Tag: News

• Apple gets an observer role on OpenAI's board as part of the companies' partnership, per Bloomberg.
• The arrangement raises Apple to Microsoft's level within the AI startup, according to the outlet.
• Phil Schiller, head of Apple's app store, was reportedly picked for the position.

Apple scored a board observer seat as part of its landmark deal with the AI giant, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the outlet, the arrangement puts Apple on equal footing with OpenAI's biggest backer, Microsoft, raising new questions about how the competitors will coexist on OpenAI's board.

Details of the new arrangement follow Apple's announcement last month that it would integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT with future devices as part of a larger AI push at the tech company. Users who prefer not to use ChatGT will be able to opt-out of the features, Business Insider previously reported.

Phil Schiller, head of Apple's app store and former marketing chief, was picked for the board position, Bloomberg reported. Schiller will serve in an observer role, meaning he won't have voting powers, but he will be able to sit in on OpenAI meetings, giving Apple key insight into the inner workings of the AI company, according to the outlet.

Neither Apple nor OpenAI immediately responded to a request for comment from Business Insider.

"This would be a smart move for Cupertino given how important OpenAI is to the broader AI vision in Apple," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told Business Insider.

The arrangement, the details of which are still in flux, is set to start later this year, and Schiller has not attended any meetings yet, according to the Bloomberg report.

Microsoft has long been OpenAI's largest backer and a key business partner, having invested billions of dollars into the AI company. Ahead of the Apple-OpenAI integration announcement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to discuss concerns about the forthcoming Apple deal, The Information reported in May.

However, the Apple-OpenAI partnership could ultimately benefit Microsoft, too, Venture Beat reported last month. The deal could offer Microsoft Trojan horse-like insight into Apple, one of its key competitors, and pave the way for friendlier relationships between the two rivals.

It is not uncommon for board observers to leave meetings where sensitive information is being discussed — something Microsoft could ask Apple to do or vice versa, Bloomberg reported.

The Apple partnership marked a massive win for OpenAI, coming at a key time for Altman after mounting scandals at the company, including a company coup, growing concerns about safe AI, and a brush-up with Scarlett Johansson over the use of her likeness.

• I was diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome. 
• I knew it would be complicated to get pregnant.
• As soon as we had our first my husband and I started planning to have another baby. 

A decade before I decided to have a baby, I was told that there would be complications.

I was diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and my doctors were concerned about egg quality, anovulation, and other fertility issues. So when we did not get pregnant after a year, my husband and I began artificial reproductive treatment (ART).

Even though my health insurance was exceptionally good and covered IVF with a few copays, the treatments failed over and over again. I experienced ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) and had to take weeks of bed rest to reduce the amount of fluid in my abdomen. This meant weeks out of work.

Because of our insurance and extremely understanding and supportive employers, we did not have to worry about losing our jobs or accumulating medical debt. Nevertheless, we began to fear a reality where we did not have children.

We switched clinics and I got pregnant

Eventually, we decided to switch clinics after our first told us there was nothing left that they could do. At the new clinic, I had laparoscopic surgery to remove endometriosis lesions on my organs and to perform ovarian diathermy. The latter is a procedure during which your ovaries are lasered to lower your ovarian reserve with the hopes of the ovaries producing fewer but higher-quality eggs.

Two cycles later, as we waited on my period to begin egg retrieval three, I found out I was pregnant. Terrified and overjoyed, we cautiously navigated a surprisingly uncomplicated pregnancy. After nine long and anxious months, I had a whirlwind four-hour labor, and we met our son.

But in the recovery room, my husband and I both began sharing anxieties about how we needed to structure our lives to have another child.

I have anxiety about trying for another child

I know this is not my reality alone. I have spoken with people in various support groups I have joined throughout my infertility and pregnancy journey about the next child anxiety.

Next child anxiety is a fear of being retraumatized. It is a scale where we weigh the benefits of giving our child a sibling and the joys of having another child to love against the crushing reality of infertility and its treatments. It is figuring out how far you are willing to go into ART again and what the limits would look like. My surgery's effectiveness is typically two years, and over nine months have already been spent.

As someone recently postpartum, it also feels unfair. My body has not been my own for two and a half years of treatment and nine months of pregnancy. But here I am, trying to plan.

Then there is the career anxiety. Will we have infertility benefits? After my parental leave, I switched to remote work and lost the wonderful health insurance that had helped to change our lives. We have insurance now, but I am unsure how far it will go. I will always wonder if I left the chance to have another baby.

In the infertility community, when you try to have a baby, you have to structure your entire life around this goal. It can mean a life of medical debt, moving to another state, or changing jobs or careers. And you are never guaranteed a child.

The other day, I was thinking about my son in six years on vacation with us and an imagined sibling who would chase after him on the beach. But today I help him stack a tower of cups, watching his eyes dart in delight between me and the colorful toys. In a few months, I will call the clinic again and proceed on an uncertain path.

• Thanks to the SCOTUS immunity decision, it may not take much to force a hush-money retrial.
• One key piece of evidence, People's Exhibit 81, may be enough to scuttle Trump's May 30 verdict.
• It's an ethics form Trump signed in 2018, just the kind of official-act evidence SCOTUS now bans.

It might not take much to scuttle Donald Trump's May 30 hush-money conviction.

In fact, a single piece of evidence could be Trump's handiest monkey wrench of all.

Manhattan prosecutors labeled it People's Exhibit 81.

It's a routine federal ethics form called an "Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report."

Manhattan prosecutors showed it to jurors back in early May, during the third week of testimony.

They later spun it as solid proof that Trump knew his hush-money reimbursement checks to his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, were just that: reimbursements, not "legal fees," as his falsified business records claimed.

"Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017," claimed the form, which attested to his assets and liabilities and bore his signature.

Days before closing arguments, Business Insider highlighted People's 81 as one of ten pieces of incriminating "smoking gun" evidence.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass days later mentioned People's 81 in closing arguments, calling it proof that Trump "knew that the payments were really reimbursements."

Then came Monday.

In a sweeping decision that fell just ten days before Trump's original sentencing date, the US Supreme Court declared former presidents presumptively immune from criminal prosecution for "official acts."

Then the court went further, banning the use of official acts as evidence.

It took less than a day for defense lawyers to use this ban on "official act" evidence to challenge Trump's May 30 conviction. It's a challenge that has now delayed Trump's July 11 sentencing on the grounds that hush money prosecutors improperly used Trump's official acts against him at trial.

People's Exhibit 81 — a financial disclosure form that must be filed by all senior US government officials, and which Trump only filed because he was president — is front and center in that defense effort.

Other "official act" evidence the defense is now challenging includes Trump phone records and tweets, and an Oval Office conversation he had with Hope Hicks, his then-communications director.

"Under Trump," defense lawyer Todd Blanche wrote Monday, referring to the SCOTUS decision, "this official-acts evidence should never have been put before the jury."

Trump "may not be prosecuted for his exercising his core constitutional powers," Blanche wrote, continuing to quote from Monday's decision.

Prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg quickly scoffed in response that Trump's efforts are "without merit."

But they were not entirely meritless — Bragg and New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan both agreed to push back Trump's July 11 sentencing date so the issue can be argued in a planned volley of papers.

Trump will file his arguments by July 10, prosecutors will respond by July 24, and the judge will rule — deciding that the hush-money conviction stands or is overturned — on September 6.

Under New York Criminal Procedure Law, Merchan must decide if the SCOTUS ruling "would require a reversal or modification of the judgment as a matter of law by an appellate court."

"It would come down to two things," said Michel Paradis, an attorney who teaches national security and constitutional law at Columbia Law School.

Was the evidence or testimony "official in some way," and therefore subject to this new immunity rule? And if so, was its use at trial "a harmless error."

Trump's new sentencing date will be September 18, Merchan ruled — if sentencing is "still necessary" by that date.

Why People's 81 may be Trump's best monkey-wrench

In hopes of setting aside Trump's verdict, Trump's lawyers raised other instances where they say "official acts" were improperly used at trial against him.

A big one is testimony by Trump's former communications director, Hope Hicks, who described to jurors Trump's reaction in the Oval Office, when news of Trump's hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels first broke in 2018.

"He wanted to know how it was playing," Hicks told the jury, referring to the news coverage.

"And I think Mr. Trump's opinion was it was better to be dealing with it now, and that it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election," she told jurors.

"That is devastating," Steinglass, the prosecutor, said of Hick's testimony, noting that it firmly linked the hush-money payment to the presidential election, a connection Trump had denied.

Paradis said prosecutors may find themselves battling with the defense over how much of Hicks' Oval Office conversation with Trump was on an official topic, and therefore banned as testimony.

Merchan — or, as is more likely, appeals judges down the line — may bar any prosecutorial use of the Hicks-Trump conversation merely because some of it may have touched on official acts, Paradis said.

The defense is also signaling that it will challenge the use of certain incriminating tweets, including one from May, 2018, in which Trump again referred to his payments to Cohen as "reimbursement" for "a non-disclosure agreement," AKA hush money.

But these and other tweets the defense is raising as "official" were sent from Trump's personal Twitter account, and concerns, as Trump himself put it, "a private contract."

Finally, the defense said Tuesday that it will challenge as "official" the prosecution's use of phone records "reflecting calls involving President Trump while he was in office."

Again, as records of both personal and business calls, this evidence contains a mix of official and unofficial acts that must now be argued over before Merchan and any appellate judges that get the case.

Prosecutors' best bet may be to argue that financial disclosure forms like People's 81 are "personnel documents," Paradis said — "which, in the bureaucracy of the federal government would likely be deemed 'personal.'"

But whether that argument sinks or flies is anyone's guess, he told BI.

"That is the thing about this decision," he added. "It does not come right out and say 'the president is immune from all prosecution.' In some ways, it is more pernicious than that," he said.

"It just creates an immunity that is so ill-defined and so unmoored from any agreed-upon constitutional text or history, that there is no way of knowing its outer limits," he said.

"And leaving so much uncertainty about the outer limits means, for all practical purposes, that those outer limits don't exist."

• The US Army wants to modernize Abrams tank while cutting at least 20,000 pounds from its weight.
• Upgrades to the new M1E3 Abrams could include an autoloader, stealth tech, and a new main gun.
• But the Abrams' bulkiest features are the armor and protective systems that make it so formidable.

A new contract decision is moving the US military's world-class Abrams tank in a direction it's never gone before: after decades of getting bulkier amid upgrades to add firepower and cutting-edge protection, it's finally getting a critically needed slim-down.

Defense News was first to report at the end of May that the Army had awarded a contract to Abrams manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) to start developing requirements for what it's calling the M1E3 — a new generation of Abrams tank.

Reached for details on the contract, GDLS referred all questions to the Army's PEO Ground Combat Systems, which did not respond to Sandboxx News' queries. While the Defense Department published award notices for several smaller Abrams contract modifications in May, it appears the details of this design contract have not yet been made public.

This begins a new era of development for the Abrams, and the first of its kind in decades: the last full M1A2 rolled off production lines in 1996. Yet, the task of rolling out a modernized tank — one that needs to cut more than 10 tons from its fighting weight — is formidable.

