Tag: News

• Kevin Bacon disguised himself with prosthetics to experience being a regular person for a day.
• The Golden Globe-winning actor told Vanity Fair that it wasn't as fun as he thought it would be.
• "People were kind of pushing past me, not being nice," he said. " "I was like, This sucks."

Kevin Bacon wanted to be a regular guy for a day, and he didn't have a great time.

In an interview with Vanity Fair published on Wednesday, the actor said he had always wanted to experience being a non-famous person, so he decided to try out a disguise.

"I'm not complaining, but I have a face that's pretty recognizable," Bacon, 65, told Vanity Fair. "Putting my hat and glasses on is only going to work to a certain extent."

To make his disguise as realistic as possible, the Golden Globe-winning actor visited a special effects makeup artist, who made him prosthetics.

With "fake teeth, a slightly different nose, and glasses," Bacon said he managed to walk down The Grove in Los Angeles without being recognized.

And the experience wasn't as pleasant as he thought it would be.

"People were kind of pushing past me, not being nice. Nobody said, 'I love you.' I had to wait in line to, I don't know, buy a fucking coffee or whatever," Bacon said. "I was like, This sucks. I want to go back to being famous."

Considering how he's been active in Hollywood since 1978 — when he was 20 — it comes as no surprise that he's accustomed to living life as a celebrity.

According to IMDB, Bacon has 91 film and video acting credits as of 2024. His most iconic role is in 1984's "Footloose," where he plays the lead character Ren McCormack.

It's also not unusual for people to treat celebrities or other high-profile individuals differently, especially if they don't recognize the person. And Bacon isn't the only famous person who's set out to discover what life is like as a regular person — and who hasn't liked what they found.

Last year in San Francisco, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi moonlighted as a driver for the company for a few months in an attempt to figure out why recruitment was low. After creating an alias, he drove around picking up passengers in a Tesla Model Y.

What he found during the stint were rude riders. "I think that the industry as a whole, to some extent, has taken drivers for granted," Khosrowshahi told The Wall Street Journal.

He also found one passenger who, after recognizing him, sought out startup advice.

A representative for Bacon did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

• Turns out John Oliver was on the money when he predicted a bloodbath for the Conservative Party.
• The comedian slammed the party in an episode of "Last Week Tonight" that aired in June.
• "To put it mildly, the Tories are in trouble," Oliver said then.

It's not quite the "extinction-level event for the Tories" that John Oliver predicted, but the Conservative Party did suffer a bitter defeat in Thursday's UK general election.

In June, the comedian weighed in on the UK election in an episode of "Last Week Tonight." And now it seems Oliver was certainly on the money when he joined political watchers in forecasting a Tory defeat.

"To put it mildly, the Tories are in trouble, which is a remarkable downfall for a party that's been in power for the last 14 straight years," Oliver said.

In his segment, Oliver listed a litany of problems that he thought the Conservatives could be blamed for, ranging from the economic fallout wrought by Brexit to the harsh austerity measures the party imposed on the UK.

Oliver also pointed out that the Conservatives have seen five prime ministers take office since 2010: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak.

"Look, it's objectively fun to look back at what a collection of weirdos ran Britain for years," Oliver said. "But it gets considerably less fun when you look at what they did to the country."

Oliver also took the opportunity to hold an early celebration of the Conservative Party's defeat on his show, holding out his arms as rain poured down on the "Last Week Tonight" stage.

"On July 4, Britain has a chance to wash itself clean of 14 miserable years of Conservative rule, and it is a chance it simply must take," Oliver said.

"If we do this, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as just an American holiday but also as the day when Britain looked at the Conservatives who've driven the entire country into a ditch, and said in one voice, loud and clear, 'Fuck off into the sun, you cunts, fuckpigs, and weirdos,'" Oliver added.

And it seems many UK voters agreed with Oliver's assessment that the Conservative leadership should be booted out.

At the July 4 polls, the Conservative Party suffered a massive defeat at the hands of its rivals, Labour. As of press time, the party had lost at least 240 seats.

