• Prince William attended The Eras Tour with Prince George and Princess Charlotte in London.
• The British royals posed for photos with Swift and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
• Footage showed William, who celebrated his 42nd birthday, dancing to "Shake It Off."

The Prince of Wales is a certified Swiftie.

William rang in his 42nd birthday on Friday at Taylor Swift's concert in London with his two eldest children, 10-year-old Prince George and 9-year-old Princess Charlotte.

The British royals were among the massive crowd that arrived at Wembley Stadium, where Swift, 34, kicked off the European leg of The Eras Tour.

The trio commemorated the night by posing for a selfie with Swift, whom they thanked in an Instagram post on the Prince and Princess of Wales' official account.

"Thank you @taylorswift for a great evening!" the caption read on Saturday.

Swift also shared an Instagram photo on Saturday featuring royal family members and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. The group was all smiles in the picture.

"Happy Bday M8! London shows are off to a splendid start," Swift's caption read.

William's attendance at The Eras Tour didn't go unnoticed by Swifties, including one who shared a TikTok video of him dancing to "Shake It Off."

Neither Catherine, Princess of Wales, nor six-year-old Prince Louis appeared at the concert. Kate, 42, made her first public appearance since her cancer diagnosis earlier this month at the Trooping the Colour Parade.

Kate shared details about her recovery in an Instagram post one day before the parade, saying she's making "good progress" with her chemotherapy treatment.

"I'm looking forward to attending The King's Birthday Parade this weekend with my family and hope to join a few public engagements over the summer, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet," the caption read. "I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal."

Representatives for Kensington Palace, Swift, and Kelce did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• A Swiss court convicted four members of the UK's richest family of exploiting staff at their Geneva villa.
• The family was given sentences ranging from four to four-and-a-half years.
• More serious charges of human trafficking were dismissed.

A Swiss court has convicted four members of the UK's richest family of exploiting staff at their Geneva mansion.

The court found Prakash Hinduja, his wife Kamal, their son Ajay, and Ajay's wife Namrata guilty of exploitation and illegal employment, the BBC reported.

They were given sentences ranging from four to four-and-a-half years, the report said.

More serious charges of human trafficking were dismissed.

The ruling followed claims by three workers at the villa that the family had taken their passports, paid them as little as $8 to work 18-hour days, and barred them from leaving the house, which is located in Geneva's wealthy Cologny neighborhood — a hot spot for wealthy buyers that has attracted the heirs to several fortunes, including Chanel and Peugeot, per Mansion Global.

The workers, who were brought to Switzerland from India, also received little or no vacation time and slept in the basement, sometimes on a mattress on the floor, the Associated Press reported.

Lawyers representing the family said they would appeal the decision, per the BBC.

Robert Assael, a lawyer for the family, said outside the court: "I'm shocked. We're going to fight it to the bitter end."

The Hinduja family

The family has a net worth of £37.196 billion, which is just over $47 billion, making them the UK's wealthiest family, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2024.

Prakash and his three brothers lead a family conglomerate that has interests in finance, healthcare, real estate, media, energy, and information technology, among other areas. Their companies operate across 48 countries, per the report.

The family owns the five-star luxury Raffles Hotel in London, where the cheapest room usually costs more than £1,000 (around $1,200) a night, and the most expensive, the Haldane suite, can cost £25,000 (roughly $31,600) a night.

The family also owns a 25-bedroom mansion on Carlton House Terrace, an exclusive street overlooking St James's Park in central London.

In 2015, Gopichand Hinduja, Prakash's brother, told the Times of London that the family did not spend more than one in five nights at the 67,000-square-foot home due to fears that it may bring them bad luck.

"Indians are very sentimental, emotional and they believe in omens and good luck," Gopichand Hinduja said.

"Although this has been built for the whole family, my wife and the family don't want to move here because they say that [our old house] has good luck . . . I can tell you the occupancy [here] is not more than 20 per cent," he added.

• Generative AI is a major focus at top consulting firms like McKinsey & Company.
• McKinsey's AI arm QuantumBlack employs 2,000 data scientists and has five global R&D centers.
• McKinsey's revenue hit $16 billion in 2023, driven by generative AI and strategic partnerships.

Generative AI has become the leading conversation topic at the world's premiere consulting firms.