The M1A2 Abrams is in a weight class of its own among the world's leading tanks: the current variant, the SEPv3, weighs around 70 tons on its own, and up to 78 with a full combat load. As a comparison point, 78 tons is also the maximum takeoff weight for the Airbus A320, a passenger aircraft with a capacity for 180 souls.

The heft of the Abrams tank has enabled its dominance as one of the most formidable main battle tanks in service; but as its weight has grown with each update, it has also started to limit its mobility.

In 2017, a three-star Army general revealed to Congress that the tank could no longer be towed by the Heavy Equipment Transport vehicle specifically designed to tow it — meaning there was nothing that could haul the Abrams around Europe, where a number had been positioned as part of an initiative to deter Russia.

Bridges are also a problem, particularly in Europe where many crossings are old and not reinforced; there, a single Abrams represents a major structural threat. With a current hot conflict in Europe, these drawbacks were increasingly concerning to planners. In September, the Army announced it was canceling a planned upgrade — the M1A2 Sepv4 — that threatened to fatten the Abrams even more, and instead pursue a more radical modernization.

"The Abrams tank can no longer grow its capabilities without adding weight and we need to reduce its logistical footprint," Maj. Gen. Glenn Dean, program executive officer for the Army's Ground Combat Systems, said in a statement accompanying the announcement. "The war in Ukraine has highlighted a critical need for integrated protections for soldiers, built from within instead of adding on."

To this end, the Army is asking for $246 million for the next fiscal year, with plans to spend another $366 million on tank upgrades in fiscal 2026. A paper developed by the Congressional Research Service lays out the Army's primary objectives for modernization. It cites a 2019 Army Science Board study that reportedly influenced the path the service is currently on.

Some of them would merely adopt technologies already in use by other premier tanks, such as an autoloader, which might allow the Abrams to employ a crew of three instead of four and cut down on manpower. The French Leclerc and South Korean K2 Black Panther already have autoloaders, as do Russian, Japanese, and Chinese tanks. Also proposed is a new main gun in lieu of the Abrams' legacy 120mm L/44 M256 smoothbore armament.

Other proposed features would enhance the Abrams' stealth; these include "masking" tech that reduces thermal and electromagnetic signatures and a hybrid-electric drive, a feature that typically enables silent standby mode.

General Dynamics' AbramsX demonstrator, incorporated many of these features. It built in the autoloader and the hybrid drive and swapped in an XM360 tube on the main gun to cut the weapon's weight in half.

In addition to other wish-list features, like better command-and-control capabilities and the ability to launch drones and network with unmanned and robotic systems, the AbramsX purportedly achieves the all-important slimdown the Army wants, weighing in at a comparatively svelte 60 tons. It achieves much of these savings by relocating the crew inside the hull, allowing for a major armor reduction on the turret.

And herein lies the biggest challenge for the Army in its quest for a lighter tank: the bulkiest features the Abrams sports are the armor and protective systems that make it so formidable. The Abrams Reactive Armor Tiles that cover the tank's surface alone add two more tons of weight — but the tiles effectively blast incoming rockets away from the vehicle's surface, adding a next-level layer of protection.

The Abrams' Trophy Active Protection System, an Israeli-developed countermeasure that detects and intercepts incoming threats much like a miniature Iron Dome, adds nearly four more tons. That reality has spurred speculation as to whether Trophy will be featured on future generations of the Abrams.

The reality is that the M1 Abrams has gotten so heavy through its cycle of adding new protections onto its rugged frame as they become state-of-the-art: therefore, it is a cross-section of many of the best systems the world's tanks have to offer. To cut weight, the Army will have to undertake an aggressive redesign to make some of those systems internal to the vehicle; but it may also have to make some tough tradeoff decisions about what the next-generation Abrams truly needs to meet tomorrow's threats.

It is left to be seen which features belong in Abrams' future, and which will be left in the past.

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• Nike shares slumped after the company said sales would fall. The stock is down 30% this year.
• The sportswear brand has started implementing a turnaround plan, but the results are yet to be seen.
• Nike's reliance on its lifestyle business seems to be hurting it, one analyst said.

Nike's lost its stride — and is finding it hard to get its pace back up.

In December, the company announced a cost-cutting initiative that included simplifying its assortment of products and cutting jobs.

The aim was to deliver up to $2 billion in savings over the next three years, which "will be invested to fuel future growth, accelerate innovation at speed and scale, and drive greater long-term profitability."

Two quarters on, investors aren't seeing much of that growth.

On Thursday, Nike delivered a lackluster set of Q4 results and said it expects sales for its 2025 fiscal year to fall by mid-single digits, including a 10% drop in the first quarter alone. That shocked investors, especially as analysts had expected a 1% increase this year, according to Reuters.

None of it impressed investors much. Nike's shares closed down 20% on Friday afternoon; the company has dropped 30% since the start of the year.

Some major reasons included a tougher sales environment in China, ongoing challenges with its digital platform, and what Nike CFO Matthew Friend described as "muted" forward wholesale orders with "newness not yet at scale."

It doesn't look like it's going to get better very quickly, either, with Friend saying on the earnings call that the "next few quarters will be challenging."

Meantime, CEO John Donahue said that 2025 "will be a transition year for our business."

So, how can the biggest name in sneakers get its stride back?

One answer rests in what the company calls its "lifestyle" business — basically, shoes and clothing meant for casual wear. Nike's "performance" segment, meanwhile, includes many of its core sports products, such as basketball shoes.

While revenue from performance products grew in Q4, declines in its lifestyle business overshadowed them, contributing to the worse-than-expected results.

In its last fiscal year, lifestyle products have grown to about 60% of Nike's business, UBS analyst Jay Sole estimates.

