• Russia is pushing back Ukraine's military on key parts of the front line. 
• A US military official told CNN that US aid arrived too late to stop Russia from advancing. 
• Some analysts believe that when US aid does arrive in quantity, the situation will stabilize. 

The delay by the US Congress in approving a vital aid bill means Ukraine is now struggling to fight back Russian advances, a former US military official said.

In an interview with CNN, retired US Air Force Col. and military analyst Cedric Leighton discussed Ukraine's increasingly desperate attempts to hold back Russian advances near Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city.

He said that the delay in passing the $61 billion US aid bill, which was approved in April after being blocked for months by Republicans, had placed Ukraine at a disadvantage.

"The delay in aid was, frankly an inexcusable pause in the ability of the Ukrainians to fend off Russian advances. And right now what it means is that the Ukrainians are on the backfoot," said Leighton.

Kharkiv, which is situated near the Russian border in northern Ukraine, has been the focus of intensifying Russian attacks in recent days. Its forces are also making gains on other parts of the front line.

Russia is seeking to exploit weaknesses in Ukraine's military, which is running low on crucial air defense and ammunition supplies as a result of the aid block.

US officials told The New York Times that significant amounts of aid might not begin to arrive at the front line until July, but that the situation would likely stabilize in the long term.

Until then, Ukraine faces serious problems. In particular, Leighton singled out air defense as a key issue, with Russia using plane-launched "glide bombs" to devastate Ukrainian positions.

"The Russians have been able to exploit the air defense weaknesses in Ukraine, and because of that, they are able to advance because they have air cover," said Leighton.

• Kiana Anvaripour,  a 42-year-old CEO living in L.A. has always been dedicated to feeling her best. 
• When Anvaripour began experiencing perimenopause, she looked to enhance her wellness routine. 
• The executive began microdosing "magic mushrooms" alongside eating well, taking vitamins and daily workouts. 

This is an as-told-to essay based on a transcribed conversation with Kiana Anvaripour a 42-year-old CEO and mother of two living in Los Angeles. The following has been edited for length and clarity and reflects only the views of Ms. Anvaripour, who is not a medical professional. Psilocybin is still illegal in the US federally and in most states. There is no medical consensus about its potential benefits, including those described below, and the drugs come with risks.

For as long as I can remember, I've been on a quest to feel my very best. As I've gotten older, wellness has become even more important to me, especially in combating the symptoms of my menstrual cycle.

As the mom of two daughters under 10 and the CEO of a creative agency in LA, I want to be a better parent and leader. Sleep, exercise, meditation, and plant-based supplements have all helped me achieve those goals in the past.

I started approaching perimenopause a little over two years ago. Even with my wellness routine, I had this sense of overwhelm as I tried to juggle so many responsibilities. I was open to trying a natural tool to help me navigate this new and frustrating phase in my life. I was experiencing all the symptoms of perimenopause we often hear about: brain fog, mood swings, and challenges sleeping. The list goes on and on. I wanted more support and heard about the wonders of micro-dosing.

Working in the wellness industry, I had previously researched microdosing with psilocybin and knew of friends, colleagues, and other CEOs who used it for productivity in the workplace. I decided to give it a try.  

In California, psilocybin, under the guise of wellness plant medicine, is common and not hard to come by. Some people use it for performance and health and some who have adopted a Cali-sober lifestyle and use it as a replacement for alcohol to wind down. I'm not a doctor or medical expert and I can only speak to my own experience. My work in the wellness industry means I can try innovative brands at the forefront of plant medicine from trusted sources.

I approached past clients and friends about finding a product to try. There are so many things being sold, so I knew it was important to qualify the product I would use and the size of the micro or even nano dose I would take, specifically for health.

They were simply another addition to my whole-body wellness routine. Every day, I wake at 5 a.m., have lemon water, meditate, drink a cup of coffee, work out, eat a high-protein breakfast, and then take my vitamins and a micro blend of psilocybin in capsule form. 

The first time I took a microdose, I didn't feel a difference. Even a couple of days later, I didn't notice a difference. But after a few weeks of consistently taking my microdose, I thought to myself, "I feel great." Within weeks, I felt more focused, calm, and clear. I also felt more present and like the best version of myself. This change I attribute to microdosing.

