Microsoft will allow its customers to build autonomous artificial intelligence agents from next month, in its latest push to tap the booming technology amid growing investor scrutiny of its hefty AI investments.

The company is positioning autonomous agents—programs that need little human intervention unlike chatbots—as “apps for an AI-driven world” that can handle client queries, identify sales leads and manage inventory.

Other big technology companies such as Salesforce have also touted the potential of such agents, tools that some analysts say could provide companies with an easier path to monetizing the billions of dollars they are pouring into AI.

Microsoft said its customers can use Copilot Studio—an application that requires little knowledge of computer code—to create such agents in public preview from November. It is using several AI models developed in-house and by OpenAI for the agents.

The company is also introducing 10 ready-for-use agents that can help with routine tasks ranging from managing supply chain to expense tracking and client communications.

In a demo, McKinsey & Co, which had early access to the tools, created an agent that can manage client inquires by checking interaction history, identifying the consultant for the task and scheduling a follow-up meeting.

“The idea is that Copilot (the company’s chatbot) is the user interface for AI,” Charles Lamanna, corporate vice president of business and industry Copilot at Microsoft, told Reuters.

“Every employee will have a Copilot, their personalized AI agent, and then they will use that Copilot to interface and interact with the sea of AI agents that will be out there.”

Tech giants are facing pressure to show returns on their big AI investments. Microsoft’s shares fell 2.8% in the September quarter, underperforming the S&P 500, but remain more than 10% higher for the year.

Some concerns have risen in recent months about the pace of Copilot adoption, with research firm Gartner saying in August its survey of 152 IT organizations showed the vast majority had not progressed their Copilot initiatives past the pilot stage.

—Aditya Soni, Reuters

With limited access to abortion in many parts of the country, reproductive rights are at the forefront of so many minds this election season. But with one in six women now struggling with infertility, in vitro fertilization (IVF), is, too. And according to a newly released survey from theSkimm’s research agency and the fertility care company Kindbody, IVF could be the issue that determines the election this November.

The report, published Monday, examined the results of a survey of 2,000 mostly women, who were Kindbody and Skimm audience members. It found that a whopping 92% of respondents consider reproductive healthcare a top concern, and 75% said a candidate’s stance on care would influence their vote. When it comes to IVF, 83% of the women surveyed said they prefer a candidate who supports unrestricted access and increased funding for the care. (The respondents were mostly women, 86% white, and 76% between 25-44 in age.)

Even in a deeply divided country, reproductive care—which encompasses everything from abortion to fertility treatments—is an issue that an impressive number of women would cross party lines for. More than half of the women surveyed (51%), the vast majority of whom were registered Democrats—only 9% who took part identified as Republicans—said they would consider voting against their own party over the issue, and 32% said it was very likely that they would. 

Most Americans broadly support IVF access

Abortion has absolutely dominated conversations about women’s healthcare. But Americans also overwhelmingly support access to IVF. According to a Pew Research Center survey earlier this year, 70% of adults said they support access to IVF.

However, the new report demonstrates how worried women are about not having that access. Ninety percent of the women surveyed said they were worried about fertility treatments—like egg freezing and IVF—becoming more restricted than they are now.

According to the new report, abortion care and IVF are far more difficult to separate since the Supreme Court ruling against Roe v. Wade. It’s not just abortion that has become stigmatized, but other forms of reproductive care, too. 

Dr. Roohi Jeelani, reproductive endocrinologist and chief medical officer for growth at Kindbody—who worked on the new report—tells Fast Company that was the case when Alabama’s Supreme Court decided to recognize embryos as legal persons. Jeelani says, “As we saw in Alabama’s Supreme Court decision, reproductive healthcare access can change and shut down treatment at a moment’s notice.”

“Legislation that subjects embryos to legal scrutiny at the state level, like we saw in Alabama, has created fear and anxiety among IVF patients, and women nationwide, about the prospect of not having the ability to make decisions about their reproductive futures,” she adds.

High costs, long wait times, farther distances

One notable worry that could stand in the way of access is more oversight on medical professionals that may make it harder for them “to provide IVF care without legal risks,” Jeelani further explains.

Women would jump through hoops to get that care, however: 41% of survey respondents indicated that they would change jobs in favor of a position that offered a travel benefit for them to receive fertility treatment. And 50% said that if their home state restricted access to egg freezing or IVF, they would travel out of state for the treatment. 

Still, travel is financially challenging for so many Americans. On its own, IVF is expensive. “The majority of people do not have healthcare benefits that cover fertility treatments, and costs can range up to $20,000 per cycle (including medication),” Jeelani says, and many women require multiple cycles. 

Jeelani also says that high costs and long wait times plague those who live in states with fewer clinics, and worse, some live where there are no clinics at all.

Meanwhile, the LGBTQ+ community faces even greater barriers to fertility care access. “Insurance rarely covers fertility treatments, and when it does, it excludes the LGBTQ+ community who don’t meet the definition of infertility,” Jeelani says. “Any additional restrictions to IVF access will create further barriers to LGBTQ+ family building.”

Overall, worries about reproductive care are weighing heavily on women. Thirty-eight percent of survey respondents said that recent changes to healthcare policies have caused them personal anxiety, which is unsurprising, especially as we’re hearing about women who have now died as a result of not being able to access lifesaving abortions. Women rightly worry about not being able to access care that could not only help them get pregnant, but also save their life if needed.

Still, given that a growing number of women are seeking fertility treatment in the United States, the issue isn’t just one that women are worried about in an abstract sense—they’re personally invested. They say if their own access becomes restricted, they are ready to take political action (49%), relocate to a state where they can get access (24%), or even pursue legal action against the restrictions (17%). But no matter what other actions they take, they’re certainly going to be thinking about it at their polling stations on Election Day.

Americans who think of petrified hot dogs, frozen burritos and salty snacks when they imagine getting food at a gas station or truck stop may be pleasantly surprised during their next road trip: U.S. convenience stores are offering them more and better—though not necessarily healthier—choices.

From 7-Eleven to regional chains like QuikTrip, the operators of c-stores, as they’re known in the trade, are looking overseas for grab-and-go inspiration, adding sit-down seating at some locations, expanding their coffee menus to rival Starbucks and experimenting with made-to-order meals for busy families.

The moves are happening as convenience stores seek ways to offset slowing sales of cigarettes, maps and soft drinks. By tempting customers’ palates with fresh deli sandwiches and build-your-own burgers, the humble food marts want to become an alternative to fast-food restaurants for busy Americans who crave easy, interesting and less expensive eating options.

“It has been a decades-long journey to go from food that was perceived as desperation to destination,” Jeff Lenard, vice president of strategic industry initiatives for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said.

Once known for breakfast and lunch, convenience chains like Wawa, with more than 1,000 East Coast locations, as well as small operators like York, Pennsylvania-based Rutter’s, have moved into dinner time with soup, chicken and fish dishes. Rutter’s, which operates 90 stores, plans a new store format with expanded seating as it adds 50 new locations in the next five years.

