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<br /> The year 2013 is on its way out but are we really planning a blast to ring in the New Year? The good news is – Indians are still undeterred by the falling <keyword id="6355302" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Rupee">rupee</keyword> and looking forward to outbound travel in the coming holidays, just like they did this summer. But the way they travel is definitely changing, according to a senior executive of a Delhi-based <keyword id="6607315" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="OTA">OTA</keyword>. Overseas travel no longer means the ritual rush through <keyword id="6357117" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="bangkok">Bangkok</keyword> or <keyword id="6356662" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Singapore">Singapore</keyword> – the global destinations closest to home and perhaps the least expensive. Of course, these places are not yet marked off the list, but the experienced and the well-heeled seem to have caught the travel bug of a different kind.<br />
<br /> <keyword id="1960912" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Offbeat-destinations">Offbeat destinations</keyword> are getting increasingly popular among Indians, says Saurabh Srivastava, vice-president (marketing &amp; product strategy) at ixigo.com, a travel planning site and search engine that aggregates and curates travel information to help consumers.<br />
<br /> “Of the 2.5 million visitors coming to our site month on month, we see some very clear and emerging trends. While the <keyword id="1960914" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Regular-overseas-travellers">regular overseas travellers</keyword> are increasingly looking at offbeat destinations to try out something different, first-timers or those who haven’t ventured outside the country too much, are still looking at <keyword id="1960915" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Popular-destinations">popular destinations</keyword> like Bangkok, Singapore, <keyword id="8695" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Malaysia">Malaysia</keyword> and <keyword id="6355478" type="COUNTRY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Australia">Australia</keyword> – the main attractions being <keyword id="6396451" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="beaches">beaches</keyword>, <keyword id="60543" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Water-sports">water sports</keyword> and <keyword id="6368952" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="shopping">shopping</keyword>,” he observes.<br />
<br /> We have talked to a number of <keyword id="722880" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="travel-agencies">travel agencies</keyword> and rounded up 12 out-of-the-ordinary (but up and coming) places that people are closely following (and booking) these holidays. Here is a quick look at each of them with a glimpse of the local flavour and the basic cost per person on a twin-sharing basis. However, costs are only indicative and are bound to change, depending on your <keyword id="472754" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tour-schedule">tour schedule</keyword>, quality of <keyword id="6358762" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Package">package</keyword>, customisation and service provider. Also, prices may fluctuate as dates get closer.<br />
<br /> Try planning a holiday if you love these destinations too. Just remember, sometimes, the best travel happens farthest from <keyword id="823132" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="home-and-away">home and away</keyword> from your everyday ambience. Catch the sun on a <keyword id="1553372" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="foreign-soil">foreign soil</keyword> this New Year and bon voyage!

<b>Want To Vacation Abroad? These 12 Places Are Creating The
Buzz These Holidays</b>

A distinguished billionaire entrepreneur of India, <keyword id="33278" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rahul-Bajaj">Rahul Bajaj</keyword> is also a philanthropist and Member of Parliament. Rahul Bajaj hails from the business house established by Jamnalal Bajaj and eventually became the chairman of the most prestigious Bajaj Group, an Indian conglomerate. Here are a few interesting <keyword id="8407225" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="facts-about-rahul-bajaj">facts about Rahul Bajaj</keyword> which you might not have known.<br /><br />Rahul Bajaj was born on 10 June 1938. Son of an Indian independence fighter Jamnalal Bajaj, his birth happened in a Marwari family. <br /><br />In 2001, Rahul Bajaj got the highest civilian award in the country Padma Bhushan. <br /><br />Rahul Bajaj spoke at length about the marketing scenario in India in an interview connected with a project entitled Creating Emerging Markets at the Harvard Business School and thoroughly criticized the industrial policies of the country before liberalization in the 1990s.<br /><br />Bajaj did his schooling in Cathedral and John Connon School and studied law at Government Law College, Mumbai. He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School in the US and St. Stephen's College, Delhi.<br /><br />Rahul Bajaj took over the Bajaj Group in 1965 and gave a wonderful leadership to the entity till 2005. Following him, his son Rajiv became the managing director of the Group. He became the CEO of Bajaj Auto in 1968 when he was just 30 years. <br /><br />Rahul Babaj got elected to the Upper House of the Parliament for the period between 2006 and 2010. <br /><br />His wealth is estimated at US$ 4.2 in the year 2019. Earlier in 2016, the Forbes magazine ranked him in the 722nd position in the list of world’s billionaires.<br /><br />Rahul Bajaj has three children. His sons Rajiv Bajaj and Sanjiv Bajaj are managing his establishments. His daughter Sunaina is given in marriage to Manish Kejriwal, the former chairman of Temasek India. <br /><br />The Pune based manufacturer has his stakes in firms including Bajaj Holdings and Investments, an investment company, and Bajaj Finserv, which is a leading insurance and consumer finance group in India.<br /><br />The major chunk of Rahul Bajaj’s wealth comes from the company Bajaj Group that was established in the year 1926 by his grandfather Jamnalal. <br /><br />He has a significant investment in Bajaj Auto, one of the largest makers of two wheelers in the world. In 2018, the company made a revenue of 247 billion rupees.<br /><br />Rahul Bajaj has 10% stake in Bajaj Finserv, an insurance and consumer finance provider and 24% stake in Bajaj Holdings &amp; Investment, the holding company, which fall under the Bajaj Group. His other holdings are 2% stake in Bajaj Finance, 14% stake in Bajaj Electrical, a home appliance maker and 19% stake in Mukand, manufacturer of wire rods, alloy castings and steel bars.<br /><br />Pointing out that business was in his blood, Rahul Bajaj once said in an interview at the Harvard Business School, “Given my family background, I knew I wanted to be a businessman by the time I was about 12”.<br /><br />In 2008, he split the Bajaj Auto into three units for the sake of boosting the shareholder’s returns and provided more control in the management to his sons Rajiv and Sanjiv. <br /><br /><br />

Unknown Facts About padma bhushan Rahul Bajaj

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul><li><strong>Conservative MP Michael Fabricant has been accused of Islamophobia after tweeting a crude photoshopped image of Sadiq Khan.</strong></li><li><strong>It depicted the London mayor, who is a Muslim, as a giant balloon having sex with a giant balloon pig.</strong></li><li><strong>Labour MPs are now calling for Fabricant's suspension from the Conservative Party. </strong></li><li><strong>The politician claims he didn't see Khan's face in the image.</strong></li></ul><p><br>Conservative MP Michael Fabricant has been accused of Islamophobia and racism after he tweeted a photoshopped picture of a balloon version of London mayor Sadiq Khan having sex with a balloon pig over the Houses of Parliament as Donald Trump laughs.</br></p><p>The US president is visiting Britain this week, and has is being met with widespread protests - including a giant protest balloon near Parliament depicting him as an orange baby clutching a smartphone. Khan, who has a long-running spat with Trump, granted the balloon's creators permission to fly it, despite the objections of some Trump supporters.</p><p>Fabricant's tweet, sent Thursday night, had a caption on the image: "BREAKING NEWS: TRUMP DEFEATS SADIQ KHAN IN BALLOON WARS," and the MP added the note: "Well, what can I say."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Sadiq Khan is Muslim, and the tweet prompted immediate accusations of Islamophobia. Azfal Khan MP, Labour's shadow immigration minister, called for Fabricant to be suspended from the Conservative Party.</p><p>"The Tories have ignored countless calls for an inquiry into Islamophobia in their party from their own members, the former chair of their party and the Muslim Council of Britain," he said in a statement. "Clearly there's a problem, and if Brandon Lewis's respect pledge meant anything, Michael Fabricant would be suspended immediately."</p><p>Labour MP Stephen Doughty tweeted: "This is disgusting, racist stuff @Mike_Fabricant - you should be ashamed of yourself."</p><p>Owen Jones, the left-wing journalist and campaigner, added: "Absolutely vile racism from this Tory MP and if the Tories are even going to pretend they take racism seriously, they must suspend him immediately."</p><p>Fabricant subsequently deleted the tweet, and claims he didn't see Sadiq Khan's face in the image before sharing it. "I deleted it as soon as I saw Sadiq Khan's face on the picture," he said in a tweet. I did not see it was him. He may be a useless Mayor, but he's a nice guy whom I worked with when he was in Parliament."</p><p>The MP's office did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.</p><div></div><div></div><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korean-defector-calls-out-kim-jong-un-terrorist-singapore-summit-2018-6">North Korean defector: Kim Jong Un 'is a terrorist'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div></hr>

Michael Fabricant MP accused of 'Islamophobia' over crude tweet of Sadiq Khan and a pig