"It's become a huge part of what the firm does, and I actually think it's going to be most of what we do in the future," Ben Ellencweig, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, told Business Insider. "How do we actually inject gen AI and AI thinking into ways of doing business?"

Ellencweig leads McKinsey's AI arm, QuantumBlack, which launched in 2015. It now employs some 2,000 data scientists, accounting for over 4% of its 45,000 employees. It also has research and development centers in five locations worldwide — India, Brazil, the UK, the United States, and Israel.

The launch of ChatGPT marked an inflection point for McKinsey's work on generative AI. "Today, roughly, about 40% of the work we do is analytics-related, AI-related, and a lot of it is moving to Gen AI," Ellencweig said. He added that McKinsey has worked on roughly 400 generative AI projects in the last six months.

Despite a broader cooldown in the consulting industry, McKinsey pulled in a record $16 billion in revenue in 2023 thanks to the promise of generative AI. While clients last year were caught up in experimenting with the new technology, this year, they're focused on building a larger ecosystem for it to thrive. But the technology itself is just a fraction of that, Ellencweig said. "You need to think about the change management. You need to talk about safe AI and responsible AI. You need to think about, 'How do you change workflows in the business?'"

Last June, the firm also announced a partnership with AI startup Cohere, which focuses on building AI models for enterprises. And it's been a win for both. McKinsey's work helps the young startup "build trust" among more organizations, Cohere's founder and CEO Aidan Gomez told Business Insider. While McKinsey benefits from Cohere's commitment to innovation — and responsible development.

It's not clear how the world will change amid the rapid advances in AI. But the firm's thesis is that the technology will be ubiquitous. "Gen AI is going to become part of every product," Ellencweig said. "It's going to be injected in everything we do in life way beyond a smart bot that helps navigate a website or a product."

• I cooked frozen meatballs using my air fryer, microwave, oven, and stovetop to see which is best.
• The microwaved meatballs were too rubbery and overly hot, but they were ready in one minute
• My classic stovetop approach was predictably good, but the oven was the clear winner

If there's a more comforting meal than pasta and meatballs, I'm not sure what it is. Give me a good homemade marinara sauce, a fistful of linguini, and seven or eight meatballs, and I'm a happy man.

And with grocery prices still high due to years of rising inflation, it's also an affordable meal that helps my family stick to our budget.

I've traditionally prepared premade frozen meatballs by plopping them into a pot of pasta sauce and letting it simmer on the stove while I boil the noodles.

But I wanted to see once and for all if that's really the best method. As an experiment, I made frozen meatballs with my stovetop, oven, air fryer, and microwave.

Here's how the appliances stacked up.

Microwaving the meatballs was incredibly quick.

If you're in a rush and only have a few minutes to spare, you can still make meatballs in a microwave.

I placed six frozen, precooked meatballs on a small plate, making sure none of them were touching. Then I put the plate in the microwave for one minute.

That was that. The meatballs were heated through — in fact, they were so hot I had to wait a minute before taking a bite.

Regardless of the results, it was so efficient that I’m sure I’ll do it again.

Frankly, the microwaved meatballs weren't all that good.

They had a slightly rubbery, springy texture. But I also ate them with no sauce or other accouterments — they probably would've been much more pleasant drenched in marinara.

Regardless, going from frozen solid to ready-to-eat in one minute was pretty impressive. I'd do it again in a pinch.

I had high hopes for my air fryer.

I'm a fan of air fryers and often use ours for fries, sliced sweet potatoes, veggie burgers, and more. Naturally, I thought meatballs would be great, too.

I set the air fryer to 375 degrees and cooked the meatballs for about four minutes. Then, I shook the shelves a little before cooking them for another four minutes.

The air fryer dried the meatballs out too much.

The resulting meatballs had a pleasantly browned exterior. But the interiors were a bit too dried out for my liking.

I don't think I'll make meatballs in the air fryer again. But if I did, I'd coat them in olive oil first and maybe shave a minute off the cooking time.

The stovetop meatballs had a bit of a leg up because they simmered in sauce.

Simmering frozen meatballs in red sauce has long been my go-to; it's arguably the most classic cooking method.

