• Seoul said North Korea sent another 350 balloons laden with garbage to South Korea on Tuesday.
• It's the latest barrage in a back-and-forth psychological battle involving bizarre tactics.
• With South Korean activists in the mix, the last month of conflict has featured choco pies, BTS, and manure.

South Korea's military said on Tuesday that North Korea had sent a fresh wave of 350 balloons carrying bags of waste over the border, with over 100 landing in the Seoul area.

It's the fifth time that Pyongyang has floated trash and scraps into Seoul since it began its launches in late May. According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, an estimated 2,000 garbage balloons have been sent over so far.

They've been integral to a recently escalating series of mind games between Seoul and Pyongyang. Instead of rockets and gunfire, their war has played out in the last month through loud music and balloons floating over the border.

Key to the tit-for-tat psychological war has been North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea, who launch their own northbound balloons with snacks, pop songs, and anti-Pyongyang leaflets,

Indeed, North Korea blames an influx of propaganda leaflets from the south in May as the impetus for its first wave of dirty balloons.

The South Korean military, unable to stop the activists due to legal protections, has been responding separately — with gigantic loudspeakers on the border blaring news, weather reports, and music toward Kaesong.

The entire affair hearkens back to the Cold War when Pyongyang and Seoul harassed each other with similar balloons and loud songs.

Both sides say it's the other's responsibility to de-escalate, raising questions about how tensions might be resolved and fears that the back-and-forth may spill into open conflict.

Choco pies, K-dramas, and the Bible

One of the first moves that seemed to recently anger Pyongyang came from the activist group Free North Korea Movement, which, according to Seoul Shimbun, sent 20 balloons on May 10 to North Korea carrying 300,000 leaflets and 2,000 USB sticks containing K-pop and trot-style music videos.

North Korea's vice minister of defense, Kim Kang-il, later threatened that South Koreans would receive "vast amounts of toilet paper and waste" because of deliveries like these. The responding deluge of balloons from North Korea, some carrying manure and used toilet paper, seems to have emboldened the activists.

According to Seoul Shimbun, Park Sang-Hak, leader of the Free North Korea Movement, on Friday launched 10 balloons, along with 300,000 leaflets, 5,000 USB sticks containing episodes of Korean dramas, and thousands of $1 bills.

Another activist group told the Korean daily Hankyoreh that it had packed 500 bottles with rice and sent them over to North Korea, along with a copy of the Bible, movies, and TV show episodes.

A photo of the group appears to show them throwing the rice bottles into the sea and toward North Korea from Ganghwa Island, located northwest of Seoul along the border.

At least 10 other defector groups gathered materials this month to send to North Korea. Two groups told the Hankyoreh that they wanted to donate choco pies — a blend of marshmallows and cake that's a popular snack in South Korea.

Though the activists' drops have deeply angered Pyongyang, it's unclear what South Korean authorities can do to control them.

The national government introduced a law in 2020 that criminalized sending propaganda leaflets to North Korea, but it was ruled unconstitutional over free speech concerns and struck down in 2023.

Meanwhile, Park said it's up to North Korea to make peace and that his organization has been sending "facts and truth, love and medicine" to its northern neighbors while Pyongyang has sent over trash.

"If Kim Jong-un apologizes directly within 2 to 3 days, we will also apologize," Park told Seoul Shimbun.

North Korea's response: Mickey Mouse, parasites, and Hello Kitty

North Korea has warned that it would start "intensively distributing toilet paper and waste 100 times the amount and number of cases found" if the propaganda leaflets kept showing up.

It previously said in early June that it would cease its garbage balloon campaign — after sending over about 1,000 of them — as long as the leaflet deliveries stopped.

With the activists appearing to ignore that condition, North Korea's balloon launches resumed.

Seoul's military chiefs told South Korean news agency Yonhap that the contents of the latest balloon-lifted bags weren't toxic. However, authorities analyzing dozens of the drops said some contained filthy, discarded items and even parasites like roundworms.

Several bags were filled with dirty counterfeit clothing featuring Hello Kitty, Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey Mouse. Others had clothing donated from South Korea that was returned ripped up or cut with scissors, The Korean Herald reported.

South Korean media reported that some of the balloons descended upon cars and residential areas in Seoul, with one vehicle's windshield smashed by the garbage. Police said authorities weren't clear on whether the driver could receive compensation for their damaged car.

South Korea's military: BTS hits and Samsung news

South Korea's leaders have so far responded by resuming the old practice of blasting messages and music to North Korea over the border.

"We will install loudspeakers against North Korea today and carry out the broadcast," a president's office spokesperson said on June 9.

These massive loudspeakers are meant to project sound up to six miles from the border, where the North Korean city of Kaesong is located while keeping disruption minimal for South Koreans.

But Reuters reported on June 17 that the effectiveness of the loudspeakers is being questioned internally, since tests from 2017 show they sometimes only had an effective range of three miles.

Still, national broadcaster KBS reported that the speakers have been broadcasting songs from the popular K-pop group BTS in the hopes that North Korean soldiers and residents might hear the hits.

According to The Associated Press, the loudspeakers have been playing songs like "Butter" and "Dynamite," news on South Korean conglomerate Samsung, and weather reports.

