• Two climate protesters were arrested for spraying orange powder paint on Stonehenge.
• The protesters were part of Just Stop Oil, a group demanding that the UK phase out fossil fuels.
• English Heritage, which manages Stonehenge, criticized the vandalism but said the site is open.

Two climate protesters were arrested on Wednesday after they sprayed orange powder paint on Stonehenge, the prehistoric landmark in Wiltshire, England.

It was the latest action by Just Stop Oil, which is part of a network of civil disobedience groups that have defaced famous artwork, disrupted high-profile events, and protested outside at politicians' homes to call attention to the climate crisis. Just Stop Oil is demanding that the incoming UK government commit to ending the extraction and burning of oil, gas, and coal by 2030.

Just Stop Oil said the protesters were Niamh Lynch, 21, a student at Oxford University, and Rajan Naidu, 73, from Birmingham.

"The orange cornflour we used to create an eye-catching spectacle will soon wash away with the rain, but the urgent need for effective government action to mitigate the catastrophic consequences of the climate and ecological crisis will not," Lynch said in a statement.

The Wiltshire Police said they arrested two people on suspicion of damaging the ancient monument, but did not disclose names.

English Heritage, the charity that manages hundreds of historic places, and UK politicians criticized Just Stop Oil's actions on Wednesday.

"Obviously, this is extremely upsetting and our curators are investigating the extent of the damage," English Heritage posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "More updates to follow but the site remains open."

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told news outlets, including the Guardian, that defacing Stonehenge was a "disgraceful act of vandalism to one of the UK's and the world's oldest and most important monuments."

• When my husband and I sold our law firm, we retired early; I was 54 years old.
• At first, I was worried I'd be bored and didn't want to spend every minute with my husband.
• Eighteen months into retirement, I'm feeling spiritually lighter and focusing on self-growth. 

I retired at 54 when I sold the law firm I owned with my husband.

I had poured nine years of my life into that law firm. The business was hard and relentless work, but I loved it. Before all that, my adult life focused on building my career as a lawyer and raising a family. Now, our youngest child of four was finishing school. The child-raising was done, and my business was sold. Suddenly, it felt like I had nothing left.

With the rest of our lives before us, my husband and I wondered who we were without our kids or careers.

I worried about what my husband and I would do with our new free time

I was lost. For the first time in my life, I had no purpose or direction. I had oodles of time to do whatever I wanted, but I didn't know what that was.

My husband and I agreed that we should sell the business; we did not agree on early retirement.

"We are too young to retire," I told him repeatedly. "We still have so much to offer."

"Don't be crazy. We should grab the opportunity of a new, slower life with both hands," he often answered.

Our marriage has been a long and happy one. I wasn't concerned about spending a lot of time with my husband, but I was concerned about spending all our time together. Leading up to retirement, I wondered: What would we do, what would we talk about, and would we get sick of each other?

The questions boggled my mind during the first few weeks of early retirement as I started cleaning out the cupboards — begrudgingly. The task was so boring and mind-numbing that I worried the task was a representation of the rest of my life.

Out of force of habit, I compulsively checked my emails countless times a day only to be continually disappointed when I saw shopping emails imploring me to buy the latest whatever.

Eventually, I noticed a change in myself

Day by day, week by week, I felt myself growing lighter. The furrow between my eyes faded. I didn't realize how often I had screwed my face in concentration trying to solve the latest problem. I didn't realize the extent of the weight I had been carrying on my shoulders — the weight of a team of 35 people and thousands of clients. The weight of the bushfire that I imagined was out there flickering, always threatening to flare up and damage the business, finally dissipated.

I started filling my days with things other than work and the 100+ emails that needed answering every day.

I met up with neglected friends and kept surprising myself as I told them I would fit in with their week. I no longer had to see when I could squeeze in a coffee date. I no longer had to take my laptop with me to the hairdresser or send emails while I was grocery shopping.

On our usual morning walk with our fur baby Golden Retrievers, my husband and I were able to slow down. The walks became longer and less hurried. We often finished with a leisurely coffee at a café.

Plus, we started traveling more and for longer periods.

Sure, I'm spending more time with my husband, but our time together now is more meaningful. And it's giving me a reason to find the new me.

I'm trying to write a new chapter for myself

As I explored who I wanted to become outside my career and outside my marriage, I decided I should start to write. I've signed up for a few online writing courses. I have started experimenting with flash fiction, short stories, memoirs, poetry, and travel writing.

