Tag: News

• Airline ratings company Skytrax has released its 2024 list of the best airlines in the world.
• Qatar Airways took the top spot from Singapore Airlines, 2023's winner.
• No airlines from the US made it in the top 20.

Qatar Airways has reclaimed the title of best airline in the world after losing out in 2023, according to travel industry rating company Skytrax.

Skytrax announced the results of the World Airline Awards, which polled travelers from over 100 countries on their impressions of more than 350 airlines, at a gala on Monday in London.

Once again, airlines from Asia and the Middle East dominated the awards, sweeping the top six spots and taking 12 of the top 20.

European carriers accounted for seven of the top 20 spots, with Turkish Airlines ranked highest in seventh.

No airlines from the US made the top 20 after Delta Air Lines fell one spot in this year's rankings to 21st. Delta was one of only two US airlines to crack the top 50, with United in 42nd.

Here's a closer look at the 20 best airlines in the world for 2024 according to Skytrax:

• Over 100 US Army troops endure grueling challenges to determine the service's toughest soldier.
• More than 50 teams of two competed in the annual Best Ranger Competition in April.
• Two first-time competitors came out on top — the 75th Ranger Regiment's fourth win in a row.

For four decades, US Army troops have tested their strength and endurance to determine the toughest soldiers during the annual Best Ranger Competition.

Over the course of 62 nearly continuous hours, Ranger-qualified soldiers compete in two-person teams, participating in a gauntlet of challenges mirroring real-world Ranger operations.

From the early hours of the morning to the dead of night, competitors demonstrate tactical skills, complete difficult obstacle courses, and traverse dozens of miles on both land and water.

In April, more than 100 US soldiers competed in the Best Ranger Competition, a mix of an outdoor adventure course with the soldiering's most grueling tasks. This is a look at the contest's three unforgiving days and the first-time competitors from the 75th Ranger Regiment who took home the title.

• Tyrese Haspil was found guilty on all counts in the murder of his former boss, tech CEO Fahim Saleh.
• Haspil admitted to fatally stabbing and dismembering Saleh in 2020.
• Haspil embezzled nearly $400,000 from Saleh while working as his personal assistant. 

A Manhattan jury on Monday found Tyrese Haspil guilty of all counts in the brutal murder of his former boss, tech CEO Fahim Saleh.

Haspil, 25, admitted to fatally stabbing and dismembering Saleh, who was CEO of the ride-hailing and delivery service Gokada, to hide a $400,000 embezzlement. Saleh was found beheaded and sawed into six pieces in his Manhattan condo in July 2020.

A jury found Haspil guilty of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree grand larceny, one count of second-degree burglary, tampering with evidence, and concealing a human corpse, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced.

"Today, a jury found Tyrese Haspil guilty of brutally murdering Fahim Saleh, his former mentor and boss, after stealing approximately $400,000 from him," Bragg said in a statement. "Tyrese Haspil tragically cut Mr. Saleh's life short — a man who came from a close-knit immigrant family and followed his passions to become a successful entrepreneur.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors argued that Haspil meticulously planned the gory murder to hide his financial crimes, while Haspil's legal team tried to convince the jury that he killed Saleh in a misguided attempt to impress his French girlfriend, citing an "extreme emotional disturbance."

Saleh hired Haspil as a personal assistant in May 2018, in a role that allowed him access to the CEO's finances. For several months, prosecutors said Haspil conducted a complicated embezzlement scheme to purchase lavish gifts for his girlfriend.

Haspil is set to be sentenced in September.

This story is breaking. Please check back for updates.

• UBI advocates in Oregon say they collected enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot.
• The first-of-its-kind initiative would give each resident $750 a year by taxing corporations.
• Basic income programs throughout the country have delivered promising results.

Oregon voters may soon decide if the Beaver State will be the first in the country to implement a universal basic income program that would put cash in residents' pockets by taxing corporations.

Advocates of Initiative Petition 17 have said they collected thousands more signatures than required to get the guaranteed income proposal on Oregon's ballot this fall, according to The Oregonian. The Secretary of State's office must still certify the signatures before the measure can officially be added to the November ballot. Voters would then approve or reject the initiative.