I have always been health conscious, but I began following a stricter daily routine after feeling the impact of perimenopause. Clean eating, eight hours of sleep, meditation, exercise, vitamins, plus psilocybin.

At work, I have felt more focused since microdosing. I have communicated goals and needs clearly — no matter where I am in my menstrual cycle.

Female CEOs can do everything male CEOs can do. But as women in business, we have to do it all on top of managing our periods, postpartum hormones, perimenopause, and menopause. We have physiological hurdles we have to overcome that men do not. I've found that microdosing helps me manage these. It is also prevalent in the biohacking and athlete community.

When I started speaking openly about how microdosing has helped me cope with symptoms of perimenopause, so many other female leaders got in touch to say they felt seen. They had been looking for something to help them with the symptoms of aging.

It hasn't just had a positive impact on my ability to work; it's also improved how I interact with my employees. I feel like I can empathize more deeply with my employees and colleagues.

There has been an increase in people dealing with mental health problems. You want to listen and be there for your team as a leader. When I feel calm and focused, rather than overwhelmed, I can listen with more empathy, understand, and hold space with my colleagues.

When problems arise, as they always will in business, I start from a calm place to figure out the solution, communicating with my team empathetically to come to a solution.  

I don't see it as a magic pill but as part of my wellness routine that helps optimize my mind and body.

• I'm planning on retiring this year. 
• After 40 years of working and 10 different jobs, I'm ready to do whatever I want. 
• Nearing 65, I know I'm lucky to be able to afford retirement in this day and age. 

The notebook where I keep my recipes is a mess. My landline gets nothing but spam calls. And I really want to go to Italy, where I've never been.

But all those things take time to remedy — time to organize my scribbled recipes, time to call the dreaded phone company, and time off from work to visit Florence, Rome, Turin, and Tuscany. And time is something I don't have enough of right now. But soon I will, because I'm planning to retire.

At first, I thought I'd work until December 31. Then, I moved it up to October. Now I wonder if I'll make it through summer. The closer my target date gets, the farther away it seems and the more impatient I feel.

I want to do all the things I don't have time for

I can't wait to take long walks with my dog every day, not just on weekends. I can't wait to fix all the broken things in my apartment. And I can't wait to travel without counting vacation days.

I want more time at the beach and less time on my laptop. I want to sit on my Brooklyn stoop and enjoy the morning sun. I want to go out to lunch, midweek, with friends, or indulge in happy hour. I want to stay up late without worrying about my 8 a.m. shift. My own kids are grown, but we have lots of new babies in the family, and I want more time with them before they grow up.

I had lots of different jobs

I've had a good run career-wise, with 10 jobs in more than 40 years of work. My first paycheck — babysitting gigs aside — came from serving fast food to harried commuters in Penn Station. After college, I was stuffing envelopes for a nonprofit when a boss suggested I consider a career in journalism. I had aspirations to become a writer with a capital W, but I hadn't thought of the news business until then.

I ended up writing for newspapers, then for a wire service and a university. Now I'm back working in a newsroom. I hope to continue freelancing journalism after I retire, but I also still have literary aspirations. Could I write that mystery novel I've contemplated for years about a body in a lake in Maine? Could I get the play I wrote during the pandemic produced? Every time I read about a novelist breaking through late in life, it gives me hope. Maybe it's not too late to become that writer with a capital W.

I know it's a privilege to be able to retire

A friend said he resents every year he works past 55 because his father, a teacher, was done with work by that age. Of course, in the 20th century, retiring at 55 wasn't that unusual, especially for civil servants and especially in that generation of heavy smokers. They didn't take longevity for granted. Having already outlived my mother, I don't either.

But people also retired early in that era because the cost of living was not so out of kilter with what ordinary people earned. Today, plenty of Americans say they can't afford to retire. I'm a couple of years shy of 65, so I know I'm lucky to have the savings and secure housing that allow me to give up the day job now.

On the other hand, I know people who work in their 70s because they want to. That won't be me. I'm jealous of my husband, who's already retired. He can stay up all night watching the Australian Open if he wants or go to Costco at midday when nobody's there.

There's one thing I'm reasonably sure of, though: He won't go to Italy without me.

• The US will send more than $1 billion in additional arms to Israel.
• It comes after Biden withheld a shipment of bombs to Israel last week. 
• Experts say the deal sends mixed messages and undermines Biden's influence. 