Eighteen months into retirement, I can see that this period of my life is a gift. I can stop rushing, and I can start nourishing myself with things that I want to do. I have the luxury of time and the freedom to do what I want when I want. I can be present and not preoccupied.

Early retirement has gifted me the opportunity, quite literally, to write another chapter of my life — and this chapter is all about me.

• The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.94% last week, the first drop below 7% since March.
• Mortgage applications rose this week to their highest level since March, showing increased demand.
• For mortgage rates to keep falling, inflation will likely have to cool further. 

One key part of buying a home became a bit more affordable last week, and some Americans decided to take advantage.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell from 7.02% to 6.94% in the week ending June 14, according to a Bloomberg report that cited Mortgage Bankers Association data released on June 19. This was the first time the 30-year fixed mortgage had fallen below 7% since March.

In the same week, the MBA's index of mortgage applications rose 1.6% to its highest point since March — signaling an uptick in homebuyer demand.

In recent years, high home prices and mortgage rates have made homeownership feel out of reach for many Americans. Business Insider has interviewed several people who have moved in recent years in the hopes of finding lower rents or mortgage payments.

To be sure, the majority of US households own their homes — nearly 66% did so as of 2022, according to the Census Bureau. But aspiring homeowners who missed out on relatively lower home prices and significantly lower mortgage rates of recent years have been dealt a tougher hand.

Some additional relief could also be on the horizon: 30-year mortgage rates are expected to fall to between 6.5% and 7.0% this year — though this would still be much higher than the sub-3% rates seen in 2020 and 2021.

The recent decline in mortgage rates was indirectly tied to the government inflation data released last week — which showed that price growth in May was slower than expected. For mortgage rates to fall considerably further, inflation will likely have to continue to cool.

• A new Citi report says finance will be "at the forefront" of changes due to artificial intelligence.
• Banking jobs are most at risk of AI-driven displacement, the report says.
• The adoption of AI in finance, however, will be slow due to regulatory challenges and other factors.

AI has already been thought to have the potential to change jobs in every industry profoundly. But, according to a new report from Citigroup researchers, "finance will be at the forefront of the changes."

"What a bank or financial firm looks like in the mid-2020s, be it retail or wholesale finance, looks very different to the mid-1980s, or the mid-1940s," the report said. "AI will repeat this cycle, possibly speeding it up."

While general-purpose technologies, or GPTs, create new opportunities for innovation and can improve quality of life, "they also destroy existing ways of doing things," the report added. "And as such, they also create losers, especially in the short term."

With data pulled from Accenture Research and the World Economic Forum, Citi's researchers said that about 67% of banking jobs have "higher potential" to be automated or augmented by AI. That means "banking jobs" (which the report didn't narrowly define) have the highest potential for AI-led job displacement.

However, according to Citi, a decline in head count may be partially or completely offset by an increase in AI-related compliance managers and ethics and governance staff.

One upside Citi pointed out, however, is that they estimate the profit pool for the 2023 global banking sector "could increase 9% or $170 billion from the adoption of AI, rising from just over $1.7 trillion to close to $2 trillion."

AI adoption in finance will be slow

The Citi researchers believe the "pace of implementing modern AI tools in financial services, in particular, GenAI, will be relatively slow when compared to other sectors," they said in the report, in part because of the "highly regulated nature of the sector and lack of 'ready to go globally aligned rules.'"

"A regulatory landscape is evolving in some jurisdictions, but it is a challenging road ahead for financial services firms when it comes to implementation because countries are moving to different speeds, taking different approaches towards regulation and in some cases changing their position on whether to regulate," it said.

In an interview featured in the report, Shameek Kundu, the head of financial services and chief strategy officer at TruEra, weighed in on the same point.

"I would describe traditional AI adoption in financial services as: widespread, shallow, and inconsequential," said Kundu.

Kundu explains that there are "a large number of enterprises experimenting with AI across different use cases," yet "limited scale of AI adoption across use cases" and a "limited perceived impact of AI system failures on critical business operations."

He cited a 2022 Bank of England survey, which found that "72% of firms reported using or developing machine learning applications," yet the "median number of ML applications for mainstream UK financial institutions to be just 20-30" and "less than 20% of the already few AI use cases were critical to business."