North Korea, for its part, has threatened in the past to destroy the speakers with military strikes.

The use of loudspeakers, like balloons and leaflets, dates back to the Korean War in the 1950s. Both Korean governments agreed in 2018 to stop their broadcasts, promising to dismantle them in a move toward peace.

But the deal, sealed by the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, appears to be in shambles as the summer begins.

On June 10, a day after it announced the resumption of its broadcast tactics, South Korea said it detected that North Korea had also reinstalled its loudspeakers.

• Airbus stock fell 11% after cutting 2023 delivery targets due to supply chain issues.
• It spells problems for airlines as Boeing has also reduced production.
• Airbus' A320neo family outsells the 737 Max but further plans for growth may have been too ambitious.

Airbus stock dropped as much as 11% on Tuesday after it reduced delivery targets, citing supply chain issues.

The European planemaker announced Monday that it intends to deliver around 770 commercial jets this year, down from 800.

It also curbed plans to increase production of the A320neo family. Airbus had aimed to increase output from 50 to 75 a month by 2026, but the target has now been pushed back a year.

The A320neo family has outsold the rival Boeing 737 Max since 2019, when the latter model was grounded following two crashes in which 346 people died.

Further problems at Boeing arose in January, when a door plug came off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max in midair.

In the wake of that incident, Boeing's biggest customer, United Airlines, spoke of plans to switch some orders to Airbus jets.

However, Airbus has seemingly struggled to meet the increased demand.

Overall, it marks further problems for airline customers, because Boeing has also reduced its output amid its ongoing crisis.

The Federal Aviation Administration has capped production of 737 Max jets as a result of the Alaska Airlines blowout. Boeing has also slowed production of other models as it works to focus on quality control — sparking a backlash from airline bosses.

In a press release, Airbus said its commercial aircraft division is "facing persistent specific supply chain issues mainly in engines, aerostructures, and cabin equipment."

"We are facing headwinds right now; we have to bite the bullet," CEO Guillaume Faury told analysts on a call, per Reuters.

Reuters reported that Faury said engine supplies for the A320neo family had deteriorated "significantly" in recent months.

One of the two engine options is made by Pratt & Whitney, which last year announced it had discovered a manufacturing defect that would result in hundreds of planes being grounded for inspections.

According to Reuters, Faury also pointed to uncertainty around supplier Spirit Aerosystems. It's expected to be carved up with parts sold to both Boeing and Airbus.

Airbus' problems also extend to its space division, where it announced charges of 900 million euros ($965 million). Its guidance update said it would "evaluate all strategic options" including potential restructuring and M&A options.

• A Margaritaville at Sea passenger is suing Classica, the cruise line's operator, for damages.
• She alleges rape by an employee of a Bahamas hotel that was booked by the cruise operator.
• The woman is seeking damages for physical injuries, PTSD, and medical expenses.

A Margaritaville at Sea passenger is suing its parent company, Classica Cruise Operator, claiming she was raped by an employee of a hotel booked by the company.

According to the lawsuit filed this month in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Missouri woman stayed at Wyndham Viva Fortuna Beach in the Bahamas during her round-trip cruise from Florida to the island.

The complaint said that Classica arranged for the passenger, referred to as "Jane Doe," to stay at the hotel in early August 2023.

According to the lawsuit, on August 6 last year, a Wyndham employee tracked and followed her as she left her room at night to get a drink of water.

The lawsuit alleges that the employee then forced her into the control room of the hotel's theater, locked the door, and raped her.

The lawsuit referenced another allegation of rape in a 2016 TripAdvisor review of the hotel, in which a woman claimed she was gang-raped by staff a day after getting married.

According to The Tribune, police investigations concluded that there was no evidence for the incident.

But the lawsuit asserted that the resort and the cruise operator "knew or should have known of this prior incident."

It accuses Classica of failing to warn her of the prior allegation, investigate the resort, and ensure a reasonably safe environment.

The lawsuit also accused the resort of a failure to provide reasonable security and to adequately investigate its employees.

Jane Doe is seeking unspecified damages from the cruise operator and resort for physical injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and incurred medical expenses, among other things.

Wyndham Hotels and Classica Cruise Operator did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

This isn't the first time Margaritaville at Sea has been connected to sexual assault.

Last year, a bartender pleaded guilty to a count of abusive sexual conduct after two women said he snuck into their room at night.

Business Insider reported last year on a growing number of passengers reporting incidents of sexual assault at sea.

BI reviewed 11 lawsuits. filed between 2014 and 2023, which revealed the extent of allegations made on cruise ships.

Tesla is recalling over 11,000 Cybertrucks because of an issue with the vehicle's windscreen wiper.

The automaker will replace wiper motors on all affected vehicles over fears they could become damaged due to "electrical overstress," a recall report issued by regulators said.

The recall includes all model year 2024 Cybertrucks manufactured from November 13, 2023, to June 6, 2024

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

• A former SAP account manager is breaking her NDA to speak out about a workplace sexual assault.
• Nondisclosure agreements are often used to silence employees following claims of workplace abuse.
• The use of NDAs has now expanded from employers to insurance providers.