The US plans to send more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel despite growing tensions between President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Officials said the weapons package will consist of around $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million worth of military vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Getting the weapons to Israel could be a lengthy process. As CNN noted, the sale needs to be officially notified to Congress and receive congressional approval.

It comes days after Biden withheld a shipment of bombs to Israel amid rising concerns that the country was gearing up for a major military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Biden later warned he would withhold additional weaponry if Israel went ahead with a widespread ground assault on the city.

Biden's decision to pursue the deal could be viewed as an attempt to heal his rift with Netanyahu — and to halt accusations that the US is emboldening Iran.

But it could backfire. Seth Binder, an expert on US weapons sales with the Middle East Democracy Center, told the Journal that Biden's apparent U-turn weakens his influence over Netanyahu.

"This is just another example of them muddying their message and undermining any real strength behind the hold," he said.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen told The Washington Post that the deal "undercuts the president's earlier decision and should not go forward."

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request by Business Insider for comment.

Biden has long faced a dilemma with Israel

On the one hand, Biden pledged "ironclad" support for Israel in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks, in which Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240.

The US sent warships to the Israeli coast last October to deter potential attacks by Hamas allies Iran and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militia.

And when Iran in April retaliated to an Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, with the first direct attack on Israel in its history, US forces helped to shoot down hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles.

The US has provided huge sums of military aid to Israel since the start of the conflict, including weapons sales passed by Congress valued at around $250 million.

But Biden has also been desperate to prevent the war in Gaza from spiraling into a broader regional conflict that could pull in US energy and military resources at a time when they're already stretched.

As the war in Gaza drags on and the civilian death toll mounts, he is also facing escalating domestic and political costs for his support for Israel.

Protests against Israel's Gaza campaign have swept US campuses, and Biden is attracting declining support among the younger voters who helped propel him to victory in 2020. Analysts say that Biden's handling of the Gaza war is among the issues corroding his support among them.

The Biden administration is seeking to help wind the conflict down.

US officials want to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and secure a deal for the release of the surviving Israeli hostages.

But Netanyahu has his own political priorities, with hardline members of his cabinet pushing him not to accept a cease-fire and press on with the mission to destroy Hamas.

Meanwhile, any sign of Biden backing away from his support for Israel leads to accusations from conservatives that he's emboldening Iran, long the US' main enemy in the region.

So whichever way Biden turns, the choices are grim.

Experts agree on one thing: the president's authority is waning.

Dave Harden, a former mission director at the US Agency for International Development in the West Bank and Gaza, told the BBC in March that Netanyahu "almost treats Biden as some kind of inconsequential second secretary of a low-ranked European power."

"The gap between Israel and the US just deepens," he said.

• Ukraine's Liutyi drones are behind 80% of strikes on Russian oil refineries, according to a report.
• Developed without state backing, the Liutyi drone had a challenging start in 2023.
• But it's now the main weapon in an increasingly potent strategy targeting Russian oil facilities.

A Ukrainian-developed long-range drone is responsible for the vast majority of the country's successful strikes on Russian oil refineries, according to a new report.

The Liutyi drone was developed as Ukraine's answer to the inexpensive but deadly Shahed exploding drone, which Russia has launched in waves against Ukrainian military and civilian infrastructure, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

According to the outlet, it's believed to be behind 80% of all successful drone attacks on Russian soil, many of them hundreds of miles inside Russia's borders.

The Liutyi had an inauspicious start.

Developed without Ukrainian state backing, its large and cumbersome design was offputting to lawmakers. "To be honest, nobody really believed in this drone," an unnamed MP on Ukraine's defense committee told Ukrainska Pravda.

During one of its early trials in April 2023, operators briefly lost control of one of the drones, which almost struck the control center it was launched from, the outlet reported.

But by the start of this year, Ukraine had begun a concerted campaign of regular cross-border drone strikes, focused primarily on Russia's oil refineries.

The Liutyi appears to have been a key part of this.

According to the report, the Liutyi can travel up to 600 miles, has a wingspan of 22 feet, and can carry a 50kg explosive payload.

Other drones have struck farther away, but it seems that Ukraine's campaign of strikes on Russian oil facilities is being primarily led by the Lyutyi.

Despite concerns from its allies that the strikes could destabilize global oil partners and provoke Russia, Ukraine has kept up a steady barrage — and the effects appear to be bearing fruit.

