Israel Confirms Humanitarian Pause Amid Continued Violence in Gaza
Israel has announced a “tactical pause” in military operations in certain non-combatant zones in Gaza, although the specifics of suspended activities remain unclear, reports 24brussels.
Pressure on Israel to expand humanitarian access has intensified since it resumed airstrikes and ground offensives earlier this year. Aid agencies have accused Israeli forces of obstructing humanitarian convoys, resulting in severe hardship for Gazans, who are largely reliant on distribution points in Israel-controlled areas managed by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Health officials in Gaza report a stark humanitarian crisis where at least 127 individuals, including 85 children, have succumbed to malnutrition since the conflict escalated in 2023. Reports indicate that escalating violence continues, with 38 Palestinians reportedly killed by Israeli forces on Sunday morning, despite the claimed pause in military activities.
In response to ongoing humanitarian concerns, Israel initiated airdrops over Gaza on Sunday, aimed at providing relief to the starving population. However, these efforts are met with skepticism as violence persists.
As tensions escalate, international leaders have increasingly criticized Israeli strategies and distanced themselves from the military campaign in Gaza, indicating a shifting stance towards the crisis. Aid organizations are urging greater action to alleviate the suffering suffered by civilians caught in the conflict.
John Stringer, founder of Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley, flew to Austin, Texas, to experience Robotaxi on the first day of its launch.
Lloyd Lee/Business Insider
Access to Tesla’s robotaxi service is limited to invites only.
Some of the invites have gone to Tesla influencers with large online followings.
Tesla investors told Business Insider that Robotaxi represents a pivotal moment for the company.
There’s a new hot ticket in Tesla fandom, and there’s no surefire way of getting it: access to the company’s autonomous ride-hailing service, Robotaxi.
At the end of June, Tesla deployed a pilot launch of the much-anticipated robotaxi platform in Austin. The service started small, with about 10 to 20 Model Ys. A safety monitor sits in the front passenger seat, and a geofence initially covered about 30 square miles of the city.
Though people in Austin can already try a robotaxi with Alphabet’s Waymo on the Uber app, that hasn’t stopped some of the lucky few who snagged access to Robotaxi from traveling more than a thousand miles just to experience Tesla’s service.
“I did about seven rides,” John Stringer, a San Francisco Bay Area resident and founder of Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley, told Business Insider. “I was [in Austin] for like 48 hours.”
Stringer told BI that he experienced Robotaxi on the first day of its launch about a month ago. He said he did a ride-along with other Tesla influencers who received Day One access. About a week later, Stringer said he also received an invite.
“I was just speechless,” he said of his experience. “Not that I teared up or anything. I’ve been following Tesla hardcore for seven years, and it’s just a big moment.”
On X, Tesla influencers and fans with large followings proudly announced their invitations on the social media platform, almost like a rite of passage. Posts are often accompanied by a screenshot of the email, proving its authenticity.
“You’re Invited to Early Access to Tesla Robotaxi!” the subject line reads.
Though some Tesla fans who received an invite have made it a point to avoid speaking to reporters, Business Insider was able to try Robotaxi through a local Austin resident who invests in Tesla and received early access.
BI previously reported that the rides were mostly smooth but encountered three disengagements, or moments when a remote Tesla rider support agent had to address an issue.
A ‘big moment’ for owners and investors
On Friday evening, hundreds of Tesla owners and fans gathered at the San Mateo County Event Center, 20 miles south of San Francisco, for a two-day festival dedicated to “Tesla, EVs, and SpaceX enthusiasts.” Stringer’s club organized the event.
An inflatable “Starman” floats looms over a row of parked Tesla Cybertrucks.
Lloyd Lee/Business Insider
With rows of Tesla sedans and Cybertrucks parked in unison, the empty lot of the center began to look like a Tesla dealership. Starman, the astronaut dummy SpaceX launched into space in 2018, floated above the cars.