The Oregon proposal comes as increasing numbers of US cities and counties pilot basic income programs. The programs typically involve a recurring cash payment given to all people within a certain population, and program participants receive the money regardless of their employment. Recipients also have no limitations on how the money can be spent.

Oregon's proposed UBI program would be a first-of-its-kind initiative, granting every state resident about $750 a year, according to The Oregonian. To fund the program, a 3% tax on corporations' sales above $25 million would be implemented, and the resulting money would be distributed evenly to residents of all ages.

Oregon's State Department of Revenue would be responsible for doling out the money, and residents would choose to receive their funds either as a cash payment or a refundable tax credit, according to the initiative draft. Any leftover funding from the corporation tax would be put toward services for the elderly, the healthcare system, and education.

Support for the proposal appears to have some business leaders worried, The Oregonian reported. Business groups are preparing for a fight over the measure and readying a campaign to fight the proposal, arguing it would hurt the state's economy.

The results from more than 100 basic income pilots that have run in the US in recent years suggest the concept is overwhelmingly successful.

While data is still limited, more and more places are piloting their own basic income programs, including North Carolina, which has given cash to formerly incarcerated people, and Oregon, which has already handed out funds to homeless youth.

Participants in these programs typically fall below the federal poverty line, though some pilot programs have zeroed in on specific populations, like households with children or the formerly incarcerated.

Many people who have received basic income payments primarily use the money to pay for basic living costs like food, housing, and transportation, Business Insider previously reported.

As basic income programs become more commonplace, however, the concept is gaining political and economic opposition. Conservative lawmakers have accused guaranteed basic income of being a "socialist" tactic and suggest the programs could discourage low-income people from working.

But basic income pilots, for the most part, seem to be working — even in red states.

Jude Law was already a major star with two Oscar nominations under his belt when he played Count Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin in Joe Wright's 2012 film "Anna Karenina."

Alicia Vikander, on the other hand, was near the beginning of her career — and four years away from her Oscar win for "The Danish Girl" — when she had her breakout role playing the supporting character Kitty in the same movie.

Over a decade later, the two have reunited for "Firebrand," director Karim Aïnouz's film about King Henry VIII's sixth and final wife, Katherine Parr.

The movie spotlights the lesser-explored Parr, whose story hasn't been told, and retold, the way the Tudor royal's other wives have (read: Anne Boleyn). Giving a revisionist history of their relationship (and Henry's death), "Firebrand" places Parr's accomplishments within a more modern feminist context. For instance, she's considered the first Englishwoman to print an original work under her own name in English.

"Karim has done a really great job of looking at the past in a way that makes it feel incredibly relevant on so many levels — the abusive relationship, the power and strength, the wit of this woman, and the appalling behavior of this man in power," Law told Business Insider.

For Vikander, it was a no-brainer to sign onto the project when she learned Law was involved, telling BI she "had this instant feeling" she had to do it.

And even though Law went to great lengths to capture the truly "appalling" nature of the king, who manhandles Katherine and others throughout the film, the two had a surprising amount of fun making it.

In a joint interview, the two discuss what it was like making "Firebrand," from working with Law's decaying-body perfume to the movie's unexpectedly "hilarious" sex scenes.

Jude, I read you worked with someone to get that decaying-body smell just right. What were the ingredients that went into creating that kind of stench?

Jude: I have no idea. I just know it was repulsive. But it sort of summed up the state he was in, I think, emotionally and spiritually and physically at that time: decaying and disgusting.

Alicia, what was that like for you, being up close and personal with that smell?

Jude: She got used to it.

Alicia: I didn't really, it was that bad! I'd never really had that kind of incense on set before, but I work…a lot with music. I always keep my AirPods close and have them in between takes.

With music it's the same kind of thing as with smell. It kind of just instantly emotionally takes you somewhere…Joe Wright actually did that on "Anna Karenina" too. He used to play music, like techno, over the scenes in take just to give us a vibe.