Dividing sales more evenly between performance and lifestyle products would help Nike "restore its image as a sports brand and make its top-line growth rate more sustainable for the long term," he wrote in a note.

"One of our big takeaways from Nike's 4Q report is its lifestyle business needs a major reset," Sole said.

The company has also lost ground to rivals when it comes to connecting directly with customers.

Members of run clubs in Portland, near Nike's headquarters, say that they have been visited by representatives from smaller brands like Hoka and New Balance — but no one from Nike, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

CEO Donahue noted that road running "remains a competitive battlefield that we are playing to win" on the call.

Another issue is Nike's pipeline of new products.

Nike has been cutting back on some popular shoe lines to get people hyped about new ones. On Thursday's call, Donahue pointed to areas where Nike has introduced new products, from fitness leggings aimed at female consumers to shoes specifically for road runners.

That could help drive performance sales — especially those through Nike's digital business, a major pain point at the moment for the company.

But Donahue also referenced products that were still in development or months away from release. He teased new versions of Nike's Pegasus and Vomero running shoes, for instance, that aren't scheduled to hit shelves until the second half of fiscal 2025 while referencing a "strong wholesale order book" for coming seasons.

"Talking about newness not in stores doesn't work anymore," Jefferies analyst Randal Konik wrote.

While CFO Friend said management is "confident that we are repositioning Nike to be more competitive," investors have yet to be convinced.

"This is still [Nike] and the right strategy could turn the business," BMO analyst Simeon Siegel wrote in a note after Thursday's earnings report. "But we're not convinced that strategy is presently in place."

• Robert Pattinson and "Daisy Jones & The Six" star Suki Waterhouse have been dating for six years.
• The pair have been linked since 2018, but make few public appearances together.
• Pattinson and Waterhouse welcomed their first child together, a daughter, in March. 
•  

July 28, 2018: Dating rumors begin when Pattinson and Waterhouse are photographed showing affection while walking through London.

Paparazzi photos obtained by Daily Mail and E! News showed the two British stars with their arms wrapped around each other, laughing together, and kissing while walking through the town that weekend.

Both publications reported that Pattinson and Waterhouse caught a screening of "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" at Notting Hill's Electric Cinema, followed by a visit to the celeb-frequented SoHo House for drinks.

Daily Mail reported that the PDA-filled photos were taken as the pair walked to her apartment, before heading inside together. 

A source also told People that they "are dating."

Shortly after the photos were published, a source told E! News that Pattinson "likes to have fun when he has breaks in-between filming and him and Suki have a great time together," but he wasn't "looking for anything serious right now" following the end of his three-year relationship with the musician FKA Twigs.

August 1, 2018: Us Weekly reports that the pair "have been dating for months."

An anonymous source told the publication that Pattinson and the singer have "known each other and been around each other for a long time."

They added that the stars "definitely have a love of music in common."

Fall 2018: The "Twilight" star and Waterhouse continue being spotted together, despite reportedly breaking up.

In late August of that year, Daily Mail reported that the couple split "just weeks after they were seen kissing near her Notting Hill home."

But in September, the site Lainey Gossip reported that Pattinson and Waterhouse were still going strong and were caught at the musician Miguel's show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. 

Both stars were also in attendance at the Toronto International Film Festival that month, with Pattinson promoting "High Life" and Waterhouse supporting "Assassination Nation."

Any breakup rumors were squashed in October, when they were photographed leaving the London hang-out Chiltern Firehouse together at 2:15 a.m., according to Elle.

Then in early December, Daily Mail published photos of the couple leaving a Christmas party together at London's Regent Street at nearly 5 a.m.

January 11, 2019: Waterhouse celebrates her 27th birthday with a dinner that includes Pattinson and a few other stars.

Waterhouse's dinner at London's Casa Cruz included guests like Liv Tyler, Georgia May Jagger, Cara Delevingne, and Ashley Benson.

Paparazzi photos published by Daily Mail and Just Jared showed Waterhouse and Pattinson exiting Casa Cruz afterward, dressed in casual clothing.

Later that month, the pair were seen holding hands while going for a walk in London. 

April 29, 2019: Pattinson is reluctant to discuss his relationship with Waterhouse during an interview with The Sunday Times.

When asked to talk about Waterhouse, Pattinson responded: "Do I have to?"

"If you let people in, it devalues what love is," he explained. "If a stranger on the street asked you about your relationship, you'd think it extremely rude. If you put up a wall it ends up better."

The "Harry Potter" alum continued: "I can't understand how someone can walk down the street holding hands, and it's the same as when I do it and a hundred people are taking your photo. The line between when you're performing and when you're not will eventually get washed away and you'll go completely mad." 

May 13, 2019: The couple celebrates Pattinson's 33rd birthday.

They marked the occasion with a dinner at Chateau Marmont in LA, People reported. 

Weeks later, Us Weekly reported that Pattinson and Waterhouse went on a double date with Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn on May 31 at San Vicente Bungalows in Hollywood, California. 

In a feature for Grazia, published on June 18, Waterhouse didn't speak about Pattinson.

However, the reporter, Guy Pewsey, noted that she FaceTimed him while on a break during the photo shoot. 

September 4, 2019: Photographer Sofia Malamute posts a photo of the couple, taken in Ibiza that year.

Malamute shared two photos on Instagram with the caption "Ibiza, 2019." The first image showed Waterhouse with her arms around Pattinson as they both looked at something off-camera. The second photo featured just Pattinson.

This post came weeks after Pattinson and the "Moves" singer were photographed on another casual stroll. 

