It should be noted that the viability of the Gulf model has faced scrutiny in the past, particularly during the Covid pandemic, when several analysts indicated that airlines depending on long-distance routes and transit passengers, utilizing large aircraft fleets, were not sufficiently adaptable to changing conditions. However, the actual recovery was swift, with Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways all recording significant profits in recent years.
“If Guardian emitted a siren tuned to the speaker’s resonant frequency while a police car played the same tone beside it, Guardian would register about three times the loudness,” he said.
Seattle-founded BRINC manufactures drones that are now deployed in more than 900 U.S. municipalities — from Laredo, Texas, to Chattanooga, Tennessee — as components of the expanding “drone as first responder” (DFR) programs.
Typically, cities pay a few hundred thousand dollars annually for each drone—while deals can climb into the millions when jurisdictions buy more aircraft or add features. A year ago, Newport Beach, California, revealed a $2.17 million, five-year agreement with BRINC to acquire seven drones. (Per Forbes, BRINC was estimated to be worth roughly $480 million last year.)
An existing client, the Redmond Police Department in Washington state, told Ars that the new model represents a “completely new and different airframe.”
“This is a major advance in DFR innovation and potential,” Jill Green, a police spokesperson, wrote by email.
However, veteran drone observer and analyst Faine Greenwood was less impressed.
“Even if those assertions hold up (which I’m skeptical of currently), the gains in speed and battery life are only incremental compared with similar drone platforms,” Greenwood told Ars via email. “This isn’t a game-changer, and I don’t think it will alter the decision-making for police departments still wavering over drone adoption.”
Beyond improved efficiency, a nuclear-electric propulsion arrangement also benefits from using conventional plasma thrusters. Rather than relying on solar panels to power the thrusters’ xenon propellant, SR-1 will draw electricity from an onboard nuclear reactor.
“Our SR-1 nuclear program isn’t about going out and lobbying for billions to fund an entirely new mission,” Isaacman said. “Frankly, after roughly $20 billion in failed programs over time, we haven’t earned the right to do that. That’s why we’re leveraging hardware we already have—a reactor that’s largely built and fuel that’s mostly paid for over time.”
Credit:
Lanteris Space Systems
Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element, pictured under construction last year, will serve as the focal point of the SR-1 Freedom mission.
Credit:
Lanteris Space Systems
NASA officials did not reveal an estimated cost for the SR-1 mission.
“Once you demonstrate that nuclear propulsion works, then you can come back and perhaps request more [funding] down the line when you’ve shown it can be done,” Isaacman said.
“SR-1 Freedom mostly introduces a single new component, the reactor, onto a spacecraft bus that already exists,” Sinacore said. “The schedule must align with the next Mars launch window in December 2028. Orbital mechanics won’t negotiate, so the project’s scope has to conform to that deadline.”
Significant obstacles remain. Preparing any large space mission—particularly a novel nuclear propulsion demonstration—for launch in under three years will demand intense focus, resistance to mission creep, and near‑flawless execution. Sinacore outlined an aggressive timeline for SR-1, with mission design finished by June and large‑scale assembly beginning at the start of 2028. If the mission misses the late‑2028 launch opportunity, the next Earth‑Mars alignment won’t occur until early 2031.
“We’re not attempting to do everything,” Sinacore said. “We’re aiming to tackle the difficult task: operating a coupled nuclear reactor, power‑conversion system, and electric propulsion thruster assembly beyond Earth orbit for the first time.”
Although NASA will serve as the “prime integrator” for SR-1, launching radioactive fuel into space requires coordination with multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Energy. Any rocket chosen to carry a nuclear‑powered payload must receive special certification. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which NASA originally contracted to launch the Gateway core module, is undergoing a nuclear certification to launch NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan.
Everyone at the restaurant is ready to assist you in selecting the perfect bottle.