By March of 2020, Ashley Kostial thought she'd been through the worst of it. She'd worked through months of intensive treatment for post-traumatic stress and was focused on managing her mental health and landing a new job.

It had been nearly a year since Kostial reported being raped by a colleague during a work trip for a subsidiary of the global enterprise software firm, SAP. She'd met him for the first time in May 2019, when she was an account manager, as they prepared for a sales meeting in Plano, Texas. Afterward, they got drinks at the Marriott hotel bar. The last thing Kostial remembered from that night, she later told a police detective, was getting into the elevator with him.

Her account of what happened next is based on interviews, a forensic exam, and a police report.

The next morning, Kostial woke up in a panic, fearing she'd missed her flight, only to find scratches on her body and her bra and underwear ripped. Disoriented, she walked into the bathroom and saw her colleague's credit card on the white shag carpet. She looked at her phone and realized that around 2 a.m., she'd called her then-girlfriend repeatedly, in what dawned on her were frantic cries for help.

Only later, after rushing to the airport, did another memory come back, she told police: her colleague on top of her on the hotel bed.

Surveillance footage showed her exiting the hotel elevator with her colleague that night; a rape exam conducted after she flew back home documented bruising on her shoulder, arm, and thigh, and abrasions on her pelvis.

Kostial recounted what she could piece together about that night to police in Plano, where the incident took place, and in Phoenix, where she lived. She cooperated with an HR investigation by SAP. All that was left was to sit through a grueling all-day mediation to reach a settlement agreement that would both end her employment with Ariba, the SAP subsidiary, and gag her from ever speaking about the most traumatic day of her life.

That's when the men with cameras started showing up. Men, parked outside of her house, who she came to suspect were representatives of her employer-sponsored disability insurance provider, Aetna.

Unable to work and consumed by her recovery, Kostial had filed for long-term disability care as she grappled with symptoms of PTSD that her psychologist attributed to the sexual assault. In a letter to Aetna, her psychologist had written that Kostial was experiencing insomnia, depression, emotional turmoil, dissociation, and intrusive thoughts, and she had been unable to return to work "due to clinically significant symptoms and major impairment to occupational and social functioning."

Aetna denied her claim.

It was in March 2020, after Kostial fought back, appealing Aetna's decision, that the men showed up. Kostial would spot them, or her security camera would, so often that she began to wonder whether she could take her dog for a walk without being followed. Her attorney, Brad Schleier, would later tell her it wasn't unusual for insurance companies to monitor people appealing denials. (Schleier declined to comment.)

"It was harder than the initial assault," Kostial said of being stalked. She started carrying a knife.

The men only disappeared after Aetna denied her appeal. In a lengthy phone call with Aetna, her psychologist described the details of her assault and the array of trauma symptoms that still persisted. But Aetna's representative was not swayed.

"Psychological complaints themselves are not sufficient in determining functional impairment," she wrote. A week later, in April 2020, Aetna issued its formal denial.

Kostial turned to an option of last resort, hiring Schleier to file a lawsuit alleging she'd been wrongfully denied coverage.

By the time Schleier called her with Aetna's settlement offer, in June 2021, she hadn't received a paycheck from SAP in almost two years. She was exhausted and broke, facing mounting medical bills. The offer, after attorney's fees, amounted to just a few months of her old salary — and it came with another non-disclosure agreement.

Like so many in her situation, Kostial took the money and signed.

The pair of NDAs weighed heavily on her. Her agreement with SAP specified damages of up to $20,000 "for each occurrence of a breach of this confidentiality provision," a terrifying prospect while she was out of work. The NDA with Aetna allowed the insurer to claw back the settlement money she needed to pay her mortgage, and it didn't cap the amount of additional damages the firm could seek if she broke it.

"It feels like you're wearing this bomb that's strapped to you, which could detonate at any time if you speak up," she said.

An effort to hide insurance settlements

NDAs have become ubiquitous in the workplace. The secrecy pacts, originally designed to protect sensitive intellectual property from being shared, are also used by companies to silence employees following allegations of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and other workplace misconduct.

When Kostial entered into one with Aetna, she became one of an untold number of Americans who have agreed to NDAs in another context altogether: to hide settlement terms with an insurance provider in the wake of a coverage dispute.

The Aetna NDA only silenced her about the terms of her settlement, not the sexual assault. She remembers being stunned that she would have to sign a second NDA.

Initially, Kostial planned to return to her job at SAP once she was cleared to work again. Before the assault, she had loved working for the company, she said, and envisioned a long career with the firm. But then SAP's HR officer alerted Kostial to the results of the firm's investigation. SAP found that her colleague's conduct was "contrary" to company policy and that he "exhibited poor judgment," an email message shows, yet he would be allowed to continue working for SAP.

"That's when I knew that I couldn't work there anymore," Kostial said.

SAP and Aetna, through spokespeople, declined to comment on Kostial's case or answer questions about their use of NDAs, such as whether they remain standard practice today.

