• Gen Z pays more in housing costs than millennials did a decade ago, according to WaPo.
• In an economy battered by inflation, higher costs have created economic uncertainty for Gen Z.
• In 2020, Biden easily won young voters. But he now faces a tougher challenge to win them over.

During the Great Recession and much of the 2010s, millennials bore the brunt of one of the biggest economic upheavals in generations.

A tough job market — where layoffs and high unemployment sidelined many budding careers — defined the earliest stages of adulthood for many millennials.

More than a decade after the Great Recession and over four years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gen Z is now enduring its own economic challenges.

Gen Z is spending more on housing and car insurance than their millennial counterparts did at the same age, and the younger generation is also holding more debt than millennials did, according to The Washington Post.

The newspaper reported that Gen Z workers are more likely to have attended college and earn higher pay than millennials, but debt is weighing them down: About 1 in 7 Gen Zers have hit their credit card limits.

"Gen Z consumers have seen their finances significantly impacted by the pandemic and its aftermath, even more so than the challenges faced by millennials as a result of the global financial crisis," TransUnion US research head Michele Raneri told the Post. "Both of these cohorts have emerged from a difficult financial situation, but Gen Z is having a harder time affording this new cost of living."

These findings are significant as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both fight for Gen Z votes ahead of the November election.

Spending more and more

Gen Z is spending 31% more on housing costs compared to what millennials paid 10 years ago, a figure which also factors in inflation, according to the Post.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, car insurance costs increased more than twofold for Americans aged 16 to 24 between 2012 and 2022, and health insurance costs spiked 46% for this group during the same time span.

Debt accounted for 16% of Gen Z income at the end of 2023, whereas debt among millennials only accounted for 12% 10 years ago, the Post reported.

Gen Z has seen an economic recovery since the throes of the pandemic, buoyed by a 4% unemployment rate. But with higher costs taking out a large chunk of their salaries, many Gen Z workers feel like they're falling behind.

Biden v. Trump redux

In 2020, young voters overwhelmingly supported Biden. That year, the president carried voters aged 18 to 29 by 24 points (59% to 35%) over Trump, according to Pew Research.

During that cycle, the leading issues among young voters included the economy, student-loan forgiveness, reproductive rights, climate change, the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and racial inequality.

This year, Gen Z has once again prioritized the economy as a defining issue of the election. And Biden — already struggling with younger voters over the conflict in Gaza — will have to craft a persuasive defense of his policies to ensure their support.

In the latest New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College swing-state poll conducted in late April and early May, 18% of registered voters aged 18 to 29 listed the economy as their top issue.

This age group was the most pessimistic of any generation regarding the economy: 59% rated it as "poor," while 32% rated it as "only fair." About 7% of registered voters said the economy was "good."

Only 1% of registered voters aged 18 to 29 rated the economy as "excellent."

Trump is campaigning in cities like New York and Philadelphia to make inroads with younger and more infrequent voters to cut into the Democratic margins that are key for Biden.

The struggles of Gen Z — whether it's high rents or elevated insurance costs — are poised to be a defining issue for the Biden and Trump campaigns during this critical summer stretch. And whoever finds a way to address Gen Z concerns and craft potential solutions effectively will likely emerge as the presidential victor in November.

• Some therapists who have lost their licenses have rebranded themselves as "life coaches."
• The life coaching industry generated $4.5 billion in revenue in 2022.
• Life coaching is an unregulated industry, so prospective patients should tread carefully.

When therapists lose their licenses, even for serious offenses, they don't always have to change careers. They can try "life coaching" instead.

Life coaches are wellness professionals who offer clients advice on improving their lives. Unlike therapists, they're not required to be trained or held to ethical guidelines, and they are not regulated by the state or federal government. This loosely defined group of professionals generated $4.5 billion in revenue in 2022, according to The International Coaching Federation.

While many people credit life coaches with positively changing their lives or careers, anyone can call themselves a life coach, and therein lies the problem.

Jodi Hildebrandt, a former therapist in Utah who famously ran the controversial parenting YouTube channel ConneXions with Ruby Franke, called herself a life coach for years. The two were sentenced this February for up to 30 years in prison for child abuse.

Hildebrandt is an extreme example. But a new ProPublica report found that at least a third of the 43 mental health professionals in Utah who've given up their licenses since 2010 have continued doing similar work. They refer to themselves on LinkedIn as mental health "associates," motivational speakers, and, of course, life coaches.

There are a range of reasons a therapist might lose their license, from disclosing confidential information to engaging in inappropriate relationships. ProPublica's analysis found that a handful of therapists who were still practicing had lost their licenses for "serious reasons," ranging from drug and substance abuse to inappropriate contact with patients to sexual exploitation.

Mark Steinagel, a director in the Utah state government who oversees licensing, told the outlet that licensers can't prevent these individuals from doing the same work as life coaches. However, investigators do try to watch them to ensure they don't veer back into therapy.