• Katy Perry announced her new single, "Woman's World," will be released on July 11.
• Perry also shared a short snippet of the song on TikTok, teasing a female empowerment theme.
• The production and lyrics have already been criticized as "dated" and "cliché" on social media.

Katy Perry's new song won't be released until next month, but the pop star's much-hyped comeback may already be in jeopardy.

On Monday, Perry unveiled the cover art and title for her forthcoming single, "Woman's World," out July 11, which will serve as the lead for Perry's sixth album with Capitol Records.

"Get ready to pop off," Perry wrote.

The as-yet-unnamed album will be Perry's first since 2020's "Smile," which drew an underwhelming response from critics and fans alike. (Business Insider's music team gave the album a score of 4.6 out of 10.)

At the time, "Smile" was similarly marketed as a rebirth following backlash to the so-called "purposeful pop" of Perry's previous album, 2017's "Witness."

Since then, Perry has laid relatively low for a chart-topping, record-breaking superstar. She gave birth to her first child with Orlando Bloom, a daughter named Daisy Dove, in August 2020. The following year, she launched "Play," an 80-show Las Vegas residency. Perry has also served as a judge on "American Idol" for seven seasons, wrapping her final episode in May.

As these endeavors neared their ends, Perry began dropping hints about a splashy comeback — and the timing has not gone unnoticed.

Over a decade has elapsed since Perry released a celebrated album (2013's "Prism"). Her most recent charting hit was "Daisies," which peaked at No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020.

In the words of @mazzypopstar, a pop culture commentary account on X: "Last two albums flopped, no hits since bon appetit and swish swish, harleys in hawaii streams aren't paying the bills anymore, landlord knocking on the door, she has ONE chance…"

When Perry finally kicked off her new era this week, she paired the announcement with a short snippet of "Woman's World" on TikTok. The video shows Perry lip-synching to a set of lyrics, which seem to focus on female empowerment, individuality, and strength — themes Perry has explored many times in songs like "Firework" (2010), "Roar" (2013), and "Resilient" (2020).

"Sexy, confident / So intelligent," Perry sings. "She is heaven-sent / So soft, so strong."

However, Perry's retreat to a familiar formula has not inspired faith in the masses — at least not judging by the early reactions on social media.

"I was rooting for Katy but these lyrics are so dated," one skeptic wrote on X. "It's giving 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign material."

Some people mocked the song's production and overall sound, leaving harsh comments across TikTok.

At the time of writing, the top comment on Perry's own video reads, "Get in the studio right now and re-record this song." Another says, "Are these AI lyrics??"

In separate videos, various creators said the clip sounds like "cliché drivel" and "an ARTPOP reject track," referring to Lady Gaga's 2013 album.

Some fan accounts went so far as to claim that Perry shared the video as a prank and the snippet was generated by AI, as some kind of bait-and-switch promotional tactic. (It is true the "Woman's World" sound has been removed from TikTok, but there's no real evidence or confirmation from Perry's team to support this theory.)

Many others criticized Perry's new visual direction, accusing her of cribbing aesthetics from niche pop musicians like Charli XCX — who's enjoying a wave of positive reviews for her new album "Brat" — and the Venezuelan producer Arca.

One disapproving post on X, which has racked up over 57,000 likes, accuses Perry of manufacturing a certain look in order to appeal to "the lowest common denominator gay guys."

A significant amount of the ire directed at Perry was sparked by a rumor that "Woman's World" was coproduced by Dr. Luke (real name Łukasz Gottwald), whom Kesha publicly accused of emotional and sexual abuse.

Kesha herself added fuel to the fire, simply writing "lol" on X shortly after Perry shared her announcement.

Rolling Stone confirmed Gottwald's involvement on Wednesday. He is one of several producers who collaborated with Perry on her forthcoming album, joining hitmakers like Max Martin and Stargate, according to a label source.

"Katy knew exactly the album she wanted to make and put together the team to make it happen," a Capitol Records source told Rolling Stone.

A representative for Perry did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Americans' diets have remained largely unchanged since 1999, according to a new study.
• Meals remain high in processed foods that can increase a person's risk of disease.
• Ditching sugary drinks and eating two fewer processed meals a week could help.

Americans are eating healthier than in previous years, but they still have a long way to go, according to a researcher who studies food as medicine.

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Boston, co-authored a study on the quality of nearly 52,000 American adults' diets between 1999 and 2020. The results were published online Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Mozaffarian and his co-author, Junxiu Liu, examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and found that the American diet has remained nearly the same over the past two decades.