January 17, 2020: The couple sparks engagement rumors at a Dior perfume dinner in France, where Waterhouse is seen with a gold ring on her fourth finger.

It's worth noting that Waterhouse wore multiple rings during the event, which took place during Paris Fashion Week. 

May 12, 2020: They quarantine together during the pandemic.

Pattinson's June 2020 cover story for GQ indicated this, with writer Zach Baron noting that the actor was "in London with his girlfriend, in the apartment the 'Batman' folks rented for him."

Months later, in September, Pattinson and Waterhouse were photographed kissing with their masks down while sitting on a park bench in London.

This marked the first time Pattinson was seen publicly since production on "The Batman" was shut down due to the actor contracting COVID. 

October 21, 2020: E! News reports that the couple has "discussed getting engaged but are in no rush."

"Rob and Suki have definitely discussed getting engaged but are in no rush," a source told the publication. "Suki is not pressuring him and they are both very committed to each other."

"They are a really good match," the source added. "They have both been spending time in the UK together during this last year and their relationship is stronger than ever."

Pattinson and Waterhouse continued going strong in the months that followed, even being spotted walking through London with the "Twilight" star's parents in November 2020.

April 15, 2021: Waterhouse unintentionally gives fans a glimpse of their relationship in an Instagram post.

Waterhouse posted a photo on Instagram of herself smiling while wearing an outfit from the brand Alessandra Rich and tagged the company in her caption.

But eagle-eyed fans noticed a framed photo of Pattinson and the "Good Looking" singer on a shelf behind her. 

August 1, 2021: Waterhouse calls out a joke made about her on Max's "Gossip Girl" continuation series.

During season one, episode three, the character Luna La (played by Zión Moreno) spoke to Constance newcomer Zoya Lott (Whitney Peak) about elevating her public image, in light of her dating Obie Bergmann (Eli Brown), who comes from a wealthy family. 

"When are you going to get it? As far as the press is concerned, he's R-Patz and you're Suki Nobody," Luna told Zoya of the imbalance in her relationship with Obie. 

Waterhouse reacted to the joke on X (formerly known as Twitter) after the episode was released. Both tweets were deleted, but fan accounts and publications like Glamour captured screenshots of the posts before they were erased. 

"Another day to be reminded that women can also be the patriarchy," Waterhouse tweeted, tagging a writer on the show, Lila Feinberg, and the official "Gossip Girl" account.

"Seeing critiques of the patriarchy and sexism, then I get name-checked as somebody's nobody girlfriend. Make it make sense," she added.

February 8, 2022: Pattinson speaks about Waterhouse in an interview for the March 2022 issue of GQ.

Pattinson's interviewer, Daniel Riley, said that they were initially supposed to meet at the London Zoo, but the actor changed his mind and opted for Holland Park instead.

"I was talking to my girlfriend last night and she was, like, 'You know, people don't really like zoos.…'" Pattinson explained. "I'd been thinking about a metaphorical thing. But then I was thinking that's very wrong, a sad bear walking in circles." 

"I just can't help it," he added. "I'll do it for every single element, every decision, in my life. What is the worst-case scenario for this decision?"

Elsewhere in the interview, Pattinson recalled Waterhouse engaging with a repair man who turned out to be a DC fan.

"The guy came around the other day and he just randomly started talking about what a DC fan he is," said Pattinson, who played Bruce Wayne/Batman in Matt Reeves' "The Batman." "And I'm sitting there facing the other direction, and my girlfriend just keeps continuing the conversation with him. And I'm looking at her like: Shut the fuck up!"

"She was very entertaining," Pattinson said. "Just talking to an obsessive fan."

February 16, 2022: Pattinson says that Waterhouse cried over his performance in "The Batman."

During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Pattinson said that he was "terrified" about how people would respond to his portrayal of the Caped Crusader in "The Batman." 

Pattinson said he watched the movie in advance with Waterhouse and "it was really her reaction that kind of changed the entire thing."

"I'm pretty sure she's not normally into watching kind of superhero movies," he said, adding that he could see the film "capturing her attention the entire time."

"Then, she just held my hand and just touched it right there," Pattinson said, gesturing to his cheek, "and I could feel a little tear, and I was like, 'No way.'"

March to July 2022: The couple continues being spotted together in London, New York, and Los Angeles.

Paparazzi caught them outside the Sunset Tower Hotel in LA, hanging out after Waterhouse's concert at The Echo in LA, and celebrating Georgia May Jagger's hair-dye brand Bleach London at LA hotspot The Viper Room.

Photographer Myles Hendrik also posted a photo of the couple, with Pattinson kissing Waterhouse's cheek, on Instagram in May 2022.  

And in July, they were dressed casually while walking hand-in-hand in New York City. 

December 4, 2022: Pattinson and Waterhouse finally make their red-carpet debut as a couple at Dior's fashion show in Egypt.

They attended the Dior Fall 2023 Menswear Collection show together in Cairo, Egypt.

The show took place at the Great Pyramid of Giza and the couple reportedly wore Dior outfits — Pattinson in a white suit with a brown turtleneck and Waterhouse in a sheer, floor-length mauve dress.

Waterhouse also posted two Polaroids on her Instagram after the event with the caption: "Will never forgot this show, under the stars and in front of the Pyramids of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the World."

December 31, 2022: Pattinson and Waterhouse reportedly host a holiday party attended by famous guests.

According to People, the pair's New Year's Eve party was held at Silver Lining at the Moxy Hotel in New York City.

Emma Stone, "Gossip Girl" star Whitney Peak, "Teen Wolf" actor Ian Bohen, and "The O.C." alum Mischa Barton were reportedly among the attendees.

January 19, 2023: Pattinson subtly references Waterhouse when discussing his favorite scent.