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/license/862141928">William Thomas Cain/Getty</a></span></p><p class="caption">Former Vice President Joe Biden will be among the 15 pallbearers at John McCain's Washington, DC memorial service on Saturday.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>A famous group of 14 men and one woman will serve as pallbearers for Sen. John McCain's memorial in Washington, DC on Saturday.</strong></li><li><strong>The six-term senator and war hero will have multiple ceremonies in Arizona and Washington this week.</strong></li><li><strong>McCain selected bipartisan senators, statesmen, and former presidents to honor his memory.</strong></li><li><strong>President Donald Trump is not invited.</strong></li></ul><p>The pallbearers for Sen. John McCain's memorial service in Washington, DC on Saturday will be full of famous faces.</p><p>Among the 14 men and one woman who will carry the late Arizona senator's casket at the <a href="https://www.johnmccain.com/press/programdetails/nationalcathedral/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington National Cathedral ceremony</a> include an A-list actor, a former vice president, and a billionaire. Highlighting his unyielding tough stance on Russia, an outspoken Putin critic will also be a pallbearer.</p><p>Former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama will be among the few eulogizing McCain, but current <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-funeral-trump-obama-bush-2018-8">President Donald Trump is not invited</a>.</p><p>McCain notably asked his two presidential election opponents to speak at his funeral, and chose bipartisan pallbearers to carry his casket and honor his six terms in the US Senate and 22 years in the US Navy.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Kevin Lamarque/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Former President George W. Bush and then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain walk toward the Oval Office on March 5, 2008.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Sens. Kelly Ayotte, Lindsey Graham and Joseph Lieberman, son Jimmy McCain, daughter Sidney McCain, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, and daughter Meghan McCain will also speak at the DC ceremony. Full details are available on <a href="https://www.johnmccain.com/press/programdetails/nationalcathedral/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this website</a>, and a <a href="https://www.johnmccain.com/memorials-and-services/nationalcathedral/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">livestream will be available here starting at 10 a.m. ET on Saturday</a>.</p><p>Former Vice President Joe Biden will eulogize McCain in Arizona on Thursday and serve as a pallbearer in DC on Saturday. The two grew close during their many years serving in the Senate together, and Biden's son, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-comforts-meghan-mccain-john-mccain-cancer-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beau, died of the same brain cancer McCain had</a>.</p><p>Saturday's high-profile ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral will follow <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-funeral-trump-obama-bush-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple memorials</a> in McCain's adopted home state, Arizona, on Wednesday and Thursday, and lying in state at the US Capitol on Friday.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.johnmccain.com/press/programdetails/baptistchurch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">separate list of pallbearers and ushers</a> will be honoring McCain at his memorial in Phoenix, as well.</p><h2>Here's the full list of pallbearers for the DC memorial, with descriptions provided by the event's organizers:</h2><p><strong>Warren Beatty:</strong> Friend. Actor and filmmaker, and political activist. He received 14 Academy Award nominations for his work as an actor, director and screenwriter.</p><p><strong>Former Vice President Joseph Biden: </strong>Friend. Former Vice President of the United States, six-term United States Senator from Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.</p><p><strong>Michael Bloomberg:</strong> Friend. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bloomberg L.P. Served three terms as Mayor of the City of New York. Recognized as one of the nation's leading philanthropists.</p><p><strong>Secretary William Cohen:</strong> Friend. Founding partner of the Cohen Group. Formerly, the United States Secretary of Defense, three-term Senator from the State of Maine, and three term United States Representative from the Second District of Maine.</p><p><strong>Stephen Dart: </strong>Friend. Businessman.</p><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Tim P. Whitby/Getty</span></p><p class="caption">Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Richard Davis: </strong>Friend. Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Pegasus Capital Advisors, LP. Formerly, national campaign manager for Senator McCain presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2008, Special Assistant to President Reagan.</p><p><strong>Carla Eudy: </strong>Friend, President, the Eudy Company. Longtime fundraiser.</p><p><strong>Sen. Russ Feingold:</strong> Friend. Visiting Professor at Marquette University Law School. Formerly, three-term United States Senator from Wisconsin and US Special Envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.</p><p><strong>Sen. Phil Gramm: </strong>Friend. Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Former Vice Chairman of UBS Investment Bank, three-term United States Senator from Texas, and three-term United States Representative from the Sixth District of Texas.</p><p><strong>Sen. Gary Hart:</strong> Friend. Author and attorney. Professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. Formerly, US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, Co-chairman of the US Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, and two-term United States Senator from Colorado.</p><p><strong>Vladimir Kara-Murza:</strong> Friend, Vice Chairman of Open Russia, and Chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom.</p><p><strong>Gov. Tom Ridge:</strong> Friend. Formerly United States Secretary for Homeland Security, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and seven-term United States Representative from the 21st District of Pennsylvania. Veteran of the Vietnam War.</p><p><strong>Mark Salter:</strong> Friend. Author, Formerly, Chief of Staff to Senator McCain.</p><p><strong>Fred Smith:</strong> Friend. Founder, Chairman and President of FedEx. Formerly, an officer in the United States Marine Corps. Veteran of the Vietnam War.</p><p><strong>Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse:</strong> Friend. Serving his second term as United States Senator from Rhode Island. Formerly, Attorney General for the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; US Attorney for the District of Rhode Island.</p><h2>Remembering the life and legacy of John McCain:</h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-memorials-tributes-politicians-military-2018-8">Former presidents, congressional leaders, and the military commend John McCain's storied life and service</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lindsey-graham-and-john-mccain-friendship-death-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sen. Lindsey Graham gives an emotional statement after John McCain's death</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meghan-mccain-statement-father-death-2018-8">'We know that his flame lives on, in each of us': Meghan McCain remembers her father</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-best-quotes-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10 of John McCain's best quotes on courage, happiness, and character</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/10-photos-of-john-mccains-navy-career-and-lasting-impact-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10 photos show John McCain's heroism in Vietnam and his lasting impact on the US military</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-biography-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The incredible life of John McCain, in photos</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-net-worth-real-estate-charity-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A look at the life and fortune of John McCain, who has a sprawling real estate portfolio and donated $1.7 million in book sales to charity</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mccain-reveals-how-he-found-out-he-had-brain-cancer-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In his new book, McCain revealed how he found out he had brain cancer</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-refused-early-release-as-a-pow-in-vietnam-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As a POW in Vietnam, John McCain refused release until his fellow prisoners were freed, making him a hero in the eyes of many</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russell-senate-office-building-john-mccain-rename-leaders-join-call-2018-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Politicians are backing Sen. Schumer's call to rename the Russell Senate Office Building for John McCain</a></li></ul>      <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-to-north-korea-defector-2018-8">A North Korean defector's harrowing story of escape</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A star-studded cast including Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg will serve as pallbearers at John McCain's memorial service in DC