BI documented the spread of these enforced secrecy pacts in the tech industry in 2021, finding that tech companies both large and small routinely deploy NDAs in all sorts of situations, from protecting intellectual property to restricting discussion of workplace misconduct. BI reported Kostial's story then but referred to her by a pseudonym, Kira. She's decided to risk coming forward now because she views the NDAs she signed as unjust — and would like to see the use of NDAs ended for other victims of sexual assault.

At BI's request, seven employment attorneys and scholars reviewed Kostial's settlement with Aetna. Several said that while it's common for health insurance firms to include NDAs in settlement agreements as a way to maintain negotiating leverage with other insured members, there is no way to know exactly how many are reached. That's because most NDAs are subject to mandatory arbitration, a private process that creates minimal publicly available records.

"Disability insurance has a lot of leverage in these situations. The insured typically doesn't have any income," said Nina Wasow, an attorney in Berkeley, California, who often represents clients with disability claims. "It's in their best interest not to have people be well-informed about what the marketplace is for the disability settlements. They don't want people talking about how crappy they are."

Collecting data on the prevalence of NDAs is nearly impossible, legal experts said, as companies can use multiple statutes to go after breaches and the vast majority of individuals who sign such agreements never disclose them publicly.

A lack of data on the spread of NDAs

Even as NDAs have spread into more and more sectors, how often they're enforced has remained a mystery. In 2022, Congress passed the Speak Out Act, which bans the use of NDAs to gag victims of sexual abuse that were signed before the dispute arises, typically in employment agreements completed on the first day of an employee's new job. But the law doesn't prevent NDAs in settlements reached after the fact, such as the one Kostial signed.

Judges in California and New York have historically refused to enforce NDAs, legal scholars said. New state laws in Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico and elsewhere have further limited their use in settlements where sexual harassment or discrimination in the workplace was alleged, based on where the employee lives. But Arizona, where Kostial was living at the time she was assaulted, doesn't prohibit NDAs in workplace settlements.

"Under some state laws, her employer would not be able to enforce an NDA against her for speaking out about this situation," said Jodi Short, a law professor at University of California College of the Law, San Francisco who has studied NDAs. "It seems odd that an insurer would be able to."

While the National Labor Relations Board keeps statistics on complaints related to noncompete agreements, the agency doesn't track how often companies pursue employees for violating the terms of an NDA. In a sample of more than 100 state and federal court records containing the words "nondisclosure" and "sexual harassment" reviewed by BI, none had to do with the enforcement of NDAs.

Several experts who study NDAs, including Evan Starr of the University of Maryland's business school, who co-authored a 2022 white paper examining the spread of NDAs in the workplace, told BI that their primary purpose is to intimidate signatories from speaking publicly about something that could embarrass the company.

Kostial experienced a form of this intimidation recently.

Soon after BI sought comment on her case from Aetna, an email from Schleier, the lawyer who previously represented her, landed in her inbox. Aetna's attorneys "wanted me to contact you and remind you of the confidentiality obligation in the agreement," Schleier wrote. "Look forward to hearing back from you."

After Kostial settled her case against Aetna, she began to pick up the pieces of her life. She spent nearly a year applying for jobs and landed several first-round interviews. But she was often stymied during those conversations, she said, when questions would come up about her previous employer.

"I couldn't answer the questions," Kostial recalled. Anything she said, she feared, would risk breaking the terms of her first NDA. "SAP always loomed large in the back of my mind."

Many other tech workers bound by NDAs told BI that the agreements posed similar obstacles to a new job search.

Eventually, in 2021, Kostial landed a job at a small Oakland-based software company working in data analytics, where she remained for nearly three years.

She often finds herself thinking back to the chain of events that led her to this point. Especially galling was the wall of disbelief Kostial encountered, from HR officials to police.

SAP's HR team seemingly gave credence to the claim by her alleged attacker that the two had consensual sex, ignoring Kostial's bruises and scrapes that were documented during her rape exam — and the fact that she is gay. In an email to Kostial, the detective assigned to her case from the Plano Police Department in Texas said of her alleged attacker, "I am not able to prove any part of his story that night was a lie." (No criminal charges were filed against Kostial's colleague and Plano police closed their investigation a month after the alleged assault.)

Kostial has discussed her situation with Vincent White, a New York city-based lawyer who specializes in workplace NDAs and advises signatories on the risks associated with breaking them. Kostial said that whenever she has brought up wanting to speak out about her agreement, White has reminded her that doing so could entail "inflicting self-harm," whether by triggering attempts by SAP or Aetna to claw back her settlement monies or by effectively blacklisting herself from future work in the tech industry.

Kostial's journey has led her to meet with lawmakers in Arizona and advocates in Illinois. She's participated in an international advocacy campaign, Can't Buy My Silence, led by Zelda Perkins, a former assistant of Harvey Weinstein's, and legal scholar Julie Macfarlane, to bring awareness to how NDAs are used to silence victims of assault and harassment. She's also developing an app, called Face Uncomfortable, to help employees report instances of workplace misconduct and save documentation.

Kostial recently left her software job to focus on preventing other workers from being silenced by the kinds of secrecy pacts that have shaped her life. Though she's long been engaged, the couple have put off marriage. Kostial is fearful that if they wed, her wife's finances could be affected if either SAP or Aetna pursues her for breaking her NDA.