Jude: And the animals on set obviously brought their own odor.

Was this the first time either of you have used smell to get into a character, to get into a mindset?

Jude: I use it quite a lot because, as Alicia said, it's a really good way of… You've got to step into these characters every day. And so sometimes if you can do something that just is, not really a shortcut, but it's about really finding a place. It's a ritual, and it can just put you in a certain frame of mind or mood. It can help or it certainly helps me.

There are a lot of frankly kind of gross sex scenes that really drive home just the unbalanced, fraught nature of Henry and Katherine's relationship. Henry had previously beheaded two of his wives and was, at this point in his life, a little unstable, to put it lightly. How was it filming those intimate scenes?

Jude: I mean, there's always a certain awkwardness, but it's also hilarious, I mean, as I'm remembering it. There's something hilarious about when you're playing someone who's in that kind of physical shape and who is also wielding so much power. There were certain moments where you can't help but be slightly embarrassed.

Alicia: But that's also the interesting part because they're people. You realize that even this man with this power, he will still have it creep up on him in those extremely intimate moments that she was there for. She knows that she sees him in this position and she needs to show him that that doesn't take away from his image and it doesn't ruin it.

Jude: It ultimately gives her the upper hand. They were key moments, really, looking back to understanding Katherine's patience and her ability to navigate this relationship to her benefit and ultimately to her advantage.

Did you guys have an intimacy coordinator on set for those sequences?

Alicia: I've had it since the world changed.

Jude: Caught up.

Alicia: I've now had it on every film I've done.

Jude: Me too, and they've only gotten better and better. She was particularly good on this one, I remember because it didn't just apply to sex scenes. I made this decision early on that I really wanted Henry to manhandle people, men and women and the animals, and treat them all the same — as if he owned them and could touch them and prod them and poke them, investigate them.

So I had to make sure everybody who came within range of me knew that that was what was going to happen. And if they didn't want that to happen, they had to be very clear about it. Once that's dealt with, you are able to perform; you're able to lose yourself in a moment.

Alicia: And I notice, above anything, it is a way to get the directors to actually talk about it. In the room, the first thing they do is go, "OK, Mr. or Ms. Director, what do you want? Can you explain it in detail?" And that's when they're like, "Oh…" And that's been sometimes the issue before — that they just kind of let you figure it out, which is not cool.

Now, I can't believe we didn't always have it because it's so weird, so strange.

Alicia, you mentioned that intimacy coordinators would've helped earlier in your career. Was there ever an instance for either of you in an intimate scene earlier in your career where, looking back at it, you're like, "Oh, that one in particular really could have benefited from an intimacy coordinator"?"

Alicia: Yes, I definitely had that in the beginning of my career. I had an incident when I was on set, and I don't blame one particular person — everyone was super professional. But it's that thing when you're on a film shoot, and there's not much time, and there's a lot of shots that need to be done in a day and everyone's trying to figure out their stuff. And I was left without anything on, just a little piece of fabric square, and sat on that floor for about 10 hours, two days in a row with not anything on.

I was like, I'm very professional. I'm doing my job. Everyone's very professional with me but it's like — this is strange, and it kind of just creeped up on me. And it was not until the second day when I was in the car on the way back and it kind of, then I physically, I had a reaction to it.

Jude: Because you dealt with it and suppressed it and obviously something like that comes up eventually.

How old were you when that happened?

Alicia: My early 20s.

You two worked together before, in 2012's "Anna Karenina," which was near the beginning of your career as an international star, Alicia. What was it like for you to reunite a decade later on "Firebrand"? Did each of you understand how the other had changed as an actor during that time?

Jude: I'd obviously followed her work and seen the majority of it… I think you share a potential, share the promise of the potential of something.

And it was pretty clear to me very, very early on that we were both invested in this and in Karim and excited by it, and we had a very, very quick rapport and a sense of trust, and that just grew and grew and was also fun.

We've mentioned this a few times, but it sounds odd, perhaps perverse to some, but when you are delving into this kind of dark material, it helps to also kind of relish it. And there's got to be a sense of humor, weirdly, to survive it, I think, and to feel safe.

