• The US conducted two intercontinental ballistic missile tests this week.
• The missiles were unarmed and not in reaction to current world events, the Air Force said.
• The Minuteman III missiles are slated to be replaced in the 2030s.

The US conducted back-to-back intercontinental ballistic missile tests this week to ensure the silo-based leg of the US nuclear triad is working as it should.

The tests of the Minuteman III demonstrate the readiness and reliability of the weapon, Air Force Global Strike Command said, as work on the next ICBM continues amid budget issues and delays.

The first missile test occurred on June 4 at 12:56am Pacific Time at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, where "a joint team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen supported by Space Force Guardians launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with one re-entry vehicle," AFGSC said.

The test, it added, was part of "routine and periodic activities" demonstrating the readiness and effectiveness of the US' nuclear deterrent. "Such tests have occurred over 300 times before, and this test is not the result of current world events," the command said.

The second test was carried out on June 6 at 1:46am Pacific Time and was also at Vandenberg.

"The fact that we were able to complete two operational test launches in one week is a testimony to the excellence and professionalism of the Airmen and Guardians who do this mission every day," said Col. Chris Cruise, 377th Test and Evaluation Group Commander. "This morning's launch demonstrates our commitment to deterrence as we serve as the cornerstone of security for our allies and partners across the globe."

In both cases, the Minuteman III traveled around 4,200 miles to the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command's Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on the U.S. Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The US military released video footage of the first and second tests online in the aftermath.

The tests helped various US departments involved in the maintenance and development of ICBMs gather data on the missiles' flights and launches, AFGSC said.

The latest tests of the Minuteman III come as the development of its successor, the LGM-35 Sentinel, continues amid growing costs and delays. In 2020, the Air Force awarded a sole-source contract to develop the missile to Northrop Grumman with a delivery date in the late 2020s and an entry into service in the 2030s.

Since then, the missile program's cost has ballooned by 37%, jumping from an estimated $95.3 billion to more than $125 billion, and it will take at least two years longer than expected. Some estimations suggest the program is now likely to cost over $131 billion. The increase is so staggering that it breached Nunn-McCurdy limits and forced US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to reapprove the program to keep it from being cancelled.

The rising costs and delays have been attributed to capability jumps from the Minuteman III, particularly related to launch control facilities, as well as inflation and labor issues.

The Sentinel program expects to produce 634 missiles, 450 of which will replace Minuteman III missiles. 184 will be used for tests to demonstrate system readiness, and 25 will be used for developmental test vehicles. Until the Sentinel comes online, though, the Minuteman III will continue to serve as the Air Force's ICBM.

• Shein plans to sell its supply-chain technology to other retailers.
• The strategy could help grow its revenue, but experts say the brand's reputation may be an obstacle.
• This article is part of "The Future of Supply-Chain Management," a series on companies' manufacturing and distribution strategies.

Shein is looking to sell the supply-chain technology that has been a big part of its success. Industry experts say that while it could boost the online retailer's revenues, getting brands to sign on could be an uphill battle.

Shein has developed a unique on-demand manufacturing model that enables it to turn around designs in a matter of weeks, compared with the several months more typical among its fast-fashion competitors.

Now, according to an investor letter from Shein's executive chair, Donald Tang, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal in March, Shein is looking to sell that technology to other brands and retailers.

"Supply-chain technology is a top secret for a business like this," said Evelyn Gong, an assistant professor of operations management at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business. "People have been curious, and now Shein suddenly is willing to share it with everyone who's willing to pay for this technology, including its competitors."

Shein was founded in China in 2012 and moved its headquarters to Singapore in late 2021. It's a private company and thus isn't obligated to disclose its financials, but Coresight Research estimated that it generated nearly $32 billion in revenue in 2023. Shein has grown a lot in a short amount of time, and its ambitions are even larger.

It confidentially filed for a US initial public offering in November, which is expected to be one of the largest public debuts in years. After facing regulatory struggles and criticism from lawmakers in the US, Shein is said to be exploring moving its IPO to the London Stock Exchange.

Shein has also grown beyond its fashion roots, selling products in categories such as home goods, electronics, and office supplies. It has also opened up its site to third-party sellers in a marketplace model similar to Amazon's.

But Shein's rise hasn't come without controversies — it has weathered allegations related to its labor practices and import strategy, among others — that could hamper its efforts to expand to new business lines, experts said.

A 'playground' for small designers and brands

Shein works directly with more than 5,000 suppliers, mainly in China. Its forecasting tools and high volume of customer data allow it to stay on top of the latest trends.

By showing it has consistently high demand for its products on social media, it can negotiate lower rates and minimum order quantities with its suppliers, Prince Ghosh, a cofounder and the CEO of the quality-control startup Factored Quality, said. This means it can manufacture only the most popular items and avoid sinking money into inventory that might not sell as well.

"Fast fashion has been around for a while," Ghosh said. "Shein, and now Temu and many others, really just built this modern version of it that they have owned a lot of themselves."

That on-demand model could appeal to small, up-and-coming brands that might want to experiment with designs before they fully scale production. Shein already does this on a smaller scale through its Shein X program, which it launched in 2021. The incubator program involves Shein manufacturing, marketing, and selling designs created by individual designers.