In February, Russia announced a six-month gasoline export ban. Ukraine has claimed that its attacks have reduced Russian oil production and processing by 12%.

The tactic of targeting oil refineries rather than crude oil production forces Russia to put more crude oil onto the market, experts wrote in Foreign Affairs this month, which they said had the effect of raising the price of refined oil products domestically, while not leading to a surge in global oil prices.

• Red Lobster workers are letting out their anger online after losing their jobs without notice.
• More than 50 Red Lobster restaurants in the US closed this week amid financial troubles at the company.
• "If you work at Red Lobster, you need to start finding something else to do," one TikTok user said.

Former Red Lobster workers are venting their anger online after the seafood chain abruptly laid off staff as it closed more than 50 restaurants.

"Red lobster just laid all of us off without notice," one person posted on X, adding that even the managers at their restaurant weren't told in advance.

The worker said they found out their restaurant had closed because they got a notification from their shift-scheduling app. Business Insider could not independently verify their employment at the chain.

Red Lobster, which The Wall Street Journal reported could file for bankruptcy protection as early as next week, closed dozens of its US restaurants this week.

TAGeX Brands, a liquidation company, said it was auctioning off equipment from more than 50 Red Lobster locations that had closed "as part of Red Lobster's footprint rationalization."

It's unclear how many workers lost their jobs.

Factors including expensive leases, its Endless Shrimp deal, and private equity involvement have all contributed to the chain's financial troubles.

One TikTok user said they lost their job when their restaurant, which appeared to be located in Georgia, closed this week. "If you work at Red Lobster, you need to start finding something else to do," they said.

On Reddit, someone claiming to have been a Red Lobster worker in New Jersey similarly advised other employees to "take your chance and jump ship." BI contacted the worker for further comment but didn't immediately hear back.

"We didn't even get an email, we checked our scheduling app and it just said we were closed and a number to call for benefits," the Reddit user, whose identity could not be verified, added.

Another Reddit user who claimed to have been a Red Lobster manager commented: "To do it after Mother's Day was probably the slimiest thing they could have done. Squeezed every last dime out of all of us. Shame on them."

But in comments on Red Lobster's Instagram page, some people said they wanted their jobs back.

As to be expected, content creators have already moved quickly to post about the chain's troubles.

One TikTok user posted a video of seafood-related puns related to the company's decline, while another person posted a satirical video bemoaning how Red Lobster was closing her two local restaurants "despite all the money I've given them."

"Please check on all your shellfish friends today," she said.

Were you laid off by Red Lobster? Contact this reporter at gdean@insider.com.

• Mark Zuckerberg made a telling fashion choice for a celebration of his 40th birthday.
• His shirt read "Carthago delenda est," a Latin phrase familiar to generations of schoolboys.
• It has a special significance for Zuckerberg, who used it as a call to arms in early Facebook history.

Carthago delenda est — mean anything to you?

It certainly meant a lot to people hanging around the Roman Senate some 2,200 years ago. And also to Mark Zuckerberg.

In a series of photos showing the Meta founder celebrating his 40th birthday, Zuckerberg had a striking black shirt with a Latin phrase on it.

The look matches his recent conversion to rapper style, as my colleague Kwan Wei Kevin Tan describes here. But this post is about the Latin.

"Carthago delenda est" means — very emphatically — Carthage must be destroyed.

I don't have that much in common with Zuckerberg, but we did both study Latin at school, which is probably the only reason any person currently alive would recognize it.

It's attributed to a Roman senator called Cato the Elder, and boy did that guy hate Carthage.

Carthage, a city in modern-day Tunisia, was a rival civilization to Rome back in the day — the one with Hannibal and elephants.

Cato was famous for ending all his speeches with those words, or something like them. It was his obsession — Rome must destroy Carthage.

Not just beat it, like it had in two previous wars. Annihilate it. ("Delenda" shares an origin with the English "delete.")

That phrase, actually an abbreviation of what Cato said, is widely known by people who study Rome; the internet is littered with jokes and memes about it.

It's memorable partly because it's a weird piece of grammar called the gerundive, which doesn't really exist in English.

Its sense is to convey that something ought to happen or has to happen to the thing in question.

In this case — Carthage has got to go down. It's not an opinion or an idea — going down is in Carthage's very nature.