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Alec and <keyword id="1559328" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hilaria-Baldwin" source="Orion">Hilaria Baldwin</keyword> (née Hayward-Thomas) met at an NYC restaurant in 2011. </li><li>Alec publicly defended Hilaria throughout her 2020 Spanish heritage controversy. </li></ul><p><keyword id="27308" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Alec-Baldwin" source="Orion">Alec Baldwin</keyword> and Hilaria Baldwin (née Hayward-Thomas) first met 10 years ago during a chance encounter in New York City. </p><p>The couple wed shortly after and have since welcomed six children together while handling <a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-spanish-controversy-public-life-timeline-2020-12">a few headline-making controversies. </a></p><p>Read on for a timeline of Alec and Hilaria Baldwin's relationship. </p><h2><strong>February 2011: They met for the first time at a restaurant in New York City </strong></h2><p>Alec and Hilaria met when he spotted her at the since-closed restaurant <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BuDMppSARPj/?hl=en">Pure Food and Wine in New York.</a> The actor said he'd been dining outside with a friend when he saw Hilaria. </p><p>Hilaria later told The New York Times in 2012 that Alec was compelled to approach her that night.</p><p>She said, "I was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/fashion/weddings/hilaria-thomas-alec-baldwin-weddings.html">standing near the door</a> with my friends when he walked up and took my hand and said, 'I must know you.'" </p><p>He gave her his phone number and, although Hilaria said she was unsure at first, she eventually called him and they set up a date. </p><h2><strong>Spring 2011: The two started dating and, at first, took things pretty slow </strong></h2><p>According to the Daily Mail, Hilaria told BEACH magazine in 2013 that she and Alec <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2478048/Hilaria-Baldwin-opens-early-courtship-husband-Alec-takes-photo-shoot-baby-Carmen.html">didn't have their first kiss right away.</a></p><p>"He shook my hand for six weeks," she said. "We'd have the most romantic dinner date, and afterward he'd drop me off at my house and shake my hand." </p><p>She said that, at first, she wasn't sure whether he wanted to date her or just be her friend. </p><h2><strong>Summer 2011: Alec and Hilaria moved in together</strong></h2><p>Around five months after they met, the couple moved in together. </p><p>According to that same Daily Mail article from 2013, Hilaria told BEACH magazine, "I think <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2478048/Hilaria-Baldwin-opens-early-courtship-husband-Alec-takes-photo-shoot-baby-Carmen.html">we knew fairly soon</a> because we built a real relationship very early on."</p><p>"We got to know each other in a way I think most people forgo if they start dating first, then learn about each other after," she continued.</p><h2><strong>April 2012: They got engaged</strong></h2><p><strong></strong></p><div type="image" title="Hilaria and Alec Baldwin" height="1200" width="1600" msid="81321365" hostid="261"></div><p>Less than a year after moving in together, Alec proposed to Hilaria.</p><p>At the time, his rep confirmed to People, "Yes, it's true! <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/alec-baldwin-engaged-to-hilaria-thomas/">Alec proposed to Hilaria</a> this weekend and we're all excited for the newly engaged couple. Alec's birthday is tomorrow—great way to celebrate!" </p><h2><strong>June 30, 2012: The couple got married in New York </strong></h2><p>Alec and Hilaria wed at the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York at the end of June 2012. It was Alec's second marriage — the actor was previously to married actress Kim Basinger — and Hilaria's first. </p><p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/alec-baldwin-and-hilaria-thomas-wedding/21/">Celebrity attendees</a> included Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, Woody Allen, Mariska Hargitay, and Alec's brothers, Billy and Stephen Baldwin.  </p><h2><strong>August 23, 2013: Hilaria gave birth to their first child together</strong></h2><p>In February 2013, the then-newlyweds had announced that they were <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hilaria-baldwin-pregnant-alec-baldwin_n_2672334">expecting</a> their first child together. This would be Alec's second child  — he shares a daughter, Ireland Baldwin, with ex-wife Basinger.</p><p>On August 23, 2013, Hilaria <a href="https://twitter.com/hilariabaldwin/status/371057888015683584">tweeted</a> that he had just given birth to their daughter, Carmen Gabriela.</p><h2><strong>June 17, 2015: Their second child and first son was born</strong></h2><p>Nearly two years after welcoming their daughter into the world, Hilaria posted a photo on Instagram announcing the birth of her second child and first son. </p><p>She <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/4B2ErWg8S5/?utm_source=ig_embed">wrote</a>, "We are happy to announce the birth of Rafael Thomas Baldwin," alongside a photo of the baby's hand in her own. </p><h2><strong>September 12, 2016: The couple announced the birth of their third child</strong></h2><p>Hilaria shared a photo on Instagram of herself <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BKR0l0khA-5/?hl=en">holding her second son</a> in a hospital bed.</p><p>She captioned the photo, "We are so pleased to introduce you to our new baby, Leonardo Ángel Charles Baldwin. It was such a special day bringing him into this world." </p><p>Alec posted his own photo of himself smiling and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BKTPwnMhhqI/">holding the baby</a> with the caption, "Leoncito!!!!!"  </p><h2><strong>November 2016: Alec spoke about how the two have different parenting styles due to their 26-year age gap</strong></h2><p><strong></strong></p><div type="image" title="Hilaria and Alec Baldwin at the SNL anniversary event in 2014 AP" height="1503" width="2000" msid="81321367" hostid="261"></div><p>Alec spoke to Elle Decor about Hilaria's <a href="https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/celebrity-homes/a9235/alec-hilaria-baldwin-home/">influence on his parenting style</a> and how their 26-year age gap has impacted how they raise their kids.</p><p>Alec called Hilaria "very patient," and the two explained that they were raising their children to be bilingual because Hilaria spent much of her childhood in Spain.</p><p>Alec talked about their different views on parenting and said, "It's a generational thing. I'm a lot older, and when I grew up there was none of this bargaining and negotiating you do with kids now. Making them understand."</p><p>He continued, "My father was like, 'Oh, I'll make you understand!' My mother used to hit us with a curtain rod, you know, people used to hit their kids with kitchen utensils. But [Hilaria] is the best mommy, she respects them, she honors them."  </p><h2><strong>May 17, 2018: The two welcomed their fourth child together</strong></h2><p>On May 17, Hilaria gave birth to their fourth child, Romeo Alejandro David Baldwin.</p><p>She shared a photo of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi7oevoBneN/">Carmen holding</a> her new baby brother and wrote that, at the time, they were still trying to think of a name. </p><h2><strong>April 2019: On Instagram, Hilaria shared that she was having a miscarriage</strong></h2><p>About a year after giving birth to Romeo, Hilaria posted a photo on Instagram of herself in her underwear with her hand on her stomach. </p><p>In a long, heartfelt caption, Hilaria opened about how she believed she was in the midst of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv1fkpTlKhU/?utm_source=ig_embed">having a miscarriage</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/celebrities-who-had-miscarriages-2018-11">wanted to be open about her experience. </a></p><p>She went on to say that the baby's heartbeat wasn't strong and that the chances were "very, very small that this is a viable pregnancy." She ended the caption by saying, "I'm feeling a bit fragile and I need support."</p><p>A few days later, Hilaria <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BwDYMCdjAUs/?utm_source=ig_embed">confirmed</a> on Instagram that she had a miscarriage, writing, "There was no heartbeat today at my scan… so it's over."  </p><h2><strong>April 18, 2019: For the first time, Hilaria opened up about her relationship to her stepdaughter</strong></h2><p><a href="https://people.com/parents/hilaria-baldwin-talks-being-stepmom-ireland-alec-baldwin-exclusive/">After receiving criticism for not mentioning</a> Ireland when talking about her family, Hilaria shared a long Instagram caption under a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BwZxzdoF7pV/?utm_source=ig_embed">photo of her and her stepdaughter</a>. </p><p>She wrote that she loves Ireland as much as her biological children, and said having a grown stepdaughter can be a "delicate matter."</p><p>Hilaria also said she has "tremendous respect" for Ireland's mother. </p><h2><strong>November 2019: Hilaria shared that she had another miscarriage</strong></h2><p>Not long after announcing another pregnancy, Hilaria shared that she had experienced another miscarriage. </p><p>She posted a video on Instagram of herself and her daughter Carmen and wrote that they had learned the baby had "<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4vxXYin6v0/">passed away at 4 months</a>."</p><h2><strong>April 6, 2020: Hilaria announced that she was pregnant again </strong></h2><p>Months after her second miscarriage, Hilaria posted a video of her <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B-pt8e_noPE/">baby's heartbeat</a> as an announcement that she and Alec were expecting again. </p><p>She wrote that "all is healthy" with the child. </p><h2><strong>September 8, 2020: The couple announced the birth of their fifth child</strong></h2><p>Hilaria revealed their fifth baby, Eduardo Pau Lucas Baldwin, with a photo of her, Alec, and the newborn in a hospital room.</p><p>She <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CE6yi2DDaBI/?utm_source=ig_embed">wrote</a>, "We had a baby last night. He is perfect and we couldn't be happier. Stay tuned for a name." </p><p>A few hours later, Alec <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CE7B8kEDZaX/">posted the same photo</a> and wrote, "Numero cinco esta aqui… (Para mi numero seis)," which translates to "Number five is here… for me, number six), and added, "I love you @hilariabaldwin my karma is your karma. Your karma is mine." </p><h2><strong>December 2020: A Twitter thread accusing Hilaria of faking her Spanish accent and upbringing went viral</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Hilaria and Alec Baldwin at the 2018 Emmys AP " height="1227" width="1800" msid="81321368" hostid="261"></div><p>Toward the end of December, a<a href="https://twitter.com/lenibriscoe/status/1341095257233125379"> viral Twitter thread</a> claiming that Hilaria, who was born in Boston, has spent years <a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-spanish-controversy-public-life-timeline-2020-12">leading people to believe she was from Spain</a> began trending. </p><p>The thread examined Hilaria's past and appeared to show <a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-spanish-controversy-public-life-timeline-2020-12">some discrepancies</a> between what Hilaria had described and what actually happened.</p><p>For example, in 2013, Alec <a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-spanish-controversy-public-life-timeline-2020-12#april-2013-alec-appears-on-the-late-show-with-david-letterman-my-wife-is-from-spain-he-says-after-imitating-her-accent-8">said Hilaria was born in Spain</a> even though she grew up in Boston. </p><p>That same year, <a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-spanish-controversy-public-life-timeline-2020-12#june-2013-baldwin-retweets-a-latina-magazine-article-that-lists-her-as-one-of-the-15-best-dressed-latina-stars-of-the-week-11">Hilaria retweeted a Latina magazine</a> article calling her one of the "15 Best Dressed Latina Stars of the Week" without correcting the publication's classification of her as a "Latina star." </p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-spanish-controversy-public-life-timeline-2020-12">A full timeline of the controversies and discrepancies surrounding Hilaria's heritage can be viewed here. </a></p><p>Alec was quick to defend his wife on social media with an 8-minute Instagram video <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CJUBbhyjJpY/?utm_source=ig_embed">captioned</a>, "Consider the source…" He went on to call social media "the enemy," called the speculation "ridiculous," and urged people not to listen to the things others were saying. </p><p>The next day, Alec posted another photo on Instagram of a quote that <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJWNubmj-FR/?utm_source=ig_embed">stated</a>, "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." </p><p>In an interview with The New York Times later that month, Hilaria addressed the statements <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/30/style/hilaria-baldwin-interview.html">accusing her of being misleading about her heritage.</a></p><p>"The things I have shared about myself are very clear. I was born in Boston. I spent time in Boston and in Spain," she said. "My family now lives in Spain. I moved to New York when I was 19 years old and I have lived here ever since. For me, I feel like I have spent 10 years sharing that story over and over again. And now it seems like it's not enough."</p><h2><strong>January 6, 2021: Alec showed support for Hilaria by sending a sweet birthday message to her on Instagram</strong></h2><p>In the midst of the controversy surrounding Hilaria, Alec wrote a special message to her for her birthday alongside a photo of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CJtd7qHD-0v/?utm_source=ig_embed">them and their children</a>. </p><p>He wrote, "Happy birthday to the love of my life. To the only person in the world who brings me joy and peace every day. The person who is my home. My everything."</p><h2><strong>February 2021: After a brief social-media break, Hilaria reappeared on Instagram with an apology </strong></h2><p>Alongside a photo of her, Alec, and their kids, Hilaria <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CK7PjQtHtOy/?utm_source=ig_embed">apologized for misrepresenting her background and culture. </a></p><p>She wrote that she had spent the last month "listening, reflecting, and asking myself how I can learn and grow," and went on to explain that she was raised as American and Spanish and feels "a true sense of belonging to both." </p><p>She continued, "The way I've spoken about myself and my deep connection to two cultures could have been better explained---I should have been more clear and I'm sorry." </p><h2><strong>March 1, 2021: Alec and Hilaria surprised fans when they announced that they had welcomed their sixth child</strong></h2><p><strong></strong></p><div type="image" title="hilaria alec baldwin" height="2694" width="3592" msid="81321369" hostid="261"></div><p>The couple took many by surprise when they announced the birth of their sixth child just six months after the birth of their son, Eduardo.</p><p>Hilaria posted a photo of herself with a newborn and her other five children with "7" in the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CL4hIHUhfqA/">caption</a>.</p><p>The next day, she posted a photo of a newborn girl with the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CL66OGRBUV3/">caption</a>, "We are so in love with our daughter, Lucia. Just like your brothers and sisters, you are a dream come true."</p><h2><strong>March 2, 2021: Alec swore at an Instagram user who was talking about their sixth child and accusing him of 'clickbait' </strong></h2><p>Alec reshared Hilaria's photo and received an array of negative comments, with many wondering how Alec and Hilaria had another baby so soon after welcoming Eduardo in September.</p><p>"Who's the mother? She wasn't pregnant. She gave birth six months ago. If it was a surrogate just say that," one user wrote. "If the baby was adopted just say that. If you don't want to say anything---why don't you both stop constantly posting and begging for clickbait. Just raise your 100 children in private." </p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/alec-baldwin-slams-negative-comments-hilaria-baby-post-2021-3">Alec responded</a>, "You should shut the f--- up and mind your own business." </p><h2><strong>March 3, 2021: A few sources confirmed that Alec and Hilaria used a surrogate for their sixth child </strong></h2><p>Multiple sources, including <a href="https://people.com/parents/alec-baldwin-slams-criticism-of-new-baby-instagram-hilaria-baldwin-sixth-child-daughter/">People</a> and <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1244000/hilaria-and-alec-baldwin-welcomed-baby-no-6-with-the-help-of-a-surrogate">E! News</a>, confirmed that the Baldwins <a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-new-baby-surrogate-alec-baldwin-2021-3?amp&amp;jwsource=cl">used a surrogate to welcome their sixth child</a>.</p><p>Representatives for the couple did not respond to Insider's previous requests for comment. </p><h2><strong>October 2021: Hilaria publicly supported Alec after the 'Rust' shooting</strong></h2><p>On October 21, <a href="https://www.insider.com/alec-baldwin-shooting-rust-cinematographer-dead-timeline-2021-10">Alec fired a gun</a> while rehearsing a scene for the independent movie "Rust." The gun contained a live round, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.</p><p>On October 30, Hilaria posted an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CVq9zcls1hU/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a> of the pair holding hands captioned "I love you and I'm here," with a heart emoji. </p><p>Hutchins' family later <a href="https://www.insider.com/halyna-hutchins-family-files-lawsuit-against-alec-baldwin-rust-shooting-2022-2">filed a wrongful death lawsuit</a> against Alec and others over her fatal shooting.</p><h2><strong>March 2022: The couple confirmed they're expecting their seventh kid together </strong></h2><p>The couple exclusively confirmed to <a href="https://people.com/parents/hilaria-baldwin-pregnant-expecting-seventh-baby-with-husband-alec-baldwin/">People</a> that they are expecting their seventh kid.</p><p>"Our capacity to love continues to expand and we can't wait to embrace our new little one this fall!" they told <a href="https://people.com/parents/hilaria-baldwin-pregnant-expecting-seventh-baby-with-husband-alec-baldwin/">People</a>.</p><p><strong>Read More:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-spanish-controversy-public-life-timeline-2020-12">A complete timeline of Hilaria Baldwin's contradictory and misleading public life, and how it all blew up</a></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/alec-baldwin-hilaria-baldwin-spanish-accent-backlash-2020-12">Alec Baldwin defends his wife, Hilaria, from 'hate and venom' after people accused her of faking her Spanish accent and heritage</a></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/hilaria-baldwin-new-baby-surrogate-alec-baldwin-2021-3">Hilaria and Alec Baldwin reportedly used a surrogate to give birth to their 6th child</a></p>

