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☆ Royal Caribbean saw historic bookings for its upcoming mega cruise ship currently under construction — see inside one of its unique family staterooms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Royal Caribbean's upcoming world's largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, is under construction. See what the in-progress family infinite balcony cabin looks like compared to what Royal Caribbean has been promising. Royal Caribbean isn't shy about its intention of targeting traveling families for its upcoming Icon of the Seas mega cruise ship. But unlike other cruise lines, Royal Caribbean isn't just setting up a fancy water park and fun children clubs to entice this demographic. When reservations first opened for the nearly 1,200-foot-long ship, Royal Caribbean saw its strongest booking day in the company's history.

“I’m not doing that good,” Lt. Ridge Alkonis wrote in a letter dated April 30, which was shared with CNN. “The walls and bars seem to be making my cell even smaller as of late.”“I feel closer to an animal than a human being now,” Ridge Alkonis wrote. “That was the most dejected I’ve ever heard him,” his wife, Brittany Alkonis, told CNN on Thursday. As such, despite her hope for positive movement coming out the G7 trip to Hirsoshima, Brittany Alkonis said she does not have high expectations of a resolution. But based on Japan’s response, it doesn’t seem that they do think it’s a big deal,” Brittany Alkonis said.

☆ Royal Caribbean is building the new world's largest cruise ship — see what the upcoming Icon of the Seas is like under construction
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Royal Caribbean International invited a group of reporters to tour its upcoming Icon of the Seas. Take a look around the roughly 70% complete floating resort soon to accommodate nearly 10,000 people per sailing. It's hard to imagine this incomplete shell of a floating resort will soon be the world's largest cruise ship to hit the market. In mid-May, Royal Caribbean International invited a group of reporters to visit the upcoming Icon of the Seas while under construction in Turku, Finland's Meyer Turku shipyard. But come January 2024, this mega cruise ship will begin accommodating 7,600 guests on year-round seven-night cruises from Miami to the Caribbean and Perfect Day at CocoCay.

☆ Most groundwater still low in France despite spring rainfall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A view shows a bridge with sandbanks of the Loire River in Ingrandes-le-Fresne-sur-Loire, France, May 4, 2023. Risks of a drought by the end of the summer 2023 were now "extremely likely" in southeastern France and around Paris, the environment ministry said in a separate report. Restrictions on water usage have already been implemented in some regions in southern France in recent months as authorities anticipated a summer drought. "The situation remains unsatisfactory over a large part of the country: 68% of groundwater levels remain below monthly norms in April (compared to 75% in March 2023) with many sectors showing low to very low levels," BRGM said in its monthly bulletin. However, some concerns remained in southwest and northeast of Paris and the situation in the south, including the Mediterranean coast, was unsatisfactory to worrying, BRGM said.

☆ High schools and colleges require students to pay mandatory fees to walk at graduation. Critics say this discriminates against low-income students.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Misha Valencia | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Most high schools and colleges charge students a graduation fee to attend the ceremony. Critics say these high, mandatory fees discriminate against low-income students. She told Insider that nothing had changed since she graduated; the school was still charging mandatory graduation fees. High schools and colleges across the US are charging students mandatory graduation fees — sometimes called a walking fee — to walk in their graduation ceremonies. For example, California and Minnesota have barred mandatory graduation fees in public schools.

☆ Autonomous agents are Silicon Valley's latest AI obsession. Here's why pizza-ordering bots may be coming to a computer near you soon.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"Autonomous AI agents" are AI bots that can plan and prioritize to achieve user-provided goals. However, the rise of AI agents has sparked concerns around safety and the potential for AGI. From assistants to digital friendsHowever, AI doomsdayers don't have to be too worried yet — the performance of these AI agents have often been less than stellar. Without the proper guardrails, AI agents with unrestricted access to the Internet may similarly take unanticipated steps to complete its goals, like transferring money from a bank account. And sometimes, the misuse of AI agents is intentional, rather than accidental.

☆ Andrew Cuomo Seeks Records, Depositions From Women Who Accused Him of Sexual Harassment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in 2021 as state lawmakers moved forward with impeachment proceedings. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesFormer New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed several of the women who said he sexually harassed them, the latest step in his legal campaign to clear his name. They are five of the 11 women who were sexually harassed by the 65-year-old Democratic scion during his three terms as governor, according to a report by Attorney General Letitia James.

☆ Phillips 66 joins rivals to beat profit estimates as refining margins soar
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Arunima Kumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A general view of the Phillips 66 refinery, as seen from the corner of Fifth Street and California Street in Rodeo, California, the oldest oil refining town in the American West, U.S. December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brittany Hosea-Small/File PhotoMay 3 (Reuters) - U.S. refiner Phillips 66 (PSX.N) beat Wall Street estimate for first-quarter profit on Wednesday, joining rivals in gaining from elevated margins on sustained fuel demand amid tight crude supplies. Realized margins soared 91% to $20.72 per barrel in the first quarter from a year earlier, Phillips 66 said. "We ran above industry-average crude utilization, successfully executed major turnarounds and increased market capture to 93%," Phillips 66's CEO Mark Lashier said in a statement. The Houston-based refiner reported adjusted earnings of $4.21 per share for the three months ended March 31, compared with average analyst estimate of $3.56, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ Seven Bodies Found on Oklahoma Property During Search for Missing Teenage Girls
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Police found seven bodies while searching for two missing teenagers on a rural Oklahoma property. Photo: KTUL via Associated PressOklahoma authorities said they found seven bodies on a rural property Monday while they were searching for two missing teenage girls. The authorities in Henryetta, Okla., a city about 45 miles south of Tulsa, haven’t released the identities of the seven people. Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice said two of the bodies were believed to be the missing girls: Ivy Webster , 14, and Brittany Brewer , 16.

☆ Oklahoma bodies found: Convicted sex offender Jesse McFadden and 2 teen girls among 7 bodies found at his home
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Tina Burnside Caroll Alvarado Eric Levenson | Tina Burnside | Caroll Alvarado | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A convicted sex offender and two missing teenage girls were believed to be among seven bodies found at the man’s Oklahoma home on Monday, authorities said. Brittany Brewer, 16, left, and Ivy Webster, 14, right, were the subject of an endangered/missing advisory issued by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. From Nathan Brewer/Okmulgee County Sheriff's OfficeThe seven bodies were found at a property where McFadden lived and was listed as his home in the Oklahoma Sex Offender Registry. “Our hearts are hurting, and we have considered what would be best for our students in the coming days,” the school system said. “Please continue to keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.”Located in central Oklahoma, Henryetta had a population of 5,640 at the 2020 US census.

☆ A photo of women snickering at trans lawmaker Zooey Zephyr in Montana looks a lot like the photos of white people snickering at Black people in the 1950s
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The vote meant Zephyr could no longer enter the House chamber, so she worked from a public bench in the hallway outside. State Rep. Zooey Zephyr sits on a bench just outside the main chamber of the House on April 27 in Helena, Montana. The censure prevents Zephyr from entering the House floor, so she has instead been working from a public bench outside the chamber. Photos from the time show authorities in different cities escorting Black children to school through throngs of glaring white protestors. Similarly, a group of supporters on Tuesday managed to hold Zephyr's seat outside the chamber for her, the lawmaker said.

The bodies were found at a property in Henryetta, a city about 90 miles from Oklahoma City, authorities said. The bodies were found “not in the residence, but just on the property,” Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Gerald Davidson told reporters Monday. “Our hearts are hurting, and we have considered what would be best for our students in the coming days,” the school system said. The school system added that classes would not be canceled and that students would have access to mental health professionals and faith-based clergy. “Please continue to keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.”A vigil for the “families affected by this tragedy” was scheduled for Monday evening, the school system said on Facebook.

☆ How much does the British royal family cost?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Robert Leslie | Brittany Stephanis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have quit, and Prince Andrew has courted controversy, but the British royals remain one of the richest royal families in the world. They cost UK taxpayers about 300 million pounds every year, but it's argued they bring in far more through tourism and business. So are they value for money?

☆ Seven bodies, including two missing teens, found in Oklahoma town
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 1 (Reuters) - The bodies of seven people, including two missing teens and a convicted sex offender, were found Monday afternoon on a property in the small Oklahoma city of Henryetta, the county sheriff said. Other bodies likely included McFadden and members of his family, Rice said, cautioning that none of the victims had yet been formally identified by the county medical examiner. The county issued an amber alert earlier Monday saying the two teens were missing, but the alert was called off after the bodies were found. Rice said officers arrived at about 3 p.m. to search the property and found the bodies. They are no longer looking for the missing teens or for McFadden.

☆ 7 Found Dead in Oklahoma Amid Search for Missing Teens
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Ava Sasani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Seven bodies were found on a piece of property in rural Oklahoma on Monday afternoon during a search for two teenage girls who had been reported missing and were said to have been seen with a convicted sex offender, according to officials with the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office. None of the seven victims were identified, and the authorities would not say whether they included the missing girls, Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 16. But Sheriff Eddy Rice said that the authorities had called off the search for Ivy and Brittany after the bodies were found at the property, near Henryetta, the county seat, and just south of Tulsa. “We believe to have found everything that we were seeking this morning,” Sheriff Rice said. The sheriff said he could not provide any details about the seven deaths, but said the case was being investigated as a homicide.

☆ Analysis: Fed report on SVB collapse could buoy shareholder lawsuits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Jack Queen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

FILE PHOTO: The Silicon Valley Bank headquarters seen from the street in Santa Clara, California, U.S. March 13, 2023. The bank’s parent company, SVB Financial Group, entered bankruptcy on March 17. The Fed’s report concluded that SVB did not adequately hedge against risk, failed its own liquidity stress tests, and chased short-term profits at the expense of long-term stability. Rather than address these risks, the bank changed how it measured them, the report found. “I see this (Fed) report as being extraordinarily useful evidence to dangle in front of a judge or jury on class action lawsuits against accounting firms,” Cox said.

Depositors had pulled $100 billion from accounts at the bank in the panic triggered by the SVB and Signature failures, imperiling its survival. Both SVB and Signature failed last month. Both SVB and Signature grew quickly in recent years, outpacing the ability of regulators to keep up, especially with shrinking resources. Regulators closed Signature two days after SVB was shuttered. Signature lost 20% of its total deposits in a matter of hours on the day that SVB failed, FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg has said.

☆ I went on MSC Cruises' Meraviglia now sailing year-round from NYC — see what it's like aboard the 5,700-guest vessel
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

This is the first MSC ship to home port year-round out of New York and one of five vessels currently based in the US. Brittany Chang/InsiderSource: Insider

☆ This residential cruise ship has been sailing around the world for the last 20 years — but good luck buying one of its up to $15 million condos
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

"The crew and our ship now have over 20 years of lifestyle experience that is incredibly hard to duplicate," Wobler said. "It's one thing to build a ship, but to bring it to life and to deliver on the expectation of very high-demanding and performing residents is not easy."

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Charlie Bell speaks, Amazon RTO, and the lucrative side of teaching ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon needs to watch out for Charlie Bell. A founder of Amazon Web Services and the firm's "best person in the room," Bell shook the industry last September when he joined Microsoft. Bell will be overseeing a new cybersecurity division at Microsoft — but insiders at both Amazon and Microsoft wonder if he'll go more directly up against his former employer. My colleague Ashley Stewart examines the growing threat of Microsoft now that Bell is free from his noncompete purgatory. Look into the future here for Bell — and Microsoft — without Amazon's restrictions.

[1/2] Hywind Tampen floating wind farm structures are being assembled at the Wergeland Base in Gulen, Norway, June 7, 2022. But by 2035, the LCOE for floating wind is expected to fall to about 60 euros/MWh. It plans to set a specific target for floating wind this year. Britain aims to have 5 GW of floating wind installed by 2030 but a report by the UK Floating Wind Offshore Wind Taskforce, said 34 GW could be installed by 2040 if ports were upgraded. "South Korea will be commercial the quickest," said Cole at Corio Generation, which has 1.5 GW of floating wind under development there.

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Floating wind is viewed as the final frontier for offshore wind as turbines can be installed in deeper waters than fixed-bottom foundations, harnessing stronger and more continuous wind to generate more power. There are two main types of tender for traditional and floating wind projects. ITALYItaly is expected to hold an auction for up to 1 GW of offshore wind power, including floating technology, in 2023 or 2024. NORWAYNorway opened its first tenders to build offshore wind farms, including one area for floating wind, in a step to meet growing electricity demand at home and to build a new industry. TAIWANTaiwan is set to hold an auction for site licences and power offtake agreements for 3 GW, including offshore wind this year.

☆ See inside a 600-square-foot 3D-printed tiny home in Maine made of recyclable materials
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

“Our number one priority is to alleviate the societal problems [like housing and sustainable construction] we are facing right now,” he said. “There’s an opportunity here to harness these biomaterials and help solve these problems.”Brittany Chang/Insider

☆ Kids under 6 ingesting illicit substances rose after Covid-19 outbreak, study shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The outbreak of Covid-19 presented many dangers for children, and a new study suggests increased illicit substance ingestions were among them. Those numbers grew by 1.8% more per month than they did before the pandemic, the study said. The results could be skewed if health care providers were on the lookout for ingestions, Dodington added. There was no association between medicinal or recreational cannabis legalization and the rate of cannabis ingestion encounters, according to the study. Safer storageIngesting drugs and alcohol are particularly dangerous for young children, Dodington said.

☆ Credit squeeze 'biggest threat' to economic outlook, Fidelity says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Brittany Hosea-Small/File Photo/File PhotoPARIS, April 19 (Reuters) - The biggest threat to the economic outlook is a credit squeeze that has not finished filtering through the financial system, a senior official at Fidelity Investments told a European equities conference on Wednesday. The "biggest threat" to the economy is a "true and visible credit crunch", Romain Boscher, chairman of the board at Fidelity Investments, which has about $4.5 trillion of assets under management, told the conference. Higher rates should be a permanent expectation, he said. Dhar said if credit conditions tightened enough, the U.S. would slip into a recession in the second half of the year. Harsher economic conditions and higher rates have changed priorities for asset manager portfolios, both said.

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