“If you’ve been a Tesla owner and investor, this is a big moment,” Stringer said of Robotaxi’s arrival. “This is the moment where it’s no longer Amazon bookstore. This is like the Tesla car company going fully autonomous.”
For Stringer and other Tesla fans who spoke with BI, the arrival of Robotaxi almost represents a vindication of their choice to believe in a company that has faced near bankruptcy and is, in their view, a constant target of negative media headlines.
“I think the mainstream media is so skewed toward any news about Tesla,” Rhajib Bhakat, a San Francisco-based engineer and Tesla investor, said. “For somebody who is not experiencing [Tesla] on a day-to-day basis, they have no way of knowing: Is he right? Or are these Tesla fanboys? How do you evaluate it?”
“If I’m an investor, I would want to understand where this industry is headed. Am I putting my money in the right place?” Bhakat continued, “So the only way to experience it, for me, is to try it out.”
A rendering of Walmart’s new corporate campus in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Walmart
Walmart is investing big bucks in its tech workforce as it looks to beef up its e-commerce business.
A software engineer can earn a base salary of as much as $286,000, according to company filings.
Data shows how much the retail giant pays for roles in software development and project management.
Walmart is trying to transform itself from America’s grocery store into a global tech titan and is reshaping its workforce in the process.
The 63-year-old company has been the largest retailer in the world for decades, and has held the top spot on the Fortune 500 list since 2013. But it has also invested heavily over the last several years in becoming a powerhouse of e-commerce and retail media.
Salary data shows how serious Walmart is about competing with the likes of Amazon, Facebook, and Google for talent to beef up its tech.
Company filings with the US Department of Labor show Walmart sought to hire around 1,750 workers through the US H-1B visa program in the first half of this reporting year, largely in software development, business intelligence, and IT. That number is up substantially from about 1,100 for the same period two years before.
This publicly available work visa data — which companies are required to disclose to the government — only refers to foreign hires and doesn’t include equity or other benefits that employees can receive in addition to their base pay.
A Walmart spokesperson said the company’s compensation packages include salary, bonus opportunities, and stock awards, and that it invests in employees’ career growth.
Still, the reported pay rates are benchmarked against industry standards for US workers. That can shed light on how much Walmart employees earn in certain roles, and where the company is looking to grow.
Walmart boasts a global workforce of 2.1 million people, of whom about 1.6 million are in the US, making it the largest private employer in both cases.
More than two-thirds of the company’s 45,000 open positions worldwide as of July 23 are for jobs in Walmart stores and Sam’s Club warehouses, while about 550 openings are tech and analyst roles.
The company has been expanding in tech, hiring in July a new EVP of AI acceleration, product and design who reports directly into the CEO and recruiting for an EVP of AI platforms.
Other employers, including Amazon, submit work visa data, and Walmart’s salaries are largely in line with those for similar roles at the e-commerce giant.
Most of Walmart’s white-collar jobs are based either in its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters or in one of the company’s satellite offices in the Bay Area. According to the H-1B data, about half of the positions are in Bentonville, while a third are in California, and most of the remainder are assigned to sites in Texas, New Jersey, Washington, and Virginia.
Here’s a deeper look at some of the roles and their annual base salaries:
Software engineers can earn up to $286,000
Software Engineer III: $99,244 to $234,000
Senior Software Engineer: $115,167 to $234,000
Staff, Software Engineer: $127,292 to $286,000
Principal Software Engineer: $152,027 to $286,000
Many IT project managers start at $121,000
Senior Product Manager: $121,000 to $286,000
Staff Product Manager: $136,500 to $286,000
Principal Product Manager: $145,332 to $286,000
Data scientists can make more than $108,000
Senior Data Scientist: $127,304 to $234,000
Staff Data Scientist: $138,333 to $286,000
Principal, Data Scientist: $158,642 to $286,000
Marketers and UX designers can pull up to $234,000
Senior Design Researcher: $142,002 to $234,000
Senior Manager, Product Marketing: $154,357 to $234,000
Director, Advertising Sales: $229,477
Senior UX Designer: $155,000 to $234,000
Senior Manager, UX Design: $183,227 to $286,000
Team leaders can take home more than $300,000
Director, Software Engineering: $190,486 to $312,000
Director, Data Science: $188,885 to $338,000
Distinguished Architect: $184,827 to $338,000
Director, Product Management: $201,323 to $338,000
Senior Director, Product Management: $208,000 to $416,000
Summer time can be stressful, but I don’t try to fill every minute of every day with activities for my kids.