UK Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Sunak conceded defeat to Labour leader Kier Starmer early Friday morning.

"The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight," Sunak told reporters. "There is much to learn and reflect on, and I take responsibility for the loss."

Representatives for Oliver did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

• Russia faces intense pressure from sanctions targeting payment systems.
• A top Russian banker says the country should stop talking about payment mechanisms due to sensitivity.
• Russia is seeking alternatives to Western payment systems, acknowledging the challenge and time required.

Russia's top financial officials admitted the country is under huge pressure from sanctions as their methods for making trade payments keep getting shut down.

On Wednesday, a top Russian banker said the methods should be made a "state secret" due to their sensitivity, Reuters reported.

"I can see very well that right now somewhere at the US embassy, a second secretary is sitting and writing down every public statement of ours. Maybe he is even sitting here," said Andrei Kostin, the CEO of VTB Bank, Russia's second-largest lender.

"Whatever steps we take, we can see that the reaction is very quick," he said.

Kostin made the comment at a financial conference where he was on a panel with Russian central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina.

Nabiullina agreed with Kostin that it's better to avoid specifics about payment mechanisms.

She also admitted that Russia's business partners overseas were under "tremendous pressure" from Western sanctions. But she also expressed hope that an alternative global payments system not involving Western institutions will emerge.

"Different alternatives are being discussed. Businesses have become very flexible, very enterprising. They find ways to solve this and often don't even share them with us," said Nabiullina, per Reuters.

Western-led sanctions against Russia are intensifying

Despite sweeping Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, Russia's economy has managed to keep humming thanks to wartime activities.

Russia's war-driven economy is so hot that the World Bank recently upgraded it to a "high-income country."

The West blocked some Russian banks from the widely used SWIFT messaging system for payments early in the war, but Russia and its trade partners have been able to skirt sanctions by using smaller banks or other payment modes.

However, the US and its allies have been intensifying restrictions, particularly with the use of secondary sanctions against institutions in third-party countries.

Just last month, the US Treasury rolled out a new package of expansive US sanctions package against Russia, forcing the Moscow Exchange — Russia's key bourse — to halt dollar and euro trade.

Russia has said it's working with a group of countries to build a platform that doesn't need the dollar.

Nabiullina said discussions about the platform were ongoing but that they were difficult and would take time.

• Russia has ramped up its information warfare, a new report reveals.
• The Insider and German newspaper Der Spiegel found documents detailing an operation called Project Kylo.
• The document estimated that it would cost Russian operatives $3 to manipulate one Western audience member.

Russia's foreign intelligence agency SVR hatched plans that involved staging fake, anti-state protests, filming them, and then disseminating them — a sprawling operation aimed at discrediting Ukraine.

This is according to a new report by The Insider and the German newspaper Der Spiegel. The organizations' joint investigation revealed the contents of a document obtained in a leak of SVR communications — detailing the ins and outs of Project Kylo, a 2022 strategic plan to spread misinformation about Ukraine in the West.

According to the report, one of the operations in Project Kylo would have cost the Russian spies around $3 a month to manipulate one Western internet user.

A main pillar of this campaign involved faking protests, with no more than 100 people being paid around $108 each. The false protests were filmed for "subsequent media dissemination," per the report.

The other part of the SVR's intelligence operations involved generating fake German news sites that branded themselves as independent investigations agencies. The sites churned out articles harping on economic issues in Germany, like homelessness, while disseminating content under incendiary headlines like "How Ukrainians are robbing Germany of economic prosperity."

"Waging network wars in EU cyberspace based on the increasing demands of Ukrainian migrants and the new waves of irritation of the local population provoked by this, according to preliminary estimates, will have a very high efficiency both now and in the foreseeable future," the SVR strategy document read, per translations from The Insider and Der Spiegel.

The leaked document further outlined how the "cognitive campaign" the Russians intended to run was centered on instilling in Western users "the strongest emotion in the human psyche — fear."