Casey’s General Stores, the nation’s third-largest convenience store operator with 2,500 outlets mostly in the Midwest and the South, introduced warm chicken, pork and hamburger sandwiches on brioche-style buns this year. The company, already known for serving pizza that customers enjoy, created a limited-time menu that included pies and sliders made with smoked pulled pork, barbecue sauce and pickles.

“We really are approaching this like a restaurant as we always have, but more so now,” Carrie Stojack, the Iowa-based chain’s vice president of brand and strategic insights, said. “Prices have gotten really high. So what’s happening is that convenience stores are becoming a real viable option for guests.”

In keeping with their quest, convenience stores are expanding delivery services to build on a customer base they found during the COVID-19 pandemic. 7-Eleven plans to take its 7Now delivery app nationwide, allowing users to have pizza, the chain’s signature Slurpees and thousands of other items brought to their doors.

The nation’s largest convenience store chain, owned by Japanese company Seven & i Holdings, offers select Japanese items like chicken teriyaki, rice balls, miso ramen and sweet chili crisp wings at some U.S. locations and at its recently acquired Speedway and Stripes stores. Visitors to Japan and Hawaii often respond with envy and astonishment when they taste what’s on offer at a 7-Eleven in Tokyo or Honolulu.

The chain’s North American subsidiary said it works with some of the same food manufacturers and commissaries that serve Seven-Eleven Japan. That includes Warabeya, which is expanding its U.S operations to help deliver fresh food to stores and provide an assortment of offerings to suit regional tastes.

“Our team draws inspiration from around the world to introduce new items like mangonada donuts with Tajín, barbecue pork sliders, chicken curry bowls and everything breakfast sandwiches,” the subsidiary said in a statement after declining interview requests.

Seven & i Holdings disclosed earlier this month plans to close 444 U.S. locations amid slowing sales, inflationary pressures and an accelerated decline in cigarette purchases. The company also is fielding a buyout offer from Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Canadian owner of the Circle K convenience stores.

Appealing convenience store food isn’t entirely new and has varied widely by region. Buc-ee’s, the Texas-born chain with 50 stores in the South, has a cult following among fans who regularly stop for breakfast tacos and snacks like caramel-coat corn puffs called Beaver Nuggets.

Pennsylvania residents, meanwhile, happily debate the relative culinary merits of the food from Wawa (Try the Gobbler, a hot turkey sandwich with stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce, they advise), Sheetz (the expansive menu of hot and customizable food includes breakfast bagels and quesadillas) and Landhope Farms, beloved for its hand-dipped ice cream cones and milkshakes.

TikTok and YouTube videos of people eating nothing but convenience store food for a day or comparing the dishes from different chains have helped drive interest in food on the road.

Anderson Nguyen, 26, a TikTok content creator based in San Francisco, tried the chicken and macaroni and cheese from Krispy Krunchy Chicken, which operates most of its locations inside gas stations and convenience stores.

“I generally don’t buy too much stuff from these convenience stores,” Nguyen said. But he said his experience at Krispy Krunchy Chicken would make him reconsider.

The coronavirus created a unique role for the sector. Most restaurants closed temporarily at the height of the pandemic, while many convenience stores remained open.

Non-fuel sales at U.S. convenience stores increased 36% between pre-pandemic 2018 and last year, growing from $242 billion to almost $328 billion, according to a National Association of Convenience Stores analysis of sales data from roughly 20,000 locations. During the same period, cigarettes as a percentage of those sales fell from 31% to 20%.

In upping their food offerings, convenience stores now threaten to take business from fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s, which used summer deals to revive sales, experts said.

Jonathan Raduns, CEO of food merchandising at retail consultancy Merchandise Food LLC, did a spot check online of similar items offered at specific fast-food restaurants and convenience chains that showed convenience store food was actually cheaper.

For example, a large pepperoni pizza at a Casey’s in London, Ohio, cost $13.99 versus a similar version at a Domino’s, which cost $14.99. And a large coffee at convenience store chain Parker’s Kitchen in Savannah, Georgia, sold for $2.49 versus $3.48 for similar size at a Starbucks in the same area.

Virginia-based convenience chain Arko, which operates stores under such banners as 1-Stop and ExpressStop, has focused on being an affordable alternative. At the beginning of the year, it rolled out what it described as an “inflation-busting” 12-inch pizza that cost $4.99 for members of Arko’s free loyalty program and $7.99 for non-members.

“It took us months to come up with good quality and something people can actually afford,” Arko Corp. CEO Arie Kotler said.

Nutritionists and organizations like the American Heart Association encourage service station retailers to focus on fruit and other fresh food that’s healthy.

Kristen Lorenz, a registered dietitian with a private practice in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said convenience food operators have been adding healthier options like lettuce wraps and yogurt parfaits. Previously, the prepared food consisted of meat on a roller and pizza that looked “dry and wrinkly.”

Among Lorenz’s favorites: customized sandwiches at Sheetz and Wawa.

“Everyone has to get gas and everyone has to eat,” she said. “So offering a variety of healthy choices that Americans can choose from is good. And what’s great about these stores is they still have the traditional items that can make a road trip fun. You could get a small bag of chips.”

—Anne D’Innocenzio, Associated Press business writer

AP Food Writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to the report.

Manhattan’s famed luxury store row Fifth Avenue is in line for a major makeover.

New York City officials unveiled a plan this week to transform a central portion of the thoroughfare between Bryant Park and Central Park into a more pedestrian-centered boulevard.

They propose doubling the size of sidewalks, reducing traffic lanes from five to three, as well as adding seating areas and hundreds of trees and planters, among other improvements.

The vision is to emulate iconic strolling and shopping boulevards such as the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

“As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of one of the most famous streets in the world, New Yorkers can look forward to a brand-new Fifth Avenue that will return the street to its former glory as a pedestrian boulevard,” Madelyn Wils, interim president of the Fifth Avenue Association, which runs the local business improvement district, said in a statement. “Reversing the century-old trend of putting cars first, this visionary design will transform our overcrowded avenue into a spacious and green corridor for shoppers and workers, visitors and New Yorkers, and everyone on Fifth.”

The plan would cost more than $350 million and be paid through a mix of public and private financing, according to Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and the Future of Fifth Partnership.

Officials said the project represents the avenue’s first major redesign and could pay for itself in less than five years through increased property and sales tax revenue.

But some transit advocates have voiced concerns, saying the plan does not give enough consideration to the needs of the public bus system or the city’s many cyclists.

A public meeting will be held later this month on the plan, and construction could begin in 2028.

Officials say Fifth Avenue is roughly 100 feet wide, with just two 23-foot sidewalks, even though pedestrians make up 70% of all traffic on the corridor.

Some 5,500 pedestrians traverse its blocks on average each hour, a number that swells to 23,000 people an hour during the holidays, officials said.

“People across the globe identify Fifth Avenue as a premier destination for strolling and shopping,” Meera Joshi, the city’s deputy mayor for operations, said in a statement. “But its larger-than-life reputation means that its sidewalks have reached their capacity, hosting more people per hour in peak seasons than Madison Square Garden.”