In an interview with ES magazine, Pattinson spoke about his long-standing role as a Dior fragrance ambassador.

When asked about his favorite smell, the actor said: "I mean, it's kind of cheesy — if you're in love with someone, their smell becomes very particular to you… so yeah, something like 'girlfriend in a dressing gown.'"

February 19, 2023: Waterhouse tells The Sunday Times that she still feels a spark between her and Pattinson, even after dating for almost five years.

The couple lives together in London and Waterhouse said that they make efforts to see each other during their busy schedules, like her recent tour.

Her interviewer, Laura Pullman, noted that the longest they've spent apart is two months.

"I had two days off the other day, and it was like, no question I'm going back to see him," she said. "Then he'll come out for a couple of days."

"I'm shocked that I'm so happy with someone for nearly five years," Waterhouse said of her relationship.

Even though they're both actors, Waterhouse said that "Rob definitely isn't getting advice from me about acting, but of course I'll try and get him to help me with an audition before he falls asleep on the sofa."

Waterhouse also said that she and Pattinson maintain a mutual joy about each other.

"I'm always incredibly excited when I see his name pop up [on my phone] or even a text, and I think he feels the same about me," she said. "We've always got so much to say, and I find him hilarious."

She also spoke about both of them growing up in separate parts of England.

"We always say that I never, ever would have thought I'd go out with a boy from Barnes, and he didn't think he'd go out with a girl from Chiswick," Waterhouse said.

May 1, 2023: The couple attends the Met Gala together.

Waterhouse wore a sheer Fendi dress with floral accents while Pattinson opted for a Dior drape coat with his outfit. 

They were also spotted at an after-party together, Vogue reported. 

September 2023: Waterhouse says that Pattinson is her biggest supporter.

"Biggest cheerleader outside of my family would be… probably my boyfriend," Waterhouse told Elle UK. "I pretty much taught him to clap every time I enter a room."

October 2023: Waterhouse opens up about moving in with Pattinson.

On the podcast titled "Driven Minds: A Type 7," presented by Gillian Sagansky, Waterhouse said the actor has been more than accommodating about her moving into his place.

"It doesn't feel like that much of a crazy thing," she said of living with Pattinson. "And I'm very lucky because he is so accepting of the mess and the chaos. He never says anything about it. He kind of thinks it's charming. So I'm very lucky for that."

Waterhouse also said that she was burned by past relationships, and began dating Pattinson following a "bout of celibacy" that lasted about six months.

The singer said that her dynamic with Pattinson differs from past ones because "I actually have something to share now."

"I have a life that I'm proud of that I want to share with someone and I'm stable and I have my shit together," she said. 

November 19, 2023: Waterhouse confirms that she's pregnant and expecting her first child with Pattinson.

Waterhouse commented on pregnancy rumors while performing at the Corona Capital 2023 Music Festival in Mexico City. 

"I thought I'd wear something sparkly today because I thought it might distract you from something else I've got going on," Waterhouse said, referring to her glitzy attire and gesturing to her stomach area. "I'm not sure it's working."

Waterhouse's announcement came weeks after being spotted at the annual GO Gala in LA with Pattinson, an ambassador.  

The couple was also previously seen attending Kendall Jenner's Halloween party at Chateau Marmont in LA.

December 21, 2023: People magazine reports that Pattinson and Waterhouse are engaged.

Earlier in the month, the actors were seen attending the NYC premiere and after-party for the film "Poor Things" with Taylor Swift. The couple fueled engagement speculation after TMZ published photos of Waterhouse wearing a gem on her ring finger. 

People magazine cited multiple sources, with one telling the publication, "They are engaged. They both want to be married. It's important for them."

 

March 26, 2024: Daily Mail reports that the couple welcomed their first child together.

The Daily Mail published photos of Pattinson and Waterhouse walking in Los Angeles, with the "Batman" star pushing a baby stroller. 

Representatives for Pattinson and Waterhouse didn't respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. 

April 12, 2024: At Coachella, Waterhouse reveals that she gave birth to a baby girl.

Earlier that month, Waterhouse shared a photo of her and her newborn on Instagram with the caption, "welcome to the world angel."

During the first weekend of Coachella, the singer revealed the sex of the baby. 

"I don't know if some of you know, but I had some big life changes happen recently, some pretty big events have been going down," Waterhouse said while performing onstage. "I love amazing ladies and I've been very lucky to have my own little amazing lady and meet the love of my life."

June 21, 2024: Pattinson gushes about their daughter at Paris Fashion Week.

In videos that circulated on X of Pattinson at the Dior Homme menswear spring/summer 2025 show in Paris, Pattinson was seen talking to Delphine Arnault, the CEO of Christian Dior. During their conversation, the actor joked that having a baby "makes you feel very old and very young."

"She's so cute," he said. "I'm amazed by how quickly their personality comes. So even at 3 months, I'm like, 'Oh, I can kinda see who she is already.'"

July 2, 2024: Waterhouse opens up about parenthood and her relationship with Pattinson in a cover story for British Vogue's August issue.

Waterhouse posed on the cover of Briitish Vogue with her and Pattinson's daughter. In her interview, the musician explained that she and Pattinson met six years ago while playing Werewolf at a game night in LA. 

Waterhouse said that the "intense" game night featured stars such as Al Pacino, Javier Bardem, and Penélope Cruz. While the other guests were taking the game seriously, Waterhouse said and Pattinson gravitated toward each other. 

"I think we both sort of have the same slight uncomfortable-ness," she said, adding that they "started giggling at the absurdity of the whole thing" — to the point that a director split them up because of their distracting laughter.

