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☆ Travel news: Italy’s working visas are hard to get but some Americans manage it
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Maureen O'Hare | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Editor’s note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Villages and visasThe Italian village offering $1 homes to Americans upset by the US election result was one of our top stories on CNN Travel this week. Despite all the houses going on offer, working visas to Italy are still very limited. Over in the world of dairy, this year’s World Cheese Awards saw 4,786 cheeses from 47 countries assembled in the Portuguese city of Viseu to face judges’ scrutiny. The US agency might even have to slow air traffic down because of air traffic controller shortages, particularly in the Northeast.

Persons: Zeneba Bowers, Matt Walker, Chelsea Waite, ”, they’re, CNN Kim Morgan, Tom Latkovic, Lyme, Vang, tarantulas Organizations: CNN, FAA, CNN Travel, Federal Aviation Administration, Northeast . American Airlines, Spirit Airlines Locations: Italy, Sicily, Sardinian, Ollolai, Tennessee, Rome, California, Ham, Parma, Portuguese, Viseu, Kashmir, India, France, United States, Northeast, Europe, Laos, Vang Vieng, Britain

☆ Shoppers are ready to open their wallets this holiday season — for the right deals
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AdvertisementShoppers are willing to spend this holiday season, but many are still budget-conscious. Shoppers appear ready to spend this holiday season, but many aren't giving up the search for bargains just yet. Multiple signals suggest that some shoppers feel less pinched financially as the biggest shopping season of the year ramps up. As such, many are looking for good deals, as they have been for much of this year, while still spending on the holiday season. Friday's retail sales growth showed "a good early step forward into the holiday shopping season," National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said.

Persons: Claire Tassin, Tassin, Milton, Jack Kleinhenz, Kleinhenz, Doug McMillon, John Rainey, Rick Gomez Organizations: Shoppers, Morning, Retailers, Nordstrom, Bank of America Institute, University of Michigan's, Hurricanes, Retail Federation, Census Bureau, Walmart, Target

☆ A Long-Held Secret is Now Public. Will it Alter Cormac McCarthy’s Legacy?
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Alexandra Alter | Elisabeth Egan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This week, Vanity Fair published a bombshell article revealing that Cormac McCarthy, one of the country’s most celebrated and enigmatic novelists, had a relationship with a girl he met when he was 42 and she was 16, a foster child who felt so unsafe at home she often carried a gun and used the pool area at the motel where he was staying to shower. The revelations in the article stunned many fans of the famously inscrutable author, but did not come as a surprise to close friends of McCarthy’s or the tight-knit community of scholars who have studied his life and work. McCarthy’s relationship with Augusta Britt lasted nearly until his death in 2023, and came up in his letters over the years. Dianne C. Luce, who has written several books about McCarthy, said she and another McCarthy scholar, Edwin T. Arnold, learned about McCarthy’s relationship with Britt around 40 years ago, during an interview with a friend of McCarthy’s. Over the years, she saw the relationship come up in the author’s letters to his literary friends, among them Robert Coles, Guy Davenport and Mark Morrow.

Persons: Cormac McCarthy, Augusta Britt, Britt, Dianne C, Luce, McCarthy, Edwin T, Arnold, Robert Coles, Guy Davenport, Mark Morrow

☆ A historian says the naval battle in 'Gladiator II' only got one thing wrong
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Olivia Singh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The scene is rooted in real-life naval battles that began during Julius Caesar's reign in Rome. Ridley Scott's "Gladiator II" takes a few creative liberties and diverges from history to up the ante for audiences. "Gladiator II" is set 15 years after Russell Crowe's Maximus Decimus Meridius died in the Colosseum in the 2000 movie "Gladiator." Staged naval battles really did happen in RomeA naval battle taking place at the Colosseum in "Gladiator II." AdvertisementThe sharks featured in "Gladiator II" are most likely an addition from Scott, who tends to include animals in his movies.