"It is precisely the fear for the future, uncertainty about tomorrow, the inability to make long-term plans, the unclear fate of children and future generations," the document read. "The cultivation of these triggers floods an individual's subconscious with panic and terror."

This leak of SVR documents is not the first time Russian operations in the West have been uncovered.

There have been multiple reports of Russian spies infiltrating the West, such as "Victor Muller," a Russian military operative masquerading as a Brazilian student who sought an internship at the International Criminal Court in The Hague to steal intelligence.

And the number of Russian spies in the West is now estimated to be at the highest it has been in decades.

Russian spy activities "are as high or even higher than during the Cold War," a Western intelligence officer told The Financial Times in March.

German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported in April 2023 that Russian spies have used Tinder to target German politicians and soldiers in a bid to obtain intelligence related to the Ukraine war.

• Two military drones were seized by Italian authorities on their way from China to Libya.
• They were found in containers and disguised to look like wind turbine parts, Italian officials said.
• The Times reported that these were Wing Loong UAVs, which are made in China and often compared to the Reaper.

Italy has seized parts for two combat drones disguised as wind turbines in containers en route from China to Libya, customs and maritime authorities said on Tuesday.

Officials at the port of Gioia Tauro intercepted six containers marked as parts for wind-powered generators, which were actually filled with the fuselages and wings for military drones, the Financial Police said in a statement. The agency patrols Italy's waters and is tasked with countering smuggling.

Investigators said the drone parts were hidden among materials made to look like wind turbine fan blades "with the aim of concealing the checks carried out."

According to the Financial Police, the drones have a tonnage of more than 3 tons, with a length of over 32 feet and a wingspan of over 65 feet.

The Times of London reported on Sunday that Italian authorities had acted on intelligence from the US.

It wrote that three containers were impounded on June 18 from the ship MSC Arina and that officials were expecting another three to arrive over the weekend on the MSC Apolline.

Per the outlet, the drones were Wing Loong UAVs bound for Benghazi so they could be delivered to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar. The shipments included two control stations for the drones, per The Times.

The drone specifications listed by the Financial Guard, which did not name the drones in its statement, match those of the Wing Loong-2 listed by Chinese state media reports.

As a long-endurance and remotely controlled weapons platform, the Wing Loong-2 is often compared to the US-made MQ-9 Reaper, though its maximum speed and altitude are inferior to the latter.

When it was introduced in 2017, China's state media lauded it as a sign that Beijing was the first to match the US in a "new generation of large-scale reconnaissance and strike integrated UAVs."

Neither The Times nor the Financial Guard mentioned whether the Chinese government was involved.

China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider.

Italian authorities also did not say if the shipment contained munitions for the drones. They added that the seized shipment likely violates a long-standing United Nations embargo on weapons to and from Libya.

Haftar's faction, the Libyan National Army, is based in eastern Libya and attempted to overthrow the country's internationally recognized government in 2020.

A former officer in Muammar Gaddafi's administration, he's forged close ties with Russia, and Moscow has promised to support his military as he extends control over much of Libya.

The use of the Wing Loong-2 was reported in Libya before this seizure. The United Nations found that in 2019, the drone was likely used by Haftar's forces in an attack on the suburbs of Tripoli.

The UN report and a BBC investigation found that Wing Loong-2 drones were likely supplied by the United Arab Emirates, which has long been accused of backing Haftar.

In April, two Libyan men were charged in Canada with conspiring to sell Chinese-made drones to Libya in exchange for oil between 2018 and 2021.

• Fans are sending steamy audition tapes to land roles on "Bridgerton."
• "I get the most unbelievable videos, unsolicited," says casting director Kelly Valentine Hendry.
• All three seasons of "Bridgerton" are among Netflix's top 10 most popular titles.

"Bridgerton" has had its fair share of sexy romance scenes, and it looks like fans want in on the action.

