• The flagship of Donald Trump's private jet fleet is a Boeing 757-200.
• Trump's Boeing 757 is a 30-year-old airliner converted for use as a private jet.
• It's not the most efficient private jet, but it's the perfect flying billboard for the former president.

Whether you love or hate him, there is no arguing Donald Trump's taste in private jets is fantastic. That's because his current flagship is a Boeing 757-200 airliner converted for VIP use.

The 757 is an aircraft without equal. Since its launch in 1982, it's been one of the most capable, versatile, and respected aircraft in the skies.

However, Trump's retrofit of the airliner as a business jet has recently been questioned in an article that turned its nose up at the plane, calling it "crappy" and "dilapidated."

While the article did make some good points — purpose-built business jets have more comfortable cabin pressure and can operate out of smaller airports — the author's disdain for its owner, whom I'm ambivalent toward, bled over into an unnecessarily harsh characterization of the plane.

There's a common saying in the business aviation industry. The private jet isn't a luxury; it's a time machine. The point of a private jet is to save its occupant time and increase their productivity. Time is money, and the time saved by flying private instead of commercial is worth more than the extra cost.

From that perspective, the 757 is probably not the most cost-effective or efficient corporate jet for a globetrotting business mogul. The jet burned through $2.6 million in fuel from 2023 to 2024.

A purpose-built Gulfstream or Bombardier Global are certainly better options. Both are newer, more efficient, and have the range to reach pretty much any destination in the world.

But neither can match the sheer presence and drama of arriving at a destination in a VIP airliner. And they don't look nearly as good behind a campaign stage.

And for a consummate self-promoter like the Donald, there's no better private jet than a three-story tall, 155-foot long, flying billboard covered in the Trump logo.

The marketing and brand value created by the flying billboard trumps the added cost of operating a decades-old airliner, equipped with two bedrooms and a dining room, all lined in 24k gold.

In fact, Trump once said in a documentary that "the plane is very much an extension of the Trump brand," The New York Times reported in 2016.

The jet, dubbed Trump Force One, has been a fixture at campaign stops ahead of the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections.

Trump acquired the 757, registration N757AF, from the late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen in 2010 to replace his older Boeing 727.

N757AF was originally delivered to the defunct Danish low-cost carrier Sterling Airlines in May 1991. It also briefly flew for the defunct Mexican airline TAESA before the tech billionaire picked it up in 1995.

Even though the aircraft is now well into its 30s, older, well-maintained planes can operate safely and effectively at that age. In fact, according to Airfleets.net, plenty of 757s older than Taylor Swift, born in 1989, are in regular service with airlines and cargo operators like DHL, FedEx, and Delta.

Trump's 757 spent nearly a year in the hangar, receiving a full refurbishment and a new paint job before returning to service in late 2022.

Trump isn't alone in his preference for the VIP airliner, and his 757 is far from the biggest or most over-the-top.

Rapper Drake flies around in an even larger VIP airliner, a 1996 Boeing 767-200 widebody.

The Qatari and Saudi Royal Families both operate private Boeing 747 jumbo jets.

As an airliner, the 757 was a true tweener in Boeing's lineup, a twin-engine, narrow-body airliner that's bigger than your run-of-the-mill 737 but smaller than a widebody like the 787 Dreamliner.

In airline service, the 757-200 has the range and performance to easily brave the headwinds across the Atlantic on long-haul flights from Paris to New York. As a narrow body, it'll happily shuttle passengers on 45-minute flights to smaller airports that don't have the infrastructure to support a widebody.

But what stands out the most about the Boeing 757 is that it's the muscle car of the airline world.

With power from a pair of massively powerful Rolls-Royce RB211 (or Pratt & Whitney PW2000) turbofan engines, each producing upwards of 40,000 lbs of thrust, the Boeing 757 has developed a reputation among pilots for being an aircraft with the grunt to take off from airports in hot weather or at high elevation that would sideline many of its more modern rivals.

But the 757's power and versatility that helped it stand out from the crowd also doomed it. Even during its heyday in the 1980s and '90s, it was ahead of its time and was arguably much more airplane than most airlines needed.

By the early 2000s, a smaller and less capable Boeing 737 or Airbus A321 could handle most of the 757's duties at a lower price.

The availability of cheaper, more efficient alternatives, coupled with sky-high oil prices during the years following 9/11 and an airline industry on financial life support, meant the 757 was a non-starter for carriers.

