• For the first time in history, China landed a spacecraft on the moon's far side.
• The Chang'e-4 mission safely placed a rover and lander on the lunar surface Wednesday night (early Thursday morning in China).
• Specifically, the moon mission landed inside a crater that's located within a large, ancient collision site called the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
• A graphical map shows the exact spot where China landed its unprecedented mission.

For the first time in history, China landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon— the part we never see from Earth.

The Chinese moon mission is called Chang'e-4, and it set down a robotic lander and rover at 2:26 a.m. UTC on Thursday (Wednesday night in the US), according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

"Chang'e" is the name of a mythical lunar goddess, and the numeral "4" signifies the fourth robotic mission in China's ambitious quest to explore the moon. No other nation — the US and Russia included — has ever touched the far side of the moon.

The CNSA shared photos of the landing through state media, and the latest picture (above) shows the Yutu-2 or "Jade Rabbit" rover rolling off the landing spacecraft and onto the moon's unexplored far side.

The agency has been less forthcoming about other details of its mission, but lunar researchers have been analyzing data to help confirm there was a landing and also track the rover's precise location.

Read more: NASA's first moon landings in nearly 50 years may happen in 2019. The agency thinks these 9 companies can get it to the lunar surface.

Noah Petro, a planetary geologist, told Business Insider that he used images distributed by China on social media to pinpoint the landing site.

"Looks like Change-4 landed near 45.47084 South, 177.60563 East," Petro, who is a project scientist on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, tweeted on Thursday. 

Where the Chang'e-4 mission touched down on the moon

As the graphic below shows, those coordinates place Chang'e-4 within two impact sites that are very important to geologists and planetary scientists. The larger of the two is the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Within that expansive site, Chang'e-4 landed inside Von Kármán Crater.

The South Pole-Aitken Basin is a 1,550-mile-wide scar left by a horrendous collision that occurred about 3.9 billion years ago. This smash-up likely busted all the way through the moon's crust, leading part of the moon's deeper-down geologic layers to spill out onto the surface.

"It's possible this basin is so deep that it contains material from the moon's inner mantle," Tamela Maciel, an astrophysicist and communications manager at the National Space Center in England, tweeted after the mission's launch on December 7. "By landing on the far side for the first time, the Chang'e-4 lander and rover will help us understand so much more about the moon's formation and history."

The Von Kármán Crater within the basin stretches about 111 miles in diameter and should provide good access to the area's scientific wonders.

China built its solar-powered moon rover to last about three months and its lander to function for about a year. But once they stop phoning home — through a relay satellite called Queqiao, which makes the mission possible — China won't stop exploring the region.

Read more: The moon has ice on its surface in hundreds of places — and it could be the 'first step in building a space economy'

The nation is intent on launching crewed missions to the moon in the early 2030s. If that happens as planned, it could be the first time people set foot on the lunar surface since NASA's Apollo program ended in 1972.

A crewed landing would give China the upper hand in exploring the moon and space around it. The stakes are high; the lunar poles are rich in water ice and other resources that could support permanent moon bases, make rocket fuel, and power deep-space exploration.

"Von Kármán crater would be a worthy target for future crewed landings," Mark Robinson, a planetary geologist and leader of the LRO mission, said in a blog post about the landing site.

SEE ALSO: Humanity's coolest achievements in spaceflight since Apollo 8, from walking on the moon to touching interstellar space

DON'T MISS: This 'Sparrow' lunar lander may soon make Israel the 4th country ever to land the moon

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NOW WATCH: Here's why everyone should be paying attention to China's ambitious space program

• "Cheers" is one of the longest-running sitcoms of all time, with 275 episodes and 11 seasons.
• Over those 11 years, many famous faces walked through the front door of "Cheers."
• Here are 30 of the most memorable celebrity guest stars and cameos.

Sometimes, you really do just want to go where everybody knows your name. And for 11 years, the Boston bar Cheers was that place for a cast of lovable misfits.

You had Sam, the owner of the bar and recovering alcoholic, and Diane, his love interest and a pretentious waitress. And when she left, you had the neurotic bar manager, Rebecca, take her place. There was Coach and Woody, both very dim but well-meaning bartenders, and Carla, the tough waitress who never held back her true feelings. And to round out the cast, there was Cliff, a trivia-spouting postman, Norm, who complained about his wife but loved her dearly, and Frasier, a therapist.

Besides your core cast, there were many people who walked through Cheers only once or twice, never to be heard from again. And some of those people were extremely famous, like Emma Thompson, Lisa Kudrow, and Dick Cavett.

Keep scrolling to see 30 celebs you totally forgot appeared on "Cheers."

Thirteen years before starring in "Nanny McPhee," Emma Thompson appeared in a season 10 episode as the children's entertainer Nanny Gee.

Thompson's character was Frasier's heretofore unmentioned first wife — which was revealed when he went to one of Nanny Gee's children's shows with his current wife, Lillith, and their son Frederick. It became quite clear that Nanny Gee (real name Nanette) wasn't fully over her ex-husband.

Frasier and Lillith's off-and-on relationship ran through eight seasons of "Cheers," and nine seasons of Frasier's spin-off, "Frasier," so it was always delightful to learn something about their lives before they wandered into Cheers, including never-before-mentioned first wives.

"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek appeared as himself when one of the bar's most "knowledgeable" patrons appeared on the game show.

Cliff, a postal worker, and his best friend, Norm, an oft-unemployed accountant, strolled into the bar every day, and hijinks ensued. While Norm was the more practical, street-smart one, Cliff was known for spouting off (mostly wrong) trivia and facts about any subject.

However, in a season eight episode, Cliff was able to show off his trivia expertise on an episode of "Jeopardy!" He almost won but answered the Final Jeopardy question incorrectly after wagering all his winnings, making him verbally attack the "Jeopardy!" host.

Trebek later stopped by Cheers and made amends with Cliff.

Marcia Cross played Rebecca's sister in season seven.

After Diane left the show, Rebecca, played by Kirstie Alley, was brought in to replace her in season six. As time went on and viewers became fond of Rebecca, more was revealed about her back story, including that she had a sister, Susan.

Susan proved to be the exact opposite of Rebecca, and the two sisters didn't get along because Susan used to steal all of Rebecca's boyfriends when they were younger.

• Finding the right motivation to lose weight often comes from others who have similar experiences.
• Losing weight requires lifestyle changes you can sustain.
• The initial weight loss is only part of the equation. You need to have a plan in order to maintain your loss.

