A wargame simulated a 2nd Trump presidency. It concluded NATO would collapse.

US soldiers participated in the DEFENDER 24 exercise in the Czech Republic intended to strengthen the NATO alliance.

Lukas Kabon/Getty Images

• Trump has threatened to quit NATO. A wargame examined the possible ramifications.
• The US player abandoned Ukraine and ceased NATO participation, triggering crisis in Europe.  
• The game's designer says it showed Trump "doesn't need to leave NATO to ruin it."

If Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House in November, NATO may fall apart, a recent wargame found.

As a presidential candidate, Trump has threatened to quit NATO unless European allies contribute more, and should he carry it out Europe may decide to go it alone on defense, the game suggests. "A US policy of frustrating NATO has the potential to cause the alliance to collapse, with the EU as a candidate for eventually replacing NATO's ultimate function — defending Europe from Russia," wrote Finley Grimble, the British defense expert who designed and ran the game.

The US doesn't have to withdraw from NATO to imperil the 75-year-old alliance. Technically, the US is barred from leaving NATO after Congress voted in 2023 to prohibit withdrawal without congressional approval.

But the game showed how Trump — the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who said on the campaign trail that he'd encourage Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" with NATO allies who spend too little on their militaries — could undermine NATO simply by doing as little as possible to support the alliance. "What Donald Trump can do is just really hollow out what NATO does," Grimble told Business Insider. "He doesn't need to leave NATO to ruin it. He can ruin it from within."

Grimble, who has conducted wargames for the British government, conceived of this game after claims by former US National Security Adviser John Bolton that he talked then-President Trump out of withdrawing from NATO in 2018. He designed a tabletop simulation where the players — mostly British specialists in defense, intelligence and foreign policy — assumed the role of leaders of the 32 NATO nations, plus Ukraine and Russia; China was played by the umpires. The US was played by an American who "was trying to enter into the psyche of Trump, which was no easy task," Grimble recalled.

Trump, who faces criminal charges in four separate cases, has been criticized for sowing chaos in American politics. And chaos is exactly what happens in the game when the fictional Trump takes office in January 2025.

The new administration immediately attempts to broker a peace deal — without European help — between Ukraine and Russia. After the mediation fails, Trump slashes aid to Ukraine.

It is the first domino to fall. Trump then drastically reduces US participation in NATO, including redeployment of 50 percent of American military assets in Europe, where more than 100,000 US troops are based, to the Indo-Pacific theater. The Trump administration also institutes a new policy called "dormancy." This includes a variety of go-slow tactics, such as less US participation in NATO exercises. A particularly damaging move is to bar the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) — the second-highest military position in NATO, and always a US officer — from acting without prior consultation with Washington.

"Ultimately, SACEUR is answerable to the president of the United States," said Grimble. "So he [SACEUR] can start slowing things down, or prevent things from happening. The US can just take the funding from NATO programs and they will collapse."

Trump speaks during a 2019 meeting with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

As the game continued, the US complains that some NATO members are failing to meet the alliance's goal of 2 percent of each nation's GDP on defense (the real-life Trump recently urged 3 percent). The complaints are valid: by the end of the game in 2027, many members still hadn't reached the 2 percent goal. Interestingly, while the US minimizes its presence in NATO, it does continue bilateral defense cooperation with the NATO members bordering Russia, including Finland, Romania, Poland and the Baltic States.

NATO was created four years after the end of World War II in an attempt to avoid the failures of the interwar years. American security guarantees have precluded European powers from re-arming in exchange for the greater expenses borne by the US. But with this US security umbrella suddenly diminishing in the game, France and Germany call for the European Union to take over from NATO. This angers Poland, which saw this as an attempt by the French to kick the US out and to have France become the top military power in Europe.

Some NATO members also quail at the thought that they might actually have to fight Russia without support from America, the most powerful NATO member given the size of its conventional forces and nuclear arsenal. "If I'm Italy, for example, I'm certainly guaranteeing the security of Estonia," Grimble said. "But I'm not really expecting to have to play such a prominent and crucial role in this."

