maritime Command's deputy commander Vice Adm.Didier Maleterre.
"It's a security issue for nearly 1 billion NATO-nation civilians. We need to be protected and well supplied by our vital undersea infrastructures," Maleterre told the Guardian on April 16.
NATO allies have detected several instances of suspicious activity around underwater infrastructure within the past few years and the commander noted that the Russians have "developed a lot of hybrid warfare under the sea to disrupt the European economy, through cables, internet cables, pipelines."
Maleterre said that some of Russia's nuclear-powered submarines were built for hybrid warfare purposes, as may have been the case with a Russian sub that caught fire a few years ago. The commander's concerns come amid rising tensions between NATO.
"All of our economy under the sea is under threat," he said.
Last month, as the Ukraine war rages on, Moscow said that it planned to grow the number troops surveilling NATO member states' borders, taking up a similar stance it had during the Cold War.
Amid tensions, NATO countries have been scanning the waters extensively using sensors, satellites, various submarines, and other tools to identify culprits and protect underwater networks.
Maleterre emphasized that these underwater networks are extremely vulnerable to attacks.
"More than 90% of [the] internet is under the sea," he said. "All our links between the US, Canada and Europe are transmitting under the sea, so there are a lot of vulnerabilities."
There have been a number of suspicious incidents involving underwater infrastructure.
In October 2023, an unknown source damaged communication cables and a gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland. In February 2022, police investigators found that human involvement might have been the cause of damage to a Norwegian fiberoptic data cable. A year earlier, a lengthy section of cable disappeared.
One particular incident that garnered significant attention was the damage to theNord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in September 2022. Western officials were quick to blame Russia but lacked evidence to prove the country's involvement in the incident. Ukraine has also been a potential suspect.
NATO officials have long expressed concerns about the threats to key infrastructure in the maritime space. In 2017, for instance, the commander of NATO's submarine forces, told The Washington Post that "we are now seeing Russian underwater activity in the vicinity of undersea cables that I don't believe we have ever seen."
He said that "Russia is clearly taking an interest in NATO and NATO nations' undersea infrastructure."
And with the Ukraine war, those concerns have been exacerbated. Last year, NATO's assistant secretary general for intelligence and security told reporters that "there are heightened concerns that Russia may target undersea cables and other critical infrastructure in an effort to disrupt Western life to gain leverage against those nations that are providing security to Ukraine."
Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Jeenah Moon-Pool/Getty Images
Donald Trump has complained that he's stuck in court for his criminal trial instead of campaigning.
His lawyers reportedly made a decision not to agree to stipulations.
He could speed things up and get out of there by stipulating basic facts.
As the 2024 election is underway, Donald Trump is set to spend the bulk of the next six weeks in downtown Manhattan, far from any swing states.
Trump has griped that his ongoing criminal hush-money trial — for 34 counts of falsifying business documents — is impairing his campaign to recapture the presidency. He has scheduled events across the country on Wednesdays, the one day each week the trial is not scheduled to take place.
"This is a trial that should have never been brought," the former president told reporters in the courtroom hallway Tuesday morning ahead of the second day of jury selection, adding, "I should be right now in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in many other states, in North Carolina, Georgia, campaigning."
Trump also has complained to reporters that the judge didn't immediately rule on his request to take a day off of testimony for his son Barron's high school graduation ceremony in May.
But there's one simple way Trump could speed things up: agree to stipulations.
In any trial, the parties have an opportunity to stipulate to a certain set of facts. That obviates the need for the lawyers to present witnesses and introduce evidence that establish things that aren't really in dispute.
"Trials can be boring in great part, and the interesting part can constitute about 10% of what's happening. And it is not uncommon where the parties will stipulate to the admissibility of uncontested evidence or even certain facts that are not an issue, so as to prevent the need to call unnecessary witnesses," explained former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Bederow.
Trump's current trial, for example, is over his hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with Trump about a decade before he became president.
The payments were facilitated by Trump's ex-personal attorney and former fixer Michael Cohen, who worked with Trump to keep Daniels quiet about the alleged relationship ahead of the 2016 presidential election, according to prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office.
In the Daniels saga, there are several issues that Trump may want to dispute.
Maybe his lawyers will deny the affair ever happened. Maybe he'll say that Cohen was acting of his own accord when he facilitated the payments to Daniels, an adult film actress whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
But there are also a lot of facts that aren't really in dispute. Like the fact that Cohen worked as Trump's personal lawyer in 2016. Or that Daniels and Trump knew each other.