Making a lifestyle change to get healthy and/or lose weight is a journey unique to each of us. While you're on your way, hearing about other people's transformations can be inspirational and encouraging.

So, if you're in need of a little motivation, check out these weight loss tips from people who have been there and done that.

Matt Schiffman: Sticking to a ketogenic diet helped him lose over 100 pounds.

Matt Schiffman, VP of Brand Management atRSP Nutrition, lost, and kept off, over 100 pounds after he decided to take charge of his health through small daily improvements.

One improvement he implemented immediately was a shift in his diet. "For me, a ketogenic diet worked well because I love fatty cuts of meat and savory foods," he told INSIDER.

But you can't force it. That's why his advice is to find a diet that works for you and allows you to eat the types of foods you love. "There is no one single right diet, but there is a diet that is right for you," Schiffman said.

Mike DeMaria: Intermittent fasting helped this firefighter lose 23 pounds.

Intermittent fasting is at the center of professional firefighter Mike DeMaria's weight loss. He recently lost 23 pounds by sticking to a strict eating schedule through intermittent fasting (IF).

Eating only between the hours of noon and 8:00 pm, he said e watched the weight melt off of him. As he began to lose weight, he also felt more energized and started to work out more frequently in the gym switching between running, Stairmaster, weights, and other exercises.

One tip from DeMaria: avoid doing the same workout every day. "Some days I run five to seven miles outside, while others I may run two to three miles on the treadmill," he told INSIDER. He also alternates between the Stairmaster, quick plyo workouts with burpees, push-ups, etc., and lifting weights.

April Storie: An exercise app helped her lose 26 pounds.

As an Army veteran, April Storie told INSIDER that physical fitness has always been a part of her life. But in December 2016, her dad died, and the grief was unexpected, immense, and exhaustive, which led to poor food choices and lack of physical activity.

In November 2017, she said she discovered an app called Aaptiv and purchased a one-year subscription. "As I began to move more, I started making healthier eating options," said Storie. "I eliminated all inflammatory causing foods and stopped all supplements and pain medications with the goal of allowing my body's systems to heal and restore themselves," she explained.

Storie used the meditation section of the Aaptiv app morning, noon, and night to help eliminate stress, and the yoga and walking programs for gentle yet effective movement while her body healed. Aten 10 months, Storie is down 26 pounds and has her sights set on returning to 5k running races.

The healthcare industry is facing disruption due to accelerating technological innovation and growing demand for improved delivery of healthcare and lower costs. Tech startups are leading the way by seizing opportunities in the areas of the industry that are most vulnerable to disruption, including genomics, pharmaceuticals, administration, clinical operations, and insurance.

Venture funds and businesses are taking notice of these startups' potential. In the US, digital health funding reached $1.6 billion in Q1 2018, according to Rock Health — the largest first quarter on record, surpassing the $1.4 billion in venture funding seen in Q1 2016. These high-potential startups provide a glimpse into the future of the healthcare space and demonstrate how we’ll get there.

In this report, a compilation of various notes, Business Insider Intelligence will look at the top startups disrupting US healthcare in four key areas: artificial intelligence (AI), digital therapeutics, health insurance, and genomics. Startups in this report were selected based on the funding they've received over the past year, notable investors, the products they offer, and leadership in their functional area.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Tech startups are entering the market by applying the “Silicon Valley” approach. They're targeting shortcomings and legacy systems that are no longer efficient.
• AI is being applied across five areas of healthcare to improve clinical operation workflows, cut costs, and foster preventative medicine. These areas include administration, big data analysis, clinical decision support, remote patient monitoring, and care provision.
  
• Health tech startups, insurers, and drug makers are rapidly exploring new ways to apply digital therapeutics to the broader healthcare market that replace or complement the existing treatment of a disease.
• Health insurance startups are taking advantage of the consumerization of healthcare to threaten the status quo of legacy players. 
• Genomics is becoming an increasingly common tool within the healthcare system as health organizations better understand how to extract the value from patients’ genetic data. 

 In full, the report:

• Details the areas of the US health industry that show the greatest potential for disruption.
• Forecasts the industry adoption of bleeding edge technology and how it will transform how healthcare organizations operate.
• Unveils the top five startups in AI, digital therapeutics, health insurance, and genomics, and how they're positioned to solve big issues that key players in healthcare face. 
• Explores what's next for the leading startups, providing a glimpse into the future of the healthcare space and demonstrating how we’ll get there.

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• The Toronto Raptors' one-year gamble on Kawhi Leonard is going about as well as possible.
• But the Raptors' looking like potential contenders, Leonard's return to All-Star form, and the team's recruiting efforts, might not matter.
• According to a report, Leonard's choice in free agency this summer might come down to the Raptors or his hometown Los Angeles Clippers.
• According to the report, Leonard might not be able to pass up being close to home and playing in a warm climate, two things the Raptors have no say in, regardless of how well their recruitment goes this season.

The Toronto Raptors' recruitment of Kawhi Leonard has gone about as well as possible nearly halfway through the 2018-19 season.

The Raptors have a league-best 28 wins and are just half a game behind the Milwaukee Bucks for first place in the East. They're deep, malleable, and top-10 offensive and defensive unit.

Leonard has slid into the Raptors' system seamlessly. He has regained his All-NBA form, averaging 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists per game while providing his usual stellar defense. He's given the Raptors the type of game-closer they lacked in previous years and is a borderline MVP candidate.

The East (because of LeBron James' departure) and maybe the NBA (because of the Warriors' malaise) look winnable, and the Raptors are an early championship contender.

As ESPN's Tim Bontemps laid out, the team's recruiting efforts have been solid. Their medical staff seems to have won over Leonard as he's returned from missing nearly an entire season with tendinopathy in his left quad. Toronto itself is a big, diverse city, and Leonard seems to be embracing it.

In return, Leonard, according to Bontemps, has been friendly, engaged, and receptive with his teammates and the organization.

The Raptors' gamble on Leonard seems to be paying off. And yet there's a chance none of it matters.

Read more:Paul George's stunning $134 million contract with the Thunder has 'emboldened' teams to take one of the biggest risks in the NBA

According to Bontemps and other reports, the Los Angeles Clippers are said to be one of the front-runners to land Leonard in free agency. He is from Southern California, the Clippers have a deep roster, cap space, and the benefits on not being James' team. Leonard's desire to land in Los Angeles was well-known when he was still with the Spurs.