Czech, Norwegian and German soldiers take part in a NATO exercise in April.

Florian Gaertner/Getty Images

The Joint Expeditionary Force, a British-led military coalition of 10 Northern European nations that can operate independently of NATO, begins to make warfighting plans that assume there will be no NATO support. Turkey ponders whether to stay neutral —despite its NATO commitments — if Russia attacked the Baltic States.

Meanwhile, with its campaign in Ukraine stalemated, Russia mulls invading the Baltic States — which are NATO members — to take advantage of NATO disunity and perhaps split the alliance over willingness to risk war with Moscow. But the Russian player ultimately decides that Russia doesn't have the resources to fight Ukraine and occupy the Baltics — and invading NATO territory just might bring America back into the alliance.

However, fictional Moscow does launch new offensives in Ukraine. Bereft of US support — which Europe is unable to compensate for — Ukraine feels compelled to sign a peace that cedes eastern Ukraine to Russia and installs a pro-Russian government in Kyiv. Europe faces another problem: fear that Russia might attack NATO is scaring off domestic and international investors, causing European economies to stumble.

By the end of the game, the effects of a US pullback from NATO are global. China realizes that the US has really shifted its focus from Europe to the Pacific, which deters Beijing from invading Taiwan. Yet this doesn't reassure Japan, Australia and South Korea — US allies whose forces and bases are essential to efforts to counter China — which worry that Trump might change his mind and abandon them too. Iran becomes emboldened to assert its power in the Middle East, which spurs an arms race with Saudi Arabia.

All of which left the British frustrated. The UK has traditionally backed a transatlantic, America-Europe alliance rather than a purely European defense bloc. Yet in the game, it could neither persuade Trump to ease his demands, nor the European NATO members to spend more on defense. "The British felt, 'for God's sakes, Trump, give the Europeans some time,'" Grimble said. "But also, 'Europeans, please do something. Let's all come to an accord and keep NATO alive.'"

Wargaming experts always caution that games shouldn't be treated as predictors of the future, but only as experiments to explore possibilities. Nonetheless, this wargame seemed to confirm the worst fears of critics who believe Trump could destroy NATO and make Europe vulnerable to attack.

"The US had reduced its resourcing of the NATO deterrence and defense missions, meaning NATO did not have credible warfighting plans ready to deal with a Russian invasion," said Grimble. "The whole thing had become dysfunctional. It certainly wasn't in any position to coherently defend against Russia at the end of the game."

Yet at the same time, there was a genuine desire to keep NATO alive. "Many NATO members — except for France mainly — thought post-Trump it could be salvageable," Grimble said. "So it was necessary to keep the US in, keep it together, and rebuild later."

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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All about Googleplex, Google's sprawling main headquarters, and its other offices worldwide

Google's headquarters, known as the Googleplex, spans some 12 acres of land and has over 2 million square feet of office space.

Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images

• Googleplex is the global headquarters for Google and Alphabet, located in Mountain View, California.
• Google recently expanded Googleplex's campus to add more amenities for employees.
• Googleplex is one of dozens of US-based offices; Google has another headquarters in New York City.

The Googleplex, the global headquarters for Google and its parent company Alphabet, is located in Mountain View, California.

The name Googleplex has two meanings. First, it's a portmanteau of "Google" and "complex." But it has an additional significance that connects to the origin of Google's name.

A "googol" is a totally massive number, and the source of the tech giant's name. A googolplex is equal to 10 to the googol power.

The Googleplex campus spans about 12 acres of land with over 3 million square feet of office space. It is Google's largest headquarters, closely rivaled by its nearly 3-million-square-foot office building in Manhattan.

Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page rented out their friend Susan Wojcicki's garage to use as office space when the company was first incorporated in 1998. Just a few years later, in 2006, Google purchased the Googleplex for $319 million.