Whenever she's seized by anxiety, Kostial reminds herself of how hard she's fought to move past the sexual assault and why she's coming forward.

"There's nothing that could happen after this that would be worse than what I've already been through," she said. "I hope that if there's one person who needs to hear this, they will."

Just two weeks ago, Kostial received another email from her former lawyer.

"Hey Ashley — Just following up," he wrote. He said he'd received another message from Aetna, reminding him about her NDA.

Kostial never replied.

• Lufthansa allows passengers to place bids for cabin upgrades on some flights.
• I placed a $290 bid to sit in premium economy, an upgrade that typically costs $1,490.
• I didn't win the upgrade, but ultimately was glad I kept my window seat. 

I boarded a 10-hour Lufthansa flight from Denver to Germany and immediately questioned the decision I made just a day prior.

That decision was to bid on a premium economy seat for my return flight home.

Typically, passengers can pay outright for a higher class or earn seat upgrades through airline status programs.

But Lufthansa has a third avenue for getting a better seat. Using a scale, passengers can submit a price they're willing to pay for an upgrade, "and, with a little bit of luck, you'll receive your upgrade at the price you wanted," the airline's website states.

On long-haul flights, economy passengers can bid for either premium economy or business class. A premium economy upgrade includes a more spacious seat, an upgraded meal, a welcome drink, and a toiletry kit. An upgrade to business class would've had a lie-flat seat, fine dining, lounge access, priority boarding, and mileage accrual.

Since bids for the business class cost more, I opted to bid on a premium economy seat. Here, bids started at 100 euros and went up to 550 euros. To upgrade my flight without the gamble would have cost $1,490.

I took advice from Simply Flying and placed a bid at 270 euros, or about $290, which, according to the online aviation publication, gave me a "strong shot at bagging the seat."

After submitting my bid, all I had to do was wait. According to an email confirmation from Lufthansa, I'd find out "in good time" before my departure if I won an upgrade to premium economy. Then, I'd be automatically charged my bidding price.

An email popped up two days before my return flight: "Unable to upgrade."

Instead of feeling disappointed, I was a bit relieved. A higher class would've been a treat, but I realized my preference for a window seat outweighed my desire for more legroom or a better meal.

I didn't think a better class was worth giving up a first-row window seat

There's only one place you'll find me on a long-haul flight, and that's in a window seat.

If I'm taking a long-haul flight, it's typically to a new destination. Whether it's watching the coastline of Panama City come into view or eyeing the mountains surrounding Queenstown, New Zealand, catching that first glimpse of an unfamiliar place from the window of a plane always feels special.

But even more important than the views is the window to lean against. For long-haul flights, my priority is sleeping, and having a wall to prop a pillow against has been the best way for me to catch some Zs while flying.

When I boarded my long-haul flight to Germany, I realized that upgrading to premium economy might require me to sacrifice my window seat.

I didn't want to give that up. I had already spent $60 selecting a window seat at the front of the economy cabin, meaning I'd have a bit more legroom than typical and two beloved windows.

I'll admit the premium economy perks were enticing, but I wasn't disappointed when I learned I hadn't won. Instead, I boarded my flight home, plopped into seat 11A, and happily napped the flight away.

• Saudi Arabia may be taking another look at some of its planned megaprojects.
• A government-associated advisor recently told the BBC that some projects are being reviewed.
• Saudi has previously insisted that its Vision 2030 projects, especially Neom, are on track.

Saudi Arabia is reportedly reassing some of its ambitious megaprojects.

The Kingdom's Vision 2030 plans feature several massive construction projects, including the futuristic megacity Neom and an entertainment project on the outskirts of Riyadh.

Recently, the nation has been plagued by reports that it is struggling to bear the financial strain of its mighty plans.

A government-associated advisor, who asked not to be named, recently told the BBC that some projects are being reviewed, and some could face delays.

"The decision will be based on multiple factors," the advisor told the outlet. "But there is no doubt that there will be a recalibration. Some projects will proceed as planned, but some might get delayed or scaled down."

The report echoes recent comments made by Saudi officials in public and reportedly in private.

In April, the kingdom's finance minister said "challenges" meant adjustments would be made to some aspects of its Vision 2030 plan.

At a World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh, Mohammed Al-Jadaan said the country would "change course" and "adjust" as needed.

"We will downscale some of the projects; we will accelerate other projects," he said during a session on global economic growth.

Amine Mati, an assistant director at the IMF and its mission chief for Saudi Arabia, told The FT that Saudi authorities were "recalibrating" to assess whether some spending should be delayed.

Citing a person familiar with the thinking at the Public Investment Fund, the outlet reported that even Saudi Arabia's leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, may be ready to have some "tough conversations" about his ambitious vision for the country.

In public, Saudi has largely been keen to insist that the megaprojects, especially Neom, are on track.

Earlier this year, the kingdom's minister of economy and planning told CNBC that the project had "no change in scale" despite media reports to the contrary.

Experts previously told BI that Saudi Arabia was struggling to attract the foreign investment needed for the development. Low oil prices have also impacted government finances, seemingly forcing the Saudis to look for new revenue streams.