They bumped into each other six or seven months later, and Waterhouse, who's from the UK, told British Vogue that living in LA "definitely became a lot more fun" when she met Pattinson. 

Waterhouse told the publication that she and Pattinson planned the pregnancy during a time when they felt ready for parenthood.

"One day we looked at each other and said, 'Well, this is as ready as we're going to be,'" she said.

Waterhouse said that Pattinson was "really nervous," when the time came for her to give birth.

"But for someone who's quite an anxious person, he's been very calm," she said, adding that he's "the dad I could have hoped for."

Waterhouse's upcoming album, "Memoir of a Sparklemuffin," includes songs inspired by her past heartbreak as well as the joy of her relationship with Pattinson. 

"I had a very clear feeling of being like, 'Oh, wow, Rob and I have been together six years and I'm still really into this,'" she said of "To Love," the final track on the album. "That's never happened to me before, that's like a crazy thing."

• Dua Lipa and British actor Callum Turner were spotted together in January.
• They made their first official appearance together at the 2024 BAFTAs after-party.
• Lipa shared photos with Turner for the first time following her headline show at Glastonbury.

Dua Lipa and Callum Turner are staking their claim as the hot new couple of 2024.

The two were first spotted getting cozy at a party celebrating "Masters of the Air," a new Apple TV+ miniseries starring Turner, Austin Butler, and Barry Keoghan.

Turner was previously known for playing Theseus Scamander, protagonist Newt Scamander's brother, in the "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" movie franchise.

Here's everything we know about Turner and Lipa's romance.

December 2023: Lipa says she's single

In an interview with Rolling Stone's Brittany Spanos to promote her third album, "Radical Optimism," Lipa confirmed her single status.

Lipa had recently split from French film director Romain Gavras after about eight months of dating. Before that, she dated Anwar Hadid (younger brother of models Bella and Gigi Hadid) for two years before their breakup in December 2021.

"Dating, I think overall, is just a little confusing," Lipa told Rolling Stone. "It's either through friends of friends or people you trust where you can meet new people, because [dating] is not really so straightforward when you are, I guess, a public person."

January 10, 2024: Lipa and Turner are caught on video together

Lipa and Callum both attended the "Masters of the Air" premiere after-party, where Lipa was filmed dancing with a "mystery man."

TMZ published footage of the encounter the following day, causing fans to speculate it was Turner. Shortly after, Page Six confirmed his identity.

"It's new, but they're mad about each other," an anonymous source told the tabloid. "She was at the premiere to support him."

January 14, 2024: They go out to dinner together

Two days after the video emerged, paparazzi photographed Lipa and Turner in Santa Monica, California.

The couple dined at R+D Kitchen with a group of friends, Page Six reported.

January 16, 2024: They're spotted kissing and cuddling

Lipa and Turner appeared to confirm their romance with a PDA-filled dinner date in Los Angeles.

Turner was photographed planting a kiss on Lipa's cheek while they stood outside Sushi Park restaurant, a popular destination for celebrities.

January 30, 2024: Lipa and Turner take a PDA-filled walk together in Los Angeles

The pair was caught by paparazzi during a shopping trip in Beverly Hills. In several photos, Turner has his arm around Lipa's shoulder. They were also seen kissing and laughing.

February 19, 2024: They make their first official public appearance together at a BAFTAs after-party

Following the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards in London, Lipa and Turner attended the annual after-party hosted by British Vogue and Tiffany & Co.

Lipa and Turner held hands as they left Annabel's nightclub, all but confirming their relationship status. The couple also posed for photos in their car.

March 26, 2024: They travel back to London together

Lipa and Turner were photographed arriving at London St Pancras Station after leaving Paris.

Earlier that month, they had also been spotted traveling together in Los Angeles and Mexico City.

"Callum is really the first serious relationship she's had in the past few years," an anonymous source told Us Weekly. "Dua and Callum spend almost all their time together and are nearly inseparable."

The source added that Lipa and Turner had met each other's families and had become "very serious" about their relationship.

March 26, 2024: Lipa and Turner enjoyed a dinner date after the Time100 Gala in New York City

The couple were photographed holding hands in Manhattan after Lipa posed solo on the red carpet for the Time100 Gala. (She also performed three songs at the event, including "Houdini.")

May 13, 2024: Lipa and Turner become 'Instagram official'

Lipa shared her first official photo with Turner amid a carousel of images on Instagram, captioned simply, "sunshineeeeeee :)))))."

The photo shows Lipa and Turner with their arms wrapped around each other. However, neither of their faces is visible, and Turner is not tagged in the post.

July 2, 2024: Turner's face makes an official debut on Lipa's Instagram

Following her celebrated headline performance at Glastonbury, Lipa shared a collection of photos taken at the music festival, including two with Turner.

The first shows Turner kissing Lipa's head, while the second shows them lying on the grass together.

"dancing until you see the sunrise at stone circle is the glasto ritual," Lipa wrote in the caption.

Lipa and Turner had also been photographed walking through the festival holding hands, dancing backstage, and partying together through the night.

• Kevin Costner invested $38 million of his own money into "Horizon," plus marketing costs.
• He needs the movie to make roughly $65 million domestically to break even.
• Presales and a favorable Warner Bros. deal could help recoup costs despite challenges.

With Kevin Costner's epic three-hour Western "Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1" only making $11 million its opening weekend in theaters, it's going to be a long road for the Oscar winner to recoup the money he put into it.

Costner, who directed, produced, and stars in the project and is one of its main financiers, had been developing the multi-part saga set in the American West for decades.

After years of development at Warner Bros., which once considered sending the movie directly to its streaming service Max, Costner threw caution to the wind and decided to self-finance not just one "Horizon" movie, but potentially four.