Making the tech available more widely could help partner brands gain valuable insight into inventory levels and forecast demand. Brands that aim to keep their prices low while keeping up with seasonal trends could also benefit. It's often very expensive for brands to develop prototypes themselves, especially in the US, so using Shein's supplier network could be more cost-effective.

"It would be a pretty good playground for individual designers and small brands or startups that are just starting out and don't have the resources to set up an independent supply chain themselves," Gong said.

Shein has also made use of de minimis, a provision in US import law that allows shipments of less than $800 to enter the country duty-free and with minimal inspection. It consolidates orders in fulfillment centers in China and then ships them by air to the US in individual parcels. By doing so, it can avoid paying duties that more traditional retailers would have to pay when importing their products wholesale. Brands partnering with Shein could benefit from this practice as well.

"That's how they're able to keep that low cost," Ghosh said.

A Shein spokesperson said the company's success did not depend on the de minimis provision.

"Our business model, focused on creating an on-demand production approach that measures and responds to customers' needs and preferences, is what drives our growth," the representative said.

Still, calls to overhaul de minimis have grown louder in recent months. US lawmakers and advocacy groups argue that the loophole hurts American textile businesses and allows for illicit goods to enter the country. Shein has also said it supports changes to de minimis as long as they're fair.

Brands might have some hesitations

Shein wouldn't be the first retailer to diversify its revenue streams by selling its technology.

Walmart launched Walmart Commerce Technologies in 2021 to sell services such as its artificial-intelligence-powered route-optimization tech and its in-store fulfillment capabilities. The German e-commerce giant Zalando similarly sells logistics services to partner retailers.

But Shein has reputational concerns to contend with. For one, it has drawn criticism and scrutiny following reports that laborers in its partner factories worked excessive hours in poor conditions. Lawmakers have called for the Department of Homeland Security to investigate whether goods sold on Shein and Temu and exported to the US were made using forced labor, which would violate the US's Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

The Shein spokesperson said the company had a "zero-tolerance policy for forced labor" and required its "contract manufacturers to only source cotton from approved regions."

"We take visibility across our entire supply chain seriously, and we are committed to respecting human rights," the spokesperson said.

Shein has also faced multiple lawsuits alleging it stole designs from other companies. If brands work with their network of suppliers, experts said, it could mean sharing their detailed design information, which some see as a risk. It's not clear whether Shein would get access to its partners' customer data or whether it could use that data to inform its own product decisions.

"We are continually investing in our review process and are committed to driving industry-wide advancement," the spokesperson said. "Shein suppliers and third-party sellers are required to comply with company policy and certify their products do not infringe third-party IP."

Working with established brands could help Shein improve its image as it prepares to debut on the public markets. CNBC reported that Shein had also applied to join the National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade organization in the US, but had been denied multiple times.

But if it's successful in selling its tech to brands it hasn't worked with before, Shein could expand its reach, Anand Kumar, an associate director of retail research at Coresight Research, said.

"Currently, Shein just sells the very low-cost products, but including various brands in its platform, it can sell products at various price ranges," he said. "It'll help to position it to compete with more global retailers."

• NATO is creating land corridors in Europe for the US in case Russia attacks, The Telegraph reported.
• Under the plan, soldiers would land at ports in the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Norway.
• Soldiers would then travel overland to NATO's eastern flank, per the outlet.

NATO is busy setting up land corridors that US soldiers and military vehicles would use in the case of a Russian invasion of Europe, The Telegraph reported, citing unnamed officials.

Under the plan, US soldiers would land at one of five key ports in the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Norway, before being sent along established routes to counter Russian attacks, the officials said.

While some US forces would be transported by land from Italian ports to Hungary, which borders Ukraine, others would be moved from Greek and Turkish ports to the eastern border of the alliance via Bulgaria and Romania.

Local legislation would not restrict militaries in these corridors, allowing them to move cargo without constraints, according to The Telegraph.

Plans are also being developed to move troops through ports in Sweden, Finland, and the Balkans, the outlet reported.

Under previous plans, US troops would have arrived in the Netherlands, and then boarded trains to travel through Germany and on to Poland, the outlet reported.

But contingencies are now being prepared to extend this, The Telegraph said.

And in the event that NATO forces were struck in Dutch ports or northern European ports were destroyed, the military alliance would refocus its attention on landing sites in Italy, Greece, and Turkey.

Last year, NATO leaders agreed to keep 300,000 soldiers in a state of high readiness, The Telegraph reported.

European nations have repeatedly warned of the risk of a possible Russian invasion.

Vaidotas Urbelis, the defense policy director of Lithuania's defense ministry, told BI in February that despite its setbacks in Ukraine, Russia seemed to be better prepared for a future attack than it was before the invasion of Ukraine.

In March, Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, said there was a "real" threat of conflict in Europe and that the continent was in a "prewar" era.

Despite experts saying Russia has been weakened by the war in Ukraine, and is in no position to attack, some European countries aren't taking any chances.

Poland unveiled a plan in May for new defenses along its borders, and the Baltic States said in March that they're investing more in defense than ever.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that NATO had less than 5% of the air defenses needed to protect Central and Eastern Europe, citing people familiar with NATO's defense plans.