After years without landing a new order for the plane, Boeing discontinued the 757 in 2004. In total, 1,050 Boeing 757s were produced over 22 years.

The final 757 rolled out of Boeing's Renton, WA factory in October 2004. The aircraft was delivered to Shanghai Airlines in April 2005 and now flies for Delta Air Lines as N823DX.

• Hunter Biden and Donald Trump's convictions may have damaged the US' global brand. 
• Andrew Payne, a foreign policy expert, said they undermined the US' status as a democratic system. 
• Biden's non-pardon of Hunter may benefit his campaign, but US credibility is hurt, said Payne. 

The US' reputation is in tatters, regardless of who takes the Oval Office in January, according to an expert.

With criminal convictions on both sides of the election campaign, it's a lose-lose situation, said Andrew Payne, a foreign policy expert and author of "War on the Ballot: How the Election Cycle Shapes Presidential Decision-Making in War."

On Tuesday, Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was found guilty of three federal charges related to the purchase of a gun while he was using illegal drugs.

His conviction came less than two weeks after Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 counts related to falsifying business records before the general election in 2016.

Hunter Biden was the first child of a sitting president to be criminally convicted, while Trump was the first US president to be criminally convicted.

Speaking to Business Insider, Payne said the historic convictions have "significantly damaged" the US' reputation on the world stage.

The election won't help save the US' reputation

The presidential candidates had contrasting reactions to their respective convictions. While Trump told reporters that his trial was "rigged," Joe Biden said he would accept the outcome of his son's legal woes.

Trump used the publicity from his trial to capitalize on fundraising opportunities. Shortly after his guilty verdict was announced, his donor website crashed, a spokesperson wrote on X.

Members of the Trump campaign who spoke to The New York Times said they hoped Hunter Biden would be acquitted during his trial, as it would prove the narrative that Trump was a victim of political persecution — and would likely raise millions of dollars from supporters.

John Zogby, a veteran pollster, told The Guardian that Hunter Biden's guilty verdict could be a "marginal political gain" for the president and that his decision not to pardon his son will be seen positively.

"It pulls the rug out from under that Republican argument that the justice system is rigged against Republicans to get Trump … a Biden did not get a pass," Zogby said.

Hunter Biden's conviction may be slightly beneficial to his father's campaign, though it will not "move mountains," Zogby said.

In contrast, it's likely to further damage the US' reputation, which took a significant hit when Trump was convicted, Payne said.

"It is hardly a ringing endorsement of the health of democracy in the United States that allegations of the politicization of the judicial system or questions about candidates' commitment to the rule of law feature so prominently in the campaign," Payne told BI.

If Biden is elected, he may attempt to rebuild the US as "an example of a country where no one is above the law," Payne said. But as the president's approval rating reached a record low this week, his future in The White House is unknown.

On Monday, FiveThirtyEight's weighted tracker recorded a 37.4% approval rating for Biden, compared to 41.6% for Trump. Neither candidate is considered hugely popular, with an April Pew Research Centre survey showing that 49% of voters would replace both candidates if they could.

This will make the upcoming election particularly difficult to call.

"Even if Trump isn't elected, when you have one of the two major presidential candidates and someone who is a former president who carries a criminal conviction, it kind of undermines your case that the democratic system is superior," Payne said.

"So there's a big undermining of the US brand, irrespective of whoever is elected in November," he added.

Representatives for The White House and the respective Biden and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

• Kate and Anthony were the center of season two, but absent for half of "Bridgerton" season three.
• Simone Ashley, who plays Kate, told reporters recently that she will return in season four.
• Here are the other reasons we think Kanthony will return in future seasons.

Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for "Bridgerton" season three and the novel "The Viscount Who Loved Me."

"Bridgerton" fan-favorites Kate and Anthony may return after their sudden exit in season three, and certain clues suggest the characters could be around for a while yet.

After a turbulent love journey in season two, Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) experience a blissful romance in season three, including a few steamy sex scenes.

However, the doting couple is still in their honeymoon era and keeps leaving London on sudden trips.

In season three, episode one, they go back on their honeymoon and do not appear in the remaining episodes of part one, upsetting many Kanthony fans.

In part two, they return to London because Kate is pregnant. They stay for three episodes before deciding to leave again to go to Kate's home country, India, so she can give birth to their child. Kate wants to revisit her home, and Anthony wants their child to experience India.

After a discussion about leaving, they are not seen in the season three finale, and Francesca, one of Anthony's siblings, reveals they have already left for India.

