• The Duke Blue Devils beat the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday in a battle of two of the best teams in college basketball.
• Freshman Cam Reddish won the game for Duke with a wide-open buzzer-beater after a defensive lapse from Florida State.
• Reddish finished the game with 23 points, with fellow freshman R.J. Barrett adding 32 points of his own for the Blue Devils.

The top-ranked Duke Blue Devils rallied to beat No. 13 Florida State on Saturday thanks to a bit of blown defense from the Seminoles.

Facing a tough test and daunting home crowd at Florida State, Duke was left to finish the game without freshman standout Zion Williamson, who missed the second half after being poked in the eye.

Thankfully for the Blue Devils, Williamson is just one of three Duke freshman projected to be among the top 10 picks in the 2019 NBA Draft, and on Saturday, it was Cam Reddish who would play hero for the road team.

Down 78-77 with just two seconds remaining, the Blue Devils needed a big shot to escape with a win. Thanks to a defensive lapse from Florida State, it would come easier than expected.

Reddish received the inbounds pass from under the basket outside the arc, completely free from the Seminoles defense, and drilled the buzzer-beater with ease.

Reddish finished the game with 23 points, with fellow freshman standout R.J. Barrett adding 32 points of his own to lead the Blue Devils.

After the game, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said that Williamson won't have to miss any more time due to the eye injury. Even if he did, Reddish and Barrett made clear that the Blue Devils are still a force to be reckoned regardless.

SEE ALSO: Zion Williamson may have improved the weakest aspect of his game and it could be a game-changer

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NOW WATCH: 7 science-backed ways to a happier and healthier 2019 that you can do the first week of the new year

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Virtual reality (VR) offers immersive experiences in which users can hear, see, and interact with 360-degree digital environments using head-mounted displays (HMDs) and handheld motion devices. The technology has been historically associated with consumer-facing gaming, but it’s been gaining traction in the enterprise over the past year.

In fact, companies such as Macy’s, Lowe’s, Walmart, and UPS, among others, have all launched new VR programs since 2017. And as more businesses look to tap the technology, this will drive enterprise VR hardware and software revenue to jump 587% to $5.5 billion in 2023, up from an estimated $800 million in 2018, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates.

This shows that retailers and brands should look into implementing VR as early as possible to better compete with other industry players who’ve started to use the tech, especially in three key areas: sales, employee training, and product development. All of the companies mentioned above are using VR to in at least one of these areas, enabling them to increase product sales, reduce product design costs, or speed up employee training processes, for instance.

In the VR In The Enterprise report, Business Insider Intelligence explores how VR can provide value to retailers and brands in three areas: sales, employee training, and product development.

The report begins by discussing potential pain points the technology addresses for each use case, examining in-depth case studies to illustrate how companies have implemented the technology, and outlining the broader takeaways each use case presents for brands and retailers.

Finally, it looks at some of the potential barriers to further enterprise adoption and how both companies and VR incumbents are actively addressing those obstacles.

The companies mentioned in the report are: Audi, Lowe's, Macy's, McLaren Automotive, Walmart, and UPS, among others.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• VR enables consumers in brick-and-mortar stores to make more informed purchases, which could increase sales conversion rates.
• Brands and retailers looking to ramp up their employees quicker should consider bringing VR into their training processes.
• The tech can shorten brands' and retailers' product development life cycles by cutting down on the time associated with building expensive physical prototypes.

In full, the report:

• Identifies key VR vendors and device form factors for businesses to consider.
• Discusses key benefits the tech brings businesses for their sales, training, and product development processes.
• Illustrates those key benefits by discussing real-world case studies from companies and the takeaways from those implementations.

SEE ALSO: When it comes to VR hardware, consumers are balancing price point and experience

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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.

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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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• The US government is currently shut down because President Donald Trump is demanding billions of dollars to build a wall along the US-Mexico border, and Congress won't fund it.
• Of the 1,933 miles along the border, 1,279 miles is unfenced.
• Most of the barrier that currently exists, and that the Trump administration has built, isn't the high concrete wall Trump talked about on the campaign trail, and instead resembles a fence.

From western California to eastern Texas, across four US states and 24 counties, the 1,933-mile US-Mexico border criss-crosses arid desert, rugged mountains, and winding rivers.

For 654 of those miles, fencing separates the two countries from each other.

The 7.3 million people who live in the border counties on each side of the line have watched for years as security grew tighter and illegal crossings tapered off.