The Hildebrandt case inspired legislation in Utah to regulate the life coaching industry. The bill is now undergoing legislative review.

In the meantime, prospective patients should research before choosing a life coach.

"Coaching is not therapy and I don't want it to be confused in any way," life coach Suzanne Culberg said in an interview about the ethics of life coaching with the YouTuber Danielle Ryan.

Over her career, Culberg said she's seen life coaches misrepresent themselves by inflating their annual earnings and overselling their qualifications.

"They say all the right things, and their sales pages look slick," she said. But "coaching is an unregulated industry."

• Thousands of Iran-backed fighters are ready to join Hezbollah in its fight against Israel.
• The Israel Defense Forces have approved plans for a potential offensive in Lebanon.
• The UN Secretary-General warned of a catastrophe "beyond imagination" if the conflict escalated.

Thousands of Iran-backed fighters are ready to join the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon as tensions rise with neighboring Israel, the Associated Press reported.

In a speech Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that militant leaders from the Iran-led "axis of resistance" have offered to send tens of thousands of fighters to support Hezbollah as the group's clashes with Israel threaten to spill over into all-out war.

"We told them, thank you, but we are overwhelmed by the numbers we have," Nasrallah said, per the AP, adding that Hezbollah already had 100,000 fighters in its ranks.

An Atlantic Council report from May 2020 said that Hezbollah had about 30,000 active fighters and up to 20,000 reserves at the time.

One unnamed official with an Iran-backed group in Iraq told the AP in Baghdad that if there were an all-out war, "we will be (fighting) shoulder to shoulder with Hezbollah," adding that some advisors from Iraq were already in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been launching strikes against Israel in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas since the latter's October 7 attacks, which killed around 1,200 people in Israel.

Israel has struck back hard against the group, targeting its commanders and infrastructure in southern Lebanon.

Israel has also been weighing an all-out war with the group, with the country's defense minister, Israel Katz, saying on Tuesday that a decision on such a move was near.

"We are very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit," Katz wrote on X.

It came as the IDF announced plans had been approved for an "offensive" in Lebanon.

On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that an escalation in the conflict would have devastating consequences.

"Let's be clear: The people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza," he said.

"One rash move – one miscalculation – could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination," he said.

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank that was published in March said that even if Israel achieved a decisive defeat of Hezbollah in an all-out war, it would likely "not lead to the group's destruction given its deep roots in Lebanon and strong support from Iran."

• Ukraine is facing a severe manpower shortage as it continues to battle Russia's invasion.
• But Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade is one of the most popular units in the Ukrainian army.
• It attracts new recruits with its PR-savvy approach and 12-strong media team.

For months, Ukraine's armed forces have faced a severe manpower shortage.

In April, one brigade commander told Ukrainian news outlet Suspilne that the country's manpower problems were "much more important than ammunition" and that one Ukrainian soldier was having to carry out the tasks of three to four soldiers.

Since December, Ukrainian military officers have sought as many as 500,000 extra recruits.

Lawmakers have since taken steps to try to address that need.

In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed into law a bill lowering the minimum conscription age from 27 to 25.

And in May, Ukrainian lawmakers passed a bill allowing convicts in certain categories to serve in the military.

Though people recognize the need to fight, "since the mobilization system is not very well organized and is not perceived as just, this lowers motivation," Julia Kazdobina, a Senior Fellow at Ukrainian Prism's Security Studies Program, and a former advisor to the Ukrainian Information Policy Minister, told Business Insider.

The 3rd Separate Assault Brigade

But one place Ukraine isn't struggling to find new recruits is in the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, an elite fighting force that has taken part in a number of the war's most intense battles, from Bakhmut to Avdiivka.

The squad emerged from the Azov Brigade, a controversial regiment founded by the right-wing politician Andriy Biletsky in 2014 that played a crucial role in the Russian siege of Mariupol in 2022.

The 3rd Brigade has since become famous for its battle-hardened, fearless approach to combat.

But this is just one of the reasons the unit is receiving more than 900 volunteers a month, according to an April report by the Washington DC-based think tank the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).

While many brigades use social media platforms to advertise and celebrate battlefield wins, the 3rd Brigade is especially skilled at PR.

The unit has 12 full-time media staff, including press officers, cameramen, and editors — and they are "pioneers in running a public recruitment campaign," Kazdobina said.

"The brigade is run by people with extensive combat experience and a reputation for bravery," she added.

The 3rd also has a professional website as well as a YouTube channel with more than a million subscribers — where some videos have attracted more than nine million views.

Last week, the brigade released a video appearing to show Russian troops emerging from a trench with their hands raised or tied behind their backs. The prisoners of war were later filmed and interviewed, sitting in what appeared to be a school classroom.

All of this is designed to appeal to young and eager potential recruits.

Training

Elina Beketova, a defense fellow at CEPA, told BI that the brigade has had success recruiting "because they have a system."

