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US-based banking platform Novo on Friday announced plans to go on a hiring spree to strengthen its existing operations in India.<br /><br />The company will be recruiting 100 engineers by FY 2022 for senior key and support roles including <keyword id="11602752" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="software-backend-frontend">Software, Backend, Frontend</keyword>, Android and DevOps. The hirings would be primarily for the offices in Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, besides remote working roles, pan India.<br /><br />Novo had recently secured $40.7 million in a Series A round led by <keyword id="1673278" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Valar-Ventures">Valar Ventures</keyword> and other investors like Crosslink Capital, <keyword id="11602758" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="rainfall-ventures">Rainfall Ventures</keyword>, <keyword id="11602753" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="red-sea-ventures">Red Sea Ventures</keyword> and BoxGroup.<br /><br />It will be using these funds to ensure the successful execution and completion of its current hiring objective, and thereby expand its operations footprint in India, the company said.<br /><br />"India is the backbone of our technology developments. Being the only International Market for our support operations, we pride ourselves in building teams across various roles from the exceptionally talented pool of resources available in India. The recently raised funding would be utilised towards strengthening our vision to provide enhanced consumer experiences, seamlessly," said Tyler McIntyr, Founder and CTO, Novo, in a statement.<br /><br />"After successfully securing Series A funding from our investment partners, we are well equipped to take our next expansion step, that is, to hire a talented workforce and achieve new milestones in India," added Ajar Upadhyay, Director of Operations - India, Novo.<br /><br />Currently, the independent company that enables small businesses to open accounts in minutes without a minimum balance requirement, has a strength of over 70 employees for India operations.<br /><br />With the hiring spree, it looks forward to tripling this figure to over 200 by FY 2022. The idea is to generate jobs by building advanced technology, bolstering operations and eventually transform the overall banking ecosystem in India.<br /><br />The company will continue to focus on solving the top problems small businesses face: cash flow, through faster payments and access to lending products banks traditionally do not offer to small businesses, McIntyr said.<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO -<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/google-calendars-new-rsvp-option-will-let-you-specify-how-you-want-to-attend-a-meeting/articleshow/84237490.cms">Google Calendar’s new RSVP option will let you specify how you want to attend a meeting</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/tcs-hires-over-20000-in-june-quarter-its-highest-ever-quarterly-addition/articleshow/84240423.cms">TCS has loaded up half a million peeps as it expects many to move on</a></strong><br />

US banking platform Novo to hire 100 engineers by next year in India

<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>

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Rosneft suspended an oil project in the Yuzhno-Chernomorsky area of the Black Sea due to western sanctions.</strong></li><li><strong>Rosneft had partnered with Exxon-Mobil and Eni a few years ago to work on joint-exploration projects in the Black Sea and other areas.</strong></li><li><strong>While US sanctions block Exxon from working with Rosneft, the EU <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-21/exxon-won-t-get-drilling-waiver-for-russia-treasury-chief-says">version</a> of the sanctions includes a grandfather clause for existing projects, which has allowed Eni to continue working with Rosneft.</strong></li></ul><p> </p><p>Western sanctions have forced Russian oil behemoth Rosneft to suspend an oil project in the Black Sea.</p><p><span>Russia's Federal Subsurface Management Agency (Rosnedra) </span>suspended Rosneft's license for the exploration and production of oil and gas in the Yuzhno-Chernomorksy area of the Black Sea for five years because of western sanctions, a source told <a href="http://www.rbc.ru/newspaper/2017/10/30/59f330c19a79474dc2d6c295">RBC</a>.</p><p>Russian state media <a href="http://tass.com/economy/973033">TASS</a> later reported the suspension, as well. A representative from Rosneft said that the suspension was prompted by the "adverse macroeconomic situation and sanctions," as well as by a lack of drilling equipment. The company will "keep an eye on changes in the macroeconomic parameters," TASS said.</p><p>But the Russian oil giant plans to continue drilling in the Zapadno-Chernomorsky area of the Black Sea and will soon begin drilling an appraisal well with Italian oil multinational Eni SpA, according to the Rosneft representative.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Energy exports are the backbone and muscle of the Russian economy, and Moscow has long been keen to develop some of its nonporous fields, which are difficult to tap with traditional drilling techniques. But Russia doesn't have the technological capability to work in those regions alone. So, Rosneft teamed up with <span>Exxon-Mobil Corp.</span> and Eni for joint exploration projects in several regions, including the Black Sea and the Arctic.</p><p>Some of those exploration plans hit a brick a brick wall several years later, however, after western sanctions were imposed on Russia in response to its actions in Ukraine.</p><p>While Exxon has had to pull out of its partnership with Rosneft, the EU <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-21/exxon-won-t-get-drilling-waiver-for-russia-treasury-chief-says">version</a> of the sanctions on Russia is slightly different from the US's in that there's a grandfather clause for existing projects. This has allowed Italian oil company Eni to continue its venture in the Russian sector of the Black Sea.</p><p>A source told the Wall Street Journal back in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/exxon-seeks-u-s-waiver-to-work-in-russia-despite-sanctions-1492620677">April 2017</a> that "Exxon is worried it could get boxed out of the Black Sea by the Italians." Meanwhile, Eni and Rosneft signed an extension cooperation agreement in the areas of upstream, refining, marketing, and trading in May 2017.</p><h2>US-Russia relations and their effect on oil</h2><p>Rosneft and Exxon <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/business/energy-environment/exxon-and-russian-oil-company-agree-to-joint-projects.html">signed</a> a landmark deal in 2012 under then-Exxon CEO and current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's leadership to explore Russia's arctic and its portion of the Black Sea, as well as drill in Siberia. Rosneft signed another deal with Eni two weeks <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/26/business/global/russian-italian-pact-opens-arctic-ocean-to-drilling.html">later</a>.</p><p>The Obama administration issued an executive order that imposed sanctions on Russia in response to the country's actions in Ukraine in 2014. Part of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-elected-president-and-energy-oil-geopolitics-iran-russia-2016-11">sanctions leveled on Russia include</a> the prohibition of technology transfers in Russian energy projects in the Arctic, Siberia, and the Black Sea. Sanctions also prohibit dealings with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia</span></p><p class="caption">The red area is where Rosneft said it found oil.</p></div><p></p></div></div>One key casualty of that round of sanctions was the Kara Sea inside the Arctic Circle.</p><p>In <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-oil-kara-sea-sanctions-2014-9">September 2014</a>, Rosneft discovered oil there with Exxon but, due to the sanctions, they could not continue the landmark joint exploration. This proved to be problematic for both parties since Rosneft does not have the technological ability to drill in cold offshore conditions by itself, while Russia was Exxon's second-biggest exploration area at the time.</p><p>US President Donald Trump advocated improving relations with Russia over the course of his campaign. However, the prospects of improving relations between the two countries began to fade over the course of 2017 following a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-ruble-falls-after-us-strike-syria-2017-4">US strike on Syria</a> and the launching of an investigation into whether there were ties between Trump aides and Russia by Congress.</p><p>And after it emerged in <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/exxon-seeks-u-s-waiver-to-work-in-russia-despite-sanctions-1492620677">April 2017</a> that Exxon applied to the Treasury Department in 2015 for a waiver of sanctions restrictions, the Treasury swiftly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/treasury-wont-issue-exxon-mobil-waiver-to-work-in-russia-2017-4">released</a> a statement saying it won't issue waivers to US companies, including Exxon, to work in Russia.</p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Oil WTI price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/oil-price?type=WTI"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-new-headquarters-announcement-very-smart-move-2017-10">Why Amazon's new headquarters sweepstakes makes it the 'smartest company in the world'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

Russian oil behemoth Rosneft suspends an oil project in the Black Sea because of western sanctions