In just the last 12 years, the US government built the barriers, deployed troops, and started using advanced surveillance technology — all in an effort to tame and control some of the wildest and remotest land in the United States.

In an effort to make good on campaign promises to "build that wall," President Donald Trump has refused to back down on his demand that Congress allocate $5.7 billion for the project, plunging the government into a weeks-long shutdown after Senate Democrats refused to back a spending bill with the wall funding.

Democrats, who now control the House of Representatives, have long opposed Trump's wall and placed the blame for the shutdown on Trump.

The shutdown comes amid controversy over US immigration and border policies, after two young migrant children died in Border Patrol custody last month. The deaths also come on the heels of outrage over the Trump administration's family separation policy over the summer, which split thousands of children from their parents.

With public outrage has growing toward the government's immigration policies, it's worth taking a look at the complexity of the borderlands to understand the daunting task of securing them.

From the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east, here's what the entire US-Mexico border looks like.

SEE ALSO: The 8-year-old migrant boy who died on Christmas Eve was held in US custody for nearly a week — against Border Patrol's own rules

DON'T MISS: The Trump administration just released new photos of 'the president's border wall' — and it looks more like a fence

California has stood more defiantly than any other state against Trump's immigration agenda and his long-promised wall. Yet the Golden State's southern boundary is one of the most thoroughly fortified along the entire US-Mexico border.

Source: Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and OpenStreetMap contributors

Roughly 105 miles of the 140-mile border California shares with Mexico are walled off by pedestrian fencing or vehicle barriers, beginning on the west coast with a tall, metal fence that juts into the Pacific Ocean.

Source: GAO analysis of Customs and Border Protection data

Though some Trump critics have seized upon his deployment of the National Guard in California, the San Diego coastline already hosts around 55 guardsman who assist in "counterdrug missions" and conduct surveillance support.

Source: USA Today

The smartphone is an essential part of our everyday lives.

But as with all technology, things change. So the question becomes: What will be the next smartphone?

Will it be the connected car? Or the smart speaker? What about the smartwatch?

Find out which device, if any, will take over the smartphone's role with this brand new slide deck from Business Insider Intelligence called The Next Smartphone.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Smartphones are the fastest adopted tech in the U.S.
• Whichever device becomes the next smartphone needs to go everywhere
• Consumer expectations around the smartphone are changing
• And much more

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

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• Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Denico Autry was called for a 15-yard taunting penalty on Saturday for his celebratory dance after sacking Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
• Autry's dance, which occurred directly in front of the referee, was deemed "suggestive" and thus worthy of a 15-yard penalty.
• The scene was eerily reminiscent of a popular "Key & Peele" sketch.

The Indianapolis Colts lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 31-13 on Saturday in a game that had few bright spots for the Colts.

The Colts had won 10 of their last 11 games heading into Kansas City, but couldn't get anything going on Saturday, failing to score an offensive touchdown until the final five minutes of the game and going a dismal 0-9 on third down conversions.

Indianapolis' entire performance was a comedy of errors, and the funniest play of the game came courtesy of defensive tackle Denico Autry, who got a little too excited when celebrating his sack of Patrick Mahomes.

Autry made a big stop for the Colts, sacking Patrick Mahomes on fourth down, but unfortunately decided to take part in a suggestive celebratory dance right in front of the official after the play.

Autry was penalized for taunting, pushing the Colts back 15 yards before their possession even began.

Some, such as ESPN's Bill Barnwell, were perplexed by the referee's decision.

As it turns out though, Barnwell's question wasn't too far off from the truth. According to the NFL rules regarding celebrations, actions deemed "suggestive" are not permitted, in addition to violent or offensive gestures.

On Twitter, people were quick to point out the similarities between Autry's celebration and that of Hingle McCringleberry, from the popular "Key & Peele" sketch.

Safe to say, it simply wasn't the Colts' day.

• More NFL coverage:
• Andy Reid scolded Chiefs fans during playoff game for throwing snowballs at Colts punter
• Patrick Mahomes' teammates keep him from getting a big head by imitating his voice and nobody does it better than Andy Reid
• Nick Foles can't stop winning — and it puts the Eagles in a difficult situation as his free agency looms

SEE ALSO: Andy Reid scolded Chiefs fans during playoff game for throwing snowballs at Colts punter

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NOW WATCH: We tried the Costco food court and it totally blew us away

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The mobile augmented reality (AR) market is quickly becoming primed for the retail space. By blending the online and in-store shopping journeys, mobile AR promises to provide an immersive digital shopping experience unlike anything shoppers have seen before.