For a moment, this seemed like an attempt to write off the characters so that Ashley and Bailey could leave the show.

But, on Wednesday, Ashley told reporter Josh Rom at the UK "Bridgerton" season three screening that she plans to return for season four.

"Kate Sharma is here to stay," she said.

Bailey has not commented yet if he will also return.

Representatives for Netflix did not immediately respond to a comment request from Business Insider.

Despite "Bridgerton" being one of the most-watched Netflix series and a launchpad for many aspiring British actors, the series has struggled to keep former leads.

Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor, who played the leading couple of the first season, both left the series. Francesca Bridgerton also had to be recast ahead of season three after Ruby Stokes left to star in another Netflix series.

Though "Bridgerton" changes its lead characters each season, it is still an ensemble show, and fans are often curious about what happens to their favorite characters after they've married.

However, we think Kate and Anthony may be the few leads to stick around for future seasons. Here's why.

Anthony and Kate Bridgerton have four children in the book series.

In the book series that "Bridgerton" is based on, written by Julia Quinn, Kate and Anthony have four children after their marriage: Edmund, Miles, Charlotte, and Mary. According to a family tree on Quinn's website, Edmund, the first child, is born a year after their wedding.

In "Bridgerton" season three, part two, Kate is pregnant with her first child, but we never see her give birth or the baby.

But there's still hope — both actors want to see a Kanthony baby, too.

Bailey told the Wrap in 2022: "And I just can't wait for him to have a baby. Baby Edmund is the first that's to come, if it's according to the books. But maybe they'll have octuplets or something. Maybe they'll flip it on its head."

Meanwhile, Ashley told IMDB in 2022: "I'd love to see them have a baby, to put it simply. And maybe that'll happen. Maybe it won't, but hopefully it will."

Come on, Netflix. Give the people what they want.

Unlike Daphne and Simon, Kate and Anthony have a good reason to stick around.

Kate and Anthony are now the Viscount and Viscountess of the Bridgerton family and will have to lead the family once they return from India.

This means Kate and Anthony have a bigger reason to stick around than the other characters who left. We can't leave out the couple that runs the Bridgertons in a show about the family.

Bailey told the Wrap that he'd also want to appear in the wedding scenes for the other Bridgerton actors.

"I'm going to be there for when I'm needed, but also, you know, there's no way I'm not going to be at the weddings of — from everyone from Claudia Jessie, and Luke Thompson, Luke Newts, down to Will Tilson and Florence Hunt," he said.

In season three, part two, Kate and Anthony did return for Colin Bridgerton's (Luke Newton) wedding but leave before Florence Bridgerton's (Hannah Dodd) wedding.

Kate and Anthony's departure seemed sudden, and it might have been because Bailey and Ashley were not able to be on set on the day the wedding was filmed.

Ashley also told IMDB: "I'm excited to see Kate become the viscountess and the head of the household. I think she has much to learn from Anthony, and there'll be two little partners doing it together."

Jonathan Bailey is very keen to continue playing Anthony Bridgerton despite getting other major roles.

Since season two, Ashley and Bailey have been cast in new movies and TV series, which may complicate any return to "Bridgerton."

Bailey, especially, has had a busy year. He starred in the miniseries "Fellow Travelers," has a leading role in the upcoming two-part blockbuster musical "Wicked," made a cameo in "Heartstopper" season three, and was just cast as the lead in the next "Jurassic World" movie.

However, despite all this, Bailey found time to shoot scenes in "Bridgerton" season three. In November 2023, Bailey spoke on the SiriusXM show "Radio Andy" about how he filmed "Bridgerton" and "Fellow Travelers" simultaneously.

"I didn't have a day off, and it was that for 32 days," Bailey said, referring to flying between both sets to film the two series.

This may be more difficult as Bailey becomes a movie star, but the actor seems invested enough in "Bridgerton" to make an effort when he can.

We will likely have a better idea about Kate and Anthony's future when "Bridgerton" season four premieres. The season does not have a release date yet.

• Countries are exploring innovative strategies to combat declining birth rates.
• Cash incentives, medals, and even car subsidies are among the measures being adopted.
• But experts say that, at present, no country seems to have found a workable solution.

As fertility rates decline across much of the world, countries are exploring innovative strategies to encourage women to have more babies.

Several demography experts told BI that these can involve lump sums of money, gold medals, and even tax breaks.

But none will be enough to solve the problem alone, they said.