The company's headquarters, where Google CEO Sundar Pichai spends his work days, has since undertaken a number of expansions, including one in 2019 that added over 30,000 square feet of new space. The Googleplex expansion included multiple cafes, fitness facilities, and lounge areas. The design theme is based on the historical salt production that took place in the local marshes.

How many Google headquarters are there in the US?

Google's latest office expansion includes a new building in New York City next to the Hudson River. The building was once a train terminal.

Michael M Santiago/Getty Images

There are more than 70 offices in 50 countries around the world, according to the company's website. 

In the United States, Google's footprint covers well over two dozen cities, including Miami, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boulder, Chicago, and Portland.

Google's office sites are often unique buildings that reflect the history of the cities where they're located.

For instance, the Pittsburgh office is located in a former Nabisco factory, its Chicago office is a converted cold storage facility, and its LA office is located in a historic airplane hangar. Google DeepMind is located in an 11-storey building in Kings Cross, London.

Google's New York headquarters, located in an old train terminal next to the Hudson River, opened in February 2024. The new HQ features rooftop solar panels, multiple terraces and gardens, an event space, and communal workspaces and lounges.

It's unclear exactly how many employees work at the Googleplex in California. But altogether, Alphabet, Google's parent company, employed some 182,500 workers as of 2023.

The Googleplex's famous amenities — including gardens, fitness classes, and "MicroKitchens" — have long drawn tech workers to seek out prestigious Google jobs.

Can you go inside Google headquarters?

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Its quirky and technologically advanced design has turned the Googleplex into a tourist attraction in the Bay Area.

While you can't enter the buildings without being accompanied by an authorized employee, you are free to walk the grounds of the complex. You can check out the tyrannosaurus rex statue that's meant to remind employees to stay on the cutting edge and avoid becoming dinosaurs, the Android sculpture park, the gardens that grow food for the campus restaurants, sports fields, and more.

If you're looking for more than self-guided wandering, you can head next door to Google's Gradient Canopy office, which is home to the Google Visitor Experience. You can attend workshops and other events at the Huddle, check out local goods at Google's pop-up shop, visit cafes and the Google Store, and take in interesting outdoor art installations on the Plaza.

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Meet the millennials who suddenly doubled their wealth in the last 4 years after an adulthood plagued by bad economic luck

Marina Demeshko/iStock, Tyler Le/BI

• Some millennials are suddenly surging ahead financially.
• Those with growing fortunes can thank a set of unique economic circumstances in recent years.
• It means some feel more confident about retirement, or were able to buy new homes outright.

James Barnes is surprised to find himself beating the millennial odds.

At age 33, he is firmly in the middle of the generational cohort born 1981 to 1996. By some accounts, they killed off staples like napkins and cereal and spent too much money on avocado toast and fancy coffee. Many started their careers in the aftermath of the Great Recession, have contended with a housing affordability crisis throughout adulthood, and generally seemed to be doomed to economic misery.

Pre-pandemic, Barnes' situation skewed closer to that traditional millennial image. In his early 20s, Barnes and his wife lived with his parents. She went corporate and he worked with a managed service provider for assisted living facilities as they steadily paid down their student loans and saved for their own home.

"Just starting out and graduating college, you're saddled with student debt, you're living in an apartment which you're paying rent for, you're not building any equity, you're generally not making nearly as much money as you thought you'd be making right out of the gate at college," Barnes said. "So looking at even a $150,000 price tag for a house, you're just like, when is that ever going to happen?"

In 2017, it did finally happen for the Barneses. They put a down payment on a house in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Barnes said it was just a regular, normal life: They commuted to Atlanta for work, hung out with friends, worked on home improvements, enjoyed being DINKs, and took care of their pet bearded dragon. They weren't struggling, but they always watched their budget and spent conservatively.

James Barnes and his wife.

Courtesy of James Barnes

When the pandemic hit, Barnes' wife intensified her very millennial hobby: Perusing real estate and touring open houses. She discovered they were sitting on a gold mine — their house had doubled in value.