After only 10 minutes of simmering the meatballs in my wife's homemade marinara sauce (a family recipe passed down from three generations), they were cooked through.

The stovetop meatballs were the most flavorful.

Before this experiment, I would've said the stovetop is the best way to cook meatballs.

These were so flavorful that I'm still tempted to say that. But I'm now realizing that the texture could be better.

I knew cooking meatballs in the oven would take the longest.

For the final cooking method, I preheated our oven to 375 degrees. Then I spread nine meatballs out on a baking sheet — I probably could've cooked three dozen at the same time had I needed to.

The package recommended cooking the meatballs for 20 or 25 minutes. I baked them for about 22 minutes before pulling them from the oven.

The oven-cooked meatballs were definitely my favorite.

The meatballs glistened, clearly still moist, but they were also slightly browned and crispy. Inside, they were moist and flavorful.

In other words, the texture was perfect.

I ate several oven-baked meatballs right off the baking sheet, but I saved a few to coat in marinara sauce for dinner.

The oven may have been the slowest method, but the results were well worth the patience.

• The Seine River is too polluted for swimming events at the Paris Olympics, city officials said.
• Paris invested $1.5 billion to clean the Seine, but heavy rainfall increased pollution levels.
• The Seine has been off-limits for swimming since 1923 due to severe pollution.

Despite a massive cleanup effort, Paris' Seine River remains too polluted to host swimming events for the upcoming Olympic Games, city officials have said.

Samples taken from the river showed that E. Coli levels were above the recommended limit at four different sites for nearly the entire week of June 10 to June 16, per Le Monde with AFP.

"Samples from the Seine do not meet the standards we will have this summer," Paris region official Marc Guillaume added on Friday.

The Seine was poised to be a centerpiece of the Paris Olympics, featuring prominently in both the opening ceremony and various swimming events.

The city of Paris invested $1.5 billion in cleaning the river ahead of the games, with regular testing of bacterial levels to ensure athletes' safety.

But officials say heavy rainfall has scuppered those plans thus far, leading to high rates of two kinds of fecal bacteria, including E. Coli — which is "the species of coliform bacteria that is the best indicator of fecal pollution," according to the New York State Department of Health.

"Water quality remains degraded due to… rain, high flow, little sunshine (and) temperatures below seasonal norms," a weekly report published by the Paris region and mayor's office said, per Le Monde with AFP.

Paris' 19th-century sewage system can be overwhelmed by bad weather, leading to urban runoff, which carries pollutants to streams and rivers.

The Seine has been off-limits for swimming since 1923 due to high pollution levels.

Last year, triathletes took part in a test event in the Seine, with some airing concerns about their safety.

Norwegian Olympic gold medallist Kristian Blummenfelt said: "I always dive with open mouth. It's not going to be funny if I wake up tomorrow morning with … whatever," per ESPN.

A number of other test events in the river have been canceled due to pollution levels and bad weather.

Nevertheless, Guillaume said he was "confident" that swimming events would go ahead as planned.

"At one point or another, the weather will change, it's going to stop raining and we're going to have sunshine … It is in summer conditions that we must be able to examine swimmability," he said, Axios reported.

The 2024 Olympic Games is set to kick off on July 26.

The overall economic impact of the Olympic Games on the Paris region could range from 6.7 billion euros to 11.1 billion euros, or around $7.1 billion to $11.8 billion, according to a study published by Center for Law and Economics of Sport.

Business Insider contacted the Olympic Games Paris 2024 for comment.

• The National Museum of the US Navy is located in the Washington Navy Yard, an active military base.
• Access is limited and security measures are tight, but it contains fascinating artifacts.
• Exhibits include the USS Constitution mast and part of the submersible that found the Titanic.

Before I could join a dozen others for a tour of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC, I first had to pass through its heavily guarded gate.

Established in 1799, the Washington Navy Yard serves as the Navy's ceremonial and administrative center. It also houses the National Museum of the United States Navy, which opened to the public in 1963 and is the only naval museum to chronicle the Navy's history with artifacts dating from its founding to the present day.

Before we proceeded further, our guide, education specialist Mike Galloway, informed us that we were not allowed to photograph any entrances, service members, or security measures like cameras or police cars. He also emphasized that visitors could not wander around the base unattended and needed to be escorted by a guide at all times.