Baby bonuses

Several countries have introduced so-called baby bonuses to combat declining fertility rates.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore offered one-time payments, and the "Baby Bonus Scheme" continues to provide cash incentives for Singaporean couples having children.

South Korea, which has the world's lowest fertility rate, runs an allowance system that gives parents with a newborn $750 a month until their baby turns one year old.

According to Bloomberg, the country is even considering a proposal to pay families about $70,000 to have children.

Local Chinese governments, meanwhile, offer one-time subsidies, often worth thousands of dollars, to encourage parents to have two or more children.

However, experts caution that financial incentives alone are not a long-term solution.

Sarah Harper, a professor of gerontology and the director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, told BI that cash incentives encourage a "mini-baby boom, followed by a baby crash."

She added: "Those women who would have spread their childbearing across several years all go at the same time to get the cash bonus, and then there is a lull in childbearing."

Gold medals, tax breaks, and car subsidies

Other financial incentives include Kazakhstan's prize system for mothers with many children, inspired by the "Mother Heroine" honorary title from the Soviet era.

BBC WorkLife reported that mothers in the country receive silver medals for six children, gold metals for seven or more, and a financial allowance for the rest of their lives.

In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a similar program, offering a title and a lump sum of about $17,000 to Russian citizens with 10 or more children.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has also focused on boosting the fertility rate with financial perks.

Women in Hungary who become mothers under 30 or have four or more children receive a lifelong exemption from paying personal income tax.

Meanwhile, Hungarian families with three or more children receive subsidies for purchasing seven-seater cars, according to AP, and parents get loan deductions on their homes based on the number of children they have.

Trent MacNamara, a Texas A&M professor whose work has focused on fertility rates, told BI that the impact of financial incentives on fertility rates is uncertain, and might only lead to "modest" gains.

"For example, if a government transferred new parents about 5% of the costs of raising a child, we could expect a roughly 5% bump in fertility," he said.

Generous leave and flexible working conditions

Financial incentives often have an underlying assumption that the cost of parenting is the main reason behind declining fertility rates.

However, Poh Lin Tan, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI that "an amalgam of factors" pushes people to have fewer children.

In Singapore, these factors include people spending longer in education, changes to traditional family dynamics, and the conflict between building a family and a career, she said.

In 2023, Singapore attempted to address some underlying factors by doubling paid paternity leave to four weeks and increasing unpaid infant care leave from six to 12 days annually for a child's first two years.

Scandinavian countries have gone even further.

Norway provides 49 weeks of parental leave with full pay, Finland offers seven months to each parent, and Sweden provides 240 days per parent of leave.

However, Philip N. Cohen, a family demographer at the University of Maryland, told BI that these policies often have unintended effects.

He said that, in some circumstances, parents don't end up having more kids; instead, they use generous leave provisions like paid time off and universal childcare to space out having fewer children, to benefit more.

Subsidized fertility treatments and vasectomy reversals

Cohen noted that other strategies to increase fertility rates include countries like Israel offering free or heavily subsidized IVF.

According to the American Economic Association, this may have also had an unintended consequence — leading Jewish-Israeli women to delay getting married and having kids.

Hungary also offers free IVF as part of its pronatalist policies, and Singapore and Japan offer significant subsidies.

However, according to a 2020 essay by Tan, the Japanese example shows that reproductive technologies are not a "panacea" for low fertility rates.

Japan has the world's highest percentage of babies born through IVF, yet it still has one of the lowest fertility rates, she noted.

South Korea also covers the costs of a variety of reproductive technology treatments, such as egg freezing.

However, more recently, Seoul's government made headlines with a proposal offering up to $730 each to 100 people to reverse their vasectomies or untie their tubes.

No magic bullet

Experts agree that there is no easy solution to the fertility crisis.

"No government has discovered a policy that produces sustained bumps in fertility," MacNamara told BI, adding: "Plenty of bright people in wealthy countries have spent decades trying to figure this out without evident success."

He said that young people increasingly see small families as the norm, which is a "really tough cycle to break."

Even if a "magic formula" were to be discovered, he added, it would need to be implemented carefully to avoid then promoting unsustainable population growth.

"Rapid growth would make it harder to scale back our present overconsumption of resources, including fossil fuels," he said.

• Armenia's prime minister said he's taking his country out of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
• The CSTO, a military alliance of post-Soviet states, is considered Putin's answer to NATO.
• But tensions have been growing, and this is only the latest clash among Russia's supposed allies.