<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source">Kin Cheung / AP</p><p class="caption">Actress Zhao Wei appears at a pro-government rally in Hong Kong.</p></div></div></div><br /></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">THE buildings on the studio lot of <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> <keyword id="681" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="film">Film</keyword> Group, a vast government-owned company, are grey, windowless and identical. The air, even 20km outside Beijing, is heavy with pollution. Inside, Jiang Wen is filming his newest movie, "Gone with the Bullets", about a dance competition in 1920s Shanghai. He is standing on a stage with sequined dancers. Around 400 extras in black tie look on from a Gaudiesque theatre, built for the shoot. Mr Jiang, in a grey T-shirt and 3D glasses, scurries up and down the stage giving directions. Mr Jiang has been known to hold up a white board with "Sexy" written in red marker pen, and show the dancers how it should be done. Cameras swivel around the dancers, capturing their gyrations and the audience's reaction.</span></p>
<p>Mr Jiang, an actor as well as a director, is one of the stars of China's film business. His 2010 movie, "Let the Bullets Fly", attempted to invent a new genre: the Chinese Western. It was about a bandit who poses as the mayor of a remote Chinese town. The government did not appreciate its portrayal of an illegitimate leader gulling the masses, but the film was wildly popular. If everything goes smoothly "Gone with the Bullets", which is being shot in 3D, will open in theatres in China and around the world by the end of 2014. In terms of cost, the film is pushing the boundaries. It has a budget of around $50m, a princely sum by Chinese movie-making standards. A Broadway choreographer and American dancers have been brought in. On stage right near the dressing rooms, Keith Collea, an American 3D expert, sits in the dark watching his screens. "China is where it's at," he says.</p>
<p>Last year China overtook Japan to become the second-largest film market after America, with box-office receipts of around 17 billion yuan ($2.8 billion). Some people think it will be the world's biggest in five years' time. Young people, flush with cash, are eager to get out of the house. Films have become central to Chinese courtship and consumption. Enormous IMAX screens and 3D films are the rage, and in big cities carry a similar ticket price to America. Screens are flickering on around the country. More than ten a day were erected in 2012; today there are around 18,000, more than four times the number five years ago. "Journey to the West", an adventure film released in 2013, has grossed more than 1.2 billion yuan ($205m).</p>
<p>Most Chinese movies lose money: only around a quarter make it into theatres, and piracy means there is no legitimate DVD market. But then many films in Hollywood and elsewhere are unprofitable these days: according to a report by the British Film Institute earlier this month, only 7% of British films turn a profit. Chinese people like films and they like to gamble, so money is racing into the movie business. In September, for instance, Wang Jianlin, China's richest man, announced he would build the world's largest film-studio complex, for an estimated $8.2 billion, in Qingdao.</p>
<p>Hollywood is also trying to push in. Only 34 big-budget films, and a handful of independent foreign ones, are allowed into China each year, and foreign producers are allowed to keep only a small share--usually less than 25%--of box-office revenues. Even so, foreigners are desperate to get their product into China. Sometimes films are specially adapted for the market: four extra minutes of footage, featuring Chinese actors, were added to the Chinese version of "Iron Man 3", made by Disney's Marvel.</p>
<p>To gain a foothold in China, Hollywood studios are helping finance films or co-producing them. Mr Jiang's "Gone with the Bullets" has backing from Sony, a Hollywood studio; DreamWorks, which made cartoon hits like "Shrek", has set up Oriental Dreamworks, a joint venture with Shanghai Media Group, a state-owned studio, and two other firms, to make animated films for the Chinese market. There are risks to working in China as Relativity Media, a Hollywood studio, discovered in 2011. It got flak from the Western press for shooting a movie in Linyi, an ambitious city in Shandong province, when Chen Guangcheng, a well-known human-rights activist, was being held under house arrest in the city. But the lure of the Chinese market tends to outweigh reputational risk, and Relativity is financing a new film located in the city of Linyi (see box).</p>
<p>American influence in China's film business is nothing new. "Everything we learned, we learned from Hollywood," says Yu Dong, the boss of Bona Film Group, one of China's largest independent studios. In some ways China's movie industry resembles 1930s Hollywood, when studios controlled all business lines--from talent to production to theatres--before a 1948 Supreme Court ruling forced them to divest. In China, this is called "being a dragon from head to tail". Huayi Brothers, one of China's largest studios, whose name evokes the fraternal Warners, oversees actors, production, distribution and cinemas.</p>
<p>Yet the differences are more obvious than the similarities. China's film industry lacks Hollywood's technical sophistication. Even costly Chinese movies often look amateurish. "I fell asleep," confesses a woman when the lights come on at a Beijing cineplex. She had left work a few minutes early to catch a late afternoon screening of "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" in 3D. During some scenes the special effects looked like a 1990s video game. The plot and dialogue were not much slicker.</p>
<p>China's movie business also lacks Tinseltown's glamour. Mr Yu's small office is on the 18th floor of a dingy Beijing tower block above a busy road. Smoke from his cigarettes fills the air; honks rise from the street below. There is no Hollywood-style party scene because stars tend to keep out of polluted Beijing. They treat club openings as work events and expect to get paid to turn up.</p>
<p>But the big difference is in the location of power. In America power lies with the studios; in China with the state. The government controls which films are made and has a hand in every aspect of the film business, from production to exhibition. China Film Group produces movies and distributes Hollywood and Chinese films. The government rewards independent producers for making films it approves of--Desen International Media, a production company, received a bonus of 3m yuan for "Full Circle", which promoted filial piety, for instance--and blocks Hollywood films during national holidays, to help Chinese ones.</p>
<p>Hollywood has always been the world's dream-maker, but China's government wants the country to make its own. A communiqué released after the Central Committee meeting of the Chinese Communist Party in 2011 announced that "it is a pressing task to increase the state's cultural soft power" and to "build our country into a socialist cultural superpower". When Shanghai Media Group signed its deal with DreamWorks last year, Xi Jinping, then vice-president and now president, attended the ceremony in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>The government has twin ambitions in fostering the film industry, one domestic and one global. At home, it wants people to see films that will inculcate Chinese values and culture. And it wants them to go voluntarily: the party used to force people to watch propaganda films, but even it saw that this was like winning an ice-skating medal after beating up the competition with a bat. Abroad, the government wants to spread a more attractive image of the country. Hosting the Olympics was one attempt at this; but film premieres can happen more often. Yet China punches well below its weight in the film world: it has won the Palme d'Or at Cannes only once, 20 years ago, for Chen Kaige's "Farewell My Concubine"--which was banned in China at the time. The government wants to change that, and has recently helped organise events to showcase Chinese films in places as diverse as Fiji, Cambodia and New York.</p>
<p>As with the Olympics, the government does not feel comfortable leaving creative elements to chance. Except during the 1930s, when China had a thriving independent film industry centred in Shanghai and operating with relatively little interference, the political climate has defined and confined its films. Private studios were dissolved after the Japanese occupied Shanghai in 1937. When the Communist Party came to power in 1949, it recognised that movies could be useful. Government studios made films packed with peasants and propaganda, and wheeled mobile projectors to rural areas to ensure they reached millions. Tickets were given out at work, and everybody had to attend. Independent movies started again in the 1970s, and then sputtered along. Now a few independent studios operate within the constraints of a state-controlled system.</p>
<h3>If it's entertaining, cut it</h3>
<p>"The Chinese producer is the best producer in the world," claims Mr Yu. "He has to negotiate the Chinese government and the market." China does not have a sex-and-violence ratings system of the sort that operates in most of the rest of the world to protect children and young people, but films cannot be screened until they have been signed off by censors at the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Film-makers must submit a draft of the script in advance of shooting, and later a final cut of the film. The censorship board, which has around three dozen members, objects to violence, sex, drugs and anything critical of the party, either explicitly or implicitly--in other words, every ingredient that might be used to fill seats. Success comes from predicting what censors will object to, and writing scripts in such a way that they do not. Overt political commentary is unacceptable; that is probably why so many films are set in the past.</p>
<p>Censors often ask for multiple script revisions before giving the go-ahead, and, after seeing the final cut, request that scenes be eliminated. Film-makers' reactions to these restrictions range from acceptance to outrage. Zhao Wei, a famous actress and the director of "So Young", a drama about college in the 1990s that came out this year, had to axe a masturbation scene. She considers herself lucky: movies can be held up for years. In April the China Film Directors' Guild honoured Feng Xiaogang, a director. In his acceptance speech he complained about the "torment" of censorship. Even when films have been given a green light, censors sometimes change their minds. Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" was pulled from theatres after a few days.</p>
<p>While producers in Hollywood try to drum up as much interest as possible in their films, those in China keep them quiet, so as not to pique censors' interest or suspicion. Your correspondent visited the set of a movie that had gone through around 20 versions of the script before it was approved. The censors signed off on it only after a sympathetic communist hero was written in. A crew member confided that the censors were still going through the script, even though shooting had begun, and were trying to get the final, climactic scene eliminated. When some of the producers heard a journalist had been on set, they were horrified, lest the movie's name be printed.</p>
<p>Some say that the censors are loosening up a bit. A racy scene was cut from "So Young", for example, but several abortions were left in. "No Man's Land", a sinister thriller, was held up for more than two years because censors thought it was "too dark" and "too distant from real life". But after what are believed to be significant modifications, it was released in early December. "Hunger Games: Catching Fire"--this autumn's Hollywood blockbuster, in which a totalitarian regime sacrifices its young for the entertainment of the masses--was, to general astonishment, screened in Chinese cinemas. Popular online video sites, such as Youku, host original movies, called "microfilms", which are not subject to the same censorship process, but this is probably an oversight rather than progress.</p>
<p>The government uses subsidy as well as censorship to get the kind of films it wants made. It forks out increasing sums for propaganda films, which account for an estimated 10% of movies being made each year. "The Founding of a Republic", a 2009 film celebrating the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, was a glossy Hollywood-style epic featuring so many stars that some had to be cut out of the final version.</p>
<p>Yet for all its efforts, the government is not really getting what it wants from its film industry. Far from inculcating the masses with Chinese culture and values the party approves of, successful films are often adaptations of Hollywood hits. "Lost in Thailand", a comedy about male friends reminiscent of Hollywood's "The Hangover", did well last year, as did "Tiny Times", a film about four materialistic friends in Shanghai and their luxurious lifestyle, which has been described as a cross between "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Sex and the City" (without the sex). A saccharine tribute to materialism, "Tiny Times" did particularly well in smaller, less-developed "tier 3" and "tier 4" cities, whose citizens aspire to be rich and fashionable but want to watch characters that feel home-grown. Ann An of Desen International Media, one of the producers, says the film appealed to stressed, overworked audiences. "We provided a two-hour dream for them." A film-maker says the head of the censorship board has privately described the Chinese films being made today as "trashy".</p>
<p>Nor do Chinese movies travel well. "Lost in Thailand" grossed around $192m in China, but a mere $60,000 in America. Even audiences in Taiwan and Hong Kong do not have much interest in mainland films. The plots tend to be blunt and the acting melodramatic. "Flowers of War", a costly movie about the Nanjing Massacre starring a Hollywood actor, Christian Bale, was intended to go global. But it fell flat outside China and failed to win the awards or critical acclaim officials had been hoping for.</p>
<p>Too many films are both too foreign and too familiar for audiences abroad: "Finding Mr. Right", for instance, is a romantic comedy about a woman who goes to Seattle at the behest of her married lover to give birth to their baby, and finds love there. The story feels relevant and modern to Chinese audiences, but to foreign ones it has no surprises and too many echoes of "Sleepless in Seattle", a Hollywood classic.</p>
<p>A lighter touch by the censors might produce films that were more authentically Chinese and artistically interesting. It would also avoid embarrassing incidents. The Chinese film that has garnered most attention in the West lately is "A Touch of Sin" by Jia Zhangke--a gloomy art-house portrayal of modern China that won the award for best screenplay at Cannes this year. The government has banned it from cinemas and journalists from interviewing Mr Jia. More Westerners have probably seen reports of this in recent months than have watched a Chinese film.</p>
<p>The head of the censorship board has privately described the films being made today as "trashy"</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Click <a href="http://www.store.eiu.com">here</a> to subscribe to <keyword id="425741" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="The-Economist">The Economist</keyword></p>
<p></p>