Fans of the hit Netflix series have been sending in steamy audition tapes, Kelly Valentine Hendry, the show's casting director, shared on Sunday's episode of the "Should I Delete That?" podcast.

"I get the most unbelievable videos, unsolicited," Hendry said. "It's sex, basically. Not actual sex, but it's quite punchy the stuff that comes through to me," Hendry told podcast hosts Alex Light and Em Clarkson.

"Not nude pictures, but not far off," Hendry added.

Hendry also shared that she often has to delete emails from her inbox because it's always at "90% capacity" every day.

It's not surprising that fans would try to send in their own racy clips, considering the show is known for its steamy shots — including the carriage scene, the mirror scene, and the over 5½ -minute-long chaise lounge scene.

In May, "Bridgerton" star Nicola Coughlan told Stylist magazine she asked to be "very naked on camera" in one of her explicit scenes in season three in response to getting body-shamed by viewers.

"It just felt like the biggest 'fuck you' to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering," Coughlan said.

All three seasons of "Bridgerton" are also among Netflix's top 10 most popular titles of all time, as of June 30. Season three — the latest season — is at number 10 with a cumulative 91.9 million views. This total was calculated 45 days after the first four episodes premiered on May 16, which means that the series has the potential to rack up even more views.

The "Bridgerton" series also has a large impact on the wider cultural landscape, sparking a renewed interest in the Regency era.

However, the hotly-anticipated season four of the show will likely only arrive in 2026, showrunner Jess Brownell told The Hollywood Reporter in June.

• The Labour Party has triumphed in the UK general elections.
• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded defeat to Labour Party chief Keir Starmer early on Friday morning.
• The party has been out of power since 2010 but won a landslide victory on Thursday.

The Tories are out, and the Labour Party is back in power.

UK Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak conceded defeat in the country's recent general elections on July 4.

"The Labour Party has won this general election, and I have called Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory," Sunak told reporters on Thursday.

"The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight. There is much to learn and reflect on, and I take responsibility for the loss," Sunak added.

Starmer's party obtained a landslide victory against Sunak's, winning at least 370 seats as of press time, per Bloomberg. A party only needs to obtain at least 326 out of the 650 seats to form a simple majority.

The watershed election marks the Labour Party's stunning return to power, as it has been out of government since 2010.

"A mandate like this comes with a great responsibility," Starmer said in his victory speech. "The fight for trust is the battle that defines our age."

Starmer also said in his victory speech that his party now plans to govern as a "changed Labour Party."

"I don't promise you it will be easy. Changing a country's not like flicking a switch. It's hard work. Patient work. Determined work. And we will have to get moving immediately," he said.

• A local Chinese government just approved Tesla's Model Y approved for use.
• This is the first time Tesla's cars are eligible for government purchases in China.
• Government approval could help Tesla amid global demand slump and rising competition.

Tesla's Model Y cars just made it on the list of approved vehicles of one local government in China, unlocking a new customer base for the electric vehicle giant.

The EV can now be used as a service car by party, government, and public body officials in Jiangsu according to official Chinese media outlet The Paper. The province, north of Shanghai, is an education and manufacturing hot spot with one of the highest GDPs in the country.

This was the first time Tesla's cars have been made eligible for government purchases in China, the outlet reported. The Model Y is part of a longer list of approved electric or hybrid cars, including several domestic manufacturers and a model from Volvo, which has a Chinese parent company.

The local procurement center told the media that Tesla signed up for the list.

The center evaluated Tesla's cars based on several factors, including passenger capacity, range, charging time, and price of no more than 250,000 yuan, or about $34,400.

Tesla's best-selling Model Y just met the cutoff point, with a starting price of 249,900 yuan in China. The carmaker slashed prices by 14,000 yuan, or $1,930, in April, in what was seen as a response to slowing demand and a price war with Chinese rivals.

Tesla met one other condition at the procurement center: Cars cannot be imported.

The American EV maker fulfilled this requirement because the Teslas are domestically produced, and its Shanghai factory uses over 95% local parts, The Paper reported.