Persons: Julius Caesar's, Ridley Scott's, Russell Crowe's Maximus Decimus Meridius, Geta, Joseph Quinn, Caracalla, Fred Hechinger, Paul Mescal, Maximus, Connie Nielsen, Lucius, Neil Corbould, Alison Futrell, Futrell, Emperor Claudius, Scott Organizations: Paramount, National Geographic, University of Arizona Locations: Rome, Denver , Colorado

☆ Opinion | Three Theories of the Trump Cabinet
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It did seem, at least, that the appointments to Trump’s cabinet might help us make plausible statements about the trajectory of his administration. That Trump has picked more loyalists than last time is true, inevitable and not especially useful in terms of figuring out how exactly (apart from never appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the boss!) That some of his nominees are eccentric or unfit-seeming and others are more conventional is likewise to be expected. Neither observation gives us a general theory of Trump 2.0. Instead, let’s consider three subtheories of how this cabinet might actually work.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump, let’s, Matthew Zeitlin Organizations: Trump

☆ Venezuelan security forces surround the Argentine embassy
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Abel Alvarado | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Armed and hooded members of the Venezuelan security forces have surrounded Argentina’s embassy in Caracas, according to leaders of the country’s opposition. Six members of the opposition are currently taking refuge in the embassy, having fled there to escape a crackdown by Venezuelan authorities in the run-up to July’s presidential elections. Omar Gonzalez, another opposition member living in the embassy, posted a video on X showing Venezuelan police outside the diplomatic building. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory in the July election, despite widespread skepticism in the country and overseas about the result. Similar scenes took place in September, when Venezuelan security forces surrounded the Argentine embassy.

Persons: Pedro Urruchurtu, Maria Corina Machado, Omar Gonzalez, Nicolás Maduro, Edmundo Gonzalez –, –, ”, ” Gonzalez Organizations: CNN, National Police, Venezuelan, Argentine Locations: Venezuelan, Argentina’s, Caracas

☆ At least 11 killed after Israeli strike flattens building in central Beirut, Civil Defense says
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Mohammed Tawfeeq | Charbel Mallo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —At least 11 people have been killed and several others injured after an Israeli strike flattened a multi-story residential building in central Beirut overnight, Lebanese officials said. At least 23 other people were injured in the strike, according to a toll provided by Lebanon’s Civil Defense. Saturday’s attack marks the latest in a string of Israeli strikes on central Beirut in recent weeks, following the killing of a Hezbollah spokesperson in an airstrike last Sunday. Most Israeli airstrikes have targeted the Lebanese militant group’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs since hostilities ramped up early last month. On Friday, the director general of Dar Al Amal University Hospital near Baalbek in eastern Lebanon was killed along with six of his colleagues in an alleged Israeli strike, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Persons: Dar Organizations: CNN, National News Agency, Lebanon’s Civil Defense, Israel Defense Forces, Dar Al Amal University, Health Ministry Locations: Beirut, Lebanon, Beirut’s, Baalbek

☆ Your Heart’s Desire
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Melissa Kirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I’m not a huge fan of musicals, nor of action movies. I’m a cultural omnivore, personally and professionally, so I knew I would eventually see these movies. But I would be seeing them as a sociologist, a curious outsider rather than the ideal audience member. I wasn’t going to be mouthing every word to “Defying Gravity” or comparing Lucius’s performance in the arena to that of his father. It’s the reward for a life discerningly lived — you know who you are.

Persons: It’s, ” Jon M, Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, ” Ridley Scott’s, Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer ”, it’s, pleasurably, discerningly

☆ Hezbollah Said to Be Using Copy of Israeli Missile Against Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Lara Jakes | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been using an advanced missile against Israel that was reverse-engineered from an Israeli weapon it captured in a past war, according to Israeli defense officials. Hezbollah fighters are believed to have seized the original Israeli Spike anti-tank missiles during the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war in Lebanon and shipped them to their main state backer, Iran, for cloning, Israeli and Western defense officials and weapons experts say. Eighteen years later, Hezbollah is firing the rebranded Almas missiles at Israeli military bases, communication systems and air-defense launchers with enough precision and power to pose a significant challenge for Israeli military forces. The missiles have a range of up to 10 miles and carry advanced guidance seekers to track and lock onto targets. That Iran and its proxy forces have cloned weapons systems to use against the very adversaries who designed them is not new.

Organizations: Hezbollah Locations: Lebanese, Israel, Lebanon, Iran

☆ Trump’s Trade Agenda Could Benefit Friends and Punish Rivals
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Ana Swanson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The sweeping tariffs that President-elect Donald J. Trump imposed in his first term on foreign metals, machinery, clothing and other products were intended to have maximum impact around the world. They sought to shutter foreign factories, rework international supply chains and force companies to make big investments in the United States. But for many businesses, the most important consequences of the tariffs, enacted in 2018 and 2019, unfolded just a few blocks from the White House. In the face of pushback from companies reliant on foreign products, the Trump administration set up a process that allowed them to apply for special exemptions. The stakes were high: An exemption could relieve a company of tariffs as high as 25 percent, potentially giving it a big advantage over competitors.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Organizations: United States Trade Representative, Commerce Department Locations: United States, China

☆ Microsoft is finally testing its Recall photographic memory search feature. It's not perfect
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft on Friday started letting people test Recall, its so-called photographic memory search feature for the latest Copilot+ PCs. Microsoft first touted Recall in May as a prominent feature that would only be available for cutting-edge Copilot+ PCs running the Windows 11 operating system, like the latest Surface Pro. A backlash from cybersecurity experts about the potential risks of Recall, however, led Microsoft to revamp it. Copilot+ PCs with AMD or Intel chips are out of luck for now. WATCH: Microsoft to release controversial Windows Recall AI search feature to testers in October

Persons: It's, you've Organizations: Microsoft, Pro, Qualcomm, Windows, AMD, Intel Locations: New York

☆ The Latest FAFSA Form is Available. It Works Fine.
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Ron Lieber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last year, in a fit of masochism, I tried to become the first person in the United States to fill out a FAFSA (short for Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form at the precise moment the Department of Education unveiled a long-delayed overhaul. I failed in my New Year’s Eve quest because the site wasn’t working, and the experience was a harbinger for millions of others. The rollout of the new FAFSA was one of the most epic digital fiascos of our time, right up there with the Obamacare website’s disastrous debut and the Equifax breach. At one school’s FAFSA completion event, only 20 percent of students finished. This week, the department tried again, opening the gates to the FAFSA website after months of additional revisions and multiple rounds of beta testing.

Persons: didn’t Organizations: Federal, of Education Locations: United States

☆ How the happiest people spend their weekends: Treat them ‘like a vacation,’ happiness expert says
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

If you're like me, you probably spend your weekends tackling the tasks you didn't have time for during the workweek. According to Holmes, you should actually treat your weekends like a vacation. Treating your weekend like a vacation helps break you out of the "routine of doing, and it allows you to just be." When measuring their happiness afterwards, she found that those with a vacation mindset showed more satisfaction and positivity when they returned to work. However, Holmes warns that there is one caveat to the vacation mindset.

Persons: it's, Cassie Holmes, Holmes, Leah Smart, you've, Mark Cuban, Richard Branson Organizations: Harvard Business, Harris, SXSW, CNBC

☆ Opinion | What Worries Me About Uruguay’s Elections This Year
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Guillermo Garat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In a year of landmark elections, my country’s presidential vote last month flew under the radar. And perhaps with good reason: Uruguay’s balloting was marked by unexciting candidates and their lackluster attempts to entice undecided voters to the polls. An uneventful vote seems preferable to the deep polarization that has surrounded presidential elections over the past year in countries like El Salvador, Argentina, Venezuela and even the United States. And young Uruguayans are afflicted by many problems. As it did in other countries, the Covid-19 pandemic left Uruguay in the grip of a mental-health crisis that hit this group hard.

Persons: It’s Locations: Uruguay, El Salvador, Argentina, Venezuela, United States, America, Latin America

☆ Insider Today: Vacation-rental red flags
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Joi-Marie Mckenzie | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

AdvertisementThis post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter. BI's movie reviewer said that "Wicked," starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, is worth the two hours and 41 minutes. This week's dispatchGMVozd/ Getty ImagesHow to win ThanksgivingNo matter how you try to slice it, hosting Thanksgiving dinner is a task. Vacation-rental red flagsMartin Puddy/Getty ImagesAs a full-time traveler, it's fair to say Tammy Barr knows what she's doing when it comes to finding a good vacation rental. AdvertisementMore of this week's top reads:The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York City.

Persons: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, It'll, she's, Ozempic Michael M, Chelsea Jia Feng, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Big, Martin Puddy, Tammy Barr, Barr, Harold Cunningham, Rebecca Zisser, Philippe, Reid, Craig Karger, Olga Rolenko, Willink, it's, Chad Michael Murray, Jamie, Claire Fraser, Dan DeFrancesco, Grace Lett, Lisa Ryan, Amanda Yen Organizations: Business, US Naval Academy, Costco, RFK, Getty, Department of Health, Human Services, Big Pharma, nab, BI, Retired Navy, Hulu, Starz Locations: New York City, New York

☆ Can the Gilgo Beach Suspect’s House Become a ‘Nice Starter Home’?
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Corey Kilgannon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Neighbors breathed a sigh of relief this week when an empty shipping container appeared outside the dilapidated red house in Massapequa Park that has become known as the home of the accused Long Island serial killer. “The best thing that could happen is they knock that house down and build a brand-new one so that the memory of all this is obliterated,” said a neighbor, Albert Cella, 80. “All this” referred to the sensation caused by the arrest last year of Rex Heuermann, 61, who prosecutors say presented himself as a family man in the little red house all while committing the Gilgo Beach murders. With Mr. Heuermann in jail awaiting trial after pleading not guilty, and his wife, Asa Ellerup, being paid to participate in a documentary series, the family is moving out. Ms. Ellerup and the couple’s two adult children are relocating to a South Carolina property purchased years ago as a retirement home, and she will put the Long Island home up for sale after her divorce from Mr. Heuermann becomes final in about six months, their lawyers said.

Persons: Long, ”, Rex Heuermann, Heuermann, Asa Ellerup, Ellerup Locations: Massapequa, Albert, South Carolina

☆ The US is finally going to make a key explosive at home, and that's good news for the military
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But a new US Army contract for a TNT production facility in Kentucky will change that. The US intends to start making TNT at home again. The US Army plans to build a domestic production facility for the explosive compound, which the Pentagon has long been forced to obtain from overseas. Restarting domestic TNT production is an investment in the country's industrial base, she said. The new TNT production facility is expected to help strengthen the US military's preparation for large-scale conflict.

Persons: It's, John T, Kevin Sterling Payne, Bradley Martin, Oleg Petrasiuk, Cynthia Cook, Cook, Reim Organizations: TNT, US Army, Pentagon, Factory, Army, USA, Defense, Armaments and, US, Russia, 24th Mechanised Brigade, AP, Industrial, Group, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Operation Locations: Kentucky, Russia, China, Ukraine, Army's, Germany, Navy, Kyiv, South Korea, Poland

☆ I spent 10 years and $800,000 renovating an Arkansas missile silo. It's my greatest accomplishment, but I don't recommend others try it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

AdvertisementArkansas resident GT Hill purchased a missile silo, decommissioned in the 1980s, for $90,000 in 2010. He bought a $90,000 decommissioned missile silo and turned it into an Airbnb. If it's a Walking-Dead-style apocalypse, you don't want to be in a missile silo because then you're trapped inside. Lastly, I was interested in owning a missile silo because it's just kick ass. Courtesy of GT HillI found my missile silo, called Titan II, online.

Persons: Hill, I'm, It's, we're, We've, We'd, we've, Kara, Nate, Lynne Peeples, everybody's, it's Organizations: GT Hill, GT, Air Force, US, Titan Locations: Arkansas, Vilonia , Arkansas, Oregon, Searcy , Arkansas, Russia

☆ On Blood-Soaked Ground, a ‘Prayer for the Future’ of a Divided Land
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Dan Barry | Todd Heisler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The bugler’s call to assemble had sounded, wreaths had been laid, a choral society had sung and dignitaries had spoken, all on a blood-consecrated hill in the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. All to commemorate the 161st anniversary of the speech that came to epitomize what it meant to be presidential. On Nov. 19, 1863, on this very hill, President Abraham Lincoln unfolded his six-foot-four frame to stand and dedicate a national soldiers’ cemetery made necessary by the horrific Battle of Gettysburg just four months earlier. His 272 words became a civic prayer of unity and purpose for a nation riven by civil war: the Gettysburg Address. He, too, is bearded, but he grew up in the borough of Queens, not the woods of Kentucky, and he stands five-foot-nine, maybe.

Persons: Abraham Lincoln, Harold Holzer Organizations: Gettysburg Locations: Pennsylvania, Gettysburg, Queens, Kentucky

☆ 33-year-old once worked 100-hour weeks to save $40,000 for his robotics startup—now it's worth $633 million
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Such a company would be a major longshot: Loosararian had very little work experience or seed money, and no tech industry connections. After graduating college in 2013, Loosararian co-founded Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics. He worked 100-hour weeks to save "$30,000 or $40,000" and fund his startup's first few years of existence, he says. Today, Gecko Robotics is a fast-growing robotics company with $220 million in funding, including a $100 million fundraising round last year that valued Gecko at $633 million. CNBC Make It: Did you immediately believe you had a major tech startup on your hands after building a successful robot in college?

Persons: Jake Loosararian's, might've, he'd, Loosararian, There's, I'm, Aw Organizations: CNBC, Pennsylvania's, Pennsylvania's Grove City College, Robotics Locations: Pennsylvania's Grove, Pittsburgh

☆ The economist who predicted the election outcomes in detail tells BI his forecasts for 2025 GDP, inflation, and the threshold that would explode the deficit
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementChristophe Barraud predicted a Republican sweep and spike in the 10-year yield. Barraud, a top US economy forecaster, expects GDP growth to exceed consensus forecasts. He also expects higher inflation and shares concerns over the deficit crossing 7.5% of GDP. AdvertisementHe previously said that US GDP growth in 2025 would be stronger than expected at 2.1%, above Bloomberg's consensus forecast of 1.9%. A stronger labor market will cause this, especially wage growth and new job creation, combined with labor shortages from restrictive immigration policy.

Persons: Christophe Barraud, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Barraud, I'm, Trump Organizations: Republican, Market Securities Monaco, Bloomberg, Trump, Congressional, Office, Tax Foundation

☆ Former Elphaba and Glinda actresses remember the magic of ‘Wicked’
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

Eden Espinosa, an original “Wicked” cast member who played Elphaba on Broadway over seven years and inspired some of the score’s famous riffs. Becoming Elphaba and GlindaKristin Chenoweth (left) and Idina Menzel originated the roles of Glinda and Elphaba on Broadway. It was Dearman's second time performing in the show — she played Glinda before returning as Elphaba. Some “Wicked” journeys are more winding: Espinosa played Elphaba on and off for seven years. No matter how long they spent with their characters, the actresses agreed — they’d grown with Elphaba and Glinda.

Persons: ” Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Glinda, Gregory Maguire’s, Frank Baum’s “, Oz, ”, —, Elphaba, who’ve, Nicky J Sims, Jessica Vosk, Eden Espinosa, McKenzie Kurtz, Louise Dearman, Saycon Sengbloh, Willemijn Verkaik, Teal Wicks, Stephanie J, Idina Menzel, Glinda Kristin Chenoweth, Elphabas, Menzel, Tony, Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, “, I’ve, Kristin Chenoweth, Bruce Glikas, Saycon, I’d, Gina Beck, Dan Wooller, ” Espinosa, Shoshanna Bean, Everybody’s, Jamie McCarthy, Espinosa, Glindas, you’re, who’s, Kurtz, Sebastian Arcelus, Fiyero, “ Idina, Sebastian, ” Sebastian Arcelus, Nicholas Hunt, Ben Vereen, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Madame Morrible, Lindsay Mendez, Brandi Chavonne Massey, Alyssa Fox, Alexia Khadime, Brittney Johnson, Dearman, Block, Wicked’s, Lawrence, I’ll, that’s, Wicks, Cynthia Erivo, Kevin Mazur, they’re Organizations: CNN, Getty, Broadway, ITV, Social, New York City Hall, Los Angeles Times, Erivo Locations: London, New, Grande

☆ These key 401(k) plan changes are coming in 2025. Here's what savers need to know
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Enacted by Congress in 2022, "Secure 2.0" ushered in sweeping changes to the U.S. retirement system, including several updates to 401(k) plans. 'Exciting change' for catch-up contributionsFor 2025, employees can defer $23,500 into 401(k) plans, up from $23,000 in 2024. Shorter wait for part-time workersSecure 2.0 has also boosted access to 401(k) and 403(b) plans for certain part-time workers. Starting in 2024, employers were required to extend plan access to part-time employees who worked at least 500 hours annually for three consecutive years. "That's a very good thing for long-term part-time workers" who may have struggled to qualify for 401(k) eligibility, said Stinnett.

Persons: Tang Ming Tung, Dave Stinnett, Jamie Bosse, Dave Stinnett Vanguard's, Alicia Munnell Organizations: Getty, CNBC, Workers, CGN Advisors, America, U.S . Bureau of Labor Statistics, Center for Retirement Research, Boston College Locations: Manhattan , Kansas, That's

☆ What’s Behind Ukraine and Russia’s Missile Brinkmanship?
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The low-lying clouds over the city lit up for a split second, video footage showed, then streaks of dozens of glowing warheads plummeted out of the sky. The main contours of the attack on Thursday morning soon came to light: President Vladimir V. Putin said Russia had test fired an intermediate-range missile from its arsenal designed to deliver nuclear weapons, though without the nuclear warheads aboard. The Russian strike caused little damage, but it capped a dizzying week of tit-for-tat moves in the war in Ukraine, shifting focus from the ground assaults on the battlefield to a Cold War-style missile brinkmanship. In the previous two days, Ukraine had fired longer-range missiles provided by the U.S. and Britain at military targets inside Russia. Mr. Putin made clear that the Russian missile test was a response to those strikes — a warning to the West to reconsider military aid for Kyiv.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: U.S, Russian, Kyiv Locations: Dnipro, Ukrainian, Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Britain

☆ 12 tactics America's wealthiest use to save big on taxes, from putting mansions in trusts to stashing fortunes for a 1,000 years
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-23 | by ( Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Currently, individuals and married couples can gift or bequeath $13.61 million and $27.22 million, respectively, before a 40% federal estate tax kicks in. AdvertisementThe heirs don't own the trust assets but rather have lifetime rights to the trust's income and real estate. Any payout is also protected from estate taxes, even if the insured's estate and death benefit exceed the exemption. AdvertisementThis tactic can also be used to save on estate taxes by ultra-rich entrepreneurs who have already used their exemption but have less-wealthy parents who haven't. When the children inherit the assets, the federal estate tax doesn't kick in as long as the grandparents' estate does not exceed $27.22 million.

Persons: Trump, Robert Strauss, Weinstock Manion, Uncle Sam, Wrigley, Jeff Bezos, Jackie O, Edward Renn, Tyler Le, remarries, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Sam Walton, haven't Organizations: Republican, Getty, IRS, Federal Reserve, Walmart Locations: Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Washington, Florida, Wyoming, Plenty

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