"I'm responsible for you at this point, and I don't want to tackle anyone today," he said, apparently joking.

The museum is in the early stages of building a more accessible space outside its tightly controlled gates. For now, it remains something of a "secret" destination.

Take a look inside the Washington Navy Yard and its museum's incredible collection of naval history.

Because the National Museum of the United States Navy is housed on an active base, access is limited.

The museum offers free tours on the second and fourth Saturday of every month, but you can't just show up. Tours need to be booked through Eventbrite or by emailing the museum at NHHC_NMUSNNavyMuseum@us.navy.mil.

The base itself felt reminiscent of a college campus with brick buildings, manicured lawns, and signs advertising events.

This was my first visit to a military base, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I figured I'd see service members in uniform, but I hadn't anticipated a picnic with a petting zoo for military families or signs advertising karaoke and line dancing.

The National Museum of the United States Military is housed in Building 76, a former naval gun factory.

The National Museum of the United States Navy opened to the public in 1963, but the Washington Navy Yard has had a museum on its campus since 1865.

The museum paid tribute to its past with signage detailing the history of Building 76.

A sign on the museum floor explained the train tracks that once led into the building were used to move manufacturing equipment and guns around the base.

The museum's centerpiece was a fighting top from the mast of the USS Constitution, the world's oldest commissioned warship that's still afloat.

The USS Constitution is docked at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston and is open to the public. Completed in 1797, the ship got the nickname "Old Ironsides" for its use during the War of 1812.

Fighting tops were platforms used by Marine sharpshooters to fire at enemy ships during battle, our tour guide said.

The museum featured artifacts dating back to the establishment of the US Navy.

This Chinese porcelain punch bowl was made for Commodore Thomas Truxtun, who gifted a nearly identical one to his friend George Washington.

Truxtun served as the first captain of the Constellation, one of the six warships authorized by Congress as part of the Naval Act of 1794 establishing a national Navy.

Washington's bowl is on display at his historic Mount Vernon home.

A wooden figurehead from the early 19th century was believed to be modeled after King George IV.

The figurehead, which would have decorated the bow of a ship, is depicted wearing the Order of St. George and the Star of the Order of the Garter, royal traditions that are still observed today.

Modern weaponry on display included items like an atomic bomb casing similar to the one used on Nagasaki in 1945.

The atomic bomb, known as "Fat Man," featured a plutonium core. The casing weighs 10,265 pounds, according to the National Museum of Pacific War.

A Japanese Yokosuka MXY7-K1 Ohka plane used as a kamikaze suicide rocket bomb during World War II was suspended from the ceiling.

The Ohka planes were used by Japan to bomb US Navy warships, damaging the vessels and occasionally sinking them entirely, Galloway said.

The museum also displayed a Corsair fighter plane from World War II.

Armed with bombs and rockets, Corsair fighter planes targeted enemy aircraft during World War II.

The Mark 90 nuclear depth charge, developed by the Navy during the Cold War, was designed to destroy numerous Soviet submarines in one blast.

Nicknamed "Betty," the Mark 90 was part of a series of smaller nuclear weapons the US designed in the 1950s in order to dissuade the Soviet Union from attacking.

This twin-mount 38-caliber gun turret was once used to shoot down planes on the USS Reno.

Decommissioned in 1946, the USS Reno earned three battle stars during World War II, according to the Navy.

There was plenty to see, but much of the space remains under construction until the museum's new permanent home is ready.

Many of the items on display didn't have accompanying plaques explaining their historical significance. During my first lap around the museum, I walked right past the nuclear-weapon exhibits without knowing what they were. I found that touring the museum with a knowledgeable guide and asking them questions was essential for getting the most out of my visit.

The museum included exhibits about other aspects of life in the Navy, such as its connection to baseball.

Baseball has long been beloved by service members. In the 1870s, Navy ships visiting Japanese ports would play against local teams, according to the Department of Defense.

The National Museum of the United States Navy displayed World War II-era baseball paraphernalia, such as a hat and warm-up jacket worn by service members.

The sport remains popular in the US Armed Forces. Former Major League Baseball commissioner and Air Force veteran William Eckert once said, "Wherever soldiers and veterans are, baseball will be," according to a plaque in the exhibit.