While being on the list is not a sure indicator of future sales, given the large number of approved cars, the approval is a win for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk.

The local government's approval may pave the way for a wider rollout in other provinces, allowing Tesla to tap into a new customer base. Tesla EVs are already being used and tested by government bodies in Venice, Florida.

The approval also comes as Tesla faces a slump in global EV demand and rising competition from Chinese EV heavyweights like BYD. While recent deliveries beat analyst expectations, Tesla reported on Tuesday that sales fell for the second straight quarter, down nearly 5% compared with the same period a year ago.

Both China and Musk have been eager to play nice. In April, Musk visited the country and its second-highest-ranking politician, Premier Li Qiang, to discuss self-driving technology.

• Tesla hasn't engaged with India's government since Elon Musk canceled his trip in April, per Bloomberg.
• Tesla was initially planning to build a new factory in India but seems to have shifted its focus.
• Musk has told investors to value Tesla as an AI or robotics company instead of an automaker.

India may no longer be a priority for Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk.

The mercurial billionaire's team hasn't engaged with the country's officials since he canceled his trip to India in April, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

"Unfortunately, very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed, but I do very much look forward to visiting later this year," Musk said in an X post on April 20.

Bloomberg's sources also said India's government doesn't expect Tesla to make any investments anytime soon as the company is experiencing capital issues.

Tesla and India's heavy industry, finance, and commerce ministries did not respond to the outlet's requests for comment.

The report comes as a surprise, considering Tesla has long been eyeing India as a potential area for expansion.

In April, Reuters reported that the EV giant was planning to build a new factory in India as part of a $2 to $3 billion investment into the country. Musk was expected to announce the expansion plans during his planned visit to India.

But Musk did still end up traveling to another Asian country in April. The Tesla CEO made a surprise trip to China just a week after scrapping his trip to India, where he met the country's second-highest-ranking politician, Li Qiang.

The trip was fruitful for Musk, who has advertised his ambitions of turning Tesla into a leading AI and robotics company. According to a Bloomberg report in April, Chinese officials gave their in-principle approval for Tesla to roll out its Full Self-Driving technology in the country.

That said, India probably hasn't entirely fallen off of Musk's radar.

Musk congratulated India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his government's electoral victory at the country's general elections. The pair had last met in New York in June 2023.

"Congratulations Narendra Modi on your victory in the world's largest democratic elections! Looking forward to my companies doing exciting work in India," Musk wrote in an X post on June 7.

Representatives for Tesla and India's commerce ministry didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

• I traveled to Timor-Leste in May and spent four days exploring its capital city.
• Timor-Leste is one of the least-visited countries in the world.
• While inaccessible and expensive, it was worth visiting for its unspoiled coastline.

I've spent the past two years traveling to 20 countries. While most of these countries — from the Maldives to France — were among the world's most popular, it was the off-the-beaten-path destinations that I enjoyed most.

Last month, I traveled to Timor-Leste, a country located in the South Pacific. The country comprises the eastern part of Timor Island and two smaller islands. At 5,800 square miles, it's comparable in size to the Bahamas.

It's also the 14th least-visited country in the world and the least-visited in Asia, according to a January report from CEOWorld magazine. Some 81,000 tourists visited Timor-Leste in 2023 — putting it just ahead of Chad and Sierra Leone, per the report.

The lack of tourists is not a direct result of the pandemic either. Back in 2019, only around 80,000 tourists had visited, per the National Statistics Directorate Timor. While researching my trip, I struggled to find information online for tourists — save for a handful of short vlogs on YouTube. I ended up having to learn along the way.

Here are seven things that surprised me about Timor-Leste.

1. It's difficult to fly there — and even harder to get around.

Only a handful of airlines fly to Dili, the capital, where the only international airport in Timor-Leste is located. Tourists can only fly to Dili from Bali, Indonesia, and Darwin, Australia. I was in Bali for three weeks, so I decided to fly with the Indonesian budget airline Citilink. Dili's airport is tiny — there's only one departure gate and one runway.