Between 1999 and 2020, 10.5% of study participants transitioned from "poor" diets to healthier diets with more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and less sodium, processed meat, and saturated fat.

But only 1% of study participants ate an "ideal" diet — 4 to 5 cups of fruits and vegetables daily, plus beans, whole grains, and nuts — during that same time period.

"People often ask me, 'Well, if the diet's slowly improving, why is obesity and diabetes still going up?' It's still going up because only 1.58% of Americans have an ideal diet. We still have a long way to go," Mozaffarian told CNN.

"We have stalled as a nation — and that does not bode well for our health. If I was grading America on its diet, I'd give it a D—just up from an F," Mozaffarian said.

Why are Americans failing in the diet department?

Typically, the American diet consists of ultra-processed foods and foods high in salt and sugar. These foods can increase a person's risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and early deathAccordingng to Heidi Silver, a registered dietitian and director of the Vanderbilt Diet, Body Composition, and Human Metabolism Core at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashvil, factors like food insecurity and poverty have contributed to the overall lack of improvement in peoples' diets over the last two decadesle.

"Food insecurity affects diet quality via lower consumption of healthier foods, especially those that are more expensive, don't have a long shelf life and don't provide enough volume to fill a hungry child," Silver told Yahoo.

These systemic limitations can make it difficult for food-insecure populations like Black people, older people, and low-income people to make lasting diet changes.

Simple diet tweaks could help reduce health risks

For those seeking simple and inexpensive ways to improve their diets, removing sugary drinks is a good first step, according to Dr. Gregory Katz, a cardiologist at NYU Langone.

"Drinking calories and drinking alcohol are the biggest modifiable risk factors. The number of people I see drinking 500 calories a day blows my mind," Katz told Business Insider's Gabby Landsverk. "Just because it's simple doesn't make it easy."

Katz suggested doing away with soda, juice, sugar-laden coffee drinks, and cocktails and replacing them with unsweetened tea or water flavored with a splash of juice or flavored with citrus.

Aiming to swap out two servings of processed foods each week is another strategy that doesn't involve overhauling your entire diet, according to Dr. W. Taylor Kimberly. Kimberly, a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and the senior author of a recent study linking ultra-processed foods to health risks like dementia and stroke.

You could, for example, swap French fries for a baked sweet potato or nosh on nuts and carrots instead of cookies and crackers.

Kimberly said that a good rule of thumb is to prepare meals at home as much as possible.

"If you look at it and think, that could be made in my kitchen, that's a good indicator," he said.

• Dollar Tree failed to remove lead-contaminated apple sauce from some of its stores, the FDA said.
• Products linked to child illnesses were said to still be on shelves months after they were recalled.
• The FDA said it could take further legal action if its concerns were not addressed. 

Dollar Tree failed for months to remove lead-contaminated apple sauce products from some of its stores, officials from the US Food and Drug Administration said in a letter to the retailer on June 11. The FDA warned it could take further legal action if Dollar Tree did not properly address the violations.

Several products — including WanaBana apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches, Schnucks cinnamon-flavored apple sauce pouches, and Weis cinnamon apple sauce pouches — were recalled in October after consumption was linked to elevated levels of lead. As of March, the pouches were tied to reports of more than 500 illnesses among children in 44 states.

In its letter to Dollar Tree, the FDA said that the WanaBana pouches were still on shelves at stores in some states through December 19, two months after the recall. The agency wrote that although store employees did not allow customers to purchase the pouches at checkout, it was not an effective recall measure because at least one parent in Washington had allowed their child to eat a pouch off the shelf before they completed the purchase.

"This letter notifies you of our concerns and provides you an opportunity to address them," the FDA's letter read. "Failure to adequately address this matter may result in legal action, including, without limitation, seizure and injunction."

It asked the company to provide written documentation of the steps it is taking to prevent future violations within 15 business days.

A Dollar Tree spokesperson said the retailer is on a "journey to transform our business" under its new management team and will "continue to take steps to significantly enhance and strengthen our compliance and safety programs and capabilities, including our process for quickly and effectively executing product recalls."

"We continue to cooperate with FDA on this matter," they said.

There have been several changes to Dollar Tree's leadership team in the last 18 months. Rick Dreiling replaced Mike Witynski as CEO in January 2023, and Jason Nordin joined as senior vice president and chief of stores for Dollar Tree in September.