A key Russian ally said it is quitting the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a group widely considered to be President Vladimir Putin's answer to NATO.

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has repeatedly snubbed Russia, said in parliament on Wednesday that he will take his country out of the Moscow-led CSTO alliance, the Associated Press reported.

Pashinyan said his government would decide later when to make the move, according to the AP.

Experts previously told Business Insider that Putin founded the alliance — made up of Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan — as a rival to NATO, and that he wanted to project power by leading a multinational body, despite most of the members not having notable militaries or large economies.

However, the plan seems to have backfired as tensions among the alliance have grown, especially since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Pashinyan's latest announcement is likely a huge blow to Putin.

Pashinyan told lawmakers: "We will leave. We will decide when to leave. We won't come back, there is no other way."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Russia "will continue to work with our Armenian friends" to clarify their position, state-controlled Russian news agency TASS reported.

Peter Frankopan, an expert on Russian and Balkans history at Oxford University, told BI that while other CSTO countries will likely give a "shrug of the shoulders," Moscow will ultimately have a stronger response.

Moscow will likely see Armenia as trying "to be too big for small boots — so no doubt there will be repercussions in order to show the downsides of daring to stand up to Russia," he said. "What those are, and when they play out, is a matter of guesswork."

In the immediate aftermath, Armenia's foreign minister denied Pashinyan said the country was withdrawing, in an apparent attempt to soften the diplomatic impact, the AP reported.

Tensions have heightened between Russia and Armenia since Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which Pashinyan has refused to endorse on multiple occasions.

Pashinyan said in June 2023 that his country was "not Russia's ally in the war with Ukraine" and that it felt trapped between Russia and the West.

Relations between Russia and other CSTO members have also become more strained since the invasion, with countries seeing how caught up Russia is in Ukraine — leaving some worried about how protected they are if attacked, experts previously told BI.

Pashinyan was also irked when Russian peacekeeping troops did not come to Armenia's aid last year when Azerbaijan attacked a separatist region that had been largely under the control of ethnic Armenians.

He had previously called the CSTO response to the ongoing conflict "depressing" and "hugely damaging to the CSTO's image both in our country and abroad."

Pashinyan raised that issue again on Wednesday, accusing unspecified CSTO countries of conspiring against Armenia in the conflict.

"It turned out that its members failed to fulfill their obligations under the treaty and planned the war against us alongside Azerbaijan," Pashinyan said, per the AP.

Frankopan said the latest development may not end with Armenia leaving the CSTO, if negotiations take place.

"Talking about withdrawal can give a chance to course-correct for all sides, so it might be that we are seeing a round of shadow-boxing rather than something more definitive," he said.

But he added that Armenia's potential withdrawal was "a long time coming," given the country's escalating complaints about Russia's leadership of the alliance.

Other recent Armenian snubs to Russia include the country joining the International Criminal Court in February, even though it has issued an arrest warrant for Putin.

Armenia froze its CSTO membership in February, but until Wednesday had not further clarified its position.

In June, at a meeting of CSTO member states' foreign ministers, Armenia was asked to clarify its membership status, with its foreign minister later saying only that he has "excellent personal relations" with the bloc's secretary general.

• "Bridgerton" star Adjoa Andoh said that she still hopes Lady Danbury finds love on the show. 
• Andoh said she'd be interested in seeing how a romance could challenge her character. 
• She also reacted to the season three finale's tease about which Bridgerton's love story will be told next.

Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for season three, part two of "Bridgerton."

Lady Agatha Danbury has an affinity for fresh gossip and a knack for molding society, but "Bridgerton" star Adjoa Andoh thinks it's about time for her character to have a love story of her own.

"Doesn't everybody want love in their life?" Andoh said in a recent interview with Business Insider. "When I talk to fans, a lot of fans are like, 'When is Lady Danbury going to get her moment in that sun?'"

Season three of "Bridgerton," which is focused on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington's (Nicola Coughlan) friends-to-lovers relationship, showcases a more vulnerable side of Andoh's powerful, witty, and commanding character.

The unexpected arrival of her brother, Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis), forces her to confront unresolved childhood grievances and grapple with his romantic interest in Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell), one of her closest friends.

By the end of season three, Lady Danbury has mended her strained relationship with her sibling and voices her support for Lady Violet's exploration of her feelings for Marcus.

"But if he sours things between the two of you, I will pick you over him," Lady Danbury adds, emphasizing how much she values their friendship.