The Red Carpet: Inside China's Film Industry

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Saudi Arabia's wealth fund has pumped billions into global entertainment, sports, and infrastructure.</li><li>Now the Kingdom plans to cut its foreign investment to prioritize domestic spending.</li></ul><p>Saudi Arabia is pulling back on its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-public-investment-fund-global-investment-spree-2024-8">global spending spree</a> to focus on domestic investments.</p><p>Yasir Al Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), said on Tuesday the kingdom planned to reduce the proportion of foreign investments made by the sovereign wealth fund from 30% to about 18% of its portfolio.</p><p>"We're more focused on the domestic economy and we've been achieving and doing so many big things," Al Rumayyan told delegates at the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/finance-ceos-supporting-trump-blackstone-steve-schwarzman-citadel-ken-griffin-2024-10">Future Investment Initiative</a> in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia's annual business conference has been dubbed "Davos in the desert" in a nod to the World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland each January.</p><p>The absolute dollar amount for overseas deals was still increasing, the PIF chief said.</p><div type="image" title="Governor of Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia Yasir Al-Rumayyan on a panel at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 29, 2024." height="3822" width="5366" msid="114781319" hostid="261" sizebytes="297336"></div><p>In recent years, the PIF has pumped billions into high-profile assets, including global sports teams, entertainment, airport infrastructure, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-public-investment-fund-global-investment-spree-2024-8">Uber</a>. The fund's assets are worth about $925 billion.</p><p>The spending is part of Saudi Arabia's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vision-2030-saudi-arabia-plan-future-proof-oil-economy-2023-8">Vision 2030</a> plan to reduce its economy's dependence on oil and transform the country into a significant global economic player.</p><p>Investors have flocked to the FII conference in previous years to take advantage of the multi-billion dollar deals struck at the event. The total at last year's conference reached almost $18 billion, the Saudi Press Agency reported.</p><p>The kingdom has already been slowing its cash flows and telling foreign fund managers to invest more in Saudi Arabia if they want to secure deals.</p><p>The PIF's traded stocks in the US fell from about $35 billion at the end of 2023 to $20.6 billion at June 30, The Financial Times reported.</p><p>Al Rumayyan said that investors were already changing their approach. "People used to come to us and ask for money. We are now seeing a shift from people wanting to take our money to people wanting to co-invest."</p><p>The PIF governor also spoke about Saudi Arabia's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-ai-groq-a16z-vision-2030-mbs-2024-9">ambitions to become a top destination</a> for AI companies and investors, saying that the technology's economic impact made it a driver of national power.</p><p>"We either have discussions or initial discussions to invest in AI and the reason why we are investing in AI is Saudi Arabia is very well positioned to be a global hub, not only a regional hub," Al Rumayyan said.</p><p>The technology could add nearly $20 trillion to the global economy by 2030, he added.</p><p>In September, Saudi Arabia held the third Global AI Summit, attracting a host of high-profile leaders and dealmakers. The PIF is also in talks to partner with prestigious venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz on an AI fund, with a potential value of $40 billion, Bloomberg reported.</p><p>The new focus on domestic investment comes as Saudi Arabia's spending on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-vision-2030-projects-trillion-value-neom-2024-9">Neom</a>, its futuristic megacity in the desert, hit $1 trillion.</p><p>Neom's scope appears to have been scaled back as the financial realities of the ambitious project hit home. Experts say Saudi has struggled to attract the foreign investment needed to fund the project's lofty goals.</p><p>A <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neom-sindalah-saudi-arabia-crown-prince-the-line-beach-party-2024-10">select group of guests</a> were recently invited to visit <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-neom-sindalah-island-dubai-resort-tourism-2024-4">Sindalah</a>, a luxury island resort in the Red Sea that is one of the first parts of Neom to become reality.</p>

Saudi Arabia is pulling back on a global spending spree to focus on its own projects

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I went on an eight-day Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic cruise.</li><li>The $7,000 cruise included snorkeling with sea lions, hiking, and close encounters with gray whales.</li></ul><p>In February, I went on a Lindblad Expeditions National Geographic cruise that was unlike any other trip I'd ever been on before. </p><p>I snorkeled next to sea lions, swam with exotic fish, and came so close to a gray whale that I could've reached out and touched it. </p><p>Although $7,000 per person for an eight-day, seven-night journey isn't cheap, my trip came with a lot of perks — and I didn't spend any additional money on board. </p><p>Here's why this <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/giraffe-manor-review-nairobi-kenya-worth-it-2024-2">bucket-list experience</a> was worth every penny.</p><h2 id="bf726523-31f3-49e4-93ee-bdb817ce1f6b">Getting to the boat was easy, and the staterooms were comfortable </h2><div type="image" title="Lindblad Expedition- National Geographic cruise stateroom. Showing two twin beds with white linens, blue pillows, and orange life vests." height="4032" width="3024" msid="113037443" hostid="261" sizebytes="541742"></div><p>My son and I flew nonstop from Los Angeles to Loreto, Mexico, where Lindblad's team greeted us. Comfy coaches whisked us to our temporary floating home, the National Geographic Venture.</p><p>The luxurious ship had outdoor decks, an indoor lounge with seating for all passengers, and numerous practical amenities, such as a fitness center.</p><p>The Venture has 50 cabins for 100 guests. We shared a stateroom with Scandinavian-style furniture, including two single beds, a foldout couch, and a desk. </p><p>Our room's large windows allowed us to watch the scenery float by.</p><h2 id="ba4f1a60-5a6a-42d0-836d-3d191990ac1c">Experts aboard the ship ensured we made the most of our adventure</h2><div type="image" title="A group of people whale watching from the deck of a ship." height="2343" width="4032" msid="113037449" hostid="261" sizebytes="780552"></div><p>As soon as we unpacked, passengers and crew got acquainted at an introductory meeting. </p><p>Our captain mapped out the route: We'd start in Loreto on the Sea of Cortez and loop around the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-traveling-to-cabo-san-lucas-mexico">Baja Peninsula</a> to the Pacific Ocean. We would disembark in San Carlos, where a coach would escort us back to the Loreto airport.</p><p>The ship's team of naturalists, educators, and photography instructors introduced themselves and shared their enthusiasm from the start.</p><h2 id="852886f8-bc12-4aea-bd62-d63f6b36ccf8">There was never a dull moment on this trip</h2><div type="image" title="A woman sits on the side of a zodiac boat with two other passengers in Baja." height="1450" width="1933" msid="113037444" hostid="261" sizebytes="218174"></div><p>One standout part of the Venture was its fleet of Zodiacs. These sturdy, inflatable boats hold a dozen passengers and would allow us to access places larger vessels can't, ferrying us to remote locations for up-close observations and interactions with marine life.</p><p>Accompanied by a naturalist, we'd board the Zodiacs early in the morning and go on adventures every day. </p><p>We got to experience the striking landscape of red volcanic ash and fossilized sand dunes on remote Puerto Gato. There, we chose which activity to partake in: I snorkeled and kayaked while my son balanced on a paddleboard. </p><p>Together, we also hiked the dry riverbed with a naturalist who pointed out exotic desert vegetation.</p><div type="image" title="Sea lions are shown basking in the sun on rocks in Baja Mexico." height="3024" width="4032" msid="113037441" hostid="261" sizebytes="2888568"></div><p>While in Los Islotes, we encountered dozens of playful sea lions as they sunbathed on rocks and frolicked in the sea.</p><p>At Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, we snorkeled around coral reefs filled with colorful fish.</p><div type="image" title="Two people snorkel in the rocky waters off of Baja." height="3024" width="4032" msid="113037446" hostid="261" sizebytes="883386"></div><p>I've snorkeled in many parts of the world, but being in Cabo Pulmo made it clear to me why oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once referred to Baja as "the world's aquarium."</p><p>Of course, we saw many whales during the trip. After all, our itinerary was called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.expeditions.com/expeditions/baja-california-among-the-great-whales">Baja California: Among the Great Whales</a>.</p><div type="image" title="A small boat holding tourists looking at a gray whale in the water." height="1294" width="1294" msid="113037440" hostid="261" sizebytes="248166"></div><p>February is Baja's prime <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-locations-whale-watching-us-2017-3">whale-watching season</a>, so the calendar was in our favor. </p><p>In Puerto Lopez Mateos, we boarded small boats and observed gray whales, which travel from their Arctic feeding grounds to breed and raise their calves in these sheltered waters. I got so close to these majestic mammals that I nearly touched one.</p><p>Cultural experiences were also woven into the trip. </p><p>We spent an afternoon watching a folkloric dance performance, visited an organic cattle farm, and sampled authentic local cuisine at several Baja restaurants.</p><h2 id="2cc70fe0-d954-4006-955f-4efff49c1beb">There was also plenty to do on the ship</h2><p>We spent a lot of each day off of the ship, but we had fun on it.</p><p>While on board, life revolved around <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whale-watching-expedition-cruise-teens-less-screen-time-present-2024-2">spotting humpback whales</a> on deck, attending lectures with the naturalists, trying hands-on photography clinics, and partaking in a daily sunrise exercise class.</p><p>The onboard lounge was a guest magnet. Bartenders mixed cocktails, and the lounge steward made sure there was always plenty of hot coffee available — even for an early bird like me who craves caffeine at 6 a.m.</p><p>The scenery around us was stunning, and the ship offered great views every time of day.</p><h2 id="61a277d5-96d7-4716-b630-6021819d47cc">Food was abundant and satisfying</h2><div type="image" title="A plate with greens, fish, eggs and tomato is shown." height="2774" width="3389" msid="113037447" hostid="261" sizebytes="513970"></div><p>The onboard meals were delicious. Breakfast was a buffet with made-to-order eggs. Lunch and dinner were multi-course, plated meals with five or six different main dishes featuring locally caught fish. </p><p>The daily cocktail hour and a morning snack for early risers kept us well-fed.</p><h2 id="d6edf07b-40eb-430a-8d1d-e077ff42da2a">Above all, the all-inclusive pricing ensured there weren't any surprise expenses</h2><div type="image" title="A man and woman lounge on the deck of a ship. Blue sky, mountains, and ocean water can be seen in the background." height="2365" width="3420" msid="113037450" hostid="261" sizebytes="678552"></div><p>I really appreciated Lindblad's all-inclusive pricing. Once I paid the $7,000 per person, I never opened my wallet again.</p><p>The cost of the trip included all activities, equipment (like wetsuits and loaner cameras), food, beverages, and airport transfers. I also got access to satellite internet, which allowed me to check my email and send text messages. </p><p>Service was attentive right up to the very end of the trip when the staff prepared boxed lunches for us to eat as we waited for our flights home.</p><p>It was an unforgettable experience that I'd book again in a heartbeat.</p>