It prompted a strategic life move. The couple decided to sell and move back to Barnes' home state of Alabama. When a real estate company offered $300,000, double what the couple had paid, they jumped on it.

"I know this is a very odd scenario for most millennials and really most people, but we sold a house and basically just bought a house outright," he said.

The Barneses are part of a new millennial group that is suddenly doing very well financially — especially if they bought real estate pre-pandemic. In the fourth quarter of 2019, millennials held $3.5 trillion in real estate wealth; as of the fourth quarter of 2023, that's more than doubled.

After an adulthood plagued by economic woes, the pandemic brought on a student-loan payment pause, rising salaries, spiking real estate and stock holdings, and government stimulus. It all helped change the fortunes of some millennials. While all of that is not enough to lift up a whole generation struggling with high living costs, a lucky few managed to capture the golden egg.

Doubling wealth in just a few years

While many millennials are approaching an age that's generally associated with peak earning and homeownership years, they were lagging behind pre-pandemic: As of early 2020, millennials owned 4% of the country's real estate value; at that same age, baby boomers owned 32%.

Now, however, things are looking up. Over half of millennials now own their homes — up from 43% in 2019 — and, as of 2022, millennials' average pre-tax household income was $100,315, up from $79,514 in 2019.

Khary, an elder millennial parent of two who works in technical advising, weathered his generation's classic economic double punch: The Navy veteran said he got laid off in 2008 and, going into the pandemic, had about $40,000 in combined student loan debt between him and his spouse.

"It felt like I lost about four or five years of progress in trying to build up my savings and plan ahead for the future," he said. Khary and other millennials BI spoke to asked to go by first name only over privacy concerns.

When the pandemic hit, Khary suddenly got some relief. Between the student loan pause, stimulus checks, a pay raise, and a robust stock market, he doubled his investment savings and was able to max out his retirement accounts, according to documentation viewed by BI. He's still paying off student loans but said his payments are much easier to make now.

And he's within sight of something coveted by Americans of all generations: a comfortable retirement. He said his early-career layoff lost him a few years of building up his savings and planning ahead.

"The pandemic really just helped to bridge that gap and helped me get back what I had lost," he said.

Many in his generation can relate. Average millennial wealth doubled between 2019 and 2023, according to an analysis from the Center for American Progress. Similarly, the real median net worth for Americans under the age of 35 grew by 143% from 2019 to 2022.

The most striking thing about millennials' sudden surge in wealth: It dwarfs the progress of previous generations that experienced a recession during their young adult years.

For example, Gen Xers' real wealth grew by only 4% in the four years following 2007's Great Recession. Baby boomers' real wealth grew by 46% in the four years after the 1990 recession. Millennials outpaced them all and then some.

One game changer for millennials was the student-loan payment pause and the subsequent relief programs President Joe Biden has been rolling out. Millennials holding debt had, on average, $40,614 as of 2023. The Biden administration has been chipping away at some of America's student debt load, forgiving nearly $160 billion so far through account adjustments, fraud restitution, and clearing a backlog of applications to major debt forgiveness programs like one for people who work in public service.

Amanda, a millennial parent in Texas who works in tech, never made any payments on her loans at all. Since she didn't go straight into college after graduating from high school, she graduated from college during the pandemic pause.

The break alleviated some concerns over her financial prospects after graduation. She said she felt her degree was completely useless. Her school also didn't offer any of the job assistance it had promised. But, it all ended up working out for Amanda; just two weeks after she and her husband bought a house together in 2023, she found out her $80,000 loan balance was forgiven. In total, Amanda and her family have more than doubled their income since the start of the pandemic; she's making just around $100,000 now.

"I came from very poor circumstances and I was determined that my kid would not live the same way I did," she said.

Some anxiety — but more stability

The pandemic didn't turn around every millennial's financial position. The rise in wealth has added fuel to the generation's class divide because it left some behind — after all, many millennials still live paycheck to paycheck.