Representatives for Neom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Gen Z has come of age swimming in a gloppy stew of digital content. Every day they navigate memes, photos, social media, chats with their friends, flashes of video, influencers influencing, news articles from a zillion places across the net. How do America's teens and youngest adults sort through all that digitized gunk to determine what's important, or useful, or true?

A lot of folks would love to know. Social networks want young users. Media outlets want subscribers. Politicians want votes. Professors want to know why their students won't read books. Everyone, it seems, has a stake in understanding Kids These Days.

Over the past couple of years, researchers at Jigsaw, a Google subsidiary that focuses on online politics and polarization, have been studying how Gen Zers digest and metabolize what they see online. The researchers were hoping that their work would provide one of the first in-depth, ethnographic studies of Gen Z's "information literacy." But the minute they started, their most fundamental assumption about the nature of digital information came crashing down.

"Within a week of actual research, we just threw out the term information literacy," says Yasmin Green, Jigsaw's CEO. Gen Zers, it turns out, are "not on a linear journey to evaluate the veracity of anything." Instead, they're engaged in what the researchers call "information sensibility" — a "socially informed" practice that relies on "folk heuristics of credibility." In other words, Gen Zers know the difference between rock-solid news and AI-generated memes. They just don't care.

Jigsaw's findings offer a revealing glimpse into the digital mindset of Gen Z. Where older generations are out there struggling to fact-check information and cite sources, Gen Zers don't even bother. They just read the headlines and then speed-scroll to the comments, to see what everyone else says. They're outsourcing the determination of truth and importance to like-minded, trusted influencers. And if an article's too long, they just skip it. They don't want to see stuff that might force them to think too hard, or that upsets them emotionally. If they have a goal, Jigsaw found, it's to learn what they need to know to remain cool and conversant in their chosen social groups.

"The old guard is like: 'Yeah, but you have to care ultimately about the truth,'" Green says. "The Gen Z take is: 'You can tell me your truth and what you think is important.'" What establishes the relevance of a claim isn't some established notion of authority. It's the social signals they get from their peers.

Jigsaw's research doesn't purport to be statistically significant. They didn't poll a large group of Gen Z users about their digital habits. Instead, they relied on intense interviews with a handful of 13- to 24-year-olds from a representative range of demographics, classes, and genders. They were doing what anthropologists do in the field — looking for qualitative depth rather than quantitative data.

What they heard surprised them. Young folks basically say they see no difference between going online for news versus for social interaction. Gen Zers approach most of their digital experience in what the researchers call "timepass" mode, just looking to not be bored. If they want to answer a question or learn something new, they might turn to a search engine, but they're acquiring new information mainly via their social feeds, which are algorithmically pruned to reflect what they care about and who they trust. In short, they've created their own filters to process an onslaught of digitized information. Only the important stuff shows up, and if something shows up, it must be important.

They don't read long articles. And they don't trust anything with ads, or paywalls, or pop-ups asking for donations or subscriptions. "If you're making clickbait, you have zero faith in your content," one subject told the researchers. "And news sources — even CNN and The New York Times — do clickbait. I throw those articles away immediately."

For Gen Z, the online world resembles the stratified, cliquish lunchroom of a 1980s teen movie. Instead of listening to stuffy old teachers, like CNN and the Times, they take their cues from online influencers — the queen bees and quarterback bros at the top of the social hierarchy. The influencers' personal experience makes them authentic, and they speak Gen Z's language.

"Gen Zers will have a favorite influencer or set of influencers who they essentially outsource their trust to, and then they're incredibly loyal to everything that influencer is saying," says Beth Goldberg, Jigsaw's head of research. "It becomes extremely costly to fall out of that influencer's group, because they're getting all their information from them."

None of this means that Gen Z is any less intelligent or diligent than other generations. They know how to research something more deeply. It's just that, usually, they don't wanna. "They tap into those critical literacy skills in a really small proportion of the time they spend online," Goldberg says. If they're prepping for an argument they know they're going to have, or when they have to make big life decisions about schools or investments, they're willing to deal with the drudgery of factfinding. "But the vast majority of the time, they're spending their time mindlessly in timepass mode. Veracity was not only not top of mind, it actually wasn't important to them at all."

When one subject shared a fake image of Donald Trump running from the NYPD, the researchers challenged them on it. "They kind of shrugged," Goldberg says. From the subject's perspective, they were using their critical thinking and media-literacy skills. After all, Trump was, at the time, headed for a criminal trial in New York. It could have been true.

And when it comes to things like diet or wellness, Gen Zers will just try it on their own bodies and see if it works. They perceive that as a safe way to do their own research, mostly because it's not hurting anyone else. If that new diet or exercise regimen "works" on their body, that's more believable than data showing its effects on a whole population.

If facty-sounding stuff does manage to sneak into Gen Z's feeds — claims about what constitutes a healthy diet, or what Trump would do as president, or whether Ukraine or Russia is to blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine — they're likely to head straight for the comments. That's partly because they know the digital hoi polloi will quickly unmask any fake news. But it's also because they're concerned about whether the news — or a particular reaction to it — might prove to be a cancelable take.