"They start with intensive training to prepare volunteers for frontline duties both physically and mentally," she said. "Then, they match people's preferences with different roles. If someone isn't ready for combat, they continue training them and find the best role for that person."

The brigade has four recruitment centers — Kyiv, Dnipro, Lviv, and Odesa.

The unit's website says it offers a seven-day training course for potential recruits who want to assess their readiness to join the armed forces.

"If you realize that the army is not for you, you can halt the test and leave at any time," it says.

Those who choose to join undergo a 30-day training program. If, at the end of this program, the recruit does not feel ready, the training period can be extended.

Yurii Kovtun, a brigade sergeant, told Radio ROKS last year: "Our task, if he is weak, is to make the weakest the strongest."

"We will not send him somewhere to die," he added.

The 3rd also tries to help recruits with specific skills find the role that best fits those abilities.

"The 3rd Brigade customizes mobilization and contracts tailored to individuals. If someone isn't ready for artillery work but is prepared for another role, they will try to find a different position for that individual," Beketova said.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry has noted the benefit of this.

In March, the department announced that it would be rolling out a new recruitment algorithm for the armed forces.

This algorithm "offers a clear mechanism for voluntary enlistment through recruiting centers and online," Beketova said. "Candidates undergo interviews and tests before being assigned to their chosen unit."

The brigade also offers a "patronage service," which is designed to care for wounded fighters and prisoners of war.

"One often hears that there are two Ukrainian armies," Kazdobina told BI.

"One following Soviet tradition of inefficiency and humiliation and one that is dynamic, well organized and respects soldier lives," she said. "The Third Assault Brigade falls into the second category."

The 3rd Brigade did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Donald Trump said he proposed a "migrant league of fighters" to UFC president Dana White.
• Trump shared his idea at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's conference in Washington.
• "It was a joke," Dana White said. "But yeah, he did say it."

Donald Trump told an audience on Saturday that he had pitched a "migrant league of fighters" to the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Dana White.

Trump was speaking to Christian conservatives at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" conference in Washington.

"Did anyone ever hear of Dana White?" Trump said at the event. "He's a legend, right?"

"I said, 'Dana, I have an idea," the former president continued. "Why don't you set up a migrant league of fighters and have your regular league of fighters, and then you have the champion of your league — these are the greatest fighters in the world — fight the champion of the migrants. I think the migrant guy might win; that's how tough they are."

"He didn't like that idea too much, but actually it's not the worst idea I've ever had," he added.

President Joe Biden's campaign reacted quickly to criticize the former president's comments.

"Fitting that convicted felon Donald Trump spent his time at a religious conference threatening to round up Latinos, bragging about ripping away Americans' freedoms, and promising to be even more extreme if he regains power," Sarafina Chitika, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said.

"Trump's incoherent, unhinged tirade showed voters in his own words that he is a threat to our freedoms and is too dangerous to be let anywhere near the White House again," she added.

When asked about Trump's comments, White, who has led the UFC since 2001, said: "It was a joke."

"I saw everybody going crazy online. But yeah, he did say it," he added.

Trump has put immigration at the core of his policies since his 2016 presidential campaign and has frequently criticized Biden over the topic in his latest run for the White House.

During his speech at the Faith & Freedom Coalition, Trump repeated a number of dehumanizing terms he has previously used about migrants while campaigning, saying they were "nasty, mean," and "tough."

In a speech in Michigan at the beginning of April, the former president also referred to migrants as "animals" and "not human" as he ramped up his focus on border issues.

Business Insider contacted the Trump campaign for comment.

• A US aircraft carrier has arrived in South Korea for military exercises.
• Its arrival comes days after Russia and North Korea agreed to an unprecedented defense pact.
• The carrier group sends a message to Russia and North Korea and projects US power in the region.

A US Navy aircraft carrier has arrived in South Korea at an opportune moment.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group arrived in Busan on Saturday, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to a defense pact during a high-profile summit in Pyongyang.

The South Korean Navy said the nuclear-powered carrier "demonstrates the strong combined defense posture of the South Korea-US alliance and their firm resolve to respond to the escalating threats from North Korea."

Its mere presence projects US power and reach across the region.

The Roosevelt is the first US carrier to dock in South Korea since the USS Carl Vinson visited in November last year. Along with the Roosevelt, the destroyers USS Halsey and USS Daniel Inouye are also in South Korea as part of the carrier's strike group, the South Korean Navy said.

While in South Korea, the Roosevelt is expected to participate in joint exercises with its host and Japan to improve cooperation between the three countries' navies amid growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific.

The Roosevelt previously participated in a two-day joint exercise with Japan and South Korea in April in the East China Sea.

At Putin and Kim's meeting in Pyongyang, the two leaders displayed warm relations and agreed to support each other should one be attacked, similar to Article Five of the NATO doctrine. Putin also suggested he could send weapons to North Korea, which would have major repercussions for relations on the peninsula and beyond.