Alec and Hilaria Baldwin are expecting their 7th child together. Here's a timeline of their relationship.

<p> </p><p>Hey Readers!</p><p>It's been a whirlwind week. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/uber-technologies-publicly-listed-company-initial-public-offering-2019-5-1028189839">From Uber's disappointing IPO</a>, to trade war tensions with China followed by hopes of a deal from a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stocks-rebound-on-us-china-trade-deal-hopes-after-trump-receives-beautiful-letter-2019-5-1028189347">"beautiful letter" received by Trump</a>, the market was definitely a roller-coaster. </p><p>Apart from all the markets madness, hedge fund reporter Bradley Saacks spent the past week in Las Vegas at Anthony Scaramucci's infamous SALT Conference. But while the schmoozy conference has been known in the past for its hedge fund headliners (and wild after parties), <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scaramuccis-salt-conference-expands-2019-5">investing titans like Steve Cohen and Bill Ackman were conspicuously absent this year from the event</a>. In their place were a number of former Trump administration officials, like former chief of staff John Kelly and former attorney general Jeff Sessions. </p><p><em><strong>If you're new to the Wall Street Insider newsletter, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/wall-st-insider&amp;hash=f4e91136c13f3c40c496d77bc7347502">you can sign up here</a>.</strong></em></p><p>The shift away from a focus on hedge funds comes<span> as the industry grapples with performance issues. 2018 was a rough year for the market and even as funds gained an average of 5.4% in the first quarter of 2018, </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investors-boost-hedge-funds-this-year-not-traditional-stock-picking-2019-4">nearly $15 billion left the industry in that period.</a></p><p>This means it's also getting harder for more rank and file hedge funders to attend SALT, Bradley reported, as travel budgets are getting tighter. ("It's easier to get approval for a conference in a convention center in Dallas over a Las Vegas casino," said one investor). </p><p>Vegas wasn't the ony place triggering bad hedge fund headlines. In Chicago at the Morningstar conference, AQR founder Cliff Asness <span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cliff-asness-defends-factor-investing-despite-performance-2019-5">said it's a "pretty crappy" environment for his firm's quantitative investing style</a> (though he's sticking by the strategy). </span> </p><p>As returns lag, hedge funds are getting creative as they <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-competing-with-startups-for-talent-2019-4">look for any edge they can get.</a> Stay tuned for more stories from us on this theme.</p><p>To all the moms out there, happy Mother's Day! Questions? Feedback? Please email me at ooran@businessinsider.com.</p><p>Have a good weekend!</p><p>Olivia </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table center"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Goldman Sachs' glitzy new London trading floor is the size of a soccer field - but traders worry they'll be 'caged in like battery hens'</strong></p><p>Goldman Sachs has told its staff to "get 'move ready' now" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-trading-floor-battery-hens-2019-5">for the transfer to the bank's new 1.1-million-square-foot London headquarters</a>, around the corner from St. Paul's Cathedral and within the ancient Roman walls enclosing the Square Mile.</p><p>The building, in Plumtree Court in Farringdon, cost an estimated £1 billion and will host about 6,500 employees. The plush trading floor is the site's centerpiece. It's the size of a stadium soccer field. The bank boasts that it's the biggest trading floor in the UK capital.</p><p>According to an April 29 "Plumtree Court Newsletter" to Goldman's London staff, seen by Business Insider, the bank called on workers to shred documents in need of shredding, take home umbrellas and other items, and clear workspaces before the big move starting in the summer.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-trading-floor-battery-hens-2019-5">READ MORE HERE&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><strong>Wall Street banks have seen electronic trading chip away at their control of the corporate bond market. Now they're fighting back.</strong></p><p>Investment banks that help big money managers trade corporate bonds <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-corporate-bond-dealers-pushing-to-electronically-trade-directly-2019-5">are looking to lead the next great change in the rapidly evolving fixed-income markets</a>.</p><p>The US corporate bond market, which stood at $9.2 trillion in 2018, <a href="https://www.sifma.org/resources/research/us-bond-market-issuance-and-outstanding/">according to data from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association</a>, has traditionally traded over the phone because of its size and complexity.</p><p>In recent years, however, an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenwich-associates-predicts-consolidation-in-us-bond-market-2019-1">increasing amount of volume has begun to trade electronically</a> thanks to the rise of electronic trading marketplaces like MarketAxess and Tradeweb. These types of venues handle roughly 26% of all US corporate bond trading, the vast majority of which involves smaller bonds that are easier to transact on and therefore considered more liquid.</p><p>Now, numerous leading investment banks are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-corporate-bond-dealers-pushing-to-electronically-trade-directly-2019-5">looking to trade corporate bonds electronically with their clients directly</a>, potentially cutting out these electronic trading marketplaces.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-corporate-bond-dealers-pushing-to-electronically-trade-directly-2019-5">READ MORE HERE &gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><strong>BlackRock is quietly building a team of 30 data scientists to create a next-generation stock-lending platform</strong></p><p>The world's largest asset manager <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrocks-tech-job-postings-reveal-data-science-projects-2019-5">is on a mission to automate and innovate through its growing artificial-intelligence team</a>.</p><p>BlackRock founded a Palo Alto, California-based group called AI Labs last year, directed by the Stanford professor Stephen Boyd. Now, according to job postings reviewed by Business Insider, the 30-member team is tackling projects including next-generation lending platforms and automating human tasks.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrocks-tech-job-postings-reveal-data-science-projects-2019-5">READ MORE HERE&gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><div data-sticky="subnav" data-ad-subnav=""><p><strong>Billionaire real-estate investor Sam Zell says now is 'the time to accumulate capital' for future real-estate buys as a glut approaches</strong></p><p>The billionaire real-estate investor Sam Zell is building up his pool of cash, planning to put it to use in a couple of years.</p><p>Compared with four or five years ago, prices for real estate have become "less speculative" but are still too high for Zell's taste, the founder of Equity International <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investor-sam-zell-speaks-at-salt-conference-on-real-estate-2019-5">told attendees of this week's SALT conference in Las Vegas</a>.</p><p>"I think there's going to be an opportunity" in the next few years, Zell said, to buy cheap apartment and office buildings because of oversupply.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investor-sam-zell-speaks-at-salt-conference-on-real-estate-2019-5">READ MORE HERE &gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><strong>CBD companies were courted hard by a unit of US Bank - but they got ghosted despite having a 100% legal business</strong></p><p>Elavon, a payment processor that's a subsidiary of US Bank, courted <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/cbd">CBD</a> clients through intermediaries and dropped them months later, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-bank-subsidiary-elavon-drops-cbd-clients-2019-5">numerous CBD startup founders told Business Insider</a>.</p><p>Elavon sent the founders a letter in the mail - a copy of which was obtained by Business Insider - citing federal uncertainty around CBD products.</p><p>The CBD founders were delighted to be working with a company with a reputation like Elavon's. When Elavon pulled out, it was a huge blow.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-bank-subsidiary-elavon-drops-cbd-clients-2019-5">READ MORE HERE &gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><strong>The tech head at the $1.7 trillion investment firm Pimco tells us how a new tool is turning every employee into a data scientist</strong></p><p>Pimco has plenty of data scientists - but now, the $1.7 trillion investment firm wants every employee to be one.</p><p>The firm's chief technology officer, Dirk Manelski, told Business Insider in a recent interview <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pimcos-cto-is-building-a-centralized-data-platform-2019-5">that the firm was building a data-science platform for all employees to use</a>. While the firm has been integrating data science for decades, the centralized platform represents an evolution from the earlier days, when employees would ask particular groups for reports or numbers.</p><p>Now, Manelski wants each of the firm's 2,500 employees to be a "citizen data scientist," meaning they'd be able to use basic tools that fit their particular needs, regardless of position or location.</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pimcos-cto-is-building-a-centralized-data-platform-2019-5">READ MORE HERE &gt;&gt;</a></strong></p><p><strong style="color: #222222;">In markets:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/money-management-advice-for-pro-athletes-from-top-rated-wealth-adviser-2019-5">A top-rated wealth manager for pro athletes reveals the mistakes newly minted millionaires often make - and explains how he helps them avoid those pitfalls</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-outlook-top-recommendations-right-now-goldman-sachs-2019-5">Goldman Sachs reveals the perfect stock-market strategy for surviving Trump's latest round of trade-war turbulence</a></li></ul><p><strong>In tech news:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/paypal-cfo-talks-about-ai-in-customer-service-2019-5">PayPal's CFO believes AI can save the company $25 million a year by automating one area of customer service</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snowflake-frank-slootman-bob-muglia-2019-5">A week after the sudden departure of Bob Muglia, new Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman replaces 2 key executives with veterans of his previous employer</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mount-sinai-strategy-booking-a-visit-talking-with-doctors-easier-2019-5">Hospitals are getting more competitive to win patients. Here's how one of New York City's largest health systems is building new tech to stay relevant.</a></li></ul><p><strong>Other good stories from around the newsroom:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubiome-silicon-valley-microbiome-startup-cut-corners-employees-say-2019-5">Silicon Valley startup uBiome raised $105 million on the promise of exploring a 'forgotten organ.' After an FBI raid, ex-employees say it cut corners in its quest for growth.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intercom-ceo-eoghan-mccabe-apologizes-after-harassment-charges-arise-2019-5">The CEO of a $1.3 billion startup backed by Mary Meeker, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jack Dorsey apologizes after sexual-harassment allegations emerge</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/churchs-chicken-ceo-joe-christina-turnaround-2019-5">Church's Chicken CEO reveals his turnaround game plan to win back customers and introduce the world to a new version of the iconic chain</a></li></ul></div>