Mobile AR is one of the most coveted technologies for improving the digital shopping experience among consumers. That’s because mobile AR can be used to bring the in-store experience to consumers’ homes by recreating the try-on experience. It allows online shoppers to test out multiple sizes and variations of products, or just see what a product looks like overlaid into their home — without making a true commitment to the purchase or a trip to the store. It can also be used in-store to quickly provide product information or guide users to the right item using location-based services.

Retailers that meet this need for mobile AR stand to pull ahead of the competition. Mobile AR can help build brand loyalty, heighten engagement, increase geographical customer reach, shorten conversion times, boost purchases of larger items, and cut down on returns.

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence examines the importance of mobile AR to businesses in the retail space, explores the various ways brands are utilizing mobile AR to enhance the customer experience as well as their own, and determines the factors retailers should consider when devising a mobile AR strategy.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• Nearly 75% of consumers already expect retailers to offer an AR experience. Mobile AR retail experiences are more likely to come to fruition as Apple and Google continue to build out their AR developer platforms, ARKit and ARCore, respectively, which will expand the addressable market exponentially.
• Retailers in certain segments, including furniture and home improvement, as well as beauty and fashion, have been the first to jump on the mobile AR bandwagon through their own apps. These sectors appear to have the most immediate need for mobile AR strategies, as trying out furniture and clothes are two of the most coveted AR use cases by consumers.
• Social media is emerging as a prominent channel for retailers to reach consumers through mobile AR experiences. Platforms like Facebook and Snapchat continue to build out tools that businesses and developers can utilize to enhance their advertising strategies with immersive experiences.
• But retailers will have to consider several factors before implementing their mobile AR strategies. These include the cost of building AR experiences, the availability of AR-compatible smartphones, consumer awareness of mobile AR apps, and the quality of mobile AR content.

In full, the report:

• Explores the ways mobile AR brings value to the customer shopping experience. 
• Highlights how the consumer benefits of mobile AR can be transformed into valuable outcomes for retailers.
• Discusses how major retail brands are leveraging mobile AR to enhance the customer journey, and what goals they are striving to achieve.
• Outlines the several factors retailers and brands will have to consider before implementing their mobile AR strategies.

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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.

Over the past five years, the world has seen a seemingly unending series of high-profile data breaches, defined as incidents in which unauthorized parties access and retrieve sensitive, secure, or private data.

Major incidents, like the 2013 Yahoo breach, which impacted all 3 million of the tech giant’s customers, and the more recent Equifax breach, which exposed the information of at least 143 million US adults, has kept this risk, and these threats, at the forefront for both businesses and consumers. And businesses have good reason to be concerned — of organizations breached, 22% lost customers, 29% lost revenue, and 23% lost business opportunities.

This threat isn’t going anywhere. Each of the past five years has seen, on average, 1,704 security incidents, impacting nearly 2 billion records. And hackers could be getting more efficient, using new technological tools to extract more data in fewer breach attempts. That’s making the security threat an industry-agnostic for any business holding sensitive data — at this point, virtually all companies — and therefore a necessity for firms to address proactively and prepare to react to.

The majority of breaches come from the outside, when a malicious actor is usually seeking access to records for financial gain, and tend to leverage malware or other software and hardware-related tools to access records. But they can come internally, as well as from accidents perpetrated by employees, like lost or stolen records or devices.

That means that firms need to have a broad-ranging plan in place, focusing on preventing breaches, detecting them quickly, and resolving and responding to them in the best possible way. That involves understanding protectable assets, ensuring compliance, and training employees, but also protecting data, investing in software to understand what normal and abnormal performance looks like, training employees, and building a response plan to mitigate as much damage as possible when the inevitable does occur.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has put together a detailed report on the data breach threat, who and what companies need to protect themselves from, and how they can most effectively do so from a technological and organizational perspective.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• The breach threat isn’t going anywhere. The number of overall breaches isn’t consistent — it soared from 2013 to 2016, but ticked down slightly last year — but hackers might be becoming better at obtaining more records with less work, which magnifies risk.
• The majority of breaches come from the outside, and leverage software and hardware attacks, like malware, web app attacks, point-of-service (POS) intrusion, and card skimmers.
• Firms need to build a strong front door to prevent as many breaches as possible, but they also need to develop institutional knowledge to detect a breach quickly, and plan for how to resolve and respond to it in order to limit damage — both financial and subjective — as effectively as possible.