If Trump were to stipulate to those facts — and others — then lawyers in the case could save a lot of time by not needing to establish those foundational details in court.
Judges are normally happy when both parties in a dispute stipulate details. It means they need to adjudicate fewer disputes, and everything can move faster.
Though stipulation can certainly speed up court proceedings, it's within Trump's legal right to "put the people to the proof," Bederow, a criminal defense attorney, told Business Insider.
"It does add to the boredom factor and, from Trump's perspective, adds to the length and is consistent with his approach, which is: fight every point imaginable under the sun no matter how large, small, relevant or irrelevant," he said.
This can be "frustrating" for the court in a practical sense, Bederow said, but Trump "has a right to do it."
"He's entitled to use every mechanism under the rules of evidence to require them to prove their case," said Bederow.
But the idea that Trump has been complaining about his trial preventing him from hitting the campaign trial, while his own lawyers' reported strategy is to slow things down by stipulating to nothing is a "perfect illustration," Bederow said, "in my view of the conflict between criminal defendant Trump and Republican nominee Trump."
"The longer the case goes, and the more boring it is, and the less exotic testimony there is, the less connection of him to the central issues — the defense may feel that's helpful," Bederow said.
Still, the former prosecutor added, this tactic can only go so far.
"To the extent that the goal of the exercise was to delay until after the election, that ship has sailed," said Bederow.
"Even if he delays with these stipulations, you're talking at worst a few days," Bederow said. "That's not going to solve his problem,"
Lawyers for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment on their lunch break Tuesday.
Spokespersons for the District Attorney's office also did not immediately respond.
The Meta CEO has reportedly owned at least one luxury sports car: an Italian Pagani Huayra.
Jeff Bezos
A Honda Accord. Not Jeff Bezos' actual car.
Joshua Roberts/Reuters; Getty Heritage Images
Jeff Bezos isthe second-richest person in the world. Yet he doesn't seem to be too fussed about being seen in expensive cars.
The Amazon founder and former CEO was once famous for his frugal driving habits; according to the book "The Everything Store," as recently as 2013, he would drive a Honda Accord to the office.
In 2021, a Blue Origin video showed him behind the wheel of a Rivian R1T electric pickup.
He has famously splurged on a much larger mode of transportation, however — a reported $500 million superyacht.
In a 2019 tweet, Musk revealed that he does have favorites and mostly drives the Tesla Model S Performance, but occasionally takes to the Model 3 Performance and Model X when he's with his kids.
I mostly drive Model S Performance with dev version of FSD computer. Our new Raven powertain & adaptive damping suspension is great! Next is Model 3P & then X if driving with my kids. Acceleration is fun on tap!
More recently, in a 2023 earnings call, he said that Tesla's Cybertruck — which, at that time, had not yet been released — would soon become his everyday vehicle of choice. He's been spotted at the wheel of the polarizing design since then.
In addition to driving Teslas, Musk has also owned a Ford Model T, a Jaguar E-Type Series 1 Roadster. But perhaps his most impressive car is the 1976 Lotus Esprit submarine car, used in the 1977 James Bond film, "The Spy Who Loved Me," which he bought at auction in London for $997,000 in 2013.
Sam Altman
A McLaren F1. Not Sam Altman's actual car.
Martyn Lucy/Getty Images and Mike Coppola/Getty Images for TIME
Sam Altman, the cofounder of ChatGPT-developer OpenAI, doesn't try to hide his passion for nice cars.
He has been spotted driving a McLaren F1 — a limited series that most recently auctioned for a staggering $20 million, according to J.D. Power. Yep, you read that number right.
Altman owns another McLaren, an old Tesla, and at least two other racing cars, he told The New Yorker.
Altman also has a more practical side; he has said that riding UberX in San Francisco was cheaper than driving his Tesla Roadster around. "I have an expensive car, so it's not a super fair comparison, but I still think it's interesting," he wrote in a 2015 blog post.
Jensen Huang
A Mercedes EQS. Not Jensen Huang's actual car.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images and Business Wire via AP Photo
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is a self-styled "true car enthusiast."
In 2015, Nvidia posted a photo on Twitter of Huang receiving a Tesla Model X. Huang, standing in front of a garage full of Teslas, wrote in the caption that he loved his "new rocket."
More recently, though, Huang has given the impression of a Mercedes man. In a 2020 commercial, he appeared behind the wheel of a Mercedes S-class, touting the line's Nvidia-powered internal computers.