Goldman Sachs' glitzy new trading floor; Billionaire real-estate investor Sam Zell says now is 'the time to accumulate capital'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Libby Kane / Business Insider" title_caption="Our hotel is behind the palm trees; the cathedral is directly across the harbor." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/550afe5cecad044c310069ee-960/hvar-croatia-5jpg-3.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Libby Kane / Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Our hotel is behind the palm trees; the cathedral is directly across the harbor.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>I'm a planner.</p><p>When my college roommate and I spent a week in Croatia in July 2013, we hit the ground with all transportation booked, rooms reserved, and Google Doc itinerary filled.</p><p>We planned to arrive in the coastal city of Split, spend a night on the nearby island of Hvar, and return to Split for the next night so we could leave at the crack of dawn the next morning on a bus to Dubrovnik.</p><p>We'd spend the rest of the time there, broken up by a day trip to Montenegro and a half-day trip to a nearby beach island (it ended up being Supetar).</p><p>However, when the ferry docked in Hvar on our second morning in Croatia, we quickly fell in love. Our hotel had run out of room and bumped us to a sister hotel that happened to be much nicer than the accommodations we'd paid for.</p><p>Everywhere we looked there was something beautiful - sea, sun, sailboats, yachts - and every minute spent lounging in the sun was addictive.</p><p>Bursting with excited energy, we climbed the hill from Hvar town to an old fortress where the sunlight turned gray stones nearly white against an obscenely blue sky. We wrote postcards from our balcony overlooking the harbor, and wandered through the town square beneath the enormous shadow of the Cathedral of St. Stephen.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Libby Kane / Business Insider" title_caption="Bonj les Bains, the beach club where we spent our second day." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/550af8f3ecad04f71a0069ee-960/bonj-les-bains-hvar.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Libby Kane / Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">Bonj les Bains, the beach club where we spent our second day.</p></div><p></p></div>That afternoon, draped lazily over lounge chairs on terraces by the sea, I made an extremely out-of-character suggestion: "What do you say we cancel tomorrow night's reservation and extend our stay here for another day?"</p><p>"Absolutely," my friend agreed, and we went back to lounging. Maybe we took a swim.</p><p>Changing those plans, however, wasn't cheap. That night, we asked the hotel if we could extend our stay and, luckily, they had the space - but it would cost the full rate, as opposed to the $116 we had paid the night before after being bumped. It was about twice the price of the first night.</p><p>We lost the $144 from our Airbnb reservation in Split. Plus, we decided to go for broke and pay $35 each for admission to the private beach club we had spied from our lounge chairs in the public area the day before.</p><p>And it was totally worth it.</p><p>Inappropriately early the next day, we planted ourselves at the beach club. We got banana smoothies for lunch and occupied ourselves alternately dipping our toes in the sea and sighing, "Isn't this nice?" It was more than worth the money, and at the time, I wished I could have stayed longer. Looking back, I still do. </p><p>If I'm really going to reflect on it, I could say that the best money I ever spent was my college education, or the money to live in New York City the year after college for an internship that got me my first job, or just about any trip I've ever taken; I could say it was the bag I carried all through college that still, five years later, I use for the gym, or the Jack Rogers shoes I buy every other summer and wear until they break, or the inflated grocery prices I pay at the corner supermarket to avoid going blocks out of my way after work.</p><p>But for some reason, when I think of the best money I ever spent, those sun-drenched afternoons on the Adriatic are the first thing to come to mind.</p><p><em>Read about the best money successful people ever spent in Business Insider's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/the-success-series"> Success Series</a>.</em></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Libby Kane / Business Insider" title_caption="The view from Hvar fortress over Hvar town. You can see our harborfront hotel (the long building in the very center)." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/550899c46da811ba7b816225-960/hvar-2-1.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Libby Kane / Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">The view from Hvar fortress over Hvar town. You can see our harborfront hotel (the long building in the very center).</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/going-clear-sundance-premiere-scientology-bombshells-2015-1">6 Crazy Things Revealed In HBO's Explosive New Scientology Documentary 'Going Clear'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o5dzJpczpndV8YG9M7cnoa3JXgQXBqja" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Impulsively extending my island vacation was the best money I ever spent