"A lot of millennials are doing worse than their parents," Rob Gruijters, a university lecturer at the University of Cambridge and the coauthor of a recent paper on the growing millennial wealth gap, told BI.

"The narrative is increasing inequality, and that has losers and winners," he said. "So there's people who are on the top side of the distribution, they benefit from the increase in inequality, and then there's quite a substantial number of people who are losing in that situation."

One way the top end is getting richer while lower-income millennials still struggle is through stock market investments. Stock values have skyrocketed over the last few years, with the S&P 500 soaring after the initial pandemic shock and still hitting record highs; however, the top 10% of Americans own around 93% of stocks.

Still, lower-income Americans were the ones most likely to have benefited from the post-pandemic wage gains pushed by labor shortages in some industries. Research has found that wage growth at the bottom of the income distribution helped counteract the effects of decades of wage inequality and even pared down the college wage premium.

Still, even some millennials who have seen their lots improve fret about the future. They're hyperaware of just how quickly things can take a turn.

"I know that I'm doing a lot better than other people my age, but there's still a lot of anxiety that if there's another pandemic, if anything crazy happens, if we lose our jobs, how do we pay the bills?" Amanda said.

For Caitlin de Oliveira, 34, the pandemic boost hasn't meant anything as radical as doubling her household's income or buying a new home. Instead, stimulus measures — including monthly child tax credit checks in 2021 — meant that her family was able to gain a financial foothold.

Caitlin de Oliveira and her family.

Courtesy of Caitlin de Oliveira

Between upping their savings and gains from a robust stock market, their 401(k) has grown to a little under $85,000 — up from around $20,000 in 2019. That's meant she's been able to feel confident that they are on their way to being able to retire in a good spot.

"Just knowing that is so comforting," she said. She said that she doesn't think millennials are as "dumb" financially as people say — "a lot of us are really trying — it's just been hard."

In the past, Khary said, millennials had dealt with crises and just complained. But not this time.

"As millennials, I think we felt ready and it proved that we had been through quite a bit and we kind of learned from it," he said. "It kind of built up a sense of confidence in us that we can actually handle sort of what's coming down the road if there's any more crises."

Are you a millennial whose finances have improved substantially over the last few years? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.

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The frenemies running Microsoft and Google's AI ops have some serious history

Mustafa Suleyman and Demis Hassabis.

Patrick T. Fallon, Toby Melville/Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

• Microsoft's Mustafa Suleyman and Google's Demis Hassabis were childhood friends.
• In 2010 the pair cofounded DeepMind, which was later bought by Google.
• The two are on opposite sides of an AI arms race between Big Tech's oldest rivals.

Google's Demis Hassabis and Microsoft's Mustafa Suleyman first met in London when the latter was still at school.

Suleyman, the son of a taxi driver, and Hassabis, a chess child prodigy, both grew up in different parts of north London.

The pair are separated by eight years, and Hassabis had already begun a computer science degree at the University of Cambridge when he met Suleyman in the mid-1990s.

By 2010, the two had cofounded DeepMind along with fellow researcher Shane Legg. Less than four years later, Google acquired it for more than $500 million.

With Hassabis at the helm, the Google DeepMind is at the forefront of Google's AI push.

Meanwhile, Suleyman, who left Google in 2022, is heading up Microsoft's AI efforts.

From childhood friends to two of the most important players in AI, the two Londoners have found themselves on opposite sides of an increasingly tense race between Big Tech's oldest rivals.

Deep rivalry

Hassabis and Suleyman seem to view their relationship somewhat differently.

The younger cofounder spent much of his career in Hassabis's shadow — first at DeepMind and later at Google after it acquired the AI startup.

Speaking to The New York Times, Suleyman called his relationship with Hassabis "a friendly and respectful rivalry."

In a separate interview, Hassabis dismissed the idea of a rivalry with his former business partner altogether. Speaking about Suleyman, Hassabis told the newspaper: "Most of what he has learned about AI comes from working with me over all these years."