But Alexander Sollfrank, the commander of NATO's Joint Support and Enabling Command, told The Telegraph that everything required to create resilience is being worked out.

"Everything is created in a way so the necessary resilience exists — robustness, reserves and also redundancies," he said.

"With regards to air defence… It's always scarce," he added. "I cannot imagine a situation that you have enough air defence."

• David Robinson, who's spent the last two years searching for his son, is running for US Congress.
• The veteran hopes his campaign will add momentum to the search for Daniel, who disappeared in July 2021.
• For months, Robinson traveled across the US to search personally for Daniel in the Arizona desert.

Every fortnight or so, David Robinson starts his YouTube livestream, upbeat and all smiles.

"When the lights and camera turn off, I will be here," he rumbles in one of his intros. The Arizona desert appears on the screen. "When the interests and conversations fade, I will be here."

A 53-year-old Army veteran with a clean-shaven head and thick-rimmed glasses, Robinson speaks for up to several hours at a time about the search for his young adult son, Daniel. Each video typically receives less than 400 views.

It's been two and a half years since Robinson began investigating his son's disappearance and since he crossed state lines into Arizona, where Daniel vanished in July 2021. Robinson's GoFundMe has raised over $370,000 to fund search operations there, and he leads a social media campaign to raise awareness for his search.

But 33 months in, he's frustrated.

"It's inexcusable for us to have as many missing persons cases in this country as we do," he said in a stream on March 10.

Stuck on leads and battling tensions with law enforcement, Robinson, a father of five, has turned to a new move to find his son: He's running for Congress.

A case gone cold

Robinson announced his bid on March 18. He's running for the 2nd district of South Carolina — his home state — as a Democratic candidate.

Rep. Joe Wilson, a 76-year-old Republican, has held the seat for decades and won with margins of around 10 to 20% in the predominantly white district in the last five elections.

Robinson told Business Insider he's campaigning to push the investigations of tens of thousands of Americans still recorded missing by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

"Working with law enforcement to push my son's case, I learned a lot," Robinson said. "I had to work with state officials, government officials, law enforcement, and I have a bigger understanding of why we have so many missing people in this country."

But Robinson's focus is still fixed on Daniel.

An empty jeep in the desert

Robinson's son, a young geologist born with a missing arm, was 24 years old when he went missing near Buckeye, Arizona.

A coworker last saw him at a well site on the morning of June 23, 2021. When family members couldn't contact Daniel that evening, Robinson filed a missing persons report. Police interviewed the coworker, who said he saw the tire marks of Daniel's 2017 Renegade Jeep headed west.

A month later, the blue jeep was found empty on a rancher's land, rolled over in a ravine four miles from Daniel's job site. His ID, keys, phone, wallet, and clothes were left near the jeep, per a Buckeye Police Department report seen by BI.

Robinson has repeatedly told news outlets that police suggested that Daniel voluntarily "undressed himself totally and walked off naked in a desert."

Some signs indicate that Daniel might have felt troubled the day he went missing. Text records in police reports show that Robinson had a dispute with a young woman he was interested in just before disappearing. And the morning he vanished, Daniel made remarks about going to Phoenix "to rest," his coworker told police.

The idea that Daniel abandoned his life and family has been the heart of the disagreement between law enforcement and Robinson, who hired a private investigator.

A father's 2,000-mile drive and beyond

When Daniel first went missing, Robinson drove some 2,000 miles from South Carolina to Arizona after hearing the news.

"I kind of lost that reality and just grabbed what I could and threw it in my car without thinking and started driving," said Robinson, who worked 13 years as a truck driver before joining the US military.

He said he spent his first days in Arizona searching Daniel's Tempe apartment and speaking to people who'd seen him recently.

He'd stay awake to read more about the region online at night. "I was trying to figure out the desert, understand it," Robinson, who fought in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, said.

Over the next two years, Robinson built a small following on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram to broadcast information about his son's disappearance.

Volunteers would arrive to scour the desert, growing from an initial 20 people per search to up to 200 at a time.

But after 49 weeks of organized searches, they still haven't found Daniel.

Robinson has criticized the Buckeye PD's response, saying officers refused to treat the investigation with foul play in mind.

Speaking to BI, a Buckeye PD spokesperson praised Robinson's search efforts but said the department hasn't found evidence that someone else was involved in Daniel's disappearance.

"If evidence like that does come to light, that would absolutely be part of the investigation moving forward," the spokesperson said. They said officers searched Daniel's last known location the evening he was reported missing. Later, law enforcement carried out a grid search for with dogs, drones, and a helicopter.

Missing persons cases in the US

Three months after Daniel went missing, Robinson's search finally made national headlines, largely off the disappearance of another young adult in 2021 — the van-life YouTuber Gabby Petito.

Petito's vanishing captured America's attention, with thousands of amateur sleuths on TikTok and social media massing behind law enforcement's search for the 22-year-old. Her remains were discovered weeks after the case went viral, and authorities found that her fiancé strangled her before killing himself.

With the nation's renewed interest in true crime cases, Robinson highlighted his son's disappearance on major outlets, though the case never took social media by storm like Petito's. He often wonders what could have been if #HelpFindDaniel also received 1 billion views.