Cato got his way, for what it's worth; the Romans sacked Carthage in 146 BC and it faded into relative obscurity, its territories subsumed into the Roman Empire. Delenda.

As well as being a throwback to Roman history, it's a throwback to Zuckerberg's own history.

Zuckerberg seems to have a real Roman streak, from his erstwhile Caesar-style haircut to giving his kids Latinate names like Aurelia and Maxima.

As Business Insider reported back in 2016, Zuckerberg made "Carthago delenda est" a rallying cry within Facebook back when it had its own version of Carthage: Google.

Google had launched its Google+ social network, and Zuckerberg worried that it might threaten Facebook's dominance.

The answer was war — a "lockdown" culture where Facebook staff went hard to defeat the foe. The company seemed to go along with the reference too, putting up posters with the phrase on them.

Google still exists, of course, but Google+ very much does not. Delenda.

Zuckerberg's birthday post seemed to be all about revisiting his past, including recreations of his childhood bedroom and Harvard dorm. So it seems appropriate that a throwback — if obscure — Latin phrase should be at the center of it.

• From Ukraine to the Middle East, air-defense systems have been put under immense stress this year.
• These big engagements show why it's important for militaries to have a strong air-defense network.
• They also offer the US military valuable lessons for a potential war with China in the Pacific.

Air-defense systems have been tested in unprecedented ways in conflicts around the world by global military powers and smaller militant forces alike.

Massive aerial assaults that occurred over the past few months have underscored the importance of having a robust, layered air-defense network to protect civilian and military targets from ballistic, cruise, and anti-ship missiles, as well as one-way attack drones.

The engagements offer the US military valuable lessons for a potential war in the Pacific, where a clash with China could feature thousands of long-range missiles and a demand for air defenses on a very large scale.

As engagements in Ukraine, Israel, and the Red Sea have shown, to be ready for such a daunting scenario, the US will need to substantially strengthen its air-defense capabilities in the region and produce more missile interceptors, former US Navy officers and air-defense experts say.

China has a "very large arsenal of very capable weapons," Bradley Martin, a retired Navy surface warfare captain, told Business Insider. "We don't want to be in a battle of having to exchange missile-for-missile because we'll run out much faster and it'll be harder for us to come up with replacements."

The need for air defense and the dangers of not having enough

Modern, game-changing technologies, like drones, have defined the Ukraine war, but decades-old air defenses have proven to be among the most valuable elements in an existential fight for Ukraine.

The war has shown how effective air defenses can be at denying air superiority, protecting key areas, and threatening high-value aircraft, as well as the costs when capabilities are degraded.

Ukraine's air defenses, like its Soviet-era S-300s and US-supplied Patriots, have defeated enemy missile and drone strikes, hindered Russian air operations, and shot down numerous fighter-bombers and other Russian planes.

But in early 2024, as Russia was ramping up strikes, Ukraine's network of air defenses capable of intercepting these attacks was stretched thinly as US aid remained stalled in Congress.

Ukraine rationed its defenses, moving them from the front lines to protect cities and other population centers. As it ran critically low on interceptors, the lack of air defenses played a direct role in costing Ukraine the city of Avdiivka, as Russia gained brief and localized air superiority. The impact has continued into spring 2024, as Russian bombardments continue and Ukraine's defenses increasingly fail to intercept the attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said additional air-defense systems were vital to keeping Ukrainian cities safe and protecting the front lines. This week, he asked the US for more, requesting at least two more Patriots alone to protect Kharkiv, which is under heavy Russian fire.

Just last week, an overnight attack targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure included dozens of Russian missiles and drones. In its assessment of the attack, the Institute for the Study of War think tank said "Russian forces will likely continue to conduct mass strikes to cause long-term damage to Ukrainian energy infrastructure as degraded Ukrainian air defense capabilities persist." And that continues to be far from the only problem.

There are lessons for the US and its allies in this fight.

"If Ukraine is a guide, in a conflict NATO air defenses may down most drones and missiles, but some will get through," experts at the RAND Corporation think tank wrote earlier this year. "Ukraine and NATO might reduce risks with a two-prong strategy of strengthening air defenses and boosting infrastructure resilience."