Bontemps reported that people in the NBA believe Leonard's choice will come down to the Raptors and the Clippers, and there's a chance the Clippers win for the simplest of seasons.

"There are two things that Toronto, no matter how hard it tries, can't provide Leonard: being at home and year-round warm weather.

...

"If it comes down to those two teams, the chance for Leonard to come home and to stay away from snow could be the Clippers' strongest argument."

It is Leonard's right, of course, to choose what makes him happiest. He could love Toronto, but ultimately decide to move to Los Angeles, to be closer to his family, and to enjoy a better climate.

"But it's just cold. You know, I came from California, and I moved to San Antonio, and there's no snow in either city," Leonard told ESPN of Toronto. "It's my first experience having Christmas with snow on the ground and just seeing snow throughout the year for the first time."

From a basketball perspective, the Clippers and Raptors might not be so different. Both situations, without Leonard, might be about equal. Both teams have talented young players, proven veterans, and future flexibility.

Could winning a championship this season potentially be so enticing that Leonard simply can't leave? Maybe.

But Leonard won a championship with the San Antonio Spurs. When star players win that elusive championship early on, they seem to feel more comfortable doing what makes them happiest, regardless of the championship potential. So, for Leonard, it might come down off-the-court items, things the Raptors can't control. 

The Raptors' gamble might be worthwhile, regardless of whether Leonard stays or leaves. They couldn't go on with their previous core, and a shot at a championship with Leonard could make the cost of acquiring him worthwhile, even if it's a one-year rental.

Their recruiting efforts, including the on-court product, might not simply be enough and there's very little they could do about it.

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NOW WATCH: The world's largest cruise ship just landed in Miami — here's what it's like on board

• 10 newly elected scientists are representing Americans in the 116th Congress.
• Eight of the new-comers are Democrats and two are Republicans.
• Here's what these engineers, doctors, and other scientists want to do in 2019. 

The 116th Congress was sworn in on Thursday, with 10 new scientists in the ranks. 

Many of the incoming science experts on the Hill hold medical degrees, have worked in healthcare, or have an intimate understanding of topics like nuclear energy or climate change. It's a major boost in the science credentials of the US governing body, which still has only one PhD scientist and one PhD mathematician among the 535 members.

While there are no additional PhDs on this list of new-comers, the doctors, engineers, and energy wonks who joined Congress bring knowledge of science, technology, and healthcare.  

"Scientists are essentially problem-solvers," Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 314 Action, a nonprofit political action committee dedicated to recruiting, training, and funding scientists and healthcare workers who want to run for political office, previously told Business Insider.

She said the new science-minded politicians will change the political conversation in Washington and "bring a much more nuanced and productive conversation to the healthcare debate," while at the same time taking on environmental issues, cybersecurity, and election integrity.

"Who better to be tackling these issues than scientists?" she said. 

Here's the list of new science whizzes representing Americans on the Hill: 

SEE ALSO: We asked 1,000 Americans what they think Trump's New Year's resolutions should be. Here's what they told us.

Computer programmer Jacky Rosen is one of Nevada's two Democratic female senators. The former Congresswoman from the state's 3rd District helped her suburban Las Vegas synagogue install a new solar array. Rosen says that cut the congregation's energy bill by 70%.

Source: Business Insider

Industrial engineer Chrissy Houlahan, an air force veteran, represents Pennsylvania's 6th District. Houlahan, who used to teach high school chemistry, said she'll focus on making healthcare more affordable.

Sources: Chrissy Houlahan for Congress, Business Insider

Ocean engineer Joe Cunningham, who squeaked out a victory in South Carolina's coastal 1st District, wants to protect the coastline from offshore drilling.

The 36-year-old told The Post and Courier that he's "pumped" to get to work in DC and end the government shutdown.

"People in the 1st Congressional District have sent me up here to extinguish those flames of partisan hatred and political divide as opposed to pouring kerosene on it," he said.

• Southwest Airlines cofounder Herb Kelleher died on Thursday at the age of 87.
• Kelleher, along with business partner Rollin King, founded Southwest Airlines in 1967.
• He served as Southwest's president and CEO from 1978 to 2001.

Southwest Airlines cofounder Herb Kelleher died on Thursday at the age of 87. The Dallas-based airline confirmed Kelleher's death to Business Insider via email.

In a statement, Southwest Airlines said:

"We are deeply saddened to share that Southwest Airlines Founder and Chairman Emeritus Herbert D. Kelleher passed away today at the age of 87.

"Herb was a pioneer, a maverick, and an innovator. His vision revolutionized commercial aviation and democratized the skies. Herb's passion, zest for life, and insatiable investment in relationships made lasting and immeasurable impressions on all who knew him and will forever be the bedrock and esprit de corps of Southwest Airlines.

"The entire Southwest Family extends our deepest sympathies to Herb's wife, Joan, and his entire family."

Kelleher, along with business partner Rollin King, founded Southwest Airlines in 1967. The low-cost airline commenced service in 1971 with three Boeing 737s serving Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.

Read more: These are the 9 best airlines in America.

Kelleher served as Southwest's president and CEO from 1978 to 2001. The charismatic former lawyer served as the airline's chairman until 2008.

In the years since its founding, Southwest Airlines has developed into the world's largest low-cost airline with a fleet of more than 700 Boeing 737 jets, operating 4,000 flights a day.

Southwest is also renowned for its industry-leading customer service and friendly demeanor. The airline is also one of the most profitable airlines in the world with 46 consecutive years of profitability. It's one of the only major airlines in the US to have never filed for bankruptcy.

Kelleher is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the New York University School of Law.

SEE ALSO: The 21 safest airlines in the world

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NOW WATCH: This Rolls-Royce feature might be the world's fanciest way to tailgate

• 59% of Conservative party members oppose Theresa May's Brexit deal with the European Union.
• Over half believe it fails to respect the 2016 referendum result and have thought about quitting the party over it.
• Nearly half of Conservative members believe May should resign if MPs vote down her deal as expected.
• Remain would comfortably win a new referendum, the research also suggests.

LONDON — Conservative party members overwhelmingly want MPs to vote down Theresa May's Brexit deal, with more than half saying they have even considered ripping up their membership over it, according to a new poll.