The pair spent more than nine years working together at DeepMind. During that time, Hassabis acted as the company's public face and CEO, largely leading the company's high-profile acquisition deal with Google.

Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO at the time of the acquisition, last year told Fast Company he only got to know Suleyman after spending considerable time with Hassabis.

"I didn't understand at the time how good a technologist he was because Demis sort of overwhelmed him in that sense — he was sort of in Demis's shadow," Schmidt said. "But I think in the past few years, he's emerged from that shadow."

At DeepMind, Suleyman was initially chief product officer and later head of applied AI. In 2020, he finally joined DeepMind's parent company, Google, as a vice president of AI product management and policy.

But Suleyman's attempt to step decisively out of Hassabis's shadow came when he left Google and cofounded Inflection AI in 2022.

Just two years later, Inflection was bought by Microsoft, and Suleyman was installed as the company's CEO of AI.

'Pretty relentless'

Suleyman's time at DeepMind was not without controversy, and in early 2022 the DeepMind cofounder left Google to join venture capital firm Greylock Partners.

In a podcast interview on Greylock's website, Suleyman said he'd "really screwed up" when asked about complaints regarding his management style.

Suleyman described himself as "very demanding and pretty relentless," adding: "I think that at times that created an environment where I basically had pretty unreasonable expectations of what people were to be delivering and when, and ended up being pretty hard-charging, and that created a very rough environment for some people."

London calling

One of Suleyman's first moves as Microsoft's newly installed AI chief was to launch an AI hub in London, which is also home to Google DeepMind.

The move is part of a wider AI talent war between tech companies and sets the stage for a wider battle with Suleyman's old company.

"There is an enormous pool of AI talent and expertise in the UK, and Microsoft AI plans to make a significant, long-term investment in the region as we begin hiring the best AI scientists and engineers into this new AI hub," Suleyman wrote in the announcement.

The move could prove savvy for Microsoft as major tech companies eye up Google's high-quality pool of AI talent.

Microsoft already has a presence in London, but the fact that the new hub is focused on AI and run by a DeepMind cofounder will not have escaped Hassabis' attention.

Representatives for Hassabis and Suleyman didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

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Xi wants to boost trade and investment between Europe and China. It won't be easy.

French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Kiran Ridley/Getty Images

• Chinese leader Xi Jinping is courting trade and influence in Europe.
• But European firms in China report dwindling confidence in their operations.
• A key challenge EU businesses face is in attracting international talent to China.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is in Europe, trying to charm his way to more trade, investments, and influence in France, Serbia, and Hungary.

Despite the pomp and hype over Xi's trip, European firms in China say they aren't quite convinced about their prospects in the country, according to a European Union Chamber of Commerce in China report released on Friday. Its survey of 529 respondents was conducted in January and February.

According to the business chamber's survey, just 13% view China as a top investment destination — a record low. It's also much lower than the 27% of EU firms who viewed China as a top investment destination in 2021, when the country was still in the midst of on-off pandemic lockdowns.

China's economy is in a painful transition from its reliance on lower-cost manufacturing and real estate to what Xi's administration calls the "new three" sectors of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells.

The economic drag on business sentiment was evident from the survey results, with more than two-thirds of respondents saying that doing business in China became more difficult in 2023 — the highest proportion on record.

EU firms' China operations are 'decoupling' from their headquarters

It's not just the gloomy economy and slowing demand that are weighing on investor confidence. EU firms have also started to "decouple" their operations in China as the number of foreign nationals employed locally falls.

"There are worrying signs that some European companies are either silo-ing operations or scaling down their ambitions in China as the challenges they face start to outweigh the benefits of being here," Jens Eskelund, the chamber's president, said at a press conference, per Reuters.

More than a third of respondents face challenges attracting or retaining international talent in China, with 70% citing a lack of willingness among potential candidates to relocate as the key issue, according to the survey.