The pact between Russia and North Korea compelled a swift response from South Korea, which threatened to increase its support for Ukraine's war effort by directly sending lethal aid to Kyiv — a change from its current policy of only sending ammunition via the United States.

After the aircraft carrier finishes its exercises, it'll depart for the Middle East, where it will replace the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group. The Eisenhower left the region on Saturday after a relentless battle against Yemen's Houthis, who have been attacking shipping lanes in the Red Sea in support of Palestinians.

• Before his death on June 20, Donald Sutherland only worked with his son Kiefer once.
• They played an estranged father and son in the film "Forsaken."
• Here are 20 other examples of father-and-son duos teaming up on-screen.

It feels like nepo babies are everywhere — and sometimes, when both a parent and a child are actors, they work together. But playing a father-and-son duo on screen takes the relationship to a whole new level.

Before his death on June 20, Donald Sutherland worked with his son Kiefer on the Western film "Forsaken." Kiefer played an outlaw trying to change his ways, while his father played a stern reverend.

"Working with him is something I have wanted to do for 30 years," Kiefer told People in 2016. Donald, in turn, called Kiefer a "wonderful actor."

Here are some of Hollywood's most famous fathers and sons who also played father and son on-screen.

Donald and Kiefer Sutherland starred in 2016's "Forsaken" as father and son.

In "Forsaken," Kiefer Sutherland played a retired criminal and quick-draw killer John Henry Clayton in the late 1800s. After abandoning his old ways, he returns home to try and repair his relationship with his estranged father, Reverend Samuel Clayton, played by Kiefer's real father, Donald.

"As much as I planned as an actor that this is what I want to do with the character, I was not expecting how powerful it was going to be when I looked into my father's eyes," Kiefer told the Los Angeles Times in 2016.

Dominic West joined the cast of "The Crown" for season five as Prince Charles. West's real son, Senan West, played Prince William.

Dominic replaced Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles in seasons five and six of Netflix's royal drama "The Crown," which concluded its run in 2023.

Charles, of course, has two sons: Prince William and Prince Harry. And there was no more perfect person to play Prince William than Dominic's real-life son Senan, 14, who was in three episodes of season five, according to IMDb.

"It was very moving actually, he'd never acted before because COVID stopped any school plays or anything so I'd never seen him act," Dominic told Yahoo UK in November 2022 of working with his son. "He had this amazing innocence to him that was extraordinary to watch as well as the fact that obviously he's my boy. It's very difficult when you act with children to have a physical intimacy, but with him that's obviously not a question which made it much easier."

Tom and Colin Hanks played father and son in "The Great Buck Howard" in 2008.

"The Great Buck Howard" follows John Malkovich as Buck Howard, a mentalist who is at the tail end of his career. His assistant, Troy, is played by Colin, who goes against the wishes of his father, Mr. Gable (played by Tom), who wants him to become a lawyer.

"He has always been really supportive of everything that I've done," Colin told NPR's Terry Gross of his father in 2009.

Will and Jaden Smith have played father and son twice. First, in 2006's "The Pursuit of Happyness."

In "The Pursuit of Happyness," a true story, Smith starred as Chris Gardner, a homeless medical salesman turned wildly successful stockbroker. His son, Jaden, played Gardner's son, Christopher Gardner Jr.

"Little Jaden is a chip off the old block, uncommonly at ease before the cameras. Their real-life bond is an inestimable asset to the onscreen characters' relationship," wrote Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times.

They teamed up again seven years later in "After Earth."

"After Earth" takes place in a future in which humans had to evacuate Earth after a cataclysmic event — 1,000 years later, Kitai and his father, Cypher, are marooned on the planet after their spaceship collapses. When Cypher's legs are broken, he instructs his teenage son on how to contact their home planet and get them home via a communicator while Kitai journeys through the now-perilous Earth.

The movie got disastrous reviews, and the elder Smith has discussed how "After Earth" strained his relationship with his son.

"'After Earth' was an abysmal box office and critical failure," Smith wrote in his 2021 memoir, "Will." "And what was worse was that Jaden took the hit. Fans and the press were absolutely vicious; they said and printed things about Jaden that I refuse to repeat. Jaden had faithfully done everything that I'd instructed him to do, and I had coached him into the worst public mauling he'd ever experienced."

"He felt misled, and he lost his trust in my leadership," Smith wrote. "At 15 years old, when Jaden asked about being an emancipated minor, my heart shattered. He ultimately decided against it, but it sucks to feel like you've hurt your kids," he added.

Eugene and Dan Levy played father and son Johnny and David Rose on "Schitt's Creek" for six seasons from 2015 to 2020.

The Levys also co-created "Schitt's Creek," so it was a no-brainer that they would play two of the leads: patriarch Johnny, a former video store tycoon, and his spoiled (yet lovable) son, David.