I've said this so many times, but I was just so bowled over by how brave and just up for the challenge Alicia was. It always felt every day like, OK, we've gone this far, how much further can we go? And I don't just mean in the physical way, I mean emotionally and in truth.

And for a lot of it, a two-hander, it felt that the two of us were trying to navigate this relationship at the core, and it always felt like we could do more or let's keep looking and simplifying. And that's a wonderful experience to have as an actor.

Alicia: When I worked with Jude on "Anna Karenina," I just remember him being so, kind of, considerate and open and he really took the time for someone like me — who did my first job — to make me feel safe and welcomed and dare to even step onto the stage in front of these people. That was a huge part of why I wanted to do this project because I knew that Jude was attached.

I think we just said hi a few times over the years, and I know your work and I had this instant feeling. I could feel, with the amount of preparation for this role and what you were going to achieve doing Henry, that I just wanted to, kind of, come in and be a part of it and collaborate with you. It was really something that really drew me to this.

And like you said, we did have a lot of fun along the way.

Having followed one another's careers between "Anna Karenina" and "Firebrand," do each of you have a favorite role of the other's?

Alicia: I did shoot him a text just like two weeks ago because I was on Netflix — as you do, when you put babies to bed in the evening — and "The Talented Mr. Ripley" came up first thing on the screen. And I rewatched it and I [was] just like, "Wow, you're so good in it."

Jude: It was a lovely text to get!

I'm so bad at choosing favorites. I mean the physicality and just the evolution in "Ex Machina" is absolutely amazing, but "The Danish Girl" also has this really grounded open heart, which is something you do so well. It's like a really human quality there, but it's sort of effortless. …I mean, I found that film heartbreakingly moving, and you are the sort of heartbeat of it.

And then I recently just saw "Irma Vep" as well, which is insane and brilliant. It's so bloody funny. It's one of those things where I watched it just sort of thinking, "Was this made for me?" Because it's so quirky and also a bit of my life.

Jude, in another interview, you have one line that's getting quite a lot of pickup. You joked about wishing you didn't try to play against your looks when you were younger now that you're, as you called yourself, "saggy and balding." Were there any roles you were offered in your younger days when you were trying to play against your looks that you turned down because you didn't want to just do handsome guy stuff?

Jude: In my 20s, people were trying to steer me toward more sort of…romantic comedies and play the good-looking boyfriend, or the lover — and it just wasn't to my taste.

I really wanted to try to mine drama and so I think I just gave myself a hard time mentally. Like, "OK, how can I steer this away from him being attractive or how can I steer this character away from being seen as good-looking or attractive?"

And I just remember putting so much time there into it and I look back when I was 25, and I'm like, "God, you were really cute. You were really pretty. Just enjoy it, mate." Because now it's like, "OK, how can I make myself look young again?"

But that's just also one of those lessons I guess you learn after time. The memory we all probably have…in [our] 20s, where you think, "Oh, I won't go out tonight because I look really tired, or "Oh, I better not go to that place because I've got nothing to wear." You look back and go, "Go out! Go and enjoy yourself. You're 23, you'll be fine."

Jude, two of your older kids are following in your footsteps now, is that right?

Jude: Yeah, well, certainly my son. My eldest son [Raff] is working hard. He's just done another film with Glen Powell, actually, in South Africa.

I'm immensely proud. I just have great respect for anyone who is in the arts or puts themselves out there. There's such a vulnerability to it, and it requires such passion and self-motivation and belief and bravery.

It's also jolly nice to be able to really share my enthusiasm and now experience, I suppose, in a way with him on the same level. It's a really beautiful thing, actually.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

"Firebrand" is now in theaters.

• My partner and I started a non-alcoholic drink brand called (parentheses) together.
• At first, we were worried about working together, and didn't want to 'mix business with pleasure.'
• But our relationship had a strong foundation, and it has only gotten stronger.