In the commercial, Huang said his first "nice car" was a Mercedes S-500.
"You can imagine how excited I was when Mercedes invited Nvidia to help build the computers for their next generation cars," he added.
He is now driving around in a Mercedes EQS electric luxury sedan, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Bill Gates
A Porsche Taycan. Not Bill Gates' actual car.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images and Martyn Lucy/Getty Images
Bill Gates is an avid luxury car collector. He once said his biggest splurge after founding Microsoft was buying a Porsche 911 supercar, which he later sold.
The Microsoft cofounder seems to have a passion for Porsches. One of the best cars in his collection is his Porsche 959 sports car. And in 2020, he revealed in an interview with Marques Brownlee that he had bought an electric Porsche Taycan.
"It is very, very cool," he said at the time. "This is my first electric car, and I am enjoying it a lot."
Steve Ballmer
A Ford Fusion. Not Steve Ballmer's actual car.
Harry How/Getty Images and Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images
Ballmer is a loyal Ford customer; his father was a longtime Ford employee in Detroit, according to The Seattle Times. At one point, he drove a Ford Fusion hybrid sedan — personally delivered to him by Ford's then-president and CEO Alan Mulally.
Despite his family's wealth, the ex-Microsoft chief managed to instill that same ethic of modesty in his children. His son, Pete Ballmer, recently told BI that he still drives a 2015 Ford Focus — one which had been originally bought for Pete's younger brother in high school.
Michael Dell
A Hummer H2. Not Michael Dell's actual car.
Getty Images; Getty Business Wire Handout
Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, is known for having a lavish real estate portfolio, with properties in Austin, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. He also has his fair share of classic luxury cars. These have included a 2004 Porsche Boxster, a Porsche Carrera GT, and a Hummer H2.
It's not clear if he's owned any electric vehicles yet, but he has praised Elon Musk, who gave him a tour of a Tesla plant in Texas earlier this year. Dell posted a photo of the two next to a Tesla Cybertruck, calling the experience "most impressive and inspiring."
Larry Ellison
An Audi R8. Not Larry Ellison's actual car.
Kimberly White/Getty Images; Hollis Johnson Business Insider
Larry Ellison, the cofounder and chairman of Oracle, is known for his extravagant spending habits. He collects real estate, cars, airplanes, and yachts.
When it comes to cars, his collection has included an Audi R8, a McLaren F1, a Lexus LFA, and the Lexus LS 600h L, according to the LA Times.
He's also known for giving expensive gifts, once offering a friend an Acura NSX, which costs more than $100,000.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
A Toyota Prius. Not the actual car of either Page or Brin.
Trump's lawyers defended his $175M civil fraud bond — and Knight Specialty — in court filings.
The filings show that Trump used cash collateral that's only semi-committed to the bond.
His lawyers are fighting the attorney general's office over the need for Monday's surety hearing.
Lawyers for Donald Trump are defending the "respected" insurers behind his $175 million civil fraud bond in a series of new court filings.
The papers, filed in Supreme Court in Manhattan, challenge the need for next Monday's surety hearing, at which Trump's fraud trial judge and lawyers for the state attorney general's office will scrutinize both the cash and the company behind the bond.
The filings confirm that Trump has used cash, not property, to back the bond.
"The $175 million bond is collateralized by $175,304,075.95 in cash held in a Charles Schwab account pledged to KSIC, and KSIC has the right to exercise control over that account," Trump's lawyers wrote in the bond's defense.
The bond company is able to gain control of the account with two days notice, the lawyers also wrote, suggesting that Trump, and not the bank or the bond underwriters, actually controls the cash.
Usually, underwriters demand an irrevocable letter of credit stating that the money is secure in a bank account and can only be withdrawn after the appeals have ended. Such letters of credit give no wiggle room — the money is "irrevocably" committed to the bond.
Attorney General Letitia James is allowed, under New York's civil practice rules, to ask for proof that Knight is financially sound and that the bond's collateral is sufficient.
The final call on whether the Knight bond sinks or swims will be up to New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who has set a Monday hearing on the matter.
Trump's bond was underwritten by Knight Specialty Insurance Company, based in Los Angeles, run by billionaire Trump supporter Don Hankey, a so-called king of subprime car loans.
"KSIC is a respected, well-capitalized, Delaware-domiciled insurer that has long underwritten surety bonds and other types of insurance placed around the country," Trump's lawyers wrote.
Beyond Trump's Schwab account, Knight "independently maintains more than $539 million in assets and $138 million in equity," the filings say.