By the end of the series' six seasons, both Levys would take home Emmys for their acting and for producing, as the show won outstanding comedy series — they became the first father-son duo to win Emmys in the same year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"I think what I learned from [my dad], just from a comedy standpoint, is that … there's so much generosity, I think, to great comedy," Levy told the "Today" show in 2021. "You have to just give people space. There's just such a joy in knowing that you have each other's back."

Jerry and Ben Stiller played father and son in 2007's "The Heartbreak Kid."

The Stillers are one of the most legendary father-and-son duos in Hollywood. They acted together quite a bit before Jerry's death in 2020, although they didn't always play relatives.

In the 2007 remake of "The Heartbreak Kid," Ben played a commitment-phobic man named Eddie who decides to propose to a woman he barely knows to get her to stay in the US. Jerry played his father, Doc.

"My dad is so funny. Like, I've never, ever thought I was funny like my dad. Or as funny as my dad. I've never really felt a competition, because I would lose, hands down," Stiller told The New Yorker after his father's death in May 2020.

Twenty years earlier, they also played father and son in 1987's "Hot Pursuit."

In "Hot Pursuit," they played Victor and Chris Honeywell, two side characters in the film.

The Stillers also both appeared in "Zoolander" and "Heavyweights," though not as father and son.

Kirk Douglas, his son Michael, and his grandson Cameron all appeared in "It Runs in the Family" as three generations of the Gromberg family in 2003.

In "It Runs in the Family," each generation of Gromberg men is dealing with their own issues — Kirk's character, Mitchell, is struggling with health complications after a stroke; his son Michael's character, Alex, is trying to manage marital issues and career doubts; and his son Cameron's character, Asher, is feeling lost while away at college.

To add even more Douglas genes to the film, Michael's mother and Kirk's ex-wife, Diana, also appeared in the film as Mitchell's wife, Evelyn.

Diana died in 2015, while Kirk died in 2021. After his father's death, Michael posted a tribute on Instagram, "To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to."

"But to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine, a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband," he continued.

Brian Gleeson plays the teenage son of his father Brendan's character in the 2006 film "The Tiger's Tail."

The Gleesons have acted together multiple times in various permutations — for example, Brian played the younger version of his father Brendan's character in "Assassin's Creed."

But in "The Tiger's Tail," Brian plays the son of his father Brendan's character Liam, as Liam deals with his life heading in a downward spiral.

Brendan also plays Brian's dad in a sitcom Brian co-created with his real-life brother Domnhall: "Frank of Ireland" in 2021.

Both of Brendan's sons appear in "Frank of Ireland," though they do not play brothers — so, when Brendan shows up, he's only the father of Brian's character, Frank.

"Dad was amazing and brought an incredible energy on set," Domhnall told What to Watch. "He was so up for it and so willing to be stupid. It was brilliant!"

Domnhall and Brendan also starred in the "Harry Potter" films, albeit not as relatives (Domnhall played the eldest son of the Weasley family, Bill, while Brendan played the legendary auror Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody).

Emilio Estevez played the deceased son of his father Martin Sheen's character in "The Way" in 2010.

Since Estevez wrote and directed the film, of course he'd make it a family affair by casting his Emmy-winning father.

In the film, Sheen's character, Thomas, grieves the death of his son, Daniel, played by Estevez, in flashbacks and at the beginning of the film by continuing Daniel's journey of walking the Camino de Santiago (or The Way) in Europe.

"I had to keep reminding [my dad] that his character was not a friendly man, that he was suspicious of people, because that is not his nature," Estevez told The New York Times in 2011 when describing what it was like to work with his father.

Martin has acted with another of his sons, Charlie, too. In 1987's "Wall Street," Charlie played Bud Fox, while his dad played Carl Fox.

In one of the biggest roles of Charlie's early career, he played stockbroker-in-training Bud Fox, who idolizes the sleazy (yet powerful) Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas. But his actual father in the film is played by his real dad.

Martin Sheen played Carl Fox, an airline employee and union leader.

"I adore him," Martin Sheen said of his son in 2021, according to People. "I've always, always adored him. His recovery and his life is a miracle and he's an extraordinary man." 

Martin and Charlie also played father and son in 1998 crime thriller "No Code of Conduct."

In "No Code of Conduct," the Sheens played Bill and Jake Peterson, a father-and-son duo who are both police officers. They uncover a huge drug-running operation from Mexico into Arizona while investigating the death of their coworker.

The two also acted together in "Hot Shots! Part Deux," but not as father and son.

Scott and James Caan played father and son in 1995's "A Boy Called Hate."

Scott is the star of "A Boy Called Hate," in which he plays teenager Steve, who renames himself Hate. He ends up witnessing an attempted rape committed by an assistant district attorney. 

His real dad, James, played Steve's father, who is too busy running a workers' compensation fraud scheme to really help his son in any meaningful way.