The viral search for Petito led to widespread criticism against the media for the "Missing White Woman Syndrome," which underscores how missing people of color are often disproportionately left out of news coverage. In 2021, almost 40% of the 521,000 persons reported missing in the US involved missing persons of color.

But Robinson harbors no ill will against Petito's family, saying he bonded with them over shared pain in searching for a loved one. He and Petito's parents have spoken at events to raise awareness for missing person cases.

"When you have a missing loved one, you want to help everybody," Robinson said.

A dream to see his son one more time

Now a congressional hopeful, Robinson said he's using his platform to promote searches for other disappeared Americans.

The war veteran said he's leaning on his experience uniting hundreds of volunteers in Arizona, regardless of their political beliefs or race.

He often mentions his run for Congress on the GoFundMe for Daniel but said the $370,000 he's raised on the website won't go to his campaign.

It's difficult to determine exactly how long that amount can sustain Robinson's search.

The International Commission on Missing Persons told BI it's "impossible" to estimate the average cost of a search and recovery operation.

Tammy Phillips, the director of business operations at missing persons nonprofit Texas Equusearch, said each search is different. "The cost of a search depends on things such as location, terrain, time since disappearance, land or water, on foot or in a vehicle, travel & lodging for searchers, the list goes on and on," Phillips told BI.

Even if US law allowed Robinson to use his GoFundMe for his campaign, it wouldn't be enough to attain the typical war chest of a candidate running for Congress.

US House candidates have spent an average of $1.4 million on the 2024 election so far, and in 2022, the top-spending candidates won 93.65% of their races.

Wilson, the incumbent in Robinson's district, spent about $468,000 this cycle and has $330,000 cash on hand, per OpenSecrets.

Both men are running for their respective primaries on June 11.

Two and a half years since the search began, Robinson dreams of talking with Daniel just one more time. When they lived on different sides of the country, they would call each other for two hours at a time.

"I'll tell him I love him. I love him, and I wouldn't push him. But anything he needs to tell us or talk to us about, he can do that," Robinson said.

• Neanderthals may have caught the same viruses that cause modern colds, cold sores, and some cancers.
• It's possible ancient humans introduced these unfamiliar viruses to their relatives.
• Understanding these ancient viruses may shed light on Neanderthals' extinction and modern diseases.

Neanderthals may have suffered from some very familiar diseases 50,000 years ago, which could have contributed to their downfall.

Researchers studying ancient Neanderthal DNA found traces of three viruses that cause colds, cold sores, genital warts, and cancer.

And ancient humans might have been the ones who started spreading these bugs, according to the scientists who recently published their work in the peer-reviewed journal "Viruses."

Most Neanderthal experts think the species went extinct due to various causes, from changing climate to low fertility rates to human interactions. Trying to recover from illnesses — especially unfamiliar ones introduced by distant cousins — likely wouldn't have helped.

Poor health from "these types of infections can have a negative impact when you are competing with another species," Marcelo Briones, one of the researchers who found the viruses, told Business Insider via email.

Not only could these ancient viruses contribute to our understanding of Neanderthals' extinction, but they might help us learn more about the modern versions still infecting humans today.

Siberian bones with ancient viruses

About 54,000 years ago, a small community of Neanderthals lived in Chagyrskaya Cave in Southern Siberia.

Briones and his colleagues studied the sequenced DNA data of two Neanderthals from the cave — an adult male and a boy — to look for evidence of three viruses they thought might have contributed to the species' extinction: adenovirus, herpesvirus, and papillomavirus.

The adenovirus can cause respiratory infections like colds or flu, while herpesviruses can cause cold sores or genital warts, depending on the type. Some cancers, like cervical cancer, are linked to the papillomavirus.

This isn't the first time researchers have found inert (no longer infectious) ancient human viruses. A 2021 study documented the discovery of adenovirus in 31,600-year-old human teeth from Siberia.

The adenovirus, herpesvirus, and papillomavirus found in this more-recent study are nearly 50,000 years old, according to the researchers — 20,000 years older than the adenovirus found in the Siberian teeth.

That's around the time some experts estimate humans and Neanderthals interbred, between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago. In addition to swapping DNA, humans and Neanderthals probably passed around diseases.

It's not clear if newly introduced viruses would have caused the same symptoms in Neanderthals that they do in present-day humans. While infections likely induced an immune response, it's difficult to tell how severe resulting illnesses would have been, Briones said.

One 2016 study suggested interbreeding with Neanderthals may have boosted humans' immunity to previously unknown diseases. However, the Neanderthals may have been less lucky.

"A cold does not have to be fatal to decrease hunting efficiency or reproductive ability," Briones said. With an already small population, getting sick with new illnesses might have contributed to Neanderthals' extinction roughly 40,000 years ago.

The difficulty with ancient DNA

Learning more about how these ancient diseases have changed over tens of thousands of years could shed light on how they affect modern humans.

Some viruses never leave your body. "They have a huge impact on human health because they are long-lived infections," said Sasha Tabachnikova, a PhD candidate studying herpesvirus at Yale School of Medicine. Recent research has linked Epstein-Barr — a type of herpesvirus — with multiple sclerosis, for example.