I spent $7,000 on an 8-day luxury cruise with just 100 passengers on board. I can't recommend it enough. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US Navy fighter aircraft were recently spotted carrying an air-launched variant of the SM-6 missile.</li><li>The ship-fired SM-6 only recently saw combat for the first time during the counter-Houthi conflict.</li></ul><p>US Navy fighter aircraft have been spotted in the Pacific carrying an air-launched version of a powerful ship-fired interceptor missile that only recently debuted in combat.</p><p>American warships fighting in the Middle East have fired the Standard Missile 6, or SM-6, to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-warships-used-weapon-combat-first-destroy-iranian-missiles-2024-4">intercept munitions</a> launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, using it in a surface-to-air role.</p><p>But it appears to be getting a new role as a long-range air-to-air missile, a potentially significant development that could fill a crucial capability gap if the US <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/huge-air-battles-show-us-needs-most-missile-war-china-2024-5">went to war with China</a>. A US Navy spokesperson <a target="_blank" href="https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2024/07/u-s-navy-confirms-sm-6-air-launched-configuration-is-operationally-deployed/">told</a> Naval News that "the SM-6 Air Launched Configuration (ALC) was developed as part of the SM-6 family of missiles and is operationally deployed in the Navy today."</p><p>Multiple F/A-18E Super Hornets have been spotted in recent days carrying the SM-6 variant aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Q85xUiq24&amp;t=44s">USS Carl Vinson</a> and on the tarmac at Hawaii's <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/John_A_Ridge/status/1808370955602780337">Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam</a> during the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, which boasts the world's largest international maritime warfare drills.</p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rtx.com/raytheon/what-we-do/sea/sm-6-missile">ship-launched SM-6</a>, also known as the RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile and part of the Navy's advanced Aegis Combat system, is a three-in-one extended-range weapon capable of anti-air and anti-surface warfare and is able to engage ballistic missiles during the terminal phase of their flight.</p><div type="image" title="An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches off the flight deck aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on Sept. 17, 2021." height="3280" width="4928" msid="111522368" hostid="261" sizebytes="488740"></div><p>"It uses a blast-fragmentation warhead to engage these threats in the endo-atmosphere," the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank's Missile Defense Project <a target="_blank" href="https://missilethreat.csis.org/defsys/sm-6/">says of the missile</a>. "The US Navy has also upgraded the SM-6 to perform strike missions."</p><p>CSIS also notes that "its tri-mission capability also presents opportunities for the Navy to arrange more efficient weapon loadouts onboard its guided missile ships."</p><p>The SM-6, which can strike targets as far as 230 miles away, had not seen confirmed combat until the Houthis began attacking commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden last fall. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-warships-used-weapon-combat-first-destroy-iranian-missiles-2024-4">acknowledged in April</a> that the sea service had used the SM-6 to engage enemy threats. He also confirmed the first use of the SM-3 in combat.</p><p>The missiles observed on Navy aircraft at RIMPAC can be seen sporting AIM-174B designations, indicating that they are an air-to-air variant. Observers have noted, though, that it has been <a target="_blank" href="https://theaviationist.com/2024/07/03/first-images-super-hornet-carrying-two-sm-6-missiles/">modified for tests</a>. This configuration has been <a target="_blank" href="https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/missile-defense-weapons/weekly-debrief-air-launched-sm-6-missile-exposed-new-test">spotted in previous years</a>, although the Navy has yet to acknowledge the development.</p> <p>Justin Bronk, an airpower and technology expert at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, said the recent public appearance of the SM-6 suggests the missile's development is nearing completion or has even reached initial operational capability.</p><p>It is "likely a deliberate signal of emerging capability to both allies and to Chinese military observers," he told Business Insider.</p><p>China has taken serious steps to upgrade and modernize its air force and navy, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-aggressively-recruits-western-pilots-to-train-military-aviators-intel-2024-6">raising alarm bells</a> on the other side of the Pacific as US military leaders and Biden administration officials observe Beijing's growing power with concern.</p><p>Extended air-to-air range missiles in a new role could help the Navy plug gaps in countering long-range missiles that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-china-missile-problem-getting-worse-2024-5">China is fielding</a>, especially should Washington and Beijing clash some day. A war between the two would primarily unfold across a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/america-not-ready-china-war-military-economy-2023-5">maritime domain</a>, where long-range strike and defensive capabilities would be crucial.</p><div type="image" title="Sailors prepare to taxi an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of USS Carl Vinson." height="4417" width="7855" msid="111522371" hostid="261" sizebytes="893326"></div><p>"The primary benefit offered by an air-launched SM-6 capability for Super Hornet is a dramatic increase in the range at which air targets can be engaged by the carrier air wing," Bronk said.</p><p>Such a capability would be particularly useful to the American Navy against China's "increasingly large and capable" air force and naval aviation elements, he said. China has invested in developing various long-range stand-off weapons for its aircraft.</p><p>The air-launched SM-6 capability could provide Navy carrier air wings with the ability to engage Chinese bombers and intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance aircraft at significantly longer ranges than the standard AIM-120D air-to-air missile, Bronk said.</p><p>Not only could it compete in that space, but an air-launched SM-6 missile would also be a practical asset for the US to deal with Beijing's warships and militarized artificial islands, both of which can threaten US and allied aircraft with missiles.</p><p>This missile, in this new air-launched configuration, can "extend protective coverage further from the carrier group without having to venture into heavily contested airspace," Bronk said.</p>

US Navy Super Hornets armed with SM-6s, a warship missile newly tested in combat, have been spotted in the Pacific

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Saudi Arabia is seeking a $2.7 billion loan from local lenders for its Neom project, per Bloomberg.</li><li>The planned city is a central part of the kingdom's plans to diversify its economy. </li></ul><p>Saudi Arabia's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neom-what-we-know-saudi-arabia-500bn-mega-city-2019-9">mega-city project</a> is reportedly seeking to raise a 10 billion riyal, or $2.7 billion, loan to help fuel the development of the kingdom's futuristic city in the desert.</p><p>Neom, the company behind the venture, is turning to local lenders as it seeks to finance the early stages of the project, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-17/saudi-arabia-s-neom-seeks-2-7-billion-to-build-futuristic-city" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg reported</a>. A loan could be agreed within months, it said. </p><p>The Neom development is expected to include two huge buildings as part of a project known as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-75-mile-skyscrapers-mountains-desert-mirror-line-neom-2022-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Line</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-75-mile-skyscrapers-mountains-desert-mirror-line-neom-2022-7">.</a>  It aims to be a "civilizational revolution that puts humans first," <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-saudi-arabias-plan-to-build-a-skyscraper-that-stretches-for-75-miles-11658581201?mod=e2tw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal first reported</a>, citing a video in which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed the project.</p><p><a href="https://www.neom.com/en-us/regions/theline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to the Neom website</a>, The Line will be just over 100 miles long and 200 meters wide, and will have no roads and cars. It will sit 500 meters above sea level on the border of the Red Sea with mirror-like walls encasing it. </p><p>Saudia Arabia hopes the city will be zero-carbon and accommodate 9 million people. Facilities are planned to be located within a five-minute walk from where people live to ensure "people's health and wellbeing" are prioritized, <a href="https://www.neom.com/en-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to details from Neom's site. </a></p><p>The Line forms just one part of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mohammed-bin-salman-saudi-prince-net-worth-yacht-private-jet-lifestyle-2019-5">Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's grand vision</a> to diversify the oil-rich state's economy as the world seeks to shift away from fossil fuel consumption in an effort to meet net-zero emission commitments. </p><p>Plans for the Neom development were unveiled in 2017 but progress has been slow. The Crown Prince <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-05/saudi-crown-prince-discusses-trump-aramco-arrests-transcript#xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Bloomberg in 2018</a> that the city would be completed in 2025. </p><p>Other parts of the vision include building a tourist destination on Saudi Arabia's West coast, as well as embarking on a global investment spree to increase <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pga-liv-golf-hearing-saudi-arabia-disparagement-1-billion-congress-2023-7">the kingdom's stakes in everything from sports</a> to tech companies. </p><p>Representatives for Neom did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.</p>

Saudi Arabia is exploring plans to raise $2.7 billion for its futuristic mega-city in an effort to complete most of the construction by 2030