Fourteen years later, the Caans teamed up again for "Mercy" in 2009.

The younger Caan also wrote the film, in which he plays Johnny Ryan, a novelist who doesn't know exactly what he wants to do with his life. James plays Johnny's father, Gerry.

"You don't want to fail for your kid. United Artists or Warner Bros. or Coppola, I can mess up. I don't want to do it, but for your kid, that's the worst thing," James told the Los Angeles Times in 2010.

The two reunited on-screen for an episode of "Hawaii Five-O" in 2012, but James didn't play Scott's character's father. This was their last on-screen collaboration before James' death in 2022.

Father and son Dustin and Jake Hoffman actually played grandfather and son in "Barney's Version" in 2010.

In "Barney's Version," based on the 1997 novel of the same name, Paul Giamatti plays the main character, Barney. Dustin plays Barney's eccentric father, while Jake plays the older version of Barney's son.

They acted together again in the 2022 film "Sam & Kate."

In "Rocky V," Sylvester Stallone cast his real-life son Sage to play Rocky's son, Rocky Jr.

Sylvester cast his son Sage, who died in 2012, to play the son of his iconic boxing creation, Rocky Balboa, in the fifth film of the series.

For the 2006 film "Rocky Balboa" and the 2018 film "Creed II," the character of Rocky Jr. was taken over by Milo Ventimiglia.

Patrick Stewart's son, Daniel, played the son of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in a 1992 episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

In "The Inner Light," one of the best episodes of "The Next Generation," an energy beam strikes Picard (Patrick Stewart), which allows him to live an entire lifetime while just minutes pass for the rest of the crew.

In the episode, his son, Daniel, played Batai, the son of Picard who exists in this reality.

"It was a spec script, you know. That's something that not many people know: It was a spec script. One of the tiny few that actually got made. And, of course, my son was in it, and it was the first time I'd ever worked professionally with my son, so that's another reason why it's special to me," the legendary actor told Bullz Eye in 2010.

The Stewarts once again played father and son during the Starz series "Blunt Talk" in 2015.

Daniel appeared in the first season of "Blunt Talk," which saw his father star as Walter Blunt, a cable news journalist. Daniel played Walter's son Rafe, a professional boxer.

"Daniel has a wonderful talent for comedy, particularly wacky comedy. So we shared an episode. Hopefully we'll be sharing many more," the "Star Trek" star told USA Today in 2015. "I think it's a great thing that we're both in the same profession. It has so brought so much into both our lives that we can share and enjoy talking about. It's terrific."

In 1978, Jake Busey had a small role in "Straight Time" as the son of his real-life father, Gary Busey's character.

In "Straight Time," Gary played Willy, a heroin addict and friend of the main character Max (Dustin Hoffman), who also acted as an accomplice to Max's crimes. Jake had a small part as Willy's son, Darin.

• Larry Ray was accused of starting a sex cult at Sarah Lawrence in a 2019 investigation by The Cut.
• Ray, the father of one of the students, was later convicted of sex trafficking and other crimes.
• He was sentenced to 60 years in prison. His story is the basis of a new Lifetime movie.

Back in 2019, The Cut published a bombshell investigation into a pattern of concerning student behavior at Sarah Lawrence College. It all traced back to Larry Ray.

Ray is the father of Talia Ray, one of the undergrads in question, and was already an ex-convict at the time. He pleaded guilty to securities fraud in the early aughts and was sentenced to five years probation.

As The Cut investigation recounts, he later spent six months in jail after refusing a court order to surrender custody of his two children. Ray was arrested again in 2006, per the magazine, after a domestic violence incident with his then-girlfriend. Both were violations of his probation, which led to more jail time.

But shortly after being released in 2010, Ray moved into his daughter's on-campus dorm and took control of the roommates' home life, manipulating teenagers who later characterized themselves as "directionless" and "fragile" in conversations with The Cut.

Several of Talia's former roommates told The Cut that Ray psychologically, physically, and sexually abused them for years, corroborated by friends and family members.

Their accounts of Ray's tactics align with the typical structure of a cult, including sexual coercion, threats of violence, humiliation, and sleep deprivation paired with one-on-one "therapy sessions" — during which Ray would convince the teens they were schizophrenic, for example, or survivors of child abuse, without any medical training. Those who spoke to The Cut said Ray methodically severed their tethers to reality and connections to their loved ones.

Ray also convinced the group of kids to pay him money — approximately $1 million over the years, according to his federal indictment viewed by Business Insider — for fabricated property damage and trivial mistakes, which he painted as intentional acts of sabotage. Sources who had known Ray earlier in life described him to The Cut as highly paranoid and a "psychotic con man," despite close ties to law enforcement officials and past work as a federal informant.

Ray's convoluted story captivated the nation, inspiring last year's Hulu docuseries "Stolen Youth" and the new Lifetime movie, "Devil on Campus," which premieres on Sunday. Here's where he is now.