There are no ride-hailing services in Timor-Leste. While there are some taxis to help tourists get around, I only spotted them around the airport and in the city center. I ended up meeting Fernando, a local, who took me around the city on a scooter. I found that traveling via scooter was the best way to sightsee from the coasts to the surrounding mountains.

2. There aren't many options when it comes to accommodation.

While Hilton plans to open a hotel in Dili's business district later this year, when I visited, there were no luxury resorts or international hotel chains in Timor-Leste. With only around 70 hotels and guesthouses in the country listed on Google Hotels, lodging choices online were limited. I booked three nights at Timor Plaza Hotel & Apartments, a three-star hotel located next to a small mall in the city center.

After chatting with other travelers, I found many were staying in local guesthouses by the beach. They're usually a simple set-up, comprising a small room with a bed, mosquito net, and a fan. You can spot signs at the side of the road showing if there are rooms available for the night. Since there are very few tourists in the country, chances are you can negotiate a rate and book your stay on the spot.

3. Locals use US dollars — which means it's more expensive than other nearby countries.

The US dollar is the official currency. While used interchangeably, The East Timor Centavo is only minted in coins and pegged to the US dollar at $1 to 100 centavos. This makes Timor-Leste more expensive than many other countries in Asia.

In Bali, a plate of nasi goreng — an Indonesian fried rice with satay — costs an average of between $3 to $4.50. In Dili, I paid between $10 and $15 for a similar dish. In Bali, renting a scooter for a day can cost as little as $3. In Dili, it costs over five times more, between $25 and $35.

4. Not everyone speaks the same language.

While Portuguese and Tetum are the official languages of Timor-Leste, English and Indonesian are the working languages. However, only 13.5% of locals speak Portuguese, according to the US Department of State.

The majority of locals I met in Dili spoke Tetum and Indonesian. Due to the high number of ethnic groups in Timor-Leste, there are at least 16 additional languages between them.

As I grew up in Singapore and can speak some Indonesian, when locals didn't speak English, that was my fallback language. Although Fernando, my guide, told me tourists needed to be careful when conversing in Indonesian. He noted that some locals may get offended, considering the complicated history between these countries. I found that it was best to ask what language they prefer to speak when in doubt.

5. Very few American chains operate in the country.

Only a handful of American food chains exist in Timor-Leste, mostly in Dili's city center. I spotted a Burger King and a Gloria Jean's Coffee outlet next to each other right outside the hotel where I was staying — McDonald's doesn't operate in Timor-Leste. As an adventurous eater, I had all my meals at locally-run eateries and cafés, where I had Indonesian and Timorese fare.

A few stores sell American brands like Head and Shoulders and Maybelline when it comes to toiletries and makeup. But no-name brands are more common and are sold for much cheaper.

6. The landscapes are some of the most pristine in the region.

I found that Timor-Leste offered some of the most scenic views in Asia.

I spent most of my time at Cristo Rei Beach — which is overlooked by an 88-foot-long statue of Jesus Christ — at the northern tip of Dili. It's a natural white-sand beach with the clearest waters I have ever seen — even clearer than the Maldives. I could see the outline of the mountainous Atauro Island from the coast, famed for its rich, colorful reefs.

After traveling the region extensively, I found Dili the most scenic capital city I've seen. Its gorgeous coastline is flanked by towering mountains.

7. You won't find the local nightlife listed online — but you'll find it in the streets.

On Google Maps, there are only a few local nightlife establishments listed — and most have no photos, reviews, or information. But my guide, Fernando, shared that locals love drinking the local palm wine and dancing to Kizomba, a dance genre originating from Angola, in the late evenings.

I was fortunate to be in Timor-Leste on May 20, during National Day. It marks when the country gained independence from Indonesia. I found thousands of people partying by the beach and hundreds of motorcycles revving down the coast to celebrate the day. The energy was unexpected — and a memorable surprise that I'll never forget.