Tabachnikova, who wasn't involved in the paper, is excited about the possibility of studying how an ancient virus has evolved since the Neanderthals' era. But that type of research is likely a ways off.

Ancient DNA is tricky to work with. It degrades and breaks into short fragments. The longer a sequence of DNA is, the easier it is to identify.

"When the sequence is too short, you will find them everywhere, in all types of genomes," Diyendo Massilani, an assistant professor of genetics at Yale, said. That can lead to misinterpretations in the data.

Viruses already have shorter DNA strands than humans do. That means tools used to study ancient human DNA might not work for viruses, Sally Wasef, a paleogenetics researcher at Queensland University of Technology, told New Scientist.

Massilani also had some concerns with how the researchers were interpreting the ancient DNA. "They probably have a good idea," he said, but they need to adjust some of their methods to strengthen their results.

Briones said he and his colleagues plan to do more research to confirm their findings.

• Israel used US-made bombs to strike a UN-run school in Gaza, a CNN analysis found.
• Israeli forces attacked the school, serving as a refugee camp for 20,000 people, overnight.
• The IDF said it was targeting Hamas militants operating inside the school.

Israel used US-made bombs to strike a school in Gaza, killing dozens of people, CNN reported.

The United Nations-run school was being used as a refugee camp, housing about 20,000 displaced people, when at least three missiles struck it overnight, a local journalist told CNN.

CNN analyzed video of the strike and consulted a weapons expert to determine that Israel used US-made explosives in the attack.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the attack on Thursday, saying it was targeting a Hamas compound of 20 to 30 militants that were operating inside the school, NBC News reported.

Palestinian health officials said dozens of refugees were killed, including women and children, while a spokesperson for the IDF said he didn't know of any civilian deaths, NBC News reported.

"We were asleep here, (and) we suddenly saw rockets falling. I went down holding my child, we were both injured, my relative was martyred in that room," local journalist Jaber Abu Daher told CNN, adding that Israel's prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is killing the civilians, he is not killing militants."

"It's innocent people asleep in a UNRWA facility… what did children and elderly do? What did they do to him? He is looking for Hamas people? Go look for them, why are you killing us in schools?"

The IDF spokesperson said Israel had postponed the strike twice in an attempt to avoid killing civilians, NBC News reported.

The strike is the latest Israeli military action that's sparked international outcry as its war against Hamas drags on. Last month, airstrikes in southern Gaza killed at least 45 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Those health authorities say tens of thousands have been killed in Israeli bombings since the war began last October, after Hamas launched terror attacks across the border, killing hundreds and taking hostages.

The overnight airstrike on the school in central Gaza also represents another challenge to US President Joe Biden, who has urged Israel and Hamas to come to a cease-fire deal and pressured the US ally into avoiding civilian casualties.

Biden is facing pressure from his left flank in the US from progressive voters who accuse him of supporting "genocide" by backing Israel's campaign.

• My wife and I recently married, and we are both freelancers, struggling to get gigs.
• The stress sometimes causes us to fight, but we learned how to support each other.
• We prioritize communication, alone time, and self-care.

We got married in February this year, and since then, my wife, Dhara, has been struggling to land freelance gigs. Finding work is way more difficult than actually doing it. I have been freelance writing since 2014, and my wife started her freelance career in 2019, so I know this for a fact.

My wife sent out dozens of cold emails to potential clients and got one guy to respond, but he ghosted her. She has also applied for full-time jobs, but nothing panned out.

While I've had a consistent flow of clients, I faced similar situations before we got married. I lost a high-paying, long-term client a few years ago and couldn't land a new gig for seven months.

Suffice it to say that freelancing is difficult, and it's even more difficult when your life partner is in the same boat. To make sure we support each other and keep our marriage healthy, we follow a few important guidelines.

Prioritize communication

We often try to find time to talk about each other's work. We also discuss shared and individual priorities so that we know what's important to each other each week. Communicating needs, responsibilities, and expectations helps us build trust. Failing to do so leads to unwanted heartburn and arguments for us.

We practice jointly deciding how to allocate time and resources based on our collective priorities. Through communication, we are able to work together to ensure everything gets done without sacrificing much.

Self-care

Freelancing is challenging. We found that not being physically, mentally, and emotionally fit will lead to stress, depression, and arguments in our house.

Sitting is unhealthy, and I sit in one position for hours. I'm trying to change that. I quickly walk around every few hours or so and stretch a bit to avoid a stiff back. I also hit the gym in the evening to calibrate my mental peace and keep in shape. Walking is a great source of ideas and much-needed clarity. It's a feel-good time for me.

Dhara is a rockstar. She does the household chores while looking for gigs, so she doesn't have to sit in one place for long hours.

Alone time

I love spending time with myself. While my wife hasn't yet bought into this idea, she respects my need for solitude. I often go quiet and observe my thoughts; this is meditation for me. It helps me gather myself, slow down, and focus.

Having alone time doesn't always mean solitude. It also means doing what you love without having to justify it. I love sports, so I enjoy watching a game by myself.