Andoh still wants a love story for Lady Danbury — and to interact with one particular actor more

Another season is already in the works, and Andoh said that filming will begin sometime in the fall. She also has some ideas in mind for her character's storyline.

The actor has been vocal in the past about wanting her character to experience some romance. With Lady Danbury's conflicts resolved, now would be a fitting time to explore the character navigating a new relationship after being single for so long.

"Here's someone who feels like they've got their life set in a certain way," Andoh said. "What happens if you put another personality into that? What happens if she suddenly is thinking about how she might accommodate another personality into that?"

"It's something that dynamic, self-contained women are challenged with all the time," she continued. "So I think it would be interesting to see."

"Anyway, that's above my pay grade," Andoh joked.

Andoh also hopes that Lady Danbury and Penelope will have more screen time in the future, especially after sharing a rare and heartfelt scene during the finale. In Julia Quinn's "Bridgerton" book series, the two characters have a more prominent friendship, and Penelope even names her first child after Lady Danbury.

"I love Nic and I would love to have more interactions between the two of them because I do think they're both swimming in exactly the same pond, which is knowledge and how do you use knowledge to encourage yourself, protect yourself, make trades, make shifts in the general discourse, all of those things," Andoh said. "And she's a fabulous actor and a delight, so any moments that Danbury gets to hang out with Penelope will always be welcome."

Andoh is excited to see 'Bridgerton' season 4's lead step into the spotlight

The season three finale teases that this show will bring Benedict Bridgerton's (Luke Thompson) love story to the forefront next, and Andoh couldn't be more thrilled.

"Lukey is a fabulous actor. In fact, I went up to see him Stratford-upon-Avon doing 'Love's Labour's Lost,' where he was marvelous," Andoh said. "And I think there's a mercurial quality to his Benedict, which is very Luke, and I love that. It's interesting, it's fascinating. It has its own song if you like, its own music. "

Given Lady Danbury's tendency to meddle in the lives of the town's young people, it's not a stretch to wonder if she'll be involved in the second-eldest Bridgerton's journey to find his wife.

"I'm really interested to see how that plays out in a romantic way because I think it will have its own particularity, which will be a very Benedict sort of style," Andoh said. "And anything that's mercurial is fascinating to Lady Danbury,"

"We know they have a little playful quality to their relationship," she continued. "I think there's a slight raised eyebrow with Benedict a lot of the time, and I think there is with Lady Danbury, and I think they could giggle across a room quite happily. So yeah, it's going to be good."

All episodes of season three of "Bridgerton" are now streaming on Netflix.

• Gwynne Shotwell seems to run the show at Elon Musk's SpaceX.
• She oversees most of the rocket company's central business, per an org chart from The Information.
• Here's everything we know about the SpaceX president and COO.

SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell appears to be calling the shots at Elon Musk's company.

While Musk is the CEO and public face of the aerospace company, Shotwell handles nearly every team internally, according to an org chart reviewed by The Information.

Shotwell has 21 direct reports to Musk's four and oversees most of SpaceX's central business, including the teams working on Starlink, Falcon, and Starship.

One former SpaceX employee, Vincent Peters, told Business Insider that Shotwell "is the singular most important person within SpaceX outside of Elon."

"She moves the needle for employee morale and customer confidence in SpaceX and serves as an azimuth within the company as priorities evolve," he added.

Shotwell was one of SpaceX's earliest employees. Here's everything we know about the powerful SpaceX president.

Early life

Shotwell was born in 1963 and raised in Illinois. She is the daughter of a brain surgeon and an artist and has two sisters, according to an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

An A-student in high school, she later gained an MSc in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics from Northwestern University.

She told the LA Times she developed an early interest in machines. This evolved into a career in the automotive field before moving into the aerospace industry.

One of the first SpaceX employees

Shotwell was the 11th person hired by SpaceX.

She joined the company in 2002 as vice president of business development following a stint at spacecraft developer Microcosm.

Shotwell told the LA Times in 2013: "I knew early on if these guys [at SpaceX] couldn't make it in the space industry, nobody will. If we hadn't achieved success, I was willing to leave the aerospace industry altogether and go sell real estate or something. Fortunately, that didn't happen."

Over her 22 years at SpaceX, Shotwell has risen through the ranks to become COO and president, making her one of the most important figures.

Secret to SpaceX's success

Shotwell has long been rumored to pull the strings at SpaceX.