"Cancel culture came to be a thing as they were growing up. They were trained and attend to how to perform, and not perform, to avoid that," says Goldberg. "They're getting trusted information from closed group chats or followers with private feeds, so they're able to perform that they're part of an in-group and can perform specific social signals." For Gen Z, checking what other people are saying in the comments isn't shallow. It's a matter of social life or death.

If this sounds like a generation that will believe any flimflam they encounter and never subscribe to a newspaper, well, the researchers at Jigsaw worry about that too. But the good news is, Gen Zers aren't seeing as much intentional falsehood as you might think. Research shows that most mis- and disinformation is being made and consumed by a dwindling minority of users who seek it out, not sprayed algorithmically into the eyeballs of credulous, internet-surfing teens. "Casual consumption of silly TikToks is very unlikely to lead someone into a dark corner of hate or misinformation," says David Rothschild, an economist at Microsoft Research who studies online behavior. "It is highly likely that if they get there, they chose to get there."

All of us are consuming less formal news content these days, like TV or newspapers. And like Gen Z, we're all relying more and more on our social networks to tell us what's going on. A recent study from the Pew Research Center found that most users on Facebook, Instagram, X, and TikTok encounter news frequently. On X, it most often comes from the media outlets and journalists who actually produced the news. On Facebook and Instagram, it comes via family and friends whose viewpoints, for better or worse, you already know. But on TikTok — with its disproportionately younger user base — the source is usually influencers. They aggregate, meta-analyze, and pre-digest what other sources are saying. Maybe that's why users on TikTok, compared with other platforms, say they're unlikely to be "worn out" by the news they see. Someone else already did the hard work; they're getting the executive summary.

As clickbait-avoidant Gen Zers might suspect, Jigsaw's interest in their online behavior isn't purely academic. The Google subsidiary makes software called Perspective that lots of news outlets — including The New York Times — use to moderate their comment sections. The new iteration of Perspective incorporates Jigsaw's latest findings, elevating comments that contain warm and fuzzy "bridging" sentiments, like curiosity and reasonableness, to the top of the section. The aim is to reach Gen Z readers where they live — scrolling through the comments — and turn them into subscribers. By studying Gen Z in the wild, Jigsaw can lay better traps for them in their native habitat.

As a Gen Xer, I'm inherently skeptical of broad pronouncements about the up-and-coming generation. You should have heard some of the stuff boomers said about us. (Not that we cared. Like, whatever.) But I'll confess that I worried about the idea that Gen Z checks the comments to decide what to believe. So, after a therapeutic clutch at my pearls, I figured I'd better check it out. To evaluate Jigsaw's research, I performed a scientific gut check: I looked at Google Scholar to see how many other researchers had cited the study. That's a standard metric for how much a field values any given journal article.

And then I realized: I was basically checking the comments. We all do it — we look for lots of links, for 5-star reviews, for what the replies say. These are all valid ways to surf the modern social-informational ecosystem. The kids are all right, and all right.

Still, I wondered what Gen Zers themselves might make of Jigsaw's research. Conveniently, two of them live in my house and call me Dad. So I texted them the findings, along with a question-mark emoji.

"Yeah, seems right," the younger one replied. "But you know not all of us do that."

I counted myself lucky — that was more of a response than Goldberg got. "We always share the final results with respondents," she says. But when Goldberg asked her subjects what they thought of her research, true to her findings, all she heard back was the gravid silence of teenagers looking at their phones. "I'm not sure how many of our Gen Zers read our papers," she concluded ruefully. No comment section, no comment.

Adam Rogers is a senior correspondent at Business Insider.

• I sent my 9-year-old and my 5-year-old on a sailing camp in Spain. 
• Our friends had offered us to stay at their house near Barcelona for two months. 
• The camp cost between 170 to 260 euros per week, and they both got a spot a week before it started. 

The homemade videos came through in quick succession on the camp WhatsApp channel. Seven tiny sailboats with children manning them dotted crystal blue Mediterranean waters. The children were in pairs, seemingly matched according to age. Then there was my little one, the 5-year-old, who had insisted on tagging along with her 9-year-old brother, and the camp had agreed.

It was a blistering summer in the little seaside town of Caldes d'Estrac, an enchanting getaway thirty minutes outside Barcelona. We were staying there for two months because our friends had generously invited us to their masia, or country home, for July and August. Caldes used to be a fashionable spa town for the Barcelona bourgeoisie in the 1920s and is now known for its thermal baths and stunning beaches. When our friends suggested we put the children in a sailing casale, or summer camp, together at the local seaport, we enthusiastically agreed.

It was more affordable than camp in the US

There was one catch: How much was this going to cost us, and would we even be able to get a spot? In the US, or at least in California, where we live, summer camps usually start around $250 per child per week and can run upwards of $1000 for specialty camps. In addition, securing a spot is challenging, with parents already beginning to register for summer camps as early as March.

We drove the five minutes down to port Balis in Caldes and went to register in person. It was less than a week from the beginning of camp, yet the experience was seamless. They not only waived the membership fee for the yacht club, but the tuition ranged between 170 and 260 euros depending on how long they stayed, and it included lunch.