Testing air defenses in more places

Far from Ukraine, off the coast of Yemen, another air battle is taking place, as the Houthis continue to target ships transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, waterways facilitating global trade.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have fired on ships with one-way attack drones and anti-ship missiles — even making history by being the first group to use anti-ship ballistic missiles in combat. The group has struck a handful of merchant vessels, sunk one, and killed civilians on another. But many attacks have been defeated by Western navies.

US and coalition warships routinely shoot down many of these threats, defending both merchant vessels and themselves.

"What we did works, and it works well, and it does what it's intended to do," Archer Macy, a retired US Navy admiral, told BI. "Very few ships have been hit."

Among the systems in play is the Navy's advanced Aegis Combat System, an automated and centralized weapons control system. US destroyers and cruisers are equipped with this capability, which provides air and missile defense.

"The air-defense systems that the Navy has are very capable," Martin, now a senior policy researcher at RAND, said, "and the type of layer defense that it tries to apply has been very effective."

Aegis also came into play during the Middle East's biggest air battle since the region descended into turmoil following Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attacks against Israel. In mid-April, Iran and its proxies launched more than 320 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and one-way attack drones at the country.

American warships and a Patriot battery helped Israel's Arrow systems down many of the ballistic missiles, while US, UK, and French fighter jets destroyed many of the drones. Altogether, around 99% of the threats were eliminated — a remarkable air-defense success.

Shaan Shaikh, a fellow with the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said the engagement last month demonstrated just how effective a robust air-defense network can be.

"These systems work. We've seen in multiple campaigns now evidence of them working," he told BI. "We've proven the technology at some degree, and I think that shows that this investment, in general, is worth it."

But the supply of interceptors is insufficient. The US might not even have what it needs for an extended campaign against Iran. In the Pacific, Shaikh said, "China is going to be a whole separate ball game."

China is a 'different ballgame'

In a fight against China, the US would face a missile force unlike anything it's fought before able to threaten US bases in South Korea, Japan, and Guam housing troops and aircraft, as well as US warships in strategic waterways.

Last fall, the Pentagon published its annual report on China's military, documenting staggering increases in its long-range missile stockpiles and launcher numbers.

China's arsenal of missiles, some with nicknames like the "Guam Express" and "Carrier Killer," and the threat it poses are quite different from what is being seen in battles around the world right now.

Iran's attack against Israel earlier this year was on a smaller scale than what might be seen from China, and the attack, although substantial, was not enough to overwhelm the defenses of Israel and its partners.

Chinese missiles haven't been tested in combat, but Houthi threats appear far less sophisticated, with many of those failing as some Iranian missiles have and falling into the sea.

The closest comparison is probably Russia, which has sophisticated missiles and the ability to launch large-scale attacks, but it's "nothing like what we could see from" China, Thomas Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow with the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, said.

China could launch a preemptive strike that would leave American forces with little time to defend and potentially do serious damage. An attack could come on a tremendous scale that could overwhelm defenses. And a strike could come in waves.

A first wave could include hypersonic missiles fired at defensive systems, such as headquarters, radars, and missile defenses. Then, ballistic missiles could strike runways, trapping aircraft and preventing a quick response.

China's arsenal affords it a number of strike options. The threat from China is one that demands air-defense solutions unlike any conflict seen today, a "very different ballgame in terms of scale and types of weapons," Shugart said.

Needing more interceptors for the Pacific

From the fights this year, the US can see how it'll need to employ air defenses in a potential showdown with China. Shugart said he believes the real world, unscripted experience against the Houthis, as well as the data gathered from Ukraine shooting down Russian missiles, is giving American forces necessary lessons and experience that may be bad for China.

"The takeaway for these experiences might help us to prepare for dealing with something that's a lot scarier," he said.

To prepare for a conflict with China, the US will need a robust, concentrated combination of active and passive measures — ballistic missile defenses, systems like Patriots and Aegis, but also hardened bases, dispersed forces, runway repair crews, and mobile command centers, something that lawmakers sounded alarms on last week in a letter to US military leaders.

The military isn't blind to the threat though.

"The sheer number of missiles that are out there today and that we're seeing utilized in some of the more minor engagements is mind-boggling," Air Force Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, the director of the Missile Defense Agency said earlier this year. "We've got to be prepared for major engagements."

