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International travel to the US keeps sliding. Visits fell for the 8th straight month.

The US isn’t the tourist destination it once was.

Visits to the US by international travelers declined for the eighth straight month in December, according to data released earlier this month by the National Travel and Tourism Office.

In 2025, visits to the US were down among 10 of the top 20 overseas tourist-generating countries, including India, Germany, and South Korea.

The decline is a sustained blow to the travel and tourism industries, which in 2024 supported more than 15 million jobs, and generated about $1.3 trillion in economic output — including $181 billion from inbound international travel.

Major tourism hubs like Las Vegas are seeing widespread layoffs due to the downturn, forcing workers to get creative with their career pivots. Business Insider reported earlier this month that laid-off hospitality workers contributed to a 55% increase in dancer auditions at a Las Vegas strip club compared to the prior six months.

It doesn’t appear the travel bug has gone anywhere — just that international tourists are avoiding the US.

In Australia, for example, overseas arrivals and departures data released Friday by the country’s Bureau of Statistics shows that international travel returned to pre-pandemic levels just before the lockdowns began in 2020. Australians travelling to Canada rose 4% in the last year, 10% more visited India, and visits by Australians to China and Japan rose 20% and 21%, respectively, but 3.2% fewer booked a trip to the US.

Fewer Canadian travelers are visiting the US, as well, opting instead to go further south to Mexico, Business Insider reported last April.

Complicating demand were ongoing trade frictions, tariff battles, and geopolitical unease, which helped fuel grass-roots boycotts of US goods and, in some cases, changes in travel plans.

European travel firms and analysts pointed to tariff-driven consumer backlash and growing anti-American sentiment as factors that contributed to early-year softness in bookings, even as demand showed signs of rebounding later in the summer.

Domestic travel has helped cushion the blow so far, with the US Travel Association projecting that domestic leisure travel was forecast to grow 1.9% to $895 billion in 2025.

However, if international visitors continue to stay away, destinations that depend on overseas spending — from iconic tourism cities to national parks — could feel growing pressure as the US heads into a high-stakes stretch of global events in 2026 and beyond.




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America’s largest labor movement joins the fight against ICE

The AFL-CIO, the country’s largest network of labor unions representing some 15 million workers, says ICE is a threat to workers.

“The Trump administration’s militarized immigration enforcement is putting innocent working people in danger,” the AFL-CIO said in a post on X on Saturday. “America’s unions have your backs.”

A group of local unions in Minnesota, meanwhile, has endorsed a planned statewide economic blackout in response to ICE actions in the state.

The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, first announced its endorsement alongside other regional bodies on Friday.

“The Minnesota labor movement is united against the violent ICE occupation of our beloved cities that has directly impacted union members, our workplaces and our families,” the group said in a press release.

Dozens of community, faith, and union groups are organizing the Day of Truth and Freedom, a call to action asking Minnesotans to avoid work, school, and shopping on January 23 to pause the economy. There will also be a rally and march in downtown Minneapolis at 2 p.m. local time.

“We will gather with family, neighbors, and community to show Minnesota’s moral heart and economic power,” organizers said in a Facebook post.

Organizers listed several demands, including that ICE leave Minnesota and that federal funding for ICE be scrapped in the upcoming congressional budget.

The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation told Business Insider that ICE’s presence is disrupting residents’ daily lives.

“Working people from across sectors — hospitality, healthcare, education, custodial, construction, public works — are being targeted,” the group said in a statement.

Thousands of ICE officers have descended on Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge, launched on December 1. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release earlier this month that the operation was targeting criminal activity among immigrants in the state.

“Under President Trump, we will expose and deliver accountability for the rampant fraud and criminality happening in Minnesota. You won’t steal from Americans or break our laws and get away with it,” she said.

The Trump administration has said it is specifically targeting cities like Minneapolis that have passed so-called “sanctuary” laws that prevent city resources and police from supporting federal immigration agents.

Many residents, meanwhile, have criticized the tactics that federal agents are using to locate and detain individuals.

Tensions in the state skyrocketed after ICE officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen from Minneapolis, on January 7, leading to a wave of protests and outcry.

Days later, Minnesota’s attorney general — on behalf of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the state — filed a lawsuit against Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, seeking to end the operation.

“As a result of this surge, municipalities have been forced to divert local law enforcement resources away from their normal public safety duties, emergency responder resources have been strained, schools have been forced into lockdowns and closures, businesses have been forced to close, and the rights of Minnesotans have been violated time and time again,” a press release from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said.