<ul class="summary-list"><li>"House of the Dragon" season 2 premieres Sunday on HBO.</li><li>The show's first season was dense, fast-paced, and full of time skips. </li></ul><p><em>Warning: spoilers ahead — obviously — for all of "House of the Dragon" season one.</em></p><p>"House of the Dragon" season two is finally almost here — but it's been a few years since season one aired on HBO.</p><p>If you're anything like us, you probably need a bit of a refresher on everything that happened in the show's complex, time-hopping first season. Season one served as a kind of prequel to the true action of "House of the Dragon": the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.</p><p>We've got a comprehensive summary of everything particularly important that happened in season one of "House of the Dragon," from King Viserys becoming the heir to the throne over his cousin Rhaenys to Aemond Targaryen and his dragon Vhagar killing Rhaenyra's son Lucerys and his dragon Arrax.</p><p>Here's everything you need to know before diving into "House of the Dragon" season two.</p><h2 id="14751dd4-6b10-4fb1-b36e-444085355fc2"><strong>Aegon the Conqueror has a prophetic vision that's been passed down the Targaryen royal line.</strong></h2><p>Viserys tells his daughter Rhaenyra about a prophecy passed down the Targaryen line: "A Song of Ice and Fire," which should be a familiar name.</p><p>In Aegon's prophecy, a threat will descend on Westeros from the North — a long and dangerous winter. According to his vision, that threat can only be defeated by a realm united with a Targaryen on the Iron Throne.</p><h2 id="32500ec7-93d6-4097-96b4-aeb0043a2b8c"><strong>The Grand Council names Viserys Targaryen the heir to the Iron Throne after King Jaehaerys, over Rhaenys Targaryen.</strong></h2><div type="image" title="paddy considine as viserys targaryen in house of the dragon. he's a middle aged man with silver blonde hair, grey stubble, and wearing a crown" height="1280" width="1707" msid="111040544" hostid="261" sizebytes="134098"></div><p>Near the end of the first century of Targaryen rule, a Grand Council convened to determine the path of succession following King Jaehaerys. Both of Jaehaerys' sons were dead, and the council decided that Viserys Targaryen would be his heir rather than Rhaenys Targaryen, his eldest descendant, a daughter.</p><p>Viserys assumed the throne after Jaehaerys, while Rhaenys came to be called the "Queen Who Never Was."</p><h2 id="14aa53c2-2779-4783-a512-6fe1ff171ddc"><strong>Viserys names his daughter Rhaenyra his heir over his brother Daemon before he has two sons with his second wife, Alicent Hightower.</strong></h2><p>The relationship between Viserys and his brother, Daemon, is strained following the death of Viserys' newborn son, Baelon. Daemon calls him "Prince for a day," which is the final straw in the two's strained relationship, following the City Watch's excessive use of violence under Daemon's orders.</p><p>As a result, Viserys names Rhaenyra as his sole heir, which Daemon takes very badly. But everyone else pledges to Rhaenyra as the future ruler.</p><p>Following his wife Aemma's traumatic death during childbirth, Viserys is pressured to marry Laena Velaryon, but instead, he chooses Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), who also happens to be Rhaenyra's closest friend. This is the inciting moment that starts to divide the girls.</p><p>Over the years, Alicent gives birth to three Targaryen children: Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena.</p><h2 id="10eaa5f0-4046-45ed-b8fb-fb9873296b5f"><strong>Daemon Targaryen and Corlys Velaryon defeat the Triarchy in the Stepstones.</strong></h2><div type="image" title="matt smith as daemon targaryen, standing in an open doorway with a sword and wearing a makeshift crown. his hair is cropped short" height="1280" width="1707" msid="111040548" hostid="261" sizebytes="130482"></div><p>The Triarchy is an alliance between the cities of Lys, Myr, and Tyrosh that takes over the Stepstones to control the shipping lanes. Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) and Daemon work together to battle the Triarchy, but they struggle to wipe them out with Daemon's dragon, Caraxes, because they keep retreating into the caves.</p><p>Daemon surrenders himself to get the army's leader, Craghas Drahar — AKA the Crabfeeder (Daniel Scott-Smith) — out into the open. With a little help from Laenor Velaryon (John MacMillan) and his dragon, Seasmoke, Daemon wipes out a wave of Triarchy soldiers before butchering the Crabfeeder in a cave.</p><p>He emerges victorious by dragging out the Crabfeeder's bisected torso.</p><h2 id="6fc6d9ab-d1b0-4829-bfdb-e81dba01bbba"><strong>Rhaenyra marries Laenor Velaryon, Corlys Velaryon's son — but has a sexual encounter with Ser Criston Cole.</strong></h2><p>Under pressure from Viserys to marry, Rhaenyra entertains several potential suitors as a young woman, but none of them are to her fancy. She arrives at King's Landing at the same time as Daemon, who returns from the war in the Stepstones. She and Daemon venture into the city together in plain clothes, and they're spotted kissing at a pleasure house — unfortunately, word makes its way back to Otto Hightower.</p><p>When Rhaenyra returns to her room, she has sex with Ser Criston. Alicent confronts Rhaenyra after hearing the rumor that she had sex with Daemon, which Rhaenyra vehemently denies. After hearing the report from Otto, Viserys sends Daemon back to his wife in The Vale and tells Rhaenyra that she's to wed Laenor Velaryon, Lord Corlys' and Rhaenys' son. However, he also strips Otto of his position as the Hand of the King.</p><p>Rhaenyra and Laenor establish an understanding — their marriage will afford both of them the freedom to make their own sexual pursuits. But all's not well at their wedding: Alicent learns from Ser Criston that Rhaenyra was not a maiden when she was wed and arrives at the wedding dinner in green — for a Hightower, the color of war.</p><p>Laenor and Rhaenyra are wed, but not before Ser Criston brutally kills Laenor's paramour, Joffrey, at the celebration.</p><h2 id="5939311c-03fd-4014-ba60-65d622af78f4"><strong>Rhaenyra and Laenor have three sons together — but they're actually Ser Harwin Strong's bastards.</strong></h2><div type="image" title="A woman and man (Princess Rhaenyra and Ser Laenor) in a grand room." height="1280" width="1707" msid="111040551" hostid="261" sizebytes="82808"></div><p>Years later, Rhaenyra has given birth to three sons: Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey, all under her marriage with Laenor.</p><p>However, it's an open secret that none of those children <em>look</em> like Laenor — in fact, they rather resemble Ser Harwin Strong.</p><p>Rhaenyra's sons each bond to a dragon: Jacaerys to Vermax, Lucerys to Arrax, and Joffrey to Tyraxes.</p><h2 id="d33c77e8-fdc0-4966-ad96-0e0e8e29e255"><strong>Viserys expels Otto Hightower as his Hand, appointing Lyonel Strong — but later takes Otto back.</strong></h2><p>Otto Hightower, Alicent's father, became the Hand of the King under King Jaehaerys, Viserys' predecessor. He retains the position under Viserys until the King expels him in season one, episode four, wary of his self-serving political maneuvering.</p><p>Viserys appoints Lyonel Strong as the new Hand. Lyonel attempts to resign in episode six, saying that his son Harwin Strong has brought disgrace. Viserys doesn't let him do so but does grant him leave to escort Harwin to Harrenhal, the seat of House Strong. Unfortunately for both, Larys Strong has edged his way into Alicent Hightower's inner circle, and he orchestrates a fire to kill both Lyonel and Harwin.</p><p>After Lyonel's death, Otto reassumes the position of Hand, though Alicent cautions her son Aegon II to dismiss some of his council as he assumes the throne.</p><h2 id="880ec977-2cae-4afa-a69c-25e019da67df"><strong>Daemon kills his first wife and marries Laena Velaryon, who dies after giving birth to two daughters.</strong></h2><div type="image" title="matt smith as daemon targaryen, kneeling in front of his pregnant wife, laena targaryen, played by nanna blondell. daemon has his hands over laena's belly, and she's looking down at him" height="1280" width="1707" msid="111040542" hostid="261" sizebytes="71490"></div><p>Daemon murders his first wife, Lady Rhea of The Vale, with whom he never consummated their marriage. After Rhaenyra's wedding, he marries Laena Velaryon, Lord Corlys and Rhaenys' daughter. They have two daughters: Baela, who is bonded to the dragon Moondancer, and Rhaena, who is unbonded.</p><p>Laena goes into labor while giving birth to their third child while the family resides in Pentos, but the birth goes wrong. Laena chooses to face Vhagar, her dragon, and commands her to kill her by fire. With seemingly great reluctance, Vhagar does.</p><h2 id="69696271-476e-4dd3-99c2-0bad16dad99f"><strong>Alicent and Viserys' second son Aemond claims Vhagar, Laena Velaryon's dragon.</strong></h2><p>After Laena's death, the Targaryen and Velaryon families attend her memorial at Driftmark. While there, Aemond, Alicent, and Viserys' second son bonds with Vhagar, Laena's dragon.</p><p>Baela, Rhaena, Jacaerys, and Lucerys confront Aemond for having stolen Vhagar, when one of Laena's daughters should have been the one to bond with her. The conflict ends with Aemond hurling insults about Rhaenyra's sons' parentage and Lucerys cutting Aemond across the eye.</p><p>The adults judge the conflict, and Alicent demands one of Lucerys' eyes in return for Aemond's. That doesn't happen, but Alicent does wound Rhaenyra with a knife.</p><h2 id="d4ed3fcb-0051-4d2b-a947-166936102a5d"><strong>Many of the Targaryen and Velaryon children are betrothed to one another.</strong></h2><p>As the children grow older, there are a few betrothals at hand. Rhaenyra proposes that Jacaerys, her eldest son, and Helaena, Alicent and Viserys' daughter, be wed to help bring peace to their families. Alicent decides instead to betroth Helaena to Aegon II, her brother. They are eventually wed and have children together.</p><p>Jacaerys and Lucerys, meanwhile, are betrothed to Daemon and Laena's daughters, Baela and Rhaena, respectively. Aemond is a free agent, though Aegon appears to offer him as a marriage prospect for one of the Baratheon daughters to secure House Baratheon's support in the war.</p><h2 id="33bc10e4-db71-4981-a6f3-4e386113c7a8"><strong>Daemon and Rhaenyra help fake Laenor's death and marry.</strong></h2><div type="image" title="matt smith and emma d'arcy as daemon and rhaenyra targaryen, dressed in beige and red wedding garb and pressing their foreheads together. rhaneyra has a heacpiece on her head" height="1280" width="1707" msid="111040547" hostid="261" sizebytes="68288"></div><p>Shortly after Laena Velaryon's funeral, Rhaenyra and Daemon conspire to fake Laenor Velaryon's death with the help of Ser Qarl, his paramour. Laenor's parents, Corlys and Rhaenys, discover a burned corpse in a Driftmark fireplace — and, crucially, suspect that Rhaenyra is somehow responsible. Qarl and Laenor presumably leave together to live somewhere across the Narrow Sea, never to be heard from again.</p><p>That opens the door for Rhaenyra and Daemon to marry at the end of episode seven. Rhaenyra eventually gives birth to two of Daemon's sons: Aegon III and Viserys II. In the season one finale, she prematurely gives birth to a stillborn child — her only daughter, Visenya.</p><h2 id="0dc4a796-d1a2-41cc-85e7-93b1ce6c3e44"><strong>Lord Corlys' ailing health causes a conflict over the Velaryon succession</strong>.</h2><p>Lord Corlys was grievously wounded at sea six years after Laenor's death, making the matter of Velaryon succession an imminent concern. Vaemond, Corlys' brother, does not want Rhaenyra's son Lucerys — who Corlys previously recognized as his heir — to take the Driftmark throne because he believes that Lucerys is a bastard (not wrong!).</p><p>The matter makes its way to King's Landing, where Vaemond and Rhaenyra make their cases in front of an ailing Viserys. Rhaenyra asks Rhaenys to back her in exchange for betrothing her sons Jacaerys and Lucerys to Rhaenys' granddaughters, Baela and Rhaena.</p><p>Ultimately, Vaemond accuses Rhaenyra's sons of being bastards before the King, and Daemon chops off half his head. Lucerys is established as the heir to Driftmark.</p><h2 id="e2be1d07-1ea8-4aea-8913-338230f3b9ee"><strong>Viserys' illness finally takes him, and Alicent installs her son Aegon II on the throne</strong>.</h2><div type="image" title="tom glynn-carney as aegon targaryen, standing in front of a crowd at his coronation and holding up a sword. behind him are his mother, wife, and ser criston cole, as well as a three headed golden dragon banner" height="1280" width="1707" msid="111040545" hostid="261" sizebytes="55008"></div><p>In episode eight, it's very clear that Viserys doesn't have long left after suffering from a degenerative disease. He has open wounds across his face, he's missing his right eye, his left arm, and several fingers.</p><p>During his final moments, he mistakes Alicent for Rhaenyra and starts talking about Aegon Targaryen's prophecy that has been handed down over hundreds of years through the line of succession to Viserys.</p><p>However, Alicent thinks he's referring to her son, Prince Aegon, and mistakenly believes that Viserys is telling her that Ageon is now the heir to the throne.</p><p>In episode nine, it's confirmed that the Small Council had actually been planning for Aegon to take the throne all along. But unlike Simba in "The Lion King," Aegon really, really does not want to be king, and he goes into hiding. However, he's eventually dragged back to the Red Keep to do as he's told, and a coronation is planned.</p><h2 id="cdd110a7-b687-4b77-9398-fa49dafacfbe"><strong>Mysaria, the White Worm, helps the royal family find Aegon</strong>.</h2><div type="image" title="sonoya mizuno as mysaria in house of the dragon. she's a relatively young woman, wearing a blue shawl and with neat hair, sitting at an outdoor tavern table" height="1280" width="1707" msid="111040552" hostid="261" sizebytes="86098"></div><p>"House of the Dragon" introduces Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) as a prostitute Daemon sees. In episode two, Daemon steals an egg and occupies Dragonstone, saying that he intends to take Mysaria as his second wife and that she carries his child. Mysaria, however, isn't too happy about being used as Daemon's political pawn — she came to him for liberation. She leaves him.</p><p>Years later, Daemon again encounters Mysaria in King's Landing after his night out with Rhaenyra. But her most significant role in "House of the Dragon" happens in episode nine, after Viserys' death. Mysaria, who now has a functioning information operation, hears from a source in the castle about the King's death and secures Aegon II. She then bargains with Otto Hightower: Aegon's location, in exchange for protection for the children in Flea Bottom.</p><p>Unfortunately, things don't turn out well for her, and she appears to get burned to death on Larys Strong's orders.</p><h2 id="6c2e1172-ffc9-4d97-8cf3-2aa40a482562"><strong>Rhaenys doesn't take the opportunity to kill Aegon while leaving King's Landing.</strong></h2><p>In one of the first season's most memorable moments, Rhaenys (Eve Best) breaks out of her quarters in the Red Keep with the help of Ser Erryk (Elliot Tittensor), at the same time as most of the civilians are ushered into the Dragonpit to watch Aegon's coronation.</p><p>Rhaenys uses this to her advantage by heading down into the caverns under the Dragonpit to reunite with her dragon, Meleys. She causes chaos when Meleys bursts through the floor of the arena, killing a number of people in the process. Although she has the opportunity to kill Alicent, Aegon, Otto, and the rest of the Greens, Rhaenys chooses to let them live.</p><h2 id="abdfc225-d2ff-40d1-ab58-1e5b8a32a66f"><strong>Rhaenyra is reluctant to start the war — but Aemond kills her son Lucerys</strong>.</h2><div type="image" title="rhaenyra, emma d'arcy, holding her sun lucerys, elliot grihault, in front of a strategy war table. she's looking at him intensely, and cracling his neck" height="1280" width="1707" msid="111040554" hostid="261" sizebytes="62990"></div><p>After Aegon II assumes the Iron Throne, Rhaenyra is reluctant to be the one to start the war, and knows that bringing dragons into the fray is an irreversible decision. Her council takes stock of their supporters and, most importantly, their dragons, which outnumber those under the Greens' possession.</p><p>Rhaenyra sends her eldest sons to secure support from a few key houses: Jacaerys to House Arryn and House Stark and Lucerys to House Baratheon. Both of them pledge to act only as messengers and not fight.</p><p>Unfortunately, when Lucerys arrives at Storm's End to speak with Lord Borros Baratheon, Aemond has beaten him to the punch and offered a betrothal to one of the Baratheon daughters in exchange for his support. Lord Borros rebuffs Lucerys, but doesn't allow them to fight. Lucerys flees on his dragon, Arrax, and Daemon pursues him on his much, much larger dragon Vhagar.</p><p>At first, it seems like Aemond only intends to toy with Lucerys. But Arrax attacks Vhagar of his own volition, and both Aemond and Lucerys lose control of their dragons. Vhagar tears Arrax — and Lucerys — to pieces with her teeth.</p><p>That's about where things end in season one, leaving plenty of aftermath for "House of the Dragon" to tackle in season two. </p>