In addition to displaying historic artifacts, the National Museum of the United States Navy also functions as a ceremony space.

On the morning I visited, the museum was hosting a retirement ceremony for a service member. The museum also hosts promotion ceremonies.

After we had some time to look around the museum, our tour of the Washington Navy Yard began.

Spanning 63 acres along the Anacostia River, the Washington Navy Yard was once used for the construction of ships and artillery. The river also made it a great place to grow hemp, which was used for lines in sails and other Navy equipment, Galloway said.

Today, it's largely an administrative center.

Along the sidewalk, our guide pointed out a collection of cannons captured during historic battles.

Known as "prize guns" or "trophy guns," artillery pieces captured in battle are engraved with the details of when and where they were taken.

One cannon was captured during a Civil War battle in 1861 when Confederate forces tried to shut down the riverways leading into Washington, DC, by firing cannons from bluffs outside of the capital.

"That's the great thing about guns and cannons," Galloway said. "They can actually tell a human story, as well — it's not just a piece of machinery, and it's not just a dealer of death."

We stopped at a cannon that was captured from the British during the War of 1812.

The gun, dating back to the late 18th century, was likely used by a merchantman or privateer.

An original guardhouse from the 1830s was positioned near the cannon displays.

The structure was temporarily moved to a Navy facility in Indian Head, Maryland, and sat abandoned for decades until it was restored and returned to the Washington Navy Yard.

On the way to our next stop, I took in a stunning view of Latrobe Gate, which was once the main entrance to the Washington Navy Yard.

Latrobe Gate was built by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who also designed the US Capitol Building. The Greek Revival structure survived the War of 1812 and remains the oldest continuously manned Marine sentry post in the US, according to Naval Support Activity Washington. Today, access to the gate is limited to the flag officers who live on base and their invited guests.

I couldn't take photos of the gate from inside the base for security reasons, so this image from the Library of Congress shows the gate as it looked in the 1980s.

Quarters B is likely the oldest building on the base, possibly dating back to the 1790s.

Quarters B housed the second officer of the Washington Navy Yard.

Next to Quarters B, obscured by the trees, was Tingey House, named for the first Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard, Captain Thomas Tingey. Also known as Quarters A or the Commandant's House, it is now the official residence of the Chief of Naval Operations.

Both structures, along with Latrobe Gate, survived the War of 1812, when Tingey commanded US forces to burn the Washington Navy Yard to prevent the British from capturing it.

Outside the historic homes, the anchor from the USS Enterprise was mounted on a platform.

According to the museum, the USS Enterprise was the first nuclear aircraft carrier in the world and took part in numerous missions and battles from 1961 until 2012.

The Enterprise tracked the first American orbital spaceflight as part of Project Mercury in 1962, helped evacuate Saigon during Operation Frequent Wind in 1975, and struck Iraqi targets during Operation Desert Fox in 1998, among others.

This Naval History and Heritage Command headquarters is where Captain Charles McVay was court-martialed after the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.

In 1945, a Japanese submarine fired torpedoes at the Indianapolis as it traveled from Guam to Leyte after delivering the atomic bomb that would later be used on Hiroshima. The ship sank 12 minutes later.

Out of 1,195 crew members, 316 survived, according to the US Naval Institute. Around 200 crew members reportedly died from shark attacks.

The ship became more well-known after its mention in the movie "Jaws," in which the character Quint recounts his experience as a survivor of the Indianapolis wreck and the gruesome shark attacks that followed.

McVay was the only Navy commander to be court-martialed for losing a ship during battle in World War II. He was widely viewed as a scapegoat, leading his conviction to be overturned by Navy Secretary James Forrestal, The New York Times reported. Still, his reputation never truly recovered. He died by suicide in 1968, and over 50 years later, Congress passed a resolution fully exonerating him.

The old Winch House, where ships were removed from the water to be repaired, has been transformed into a coffee shop.

Before steam winch engines hauled ships onto land, hundreds of sailors would manually pull them in.

The Taylor Building once housed a 470-foot wave pool used to test ship hull models.

Ships and submarines are now tested in a 12 million-gallon pool at a Navy facility called Carderock in Maryland.