They experienced independence

After just the first day, the children came back with exciting and harrowing tales of adventure. They had gone out solo in dinghies with a couple of adults following alongside them in speedboats. They had experienced the thrill of being independent out on the water from the very start and had been forced to problem-solve tricky situations using teamwork to prevent their boats from capsizing or getting stuck. This was especially challenging for my children as they did not speak Spanish, but somehow they managed.

They, of course, took the necessary precautions of life jackets and basic training, but then they were let loose very quickly and had to learn as they went. It felt as if there was a much more laid-back attitude and push toward personal responsibility than we had experienced in the US. When my 5-year-old refused to stay with the little kids in her age group because she was so attached to her brother, the camp counselors let her tag along and ride in the boats with the older children or inside the speedboats with the adults. I'm not sure that would ever have happened in a California camp, and frankly I'm grateful for it.

The rest of the time, the kids learned basic principles of sailing, had free-play in kayaks and SUPs, and ate bowls full of crab and shrimp for lunch. They came back every afternoon exhausted but happy and woke up each morning with enthusiasm, ready for their next big adventure out on the water.

• Lauren Sánchez has been wearing daring outfits since the start of her career as a TV news anchor.
• But her fashion has gotten even bolder while in a relationship with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
• Her most striking fashion choices have included corset minidresses and see-through lace gowns.

When Lauren Sánchez attends an event, she's tough to miss.

For one thing, the Emmy-award-winning news anchor usually attends red carpets and fundraising dinners alongside her billionaire fiancé Jeff Bezos. Together, they're often the it-couple at events.

But she's also on her way to becoming a fashion force all on her own.

In April, Sánchez first caught major style attention when she wore a semi-sheer corset gown to attend a White House state dinner. The daring dress was divisive and cemented her spot in the world of fashion discourse.

She then attended her first Met Gala this year and was said to have been styled in part by Anna Wintour herself.

Here's a look at her boldest style moments, from see-through pieces to form-fitting gowns.

Lauren Sánchez first experimented with daring fashion in 2004.

She attended the Shalom Foundation Gala that year wearing a strapless brown dress that hugged her body and reached the floor.

It was covered from top to bottom in beaded florals and was held together across its open back with extremely thin strings — one of which also crossed her shoulder like a strap.

She donned a visible corset years later when she attended the 2010 American Music Awards.

She walked the red carpet in a black minidress, which was strapless, lined with mesh, and cinched at the waist with a plethora of small strings.

Sánchez wore the bold garment with strappy sandals and a statement ring.

But her fashion really took a daring turn when she and Jeff Bezos became red-carpet official.

The couple walked their first red carpet together in coordinated outfits featuring bold prints. But Sánchez's red and black gown stood out for a few other reasons, too.

The sequined piece had a plunging neckline that reached her navel, sheer long sleeves decorated with black beads, and a thigh-high slit.

For the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscars party, Sánchez tried the "no pants" look.

She walked the blue carpet alongside Bezos in a sequined, off-the-shoulder gown from Elie Saab. It was crafted with a black leotard and sheer overlay.

Aside from thin black stripes, the latter piece was sheer, showing her legs and see-through sandals.

The dress was also designed with a low, V-shaped neckline, adding another daring element to the look.

She's never afraid to rock vibrant colors.

At Kering's 2023 Caring For Women dinner, Sánchez posed for photographers in a fluorescent yellow gown.

The high-neck dress was form-fitting up top, floor-length at the bottom, and covered entirely in sequins.

Sánchez wore her most daring look to date at a Dolce & Gabbana party in January.

She was photographed walking with Bezos to the Milan party, but her black dress captured all the attention.

The form-fitting piece was strapless with a corset top and crafted entirely from lace — meaning it was also see-through and revealed her black underwear.

She wore the daring dress with black sandals, a rosette shawl, sunglasses, and a long silver necklace.

She celebrated the Oscars months later in an eye-catching dress that matched the Vanity Fair red carpet.

Lever Couture designed her red dress with a deep neckline, puffy tulle sleeves, a corset bodice, and a semi-sheer skirt.

The party outfit was as glamorous as it was bold, thanks to Sánchez's accessories. She wore tan pumps, diamond earrings, and a statement, sparkling necklace.

Some of her boldest looks have been controversial — like the corset dress Sánchez wore to the White House this year.

Sánchez and Bezos were invited to the White House for a state dinner in honor of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

But while Bezos wore a classic tuxedo, his fiancée took a much bolder approach.

Sánchez, styled by Kelly Johnson, wore a red gown with a satin skirt and see-through corset top. The latter piece had a low neckline, off-the-shoulder sleeves, and lace detailing.

Many questioned whether the daring dress was appropriate in the White House setting, but others — including celebrities like Chrissy Teigen — staunchly defended her character and outfit choice.

She wore yet another lace corset piece to attend a pre-Met Gala party.

Sánchez made her Met Gala debut this year with much fanfare. According to fashion journalist and author Amy Odell, Anna Wintour helped pick the Oscar de la Renta gown Sánchez wore, and it was the first time Bezos attended with a date in over a decade.

But the couple also attended a celebratory dinner beforehand and an after-party following the ball.

For the former event, Sánchez sported a black minidress that was strapless and made from see-through lace. It also had a corset bodice that was cinched at the waist.