The Fifth Avenue plan was among other ambitious plans for roadways city officials revealed this week.

They also proposed capping stretches of the Cross Bronx Expressway, a major highway that cuts through the borough of the Bronx.

City officials said the proposals would build parks and greenspaces atop the covered highway, helping restore urban neighborhoods hollowed out by the expansion of the national highway system and the development of suburbs.

“This is a historic opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and reconnect communities once again,” Joshi said.

—Philip Marcelo, Associated Press

After concern mounted earlier this month that Spirit Airlines was set to announce bankruptcy, the company has lived to see another day in the sky—for now.

On October 4, shares of Spirit Airlines crashed in response to a Wall Street Journal report that the company was discussing a potential bankruptcy filing. Today, though, Spirit’s stock is back up after the airline submitted an 8-K filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late Friday, which clarifies that it’s not going bankrupt just yet. 

Per the filing, Spirit has extended the deadline on its existing debt refinancing plan with credit card processors Visa and Mastercard from today to December 23. That’s after the company already postponed the original deadline (which was set for this past September) once before. The SEC filing also notes that Spirit borrowed all $300 million of a revolving credit line, and now “expects to end the year 2024 with over $1 billion of liquidity.”

More turbulence ahead?

While Spirit has avoided filing for bankruptcy thus far, the company is certainly not out of the woods yet. The low-cost carrier is currently saddled with over $3 billion in debt after failing to turn an annual profit since before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the WSJ. To make matters worse, $1.1 billion in secured bonds are due in less than a year. 

On top of its existing debt problem, Spirit is also reeling from a failed deal earlier this year. The airline was set to be acquired by JetBlue, a merger that would’ve helped to ease its financial woes. In March 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) challenged the acquisition, alleging that it would reduce competition and harm the price of tickets. Then, this January, a federal judge ruled on the side of the DOJ, blocking the deal from moving forward. Since that time, Spirit’s shares have fallen by around 90%. 

To mitigate its tenuous financial situation, Spirit has cut dozens of routes for the upcoming months of November and December, as well as furloughing 186 pilots back in September.

Fast Company reached out to Spirit for comment and will update this post if we hear back.

U.S. farmers are harvesting two of the largest corn and soybean crops in history at the fastest pace in years, straining their physical capabilities and their grain storage capacity.

The massive influx of crops is testing growers who are already grappling with grain prices near four-year lows, stiff competition for global export sales and farm incomes that are down 23% from a record high just two years ago.

Many Midwestern farmers still have grain left in storage from 2023, after they refused to sell a record corn crop due to low prices. Now, dry weather is accelerating this year’s harvests and forcing grain handlers in some areas to store corn outside, rather than in storage bins.

“It has been fast and furious,” Brent Johnson, a corn and soybean farmer in Ashland, Illinois, said of harvesting.

Weeks of warm and dry weather across the Corn Belt this autumn sped up crop maturity and enabled combines to keep rolling. As a result, farmers harvested 47% of the country’s second biggest corn crop in history by Oct. 13, topping the five-year average of 39%, according to U.S. data.

The harvest of the record-large soybean crop was 67% complete by Oct. 13, the fastest pace since 2012, when a major drought limited production.

Jeff O’Connor, who grows corn and soybeans near Kankakee, Illinois, said his employees only had a couple of half-days off to rest in the past month due to rapid harvesting.

“My people and equipment would like a break,” he said.

As soy harvesting winds down, farmers are moving on to corn, which typically yields more than three times as much grain per acre than soybeans. At some Midwest elevators, the flow of corn from the fields has been filling up storage, causing long lines of trucks waiting to dump their loads.

In Shell Rock, Iowa, ethanol producer POET is storing corn on the ground, local farmer Caleb Hamer said, adding that he dumped some of his harvest on a pile that looked like it held 1.5 million bushels.

“We are harvesting a crop too fast for our storage infrastructure. That’s the biggest thing,” said Chad Henderson, founder of Wisconsin-based Prime Agricultural Consultants.

Quick harvesting and localized storage squeezes are forcing farmers to consider selling some crops for less than it cost to produce them. Yet corn futures prices are signaling they should hold the grain for a few months, if possible.

On the Chicago Board of Trade, benchmark December corn futures were trading at a roughly 22-cent discount to the May 2025 contract. That means farmers could earn 22 cents a bushel by selling their corn for deferred delivery in May.

Still, growers should not store their harvest without booking any sales and risk a deeper market downturn, CoBank economist Tanner Ehmke said.

Chris Gibbs, who grows corn and soybeans in Ohio, said he has not made any advance deals to sell his autumn harvests for the first time in 48 years of farming.

“My marketing plan is to keep my head down and wait for an opportunity to come along, which is a very poor plan,” Gibbs said.

—Julie Ingwersen and Heather Schlitz, Reuters

It’s been a long goodbye for retailer BuyBuy Baby, which once again is closing all its stores just a year after declaring bankruptcy. The company said it’s shifting to online-only and is shuttering all 10 remaining locations before the end of the year.

“[We are] transforming into a digital-first brand, focusing all our energy on providing an exceptional online shopping experience,” the baby-focused retailer said in a statement on its website. “This decision comes after listening closely to you, our incredible customers, and our valued partners. Your feedback has been invaluable in shaping this new chapter.”

BuyBuy Baby, which sells baby gear, furniture, clothes, and toys, added it was a “difficult decision and wasn’t a choice we took lightly.”

All in-store sales are now final. Customers can still use gift cards at store locations until October 31. After that, gift cards must be redeemed online at buybuybaby.com.

Which store locations are closing?

Here are the 10 remaining stores, which are located from Massachusetts to Virginia:

• Braintree, MA
• Scarsdale, NY 
• Bridgewater, NJ
• Cherry Hill, NJ
• Iselin, NJ
• Paramus, NJ 
• Rockville, MD
• Christiana, DE
• West Hartford, CT
• Springfield, VA

How did this happen?

Last year, BuyBuy Baby was forced to shutter about 120 brick-and-mortar stores as part of parent company Bed Bath & Beyond’s ongoing bankruptcy liquidation. It spun off BuyBuy Baby’s intellectual property and trademark rights to Dream On Me Industries for $15.5 million, which hoped to re-open 100 BuyBuy Baby stores. (Clearly, it was unable to make that dream come true.)

Just as BuyBuy Baby is closing down, Bed Bath & Beyond kitchen, bath, and bedroom products are returning to stores. Bed Bath & Beyond products will be coming to 102 locations of the Container Store, the retailer said.

Is all of this sounding familiar? BuyBuy Baby’s situation is quite similar to what happened to Babies “R” Us, after its parent company Toys “R” Us went out of business. Like BuyBuy Baby, Babies “R” Us had a failed in-store comeback, which ultimately resulted in Kohl’s selling its baby-focused products in its 200 stores.