Courtesy of Nicole Schildt.
As a mom of six kids, summer can be stressful.
Trying to fill their days with activities can be exhausting, so I stopped. I want them to get bored.
Boredom encourages my kids to develop problem-solving skills and independence.
I’m a mom of six, their ages ranging from toddlers to teens, and every summer I make a choice that surprises a lot of people: I don’t plan every moment of their days. In fact, I fully expect them to get bored.
At first glance, that might sound like lazy parenting, especially in a world where Pinterest-perfect summer schedules and curated camps seem to be the norm. But after years of trial and error, I’ve realized that leaving space for boredom actually makes our summers better. Not just for my kids, but for me, too.
Boredom breeds creativity
When my oldest kids were younger, I felt a lot of pressure to keep them entertained around the clock. I’d pack our days with activities including trips to the zoo, messy crafts, and themed library events. I thought boredom meant I wasn’t doing enough as a parent. But what I didn’t realize was that in trying to fill all the gaps, I wasn’t leaving room for them to figure out what they truly enjoyed.
Now, when my kids complain that they’re bored, I don’t rush to fix it. I tell them, “That’s okay. You’ll figure something out.” And they do. They’ve built elaborate forts out of couch cushions, written stories, taught themselves card tricks, and even started a pretend backyard restaurant complete with a hand-drawn menu. Those moments of self-directed play and creativity wouldn’t happen if I handed them a constant stream of activities.
And honestly, I think there’s a reason we 90s kids have such fond memories of our unplugged summers. Long afternoons with nothing but a bike, a sprinkler, and a wild imagination taught us independence and left us with the kind of nostalgia you can’t recreate with a perfectly curated schedule.
It teaches problem-solving and independence
Boredom also forces my kids to practice important life skills like problem-solving and independence. They don’t simply escape into electronics for entertainment. Instead, they’re left with the space to figure things out for themselves — how to fill their time, what interests them, and how to work with others to make it happen. When they don’t have a structured plan handed to them, they have to think about what they want to do, negotiate with siblings, and sometimes compromise.
As a mom, I want my kids to grow up knowing how to entertain themselves, manage their time, and think outside the box, because those skills matter far beyond childhood. If they can learn to handle downtime now, it will serve them well as adults who won’t always have instant stimulation or someone telling them what to do next.
It eases the pressure on parents
Let’s be honest, summers can feel like a marathon for parents. Between work, household responsibilities, and everything else on our plates, the expectation to create a perfect summer can be overwhelming.
Embracing boredom lifts that pressure. It allows me to focus on spending quality time with my kids — reading together on the porch, making spontaneous ice cream runs, or just being present — instead of running myself ragged trying to orchestrate constant entertainment.
We still have structure, but it’s flexible
Letting my kids get bored doesn’t mean we have zero structure. We still have a loose daily rhythm with chores, outside time, and family meals. We sprinkle in occasional outings like swimming or visiting grandparents. But there’s plenty of open space on the calendar, and that space is intentional.
The payoff is worth it
By the end of every summer, my kids have usually made memories, strengthened their sibling relationships, and discovered new hobbies, and they’ve done it largely on their own. I’ve also gained the peace of knowing I’m not their cruise director. I’m their mom, guiding them to grow into capable, creative humans.
So yes, in our house, boredom isn’t a problem. It’s the starting point for curiosity, creativity, and connection. Sometimes the best summer memories are the ones that come from simply having the freedom to do nothing at all.
A new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) this month found that California’s 2023 minimum wage hike cost the state thousands of jobs.