Beyond that, the insurer "has access to more than $2 billion in assets and $1 billion in equity" through its parent company, Knight Insurance Company," the filings say.
Here are the companies that are gaining ground on Apple — or overtaking it — in the smartphone wars.
Xiaomi's market share exploded.
The Xiaomi 14 Ultra, the latest smartphone by developed by the Chinese brand.
Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Xiaomi is a name little known to most Americans, but don't understimate it. The Chinese company is ranked 360th on the Fortune Global 500 list — higher than Netflix, Uber, and, Capital One.
Its most recent offering, the Mi 14, debuted in October to strong demand in China. Xiaomi also makes the Redmi Note series of smartphones.
Xiaomi does not sell its phones in the US. This is partially due to political concerns, according to IDC researcher Nabila Popal, who told Android Central in 2022 that "after what happened with Huawei," no Chinese tech company "would want to risk investing heavily in a market that can any day can simply 'ban' them."
In the first quarter of 2024, shipments of Xiaomi smartphones grew 33.8%, as the company solidified its spot as the third-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
Transsion also had a strong start to the year.
Transsion subsidiary Tecno Mobile produces the Spark 20 Pro + smartphone.
Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Transsion is the company behind the Tecno, Itel, and Infinix lines of smartphones. Another Chinese manufacturer that most Americans probably won't have heard of, Transsion does particularly well in Africa, where it is the top seller with its "ultra low-end devices," according to an IDC report.
The company is also notable for its non-smartphone offerings, including appliances and, soon, wearables like the Galaxy smart ring.
Samsung edged past Apple to take the top spot for global smartphone manufacturers, even though its shipments shrank slightly (less than 1%) in the first quarter of 2024.
Younger voters are increasingly polling as more conservative.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Polling for the 2024 election has shown Biden losing ground with younger voters to Trump.
Gen Z and Millenials sided with Biden by ~20 percentage points in 2020, but that lead may be gone.
Younger voters are historically less likely to vote than older-aged ones.
In a presidential race expected to be as tight as ever, polling increasingly shows younger voters shifting toward former President Donald Trump. But the group has historically been fickle and difficult to get to the polls, which the Republican Party has made increasingly difficult.
A survey conducted by Marist Poll in late March showed that 2 percentage points more Gen Z and Millenial-aged voters said they'd vote for President Joe Trump over Biden in a two-person race. A recent New York Times/Siena College Poll showed a similar result, with Biden winning over 1 percentage point more of Gen Z and Trump 1 percentage point more of Millenials polled.
Gen Z and Millenial voters sided with Biden by a nearly 20-point margin in 2020, and Trump only lost five key states by less than 100,000 votes.
As a recent analysis from Split Ticket demonstrated, a pollster's methodology and how it weighs a survey's results can lead to wildly different results. For example, while a survey using live text interviews showed young voters preferring Biden over Trump by 10 percentage points, one done using an online opt-in panel resulted in Trump winning over the age group.
If results from Marist, Siena College, and others prove accurate, it'll be a massive blow to Biden's reelection chances. Still, his campaign can rest somewhat easier knowing younger voters have historically been some of the least likely to make it to the polls.
Data compiled by the University of Florida Election Lab shows that since 1986, more than 50% of voting-aged Americans between 45 and 59 and more than 64% of those 60 or older have participated in presidential elections. But over the past 34 years, voters between the ages of 18 and 29 managed to breach the 50% mark only once, in 2020.
If the younger electorate this election has become more red-leaning, it's tough to assign much credit to state-run Republican Parties. Several have passed legislation in recent years restricting which documents can be used for identification on election day, potentially hampering the influence of young voters.
For example, after turnout from voters aged 18 and 19 surged 81% between 2018 and 2022, Idaho prohibited college IDs as a form of identification at polling stations. A proposed piece of legislation in Texas in 2023 also attempted to ban polling stations on college campuses, though the bill never got past committee.
Appealing to younger voters in college towns and campuses may also take a mental adjustment from some conservative influencers and leaders, like Turning Point USA founder and executive director Charlie Kirk. In 2020, he reportedly told a group of GOP activists and donors it was "a great thing" when colleges shut down their campuses amid the pandemic as it would hurt Democrats.
A Ukrainian soldier of the 28th brigade launches a drone at the frontline close to Bakhmut, Ukraine, in August 2023.
AP Photo/Libkos
Ukraine flew an exploding drone into a Russian tank's open hatch, a new video shows.