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Many housing markets across the country have softened this year. As strained affordability suppresses housing demand, and homes sit on the market longer, active inventory in most housing markets is rising year-over-year.

This fall, we’re seeing some softening in home price growth that goes beyond normal seasonality. According to the Zillow Home Value Index, U.S. home prices fell 0.2% month-over-month between August 2024 and September 2024. From a historical perspective, that is fairly soft for this time of year, which is near the start of the seasonally soft fall and winter months. August to September has averaged a 0.2% month-over-month increase since 2000.

This aggregated national housing market softening is regionally concentrated.

Housing markets including Southern California, the Northeast, and the Midwest—where there is low active housing inventory and prices are still up a solid amount year-over-year—are pretty much done posting gains for the 2024 calendar year. However, month-over-month price growth is likely to return in those places come spring 2025.

On the other side, some regional housing markets in states such as Texas, Florida, and Louisiana, where inventory has risen above pre-pandemic 2019 levels, are experiencing mild home price corrections. Many of these markets in correction mode were showing very low or flat price increases during the seasonally stronger spring and summer months. However, now that this period has passed, some Southwest and Southeast markets are starting to post price declines.

Among the nation’s 50 largest metro area housing markets, these six markets have seen outright year-over-year home price declines over the past 12 months: 

1. New Orleans, LA: -4.0%
2. Austin, TX: -4.0%
3. San Antonio, TX: -2.7%
4. Tampa, FL: -0.5%
5. Jacksonville, FL: -0.3%
6. Dallas, TX: -0.3%

The map below shows year-over-year home price changes across all the nation’s major metro and micro areas. 

The trend is clear: The biggest housing market shift—toward cooling—is occurring in markets around the Gulf. In many of these areas, pandemic migration has slowed, home prices are stretched compared to local incomes, homebuilders have a large presence with new supply hitting the market, and home insurance costs have spiked.

After initially saying he planned to retire (again) at the end of 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger extended that deadline to 2026 last year. And don’t expect to hear much about who will replace him in that role before that time.

Disney, on Monday, announced it would name Iger’s successor in early 2026, which is later than many observers were expecting. That will give the board extra time to vet candidates, something that could prove beneficial after what happened with the selection of Bob Chapek as CEO in 2020. (The board fired Chapek two years later, and Bob Iger returned to the role, saying one of his goals would be to find a suitable successor.)

James Gorman, who was named the new chairman of the board at Disney, made the announcement on Monday, saying in a statement, “A critical priority before us is to appoint a new CEO, which we now expect to announce in early 2026. This timing reflects the progress the Succession Planning Committee and the board are making, and will allow ample time for a successful transition before the conclusion of Bob Iger’s contract in December 2026.” 

Who will take over the entertainment giant is still a mystery—and there’s always the possibility of a wild-card candidate coming in from outside the company. (It’s also worth noting that Iger delayed his departure three times in his first tenure as CEO from 2005 to 2020.) That said, Iger’s four direct reports have all reportedly met with the succession committee, making each a leading candidate for the job. Here’s a look at who’s who.

Alan Bergman

As cochair of Disney Entertainment, Bergman oversees the company’s media and content business, specifically Disney Animation, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios, and Searchlight. He also is in charge of the group behind the company’s live theatrical productions.

He joined Disney in 1996 and has held a number of senior leadership roles at Walt Disney Studios, helping to integrate several major acquisitions, including Pixar, Marvel, and Fox. His close ties with Hollywood (he represents the company on the Motion Picture Association board of directors and is a member of both the Television Academy and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) could work in his favor, as Iger has always taken pride in his relationship with Hollywood power players and stars.

Josh D’Amaro

Second to Bob Iger, D’Amaro is one of the most public faces for the company, making him a strong candidate for the CEO job. As chairman of Disney Experiences, D’Amaro oversees the company’s theme parks and Walt Disney Imagineering, which is the creative lifeblood behind the rides and other activities. He also is in charge of the company’s cruise line, which currently has five ships in its fleet, with four more on the way, and Disney Consumer Products. All totaled, he heads a team of 180,000 employees and is leading the company’s 10-year, $60-billion expansion of park attractions, new lands, and more.

D’Amaro, who often appears alongside Iger at major events, joined Disney in 1998, working at the Disneyland Resort. He was in charge of the reimagination of Epcot and has previously served as CFO for Disney Consumer Products Global Licensing, among other roles, giving him a solid financial background as well as a strong working knowledge of one of the company’s most important divisions. (Chapek, it’s worth noting, also ran the parks division before he was named CEO, which could possibly work against D’Amaro.)

Jimmy Pitaro

Pitaro is Disney’s go-to person on sports. The chairman of ESPN, he handles the company’s sports content portfolio and is a key player behind the upcoming streaming service that will include content from ESPN, Fox, and TNT. That channel could prove to be a significant revenue generator for Disney, given the growing number of leagues that are offering streaming exclusives, but won’t do so in the immediate future as a federal judge has temporarily blocked the service. (Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery have appealed that ruling.) Before making the jump over to ESPN, Pitaro was chairman of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media.

Pitaro joined Disney in 2010 as copresident of Disney Interactive, the company’s gaming division. Prior to that he was head of media at Yahoo, where he guided strategy for Yahoo Sports and Yahoo Music.

Dana Walden

Walden serves as cochair of Disney Entertainment with Bergman. Her focus, however, is primarily on linear television, including ABC, FX, National Geographic, and Disney Branded television as well as Disney Television Studios. She has greenlit programs including The Handmaid’s Tale, Only Murders in the Building, 24, Bluey, and Shogun.

Variety has written that Walden has the leading edge in the race for CEO (as has CNBC), describing her as a “spiritual successor” for Bob Iger. Working against her, though, is her lack of experience with the parks, film, and cruise divisions, which are all critical to the company. Her friendship with Kamala Harris could also hurt her chances, given the company’s recent pains to avoid any political entanglements after its long and very public battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. If she is chosen as CEO, however, she would be the company’s first female leader in its 100-year history.

Asking for time off on short notice can be awkward, but sometimes circumstances are out of our control. Sometimes, taking a day off on short notice is the only option. 

There are many reasons you might need a day off with short notice. Here’s how you can approach the subject with your boss without ruffling any feathers.

Reasons to ask for time off on short notice

Taking time off used to be, and often still is, looked down upon. One survey found that 62% of Americans still believe that their boss would judge them if they requested time off for mental health care. 

However, many organizations are learning the perks of a more flexible attendance policy. This is partially because of evolving business practices like remote work and four-day workweeks, but it’s also because the pandemic changed the way many people feel about their jobs. 

Of course, it’s best to plan time off ahead of time, but that’s not always possible. And these days, many people understand that workers need time off for a variety of reasons, not all of which come with advance notice. 

A few of the many reasons someone needs to take a day off on short notice include: 

• Medical emergencies
• Family emergencies
• Doctors appointments
• Funerals
• Natural disasters
• Mental health crises
• Unexpected childcare or transportation issues
• Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities (such as a concert or a great job interview)

Keep in mind that even if you know your reason for taking time off is legitimate, you don’t always need to tell anyone why you’re taking off (especially if it’s for a job interview or something private).  