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source">REUTERS/Russell Cheyne</p><p class="caption">Rescue workers cover the wreckage of a police helicopter which crashed onto the roof of the Clutha Vaults pub in Glasgow, <keyword id="44181" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Scotland">Scotland</keyword> November 30, 2013.</p></div><p></p></div></div>GLASGOW, <a>Scotland</a> (Reuters) - Eight people were killed and 14 others seriously injured when a police helicopter crashed into the roof of a packed Glasgow pub, trapping many inside in choking dust and debris, <a>Scottish police</a> said on Saturday,</p>
<p>Witnesses said the helicopter dropped from the sky like a stone onto the busy <a>Clutha Pub</a> in <a>Scotland</a>'s biggest city on Friday night while more than 100 people were crammed inside, listening to a live music concert.</p>
<p>The helicopter crew - two police officers and the civilian pilot - were among the dead and the others were discovered inside the wreckage of the building, Chief Constable of <a class="cite">Police Scotland Stephen House</a> told reporters. He said 14 others remained in hospital with serious injuries.</p>
<p>The 12-metre (40 foot) helicopter - a twin-engine <a class="cite">Eurocopter</a> EC135 T2, made by a subsidiary of <a class="cite">EADS</a> - spiraled into the pub in the center of Glasgow, destroying part of the roof.</p>
<p>The mangled wreckage remained embedded in the middle of the building as the search continued through Saturday.</p>
<p>"We are still in ... a rescue and recovery situation," House said. "Until the helicopter is out of the way we won't know what ... is going on underneath."</p>
<p>Immediately after the crash, revelers caked in dust and blood rushed out into the street. Passers-by including the local member of parliament formed a human chain to bring out the injured from the building.</p>
<p>"It was fairly busy, we were all having a nice time and then there was like a 'whoosh' noise," <a class="cite">Grace MacLean</a>, who was in the pub at the time, told the BBC.</p>
<p>"There was no bang, no explosion, and then there was what seemed like smoke, and we were all joking that the band had made the roof come down, and then it started to come down more and someone started screaming, and the whole pub filled with dust and you couldn't see anything, you couldn't breathe."</p>
<h3>"BLACK DAY FOR <a class="cite">SCOTLAND</a>"</h3>
<p>Tearful relatives and friends of those caught up in the incident gathered during the day, some laying flowers at the scene, and Queen <a class="cite">Elizabeth</a> and Prime Minister <a class="cite">David Cameron</a> were among those to express their sympathy.</p>
<p>"This is a black day for Glasgow and for <a class="cite">Scotland</a>," said Scottish First Minister <a class="cite">Alex Salmond</a>, noting that Saturday was St Andrew's Day, <a class="cite">Scotland</a>'s national day.</p>
<p>Celebrations in Glasgow were canceled, flags were flown at half-mast on government buildings and a special service was held at <a class="cite">Glasgow's Roman Catholic cathedral</a>.</p>
<p>Police said it was too early to speculate on what caused the <a class="cite">Eurocopter</a>, popular with emergency services worldwide, to come down. Witnesses said it did not appear to have caught fire.</p>
<p>The Air Accident Investigation Branch began an inquiry and <a class="cite">Eurocopter</a> said its experts were on standby to help.</p>
<p>The <a class="cite">British Airline Pilots' Association</a> (BALPA) said safety issues had to be examined after a number of fatal helicopter crashes in recent years.</p>
<p>In August, four people were killed when a Super <a class="cite">Puma</a> L2, also made by <a class="cite">Eurocopter</a>, crashed into the sea off <a class="cite">Scotland</a>'s Shetland Islands with oil workers on board, the fifth accident in four years in the area involving different models of the aircraft. Investigators said there was no evidence of technical failure.</p>
<p>"Whilst there will be understandable questions on why this happened, it is our experience that speculation about causes is often wide of the mark," BALPA said in a statement.</p>
<p>"Nevertheless, trends in helicopter safety (are) a matter of concern after a number of recent incidents."</p>
<p>(Writing by Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey)</p>

Eight Dead, 14 Badly Injured After Police Helicopter Crashes Into Scottish Pub

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Mike Blake</span></p><p class="caption">The enrichment of uranium - a crucial part of the process of creating nuclear power - is only getting cheaper.</p></div><p></p></div></div>With <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Current-and-Future-Generation/Plans-For-New-Reactors-Worldwide/">60 reactors in some state of planning</a> around the world, <a href="http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/index.cfm">rising global-energy demand</a>, and <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/france-study-building-nuclear-reactors-saudi-arabia-145300133.html">a spike</a> in <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/reactor-dome-in-place-at-uae-nuclear-plant">nuclear-related</a> <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/24/us-jordan-nuclear-russia-idUSKBN0MK2QD20150324">projects</a> in the <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/russia-build-egypt-nuclear-power-plant-150210185343926.html">Arab states</a> in the wake of US-led diplomacy with Iran, the prospects for nuclear power seem pretty bright in the long-term.</p><p>And there's one more reason to think that nuclear energy will be increasingly attractive as an alternative to coal and oil: While nuclear reactors are still expensive to build, the cost of uranium enrichment, which is required to feed the majority of civilian reactors, is actually going down. The downward trend in the cost of enrichment is encouraging from an energy perspective - but has some ominous implications in the geopolitical realm, as the recently-signed Iran deal demonstrates.</p><p>As a chart Tuesday from Macquarie Research shows (at left below), the price of enrichment, as measured in Separative Working Units (SWU), has consistently declined even as the price of uranium fluctuates.</p><p>Uranium prices are highly variable, even though they have generally declined since 2010. This volatility isn't surprising, given the small pool of uranium buyers and sellers. There are relatively few utilities that operate commercial nuclear power plants, and only a select group of companies that mines and mills uranium. Utilities also tend to purchase material based on long-term contracts, meaning that a small number of high-volume individual transactions can have an outsidzed effect on price.</p><p>So can developments within an individual country: The <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/11/us-japan-nuclear-restarts-idUSKCN0QF0YW20150811">temporary shutdown</a> of Japan's nuclear power plants after the Fukushima incident, for example, not only removed the need to feed uranium into scores of Japanese reactors. Because Japanese utilities had purchased uranium on a multi-year contract basis, they also had excess supply that they could unload to foreign buyers, further depressing prices.</p><p>The cost of uranium is somewhat volatile and also generally decreasing - at least for now.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Macquarie Research</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>But the price of <em>enriching</em> uranium (the green line on the chart) has consistently gone down. And there's little reason to think that trend won't continue.</p><p>The Macquarie chart plots the price of U308 - a uranium compound in a state that allows the material to be enriched to reactor fuel grade - against the price per SWU, which refers to the input energy needed to enrich uranium. The chart shows that while the price of U308 might fluctuate, the process of separating uranium's fissile isotopes is getting cheaper as technology improves and high-end enrichment capacity increases. Price per SWU more than halved between 2010 and 2015.</p><p>That's helpful news for countries looking for an affordable and environmentally sound alternative to gas and oil. But it's a more mixed development when viewed in the context of one of the biggest nuclear breakthroughs in history: Last month's nuclear <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-congress-can-veto-iran-deal-2015-7" target="_blank">deal between six world powers and Iran</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The declining cost of SWU is one reason - among many - for the years of intense international skepticism towards Iran's nuclear program. For a purely civilian program, it's far cheaper to simply purchase enriched uranium in the form of reactor fuel assemblies than it is to do what Iran did: Develop a covert nuclear fuel cycle based on outdated enrichment centrifuge designs, thus incurring costly international sanctions.</p><p>In today's market environment, having the full fuel cycle makes little economic sense, which is why only about a dozen countries currently enrich uranium. (As Secretary of State John Kerry <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-iran-deal-2015-8" target="_blank">noted in an appearance earlier this month</a> at Reuters' New York offices, the US isn't one of them.) But it might make excellent strategic sense for a government that wants to retain the option of nuclear breakout.</p><p>Indeed, the Obama administration's few attempts to find a civilian justification for the post-deal scope of Iran's nuclear program have been far from reassuring.</p><p>In an congressional hearing earlier this month, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz was asked why a "carbon rich" country like Iran would build a nuclear reactor rather than a natural gas-based power plant if it were only concerned with civilian energy needs. <a href="https://archive.org/details/CSPAN_20150801_153000_Secretaries_Kerry_Moniz_and_Lew_Testimony_on_Iran_Nuclear_Agreement#start/7200/end/7260">Moniz answered</a> that one possible reason was to free up liquid natural gas (LNG) for export.</p><p>"With LNG prices, for example, in parts of the world there's quite a bit of rent to be captured," Moniz said, while cautioning that he's "not arguing one way or the other."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Carlos Barria</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leaves his hotel on the way to mass at the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria July 12, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>This reasoning is hardly airtight. Iran's single civilian nuclear reactor, at Bushehr, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/irans-nuclear-program-has-been-an-astronomical-waste-for-the-country-2015-6">took 40 years to build</a>. Even without taking the reactor's astronomical capital costs into account, Iran never had any civilian necessity for developing an enrichment capacity and could have "captured" additional LNG rents if its economy hadn't been under onerous enrichment-related sanctions.</p><p>The Iran deal validated uranium enrichment for a government with no civilian enrichment needs, <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2014/239410.htm">a history of supporting terrorism</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/irans-history-of-nuclear-deceit-explains-why-there-hasnt-been-a-deal-yet-2015-1">a record of nuclear-related deception</a>. And it did so at a moment when the advancement of uranium enrichment technology in other parts of the world make the development of an indigenous capacity more economically and strategically misguided than ever before.</p><p>But the Iran deal has just given any number of other countries an opening for pursuing an enrichment program. And as in Iran, those programs might have one major practical function: Giving those countries the option of nuclear weapons breakout.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sharks-spotted-coast-england-2015-7">People were baffled by 50 sharks circling in shallow waters off the English coast</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="R1c2tjdjrwFAGrHUqd0W71KfHPLzHONw" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

One chart shows why nuclear energy has such a pomising future - and why Iran's program is still so worrying