Former Navy officers say it's crucial that the US has enough air-defense interceptors to sustain an extensive missile fight in the Pacific. That means it is important to produce more missiles like the SM-3, a capability that Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro recently warned lawmakers would be needed in greater numbers to deter threats like China.

"Every time you engage something, you're expending a missile, and after a while it starts to turn into a round-for-round calculation," Martin said. "We would be using weapons at a much higher rate than we're capable of replacing them."

Ultimately, military leaders will need to consider how long air-defense capabilities will last when planning their campaign, said Macy, now a senior associate at CSIS' Missile Defense Project.

Air defense alone can't end a conflict, he said, but it can defend critical assets long enough that another force can end the threat by other means, like attack operations. Running out of air defenses before the enemy runs out of air threats spells trouble.

"We've demonstrated we can deal with a high-end threat, we can deal with the low-end threat," Macy said. "It comes down to inventory."

• Jeff Bezos emailed Amazon execs asking why more AI firms aren't using its cloud services, CNBC reported. 
• Amazon's founder appears concerned about keeping pace with rivals OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google.
• Amazon is investing in AI tools and startups to remain competitive in the AI race. 

It seems like Jeff Bezos is concerned about Amazon lagging behind rivals in the AI race.

The founder and former CEO has been emailing Amazon executives asking why more AI firms aren't using its cloud services, according to an unnamed source who spoke to CNBC.

The person reportedly said Amazon is considered the "most vulnerable" Big Tech company in the AI arena. Aware of that perception, Bezos is "very involved" in its AI efforts and has been mapping out the competitive playing field, according to CNBC.

Bezos has also been seeking to make introductions for Amazon to AI startups, the report says.

The news comes amid a leadership shake-up at its cloud division, Amazon Web Services (AWS), after hundreds of layoffs in the unit last month.

CEO Andy Jassy announced Adam Selipsky was stepping down from his role leading AWS in a memo on Tuesday, which was viewed by Business Insider and later posted to Amazon's website.

OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google are considered frontrunners in the generative AI race, but Amazon has been making strategic moves in an apparent bid to remain competitive.

It's developing its own AI tools and poured $4 billion into Anthropic, the company behind the AI assistant Claude.

Amazon has also funded warehouse robot maker Agility Robotics and Bezos has been independently investing in AI startups recently, including Google search rival Perplexity AI and humanoid robot firm Figure AI.

But the rollout of Amazon's AI chatbot Q in November was met with negative reactions, which came as a result of a "rushed" launch, insiders previously told BI.

Its AI platform for businesses called Amazon Bedrock, which lets AWS customers build chatbots and generate images, was unveiled in April and launched in September.

It was originally scheduled to roll out in late 2022, a person familiar with the matter previously told Business Insider, although Amazon had previously denied that claim.

Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• British lawyer Ramya Nagesh was accused of misconduct after falling asleep during a coroner's inquest.
• Nagesh was representing a nurse witness but nodded off and missed her client giving evidence.
• A tribunal cleared her of all professional misconduct charges after she cited medical issues.

British barrister and sleepwalking expert, Ramya Nagesh, has been cleared of all professional misconduct charges by the Bar Standards Board after she fell asleep during an inquest.

Nagesh had appeared remotely from a hotel room to represent her client, a nurse witness, at a coroner's inquest in December 2022.

But questions were raised about Nagesh's whereabouts when she failed to answer questions aimed at her by the coronor, The Telegraph reported.

The tribunal heard that Nagesh returned to the inquest 15 minutes late after she took a nap during the court's 45-minute lunch break. She then drifted off again, for another two hours, this time missing her client giving evidence.

Multiple people from the court and her own chambers tried to reach Nagesh by phone but no one could get through to her.

During the tribunal on Tuesday, Nagesh claimed that she had suffered from "excessive sleepiness" caused by undiagnosed effects of long Covid, vitamin D deficiency, and a sleep disorder involving bad dreams, The Telegraph reported.

Nagesh, who has previously written an academic book about how cases of sleepwalking are treated in criminal law, was cleared of all professional misconduct charges by the tribunal.

Business Insider contacted Nagesh for comment but didn't immediately hear back.

Other people suffering with long Covid have reported that symptoms of fatigue and "brain fog" impact their daily job performance.

A report from the Brookings Institute in 2022 estimated that long Covid could have caused around 1.6 million Americans to be missing from the workforce at that time.