Homeland Security said officers have arrested over 2,500 individuals during Operation Metro Surge so far.




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I thought downsizing would be hard for our family of 4. It ended up changing our lives for the better.

In July 2025, my husband, Zach, and I moved our family of four from the suburbs of Ft Worth, Texas, to Denver.

After nearly 10 years of marriage, two kids, and three work-related moves, it was finally time to settle in a place of our choosing. This time, we didn’t just want a change of scenery; we wanted a change of lifestyle.

But finding a house in the bustling city neighborhood of our dreams within our budget meant downsizing — drastically.

Moving from our 3,300-square-foot home to a 2,300-square-foot bungalow with 1,200 square feet of actual living space (the rest being unfinished basement) wasn’t easy. It meant swapping our large kitchen island for a small dining table. It meant no more master bath soaking tub, my refuge from life’s stresses on more occasions than I could count. And it meant my kids giving up their separate rooms to share one.

But what we’ve gained in the quality and quantity of time spent together is worth every bit of lost square footage.

We’re spending our time on what matters

Our bigger house in Texas required more upkeep, and we were more than happy to give that up for extra free time on the weekends. Now, we spend our time visiting attractions such as the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We’re fostering our kids’ curiosity, exploring new places together. Our everyday life feels more special and meaningful because these shared experiences amplify our family connection.


Dining room

The author’s new house is about a third the size of her previous house.

Courtesy of the author



We’re also getting out in nature more. Aside from weekend hiking and skiing adventures, our days revolve around outdoor living. We walk everywhere we can, including restaurants, parks, and even Trader Joe’s, which is beneficial because driving to Trader Joe’s means parking at Trader Joe’s, and nobody enjoys that. Our moods are lighter, and our stresses are reduced.

The first time we walked to a restaurant instead of driving, it felt like we were on vacation. Our lives had always been car-dependent, but that’s no longer the case. The kids laughed and raced each other down the sidewalk. We marvelled at the mature trees and brightly colored flowers lining 7th Avenue Parkway. There was no timeline or rushing, just the joy of being present. When we made our way home after an alfresco dinner at Postino, I asked my son if he liked walking to dinner. He asked simply, “Can we do this every day?”

We’re finding connections in our community

Zach and I frequently sit on our front porch while our boys play with neighborhood kids, a first for us. Having houses so close together makes it easier to meet people and form real connections. We know almost every household on our block, and we regularly visit with our closest neighbors. We even enjoyed our first block party in August, which fell on my eldest’s birthday, and according to him, it was his “Best birthday ever!”


Birthday party

The author’s child loved his backyard birthday party.

Courtesy of the author



Our boys run between yards while we chat with new friends. They are experiencing a childhood closer to the one we grew up with. They’re building confidence and finding their place, and that’s translating to more smiles and fewer tantrums. Zach and I are finding our village, and parenthood feels less solitary.

On a recent trip back to Texas for Thanksgiving, I texted our next-door neighbor to let her know we’d be out of town. Without even asking, she offered to take in our mail. It may be a small gesture, but that sense of community is priceless to us.

My boys have more freedom

Downsizing has also allowed our kids to play more independently in an outdoor space that feels safe and protected. We have an unobstructed line of sight to the backyard, and no matter where my husband and I are in the house, we can hear them if they need us. The result has been hours of creative play, building campsites and outdoor kitchens, playing soccer and baseball, and having water balloon fights or Nerf battles.


Family at football game

The author’s kids have more freedom and can play outside in their new home.

Courtesy of the author



Most evenings, my kids are in the backyard playing games and getting dirty. When the weather is nice, they run around with their friends down the street. I would never have felt comfortable not knowing every move my kids were making before, but here, where everyone is watching out, and I can wave at my kids down the block to signal when it’s time to come home, less space means more freedom.

Our downsized life isn’t always perfect. Despite all our decluttering efforts, we’re still left with more stuff than we can accommodate. We also struggle with the lack of privacy, and at times, our smaller shared space feels more claustrophobic than cozy. However, downsizing for an urban lifestyle has given us the opportunity to live beyond our four walls, and that’s worth more than any amount of space could ever be.




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Trump says the US will impose up to 25% tariffs on Denmark and other European countries until they hand over Greenland

  • Trump says the US will impose new tariffs on European countries until Denmark hands over Greenland.
  • The president said the tariffs would start at 10% and increase to 25%.
  • Trump has repeatedly used tariffs as leverage on what he calls national security issues.

President Donald Trump has turned to his favorite form of leverage in his fight to annex Greenland.

Trump said on Saturday he would impose a 10% tariff on Denmark, which controls Greenland, as well as Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland, unless they agree to a deal to hand over Greenland to the United States.

The president said he would raise those tariffs to 25% in June if they did not comply. All of those countries have already been paying a 10% tariff rate since Trump’s Liberation Day levies went into effect in August 2025.

“This tariff will be due and payable until such time a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase,” he said in a Truth Social post. Trump’s threat comes as world leaders and CEOs gather in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. The president is expected to address the conference on Wednesday.

Trump has had Greenland on his mind since his first term, but has ramped up the rhetoric since the US raid in Venezuela that netted Nicolás Maduro.

The president says US control of Greenland is a national security issue.




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I choose to go to the human cashier at the grocery store. I’m opting for more human interaction.

I was initially resistant to the self-checkout kiosks at my local grocery store when they were introduced a few years ago.

It didn’t take long, however, for me to start choosing those kiosks when the regular check-out lines were long. By that time, New Jersey had banned plastic bags, so I reverted to the “I can do it faster myself” way of thinking, armed with cute bags made from recycled materials.

The way it had become so easy to breeze past the friendly faces of cashiers standing at the end caps of their respective, often empty, check-out lanes waiting to welcome customers might not seem unusual. For me, though, it’s started to feel like a sign of something bigger.

There’s a loneliness epidemic

Not only did I not have to interact with anyone in the case I’d rolled out to the store looking less than my best, but I was also saving time, I reasoned. A recovering dishwasher loading control freak, I’m also pretty specific about the way I think groceries should be bagged — heaviest to lightest, eggs, bread, and chips on top.


Jennifer Cannon headshot

The author decided to change from self-checkout lines to human cashiers for a more personal connection.

Courtesy of the author



Meanwhile, the US is facing a loneliness epidemic, and our culture, especially post-pandemic, is to blame. I’m guilty of leaning into leaving my house and socializing less over the past several years, despite considering myself a social person.

According to a recent report from the American Psychological Association, many teens are turning to AI chatbots for friendship and emotional support. My college-age daughters confirmed this to be true, which should be concerning to everyone. As someone with a lifelong obsession with human behaviors, I also find it thought-provoking. It raises the question, what can we as a society do about it?

I went back to regular cashiers

I decided that the first step for me personally was to prioritize more human interaction at the grocery store. There was a part of me that missed simply saying “Hello” and asking how the person, who was specifically there to help fellow humans, was doing. If my daughters are with me, they often find something to compliment, “I like your nails,” or “Your tattoo is so cool, what does it mean?”

These days, it seems to catch some by surprise, and then to see smiles or share an unexpected laugh with a stranger — there’s something mutually fulfilling in that. In the smallest moments, we remember how others make us feel. That’s humanity, and community.

When we first moved to our little town in South Jersey, just outside Philadelphia, I knew the produce guy by name. Al had also worked on our house, and his granddaughter and our daughters went to the same elementary school. For many years, I looked forward to exchanging a few pleasantries with him and didn’t care, or correct him, when he called me Stephanie instead of Jennifer.

It’s been so nice to interact with other people

We’re officially at a point where too many people are longing for connection and to be seen, to have someone be interested in even the smallest thing about them. I make at least a couple of trips to the grocery store each week (because I’m too indecisive to plan meals in advance) and have been choosing to go to the human cashier over self-checkout whenever possible.

It’s been a breath of fresh air to overhear the chatter between cashiers and customers. I stopped in for a few things recently in anticipation of some bad weather, which people from the northeast will tell you means “milk, bread, and eggs.” The cashier, an older woman, called me “honey” but not in the passive-aggressive way Taylor Swift sings about on her latest “The Life of a Showgirl” album. She told me to be careful driving home as a coworker walked by and handed her a bag of homemade ginger snap cookies. Her face lit up.

In conversation with another cashier, a young woman, I learned she hates the cold. The high temperature that day was 25 degrees. We chatted about how she could move south, but then she’d fear tornadoes, and Florida was out of the question because of snakes. We laughed.

Walking away, I thought about how I’ve been missing the minutiae that are only present when we choose to see and acknowledge each other in person.