How to ask for time off on short notice

Here are a few steps to follow when asking for time off at the last minute:

1. Let your boss know ASAP

Life doesn’t always happen according to the company calendar. Inevitably, things will come up on short notice. But that doesn’t mean you should wait till the very last minute to let your boss know that you need time off. 

For best results—to avoid friction and improve your chances of using PTO without consequence—let your boss know as soon as possible when surprise events come up. You can expect better outcomes the sooner you can communicate.

2. Be specific about what you’re asking for.

Requesting time off on short notice is not the time to be vague. Your boss can’t read your mind and might be too busy to inquire about a cryptic request for “some time off next week.” It’s best that you let your boss know the specific day or days you need off and when you expect to return. 

And you don’t need to give all the details. For example, if you’re going to a doctor’s appointment, you don’t have to divulge your entire medical history. Just give them enough information so they have some foundation for your request. And sometimes, “a personal matter” or “family emergency” is more than enough!

3. Put it in writing.

Even last-minute time-off requests should be submitted in writing. It helps to have your request in writing so that HR can keep track of your time off, so that your boss can have your responsibilities covered, and so that you have a record of the request in case you need receipts later. 

A written letter is probably too formal and inefficient, but an email, Slack, or text should be sufficient. Generally speaking, email is more formal than text messages. However, if you are running out of time to inform your boss, a text may be acceptable. 

4. Keep it professional.

Sometimes when a person needs time off on short notice, it can be emotional: a death in the family, receiving challenging news, and rapid life changes can all cause us to act out of the ordinary. So, be mindful of your tone when sending your time-off request, even if things are feeling out of control. No matter how close you consider your relationship with your boss, it’s important to maintain professionalism—Though you don’t need to go too far and pretend you have no emotions at all! 

5. Consider your coworkers.

Don’t forget about your coworkers who may have to pick up the slack while you’re away. Thank those who cover for you, and plan to put in some extra effort after your return. 

Before your time off, see if you can work ahead so your team isn’t struggling during your absence. But if there isn’t enough time, just be sure to be appreciative and pay it forward when you can. For example, offer to take on some extra work for a colleague when they need to take time off in the future.

Time-off Request Email Templates

Not sure how to form the right words? Here are three templates to assist you in your short-notice time-off request. You can tweak them to your specific situation. For example, in some work environments, “requesting” time off isn’t necessary (especially if it’ll only be a day), and you just need to state that you’ll be using PTO, sick time, and or personal days, or you may choose to remove longer explanations for your time off if you’ve already spoken directly to your boss. 

Time-off Request Template 1

Hello [boss’s name],

I want to request time off for [specific dates/times]. The reason is [short one sentence explanation].

I appreciate your taking this into consideration on such short notice. My team is working on [this assignment] with a tentative delivery date of [date] even with my absence. I’m happy to discuss more details if you’d like. 

Thanks,

[your name]

Time-off Request Template 2

Dear [boss’s name],

I am writing to request [specific dates] off. I haven’t used any of my PTO this year, and I would appreciate it if we could make this work. 

I have already discussed with [colleague’s name] about taking over [time-sensitive job duties]. They are up to the task, and I am confident they can handle things while I’m gone. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to talk about this in further detail at your request.

Regards,

[your name]

Time-off Request Template 3

This template is best for very last minute requests. If the day you’re requesting off is today or tomorrow, make sure that is also clear in your email in addition to including the specific dates you’ll be out.

Hello [boss’s name],

I am writing to request time off on [specific dates] because of [a death in the family/family emergency/situation at home]. I apologize for the short notice and greatly appreciate your consideration on this matter. 

Let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to make up for the time that I’m gone. 

Thank you,

[your name]

Example Time-Off Request Emails

Example Email #1:

Here’s an example of a morning-of time-off request using one of the templates above:

Hello Laura,

I am writing to let you know I’ll be out today (November 12) due to a family emergency. I apologize for the short notice and greatly appreciate your consideration on this matter. 

Let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to make up for the time that I’m gone. 

Thank you,

Tim

Example Email #2:

Here’s a longer request that includes a bit more detail.

Hello Orr,

I want to request time off for June 12-15 (Monday through Wednesday of next week). There was death in my husband’s family and we’ll be traveling out of state for the funeral.

I appreciate your taking this into consideration on such short notice. My team is working on the Pluto campaign with a tentative delivery date of June 17 even with my absence and I’ve let them know what to do while I’m gone. I’m happy to discuss more details if you’d like. 

Thanks,
Kent

Everyone deserves to have time off. Of course, asking for it on short notice can be uncomfortable, and may put your coworkers in a bind, but there are ways to make taking time off easier for everyone.

Remember to let your supervisors know as soon as you are able that you’ll need the time off, be specific about the days and times you would need to be away, put your request in writing so that there is a concrete record of your request, maintain your professionalism, and make up for the time that you are gone. These steps can help you take time off when you need it—and help you take care of your health, your family, and your career.

Regina Borsellino also contributed writing, reporting, and/or advice to this article and a previous version. 

Bird flu is presumed to have infected four poultry workers in Washington State, making it the sixth U.S. state to identify human cases this year, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

Washington is investigating other possible exposures and has tested 25 people, the department said Monday.

The new cases fuel growing concern among public health experts, as the virus’ jump to dairy cattle this year and infections of farm workers have worried scientists and federal officials about the risks to humans.

Officials in California and Washington have said they are seeking to administer seasonal flu vaccines to farm workers in an effort to reduce their risk of being infected with both bird flu and seasonal influenza.

Infections with both types of virus simultaneously could increase the risk of changes that could make bird flu spread more easily in people and potentially cause a pandemic, virologists say.

“We don’t have evidence yet of transmission between people,” said Roberto Bonaccorso, spokesperson for Washington’s health department.

Washington sent samples to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for final confirmation and analysis, the department reported on Sunday. The CDC had no immediate comment on Monday.

The four tested presumptively positive after working at a commercial egg farm infected by the virus, Washington’s health department said. They experienced mild symptoms and were given antiviral medication, the department said, adding that their use of protective gear was inconsistent.

About 800,000 chickens were culled at the egg farm after birds tested positive in Washington’s first outbreak this year, state officials said. The workers were removing carcasses and litter and cleaning the facilities where chickens were culled, according to the health department.

Nationwide, 27 people had tested positive in 2024 before the cases in Washington, as the virus has spread to poultry farms and, for the first time, to dairy herds across the country. All but one of the people had known exposure to infected poultry or dairy cattle.

More than 100 million U.S. chickens, turkeys and other birds have been eliminated by the virus since the nation’s outbreak began in 2022.

—Tom Polansek, Reuters

Rupert Murdoch’s Dow Jones, which is the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post both sued AI search startup Perplexity on Monday for infringing copyrighted content.