To get "Horizon" made, the former "Yellowstone" star mortgaged his property in Santa Barbara and invested $38 million of his own money. (It's unclear if that number refers to the cost to make the first two installments, which were shot back-to-back, or just the first film.) Costner and his other undisclosed financial backers are also covering the film's marketing, which Variety estimates cost $30 million, though it's unclear if that's an additional sum or included in Costner's own $38 million estimate.

With Warner Bros. working strictly as a distribution partner, Costner has bet on himself: According to the trade, Warner is only taking 8% of the movie's box office gross.

But will the self-finance route pay off for the star? One industry insider told Business Insider they were skeptical: "He won't lose his house, but he's potentially going to lose a lot of money."

Foreign presales helped reduce Costner's risk

Thank god for Cannes.

The South of France is home to one of the most famous film festivals in the world. It's also a massive film marketplace that, if used properly, can help directors and producers navigate the murky world of movie financing.

The objective is to entice international territories to agree to distribute a movie long before they see a single frame of it. This is called presales, and it involves a lot of connections and a recognizable face to sell the project convincingly. Who better than Costner to pull that off?

Costner began this process at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival when he brought on German-based sales firm K5 International to handle the foreign sales for "Horizon" Chapters 1 and 2.

By the time Chapter 1 of "Horizon" had its world premiere at Cannes in May 2024, the firm had sold out most of the international territories, according to Variety.

A producer familiar with foreign sales who asked to speak anonymously told BI that that money more than likely recouped Costner's $38 million investment in the movie.

But if that $30 million marketing price tag Costner and his backers are on the hook for is separate from the $38 million figure, Costner isn't out of the woods yet.

Costner gets a major chunk of the movie's box office

Foreign presales are great, but because this movie is an American Western, a genre that historically doesn't translate well overseas, Costner can't expect huge box office returns internationally. That's why he has to make sure to get the bulk of the domestic grosses.

With Warner Bros. reportedly only taking 8% of grosses, the studio essentially has a service deal with Costner: Costner gets his cut of the box office grosses starting the first day the movie is out, as opposed to once the film turns a profit. Doing the math, that means that for every $10 million "Horizon" makes at the box office, Costner and his investors see $4.6 million back.

That means to recoup the $30 million Costner invested in marketing the first "Horizon" movie, it will have to make north of $65 million domestically. (Right now, it's made $11 million.)

We haven't even started talking about profit yet.

Costner needs a huge "Pay 1" deal

Costner believes in the long game. When he made the box office bomb "Waterworld" back in 1995, which was the most expensive movie ever made at the time, it took ancillary deals like paid cable and DVD sales to finally break even. And that took years.

DVD sales have fallen off the map since the mid-1990s, so Costner can't lean into that. Instead, he'll have to land a major deal with a streamer or cable company for the movie's post-theatrical release.

This is known in the industry as "Pay 1."

Pay 1 deals kick in after a movie is through with its Video-On-Demand option. Deals can range from a couple of years to as high as six.

While pay varies, the producer who spoke to BI said Costner could negotiate a deal in the tens of millions because of his star power, especially if it's for the "Horizon" franchise and not just the first film.

What sweetens the pot for a streamer is that Costner is a fixture in Westerns. As the face of "Yellowstone," (at least, until he quit), fans of that show love him. A streamer could be convinced that the true "Horizon" audience didn't show up to theaters and, due to its three-hour runtime, is waiting for the movie to hit streaming.

It's a windy road, but there's a path for Costner to come out of "Horizon" without a major loss. The only problem is that there are more installments on the way, which means more money needs to be spent first: "Horizon: Chapter 2" opens August 16, "Chapter 3" has begun principal photography for a May 2024 release, and "Chapter 4" is in development.

Business Insider contacted reps for Warner Bros. and Kevin Costner to comment on this story but did not receive a response.

Russia is planning to send youth to a summer camp in North Korea. The decision comes after the two countries signed a new strategic pact that includes mutual defense clauses.

• Hunter Biden in recent days has become more involved in meetings at the White House, per NBC News.
• While Hunter Biden is no stranger to the residence, his presence at meetings is a new development.
• The report comes as President Biden's debate performance is forcing him to defend his reelection bid.

This past weekend, President Joe Biden went to Camp David for a family gathering that had been planned before his widely panned debate performance against former President Donald Trump.

While at the presidential retreat, Biden's family urged him to remain in the 2024 race amid some Democratic consternation over his chances this fall, with presidential son Hunter Biden being one of the most vocal advocates of his father remaining the party's nominee.

And in recent days, Hunter Biden has upped his presence at the White House, advising his father and taking part in meetings with him alongside high-level aides, according to NBC News.

Per NBC News, Hunter Biden has also been spotted conversing with other top-level White House staffers.

Hunter Biden is no stranger to the White House residence, but he has generally not taken part in meetings involving the president's work.

The development comes just weeks after Hunter Biden, who for years has been fodder for GOP attempts to paint the presidential family in an unflattering light, was recently convicted on felony gun charges.

The president checks in with Hunter Biden often and has steadfastly supported him, especially when Hunter Biden in the past has battled alcohol and drug addiction.

An individual who spoke with CNN about Hunter Biden's increased presence at the White House this week said he "popped into" a few meetings and calls that his father held with several advisors.

Two individuals with knowledge of Hunter Biden's plans remarked that he stayed in Washington to partake in Independence Day festivities with his family later in the week.

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates in a statement to NBC News said that Hunter Biden returned with his father from Camp David and "went with the President straight into speech prep," referencing Joe Biden's remarks on Monday where he blasted the US Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity.