Day: May 18, 2024

Two hours of surgery Friday to remove dead tissue from Fico’s multiple gunshot wounds “contributed to a positive prognosis,” Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova said outside F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica, where Fico was taken by helicopter after the shooting.

Fico, 59, was attacked as he greeted supporters following a government meeting Wednesday in the former coal mining town of Handlova. The suspect was tackled to the ground and arrested.

Fico’s condition is still too grave to transport him to the capital, Bratislava, Defense Minister Robert Kalinak said.

The update on Fico’s health was issued as the man accused of attempting to assassinate him made his first court appearance, according to Slovak state media.

Prosecutors were seeking an order from Slovakia’s Specialized Criminal Court to detain the suspect.

Prosecutors told police not to publicly identify the man or release other details about the case, but unconfirmed media reports said he was a 71-year-old retiree known as an amateur poet who may have once worked as a mall security guard in the country’s southwest.

Government authorities gave details that matched that description. They said the suspect didn’t belong to any political groups, although the attack itself was politically motivated.

The courthouse in Pezinok, a small town outside Bratislava, was guarded by officers wearing balaclavas and carrying rifles. News media were not allowed in, and reporters were kept behind a gate outside.

Police on Friday had taken the suspect to his home in the town of Levice and seized a computer and some documents, Markiza, a Slovak television station, reported. Police didn’t comment.

World leaders have condemned the attack and offered support for Fico and Slovakia.

Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond. His return to power last year on a pro-Russia, anti-American platform led to worries among fellow European Union and NATO members that he would abandon his country’s pro-Western course, particularly on Ukraine.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

• “Bridgerton” season three focuses on Colin and Penelope’s love story.
• The latest batch of episodes of the Regency-era show includes several instrumental pop covers.
• Part one features covers of Taylor Swift’s “Snow on the Beach,” BTS’ “Dynamite,” and more.

Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for season three of “Bridgerton.”

“Bridgerton” is back with more romance, drama, and, of course, classical covers of the biggest pop songs.

Season three, which focuses on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington’s (Nicola Coughlan) friends-to-lovers relationship, features recognizable tracks revamped to fit into the Regency era.

Here’s a guide to every cover that’s part of the season three soundtrack.

“Abcdefu” by Gayle Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington on season three, episode one of “Bridgerton.”

Laurence Cendrowicz/Netflix

During the season three premiere “Out of the Shadows,” Penelope Featherington gets frustrated by living at home with her sisters and becomes determined to find a husband this year. So, she ditches her signature citrus-colored gowns and tries out a new hairstyle for Lady Danbury’s (Adjoa Andoh) ball.

A classical rendition of Gayle‘s “abcdefu” plays when Penelope arrives at the ball and reveals a dazzling, sophisticated dark green dress paired with sheer gloves. She catches the attention of fellow attendees — including her longtime crush and future husband, Colin Bridgerton.

“Dynamite” by BTSLuke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton on season three, episode two of “Bridgerton.”

Netflix

During episode two (“How Bright the Moon”), the Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of the BTS track briefly plays at a ball as Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) observes pairs on the dance floor, including Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Miss Stowell.

“Jealous” by Nick JonasLuke Newton as Colin Bridgerton on season three, episode two of “Bridgerton.”

Netflix

After taking notes from Colin’s charm lessons, Penelope is finally able to speak more naturally with potential suitors during episode two. A cover of Jonas’ solo track “Jealous,” performed by Shimmer, plays as Colin watches with slight envy as Penelope converses with Lord Remington.

“Cheap Thrills” by Sia featuring Sean Paul Ruth Gemmell as Violet Bridgerton on season three, episode two of “Bridgerton.”

Netflix

The Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of “Cheap Thrills” can be heard during episode three (“Forces of Nature”) as members of the Ton arrive at the Innovations Ball of 1815.

Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) watches as her kids Benedict, Francesa (Hannah Dodd), Colin, and Eloise (Claudia Jessie) head inside. Then a handsome stranger, later revealed to be Lady Danbury’s brother Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis), helps Violet pick her glove up off the ground.

“Happier Than Ever” by Billie EilishSam Phillips as Lord Debling and Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington on season three, episode three of “Bridgerton.”

Netflix

Just as Colin is about to finally ask Penelope if she feels the same way about him during episode three, he’s interrupted by Lord Debling (Sam Phillips) whisking her away to dance. As the pair dance to the Vitamin String Quartet’s cover of “Happier Than Ever,” Colin watches on with jealousy.

“Snow on the Beach” by Taylor Swift featuring Lana Del ReyNicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington, Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton, and Sam Phillips as Lord Debling on season three, episode four of “Bridgerton.”

Netflix

Another Taylor Swift cover appears this season — this time from her “Midnights” album — during episode four (“Old Friends”).

The song, recorded by Atwood Quartet, can be heard during a pivotal part in the episode, as Penelope asks Lord Debling if love could develop between them over time. Lord Debling admits that his work takes up much of his passion, but he’s glad that she has such a full life already.

Colin, who arrived late, interrupts them on the dance floor to talk to Penelope. As Colin and Penelope talk and dance, he tells her that she can’t marry Lord Debling because he’ll be away for three years. But Penelope is already aware of Lord Debling’s plans and is going to accept his proposal.

While dancing with Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen), Lord Debling realizes that Penelope sits at her drawing-room window so frequently to catch glimpses of Colin. He ends his courtship with Penelope because he needs to be with someone who isn’t preoccupied with feelings for another person.

“Give Me Everything” by Pitbull, Afrojack, and Ne-Yo featuring Nayer Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton and Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington on season three, episode four of “Bridgerton.”

Netflix

Episode four culminates in Polin finally getting together, to the tune of a stripped-down version of “Give Me Everything” by Archer Marsh.

After Lord Debling rejects Penelope, she promptly leaves the ball distraught. Colin runs after her carriage and finally admits that he has feelings for her, too.

Then, Penelope tells Colin that she’d like to be more than friends and they have a heated makeout session in the carriage. When the carriage arrives at the Bridgerton home, Colin asks Penelope to marry her.

Anton Petrus/Getty Images

• The stock market is headed for a disappointing few months. 
• Stocks are more likely to post flat or negative returns by the end of the year, two investing vets told BI.
• Stock prices are already sky-high, and there’s not much that could propel them further, they said.

It’s about to be a cruel summer for investors, with the market likely to flatline or undergo a correction over the coming months, Wall Street veterans speaking with Business Insider predicted. 

David Morrison, a market analyst at Trade Nation, is dubious about the latest rally in stocks, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both hovering near records following a cooler April inflation reading. 

The rally in itself is problematic for stocks, he warned, as they’re already so expensive that it’s hard to imagine the market moving higher from here. He sees the benchmark index being prone to multiple sharp corrections of at least 10%, ending the year around 4,500.

“The next move will be down, rather than up,” Morrison said.

The view puts him at odds with the growing number of bulls in the market who see an eventual rate cut from the Federal Reserve as a strong positive catalyst. 

However, Morrison thinks the Fed’s first rate cut could easily be postponed another three months—meaning no cut this summer or possibly no cuts at all this year. All it would take is one hot inflation reading to dash the prospect of Fed rate cuts this year altogether, he said. 

“Investors are suffering from a large dose of FOMO, and I’m concerned that we could be in the process of a blow-off top with echoes of the moves seen back in early 2020,” Morrison told BI, pointing to the pandemic stock crash. “I think the air up here is quite thin. While there’s no obvious catalyst for a sell-off, it’s hard to discern what could help to lift equities much higher from here.”

Will McGough, the director of investments at Prime Capital Investment Advisors, sees the S&P 500 ending the year basically flat to where it’s currently trading. Stocks are already so expensive, and the Fed has no urgent need to lower interest rates. Rates have hovered between 4%-5% in the past without causing a recession, he noted.

“It’s getting everybody used to how things should be versus the way things have been,” he said of interest rates, suggesting steep rate cuts aren’t in the cards. 

Investors are also facing a slew of obstacles in the back half of the year that will prevent stocks from moving higher, Morrison and McGough both warned.

The US economy faces a decent chance of recession over the next year, Morrison said. He pegs the odds of a hard-landing at around 60%, similar to the New York Fed, which sees a 50% chance the economy could tip into a downturn within the next 12 months.

A number of recession indicators have already been sounding the alarm for the US economy. The 2-10 Treasury yield curve, the bond market’s notoriously accurate recession indicator, has been inverted since July 2022, which is one of the biggest indicators that a recession is on the way, Morrison said.

Economic growth already is starting to slow. GDP slowed to just 1.6% over the first quarter, while key sectors of the economy, like manufacturing, have been contracting for months on end. 

“I think it’s going to become a lot rockier as we go along. And I think we should also be prepared to see some nasty aggressive selloff along the way,” Morrison said.

While McGough thinks a recession is unlikely, he sees more volatility in the second half of the year, especially ahead of the presidential election in November.

“Political volatility is, in itself… going to trip over stock market volatility,” McGough warned.

Other strategists have also warned of a rocky road ahead for stocks. More extreme forecasters have predicted a market crash as steep as 65%, as equities mirror previous bubbles. 

“Have fun this summer. You’re probably going to come back without the material move one way or the other,” McGough said. 

Courtesy of the author

• I have three kids under the age of 7. 
• My oldest had been asking us if he could start playing video games.
• I didn’t like the idea of them being sedentary, but found Nex Playground keeps them moving. 

I grew up in the late 80s and 90s and was an avid Nintendo player. I had the NES in my room and pretty much unlimited time with it.

When I became a parent, I realized that too much screen time was not good for my kids’ developing brains. Also, I felt like they needed to move more after spending all day sitting in school, even though they were still on the younger side for organized sports.

But my oldest, aged 6, kept asking to play video games because all his friends were already doing it. Thankfully, I found a solution that scratches his itch for playing and doesn’t make me feel guilty about screen time.

A video game system that gets kids moving

I felt a little hypocritical for not allowing my son to play video games after my husband and I spent so much time doing so growing up. But at the same time, I felt like adding more screen time was not really going to benefit him.

It’s recommended that kids under 6 don’t get more than an hour a day of screen time on weekdays. But, as most parents know, it’s so hard to negotiate with kids when it’s time to put an end to their favorite show.

When I heard about Nex Playground, I was intrigued. The concept is pretty simple and similar to the Xbox Kinect. The video game console has a camera that records your movement, and instead of using a remote to play games, you use your body.

It’s recommended for kids 5 and up and costs $199.99. For an extra $89 a year, you can add a play pass, which gives you access to their entire catalog of games.

It took them a bit to get used to it

Maybe it’s because this was their first video game experience, or maybe it’s because my kids are not particularly coordinated (they get that from me), but it took them a little while to get used to staying in the right spot for the camera to detect them and to nail the movements they needed to do for each game.

That said, once they got it, they absolutely loved the experience.

My twins, who are 4, are obsessed with Peppa Pig, and the console comes with a Peppa game. The character games are pretty simple, like jumping in muddy puddles until the puddle is totally gone or seeing who can get more turns with their hoola hoop.

It keeps them entertained while moving

The console can take up to four players at a time, so I decided to try playing hungry hippos with them. Like the old-school game, the point is to collect as much food for your hippo by using your hands to chomp down things like watermelons and strawberries. After two rounds of playing with my very competitive kids, I was out of breath and sweating.

I took a break while they continued playing, and I noticed how they were helping each other out on the next round, yelling when there was an extra-big watermelon with more points waiting to be chomped.

Every time the round ended, they would celebrate who won — instead of fighting about it, which is honestly what I expected them to do — and then got ready to try again.

While I prefer that they get outside as much as possible, the Nex Playground is a great alternative for improving hand-eye coordination and easing the jitters.

We’ve reserved playing video games when it’s raining or snowing outside, and they can’t ride their scooters around our neighborhood.

iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider’s daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Saturday edition! It’s a great time to be a homeowner in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Mission, Texas; New Haven, Connecticut; and 19 more cities where home prices are skyrocketing.

On the agenda:

• A family booked first-class “apartment” seats for an eight-hour flight.
• Guy Fieri is rucking — and says it helped him lose 30 pounds.
• You don’t need to spend thousands to vacation in an overwater bungalow.
• A couple’s vacation home in Bali is the crux of their early retirement plan.

But first: Teeny, tiny homes.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider’s app here.

Open House Optics

This week’s dispatch

Skinny houses, big drama

Could you live in a 10-foot-wide house? Hear me out! 

What if it had a garage, a really deep backyard for optimal outdoor living in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and came with interesting features — like a custom dining table?

That’s the case for this skinny home, which was built out of spite because the neighbors didn’t want the house built on a leftover residual lot. It’s available for around $600,000.

If you’d rather buy in the city, you’re in luck. Another 10-foot-wide home built on a driveway in Washington, DC is also on the market for $580,000. 

The listing agent told BI real estate reporter Jordan Pandy that zoning laws changed after the developer bought the 0.02-acre property, forcing them to get a bit creative. The result is a modern one-bedroom home that has enough space for a patio.

While both homes are still on the market, these skinny houses are getting tons of interest, especially from buyers who’d rather use it as an investment property or as a vacation home. (And also from annoyed neighbors.)

Whoever ends up living here, they’re in for an intimate experience.

iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI

Etihad Airways’ private ‘apartments’

Forget business class — Etihad Airways offers private “apartments,” or rooms with a closing door, a couch that converts to a bed, and a reclining chair. Guests can also reserve a shower during the flight.

One family used their airline points to book the apartments. What would have cost $6,000 per person ended up costing $33 each.

Take a look inside the luxurious suites.

Guy Fieri got in shape with intermittent fasting, HIIT, and rucking workouts over the past few years. He said moderation is key.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; iStock; BI

Big rucking deal

Rucking, the new fitness craze that involves walking, hiking, or jogging while carrying weight, has caught the attention of celebrity chef Guy Fieri.

As part of his wellness routine, Fieri said he rucks a few times a week in the hills surrounding his home — and that it’s helped him lose 30 pounds over the past few years.

Check out Fieri’s rucking routine.

Also read:

• Rucking can help you burn fat, build muscle, and stay strong as you age — and you don’t need a gym
• Move over, Peloton. Rucking is the newest fitness craze in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Fiona Chandra

Overwater bungalows (on a budget)

After staying in two different overwater resorts in the Maldives, the writer found there’s no need to spend thousands of dollars for the experience.

Her first stay was at the Conrad Maldives, where rooms go for more than $700 a night. She also stayed at the South Palm Resort, where an overwater villa can cost about $300. The first stay was more luxurious, but the budget option was just as beautiful.

See the Maldives on a budget.

Rory and Casey Jones built a villa in Bali.

Rory Jones

Building a home in Bali

Despite never visiting the Indonesian island, an Australian couple built an investment property in Bali.

The pair spent about $143,000 building their two-story villa from scratch. While they’re currently renting it on Airbnb, they hope to retire to the villa in the next five or six years.

How they made it happen.

saravuth-photohut/Getty, Tyler Le/BI

What we’re watching this weekend

• “Bridgerton”: The smash hit Netflix historical drama is finally back for its third season, this time focusing on Colin and Penelope’s love story.

  “Young Sheldon”: The spinoff prequel to “The Big Bang Theory” airs its series finale this week after seven seasons on CBS.

  “Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal”: A new docuseries looks at the infamous hack of the dating site that exposed millions of users looking to have adulterous affairs.

  See the full list

More of this week’s top reads:

• More young people are being diagnosed with cancer. Three lifestyle changes could reduce your risk.
• Padel isn’t just rich-people pickleball. Here’s the difference.
• Equinox got rid of Kiehl’s in its locker rooms and everyone is in mourning.
• Differences in parenting between Switzerland and the United States.
• See inside the Hermosa Inn, the top-rated hotel in the “Beverly Hills of Arizona.”
• A 30-year-old took a gap year. She’s as broke — and happy — as she’s ever been.
• Furniture flippers are getting roasted for painting vintage pieces “millennial gray.”
• The fittest woman on Earth wants to prove having a kid won’t stop her from winning.
• See inside a New York mansion that once belonged to the world’s richest man.
• A 24-year-old spent $140,000 buying and converting a Mercedes van.
• A new era of heartthrob is here, and Nicholas Galitzine is its poster boy.

• “MoviePass, MovieCrash” showcases the movie-ticket-subscription app’s downfall.

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  The Insider Today team: Joi-Marie McKenzie, editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.