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I met my husband at work, and then we quit our jobs to travel the world together. On that 18-month-long trip, we eloped.

My coworker and I were both single, and I was in the trenches of online dating. Stew and I took lunch at the same time, and over sandwiches eaten from Tupperware, we bonded over our shared love of cycling.

One lunch, he told me he was going to cycle the highest pass in Wales. My eyes widened, “I’d love to do that.” That’s when he told me to join him.

He picked me up that weekend, and we cycled Gospel Pass.

The next lunch break, Stew asked me out for dinner. I said yes. He stayed over and never went home. The rest, as they say, is history, and what a ride it’s been so far.

I joined his 24,000-mile cycling adventure

We were dating for about a month when Stewart said, “I’ve got something to tell you.” He continued: “I’m going to quit my job and cycle around the world. Do you want to come with me?”

“Yes!” I said without hesitation.

Stew had already planned a 24,000-mile turn-by-turn route across 32 countries.

He saved enough money that he could ride around the world for 18 months unemployed. His plan was to carry a tent and stay in cheap accommodations, like hostels and Airbnb rooms.

All I needed to do was save enough money to cover my flights. For a few months, we cut costs, but left ourselves with enough money to enjoy being a young couple; a meal out each month was a non-negotiable.

As we left our jobs, Stewart also organized the bikes: bright yellow steel-frame touring bikes that could manage long-distance cycling, as well as the additional weight of our luggage.

We explored countries together

When we left the UK, we waved goodbye to our families at Stewart’s mom’s house, and we wobbled down the driveway on the heaviest bikes we’d ever ridden.

I will never forget the feeling of freedom. We were unemployed, and everything we needed for the next 18 months was packed into six bright yellow panniers, which fit proudly on our bikes.

I was nervous, excited, and weightless.

There are many prominent moments as you cycle from one country to another. But the first one was leaving Georgia and arriving in Azerbaijan. The gorgeous greenery of Azerbaijan turned into flat desert landscapes.


Zoe Ashbridge and her husband marrying in New Zealand

The author and her husband eloped in New Zealand.

Courtesy of Zoe Ashbridge



Australia was similar. Across Nullarbor Plain, we rode desert flatlands with kangaroos and Wedge-Tailed Eagles. Service stations were over 100 miles apart. Then we reached New South Wales, home to green mountains and Bulli Pass.

At the top, there was a wedding venue overlooking the sea. We talked about weddings and all the things we didn’t want: first dances, speeches, and the pressure of invitations.

Planning an elopement in New Zealand

After Australia, our next stop was New Zealand. We flew to Queenstown and researched what it takes to get married there. You need a marriage license and a celebrant who will officiate the ceremony in front of two witnesses.

Our celebrant was someone we found online, named Sean. He was a lovely Irish gentleman with a steady voice, a calming presence, and an art for perfectly timed humor. He knew exactly when to drop a joke and when to let a moment breathe. He promised us two witnesses (his wife, Vee, and friend, Chris) for the price of two quality bottles of wine.

After one call with Sean, we stepped out into Queenstown, engaged-ish. We booked a date, bought New Zealand-gold wedding rings, and hired wedding attire.

Stew surprised me with a proposal and a placeholder ring, and of course, I said yes.

Our next bike ride was 500 miles from Queenstown to Christchurch, so we could marry. I’d love to tell you that it was straightforward, but on a cycling adventure, unforeseen challenges arise. At Haast Pass, there was a landslide. Delays meant we would miss our own wedding.

The beauty of an elopement? We only had ourselves to please. I called Sean, the hair salon, and the florist to change the date. The landslide was cleared, and we made our way to Christchurch.

The wedding was perfect

We married at The Sign of the Bellbird in the Port Hills. It was beautiful. Rolling hills with the yellowest of flowers looked stunning against the deep green mountains and gorgeous blue skies.

On that quiet hill, with only us to please, and nothing but birdsong and sunshine, we spoke our vows and became husband and wife.

There were no crowds, no pressure, and no expectations. It was just us, which was all we’d known in the year leading up to it as we cycled from the UK to New Zealand. What followed was an eight-month honeymoon cycling home via South America.




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Here’s what Wall Street bank CEOs are saying about head count in the age of AI

Jamie Dimon has stuck to his trademark bluntness when talking about AI and jobs.

“It will eliminate jobs,” Dimon said at a Fortune conference in December. “People should stop sticking their heads in the sand.”