For much of her time at the company, she has overseen its operations and sales while Musk has focused on developing the technology. Investors have praised the pair's partnership and credit it with much of SpaceX's success.

Peters, founder of Inheritance AI, told BI that Shotwell was the "cornerstone of consistency and continuity at SpaceX" amid "Elon's involvement in his entities outside of SpaceX."

He said Shotwell's leadership style was "between transformational leadership and democratic leadership," adding she was extremely approachable to all employees.

SpaceX has about 13,000 employees in California, Texas, and Florida.

The COO has 21 direct reports, while Musk has only four. Shotwell also oversees most of SpaceX's central business, including the teams working on Starlink, Falcon, and Starship.

According to Forbes, Shotwell has an estimated stake in SpaceX of less than 1%.

It seems she enjoys getting hands-on at times:

Relationship with Elon Musk

Shotwell has said she enjoys working for Musk and previously praised the billionaire's management style.

"I love working for Elon," she said in a 2018 TED Talk.

"He's funny, and fundamentally, without him saying anything, he drives you to do your best work. He doesn't have to say a word. You just want to do great work," she told the audience.

Shotwell has come to Musk's defense on numerous occasions, most recently over claims about his conduct with female SpaceX workers.

In response to some of the claims in a Wall Street Journal report, she said: "I continue to be amazed by what this extraordinary group of people are achieving every day, even amidst all the forces acting against us. And Elon is one of the best humans I know."

Shotwell was also mentioned in the Journal report after one employee claimed the COO had accused her of having an affair with her husband.

Representatives for SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

• Ariana Grande said Nickelodeon told the "Victorious" cast that inappropriate innuendos were "cool."
• The singer and actor spoke on "Podcrushed" about her experiences as a child star on the show.
• It's the first time Grande has opened up about Nickelodeon since the release of "Quiet on Set."

Ariana Grande said that Nickelodeon producers told the cast of "Victorious" that the innuendos they filmed as child actors were "cool."

It's the first time that the singer has opened up about her experiences on the series after the documentary "Quiet on Set" exposed some of the inappropriate behavior that went on at the kids' network in the 1990s and 2000s.

Most notably, "Drake and Josh" actor Drake Bell shared that he was sexually assaulted by Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck in the early 2000s.

Nickelodeon told Deadline in March: "Now that Drake Bell has disclosed his identity as the plaintiff in the 2004 case, we are dismayed and saddened to learn of the trauma he has endured, and we commend and support the strength required to come forward."

The documentary, which was released earlier this year, sent ripples through the entertainment industry, forcing audiences and actors alike to reevaluate whether certain scenes in kids' TV shows at the time were appropriate.

"Quiet on Set" highlighted how shows such as "Victorious" included scenes where child stars acted out scenes featuring sexual innuendos.

When speaking to Penn Badgley on Wednesday's "Podcrushed," Grande said that she was "reprocessing" her time on "Victorious."

Without referring to a particular scene or joke, Grande said: "Speaking specifically about our show, I think that was something that we were convinced was the cool thing about us. We pushed the envelope with our humor, and the innuendos were like… We were told and convinced that it was the cool differentiation.

"It just all happened so quickly, and now, looking back on some of the clips, I'm like, 'Damn, really? Oh shit.' I think about if I had a daughter."

She went on: "There's also a strange pattern that occurs where it's really taken advantage of how much it means to the young performer to get a laugh from video village," Grande said. "You're like, 'Oh shit. I'm doing something great. This is funny. This is good!'"

Grande then claimed that "so many adults" had to approve all the scenes in the show, which chimes with the wider issues Nickelodeon at the time that were explored in "Quiet on Set."

The singer also said that there's been a "cultural shift" in society in the last decade toward people feeling more able and empowered to come forward about negative workplace experiences, not just in the film and television industry.

Nickelodeon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Europe is cracking down on EVs coming from China, imposing new tariffs on imports. 
• Tesla is reportedly lobbying for a lower rate of tariffs.  
• The European Commission has confirmed it is exploring Tesla's request.

Elon Musk might be about to outmaneuver Tesla's Chinese EV rivals in Europe.

The European Commission confirmed Wednesday that Tesla — which manufactures EVs for the European market at its Shanghai gigafactory — may receive its own special rate of tariffs.

The Musk-run automaker had lobbied for a lower tariff rate than its Chinese rivals, according to Bloomberg, pointing out that it had received fewer state subsidies from the Chinese government than companies like BYD and Geely.