Ray was arrested, convicted on all counts, and sentenced to 60 years in prison

During The Cut's reporting process, Talia was still in constant contact with Ray. Two of her former roommates, both young women, were living with him in New Jersey.

Other victims had disappeared, either by intentionally escaping Ray's influence or because his actions had triggered a downward spiral. One of Talia's former roommates, Santos Rosario, had most recently been seen in a homeless shelter at the time of the investigation.

After "The Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence" was published in April 2019, a joint FBI and NYPD task force began investigating the allegations. Less than one year later, Ray was arrested.

Ray (born Lawrence Grecco) was indicted on charges including sex trafficking, forced labor, conspiracy, racketeering, tax evasion, and exploitation.

Prosecutors said Ray had exploited the group of undergrads for personal and financial gain. They also said he forced one of the students, Claudia Drury, into prostitution. (Ray admitted to The Cut that he took the money Drury made from sex work, describing it as restitution.)

"For the better part of the last 10 years, Ray has continued to mentally and physically torture his victims," FBI investigator William F. Sweeney Jr. said at a news conference, per The New York Times.

Over the course of his three-week trial, several of Ray's victims testified about his use of violence, blackmail, and manipulation, as well as the lasting impact of his actions, including suicide attempts, eating disorders, and bouts of homelessness.

Ray was convicted on all 15 criminal counts by a federal jury in lower Manhattan.

In early 2023, Judge Lewis Liman sentenced Ray, then 63, to serve 60 years in prison.

"He sought to take every bit of light from his victims' lives," Liman said in court, per New York Magazine. "It was sadism, pure and simple."

Later that year, several of the cult's survivors filed a lawsuit against Sarah Lawrence, saying the school failed to protect them.

"They failed us so badly," Drury told The New York Times. "There was a predator living in our dorm and they did nothing."

• Palmer Luckey founded the virtual reality company Oculus and sold it to Meta for $2 billion.
• He was fired from Meta two years later.
• Luckey went on to become the founder of defense-tech startup Anduril Industries, a company that will "save Western civilization."

Palmer Luckey was 20 years old when he founded the virtual reality company Oculus VR in 2012.

Just two years later, he sold it to Meta for $2 billion in cash and stock. Since then he's founded Anduril, a defense tech company that's snapping up government contracts and changing the future of war. 

The billionaire tech founder grew up in Long Beach, California. His father was a car salesman and his mother homeschooled him. Luckey began attending college courses when he was about 15, building VR headsets on the side as a hobby. 

He started a journalism major at California State University, Long Beach but, after developing a prototype for a virtual reality headset in his parents' garage, Luckey dropped out to found Oculus. 

He has told friends that reading Donald Trump's book "The Art of the Deal" at age 13 inspired him as an entrepreneur, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

Oculus

Luckey's Oculus Rift headset, which was later rebranded as Meta Quest, was hailed as a game-changer for technology fans everywhere. He raised $16 million in Series A funding in June 2013, and $75 million in a Series B round six months later.

In 2014, the company was snapped up by Meta, then Facebook, for $2 billion.

But in 2016, the young innovator was fired from Meta after his political contribution to a pro-Donald Trump group drew criticism from colleagues. Meta has denied that his departure had anything to do with his politics.  

"I'm actually not nearly as political of a person as people think I am," Luckey told Bloomberg's Emily Chang on "The Circuit," saying that it was a $9,000 donation that got him kicked out of Silicon Valley.

Luckey recently co-hosted a fundraiser for Trump in Newport Beach, the LA Times reported.

VR is still a key focus for Meta, which continues to invest in the metaverse despite losses of nearly $50 billion. Since leaving Meta, Luckey has been critical of its metaverse product, for which Oculus is a key component.

"I don't think it's a good product," he said, adding that it could be "amazing in the future." 

Anduril 

A year after being fired from Meta, Luckey founded Anduril Industries, a security and defense technology startup.

The company is striving to modernize the US military — building autonomous weapons, vehicles, and surveillance devices that the company claims "will save Western civilization." Anduril's tech runs on its AI platform, Lattice, which acts as an intelligent command center on which a human operator can control autonomous devices.

Anduril's drone, the Altius-600 UAS, has been confirmed to be being supplied to Ukraine by the DoD; its Sentry surveillance towers sit along the US border; and the Australian Navy is deploying Ghost Shark, Anduril's autonomous underwater submarine.

Anduril is not quite at the level of companies like SpaceX or Palantir in its business with the government but is far ahead of the new wave of smaller defense startups. It recently beat out legacy defense contractors Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrup Grumman to win a multimillion-dollar Air Force contract; and this week announced a new $18.6 million contract with the US Navy for its Dive AUVs. 

Next, Anduril is aiming to scale up its manufacturing capabilities. 

The company was valued at $8.5 billion in a funding round in December 2022, and is seeking $1.5 billion in another round of funding in 2024 that would bring its valuation to at least $12.5 billion, according to The Information. 