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>As President Barack Obama <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32180852">has often argued</a>, a nuclear agreement with Iran will not be based on "trust." Now that an agreement has been finalized, the US and its partners intend to hold Iran to what the believe to be a vigorous and even invasive verification regime. </p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But Iran is a sovereign state, and a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. As such, the country - even in spite of its years of misleading the <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> community on its nuclear program - is entitled to a certain degree of say over how the agreement unfolds. Whether the deal is successful or not depends on how Iran wields that control and how it decides on key issues that the agreement has made semi-voluntary.</span></p><p>Consider, for example, section 52 of the <a href="http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/docs/iran_agreement/annex_1_nuclear_related_commitments_en.pdf">first annex of the agreement</a>, which appears under a section headed "other aspects of enrichment:"</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>Note the "voluntary commitments" language. This means that Iran will submit its own long-term fuel cycle intentions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will then use those "voluntary commitments" as a guideline for formulating Iranian obligations under the Additional Protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (AP), a legally binding series of country-specific safeguards on nuclear development.</span></p><p>The AP is a huge part of what makes the Iran agreement enforceable under international law. Even if there's a "voluntary" aspect to what a country divulges or agrees to under the AP, those commitments become a lot more serious once the AP is legally ratified.</p><p>But the problem is that there's no clear timeline for Iranian ratification anywhere in the nuclear agreement.</p><p>"<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Iran will seek, consistent with the Constitutional roles of the President and </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Parliament, ratification of the </span><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em;">Additional Protocol," <a href="http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2015/150714_01_en.htm">the agreement states</a>. </span></p><p><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em;">According to the annex outlining the stages of the deal's implemention, "I</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">ran will officially inform the IAEA that, effective on Implementation Day, Iran will </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">provisionally apply the </span><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em;">Additional Protocol</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, pending its ratification by the Majlis."</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Mark Hibbs, a leading expert on nuclear proliferation and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Business Insider that the nuclear deal appears to be a very careful piece of diplomacy, and the text gives every indication that negotiators "were working conscientiously to get as good an outcome as they could." </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But an open-ended time scale for additional protocol ratification remains a glaring "question mark" and a "major challenge for the agreement," he said.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> "The real question," Hibbs told Business Insider, "is whether Iran having an AP which is not legally binding is sustainable for a considerable period of time."</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The November 2013 Joint Plan of Action called on Iran to ratify the AP "<a href="http://eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2013/131124_03_en.pdf">no more than one year</a>" after the signing of a final agreement. The final deal doesn't include such a requirement. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"It isn't clear to me so far how long that provisional status will be maintained," Hibbs said.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In considering "provisional" ratification acceptable for an indeterminate span of time and tabling the issue of actual ratification, the deal runs the risk of conflating provisional and binding adherence to international legal norms, arguably weakening any country's incentive for ratifying an AP (or any other treaty, for that matter). </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">And it recalls a troubling precedent that relates directly to Iran itself. Iran had an additional protocol on a voluntary basis starting in 2003. It then <a href="http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/timeline-irans-nuclear-activities">suspended implementation</a> of the AP in 2005, partially on the claim that it was not bound by an legal obligation to adhere to the protocol.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">This isn't the only part of the deal where Iran has a notable degree of control. In the section on "managed access" to sensitive military sites, Iran can refer access disputes to an eight-member joint committee, consisting of both Iran itself and representatives from agreement signatories, after a 14-day period. It </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-deal-the-most-important-paragraph-2015-7">is only obligated to comply with the committee's findings after as long as 25 days</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who helped negotiate the deal, hinted at some of the problems with this arrangement in a tweet Tuesday:</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Hibbs noted that the US and its allies "negotiated into the agreement a mechanism for adjudicating [access] difficulties as soon as possible." It's an inherently tricky issue, and the agreement may represent an improvement over the status quo: The IAEA has certain access disputes with Iran that are seven years old. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Twenty-five days may be a problematically long time, but it's far shorter than seven years. And Iran is still a sovereign state, with certain rights that the US and it partners had to respect as a condition for negotiating any kind of agreement.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">At the same time, the efficacy of "managed access" inevitably hinges on Iranian good faith: "Iran will have flexibility and leverage here," Hibbs said. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Iran has hardly proven itself to be a responsible nuclear actor: over the past decade and a half, the country has maintained multiple clandestine nuclear facilities, continued uranium enrichment in violation of several UN Security Council resolutions, developed an illicit ballistic-missile program, and constructed a heavy-water reactor whose only function was producing bomb-grade plutonium. </span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Thomas Moore, a former nonproliferation expert for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, told Business Insider that the deal cedes an unacceptable degree of flexibility to such a bad actor. </span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"We've</span><span style="color: #000000;"> converted things that ought to be binding into things that are voluntary," Moore said.</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">It's unknown whether that necessarily dooms the agreement. But the deal's viability depends on whether the Iranian regime can be trusted with some of the privileges the agreement recognizes - and whether a hoped-for new era in the international community's relationship with the regime can foster the changes in behavior needed to make the agreement work in the long run.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/science-falling-love-psychology-sex-realtionships-2015-5">5 scientifically proven ways to make someone fall in love with you</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="R1ODI3dTpoXtlD77UJxOS9v899xfusn0" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The nuclear deal leaves a lot up to Iran - and that could be a big problem

<p>A nuclear deal with Iran looks like a certainty, with one observer of the talks currently in Vienna telling Business Insider that there is a "99.9%" chance that the negotiations won't go past July 14th.</p><p>According to New York Times Tehran correspondent Thomas Erdbrink, Iranian state TV has <a href="https://twitter.com/ThomasErdbrink/status/620637034693001216">announced that the text of the deal has been completed</a> and only needs to be proofread before the agreement can be finalized. State media agency Fars News also reported that the final document is <a href="https://twitter.com/rezahakbari/status/620654977019707392">around 100 pages long</a>.</p><p>According to the Associated Press, the deal will be announced <a href="https://twitter.com/AP/status/620687756197535744">early on July 14th</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Resolution of the talks between the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany (the so-called P5+1) and Iran has apparently been delayed by a single issue: the lifting of a <a href="http://iranmatters.belfercenter.org/blog/explainer-arms-embargoes-against-iran">UN arms embargo</a> implemented over the course of 2007 and 2008.</p><p>Iran wants the embargo lifted, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-10/how-iran-arms-embargo-became-key-sticking-point-in-vienna-talks">as do P5+1 members China and Russia</a>. According to Politico, the discussion in Vienna is over <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/iran-nuclear-negotiations-talks-120022.html#ixzz3fnJ1AnKV">"how" to lift the embargo</a>.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Obama administration would face domestic opposition to facilitating arms flows to a <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2013/224826.htm">US-designated state sponsor of terrorism</a> by lifting an embargo that's arguably unrelated to the nuclear issue.</p><p>The P5+1 has arguably made deeper concessions than the lifting of the arms embargo, which adds to the irony of a prospective deal meant to stem the spread of nuclear weapons hinging on a matter relating to conventional arms.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/04/world/middleeast/nuclear-plant-in-iranian-desert-emerges-as-flash-point-in-talks.html">installation of 1,000 centrifuges at the illicit Fordow nuclear facility</a>, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/irans-ballistic-missile-program-is-the-most-important-part-of-the-countrys-nuclear-program-that-nobody-is-talking-about-2015-7">exemption of Iran's potentially nuclear-capable ballistic missile arsenal</a> from the nuclear talks, and a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-on-irans-nuclear-disclosure-2015-6">retreat from international insistance on full disclosure</a> of Iran's previous nuclear weaponization activities are all more significant negotiating achievements for Iran's clerical regime.</p><p>Other, more important concessions have already been agreed to. Iran could leave the arms embargo alone and still emerge with a fairly favorable agreement. </p><p>At the same time, the debate over the arms embargo isn't as much of an aberration as it might seem, and is in some ways a reflection of how the nuclear talks have often progressed.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The latest round of negotiations began on June 27th, with an initial June 30th deadline, meaning that US Secretary of State John Kerry and his team have now been in Vienna for over 2 weeks.</p><p>The incentive to wrap up an agreement is strong on the US side, especially in light of the time and political capital that president Barack Obama and his administration have poured into a potential deal. In contrast, the Iranians have <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-10/how-iran-arms-embargo-became-key-sticking-point-in-vienna-talks">the backing of P5+1 members China and Russia</a> in their effort to get the embargo lifted.</p><p>It looks like the negotiating dynamics are lining up in Iran's favor, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-knows-its-winning-nuclear-talks-2015-7">Tehran is naturally pressing its advantage</a>.</p><h2>Compromise over the arms embargo could echo other P5+1 workarounds</h2><p>On uranium enrichment, the P5+1 agreed to a phased lifting of limitations over the life of the deal, with most enrichment restrictions disappearing after 10 years. Iran also <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/04/240170.htm">gained the ability to enrich uranium at the heavily armored Fordow facility at year 15</a>.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">On sanctions, Iran will reportedly gain </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-key-to-obamas-iran-deal-might-not-actually-work-2015-6">the immediate repeal of UN sanctions authorizations</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> days after a deal is signed, but will have to wait a period of months until US measures are suspended.</span></p><p>And on inspections, Iran will initially agree to "provisional" rather than binding acceptance of the Non-Proliferation Treaty's additional protocol and will reportedly be able to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/05/24/world/middleeast/ap-ml-iran-nuclear.html">manage inspector access</a> to military sites.</p><p>All of these formulations are substantively concessions to Iran. Tehran will get expanded enrichment and full sanctions relief over the life of the deal, along with a certain amount of influence over the verification process.</p><p>These compromises are arguably necessary trade-offs for gaining Iranian approval of the aspects of a deal that have the most direct bearing on the country's ability to accumulate bomb fuel - Iranian concessions such as modifications to the Arak heavy water reactor in addition to restrictive centrifuge and uranium stockpile caps.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">And now a similar trade-off seems to be unfolding around the arms embargo. According to Politico, the P5+1 and Iran are now discussing how the embargo can be repealed, with the US "</span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/iran-nuclear-negotiations-talks-120022.html#ixzz3fnJ1AnKV">insisting on a slower phase-out</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">."</span></p><p>White House press secretary Josh Earnest <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/earnest-dodges-on-whether-u-s-would-lift-iran-arms-embargo/">would not directly address</a> whether the embargo was still up for discussion during a July 13th press conference, meaning the White House isn't denying that there's discussion of relieving the embargo as part of a deal.</p><p>The Obama administration may hope that the phased fulfillment of yet another Iranian negotiating objective can preserve a wider nuclear agreement designed to keep Iran a year away from building a nuclear weapon for more than a decade.</p><p>But despite reports that an agreement will be announced on July 14th, the negotiations have already dragged on longer than most observers anticipated.</p><p>And in a sensitive arms control negotiation between two long-time geopolitical foes, nothing is agreed to until everything is.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/new-air-force-one-tour-boeing-private-jet-2015-5">Take a tour of the $367 million jet that will soon be called Air Force One</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="4zNWQ2dTq0SJxfj9SagVkmMxd7YoUovg" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Here's the reported US concession that could clinch the Iran nuclear deal