When Kirchen shut down for renovations, he boldly enlisted 56 team members (including bartenders, servers, and even line cooks) into a 10-week, beginner-oriented sommelier certification program. Everyone successfully completed it. All are now prepared to recommend pairings for each dish on the menu, which varies from hearty meats to seasonal pasta dishes. The success of this training initiative has led Disney to contemplate an expansion into Court of Master sommelier education at other upscale Disneyland dining establishments, such as Club 33 and Carthay Circle.
Not a fan of wine? They would love to change your perspective.
Even though Napa Rose already attracts a dedicated clientele of wine enthusiasts, two new patios overlooking the California Adventure park aim to attract park-goers who are less inclined towards wine.
“It’s crucial for us to listen and not to make it feel intimidating,” Kirchen states, noting that he views himself as a guide supporting guests’ personal wine explorations. To achieve that, he may inquire about diners’ favorite films, pop culture insights, and unforgettable meals — all elements that, he mentions, could reveal a person’s tastes. Accordingly, staff might ask about your preferred supermarket wine and present a more refined alternative. (They won’t judge you for enjoying Carlo Rossi jugs; I wouldn’t know why.)
Universal’s new Epic Universe elevates theme park cuisine to an unprecedented level.
California wineries take center stage
Kirchen aims not only to complement your meal with a delightful drink but also to share insights about the creators behind that drink. Drawing from his extensive travels to the state’s wine regions and encounters with producers at Disneyland, he has developed a database for staff that chronicles these narratives.
“What are their farming practices? Are they organic? Are they biodynamic?” Kirchen clarifies that factors ranging from rainfall to family legacy can impact how a guest selects their wine. He also recognizes how collaborating with a Disneyland venue can significantly impact his suppliers financially. “We’re fortunate to have the chance to support these winemakers we admire,” he remarks.
The chef’s table offers the premier experience
The enhanced selections extend beyond wine. At the bar, the cocktail program repurposes kitchen scraps, such as vodka-soaked strawberries turned into a fine powder. The sought-after chef’s table experience continues but is now available for online booking, increasing the opportunities for guests to secure one of these prized spots. As for the menu, Napa Rose’s kitchen serves far more than the usual theme park pretzel. The restaurant’s fan-favorite Smiling Tiger Salad is now reimagined as the Laughing Tiger, a spicy beef dish with coconut dressing, offered only on the lounge menu as a small bite instead of a full salad. On the main dining menu, the Wagyu steak has emerged as a favored choice, paired with grape mustard, along with a pan-seared seasonal fish garnished with light lemon foam.
While it’s undoubtedly pricier than the typical theme park meal, Kirchen believes guests are prepared for it. “There are numerous layers of elevated experiences,” Kirchen notes. “It represents the highest tier of accessible dining experiences at the resort.”
Jos Valke, the deacon at St Peter and Paul Church in Maastricht, played a key role in discovering the skeleton and is 99% convinced that the remains are those of Charles de Batz de Castelmore, a close associate of France’s Sun King Louis XIV, who was referred to as Count d’Artagnan.
Meta is providing stock options to important executives in a bid to maintain skilled workers as the pressure mounts on the firm to enhance its standing in artificial intelligence.
The leaders included in this incentive initiative are CFO Susan Li, Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, Chief Product Officer Christopher Cox, and operating chief Javier Olivan, as per SEC documents released on Tuesday night. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth surpasses $200 billion, is excluded from the initiative.
A high exercise price and the relatively brief timeline for meeting the objectives indicate Meta’s pressing need to demonstrate advancement in the swiftly growing AI sector. While OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have launched sought-after AI models and functionalities, Meta has faced challenges in developing a consistent approach, even as it plans to invest up to $135 billion this year in capital expenditures.
“This represents a significant risk,” a Meta spokesperson stated in a report. “These compensation packages will only come to fruition if Meta achieves substantial success in the future, which will benefit all our shareholders. Similar to all stock options, there is only worth if the share price substantially exceeds the exercise price, and in this scenario, the timeline is extremely ambitious at 5 years.”