A comprehensive recap of everything that happened on 'House of the Dragon' season 1

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I'm a travel expert, and I've been to all 50 states.</li><li>I love taking road trips with my family. We get to see a lot of different things on one trip.</li></ul><p>Road trips are the ultimate symbol of freedom, discovery, and the boundless beauty of the US. On many such trips with my family, it has not been just the destinations but also the journey that holds the magic; the open road itself becomes a vehicle for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/international-travel-with-young-kids-memories-2024-1">family memories</a> and shared experiences.</p><p>Over my life, I've traversed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-states-to-visit-from-someone-whose-been-to-50-2022-11">all 50 states</a>, both with my family while growing up and now with my husband and kids, and I've reveled in the splendor of countless scenic highways and breathtaking byways. As a travel expert, I believe these three incredible routes are the best if you're looking to go on an amazing road trip experience with your own family.</p><h2><strong>Cruise up (or down) California's Pacific Coast Highway</strong></h2><p>Family travelers looking for a truly magical journey need to look no further than the Pacific Coast Highway or California State Route 1. At about 650 miles, it's the longest route <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moved-back-to-west-coast-from-new-york-2023-8">in California</a> and the second longest in the US. Beginning in the charming seaside town of Dana Point, just outside Los Angeles, and winding up to San Francisco (or vice versa), this spectacular drive offers an endless array of jaw-dropping coastal vistas, sun-soaked beaches, and must-see stops.</p><p>As you travel north to Santa Barbara, stop at the Santa Barbara Zoo and take in unobstructed sunset vistas at Ellwood Mesa. Continue to San Luis Obispo, where you can choose from 65 hiking trails, explore the children's museum, or stroll through the infamous Bubblegum Alley. And don't miss out on other notable destinations like Big Sur, the charming seaside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea and its crescent-shaped beaches and storybook-like architecture, or Monterey, home to the world-renowned <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rushing-ocean-water-at-monterey-bay-aquarium-2017-4">Monterey Bay Aquarium</a>.</p><p>Once you reach San Francisco, take an exciting ride on the city's famous cable cars. Then visit the California Academy of Sciences, an all-in-one planetarium, aquarium, and natural history museum in Golden Gate Park. And no matter how often you visit <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moved-san-francisco-worth-it-cost-of-living-negativity-2024-2">San Francisco</a>, you must visit the Golden Gate Bridge, on foot or at vantage points like Battery Spencer or Fort Point.</p><h2><strong>Travel the Blue Ridge Parkway from Virginia to North Carolina</strong></h2><p>The Blue Ridge Parkway, affectionately known as "America's Favorite Drive," meanders nearly 500 miles through Virginia and North Carolina. Connecting Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this scenic route boasts 272 magnificent overlooks and more than 100 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-fall-hikes-in-the-us-2018-10">hiking trails</a>, including the famed Crabtree Falls.</p><p>Roanoke, the largest city along the Parkway, offers families a multitude of outdoorsy activities, like mountain biking at Explore Park and hiking to the famous Roanoke Star in Mill Mountain Park. A bit farther south, near Meadows of Dan, VA, my family had a wonderful time at Primland Resort. We stayed in one of its 22 spacious lodge suites; they also offer unique treehouses and villas, an observatory for stargazing, guided nature walks, thrilling ATV rides, and a fun-filled <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/family-travel-tip-schedule-rest-days-bring-board-games-2024-2">game room</a>.</p><p>Near the end of the Parkway lies the mountain town of Asheville, which is close to several family-friendly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/best-hiking-gear">hiking trails</a>, including Graveyard Fields. There, my family enjoyed panoramic viewpoints, toured the iconic Biltmore Estate, and visited the River Arts District, Asheville Museum of Science, and North Carolina Arboretum.</p><div type="image" title="Taryn White and her family at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville" height="1816" width="2421" msid="107986797" hostid="261" sizebytes="334746"></div><p>The centrally located Grand Bohemian Asheville, located next to the Biltmore Estate, is ideal for exploring the city's bustling downtown area, which is known for its arts, crafts, and delicious local cuisine. The region also has several excellent glamping options, including the cabins at Asheville Glamping.</p><h2><strong>Take a road trip through Arizona</strong></h2><p>From majestic mountains to captivating canyons, Arizona's glorious scenery cannot be fully realized by visiting just one destination. You must explore it through the open road. Start your journey in the Phoenix area, which has an abundance of kid-friendly attractions, like Legoland Discovery Center, Butterfly Wonderland, and the i.d.e.a. Museum.</p><p>As you venture just two hours north, stop in Sedona to explore the vibrant art scene and mesmerizing red rock formations. Admire the area's stunning beauty on a thrilling <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pinkadventuretours.com/">Pink Jeep Tour</a>, and retire to campgrounds like Chavez Crossing RV Park and Rancho Sedona RV Park. Another economical accommodation option is the two-bedroom suites at Los Abrigados Resort and Spa. Families looking to splurge should stay at the Enchantment Resort in Boynton Canyon for relaxation and endless family-friendly activities, including hiking, stargazing, and cultural activities at Camp Coyote.</p><div type="image" title="Taryn White near Lake Powell." height="1816" width="2421" msid="107986800" hostid="261" sizebytes="429956"></div><p>Spend several days exploring the west, north, and south rims of the Grand Canyon, marveling at panoramic vistas at the Skywalk at Grand Canyon West, and kid-friendly hiking trails, like the 1.8-mile South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point. For a rush of adrenaline, set out on a whitewater rafting excursion with companies like Advantage Grand Canyon.</p><p>To make the most of your time, pitch a tent at one of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/camping.htm">six campgrounds</a> within Grand Canyon National Park, reserve an RV spot at Trailer Village, or stay at one of the nearby hotels like<a target="_blank" href="https://www.visitarizona.com/places/cities/grand-canyon-village/"> </a>El Tovar Hotel, Under Canvas Grand Canyon, and the historic Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams, where you can take a fabulous train ride to the canyon's South Rim.</p><p>Last but certainly not least is a trip to Page, where short hikes lead to the marvelous Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. Families can also take a boat cruise on Lake Powell and visit the Glen Canyon Dam.</p>