While some say AI will make war worse, Luckey has spoken up about his belief that the technology will help everyone make better decisions on the battlefield. 

VR headset that can kill users

In 2022, Luckey appeared to merge his careers into one with the creation of a VR headset that he had modified to explode when the wearer loses in a video game, killing them in real life, too. 

In a blog post, titled "If you die in the game, you die in real life," Luckey said he was inspired to create the deadly gaming device by a fictional VR headset called "NerveGear" featured in an anime television series called Sword Art Online.

"When an appropriate game-over screen is displayed, the charges fire, instantly destroying the brain of the user," Luckey wrote. "Only the threat of serious consequences can make a game feel real to you and every other person in the game." 

Luckey said it's just a piece of office art — for now.

"It is also, as far as I know, the first non-fiction example of a VR device that can actually kill the user. It won't be the last," Luckey wrote. 

'A caricature'

Luckey may have been made an outlier in Silicon Valley after being fired from Meta, but he's held on to his eccentric image and, by his own admission, is "a little bit of a caricature." 

Renowned for his mullet hairstyle and love of Hawaiian shirts, Luckey owns a personal collection of military-grade vehicles and a coffee table mapping out his Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

The Anduril founder is also known to keep the world's largest collection of video games 200 feet underground in one of his missile bases, which is in an undisclosed location. 

Luckey's net worth is $2.3 billion, according to Forbes. He ranks No. 1,438 on the media company's list of billionaires for 2024.  

Luckey has stayed true to his roots and still runs ModRetro, a company he founded in 2009 that modifies vintage gaming devices, primarily Gameboys, with new technology.

Samantha Delouya contributed to an earlier version of this story.

Correction: An earlier version of this story's headline referred to Luckey as the CEO of Anduril. He is the founder of Anduril. This story was updated with information clarifying military uses of Anduril tech.

• Romania's Mihail Kogălniceanu airbase is set to become NATO's largest base in Europe.
• The $2.7 billion expansion will enable the base to support 10,000 NATO personnel and their families.
• It comes as Putin vowed to go "to the end" in the war in Ukraine.

An airbase located only around 12 miles from the Black Sea coast and 180 miles from the war-torn city of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine is poised to become NATO's largest base in Europe.

A $2.7 billion project to transform Mihail Kogălniceanu airbase in Romania began earlier this year.

The base, which has been used by the US military since 1999, is set to become the size of a small city, with the capacity to host 10,000 NATO personnel and their families, Euro News Romania previously reported.

Nicolae Crețu, the commander of the air base, told the outlet that the expanded facility would require "maintenance hangars, fuel stores, ammunition, equipment, aviation technical materials, simulators, feeding facilities, accommodation."

"Everything that is needed to support the operation and missions of a base of this size," he said.

A fleet of Romanian F-16 fighter jets recently bought from Norway, as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones, will also soon arrive at the base, the BBC reported.

NATO announced earlier this month that seven Finnish Air Force F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets had landed at the base on June 3 to carry out "training and real-world sorties along the eastern flank on the Black Sea coast."

"For two months the Finnish jets are joining a Royal Air Force Typhoon detachment and will be doing quick-reaction alert duty and flying alongside them and Romanian F-16s collectively securing NATO airspace and assuring the Romanian population," Lt Cl Rami Lindström, the first commander of the Finnish detachment at the base, said.

"Our objective here in Romania is to enhance our integration into NATO Air Power by honing and deepening our cooperation with the Royal Air Force and the Romanian Air Force", he added.

US presence at the base is also stepping up, Royal Air Force pilot Flt Lt Charlie Tagg told the BBC, adding that there was "a lot more infrastructure, accommodation, people, and equipment."

Dorin Popescu, a geopolitical analyst, previously told Euronews: "The Mihail Kogălniceanu base will become the most important permanent NATO military structure in the immediate vicinity of the conflict in southern Ukraine."

"Let's not imagine that this conflict will end this year in 2025 or in 2026," he said. "It's a long-term conflict."

However, Russian politicians have issued stark warnings over the project, with Andrey Klimov, deputy chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, previously warning that it was a "threat" to Bucharest.

"If the Romanians like it, it's their business, of course, but the NATO suicide club drags ordinary civilians into such adventures that can end very badly for their families and children," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his full-scale invasion of Ukraine by saying that NATO had been aggressively expanding ever closer toward Russia over the last few decades, and he has long warned against further expansion.

In spite of his rhetoric, NATO has continued to creep further eastwards, with Finland joining NATO in April 2023 and Sweden joining in March 2024.

Nevertheless, Putin this week reiterated his threats to the West, vowing to go "to the end" in the war with Ukraine.

Defeat in Ukraine, Putin said, would mean "the end of the 1,000-year history of the Russian state. I think this is clear to everyone… Isn't it better to go all the way, until the end?" he said.