In the near term, Dimon said in an interview with CNN that JPMorgan’s head count remains steady, or even rises, as AI continues to roll out — if the bank does a “good job.”

The bigger promise is efficiency. “It will affect every job,” Dimon said at a 2024 Alliance Bernstein conference, describing a future where AI handles tasks like note-taking and summarization at the push of a button.

That efficiency could still mean more hiring in areas like cybersecurity, where Dimon says banks will need AI to counter increasingly sophisticated fraud.

CFO Jeremy Barnum said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday that the bank is allowing for some additional hiring in technology “at the margin.”

On that same call, however, Barnum said that, generally speaking, they “want to make sure that when someone needs to get something done, whether it’s in technology or elsewhere, their first reaction is not, ‘Hire more people.'”

He has previously said JPMorgan is asking people to “resist head count growth where possible” and focus instead on efficiency.

The head of JPMorgan’s consumer business, Marianne Lake, has said operations staff could be 40% to 50% more productive over the next five years — a shift she said would lead to slower net head count growth, as each employee can handle far more work through automation, digital assistants, and self-service tools.




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OpenAI is turning to the court of public opinion in its battle with Elon Musk

OpenAI is turning to the court of public opinion as it wages a legal battle with Elon Musk.

While Musk and OpenAI prepare to head to a high-stakes jury trial in April, the two are duking it out online over what exactly happened when Musk split ways with the AI startup he helped cofound.

Musk has been using recently unsealed court documents to attack his rival in posts on his social media platform, X. On Friday, OpenAI published a blog titled “The truth Elon left out.”

The blog, which provided commentary alongside excerpts from several court documents, alleges that Musk wanted “full control” of OpenAI, “since he’d been burned by not having it in the past,” and that OpenAI’s leadership was surprised when Musk suggested having his kids control AGI or artificial general intelligence during conversations about succession planning.

The statements are aimed at the heart of Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI.

Musk is suing OpenAI’s key leaders, including CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, over allegations that the AI company misled him by shifting away from its core mission to remain a nonprofit. Musk said he donated $38 million to OpenAI when it was a nonprofit.

The startup, since its 2015 founding, operated as a nonprofit-controlled organization with a for-profit operating arm. It completed its transition to a for-profit public benefit corporation in October 2025.

Representatives for Musk and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Last Tuesday, more than 100 documents related to the suit were unsealed, including diary entries from Brockman, which were obtained during the discovery process.

In one of the entries that was highlighted, Brockman appeared to write about his misgivings about pushing Musk out of OpenAI and committing to a nonprofit-only entity.

“Cannot say that we are committed to the non-profit,” the entry from the court documents said. “Don’t want to say that we’re committed. If three months later we’re doing b-corp then it was a lie.”

It was Brockman’s diary entries that US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers cited in a recent ruling, in which she determined Musk had enough evidence that he’d been misled to take the case to trial.




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An OpenAI researcher turned venture capitalist says investors are 3 to 5 years behind the latest AI studies

There is a yearslong lag in the AI hype cycle, according to one former AI researcher turned venture capitalist.

Jenny Xiao, who cofounded Leonis Capital in 2021 after a stint at OpenAI, said the current investment excitement around AI is far behind the actual research.

“There is a massive disconnect between what researchers are seeing and what investors are seeing,” Xiao said on the Fortune Magazine podcast this week.

What’s being discussed at the biggest AI conferences is as much as 3 to 5 years behind what researchers are thinking about, Xiao said.

“We are so behind the technical frontier, and that’s the gap I really want to bridge,” she added.

Xiao, who dropped out of a Ph.D. program in economics and AI to take a researcher role at OpenAI, founded Leonis Capital to bridge the worlds of venture capital and deep academic AI research.

“With AI, there needs to be a new generation of founders. There needs to be a new generation of VCs,” she said.

It’s also the first time investors need to be able to provide financial support to both the market and the technology, she added. Unlike SaaS companies, which were built on a “stable tech stack,” AI is moving fast. To keep up, Xiao said investors are going to need to be as technical as the founders.

If she has one piece of advice for investors who haven’t gone deep into the technical side, it’s that they should know “AI progress isn’t linear,” she said.

They should know AI progress happens in “lumps,” she said. So, questions about why AI progress is slowing down or speeding up aren’t the best way to characterize the rate of development.

“It’s neither of those two extremes,” she said. “It’s somewhere in between.”

Leonis Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.




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