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Carlos Barria/Pool via AP</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, center, meet with foreign ministers and representatives of Germany, France, China, Britain, Russia and the European Union during the current round of nuclear talks with Iran, being held in Vienna, Austria July 10, 2015. </p></div><p></p></div></div>As President Barack Obama <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32180852">has often argued</a>, a nuclear agreement with Iran will not be based on "trust." Now that an agreement has been finalized, the US and its partners intend to hold Iran to what the believe to be a vigorous and even invasive verification regime. </p><p>That's the key to an agreement: in the deal, the US and its partners have dictated the size of Iran's stockpile of fissile material along with its means of creating more. That won't mean much if they can't ensure that Iran is following these conditions.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But Iran is a sovereign state, and a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. As such, the country - even in spite of its years of misleading the <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> community on its nuclear program - has been given a say over how the agreement unfolds. Whether the deal is successful or not depends on how Iran wields that control and how it decides on key issues that the agreement has made semi-voluntary.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Some of those issues are fundamental to enforcing the deal. Iran's been given certain leverage over how the agreement unfolds, and it's a tension that will have to be overcome if the deal is going to be successful.</span></p><p>Consider, for example, section 52 of the <a href="http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/docs/iran_agreement/annex_1_nuclear_related_commitments_en.pdf">first annex of the agreement</a>, which appears under a section headed "other aspects of enrichment:"</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>European Union</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>Note the "voluntary commitments" language. This means that Iran will submit its own long-term fuel cycle intentions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which will then use those "voluntary commitments" as a guideline for formulating Iranian obligations under the Additional Protocol of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (AP), a legally binding series of country-specific safeguards on nuclear development.</span></p><p>The AP is a huge part of what makes the Iran agreement enforceable under international law. Even if there's a "voluntary" aspect to what a country divulges or agrees to under the AP, those commitments become a lot more serious once the AP is legally ratified.</p><p>But the problem is that there's no clear timeline for Iranian ratification anywhere in the nuclear agreement.</p><p>"<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Iran will seek, consistent with the Constitutional roles of the President and </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Parliament, ratification of the </span><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em;">Additional Protocol," <a href="http://eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2015/150714_01_en.htm">the agreement states</a>. </span></p><p><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em;">According to the annex outlining the stages of the deal's implementation, "I</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">ran will officially inform the IAEA that, effective on Implementation Day, Iran will </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">provisionally apply the </span><span class="s1" style="line-height: 1.5em;">Additional Protocol</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">, pending its ratification by the Majlis."</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Carlos Barria</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leaves his hotel on the way to mass at the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria July 12, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Mark Hibbs, a leading expert on nuclear proliferation and a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Business Insider that the nuclear deal appears to be a very careful piece of diplomacy, and the text gives every indication that negotiators "were working conscientiously to get as good an outcome as they could." </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But an open-ended time scale for additional protocol ratification remains a notable "question mark" and a "major challenge for the agreement," he said.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> "The real question," Hibbs told Business Insider, "is whether Iran having an AP which is not legally binding is sustainable for a considerable period of time."</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The November 2013 Joint Plan of Action called on Iran to ratify the AP "<a href="http://eeas.europa.eu/statements/docs/2013/131124_03_en.pdf">no more than one year</a>" after the signing of a final agreement. The final deal doesn't include such a requirement. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"It isn't clear to me so far how long that provisional status will be maintained," Hibbs said.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In considering "provisional" ratification acceptable for an indeterminate span of time and tabling the issue of actual ratification, the deal runs the risk of conflating provisional and binding adherence to international legal norms, arguably weakening any country's incentive for ratifying an AP - or any other legally binding treaty, for that matter. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Along with this questionable stance towards international legal norms, this part of the agreement recalls a troubling precedent that relates directly to Iran itself. Iran had an additional protocol on a voluntary basis starting in 2003. It then <a href="http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/timeline-irans-nuclear-activities">suspended implementation</a> of the AP in 2005, partially on the claim that it was not bound by an legal obligation to adhere to the protocol.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-nuclear-installations-2015">The Washington Institute for Near East Policy</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">This isn't the only part of the deal where Iran has a notable degree of control. In the section on "managed access" to sensitive military sites, Iran can refer access disputes to an eight-member joint committee, consisting of both Iran itself and representatives from agreement signatories, after a 14-day period. It </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-deal-the-most-important-paragraph-2015-7">is only obligated to comply with the committee's findings after as long as 25 days</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who helped negotiate the deal, hinted at some of the problems with this arrangement in a tweet the day the deal was signed:</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Hibbs noted that the US and its allies "negotiated into the agreement a mechanism for adjudicating [access] difficulties as soon as possible." It's an inherently tricky issue, and the agreement may represent an improvement over the status quo: The IAEA has certain access disputes with Iran that are seven years old. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Twenty-five days may be a problematically long time, but it's far shorter than seven years. And Iran is still a sovereign state, with certain rights that the US and it partners had to respect as a condition for negotiating any kind of agreement.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">At the same time, the efficacy of "managed access" inevitably hinges on Iranian good faith: "Iran will have flexibility and leverage here," Hibbs said. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Raheb Homavandi/Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Then there's a third area of deference to Iran: the country's disclosures on past military work. These are crucial to a deal working: Unless Iran reveals its past nuclear procurement networks, inspectors won't know what kind of existing networks to monitor. And if monitors don't know Iran's actual expertise in nuclear weaponization, an inspection baseline will be difficult or even impossible to reach.</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The deal resolves the disclosure issue on terms that even some enthusiastic supporters of the agreement are favorable to Iran, with the International Atomic Energy Agency "<a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/7/16/8974507/iran-deal-explained-expert">using Iranian language</a>" in framing how disclosure issues will be settled, as the Royal United Services Institute's Aaron Stein put it in an interview with Vox. The entire disclosure question will have to be taken care of by December 15th, 2015, which some experts believe to be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iran-deal-iaea-inspections-2015-7">an insufficient amount of time</a> for inspectors to get an understanding of the full extent of Iran's past work.</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">It's also possible and perhaps even likely that the Iranians will choose never to disclose certain things about their past activities. In a conference call with reporters, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace nonproliferation expert George Perkovich, who has a generally positive view of the deal, speculated that "</span></span>you're never going to have many of these questions fully resolved." As Perkovich put it, the IAEA will determine that it "can't make a final pronouncement on X, on Y, and on Z," and the agreement would have to move forward in spite of that.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Mehr News Agency/Majid Asgaripour</span></p><p class="caption">Iranian workers stand in front of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, about 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Tehran October 26, 2010.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Iran has hardly proven itself to be a responsible nuclear actor: over the past decade and a half, the country has maintained multiple clandestine nuclear facilities, continued uranium enrichment in violation of several UN Security Council resolutions, developed an illicit ballistic-missile program, and constructed a heavy-water reactor whose only function was producing bomb-grade plutonium.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Thomas Moore, a former nonproliferation expert for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, told Business Insider that the deal cedes an unacceptable degree of flexibility to such a bad actor. </span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"We've</span><span style="color: #000000;"> converted things that ought to be binding into things that are voluntary," Moore said.</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In the first week after the agreement's signing and months before the deal's implementation, it isn't knowable whether that necessarily dooms this historic accord.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> But the deal's viability depends on whether the Iranian regime can be trusted with some of the privileges the agreement recognizes - and whether a hoped-for new era in the international community's relationship with the Iranian regime can foster the changes in behavior needed to make the agreement work in the long run.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/science-falling-love-psychology-sex-realtionships-2015-5">5 scientifically proven ways to make someone fall in love with you</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="R1ODI3dTpoXtlD77UJxOS9v899xfusn0" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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