"The Washington Navy Yard is oftentimes an incubator to various ideas and concepts that will become standard for the US Navy as well as some industries over time," Galloway said. "But once it gets too large for what is relatively a small footprint throughout its history, that's when you start seeing it move to places that you might know today that are better for those activities."

Building 1 is the Navy's oldest active office building.

Built in 1838 and most recently remodeled in 2006, Building 1 serves as the Commandant's Office.

We then walked to Willard Park, which displayed more notable artifacts and pieces of artillery.

Willard Park is named for Adm. Arthur Willard, who served as commandant of the Navy Yard during World War I.

A spare propeller blade from the USS Maine, which sank in Havana Harbor in 1898, paid tribute to the lost ship.

The ship's sinking was a catalyst for the Spanish-American War, during which the US obtained Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines and annexed Hawaii, according to the US Office of the Historian.

One of the coolest artifacts on the tour was the pressure sphere from the Alvin, the submersible that discovered the wreck of the Titanic.

The Titanic was discovered in 1985 — more than 70 years after the sinking — during a secret Navy mission to locate the wrecks of two nuclear submarines. The true nature of the mission only became public in 2008 when oceanographer Robert Ballard published a book about his experience.

The last stop on the tour of the Washington Navy Yard was a parking garage with an unconventional macabre history, our guide explained.

Ulric Dahlgren, a Union colonel during the Civil War and the son of Union Navy Rear Adm. John Dahlgren, was wounded in the leg during the Battle of Hagerstown following the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

When amputation became necessary, the leg was interred with full military honors in the cornerstone of a foundry that was under construction in the Washington Navy Yard. The foundry was torn down in 1915 and, several buildings later, a parking garage now occupies the site. Dahlgren's leg was lost somewhere along the way, but a plaque on the parking garage still marks the spot where it would have been.

The National Museum of the United States Navy is absolutely worth visiting, even in its temporary home.

"The Washington Navy Yard still serves as a very important hub for the United States Navy to this day, we're just much smaller now," Galloway said. "And as you can see, the US Navy Museum is shrinking so that we can grow again so that we can better tell the story of the US Navy and the nation."

I'm looking forward to visiting the National Museum of the United States Navy again when its larger, permanent home is eventually established. In the meantime, it's still a fascinating site that pays tribute to the Navy's nearly 250-year history and provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a military command center.

• Baltic countries are facing intensifying Russian hybrid warfare threats.
• Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are strong supporters of Ukraine.
• Officials in these nations have repeatedly raised concerns about Russian hybrid warfare operations.

The three Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have been at the forefront of the conflict between the West and Russia since the latter's invasion of Ukraine.

Staunch supporters of Ukraine, they – along with Denmark – have given the most aid to Kyiv in relation to their GDP and have been pushing for strict sanctions on Moscow.

Although they are members of NATO and the EU, the Baltics are in a precarious position. Bordering Russia or its ally Belarus, they are small and were part of the Soviet Union until its collapse. Furthermore, over 20% of the population of Estonia and Latvia and 5% of Lithuania are ethnically Russian.

All of this has put them in Moscow's crosshairs. Russia seems to be employing unconventional methods against them that blur the line between war and peace and fall into what is called the "gray zone."

In July 2023, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna expressed his concern about the possibility of such Russian attacks. "There are hybrid threats. But we never know what kind of hybrid situation may happen. We have witnessed them before as well," he said.

NATO has also cautioned against intensifying Russian hybrid warfare in the region and in the rest of Europe that could include "disinformation, sabotage, acts of violence, cyber and electronic interference, and other hybrid operations."

Targeting the Baltics

Indeed, a year later in May 2024, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed the Baltics for severing most of their ties with Russia, adding, "We will also respond to the hostile actions of the Baltic states with asymmetrical measures, primarily in the economic and transit spheres."

Moscow is suspected of following through with its threats.

In May, a leaked Russian proposal outlined plans to redraw Russia's territorial waters with Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Petrov said the proposal wasn't politically motivated but implied it was required to ensure Russia's security amid escalating regional tensions.

Although the proposal was deleted a day after it leaked, the following day several buoys demarcating the territorial waters between Russia and Estonia on the Narva River were removed by the Russian coast guard.

Estonian high officials urged calm, but Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis was more pointed: "Another Russian hybrid operation is underway, this time attempting to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about their intentions in the Baltic Sea," Landsbergis said in response.