Almost all business books will tell you not to mix business with pleasure. We're in a place as a society where folks can decide which axioms make sense for our own lives and which just didn't age well. To me, hearing "Don't start a business with your partner" sounds as outdated as "Choose a company with a good pension, and you're set for life." While pensions are a relic in the private sector, US Census data shows that 10% of American businesses are owned by couples. My husband and I are in that 10% — and we're stronger than ever.

Countless couples, friends, and family members run successful businesses together. Complications are bound to arise from all interpersonal relationship dynamics, so why not start a business with someone who knows you inside and out? Someone who understands your tendency to bite off more than you can chew or knows which activities help you relax or possess the skills and knowledge that are so complementary to yours that you decided to make them your person until death do you part. For all the aforementioned reasons, starting a business with my husband has actually strengthened our relationship.

We tried not to work together, but realized it was a great fit

Nick and I actively tried not to work together because we obviously both knew that mixing business with pleasure could be risky. But hey, starting a business is one of the riskiest adventures anyway. Go hard or go home, right? We built such a strong foundation as a couple that the possibility of anything, especially work, breaking down our bond felt overwhelming. Then we asked ourselves an important question: Who else could sell this extremely niche seaweed vinegar non-alcoholic drink we created but us? That realization gave us the courage to start a business together.

We started a non-alcoholic drink brand called (parentheses) that was born out of our own personal recovery journeys. Nick and I met in an AA meeting when we both had a few years of sobriety under our belts. Those years before we met (and after!) were filled with peer support and mental health support, unpacking why we each relied on alcohol so heavily in the past.

In addition to my personal experience, I spent years researching, studying, and interviewing people about how their relationship patterns intersect with their alcohol use while writing a book. Nick and I, like many of my subjects, dealt with the emotional upheaval and required boundary-setting that often comes from changing one's relationship with alcohol. After going through emotional hell and back, creating a marketing plan together or debating over bottle sizes just isn't that big of a deal.

Communication is key

Individually, we've learned healthy coping skills — many of which can be distilled into one word: communication. Learning how to communicate before we met each other makes us a strong couple; identifying and accommodating our individual communication styles makes us excellent business partners.

Clear communication only works when you trust the person you're communicating with. How clear can your communication be without honesty? Nick and I learned that admitting that we needed to reevaluate our relationships with booze requires a great deal of honesty with ourselves and others — a virtue we bring into the ethos of our business. That humility also taught us an even more valuable lesson: It's OK to ask for help.

We ask for help all the time, both as a couple and as business partners. Whether asking for assistance with a project or getting advice from people more established in our industry, we don't feel "weak" for knowing we can't do it all. We know which skills we each have, which skills the other has, and which skills we need to outsource or learn.

Having self-awareness about what we each bring to the table helps us work more efficiently (and happily!). Being stubborn just doesn't work. Trust us; we've tried. We often joke that Nick would rather be covered in vinegar-mother slime while making our drink, and I'd much rather make a TikTok of him covered in said slime.

The arduous work we do in our personal recovery programs teaches us to focus on what we can control. We bring this mindful life approach to running a small business, too. We can control producing our small-batch, artisanal product and creating intentional marketing plans, so that's where the bulk of our energy goes.

We can't control that we're an indie brand swimming in a sea of VC-backed brands. We also can't control who likes or dislikes our drink. There will always be drink brands with more capital and stores that don't want to sell our product. The trick to staying (relatively) sane when working with your spouse or romantic partner is finding the nuggets of controllability when life happens on life's terms. Those nuggets also lead to forming a stronger bond as a couple.

The most important aspect of running a business with a spouse or partner is knowing when to clock out to make time for life's other pleasures. There are evenings when we both feel defeated after a day filled with low sales or getting lost in bureaucratic red tape with the Department of Agriculture that makes us want to scratch our eyes out.

But we have each other, a beautiful home, and fur babies who remind us that being silly can alleviate much of life's stressors. We have our healthy, learned coping skills. And we have a nice drink to sip, reminding us why we decided to sell this thing in the first place. Running a business, especially with your partner, is one day at a time, too.