These are the best scenic family road trips for families, from a parent and travel expert who's been to all 50 states.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I've been drinking since I was of legal age, but I recently went sober.</li><li>I just went on my first alcohol-free vacation and found that I enjoyed myself much more.</li></ul><p>I started drinking alcohol when I turned 21 and, with the exception of when I traveled during my pregnancies, every vacation I've taken since has involved alcohol. Whether it was a trip to California to visit wineries or a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/first-solo-cruise-norwegian-caribbean-loved-it-review-2024-2">Caribbean cruise</a> complete with a drink package, since becoming an adult, I've equated a relaxing vacation with maintaining that perfect balance between a buzz and not being too hung over.</p><p>A few months ago, however, I decided alcohol was no longer serving me. Tired of seeing the way booze affected my relationships and left me feeling anxious and exhausted, I chose an alcohol-free lifestyle, and I haven't back. Recently, I took my first vacation since choosing a life of sobriety.</p><p>My husband, myself, and our two teenagers embarked on a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whale-watching-expedition-cruise-teens-less-screen-time-present-2024-2">whale-watching cruise</a> in Baja California Sur, Mexico through National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions, and while I had no idea what to expect from a weeklong trip without my old friend alcohol, the experience was incredibly empowering for me and solidified my decision not to drink.</p><p>Here's what I learned on my <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tried-sober-travel-stopped-drinking-alcohol-better-vacation-2024-1">first sober vacation</a> in 22 years.</p><h2><strong>I enjoyed my trip so much more by not numbing out with alcohol</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Terri Peters and her husband on a boat wearing life vests." height="3024" width="4032" msid="107985916" hostid="261" sizebytes="635456"></div><p>I definitely had moments leading up to the trip where I wondered if I'd feel like I was missing out by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sobriety-benefits-sober-alcohol-drinking-2024-1">not drinking</a>. The exact opposite occurred once I was on board our ship. Where vacations in the past flew by and were marked by bloody mary brunches and evening cocktail hours, this trip felt restful, and I felt more present without drinking the time away.</p><p>Amanda Kuda, an alcohol-free lifestyle coach and author of "<a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=f3228da617c623772e9ef68f1461e242f2a37b7cbd9b48f054c8d1b87def0f16&amp;postID=65d7aaa9bad86bdcf7753913&amp;postSlug=sober-family-vacation-didnt-miss-alcohol-more-present-2024-2&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FUnbottled-Potential-Break-Alcohol-Through%2Fdp%2FB0BVPHD1VB">Unbottled Potential: Break Up With Alcohol and Break Through to Your Best Life</a>," said in an interview with Business Insider that the key to experiencing this alcohol-free freedom on vacation is to make your decision not to drink non-negotiable before you travel. "Decide you're going to do this experience and collect some data," Kuda said. "No matter what happens, you'll come out of it feeling really proud of yourself, so make the commitment. If you've never collected the data and had a sober vacation, you owe it to yourself to gain this new perspective."</p><h2><strong>I was way more present with my family</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Terri Peters and her daughter on a beach." height="1833" width="2444" msid="107985919" hostid="261" sizebytes="316492"></div><p>My kids are 13 and 15, and I know there will come a time very soon when they're out of the house and we'll take way fewer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-parents-should-do-what-kids-want-on-vacation-2024-1">family vacations</a> together. By not drinking my way through Baja California, I felt more present with my teenagers. We had deeper conversations while ocean kayaking and laughed more over long dinners in the ship's dining room. Because I wasn't worried about when the next opportunity to keep my buzz going would be, I stayed in the moment with my kids.</p><p>Kuda said even when it's hard to stay present, a sober vacation is a great time to prove to yourself that you can deal with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sober-curious-best-thing-work-personal-life-2023-6">feelings like anxiety</a> or boredom without using booze to check out.</p><p>"Get centered in your breath and make peace with your feelings, because of course it's going to feel uncomfortable — you're giving your mind time to wander where otherwise you would have occupied it," she said. "Our brains go to places we don't want them to go, like worry and anxiety, so we instantly have this Pavlovian response that if we feel anxiousness or fear, we need to check out. If you just feel that feeling for a moment, usually it will dissipate, and you'll start to feel even more powerful because you took care of it on your own versus trying to numb it down."</p><h2><strong>The travel industry is embracing alcohol-free lifestyles</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Terri Peters and her husband drinking mocktails and a cocktail on their vacation." height="3024" width="4032" msid="107985921" hostid="261" sizebytes="1253152"></div><p>While I knew I'd be able to order mocktails on board our ship, I expected the selection to be sugary sips like Shirley Temples or plain club soda with lime. From the Champagne toast at the start of our voyage, when I requested and was given sparkling apple cider, I realized there would be way more to the National Geographic Venture's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/best-non-alcoholic-drinks">alcohol-free offerings</a>.</p><p>Throughout the week, I enjoyed drinks made with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/kitchen/best-non-alcoholic-spirits-according-to-bartenders">dealcoholized spirits</a>, non-alcoholic wine and beer, and flavorful mocktails that went way beyond grenadine and Sprite. It was a reminder of how far the travel industry has come in offering options for people who choose not to drink alcohol but still want something that feels festive in their hands.</p><p>Kuda agreed that the non-alcoholic beverage market has "really sprung up" in recent years. She said having the chance to sip a high-quality mocktail or non-alcoholic drink can remind you that a buzz isn't necessary to have a good time. "Those can be really fun things to try out and discover, hey, I'm actually drinking this because I'm having fun and not because I need to relax or I have to have a drink because I'm hung over," she said. "It's about choosing to have something fun and enjoyable, which is a really cool experience to have."</p><h2><strong>I loved waking up each morning sans hangover</strong></h2><div type="image" title="A whale with a ship in the background." height="1108" width="1478" msid="107985926" hostid="261" sizebytes="211586"></div><p>My booze-free vacation started most mornings with an early wake-up time so we could take part in things like snorkeling with sea lions or whale-watching. More than once, when my alarm went off at 6 a.m., I said a silent 'thank you' to myself for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/two-decades-later-sober-still-think-about-drinking-2023-9">not drinking</a>, since waking up with a hangover then hopping onto a panga boat to hunt for humpback whales sounds like a recipe for an upset stomach. Our expedition cruise took us to some incredible places and offered some unforgettable encounters with nature, and had I been hung over each morning, I'd have missed out on the magic of it all.</p><p>According to Kuda, going into an alcohol-free vacation with the mindset that you're going to experience great things is key. "Don't go into it expecting it's going to be this really strugglesome time because there was a time in your life when you were able to have fun without alcohol," she said. "What if this were a reiteration or rebirth of that time when you just learn to see the things you're surrounded with through eyes of appreciation, rather than looking at what you're missing out on by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sobriety-tested-strength-when-traveling-vacationing-2023-9">not drinking</a>?"</p><h2><strong>I learned I'm capable of keeping my promises to myself</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Terri Peters with a bottle of Topo Chico." height="3024" width="4032" msid="107985929" hostid="261" sizebytes="1056672"></div><p>While margaritas may hit different in Mexico, you know what else does? Topo Chico sparkling water. Over the course of the week, I learned that for every thing alcohol provided for me on past vacations, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whole-life-sober-lifestyle-plan-stay-same-way-frustrates-others-2024-1">sobriety</a> provided something even better.</p><p>I sipped non-alcoholic beer after sweating on a long hike through beautiful, rocky scenery. I had delicious dinners each night complemented by a glass of non-alcoholic red wine. And throughout the experience, I was fully present with my family and in my surroundings. The feeling of knowing I can keep a commitment to myself, even in settings where alcohol used to reign supreme, was more empowering than I expected.</p>

I went on my first sober vacation in 22 years. I didn't miss alcohol and I was more present with my family.