Additionally, there has recently been increased jamming of the satellite navigation systems of commercial aircraft in region, which appears to be originating from within Russian territory. Although it is not clear whether the disruption is intentional, Tallinn and Vilnius have accused Moscow.

Russia and Belarus have also been accused by EU officials of pushing migrants towards the border of Lithuania and neighboring Poland and using them as hybrid weapons. Lithuania temporarily closed off some of its border crossings with Belarus in response, and Poland deployed troops to the border. The Baltics and Poland are prepared to close off their borders in the event of a major migrant push from Belarus.

All three Baltic countries have been targeted by influence operations. Estonia has seen a rise in sabotages that included damage to an undersea gas pipeline and telecommunications cables between it and Finland. Espionage, cyber attacks, and election tampering are also a concern, with Estonia having arrested the most Russian agents per capita in the EU.

Destabilization is the point

Hybrid warfare can use various tools – including military, informational, economic, civilian, and others – but it falls short of overt military action.

Its purpose is to destabilize a country's government, institutions, or population while often preventing attribution back to the perpetrator – occasionally, a purposeful and targeted action may even appear to be a random event.

Although hybrid warfare is not a new strategy, nor one employed exclusively by Russia and its allies, it has received increased attention following Russia's 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea as Moscow used a variety of military and non-military tools, which were described as hybrid, to capture the peninsula without meaningful Ukrainian resistance.

The murky nature of hybrid warfare can make it hard to identify and address potential threats. Yet, the Baltic countries are prioritizing hybrid threats and fortifying their institutions in response.

Tellingly, Latvia, in its 2016 National Defense Concept – the country's overarching defense strategy – named hybrid threats and Russia as the main threats to its security for the first time.

And last week, writing alongside his Polish and Czech colleagues, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs expressed "deep concern" over Russian hybrid threats.

"We will act individually and collectively to address these actions, boost our resilience and continue to coordinate closely to ensure that the Alliance and Allies are prepared to deter and defend against hybrid actions or attacks," he said.

• Elon Musk sees universal basic income as a necessary response to automation eliminating human jobs.
• The Tesla chief predicts there will be "universal high income" that will give people more free time.
• Here are Musk's eight best UBI quotes, including that people should spend the cash as they wish.

One of the biggest champions of universal basic income (UBI) is Elon Musk, who expects it to become necessary when robots evict humans from their jobs.

UBI typically refers to making recurring cash payments to all adults in a population, regardless of their wealth or employment status, and with no restrictions on how they spend the money.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X, envisions a world of self-driving vehicles and other artificially intelligent machines replacing humans in work settings and performing virtually all physical and mental labor.

He's suggested that will give people more freedom in how they spend their time and money — and predicted the AI-powered economy will be so productive that everyone will receive not just a basic income but a high one.

Here are Musk's eight best quotes about UBI, lightly edited for length and clarity:

1. "There's a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation. I'm not sure what else one would do. I think that is what would happen. People will have time to do other things, more complex things, more interesting things. Certainly more leisure time." (CNBC, November 4, 2016).
2. "I think we'll end up doing universal basic income. It's going to be necessary. There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better. I want to be clear: These are not things I wish will happen — these are things I think probably will happen." (World Government Summit in Dubai, February 13, 2017)
3. "Universal income will be necessary over time if AI takes over most human jobs. Also think there should be a universal basic income that doesn't change even if you get a job. Productivity should be rewarded." (X posts, June 15 and June 20, 2018)
4. "I'm in *favor* of universal basic income. Goal of government should be to maximize the happiness of the people. Giving each person money allows them to decide what meets their needs, rather than the blunt tool of legislation, which creates self-serving special interests. If we do a stimulus at all, it should just be direct payments to consumers." (X post, July 24, 2020)
5. "The $1400 is mostly good imo (UBI lite), as the people get to choose how the money is spent, but the rest is mostly net bad for the people as a whole." (Commenting on pandemic stimulus in a X post, March 6, 2021)
6. "What is the economy at its foundation? It is labor. So what happens when there is no shortage of labor? This is why I think long-term, there will need to be universal basic income." (AI Day, August 2021)
7. "There will be universal high income, not basic, in a positive AI future. No scarcity, except that which we define to be scarce. In that scenario, everyone can have whatever goods & services they want. It is less clear how we will find meaning in a world where work is optional. (X post, December 25, 2023)
8. "In a benign scenario, probably none of us will have a job. There would be universal high income. There would be no shortage of goods and services. The question will really be one of meaning: if a computer can do, and the robots can do, everything better than you, does your life have meaning? I do think there's perhaps still a role for humans in that we may give AI meaning." (VivaTech, May 23, 2024).