We encourage each other to pursue hobbies, interests, and social activities that bring us closer to ourselves.

Monetize arguments

My wife and I argue a lot, and that's OK. I found that our arguments allow us to grow, learn, and strengthen our relationship. Arguments can be healthy for us as long as we don't turn the arguments into fights where we throw personal attacks.

To further turn our arguments into a positive thing, we started paying a fine of $6 each every time we argued. It's a new practice we started when we got married. This money can then be used for shopping, traveling, or anything else we are both involved in.

Help each other professionally

I have been freelancing longer than my wife has, so I know a thing or two about this corner of the professional world and try to share that with my wife. I've taught Dhara how to use LinkedIn to find prospects and how to pitch to prospects.

I've also created a website for her where she can blog. I then optimize her content for search engines, increasing the chances of getting leads.

In return, I employ Dhara as a beta reader, explaining the content I've written to her. If she understands and likes it, I know I've done well.

We just got married, but it already feels like I've found my best friend. We get to spend our romantic and professional lives together. It just requires a lot of patience, which comes after investing years in one person.

• The era of electric air taxis is near, with eVTOLs expected to fly commercially starting next year.
• One expert said eVTOLs fly at low altitudes and could create airspace and security challenges.
• This article is part of "Transforming Business: Infrastructure," a series exploring the advancements reshaping US infrastructure. 

The US's first electric vertical-takeoff and -landing aircraft are expected to fly commercial passengers as soon as 2025.

At launch, these zero-emission, piloted air taxis — which take off and land like a helicopter but fly like an airplane — are expected to hop between city centers and major airports as a faster and more efficient alternative to driving. The battery-powered vehicles are also much quieter than the noisy helicopters that commonly fly over densely populated cities.

According to the Royal Aeronautical Society, more than 10,000 eVTOLs are on order worldwide in deals worth some $60 billion.

Carriers, including American Airlines, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic Airways, as well as noncommercial operators like the US Air Force, have placed orders for the new type of aircraft.

The investments signal confidence in the futuristic eVTOLs and the burgeoning market for urban air mobility, which JPMorgan analysts have predicted could be worth about $1 trillion by 2040.

However, the widespread commercialization and expansion of eVTOLs will depend on public acceptance and how regulators and operators address infrastructure challenges both on the ground and in the air.

Existing landing zones will need to be electrified with expensive chargers

With up to 200 of the US-based Archer Aviation's Midnight aircraft on order, United is expected to operate the US's first commercial eVTOL route starting in 2025.

In June, the aircraft received federal approval to fly commercially as a Part 135 operator, meaning it can run non-scheduled operations like on-demand private charters. It still needs further approvals to fly for airlines like United, but the latest certificate puts it one step closer.

United's planned hopper service is set to fly 10 to 20 minutes between downtown Manhattan and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, offering an alternative to a drive that often takes more than an hour.

A later, second United eVTOL route is planned between Chicago's city center and O'Hare International Airport.

All the eVTOL destinations have established spots for the electric aircraft to take off from and land on. This type of operation is favored because the landing spots don't take up much space and can be placed near high-density sites such as sports arenas, finance districts, or concert venues.

Archer's chief growth and infrastructure officer, Bryan Bernhard, told Business Insider that Midnight would primarily use these existing heliports or VTOL-specific "vertiports" to start. It also plans to repurpose already-built city infrastructure, such as parking-garage rooftops, as additional landing zones.

Regardless of location, facilities that want to welcome eVTOLs like the Midnight must invest in chargers. Bernhard said Archer's would be expensive to purchase and install but would not put a massive new strain on the power grid.

He said the challenge lay in striking the right balance between battery conservation and terminal convenience when choosing where to place landing zones.

"We're utilizing existing assets and existing routes, so it'll be easy to integrate into that," he said. "But you want to be strategic on where the charger is so the vehicle doesn't have a long taxi path before it can take off."

Bernhard added that the Midnight's charger had about the same power output as a high-speed EV charger.

Newly built vertiports may not be welcome in less-urban areas

Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst, told BI that the continued development of high-density batteries was crucial to eVTOL operators' hope of carrying more people and cargo longer distances.

This would lead to the need for newly built vertiports.

Joby Aviation, the first and only other US eVTOL manufacturer to secure an FAA certification, has, for example, partnered with eVTOL infrastructure provider Skyports to build four vertiports around Dubai.

A Joby spokesperson told BI the company's global operations, which it plans to also extend to places like Japan, would "blend into the background" and not disrupt daily life.

"We worked with NASA to analyze the acoustic footprint of the aircraft, demonstrating that at takeoff, it is quieter than a conversation at a distance of 100 meters and is barely perceptive when flying overhead at an altitude of just 500 meters," Joby said.

Across the world, Rani Plaut, the CEO of Air, an Israeli company developing a two-seater eVTOL, told BI that the more infrastructure built to support the growing air-taxi market, the quicker the public would become accustomed to it.

Harteveldt said, however, that this unique challenge of public acceptance would be particularly difficult in less-urban communities.

"There could be an opportunity to build new vertiports in places like office parks or shopping centers," he said. "However, one thing we know to be true is that communities will not want eVTOLs buzzing in and out at all times, even if they're electric."