A spokesperson for the European Commission told CNBC looking at the subsidies Tesla has received in China "may lead indeed to different level of countervailing duties." It's unclear if Tesla would benefit overall as the tariffs will likely be relative to the subsidies it has received.

Business Insider contacted Tesla and the European Commission for further comment but didn't immediately hear back.

The EV giant does have a gigafactory in Germany, where it builds Model Ys, but it imports its Model 3 sedan into the EU from China.

Tesla imported more EVs into Europe than anyone else last year, shipping in 171,000 cars compared to Chinese rival SAIC Motor's 118,000, according to HSBC data reported by Bloomberg.

The EU announced a new barrage of taxes on China-made electric vehicles on Wednesday, after provisionally concluding that the amount of money China has poured into its EV industry gave China-based companies an unfair advantage.

Warren Buffett-backed BYD, which briefly overtook Tesla as the world's largest EV producer earlier this year, was hit with a 17.4% import tax, while Geely and SAIC Motor were hit with rates of 20% and 38.1%, respectively.

Other China-based firms cooperating with the EU's investigation will face a 21% duty, while those that refused, will be hit with a 38% tariff. These new tariffs are on top of the EU's existing 10% duty on imported EVs.

Tesla has been manufacturing in its Shanghai gigafactory since 2019, and has benefited from Chinese government subsidies meant to boost the country's EV market.

In 2022, it received the second highest amount of subsidies for the production of its EVs behind BYD, according to Bloomberg analysis of industry data.

• A South African policy proposal is being hailed as the first national universal basic income plan.
• However, experts say it's promising but would pay too little to too few people to be a true UBI program.
• UBI champions say that only helping the poor can lead to payments being seen as welfare checks.

South Africa's top political party has proposed a social safety net that's been called the first national universal basic income (UBI) program. Experts say that's a gross exaggeration.

The African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela in the 1990s, recently outlined its plan to expand South Africa's Social Relief of Distress program. The temporary grants were rolled out during the pandemic to help struggling citizens meet basic needs.

The ANC, now in coalition talks after winning just 40% of the vote in recent national elections, said it would boost the value of payouts and expand the program to more vulnerable people including caregivers, the unemployed, and the precariously employed. It promised to finalize the policy within two years of being elected.

The party also suggested it could fund the program by introducing progressive taxes such as a social security tax, and emphasized it wouldn't replace existing welfare programs or public services. It also signaled it would increase payments and expand eligibility over time.

Cleo Goodman, the basic income lead at think tank Autonomy, told Business Insider that the ANC's proposal followed years of basic income advocates making their case through "pilots, research and widespread campaigning."

South Africa's civil society is also eager to expand the Social Relief of Distress grants to redistribute wealth, reduce poverty, stimulate the job market, and help people cover the costs of finding work, she said.

Goodman said that what began as an emergency pandemic response has "instigated a serious move towards providing genuine economic security, through an unconditional cash transfer system that approaches universality."

Too little money for too few people

Yet the ANC's plan doesn't truly qualify as a UBI program, which usually provides recurring cash payments to all adults in a population regardless of their wealth or employment status, and with no restrictions on how the money is spent.

"Despite the name, this proposal falls far short of a basic income," Karl Widerquist, a philosophy professor at Georgetown University-Qatar and the author of several books about UBI, told BI.

"The payments are too small; they are means-tested; and they are means-tested in a way that makes it hard for some of the neediest, eligible people to get the funds they are entitled to," he continued.

Widerquist also flagged the potential for a "poverty trap" where people could lose the entire grant once their income rises above a certain threshold, discouraging them from earning too much and knocking them back when their earnings improve.

The writer and academic said the ANC's plans to extend the program are promising, but the initial proposal is only a "small step in the right direction."

He added that the timing "could be good or bad," as the ANC's coalition partners could hold it accountable for passing the policy if they support it, but if they oppose it then it "could easily fall by the wayside over the next few years."

It's not surprising to see the ANC propose a targeted poverty-alleviation program instead of a full UBI scheme. The former is cheaper, less radical, and likely to be more palatable to voters than handing cash to the wealthy — even if new taxes would make them net contributors.

But UBI proponents say that giving too little money to too few people doesn't effectively combat poverty, and can stigmatize the grants as welfare checks. A compromise scheme also fails to provide a safety net that allows people to take time to find the right job if they get laid off, and may not fully recognize the value of domestic labor such as child and elderly care either.