• My son has been going to summer camp for years now, and is always away for his birthday. 
• It was hard the first time, but he was ready for this independence. 
• I get to see his birthday celebrations through the camp's app. 

Two years ago, I packed bags and bins full of clothing and toiletries, and my son left for his first summer at sleepaway camp. Three weeks later, he celebrated his 11th birthday with his new camp friends, away from home and without family.

At the end of his four-week camp session, when he told me camp was his favorite place on Earth, it sunk in that I'd never be with him on his birthday again. At first, I was heartbroken.

I love celebrating his birthday

I remember his first birthday like it was yesterday. Friends and family gathered in our home as we sang Happy Birthday and indulged in his first birthday cake. Not quite walking yet, I couldn't imagine how his birthdays would change in only a decade — how the toddler in my arms would become the teen driving a go-kart 150 miles away from home.

In the years following that first birthday, we threw many parties. From the bowling alley to the karate dojo to a magician's stage, we celebrated my son on his special day because that's what you do when children turn another year older. Often, he'd awaken to a room filled with balloons. But sometimes, traditions change.

As a mother, it was already hard to let go for the first time. I wanted him nearby so I could ensure he was happy, healthy, and safe. I worried he wouldn't brush his teeth, get sick, or like the food. Even worse, I was concerned he'd miss us during quiet nights as he lay awake in bed.

My son was ready for independence

As I packed his belongings, I remembered my own summers at sleepover camp, and I overwhelmingly recalled being homesick and wanting to go home. The day that stuck out most was my 13th birthday when I snuck to the payphone to call my parents. "Please come get me," I begged, even though I'd independently chosen to go back another summer. My own childhood emotions came rushing back, impeding me from sending my son off with ease.

But he was a different child altogether. He was ready.

My son heard about summer camp from the moment he could communicate. My husband went to the same camp himself and later worked there as a counselor. Stories of late-night firepits, hikes into the wilderness, and ziplining through the trees have been told in our home since my son could talk. My husband remains friends with some staff members, which gives my son a sense of community when he's away. Before he even arrived on day one, camp felt like a second home to him. No wonder he chooses to be away on his birthday each year.

I saw photos of his birthday on an app

That first summer away, I saw pictures from his birthday the following day on the Campanion app — the app where pictures of campers are uploaded daily. I waited anxiously, wanting to know if he'd had a special day because he'd never turn 11 again. It felt surreal to see pictures of my son's birthday celebration — one I didn't plan or attend myself. As pictures began to load, it felt like a piece of me was missing, but his smile made everything seem right.

From a birthday t-shirt to spinning the birthday wheel for a prize to birthday cake for his entire bunk, the day was equally as special as any birthday at home. As I scrolled through pictures, there was no doubt in my mind he was happy. He was celebrated by his counselors, friends, and the entire camp, and that made being away from him on his special day a little easier for me.

For him, it was the best birthday yet.

I've learned to accept that we can celebrate early. Last summer, we threw a surprise party in our yard with his closest friends the week before he left for camp. This summer, we'll celebrate with a sendoff dinner at his favorite restaurant with family.

With a little creative planning, I make his birthday special, even though I'm not there. Each summer, I pack a box with presents to be opened on his birthday and send a celebratory activity for his bunk. For his 11th birthday, they had a water gun fight that spanned across the entire camp and on his 12th birthday, they attended dinner with stick-on mustaches and festive hats. I have my work cut out for me, but I hope to make each camp birthday stand out from the last.

As a mother, it's my job to help my son thrive until he can do so on his own — and right now, that means letting him be away on his birthday every summer. Camp has given him independence, confidence, and friendships for a lifetime, and there's nowhere else he'd rather be on his birthday than his favorite place on Earth.