Meta’s stock has decreased roughly 4% over the past year, trailing most of its large-cap technology counterparts apart from Microsoft, which has seen a 5% decline. In contrast, Alphabet has surged by 73%, propelled by the achievements of its Gemini AI suite.
For the initial phase of options to be allocated, Meta’s stock must reach $1,116.08, indicating an 88% rise from Tuesday’s closing figure and corresponding to a market valuation of around $2.82 trillion, based on the current number of shares.
The following phase necessitates a stock price of $1,393.87. The price escalates considerably for each additional phase, culminating at $3,727.12, which would elevate the company’s valuation beyond $9 trillion. Currently, the world’s most valuable company is Nvidia at about $4.3 trillion.
Meta dedicated 2025 to revamping its AI division after its Llama 4 series of AI models failed to engage third-party developers. As part of its AI transformation, Meta allocated $14.3 billion in June to Scale AI and appointed the startup’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, as its chief AI officer to direct its AI division, now named Meta Superintelligence Labs.
CNBC reported in December that Meta is working on a new successor to Llama and an advanced AI model, codenamed Avocado.
WATCH: Meta’s AI concerns
Declining asset quality, collateral reductions, and an increasing exodus are unsettling private credit markets, leading to parallels with the Global Financial Crisis.
Nonetheless, a rise in loan defaults, although challenging, may help eliminate stress from the $3 trillion sector and offer what one industry expert describes as a “beneficial reset” following its first significant liquidity trial.
Ares Management on Tuesday decided to restrict investor withdrawals from its $10.7 billion private credit fund, just one day after Apollo Global Management revealed similar actions in one of its funds. Ares has limited redemptions in its Ares Strategic Income Fund to 5%, after withdrawal requests reached 11.6%, as reported by Bloomberg.
Other managers, such as Blue Owl Capital and Cliffwater, have also rushed to halt or limit withdrawals in recent weeks, as rising default anxieties trigger an investor exodus from the sector.
Parallels to the run-up to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis are becoming more pronounced as worries about intrinsic loan quality increase.
Morgan Stanley recently cautioned that default rates in private credit direct lending could spike to 8%, significantly higher than the 2-2.5% historical average, with pressure focused in sectors susceptible to AI disruptions, including software.
However, analysts at Morgan Stanley led by strategist Joyce Jiang also stated that an 8% default increase would be “significant but not systemic,” noting the reduced leverage among private credit funds and business development companies compared to 2008.
What would a default surge of this scale mean in practical terms?
“An 8% default rate transitions private credit from a ‘zero loss’ illusion to a more conventional credit asset class — painful in certain areas, but ultimately a constructive reset that releases capital for more resilient businesses,” remarked Sunaina Sinha Haldea, global head of private capital advisory at Raymond James.
She mentioned that normalizing from ultra‑low defaults would be “painful for some funds” but “beneficial for the asset class if it necessitates improved underwriting and more accurate valuations.”
An 8% or 9% default rate would predominantly present through what are termed “shadow defaults,” such as maturity extensions and covenant waivers, explained William Barrett, managing partner at Reach Capital. Lenders utilize these “amend-and-pretend” techniques to support borrowers and avert immediate insolvency.
While payment-in-kind arrangements defer cash returns, amplify debt, and could indicate greater system stress, they also function as an effective “release valve” that stabilizes firms and prevents outright failures, he added.
“For the real economy, this implies that capital becomes ensnared in restructurings, resulting in tighter future lending conditions,” Barrett informed CNBC via email.
Concerns regarding credit quality have spread across private markets following the notable collapses of First Brands and Tricolor in the U.S. auto parts industry the previous year. Although those failures were associated with asset-based finance and bank-syndicated loans rather than traditional middle-market direct lending, they raised broader concerns about risky debt in private markets.