Harteveldt suggested that the optimal places for new vertiports were on top of or adjacent to convention centers or on waterfronts in places like New York City and San Francisco.

Fortunately for operators, the Federal Aviation Administration's official vertiport guidance, coming in 2025, is set to be performance-based. Bernard said the fewer regulatory requirements would make building new US facilities quicker and less costly.

eVTOL operators need to consider airspace safety, security, and efficiency

While manufacturers will face infrastructure challenges on the ground, the industry must also figure out how to efficiently incorporate eVTOLs into the airspace network.

Airspace is used by everything from helicopters and passenger airliners to private jets and student pilots — meaning everyone has to work together with air-traffic control to safely share the skies.

Bernhard said the first couple of years of flying the Midnight would involve a few vehicles on existing and approved aviation routes and that Archer intended to use the same operating procedures that exist for other rotorcraft vehicles.

He said opening newly certified pathways and new landing locations would take another few years, but conversations about the logistics of air traffic management would ignite.

While the era of air taxis is almost here, Harteveldt said he didn't see eVTOLs littering the skies anytime soon. He said this "Jetsons"-like dream would be limited by safety and noise restrictions, especially since the eVTOLs would be flying at lower altitudes.

"How do you ensure these aircraft don't intentionally do anything that jeopardizes safety and security in places like Washington, DC, or London or Paris, and many others," he said. "You aren't going to want to have these eVTOLs operating in proximity to some of these places."

• Hunter Biden may be doomed to lose his clear-cut criminal gun trial this week.
• He's laid the groundwork for appeals, arguing he's only charged because he's the president's son.
• Experts told Business Insider that he may have a point — but appeals courts may not buy it.

For all the drama, the trial against Hunter Biden is pretty simple.

When the president's son bought a .38-millimeter Colt Cobra handgun on October 12, 2018, he was required to fill out a government form that asked whether he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to" a "controlled substance."

He marked "no" on the form and then paid $900 in cash.

Given the mountain of publicly known evidence that Hunter Biden did, in fact, use cocaine in that time period, federal prosecutors brought an indictment against him. They accuse him of lying on the form and unlawfully owning a firearm.

In his opening statement at the trial this week, Biden's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, urged jurors in the Wilmington, Delaware, federal court to acquit his client. He argued that terms like "user of" and "addicted to" are open to interpretation.

Prosecutors got straight to the point once opening arguments concluded. One of the first pieces of evidence they presented to the jury was a section of Biden's memoir. They played portions of the audiobook — narrated by Biden himself — where he described struggling with addiction over a four-year period that overlapped with the gun purchase.

"These are the bread and butter of the US attorney's office," Sarah Krissoff, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor and top lawyer at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, told Business Insider. "They know how to put on a tight gun case."

Biden's trial is not necessarily a lost cause. His lawyers may still convince jurors that he was seeking treatment and didn't consider himself an addict on the day he filled out that form, nor the 11 days in October 2018 that he owned the gun. The jury — in his father's home state of Delaware — may still end up deadlocked or acquit him.

But Biden's legal team already has their eyes set on higher courts.

The politicization defense

Decisions from US District Judge Maryellen Noreika, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, have made Biden's uphill climb steeper.

In a series of rulings before the case went to trial, she dismissed arguments from Biden's lawyers that would have allowed him to put on a stronger defense case. Some of those motions argued the case was fundamentally unfair, and should have never been brought.

Biden's team — led by Lowell, who has previously represented politicians including Jared Kushner and Sens. Robert Menendez and John Edwards — has aggressively appealed the decisions.

None of the appeals stopped the case from going to trial before higher courts could consider their merits. But they can still be taken up at a later date if Biden loses the trial.

Biden's primary arguments revolve around the notion that he is the victim of "selective and vindictive prosecution."

The criminal investigation originated under the authority of David Weiss, who was appointed as US Attorney for Delaware by Donald Trump. He brought the indictment during the administration of President Joe Biden, who promised not to interfere with the case. US Attorney General Merrick Garland, too, appointed Weiss as a Justice Department Special Counsel to keep him insulated from outside influences.

This arrangement has perversely allowed Weiss to politicize the proceedings unchecked, Hunter Biden's lawyers argued.

Last summer, Weiss and Biden's lawyers reached a deal that would result in a diversion agreement for the gun charges and a guilty plea for a separate set of tax crimes, where Biden failed to pay at least $1.4 million to the IRS. But that fell apart in a court hearing when Noreika questioned the deal's technical mechanisms.

Amid the chaos, Trump and Republicans in Congress enthusiastically pressured Weiss to charge Biden in the gun case, as well as the separate criminal tax case in California. When Weiss brought the indictments instead of continuing to negotiate a plea deal, those same Republicans gloated.

"They made it clear that they wanted Mr. Weiss to keep this litigation alive through the presidential election (regardless of merit) and for him to bring more serious charges as a foil for the investigations and prosecutions of former President Trump," Hunter Biden's lawyers wrote in a December filing.

Everyone wanted a plea deal — except Republicans

Legal commentators — and even some Republican politicians — have pointed out the highly unusual application of the criminal gun charges.