The News Corp.-owned companies accused Perplexity of a “massive amount of illegal copying” of their work. It marks the latest lawsuit in an ongoing battle between tech giants and media companies over the unapproved use of copyrighted content to train and build AI systems.

The New York Times last week sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist notice that demanded the company stop accessing and using its content. Forbes and Condé Nast have also threatened legal action against the firm.

“This suit is brought by news publishers who seek redress for Perplexity’s brazen scheme to compete for readers while simultaneously free riding on the valuable content the publishers produce,” Monday’s lawsuit stated.

Perplexity sources information from webpages and summarizes the results directly within its platform, as it works to take on the search engine market. The company is reportedly seeking to more than double its valuation to beyond $8 billion in its next funding round. It started the year with a $520 million valuation. A Perplexity spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs argued that Perplexity copies massive amounts of content and uses that information to “generate responses to users’ queries that are intended to and do act as a substitute for news and other information websites.”

The lawsuit is one of two paths that publishers are taking during this massive wave of AI-generated content. The other path comes through licensing deals. Perplexity debuted a revenue-sharing model for publishers earlier this year, announcing that Fortune, Time, and Entrepreneur joined the program.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Nike have renewed their global outfitting, merchandising, marketing, and content partnership for another 12 years. That original deal, struck in 2015 for a reported $1 billion, made Nike the official designer and manufacturer of NBA, WNBA, and G League uniforms, on-court apparel, and fan apparel starting with the 2017-2018 season. Nike would not disclose the financial terms of the new partnership.

Nike first partnered with the NBA in 1992, has been a WNBA marketing partner since its inception in 1997, and a marketing partner of the NBA G League since 2017. In 2022, Nike was part of the $75 million first-ever capital raise by the WNBA.

Given its deep ties and investment, the renewal was pretty much a no-brainer for both sides.

“It was a pretty easy conversation,” says Sal LaRocca, the NBA’s president of global partnerships, told Fast Company. “We share the same vision for the global growth of basketball among boys and girls. Nike’s investment in the NBA, WNBA, and G League, as well as the game globally, really made this an easy decision. We’re really excited for what the next 12 years will hold.”

Nike’s vice president of global athlete sports marketing Tanya Hvizdak, says the decision was equally easy on the swoosh side. “For us, the power of the NBA and our brand, it’s one of the biggest reasons for the growth of the game, and one of the biggest accelerants for us as we look towards the future,” she says.

What’s new

According to Nike and the league, the renewal deal includes new content initiatives, a comprehensive commitment to grassroots basketball, as well as the continued development of a joint membership program that will give fans distinctive products, content, and experiences.

Nike, along with the NBA and WNBA, will be introducing more programs and resources to make best-in-class youth basketball more accessible and scalable, prioritizing broad access to coaching, training, on-court development curriculum, and playing standards to youth of all backgrounds and abilities. The brands will also be collaborating to enhance player, coach, and program-development opportunities across Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) through expanded leadership, player health, and on-court development programming.

There is also a distinct emphasis on improving, developing, branding, and scaling youth basketball programming, such as Jr. NBA, Basketball Without Borders (BWB), and Her Time to Play.

LaRocca says that the investments to grow the game through more youth programs around the world is the most significant evolution from the existing partnership deal. “We’re obviously two commercial organizations; but fundamentally, in order to be successful we need to continue to grow the game,“ says LaRocca. “Nike’s interest in and commitment to doing that lays a tremendous foundation for the next 12 years. We didn’t have as high an emphasis on that particular aspect in our previous deal.“

The NBA has put a high priority on international growth. The past six league MVP trophies have been won by players not born in the U.S.—Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. And commissioner Adam Silver said in August that the league has had discussions to start a new league in Europe.

“The globalization of the game will continue to be incredibly important,” says Hvizdak. “Participation is far beyond our borders. So our investment in that, and growing youth basketball, is a significant piece of what you’re going to see in this new deal.”

Facebook owner Meta said on Friday it was releasing a batch of new AI models from its research division, including a “Self-Taught Evaluator” that may offer a path toward less human involvement in the AI development process.

The release follows Meta’s introduction of the tool in an August paper, which detailed how it relies upon the same “chain of thought” technique used by OpenAI’s recently released o1 models to get it to make reliable judgments about models’ responses.

That technique involves breaking down complex problems into smaller logical steps and appears to improve the accuracy of responses on challenging problems in subjects like science, coding and math.

Meta’s researchers used entirely AI-generated data to train the evaluator model, eliminating human input at that stage as well.

The ability to use AI to evaluate AI reliably offers a glimpse at a possible pathway toward building autonomous AI agents that can learn from their own mistakes, two of the Meta researchers behind the project told Reuters.

Many in the AI field envision such agents as digital assistants intelligent enough to carry out a vast array of tasks without human intervention.

Self-improving models could cut out the need for an often expensive and inefficient process used today called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, which requires input from human annotators who must have specialized expertise to label data accurately and verify that answers to complex math and writing queries are correct.

“We hope, as AI becomes more and more super-human, that it will get better and better at checking its work, so that it will actually be better than the average human,” said Jason Weston, one of the researchers.

“The idea of being self-taught and able to self-evaluate is basically crucial to the idea of getting to this sort of super-human level of AI,” he said.

Other companies including Google and Anthropic have also published research on the concept of RLAIF, or Reinforcement Learning from AI Feedback. Unlike Meta, however, those companies tend not to release their models for public use.

Other AI tools released by Meta on Friday included an update to the company’s image-identification Segment Anything model, a tool that speeds up LLM response generation times and datasets that can be used to aid the discovery of new inorganic materials.

—Katie Paul, Reuters

The Biden administration said Monday that it would provide up to $325 million to Hemlock Semiconductor for a new factory, a move that could help give Democrats a political edge in the swing state of Michigan ahead of election day.

The funding would support 180 manufacturing jobs in Saginaw County, where Republicans and Democrats were neck-and-neck for the past two presidential elections. There would also be construction jobs tied to the factory that would produce hyper-pure polysilicon, a building block for electronics and solar panels, among other technologies.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters that the funding came from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. It’s part of a broader industrial strategy that the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, supports, while Republican nominee Donald Trump, the former president, sees tariff hikes and income tax cuts as better to support manufacturing.

“What we’ve been able to do with the CHIPS Act is not just build a few new factories, but fundamentally revitalize the semiconductor ecosystem in our country with American workers,” Raimondo said. “All of this is because of the vision of the Biden-Harris administration.”

A senior administration official said the timing of the announcement reflected the negotiating process for reaching terms on the grant, rather than any political considerations. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the process.

After site work, Hemlock Semiconductor plans to begin construction in 2026 and then start production in 2028, the official said.

Running in 2016, Trump narrowly won Saginaw County and Michigan as a whole. But in 2020 against Biden, both Saginaw County and Michigan flipped to the Democrats.

This story corrects the day of the announcement to Monday, not Tuesday.

—Josh Boak, Associated Press

Artificial intelligence’s recent rise to the forefront of business has left most office workers wondering how often they should use the technology and whether a computer will eventually replace them.