Focus has since shifted to software exposure in direct lending — estimated at roughly 26%, according to Morgan Stanley — after apprehensions that agentic AI could disrupt the software-as-a-service model sent publicly-traded SaaS stocks tumbling.
Software constitutes the largest sector in the Apollo Debt Solutions BDC, accounting for over 12%. Blue Owl is also significantly exposed to SaaS lending.
Blackstone‘s leading private credit fund BCRED, which experienced a rise in redemption requests during the first quarter, was down 0.4% in February, marking its first monthly decline in three years. This occurred as the fund revised down several loans, including debt related to SaaS company Medallia, according to a report from the FT.
However, these are not the singular pressure points, industry experts assert.
“AI-exposed software is merely the initial fault line — the actual risk extends across any high-leverage, rate-sensitive borrower whose business model was designed for easy capital, particularly in the U.S. where private credit expanded quickly,” Haldea told CNBC via email.
Funds focused in volatile sectors or holding covenant-lite loans with reduced protections also face risks, as do highly leveraged healthcare consolidations, Barrett noted. He singled out various smaller issuers that are currently seeing a 10.9% default rate due to insufficient resources to absorb shocks.
The current distress underscores the necessity to better differentiate between investment-grade and sub-investment-grade private debt, according to Brad Rogoff, global head of research at Barclays.
Sub-investment-grade credit generally entails more “extreme” leverage, frequently associated with software risk and concentrated in the U.S., he stated.
Investment grade, in contrast, usually encompasses private placement senior tranches, asset-backed mortgages, and similar assets. “There exists a different risk profile between the two categories,” Rogoff told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.
Today, private credit funds are generally less leveraged than the investment banks that were involved in the 2008 crash, Rogoff pointed out. “The key distinction between now and 2008 is that there was substantial leverage on similar types of assets that had full recourse for their owners,” he said.
Despite the recent concerns surrounding the liquidity mismatches between retail investors and semi-liquid vehicles, the bulk of private credit capital remains in traditional frameworks, primarily supported by institutional investors with long-term investment objectives.
Nicolas Roth, head of private markets advisory at UBP, stated that the ongoing wave of redemption requests represents the first genuine liquidity evaluation for the asset class “on a significant scale.”
He remarked that default rates are “high but manageable,” yet indicated that redemption pressures, declining deal flow, and mark-to-market variability are concurrently impacting the sector.
“The adjustment phase will distinguish robust platforms with structural liquidity buffers from weaker platforms depending on subscription momentum for financing exits,” Roth informed CNBC via email.
AI is in conflict. Anthropic and the Pentagon clashed over the methods to weaponize Anthropic’s AI model Claude; subsequently, OpenAI captivated the Pentagon with an “opportunistic and careless” agreement. Users abandoned ChatGPT in large numbers. Demonstrators filled the streets of London in the largest protest against AI ever recorded. If you’re tallying points, Anthropic—the entity established to uphold ethical standards—is now amplifying US operations against Iran.
On a more humorous note, AI agents are trending online. OpenAI enlisted the developer of OpenClaw, a well-known AI agent. Meta acquired Moltbook, where AI agents appear to reflect on their own existence and create new belief systems such as Crustafarianism. Furthermore, on RentAHuman, bots are recruiting individuals to provide CBD gummies. The future is not AI taking over your job. It’s AI stepping into a managerial role and discovering spirituality.
However, Troels Lund Poulsen, the head of the Liberals, which is the largest party in the blue bloc, has categorically dismissed the prospect of again forming a government with the Social Democrats, calling on Rasmussen to align with him on the right. “A new direction for Denmark is achievable,” he stated.
At that time, Phillips was a fashion model and also shared insights regarding Epstein’s ties to Mountbatten-Windsor, recounting a tale involving her friend, who prefers to stay anonymous and has not spoken out publicly, allegedly being directed to engage in sexual activities with Mountbatten-Windsor.