One of them, for falsely filling out the government's gun sales form, is typically slapped on as an additional charge in a larger gun-related case, like a gun-trafficking prosecution, experts told Business Insider. There's no evidence that Biden even loaded or used the gun before his brother's widow, Hallie Biden, threw it out.

Another charge, for possessing a firearm by a person who has used or is addicted to a controlled substance, is even more rare. And according to Krissoff, federal prosecutors in Manhattan had a rule not to bring the charge at all.

"Absent this individual's status as Hunter Biden, it would be very unlikely that this case would've been brought," Krissoff, now a defense attorney at Cozen O'Connor, said.

The rarity of the charges demonstrates the whole prosecution is political, according to Duncan Levin, a former New York federal prosecutor.

"I have never heard of a case that is brought as a stand-alone false claim on an application — ever," Levin said. "Lying to gun dealer? I think there are fewer than 300 brought a year, of 25 million background checks. I think it speaks for itself."

A separate federal appeals court in Texas ruled last year that the application of the statute in a different criminal case even violated the Second Amendment.

"Obviously, the conduct that the government ought to be addressing is whether somebody is on drugs and high while they're shooting a gun," Levin said. "Not whether somebody used cocaine two weeks ago and then picks up a gun at some point, and goes to a range. It's incredibly vague what the statute even means."

The Constitutional flimsiness of such a case is why it makes more sense for everyone to agree to some kind of non-prosecution deal, Levin said. The same applies to the tax charges in California, after Biden had already paid back the taxes and was prepared to plea guilty, Levin said.

And, in fact, that's what was supposed to happen. Everyone wanted a plea deal except for Republican politicians.

"Hunter Biden was never the president. He's not running for office. He's not a public official. He is a private person," Levin said. "And these charges are at very most de minimis. They're the type of charges that not only would typically result in a pretrial diversion, they were supposed to result in a pretrial diversion. The fact that this is on trial is due to politics, clear and simple."

According to Krissoff, plea deals fall apart under a judge's scrutiny all the time. When that happens, the prosecutors and defense lawyers usually pick up the pieces and try to craft a new agreement, she said. It's usually much easier than going to trial.

"Pleas go south all the time while you're in the courtroom, or when you're walking into the courtroom, and it can be unclear whether or not the plea is going to get through for various reasons," she said. "The judge asked a lot of hard questions and the plea didn't make it through. That has happened many times to me in my life, so I'm sure it will happen more."

Biden's attorneys have argued that the diversion agreement on the drug charges was still binding even without the judge's approval, and so the charges should be tossed.

Noreika denied the motion, as well as Biden's requests to dig deeper into the Justice Department for potential evidence of political pressure.

But forcing prosecutors to uphold the diversion agreement on the gun charges — which would not cover the tax charges — may have the strongest chance on appeal, according to Neama Rahmani, the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor in California.

"It was idiotic to blow up the deal," Rahmani said. "I'm sure they regret it."

Before Biden and his lawyers can go to the appeals, though, they have to finish the trial.

Biden does have some defenses to muster, Levin said.

"Hunter Biden had just gotten out of an 11-day program and was living with somebody who was sober at the time," he said. "I think it's a pretty crabbed way of looking at it, to say he was an addict at that time — he was clearly committed to his recovery and had just finished a rehab program."

Given how many arguments the judge has already rejected, however, there's a strong chance the president's son will be a convicted felon before the end of the week.

"By the time they get to this point, the prosecution usually has a very strong hand," Krissoff said. "Creative defense attorneys can do some damage and be very effective, so we'll see. But I doubt even Hunter Biden is optimistic."

• The share of US homes seeing price declines has hit its highest level since 2022, Redfin said.
• Three of the four metro areas are in Texas, and the other is in Oregon.
• It could be a sign that national price growth will soon start softening.

More than 6% of US homes are seeing price declines, the biggest share since November 2022, according to a new Redfin report.

Four major US metros are spearheading this trend, three of which are based in Texas.

Home-sale prices declined the most in Austin, sliding by 2.9% on an annual basis. That's followed by San Antonio and Fort Worth, both with a 1.2% drop. Prices in Portland, Oregon slid 0.9%.

This is the first time since January that prices dropped in this many cities, the real-estate brokerage said. Even as nationwide housing prices continue to trek higher — notching a new all-time high average in May — the softening in those four metro areas could signal that broader price growth will soon soften.

At the same time, active listings are sitting on the market for longer, indicating waning demand. In part, that's as runaway home costs have priced out buyers: At least for Austin, Redfin cited near-record housing costs as the reason behind falling prices.

In an April report, the firm had already noted that the Texas market was host to a number of depreciating metros, a pattern also seen in Florida. In both states, the pandemic triggered heavy construction to make room for remote workers, who were attracted to these states due to their price advantage.

But now, some are moving away to more competitive metros, Redfin then said.

To be sure, housing supply is strained nationwide, adding to why US prices keep rising. Currently, US inventory holds just over 3 months worth of supply, where 4 to 5 months is considered a balanced market.

Potential homebuyers are still kept out by high mortgage rates as well, with the 30-year fixed rate above 7%. Although housing analysts expected it to fall to the 6% range through 2024, many now see the rate as unlikely to change this year.