"Members report that a drop in the number of Europeans employed by their China operations has been a key factor behind the trend of decoupling between HQs and China operations, as it has led to a decrease in mutual understanding and trust," according to the report.

It also makes it increasingly difficult for the China operations of the EU firms to get approval from their headquarters.

This decoupling — which was reported by two-fifths of respondents — means local Chinese operations and their headquarters now have less understanding of on-the-ground realities — "a dynamic that is being exacerbated by the fact that more and more restrictions are being placed on access to reliable information about China's economy," per the report.

The European business chamber called for "full access to legitimate and trustworthy sources of economic data" in its report.

"Without this, many CEOs will continue to feel they simply do not have the transparency and legal certainty they need to justify to their boards that there is a need to increase — or in some cases even maintain — their investments," it added.

A record low 42% of EU companies said they plan to expand their operations in China this year.

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Where to watch Italian Open: Live stream the 2024 tournament

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The 2024 Italian Open has arrived, following a bumpy few weeks that saw multiple injury-related upsets plague the ATP tour. Below, we'll break down everything you need to know about the 2024 tournament, including where to watch the Italian Open and when the can't-miss ATP and WTA matches air.

The Italian Open, or the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, will run until May 19. The tournament picks up following a spate of injuries on the ATP tour, including top players Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Daniil Medvedev. Alcaraz and Sinner will sit out the Italian Open, but Medvedev (who won the 2023 competition) is scheduled to play on Friday. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are also slated to compete.

Elena Rybakina, last year's women's victor, will join the competition on Friday. Madrid Open champion Iga Świątek, along with Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff, is scheduled to start playing on Thursday. Świątek, the current WTA no. 1, narrowly beat out Aryna Sabalenka in a tight final match at the Madrid Open last weekend. 

If you're hoping to tune in, you've come to the right place. Keep reading to learn how to watch the Italian Open from anywhere in the world.

• See also: Where to watch Giro d'Italia | How to watch NBA Playoffs | Where to watch Formula 1

Italian Open quick links

• US: Sling TV + Sports Extra add-on ($51)
• UK: Sky Sports (various)
• New Zealand: TVNZ (FREE, select women's matches only)
• Access subscriptions from anywhere via ExpressVPN (30-day money-back guarantee)
• Upcoming matches (approx. times):
  • Zizou Bergs vs. Rafael Nadal on Thursday at 7 a.m. ET / 12 p.m. BST / 7 p.m. AWST
  • Naomi Osaka vs. Marta Kostyuk on Thursday at 7 a.m. ET / 12 p.m. BST / 7 p.m. AWST
  • Coco Gauff vs. Magdalena Fręch on Thursday at 8:15 a.m. ET / 1:15 p.m. BST / 8:15 p.m. AWST
  • Iga Świątek vs. Bernarda Pera on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. BST / 1 a.m. AWST (Friday)

Where to watch the Italian Open in the US

All of the big ATP and WTA tour stops air on the Tennis Channel in the US. For cord-cutters, this means getting a live TV streaming package that carries the channel, like Sling TV. 

Sling TV will be the cheapest option for you today. You'll need to select a base plan (for $40 a month) and then add on a Sports Extra package (for $11 a month) to get the Tennis Channel. In total, this will cost you $51 a month, but Sling usually has a discount promo going that will shave some money off of new users' first month of service.

Where to watch the Italian Open in the UK

The Italian Open is available to watch through Sky Sports in the UK. Plans vary in price and contract length. In addition to ATP and WTA tour stops, subscribers can catch PGA competitions and several football championship matches.

Where to watch the Italian Open in New Zealand

Starting on Sunday, New Zealanders can catch the women's matches live through TVNZ. This a free streaming option that only requires account creation to watch. Most later stages of other WTA tour stops can also be found on TVNZ.