A survey of 1,215 Tory party members published on Friday found that 59% of Conservative party members oppose the Withdrawal Agreement May has negotiated with the European Union, while just 38% support it.

Among all Conservative party members, more than half (56%) said they had considered quitting the party over May's deal, according to YouGov polling for leading academics at the ESRC-funded Party Members Project.

The findings will spook figures in Downing Street who had hoped that Conservative MPs would return from their constituencies over Christmas having been urged by party members to get behind May and her deal.

The prime minister was forced to postpone a parliamentary vote on her deal after more than 100 of her MPs announced that they planned to oppose it.

However, today's poll finds members are, if anything, even more critical of May's deal and her premiership than her MPs.

According to the poll, over half of Tory party members (53%) believe that May's deal fails to respect the 2016 referendum result, with just 15% of members saying that May had negotiated a good deal with Brussels.

This figure is even higher among members who voted for Brexit, with 67% of them believing May's deal does not respect the 2016 vote.

Almost half (48%) said May, who has pledged to stand down before the next general election in 2022, was doing badly as prime minister, compared to 51% who said she was doing well.

Those around May had hoped that the party would row behind her following the failed coup attempt against her led by Brexiteer Conservative MPs before Christmas.

However, today's poll finds that 44% of Tory members say she should resign if MPs reject her deal later this month as expected.

The Tory party membership is particularly supportive of leaving the EU without a deal, despite the myriad warnings from ministers about the disruption it would cause across multiple aspects of life in the UK, including food and medicine.

A whopping 76% of Tory members said that warnings about a no deal Brexit are "exaggerated or invented, and in reality leaving without a deal would not cause serious disruption." Just 18% said the warnings were realistic.

The research also found that a majority of Conservative party members would back no-deal in a future referendum. For example, in a hypothetical choice between Remain and no-deal, 76% backed the latter.

The polling finds that the party's membership is well out of step with the general public.

In a new nationwide Brexit referendum with two options — stay in the EU and leave without a deal — today's poll finds that 45% would vote to stay in the EU while 35% would vote to leave without a deal.

Remain would also come on top in a vote on three choices, the research found, with 42% of people backing Remain, 25% supporting a no deal. Worryingly for May, just 13% of all voters backed the third option of supporting her deal. 

SEE ALSO: Who will replace Theresa May as prime minister?

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NOW WATCH: Anthony Scaramucci claims Trump isn't a nationalist: 'He likes saying that because it irks these intellectual elitists'

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here. Current subscribers can read the report here.

Smart speakers comprise one of the fastest-growing device segments in the consumer technology market today. Ownership levels have nearly doubled from early 2017 to summer 2018. 

With this rapid growth, there are a few pivotal questions that both companies looking to develop and sell smart speakers as well as those looking to sell products, deliver media, and offer access to services like banking over these devices need answers to in order to craft successful strategies. In particular, they need to know who is and isn’t buying smart speakers, and what consumers who own smart speakers are actually doing with them. 

To offer these stakeholders insight, Business Insider Intelligence asked more than 500 US consumers about their knowledge of smart speakers, the devices they do or don’t own and what led them to their purchase decisions, as well as the tasks they’re using their smart speakers for.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence will look at the state of the smart speaker market and outline how each of the major device providers approaches the space. We will then focus on the key factors that affect whether or not someone owns one of these devices. Next, we will use our survey data to outline the reasons why people don’t own devices in order to offer guidance for who to target and how. Finally, we will discuss what consumers are actually doing with their smart speakers — specifically looking at how the devices are used and perceived in e-commerce, digital media, and banking — which can help companies determine how well they’re publicizing their smart speaker services and capabilities.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Amazon, Google, Apple, Samsung, Facebook, Sonos, LG, Anker, Spotify, Pandora, Grubhub, Netflix, Hulu, Instagram, Snap.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Despite their growing popularity, nearly half of respondents still don't own a device — which presents a long runway for adoption. Our survey data reveals a number of key factors that impact whether or not someone owns one of these devices, including income, gender, and age.
• Smart speakers are establishing themselves as a key platform for e-commerce, media, and the smart home.
• The introduction of a screen to some smart speakers will expand the possibilities for companies developing for the device — but developers will need to resist the compulsion to use speakers to accomplish too much.

In full, the report:

• Provides an overview of the key players and products in the smart speaker market.
• Highlights critical adoption rates broken out by key factors that define the segment.
• Identifies how consumers are using devices in important areas where companies in various industries are trying foster greater use of the voice interface.

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• National-security experts are sounding the alarm after Russian authorities charged Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, with espionage Thursday after he was detained in Moscow last month.
• Intelligence veterans said there are several clues in Whelan's past that make it unlikely that he is a US intelligence officer.
• But Whelan's profile — his status as a veteran and his pro-Trump comments on social media — also fit that of someone the Russians would detain if they wanted to secure a bargaining chip in the case of Maria Butina, a Russian gun-rights activist and accused foreign agent who was arrested last year and pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

The tense relationship between the US and Russia became more strained after Russia formally charged a US citizen and former Marine with espionage on Thursday.

Paul Whelan, a 48-year-old corporate security director, was detained on December 31 and Russia's Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, said Whelan was apprehended while on a "spy mission" but has not provided other details.

National-security experts said there were several red flags in Whelan's arrest and that details from his past make it increasingly likely that Russia arrested him because it is angling for a prisoner swap with the US for the accused Russian spy Maria Butina.

The Russian state-news agency Rosbalt said Whelan, who flew to Moscow earlier in December to attend a friend's wedding, was arrested at his room in the Metropol Hotel five minutes after he allegedly accepted a flash drive with a list of all the employees working at a classified intelligence agency.

But a former CIA covert officer, who requested anonymity to candidly discuss the matter, told INSIDER that Russian law-enforcement officials are notorious for planting evidence on detainees before arresting them.

Meanwhile, Whelan's Russian lawyer said in an unusual comment to The New York Times that he would be okay with a prisoner swap in which Russia would turn Whelan back over to the US in exchange for Butina, who pleaded guilty last month to engaging in a conspiracy against the US.

"I myself hope that we can rescue and bring home one Russian soul," Whelan's lawyer, Vladimir Zherebenkov, told The Times.

The Daily Beast reported later Thursday that Zherebenkov is a former Soviet government investigator who has never tried a case involving a foreigner charged with espionage. He reportedly refused to discuss whether the FSB was involved in appointing him to represent Whelan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied any connection between Butina and the Russian government or intelligence services. But Russia has a history of arresting foreigners and swapping them in exchange for its citizens held elsewhere.

Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia and a vocal Putin critic, said Whelan's arrest seemed "strange."

"A retired marine attending a wedding in Moscow allegedly conducted 'an act of espionage'?" McFaul tweeted. "Russian officials owe the Whelan family and the U.S. government an explanation. [President Donald Trump] should call Putin today."

Bill Browder, a longtime Putin foe who spearheaded the passage of the 2012 Magnitsky Act, tweeted that Whelan's arrest "looks increasingly like a hostage situation."

Whelan doesn't fit the profile of an undercover spy, intel veterans say

Intelligence veterans said several details in Whelan's past make it highly unlikely he was working as an undercover spy in Russia.

By detaining Whelan and charging him with espionage, the Russians "are implicitly making the claim that he is a US intelligence officer under what's known as 'Non-Official Cover,'" Edward Price, the former senior director of the National Security Council under President Barack Obama, told INSIDER. "In other words," the Russian government believes "he's an operative who doesn't purport to work for the US government."

Price said there are two traits in Whelan's past that led him to doubt Russia's claims.

The first is Whelan's status as a retired Marine.

"That's important because the concept of 'non-official cover' is predicated on the idea that NOCs have no known ties to the US government," Price said. "That's what allows them to do their job effectively and, if all goes according to the plan, without detection."

"But Paul Whelan served his country in uniform for some 15 years and in a fairly prominent way," Price added. "That is about as far from the traditional NOC profile as one could get."

The second trait revolves around the circumstances of Whelan's departure from the Marine Corps. He was discharged in 2008 for bad conduct after being court-martialed on charges of larceny.

"Even if we were to set aside our skepticism on the first count, this fact makes any US government affiliation all the more dubious," Price said.

John Sipher, a former CIA clandestine services officer, echoed that view, telling NPR that he can "say for certain" that "this is not how the US commits espionage overseas."

"We would never put a US citizen, without diplomatic immunity, in harm's way this way, especially looking after low-level things like this," Sipher said.

The beginnings of a prisoner swap?

Whelan's detention came about two weeks after Butina's guilty plea.

Putin previously said he hadn't heard of Butina until her arrest and that she had no ties to the Kremlin or Russian spy agencies. But on December 20, Putin said the charges against Butina had been fabricated and that she was forced to plead guilty to avoid a long prison sentence.

He added, "I don't understand what she could have pleaded guilty to because she was not there to fulfill any government tasks."

But Kimberly Marten, a Russia expert and political science professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, told Vox Putin's apparent displeasure over Butina's arrest could indicate that Whelan's subsequent arrest could be a form of retaliation.

"Russia has a history of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions, and so forth, when there's any kind of a spy case," Marten said. But she said "we don't really know enough yet to say for sure."

Robert Deitz, a former top lawyer at the CIA and the National Security Agency, largely agreed.

"My instinct is that it is tit-for-tat," he told INSIDER. "Much like what China is doing to Canada. Neither of these countries has much dedication to the rule of law."

Whelan reportedly used VKontakte, a Russian social-media platform similar to Facebook, for the last 13 years, and Russian officials have alluded to his use of the website to bolster their claims that he is an undercover spy.

One Russian law-enforcement source told Rosbalt that Whelan spent years cultivating his Russian social-media presence to recruit Russians handpicked by American intelligence who had access to classified data.

Price said Whelan's profile also fits that of someone the Russians would detain if they wanted to secure a bargaining chip in the Butina case.

"They surely know that Trump would like nothing more than to boast about securing the release of a veteran," Price said. And "I have no doubt they came across his pro-Trump statements on his social-media page, something they have to know would reach Trump's desk, too."

"But this individual's profile is befitting of someone whom the Russian would deem worthy of Trump making a deal," Price said. "And the deal in this case may be a swap for Butina."

SEE ALSO: Paul Whelan, the US Marine veteran detained in Russia, has been charged with espionage, state media reports

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NOW WATCH: Anthony Scaramucci claims Trump isn't a nationalist: 'He likes saying that because it irks these intellectual elitists'

Digital has transformed retail possibilities.

And with e-commerce sales growing at nearly five times the rate of brick-and-mortar sales, retailers need to find cheaper and more efficient ways to deliver e-commerce orders.

But different age groups have different preferences for which delivery and fulfilment options are most important to them.

Find out which delivery features are most important to consumers as well as what fulfillment options retailers should be using to meet consumer demands in this new FREE slide deck from Business Insider Intelligence’s three-part Future of Retail 2018 series.

In this first installment of the series, Business Insider Intelligence explores delivery and fulfillment, including consumers’ delivery preferences, the challenges those demands pose to retailers, and the strategies retailers can use to meet consumers’ expectations of fulfillment without tanking their profitability.

As an added bonus, you will also gain immediate access to our exclusive Business Insider Intelligence Daily newsletter.

To get your copy of the first part of this FREE slide deck, simply click here.

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• Digital trust is the confidence people have in a platform to protect their information and provide a safe environment for them to create and engage with content.
• Business Insider Intelligence surveyed over 1,300 global consumers to evaluate their perception of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
• Consumers’ Digital Trust rankings differ across security, legitimacy, community, user experience, shareability, and relevance for the six major social networks.

If you feel like “fake news” and spammy social media feeds dominate your Internet experience, you’re not alone. Digital trust, the confidence people have in platforms to protect their information and provide a safe environment to create and engage with content, is in jeopardy.

In fact, in a new Business Insider Intelligence survey of more than 1,300 global consumers, over half (54%) said that fake news and scams were "extremely impactful” or “very impactful” on their decision to engage with ads and sponsored content.

For businesses, this distrust has financial ramifications. It’s no longer enough to craft a strong message; brands, marketers, and social platforms need to focus their energy on getting it to consumers in an environment where they are most receptive. When brands reach consumers on platforms that they trust, they enhance their credibility and increase the likelihood of receiving positive audience engagement.

The Digital Trust Report 2018, the latest Enterprise Edge Report from Business Insider Intelligence, compiles this exclusive survey data to analyze consumer perceptions of Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

The survey breaks down consumers’ perceptions of social media across six pillars of trust: security, legitimacy, community, user experience, shareability, and relevance. The results? LinkedIn ran away with it.

As the most trusted platform for the second year in a row – and an outlier in the overall survey results – LinkedIn took the top spot for nearly every pillar of trust — and there are a few reasons why:

• LinkedIn continues to benefit from the professional nature of its community — users on the platform tend to be well behaved and have less personal information at risk, which makes for a more trusting environment.
• LinkedIn users are likely more selective and mindful about engagement when interacting within their professional network, which may increase trust in its content.
• Content on LinkedIn is typically published by career-minded individuals and organizations seeking to promote professional interests, and is therefore seen as higher quality than other platforms’. This bodes well for advertisers and publishers to be viewed as forthright, honest, persuasive, and trustworthy.

Want to Learn More?

Enterprise Edge Reports are the very best research Business Insider Intelligence has to offer in terms of actionable recommendations and proprietary data, and they are only available to Enterprise clients.

The Digital Trust Report 2018 illustrates how social platforms have been on a roller coaster ride of data, user privacy, and brand safety scandals since our first installment of the report in 2017.

In full, the report analyzes key changes in rankings from 2017, identifies trends in millennials' behavior on social media, and highlights where these platforms (as well as advertisers) have opportunities to capture their attention.

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• There have been at least 21 incidents in Arizona over the past two years where police were notified because of people attacking Waymo vehicles or threatening their human test drivers. 
• According to a Waymo spokesperson, drivers who are feeling threatened on the road are instructed to find a secure location like a mall parking lot and decide whether or not to call 911. 
• Most drivers, however, find it easier and more effective to use the hands-free option of calling the Waymo dispatch center instead. 
• Waymo says there has not been a need to update its safety procedures, even as accounts of its cars being driven off the road by road-raged residents have surfaced. 

What does an operator of a self-driving car do when they're threatened or attacked by an angry motorist or pedestrian? 

If you work for self-driving car company Waymo, you go to the nearest mall. 

According to a spokesperson for Waymo, drivers feeling threatened on the road are instructed to find a secure location like a mall parking lot and decide whether or not to call 911. 

Waymo has been testing its robo-cars on Arizona public roads for roughly two years. The cars have a Waymo employee in the driver's seat, serving as a back-up driver who can take control of the vehicle when necessary (the self-driving car technology is still not perfect). 

Not everyone is enamored with the self-driving cars however, and the Waymo back-up drivers often find themselves on the front lines of anti-robot road rage. According to recent reports, Arizona residents have thrown rocks, brandished guns at and slashed the tires of the self-driving cars. 

Over the past two years, there have been at least 21 incidents where police were notified, according to the Arizona Republic.

Read more: People are attacking Waymo's self-driving cars in Arizona by slashing tires and, in some cases, pulling guns on the safety drivers

Waymo's training manual encourages drivers to “report suspicious behavior. When it’s safe to do so, pull into a secure location (E.g., a mall parking lot) and contact dispatch, or call 911 if you’re being threatened or feel that you’re in danger." 

Most drivers, however, find it easier and more effective to use the hands-free option of calling the company dispatch center, the spokesperson told us. A call to Waymo dispatch will alert the entire fleet when incidents occur. 

The spokesperson would not say how many threats have been reported to Waymo's dispatch center. 

Waymo says there has not been a need to update its safety procedures for drivers, even as accounts of its cars being driven off the road by road-raged residents have surfaced. 

“It’s a pretty close-knit group of folks. They’ve had really great lines of communication and those continue," the spokesperson said. 

SEE ALSO: The 29 best tech companies to work for in 2019, according to employees

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NOW WATCH: I tried cooking an entire Thanksgiving dinner using Google Home Hub and found there are two major flaws with it

• Women are tweeting images of their thobes — traditional Palestinian dresses adorned with elaborate embroidery — inspired by freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
• Rep. Tlaib, who was elected in November to represent the 13th District in Michigan, was sworn into the 116th Congress on Thursday.
• The congresswoman is one of the first two Muslim-American women elected to Congress, and during her swearing-in Rep. Tlaib wore a thobe.
• The #TweetYourThobe movement was started by Palestinian-American novelist Susan Muaddi Darraj, The New York Times reported, as a way to show support for Tlaib.

Women are tweeting images of their thobes — traditional handmade dresses worn by Palestinian women across faiths — inspired by freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib.

Rep. Tlaib, who was elected in November to represent the 13th District in Michigan, was sworn into the 116th Congress on Thursday. The congresswoman is the first Palestinian American women elected to Congress, and during her swearing in Rep. Tlaib wore a thobe.

Rep. Tlaib shared that she would be wearing a thobe on Instagram last month.

"Sneak peek: This is what I am wearing when I am sworn into Congress. #PalestinianThobe #ForMyYama," she wrote on December 14.

However, the Instagram post was met with backlash, sparking Palestinian American novelist Susan Muaddi Darraj to float the idea of #TweetYourThobe on Twitter, as a way to show support for Tlaib.

"What if a lot of us Palestinian American women wore our dresses that day and tweeted pictures of ourselves to support her, because she was getting all this backlash?" Darraj told INSIDER. "And a lot of people liked it, but then I started getting an incredible amount of hate mail. It was awful."

The converation around the thobes was moved to a private Facebook group; Darraj initially invited 300 people to join, and by January 3, she said there were 8,000 members.

On Thursday the movement was launched, and images of women in their thobes flooded social media — along with messages about the importance of representation in Congress.

"It's really powerful," Darraj said of seeing Tlaib in Congress. "I think I'm more moved that she wore the dress her mother made for her, because these dresses — we all have them. These dresses are dresses that are made by hand, and they are very particular to the village where you grew up. You can look at a woman's dress and you can tell which village or which part of Palestine she's from."

Thobes, Darraj explained are worn to formal events, so it would make sense for the dress to be worn for the swearing in ceremony.

"I want to do something that sort of normalizes this moment that makes everybody aware that this is what we do in our culture," Darraj explained to INSIDER, saying that she was excited about people from all cultures connecting with the movement.

The movement is in line with the 116th Congress, which is most diverse in US history. Tlaib is one of the first two Musilm American women to serve in Conress, along with Rep. Ilhan Omar. Rep. The new Congress also saw the swearing in of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, Reps. Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids.

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NOW WATCH: Anthony Scaramucci claims Trump isn't a nationalist: 'He likes saying that because it irks these intellectual elitists'

• Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green made their first visits back to the San Antonio Spurs as members of the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.
• While Green received a big ovation, just seconds later, Spurs fans mercilessly booed Leonard, a result of his trade request last season.

San Antonio Spurs fans gave very different receptions on Thursday to Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in both players' first visits back in San Antonio.

Green and Leonard were traded to the Toronto Raptors over the summer in exchange for DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl. Both players ere members of the Spurs for several years, making back-to-back Finals, including winning the 2014 championship.

However, Leonard, because of his fallout with the Spurs and subsequent trade demand, was not greeted warmly by Spurs fans, as expected.

During introductions on Thursday, fans were chanting for Green and gave him a huge ovation when his name was announced. Just seconds later, those cheers turned to jeers when Leonard was introduced.

Leonard, despite two All-Star appearances and a Finals MVP with the Spurs, fell out of standing last season over a bizarre injury saga, playing just nine games. He eventually requested a trade, and the Spurs obliged, sending him to the Raptors.

It doesn't appear Spurs fans are ready to forgive Leonard just yet.

SEE ALSO: The Raptors' year-long Kawhi Leonard gamble is going swimmingly, but could fall apart for the simplest reasons

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NOW WATCH: The true story behind the name 'Black Friday' is much darker than you may have thought

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

Not that long ago, many home-appliance and consumer-electronics makers were gearing up for what they thought would soon be a rapidly growing market for smart home devices.

The instant popularity of the Nest thermostat, introduced in 2011, seemed to confirm their hopes. But those expectations were dashed in the coming years as the market for connected home devices later stagnated. 

Even with these challenges, many of the biggest consumer technology companies are now moving into the smart home market. For example, Apple, which recently released its self-installed smart home ecosystem, called the Apple Home, traditionally doesn't move into a market until it's very mature and only when it can release a perfected product. Further, Google this fall launched the Google Home and its companion ecosystem, hoping to jump into the voice-activated smart home speaker market, which Amazon currently dominates with its Echo product line. 

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence examines the demographics of the average smart home device owner and discuss why current smart home device owners are appealing to tech companies. The report also examines the plans of various tech giants in the smart home market and discuss their monetization strategies, and makes suggestions for how these companies can position themselves to make their products and devices more appealing to the mass market.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Tech companies primarily enter the market to enhance a core revenue stream or service, while device makers desire to collect data to improve their products and prevent costly recalls.
• We forecast there will be $4.8 trillion in aggregate IoT investment between 2016 and 2021.
• These companies are also seeking to create an early-mover advantage for themselves, where they gain an advantage by this head start on adoption.
• Major barriers to mass market adoption that still must overcome include technological fragmentation and persistently high device prices.

In full, the report:

• Details the market strategy of prominent tech companies and device makers, and analyzes why which ones are best poised to succeed once adoption ticks up.
• Offers insight into current ownership through an exclusive survey from Business Insider Intelligence and analyzes what demographics will drive adoption moving forward.
• Explains in detail which companies are poised to succeed in the market in the coming years as adoption increases and mass market consumers begin to purchase smart home devices.

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NOW WATCH: Why it's so difficult to land a spacecraft on Mars

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.

Between housing costs, utilities, taxes, insurance, loans, and more, US adults paid an estimated $3.9 trillion in bills last year.

That market is growing slowly, but it’s changing fast — more than ever before, customers are moving away from paying bills via check or cash and toward paying online, either through their banks, the billers themselves, or using a third-party app.

Thanks to rising customer familiarity with digital payments, an increase in purchasing power among younger consumers more interested in digital bill pay, and a rise in digital payment options, nearly three-quarters of bills will be paid digitally by 2022, representing a big opportunity for players across the space.

In theory, banks should be in a great position to capitalize on this shift. Nearly all banks offer bill payment functionality, and it’s a popular feature. Issuers also boast an existing engaged digital user base, and make these payments secure. But that isn’t what’s happening — even as digital bill pay becomes more commonplace, banks are losing ground to billers and third-party players. And that’s not poised to change unless banks do, since issuer bill pay is least popular among the youngest customers, who will be the most important in the coming year.

For banks, then, that makes innovation important. Taking steps to grow bill pay’s share can be a tough sell for digital strategists and executives leading money movement at banks, and done wrong, it can be costly, since it often requires robust technological investments. But, if banks do it right, bill pay marks a strong opportunity to add and engage customers, and in turn, grow overall lifetime value while shrinking attrition.

Business Insider Intelligence has put together a detailed report that explains the US bill pay market, identifies the major inflection points for change and what’s driving it, and provides concrete strategies and recommendations for banks looking to improve their digital bill pay offerings.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• The bill pay market in the US, worth $3.9 trillion, is growing slowly. But digital bill payment volume is rising at a rapid clip — half of all bills are now digital, and that share will likely expand to over 75% by 2022. 
• Customers find it easiest to pay their bills at their billers directly, either through one-off or recurring payments. Bank-based offerings are commonplace, but barebones, which means they fail to appeal to key demographics.
• Issuers should work to reclaim bill payment share, since bill pay is an effective engagement tool that can increase customer stickiness, grow lifetime status, and boost primary bank status.  
• Banks need to make their offerings as secure and convenient as biller direct, market bill pay across channels, and build bill pay into digital money management functionality.

In full, the report:

• Sizes the US bill pay market, and estimates where it’s poised to go next.
• Evaluates the impact that digital will have on bill pay in the US and who is poised to capitalize on that shift.
• Identifies three key areas in which issuers can improve their bill pay offerings to gain share and explains why issuers are losing ground in these categories.
• Issues recommendations and defines concrete steps that banks can take as a means of gaining share back and reaping the benefits of digital bill pay engagement.

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• Retired four-star US Navy Adm. James Stavridis wrote a scathing opinion column discussing President Donald Trump and the former military generals who served in his Cabinet.

• Stavridis, NATO's 16th Supreme Allied Commander, suggested Trump was "attracted to the macho, direct, domineering profile that many civilians associate with generals."

• Stavridis said that former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis believed his role "might not be 'mission impossible' but he knew it was going to be 'mission very difficult.'"

Retired four-star US Navy Adm. James Stavridis wrote a scathing opinion column about President Donald Trump, in which he highlighted the military generals who have since left his administration.

Stavridis, who served as NATO's 16th Supreme Allied Commander and is currently an executive at a financial management organization, suggested Trump was "attracted to the macho, direct, domineering profile that many civilians associate with generals" and similar portrayals of military leaders in movies.

The retired admiral speculated that the aforementioned "macho" image associated with military leaders is why the president surrounded himself with his generals.

"[Trump] may have thought associating with them would burnish his own credentials as an alpha male," Stavridis wrote in TIME. "But it has likely dawned on Trump that generals are more cerebral than he ever would have guessed, have a pesky habit of quietly judging him in ways that got under his skin, are more intellectual planners than operational Rambos, and don't quite care about the politics and media signals that the President holds dear."

Stavridis continued by comparing Trump to the midshipmen and cadets at US military academies, who are held to a strict code of conduct.

"There was also an ongoing sense that the President's moral structure was, shall we say charitably, unconventional to the military mind," Stavridis said. "Cadets and midshipmen at the service academies operate on a very simple honor code: to not lie, to not cheat, to not steal."

"Every year, a handful of young officers run afoul and are summarily dismissed," Stavridis added. "For those who follow along the career path, any officer who violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice in any way ... would be court-martialed and removed from the service. The President's style of playing loose with the truth and facts ... grate on the military mind."

The latest general to quit the Trump White House was former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who resigned in December, citing policy differences with the president. After Mattis' resignation letter was made public and his differences with Trump became clearer, his scheduled departure of February was accelerated to the end of 2018.

Stavridis recounted a discussion he had with Mattis prior to becoming Trump's defense secretary. Stavridis asked Mattis, a former four-star US Marine, whether his personality would clash with Trump's if he took on the role.

"He said it might not be 'mission impossible' but he knew it was going to be 'mission very difficult,'" Stavridis said, adding that the comment came "from a man who has repeatedly taken on the toughest of assignments."

Many generals who transitioned into the Trump White House have left:

• Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a former three-star US Army general, was fired after he was discovered to have lied to the FBI.
• H.R. McMaster, Flynn's replacement and a former three-star US Army general, was fired amid numerous reports of conflicts with Trump.
• Former White House chief of staff John Kelly, a retired four-star general in the US Marine Corps, left in December. Kelly later went on to describe the job as "bone-crushing hard," but said he opted to take the position because of a sense of duty.

Stavridis appeared to understand Kelly's reasoning, but questioned whether his and other generals' commitment to a greater good was achieved by taking on a Cabinet role in the Trump administration.

"In the military, we say the first duty of an officer is to bring order out of chaos," he wrote. "I'm glad that the generals stepped into the breach."

"But in the end, each of them had to ask himself, 'At what point does my serving in this White House become less a guardrail and more an enabler?'"

SEE ALSO: 'Embarrassing' and 'entirely inappropriate': One of the most highly decorated former US Army generals blasts Trump's visit with US troops in Iraq

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Tech-driven disruption in the insurance industry continues at pace, and we're now entering a new phase — the adaptation of underlying business models. 

That's leading to ongoing changes in the distribution segment of the industry, but more excitingly, we are starting to see movement in the fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims management. 

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, will briefly review major changes in the insurtech segment over the past year. It will then examine how startups and legacy players across the insurance value chain are using technology to develop new business models that cut costs or boost revenue, and, in some cases, both. Additionally, we will provide our take on the future of insurance as insurtech continues to proliferate. 

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Funding is flowing into startups and helping them scale, while legacy players have moved beyond initial experiments and are starting to implement new technology throughout their businesses. 
• Distribution, the area of the insurance value chain that was first to be disrupted, continues to evolve. 
• The fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims management — are starting to experience true disruption, while innovation in reinsurance has also continued at pace.
• Insurtechs are using new business models that are enabled by a variety of technologies. In particular, they're using automation, data analytics, connected devices, and machine learning to build holistic policies for consumers that can be switched on and off on-demand.
• Legacy insurers, as opposed to brokers, now have the most to lose — but those that move swiftly still have time to ensure they stay in the game.

 In full, the report:

• Reviews major changes in the insurtech segment over the past year.
• Examines how startups and legacy players across distribution, insurance, and reinsurance are using technology to develop new business models.
• Provides our view on what the future of the insurance industry looks like, which Business Insider Intelligence calls Insurtech 2.0.

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• "The Walking Dead's" Austin Amelio is heading to AMC's spin-off "Fear the Walking Dead" for its fifth season.
• Amelio's character, Dwight, last appeared on the "TWD" during season eight.
• The "Walking Dead" star told fans at a convention in December his character was "alive in the world somewhere."

"The Walking Dead's" Austin Amelio hinted at Walker Stalker Con New Jersey fans may see his character Dwight again in the zombie apocalypse. It turns out it just won't be on the main AMC show.

Comicbook.com reported Dwight will be crossing over to spin-off "Fear the Walking Dead," according to multiple sources involved with the show. INSIDER confirmed Amelio will indeed head to the companion show for its fifth season.

At Walker Stalker Con New Jersey in December, Amelio said the former Savior is still alive and kicking.

"He's not dead... That's all I can say," Amelio told a small crowd of fans during a panel INSIDER attended. "He's alive. He's alive in the world somewhere."

Amelio will be the second cast member from "The Walking Dead" to crossover onto "Fear." Lennie James joined the show during its fourth season as his character Morgan. 

Fans last saw Dwight on season eight of "TWD" after the war with Negan ended. Daryl spared his life but told him if he was to ever return that he'd personally kill him. In response, Dwight went in search of his ex-wife Sherry (Christine Evangelista). 

Evangelista left "TWD" during season seven and starred on E!'s "The Arrangement." The show was recently canceled leaving hope that we could potentially see her return to the franchise. 

INSIDER could not confirm whether or not Evangelista may also appear on "Fear" with Amelio. Regardless, we're holding out hope for a Dwight and Sherry reunion. But in the world of the zombie apocalypse, as we know, love usually doesn't come out on top.

You can follow along with our ongoing "Walking Dead" coverage here. "TWD" returns to AMC Sunday, February 10 at 9 p.m. There is no set premiere date for season five of "Fear TWD" yet.

If you're missing Dwighty boy on "TWD" you can see him again with Norman Reedus on season three of his AMC series, "Ride with Norman Reedus," which will also return to TV February 10. Amelio will appear on the fourth episode of the season.

• Read more:
• 'The Walking Dead' star says another actor almost lost their arm on the show years ago
• 'The Walking Dead's' Katelyn Nacon says Enid won't be happy Negan's free
• 'The Walking Dead's' Katelyn Nacon says she didn't learn about Enid's new romance until she read it in the script

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