It's not the first time operators have flown UAVs with such precision.
Drones continue to terrorize both sides of the front lines, even killing high-value targets.
A new chilling video shows a Ukrainian drone flying directly into the open command hatch of one Russia's main battle tanks before exploding and, apparently, setting off the ammo inside.
The video was originally posted on Telegram on April 11 by the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, later, shared on X. In it, Ukrainian first-person view drones conduct several successful strikes on Russian systems and vehicles, including what experts identified as a Russian T-90M tank, a weapon Putin has called "the world's best tank."
In one particular portion of the footage, the drone flies towards the tank, navigates carefully through what appears to be a cage built on top of it and down into the tank's open hatch.
The footage then cuts to a surveillance drone's perspective of an explosion inside the tank from a likely ammunition cook off.
"FPV drone operators of the 8th Separate Regiment of the SSO inflicted significant losses on the enemy in the Donetsk direction," the Ukraine's Special Operations Forces said on Telegram.
The SSO claimed to have successfully eliminated a T-90, a T-72, and two other vehicles, as well as carried out individual attacks on Russian soldiers in trenches.
These kinds of high-precision kills are not new for Ukraine. Back in November 2023, a Ukrainian service member from the UAV unit known as the Magyar Birds with the 59th Motorized Brigade shared footage of a number of exploding FPV drones flying into the open hatches of Russian vehicles.
In that video, the voiceover says that "if a direct hit isn't working, then the mastery and experience of the pilot becomes most important," per a translation.
Drone operators have become invaluable assets for both sides of the war, as well as prime targets. In some cases, operators have been documented using their drones to target each other, hoping to take out their enemy's capabilities for flying the UAVs that have dramatically complicated battlefield maneuver and combat operations.
Two Russian T-90M tanks viewed head-on in an undisclosed rural location in Ukraine. Image released by Russian Defense Ministry on January 23, 2023.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP Photo
The recent attack on the apparentT-90M is another notable loss for the Russian army.
Back in January, Ukraine called the claim that it is "the world's best tank" into question after one of its US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles was able to overwhelm one with chain gun fire during combat in Stepove, a village outside Avdiivka in northeastern Ukraine.
In the video footage from the battle, the Bradley can be seen engaging in an intense fight with the T-90M, wrecking it with fire from its M242 25mm Bushmaster chain gun. After the modern main battle tank spins out of control and catches on fire, its crew abandons it, and Ukraine sends in an FPV drone to finish the job.
The tech giant's board said it's looking into two specific cases, one on Instagram and one on Facebook.
One of the cases involves an AI-generated image resembling a nude female American public figure with a man groping her. The figure was named in the caption and posted in a Facebook group for AI creations.
Meta's oversight board didn't specify which female public figure was used in the AI deepfake.
The oversight board said a different user had already posted the AI-generated nude before it was shared in the Facebook group. The explicit photo was removed for violating the Bullying and Harassment policy for "derogatory sexualized photoshop or drawings."
The user who posted the photo appealed the removal, which was rejected by the automated system. The user then appealed to the Board.
One post uploaded by a verified user on X, formerly Twitter, attracted over 45 million views before it was taken down by moderators about 17 hours later.
The other investigation involves an AI-generated image of a nude woman that resembles a public figure from India. The content was posted on an Instagram account that only shares AI-generated images of Indian women.
In this case, Meta failed to delete the content after it was reported twice. The user appealed to the Board and Meta found its decision to keep the content was an error. It then removed the post for violating the Bullying and Harassment Community Standard.
The Board said it selected these cases to see whether Meta is effectively addressing explicit AI-generated imagery.
Politicians, public figures, and business leaders have spoken out about deepfakes and the risks they pose.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre previously said lax enforcement of deepfakes disproportionately impacts women as well as girls "who are the overwhelming targets."
Jean-Pierre also said that while legislation should play a role in tackling this issue, social media platforms should be banning harmful AI content on their own.
Meta's oversight board wants the public to weigh in on the two cases. It asked for comments suggesting strategies on how to address this issue and feedback on its severity.
The oversight board will deliberate on the decisions over the next few weeks before posting the outcome, it said in the announcement. While the board's recommendations aren't binding, Meta has to respond to them within 60 days.
A battle is playing out in the Red Sea as Yemen's Houthi militia attacks commercial shipping vessels headed to the Suez Canal using weapons supplied by Iran. Now a US-led task force is fighting back. We compare the weapons and tactics and tell you who holds the power in this global conflict.