How to watch the Italian Open from anywhere

If you won't be in the US during any of the must-see matches, you can keep up with your subscriptions via VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are easy ways to alter your device's location so that you can access websites and apps that might vary in availability on a regional basis. Plus, they're strong ways to boost your online privacy. This recommendation will be best for Americans who are traveling right now and looking to access their existing subscriptions since the services we outlined today require US forms of payment. However, later in the tournament, people can set their VPN to New Zealand to access the TVNZ live streams.

If you want to try out a VPN, our go-to recommendation is ExpressVPN. In addition to being easy to learn, it offers a hassle-free 30-day money-back guarantee. Check out our ExpressVPN review to learn more and keep reading to see how to use a VPN.

How to watch the Italian Open with a VPN

• Sign up for a VPN if you don't already have one.
• Install it on the device you're planning to watch on.
• Turn it on and set it to a US location.
• Sign up for Sling TV + Sports Extra add-on with a US form of payment.
• Select the Tennis Channel and enjoy the competition.

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A Ukrainian tank crew said the Abrams tank is as easy to drive as a scooter and that they learned how to operate its weapons in 1 week

A US-made M1A1 Abrams tank, mounted with a mine roller, pictured in Grafenwoehr, Germany.

Matthias Merz/picture alliance via Getty Images

• A Ukrainian tank crew was filmed lauding the Abrams tank as easy to drive and operate.
• One gunner said he learned to use the tank's weapons in a week, while another said the tank drove "like a scooter." 
• The report comes as Ukrainian state-backed outlet Army TV pushed back on an assessment that Kyiv withdrew its Abrams.

A Ukrainian tank gunner and driver were filmed heaping praise on US-supplied Abrams tanks in a state-backed media report, boasting that they've been easy to learn to operate.

"The first time I saw what was inside after the T-64, I thought it would take a month to get the hang of it," said the gunner, identified as Koka of Ukraine's 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, in a video uploaded on Tuesday by Army TV.

"But it's literally very fast. You can master it in a week," Koka said.

Inside the Abrams M1A1 used by his crew, Koka gave the cameras a tour of the internal systems. "There's nothing so complicated here," he told Army TV.

The military news outlet is run by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense. The report comes after Pentagon officials told the Associated Press that Kyiv had withdrawn its Abrams tanks from the front lines over concerns they were vulnerable to drones.

Army TV pushed back on the assessment, writing in a caption that "despite rumors, no one took these vehicles away from the front line."

Unlike most of Army TV's YouTube videos, the report was notably titled and captioned in English, and not Ukrainian.

The video featured crew members from the 47th lauding the Abrams tank and alleging that the heavy-duty armor is still present on the front lines.

The Pentagon's press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

Tank driver Alexey said the Abrams' pedals and control apparatus made it "like a scooter."

"Is it easy to drive like a scooter?" Army TV's reporter Yevhen Nazarenko asked.

"Yes," said Alexey, smiling.

Clips showed the crew members driving Nazarenko around in the Abrams, but it's unclear when or where the video was shot.

Alexey and Koka's commander, Dmytro, told Army TV that the Abrams' armor was effective against Russian anti-tank missiles like the Kornet.

But they wished for dynamic plating to protect its flanks and turret, with Alexey saying the turret could be breached.

"It is said that it is the strongest," he said of the turret's armor. "That the 'Hand of Zeus' will not pierce it, but it is not so. Unfortunately, it is not so."

Ukraine was promised 31 Abrams tanks by the US in January 2023, with the first batch arriving in September after crews trained for months in Germany to operate them. US aid to Kyiv later stalled due to political resistance on Capitol Hill from Republican lawmakers, until a $61 billion aid package was voted through last month.

Weapons, ammunition, and military hardware from US stockpiles are expected to make up at least $25 billion of the funding.

The Abrams has defeated Soviet armor before, but several deployed in Ukraine have suffered setbacks. At least five of the tanks were lost in combat, and another three were damaged, The New York Times reported.

In late April, the Russian military displayed an abandoned Abrams M1A1 at an exhibition called the "Trophies of the Russian Army," which showcased NATO equipment seized during the war.

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