<p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-high-stakes-bet-private-credit-bdc-2023-10"></a></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><em>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</em></li></ul><p><strong>Hi! </strong>Did you go a bit overboard with candy yesterday? Don't sweat it. Here's some guidance on <a href="https://www.insider.com/guides/health/diet-nutrition/sugar-detox">how to undergo a sugar detox</a>.</p><p>In today's big story, we're looking at a Wall Street giant jumping into one of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-high-stakes-bet-private-credit-bdc-2023-10">hottest sectors in finance</a>.</p><p><strong>What's on deck: </strong></p><ul><li><strong>Markets:</strong> The Fed isn't likely to cut interest rates today, but there's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interest-rates-will-fed-cut-this-week-inflation-powell-economy-2023-10">still good news for consumers</a>. </li><li><strong>Tech:</strong> Meet the jobs proving to be the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-disruption-ai-future-careers-blue-collar-desk-work-2023-11">most resilient to an AI takeover</a>.</li><li><strong style="color: #222222;">Business:</strong> A utopian residential cruise ship made <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/storylines-residential-luxury-cruise-ship-investors-ex-employees-2023-10">big promises it has yet to deliver on</a>.</li></ul><p>But first, do you need some money?</p><h3><strong>The big story</strong></h3><h2><strong>Everybody's a lender</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-high-stakes-bet-private-credit-bdc-2023-10"></a></p><div type="image" title="Illustration of BlackRock's CEO with images of money" height="1440" width="1920" msid="104894485" hostid="261" sizebytes="386366"></div><p><strong>When you hear </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-news-updates"><strong>BlackRock</strong></a><strong>, what's the first thing that pops into your head?</strong><strong><br /></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-esg-backlash-larry-fink-succession-2023-7">Larry Fink</a>? <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-spot-bitcoin-etf-crypto-reactions-2023-6">ETFs</a>? <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-esg-municipal-bond-etf-delay-2023-8">ESG</a>? <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-aladdin-tech-performance-competition-2023-1">Aladdin</a> (not the movie)? <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-social-media-tiktok-2022-5">Conspiracy theories</a>?</p><p>The world's largest asset manager wears many hats. Now it's trying to add another to its $9.1 trillion wardrobe: lender.</p><p>BlackRock is the latest player <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-high-stakes-bet-private-credit-bdc-2023-10">pushing into the red-hot private credit market</a>, writes Insider's Rebecca Ungarino.</p><p>The business of lending directly to companies has become the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/private-debt-credit-market-risks-outlook-2023-2022-11">topic du jour on Wall Street</a>. Sky-high interest rates and stricter lending requirements from big banks created an opportunity for investment firms. </p><p>These so-called shadow banks can offer borrowers alternative forms of financing, albeit with some hefty interest payments. </p><p>But BlackRock's private-credit ambitions have put the massive firm in uncharted waters, Rebecca writes, as it's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-high-stakes-bet-private-credit-bdc-2023-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a small fish in a big pond</a>. </p><p>The firm's $81 billion private credit business is only a drop in the industry's $1.75 trillion bucket. It's also well behind larger players like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/private-credit-power-players-debt-executives-blackstone-kkr-ares-2022">Apollo, Blackstone, and KKR</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackrock-high-stakes-bet-private-credit-bdc-2023-10"></a></p><div type="image" title="BlackRock's Larry Fink" height="1440" width="1920" msid="104894487" hostid="261" sizebytes="65764"></div><p><strong>BlackRock's private credit plans also add further validity to an industry on the rise. </strong></p><p>One executive in the space told Rebecca that BlackRock's entrance is a "stamp of approval" for the market. </p><p>And while everyone seems to want in on the action — private credit was the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/private-credit-toast-of-the-town-greenwich-economic-forum-2023-10">talk of the Greenwich Economic Forum</a> last month — it's unclear how that'll ultimately impact the industry. </p><p>Lending is a complicated enough business on its own. Adding more competitors in a high-rate environment, without the shackles that regulate traditional banks, feels like a recipe for disaster.</p><p>Maybe I'm paranoid, but Wall Street's history of investing in floating-rate debt structures shrouded in mystery isn't pristine. </p><p>BlackRock's cohead of US private capital said during a recent earnings call the firm was passing on more lending opportunities, citing deal terms without adequate lender protections. </p><p>But as more inexperienced players dive into the space, the probability of <em>someone</em> willing to lend to a borrower in need, regardless of the red flags, will rise.</p><h2><strong>3 things in markets</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interest-rates-will-fed-cut-this-week-inflation-powell-economy-2023-10"></a></p><div type="image" title="Fed chair Jerome Powell" height="1280" width="1706" msid="104894489" hostid="261" sizebytes="88792"></div><ol><li><strong>The Fed probably won't cut rates, but that's not a bad thing. </strong>The Federal Reserve makes its second-to-last interest rate decision of the year today. All signs are pointing to another pause in hikes, but officials remain <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/interest-rates-will-fed-cut-this-week-inflation-powell-economy-2023-10">confident they can skirt a recession</a>. </li><li><strong>Charlie Munger isn't a fan of VCs. </strong>Warren Buffett's business partner had some strong words for the venture community, saying VCs are "<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/charlie-munger-acquired-podcast-vc-venture-capital-berkshire-warren-buffett-2023-10">not great investors or great at anything</a>." The VC industry in the US also doesn't do a good job of supporting founders of early-stage companies, he said on a recent podcast. </li><li><strong>A CEO walks into a bar… </strong>Executives who crack jokes during earnings calls <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-ceo-joking-earnings-calls-elon-musk-tesla-2023-10">gave their company's share price an immediate boost</a>, according to a research paper. Humor can even help if it's not all good news, as jokes "can soften the disclosure of negative news and signal relatively stronger future firm performance," according to the paper. </li></ol><h2><strong>3 things in tech</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-disruption-ai-future-careers-blue-collar-desk-work-2023-11"></a></p><div type="image" title="Illustration showing workers holding a plunger, needle, and scissors" height="960" width="1920" msid="104894492" hostid="261" sizebytes="227234"></div><ol><li><strong> The AI-proof jobs. </strong>Blue-collar jobs like nurses, construction workers, and barbers will be the big winners of the AI revolution. While ChatGPT replaces the rest of us, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/job-disruption-ai-future-careers-blue-collar-desk-work-2023-11">these careers should see a substantial boom</a>.</li><li><strong>A leaked email provides clues regarding the UNest CEO's abrupt resignation.</strong> Ksenia Yudina, the founder and former CEO of UNest, accused three board members of voting for a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-ceo-of-unest-resigned-after-she-said-the-board">hostile takeover of UNest</a> that was '"illegal and unethical," according to an email she sent to investors and board members obtained by Insider. UNest's COO, meanwhile, said customers of the startup, which helps families save for college, have no reason to worry about their money.</li><li><strong style="color: #222222;">The real risk of AI. </strong>Meta's chief AI scientist said some tech executives' warnings about the dangers of AI are their way of trying to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-and-demis-hassabis-just-want-to-control-ai-2023-10">control the future of AI</a>. Similarly, a Google Brain cofounder said Big Tech companies are lying about AI risks to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-ng-google-brain-big-tech-ai-risks-2023-10">shut down competition</a>.</li></ol><h2><strong>3 things in business</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/storylines-residential-luxury-cruise-ship-investors-ex-employees-2023-10"></a></p><div type="image" title="Graphic of a ship in a toilet" height="960" width="1920" msid="104894494" hostid="261" sizebytes="171244"></div><ol><li><strong> Choppy waters for a startup cruise ship pitching itself as a utopian community.</strong> Storylines' MV Narrative offers customers an "anti-aging global lifestyle" aboard a $900 million, 18-deck ship traveling to six continents over 1,000 days. But the ship's launch has been delayed seven years from when it was initially slated to hit the seas, and former employees, consultants, and investors <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/storylines-residential-luxury-cruise-ship-investors-ex-employees-2023-10">doubt it will even be built</a>. </li><li><strong> Move fast and blow up your startup. </strong>A minor update to ChatGPT enabling users to upload and analyze PDFs has massive implications for startups designed to do precisely that. It's the latest example of how Big Tech can <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-chatgpt-pdfs-ai-startups-wrappers-2023-10">wreak havoc on smaller players overnight</a>.</li><li><strong style="color: #222222;">Gen Z's best bet for curing loneliness might be returning to the office. </strong>Young people have been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cure-for-gen-z-loneliness-heading-returning-to-office-2023-10">hit particularly hard by the solitude of remote work</a>. Gen Z workers told Insider how remote work increased anxiety, lowered morale, and curtailed opportunities for career advancement.</li></ol><h2><strong>In other news</strong></h2><ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-airstrike-gaza-refugee-camp-hamas-civilians-2023-10"><strong>Israel </strong>defends devastating refugee camp strikes, saying civilians caught up in hunt for a Hamas commander are a 'tragedy of war'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-x-twitter-employee-stock-ipo-acquisition-rsus-2023-10">Internal documents reveal new details of <strong>X</strong> stock awards to staff, including what happens if the company IPOs or is acquired</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/robert-de-niro-trial-testimony-call-assistant-grandmother-funeral-2023-10"><strong>Robert De Niro </strong>testifies it was fine to call his assistant at her grandmother's funeral: 'I don't know if they were putting the body in the ground'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-trial-testimony-defense-fundamental-flaw-2023-10"><strong>Sam Bankman-Fried </strong>can't get past the fundamental flaw in his defense strategy</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-advisor-catching-up-on-ai-biden-executive-order-2023-10">Q&amp;A: <strong>White House AI advisor</strong> says US is 'catching up' to the tech</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-price-loses-lower-income-customers-inflation-pressure-2023-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>McDonald's </strong>isn't cheap anymore</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-spark-gig-delivery-workers-cant-bring-groceries-your-kitchen-2023-10"><strong>Walmart Spark </strong>delivery drivers are sick of customers asking them to bring deliveries into their homes</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-competition-detroit-falls-flat-2023-10"><strong>Tesla's</strong> competition in Detroit can't keep up – the EV company keeps winning</a></li><li><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/housing-market-affordability-index-chart-mortgage-rates-home-prices-inventory-2023-10">CHART OF THE DAY: <strong>Housing market affordability</strong> plunges to lowest level since 1985</a></li></ul><h2><strong>What's happening today</strong></h2><ul><li><strong>The Fed's decision on interest rates. </strong>The Federal Open Market Committee decided to pause rate hikes during its last meeting in September. </li><li><strong>Keeping you on your toes: Happy World Ballet Day! </strong>Some of the world's top ballet companies will stream from their rehearsal studios.</li><li><strong>Earnings today</strong>: Airbnb, DoorDash, and<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar?utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_campaign=Insider_Today"> other companies</a>.</li></ul><h3><strong>For your bookmarks</strong></h3><h2><strong>What happens in Vegas</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/las-vegas-tips-for-booking-hotels-resorts-from-repeat-visitor-2023-10"></a></p><div type="image" title="Las Vegas" height="1279" width="1708" msid="104894495" hostid="261" sizebytes="196080"></div><p><strong>How to get the perfect hotel at the best price in Las Vegas.</strong> Wendy Lee has been to Sin City over 50 times, and shares <a href="https://www.insider.com/las-vegas-tips-for-booking-hotels-resorts-from-repeat-visitor-2023-10">eight tips to follow ahead of your next trip</a>.</p><p><strong>The Insider Today team: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, senior editor and anchor, in New York City. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/diamond-naga-siu">Diamond Naga Siu</a>, senior reporter, in San Diego. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lisa-ryan">Lisa Ryan</a>, executive editor, in New York.</p>

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