Those were among the highlights of a recent study conducted by the workplace communications platform Slack. After conducting in-depth interviews with 5,000 desktop workers, Slack concluded there are five types of AI personalities in the workplace: “The Maximalist” who regularly uses AI on their jobs; “The Underground” who covertly uses AI; “The Rebel,” who abhors AI; “The Superfan” who is excited about AI but still hasn’t used it; and “The Observer” who is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Only 50% of the respondents fell under the Maximalist or Underground categories, posing a challenge for businesses that want their workers to embrace AI technology. The Associated Press recently discussed the excitement and tension surrounding AI at work with Christina Janzer, Slack’s senior vice president of research and analytics.

Q: What do you make about the wide range of perceptions about AI at work?

A: It shows people are experiencing AI in very different ways, so they have very different emotions about it. Understanding those emotions will help understand what is going to drive usage of AI. If people are feeling guilty or nervous about it, they are not going to use it. So we have to understand where people are, then point them toward learning to value this new technology.

Q: The Maximalist and The Underground both seem to be early adopters of AI at work, but what is different about their attitudes?

A: Maximalists are all in on AI. They are getting value out of it, they are excited about it, and they are actively sharing that they are using it, which is a really big driver for usage among others.

The Underground is the one that is really interesting to me because they are using it, but they are hiding it. There are different reasons for that. They are worried they are going to be seen as incompetent. They are worried that AI is going to be seen as cheating. And so with them, we have an opportunity to provide clear guidelines to help them know that AI usage is celebrated and encouraged. But right now they don’t have guidelines from their companies and they don’t feel particularly encouraged to use it.

Overall, there is more excitement about AI than not, so I think that’s great We just need to figure out how to harness that.

Q: What about the 19% of workers who fell under the Rebel description in Slack’s study?

A: Rebels tend to be women, which is really interesting. Three out of five rebels are women, which I obviously don’t like to see. Also, rebels tend to be older. At a high level, men are adopting the technology at higher rates than women.

Q: Why do you think more women than men are resisting AI?

A: Women are more likely to see AI as a threat, more likely to worry that AI is going to take over their jobs. To me, that points to women not feeling as trusted in the workplace as men do. If you feel trusted by your manager, you are more likely to experiment with AI. Women are reluctant to adopt a technology that might be seen as a replacement for them whereas men may have more confidence that isn’t going to happen because they feel more trusted.

Q: What are some of the things employers should be doing if they want their workers to embrace AI on the job?

A: We are seeing three out of five desk workers don’t even have clear guidelines with AI, because their companies just aren’t telling them anything, so that’s a huge opportunity.

Another opportunity to encourage AI usage in the open. If we can create a culture where it’s celebrated, where people can see the way people are using it, then they can know that it’s accepted and celebrated. Then they can be inspired.

The third thing is we have to create a culture of experimentation where people feel comfortable trying it out, testing it, getting comfortable with it because a lot of people just don’t know where to start. The reality is you can start small, you don’t have to completely change your job. Having AI write an email or summarize content is a great place to start so you can start to understand what this technology can do.

Q: Do you think the fears about people losing their jobs because of AI are warranted?

A: People with AI are going to replace people without AI.

—Michael Liedtke, Associated Press technology writer

North Carolina‘s Biltmore Estate will soon reopen after being forced to close when floodwaters pushed by Hurricane Helene devastated the area.

The popular tourist destination announced over the weekend that they plan to open and “celebrate the joy of the holiday season” on Nov. 2.

“For more than 125 years, Biltmore has been a witness to the resilience of this community,” the Asheville-based estate posted in a statement. “The compassion and resolve of our region have been rising every day from beneath the weight of this storm.”

Here are a few things to know:

Why did Biltmore close?

On Sept. 27, the remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed large swaths of the Southeast as flooding overwhelmed communities, swiped out roads and knocked out power for thousands. North Carolina’s largest mountain city was left largely isolated as many of the main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides.

Officials have warned that rebuilding after Helene will be lengthy and difficult. Helene first roared ashore in northern Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where to date nearly 250 deaths have been reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Western North Carolina was hit especially hard because that’s where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall. Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding.

It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.

What damage did Biltmore experience?

According to the Biltmore Estate, the 8,000-acre property was impacted very little by Hurricane Helene. Along with the Biltmore House, the estate includes a conservatory, winery, gardens and overnight properties, which received varying degrees of minimal or no damage.

Instead, some of the property’s more low-lying areas were the most impacted by the storm. Notably, the entrance to the Biltmore Estate experienced flooding and is currently undergoing “extensive repairs.” The estate’s website says the recovery effort will result in the removal of weakened poplar trees that lined the entrance gate.

Why is the Biltmore a tourist destination?

The Biltmore Estate was completed in 1895 during the nation’s Gilded Age. It was anchored by a 250-room French chateau built at the direction of George Vanderbilt and is the largest privately owned home in the United States.

Biltmore draws about 1.4 million visitors on average in a year and employs nearly 2,500 employees — all of whom were accounted for after the storm, according to the estate’s website. The estate is one of the largest employers in the Asheville area.

The mansion has rarely closed since opening to the public. When Biltmore laid off most its staff in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the estate said it was first time it was forced to close since World War II.

—Kimberlee Kruesi, Associated Press

Victims of Brazil’s worst environmental disaster took their case for compensation to a UK court Monday, almost nine years after tons of toxic mining waste poured into a major waterway, killing 19 people and devastating local communities.

The class action lawsuit at the High Court in London seeks an estimated 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in damages from the global mining giant BHP. That would make it the largest environmental payout ever, according to Pogust Goodhead, the law firm representing the plaintiffs.

BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where a tailings dam ruptured on Nov. 5, 2015, releasing enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil. The case was filed in Britain because one of BHP’s two main legal entities was based in London at the time.

“BHP is a polluter and must therefore pay,” attorney Alain Choo Choy said in written submissions.

BHP attorney Shaheed Fatima said in written submissions the claim has “no basis,” adding that BHP did not own or operate the dam and “had limited knowledge of the dam and no knowledge that its stability was compromised.”

The river, which the Krenak Indigenous people revere as a deity, was polluted so badly that it has yet to recover. The disaster killed 14 tons of freshwater fish and damaged 660 kilometers (410 miles) of the Doce River, according to a study by the University of Ulster.

When the dam known as Fundao broke, sludge washed over Bento Rodrigues, once a bustling village in Minas Gerais state. Now it resembles a ghost town.

A few white tiles are the only remnants of the house where Mônica dos Santos, 39, lived with her parents near the Catholic church that also was destroyed. She has become one of the principal activists seeking full reparations.

“It’s not just the destruction of Nov. 5. The destruction since, I often say, has been worse,” she said. Some survivors turned to alcohol, others to drugs. Personal relations were strained, sometimes to breaking point.

The trial comes days after BHP announced that the company and its partner in Samarco, Vale SA, were negotiating a settlement with public authorities in Brazil that could provide $31.7 billion for people, communities and the environment damaged.

Vale on Friday said the sum included $7.9 billion already paid, $18 billion to be paid in installments over 20 years to Brazil’s federal government, Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo states and municipalities, and $5.8 billion in “performance obligations” by Samarco, including individual compensation.

Last month, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told Radio Vitoriosa, a local station in Minas Gerais, that his administration aims to reach an agreement with the mining companies by the end of October. Claims were filed by Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecution Office and public authorities.

Melbourne, Australia-based BHP said it believes the UK action is unnecessary because it duplicates matters covered by reparation efforts and legal proceedings in Brazil, but said it would continue to defend it.

Pogust Goodhead said the potential settlement shouldn’t have any impact on the case.

“Such timing only proves that the companies responsible for Brazil’s biggest environmental disaster are determined to do everything they can to prevent the victims from seeking justice,” the firm said in a statement.

Survivors from Bento Rodrigues have moved to a new village of the same name a half-hour drive away. Colorful, multi-story houses line freshly paved streets.

Priscila Monteiro, 36, moved in three months ago but said she doesn’t feel at home.

“It feels like I’m just passing through and I’m going to go back home any minute,” she said.

Monteiro was pregnant when the dam broke on her birthday. She and her 2-year-old were pulled from the toxic slime and survived, but she had a miscarriage. Her 5-year-old niece, Emanuelle, died.

“For me, the day that was supposed to be a celebration has become a day of mourning, forever,” she said, crying.

Monteiro says she hopes the trial in London will lead to recognition of the damage.

“God put the people from London on our path because there is no justice in Brazil. Now our last hope is them,” she said.

—Danica Kirka, Associated Press

New GoFundMe tools will make it easier to circulate causes across online platforms in a push to cater toward younger generations.

The crowdfunding site hopes to meet digital natives in the online spaces where they frequently advocate, streamlining the donation experience to encourage more charity and connecting traditional nonprofits with a demographic that prefers direct contributions over institutional giving. Among the features rolling out this fall are fundraising widgets for video game streamers, personalized profiles to highlight users’ philanthropic interests and an integrated button on Instagram to donate.

“We play a really important role helping people ask for help and give help in the world,” GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan told The Associated Press. “We want to make sure that people can carry that with them, and communicate and express that, in the places where they spend time.”

The products reflect the for-profit company’s internal recognition that Gen Z’s habits make social media an untapped source to drive charitable contributions. Gen Z respondents ages 18-26 are much more likely than older people to regularly share causes or fundraisers on their accounts, according to a survey led this summer by GoFundMe. Half reported doing so at least once a week and 41% said social media content compelled them to research or support a cause.

GoFundMe allows users to create online fundraising pages where both their personal networks and benevolent strangers can help cover large costs with collective gifts. People turn to the platform for help affording basic needs like rent or unexpected emergencies like surgeries. The company collects a transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents for every donation.

It’s not the only player in this space. But GoFundMe, already the largest crowdfunding site with $30 billion generated since 2010, has recently moved to increase its influence in the philanthropic sector. It signed a deal in 2022 to acquire Classy, an online fundraising platform that facilitates giving specifically for nonprofits.

This latest announcement marks GoFundMe’s entrance into a market dominated by competitor Tiltify, which enables fundraising on virtual livestreams. On Monday, GoFundMe released in-video fundraising widgets for live streamers across platforms including Twitch and Instagram Live. A QR code brings viewers to the donation page and a tracker shows how close the campaign is to reaching its goal.

The moves also signal the continuation of GoFundMe’s attempts to better serve nonprofit partners in addition to everyday organizers.

A Meta partnership will launch Oct. 31 on Instagram for organizers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. GoFundMe promises a “seamless” integration of fundraisers on Instagram Stories and a “polished look” to help campaigns stand out.

Nonprofits will be able to nurture donor relationships further with identifying data on contributors who give through Instagram, according to a company spokesperson.

“It’s equally important for us to support nonprofit organizations who are often working on really big, big, deep structural issues,” Cadogan said.

The company is also building out user profiles. Starting Nov. 13, individuals and organizations can personalize their own accounts with more details about their giving.

The customizable pages can be made private. But Cadogan said the goal is to inspire others toward action through more public proclamations of users’ own charitable efforts. Organizers can pin a fundraiser or nonprofit to their page with a brief description about why the cause matters to them. Unique links will track collective impact with reminders of how many people gave money from a link on your profile.

If LinkedIn is the site where users highlight their professional side, Cadogan said he wants GoFundMe Profiles to be the site where people show “this is me as a person that does good in the world.”

“We hope that over time that becomes the place on the internet that you express your altruistic side of your identity,” he said.

Youth-facing organizations must follow young people to the platforms where they find community, according to Fast Forward Executive Director Shannon Farley. Her organization helps nonprofits scale their impact with software and she previously ran an online network of millennial philanthropists.

Online spaces provide a “real opportunity” for digital-first nonprofits, she said, but it’s harder for a “traditional, brick and mortar organization” to break into them.

“Social media is where young people and young donors live,” Farley said. “If you’re not going to the places where people are every day, you’re missing out on a whole group of people who could be backing your cause.”

—James Pollard, Associated Press

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

It’s not even Halloween yet, but retailers already have their sights firmly set on the holiday shopping season—their most important period of the year. It’s a season where retail giants—particularly Amazon, Walmart, and Target—compete fiercely against one another for consumers’ hard-earned dollars, which in recent years, have been stretched due to inflationary pressures.

One of those retail giants, Target Corporation, is wasting no time making its pitch for your dollars. Today the company announced that it is lowering prices on 2,000 items in time for the holiday shopping season. It’s also keeping the lowered prices it set for an additional 8,000 items over the summer period throughout the holiday period, too.

Or as Target boasts, it is offering lower prices on “more than 10,000 total items during the holidays” this year compared to last year.

Which items will be cheaper at Target this year?

The retailer has not provided a comprehensive list of lower-priced items, although it says that it includes many holiday essentials—things like toys, board games, snacks, beverages, cookies, and ice cream.

But Target has also lowered the prices on everyday essentials, too, including on products like toilet paper and perennial seasonal necessities like cough and cold medicine.

But just how big are the price drops? That, of course, depends on what product you are purchasing. Target did give several examples. For instance, a 24-count of up&up Daytime Cold and Flu Relief Softgels was $6.99, but is now $5.99—a savings of around 15%. Another example it gave was a roughly 20% savings on the Bluey Fire Truck toy, which is now $19.99 (previously $24.99).

“We know families are excited to celebrate the holidays, so Target is committed to helping them find joy without compromise—with great products across our assortment at even lower prices,” Rick Gomez, Target’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said in a release announcing the price drops.

Target says savings such as these will be found in most stores, on Target.com,  and in the Target app.

Target hopes consumers will start taking advantage of these price drops right away, but it may be beneficial to see how Walmart and Amazon respond to their competitor’s price drops in the weeks ahead as the holiday shopping season kicks into full gear.