In full, the report:

• Explains the scope of the breach threat, by industry and year, and identifies the top attacks.
• Identifies leading perpetrators and causes of breaches.
• Addresses strategies to cope with the threat in three key areas: prevention, detection, and resolution and response.
• Issues recommendations from both a technological and organizational perspective in each of these categories so that companies can avoid the fallout that a data breach can bring.

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Digital disruption is affecting every aspect of the fintech industry.

Over the past five years, fintech has established itself as a fundamental part of the global financial services ecosystem.

Fintech startups have raised, and continue to raise, billions of dollars annually, pushing incumbent financial institutions to get in on the action. Legacy players have begun using fintech to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving financial services landscape.

So what's next?

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, explores recent innovations in the fintech space as well as what might be coming in the future in our brand new exclusive slide deck, The Future of Fintech: How Fintech Is Taking Over The World and What Comes Next.

To get your copy of this free slide deck, click here.

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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. 

Telehealth — the use of mobile technology to deliver health-related services, such as remote doctor consultations and patient monitoring — is enabling healthcare providers and payers to address the US healthcare industry’s growing list of problems.

The proliferation and rapid advancement of mobile technology are spurring telehealth adoption, and many believe that 2018 could be the tipping point for the telehealth market.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence defines the opaque US telehealth market, forecasts the market growth potential and value, outlines the key drivers behind usage and adoption, and evaluates the opportunity telehealth solutions will afford all stakeholders. We also identify key barriers to continued telehealth adoption, and discuss how providers, payers, and telehealth companies are working to overcome these hurdles.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Telehealth is enabling healthcare providers and payers to address the US healthcare industry’s growing list of problems, including rising healthcare costs, an aging population, and the transformation of healthcare from service-centric to consumer-centric, which is straining healthcare system resources and threatening to drive up payer costs.
• Although telehealth solutions aren't suitable for all patients, right now, about 45% of the US population, or 147 million consumers, falls within the addressable market.
• Despite low usage rates, most consumers are open to using telehealth solutions, according to the 2018 Business Insider Intelligence Insurance Technology Study. 
• A range of companies are well-positioned to generate savings in terms of revenue and avoid potential pitfalls by deploying telehealth solutions.

 In full, the report:

• Offers an overview of different types of telehealth services and their applications in the US healthcare ecosystem. 
• Highlights the growth drivers and opportunities of these applications.
• Includes exclusive data and insights from the 2018 Business Insider Intelligence Insurance Technology Study. 
• Provides examples of key players in the telehealth market, including insurers, medical device makers, and health networks. 
• Gives recommendations on how health networks and payers should approach using and deploying telehealth solutions.

Subscribe to an All-Access pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to:

	This report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports
	Access to all future reports and daily newsletters
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• After a shaky start, wearables like smartwatches and fitness trackers have gained traction in healthcare, with US consumer use jumping from 9% in 2014 to 33% in 2018.
• More than 80% of consumers are willing to wear tech that measures health data — and penetration should continue to climb.
• The maturation of the wearable market will put more wearables in the hands of consumers and US businesses.

The US healthcare industry as it exists today is not sustainable. An aging patient population and rising burden of chronic disease have caused healthcare costs to skyrocket and left providers struggling to keep up with demand for care. 

Meanwhile, digital technologies in nearly every consumer experience outside of healthcare have raised patients’ expectations for good service to be higher than ever.

One of the key mechanisms through which healthcare providers can finally evolve their outdated practices and exceed these expectations is wearable technology.

Presently, 33% of US consumers have adopted wearables, such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, to play a more active role in managing their health. In turn, insurers, providers, and employers are poised to become just as active leveraging these devices – and the data they capture – to abandon the traditional reimbursement model and improve patient outcomes with personalized, value-based care.

Adoption is going to keep climbing, as more than 80% of consumers are willing to wear tech that measures health data, according to Accenture — though they have reservations about who exactly should access it.

A new report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, follows the growing adoption of wearables and breadth of functions they offer to outline how healthcare organizations and stakeholders can overcome this challenge and add greater value with wearable technology.

For insurers, providers, and employers, wearables present three distinct opportunities:

• Insurers can use wearable data to enhance risk assessments and drive customer lifetime value. One study shows that wearables can incentivize healthier behavior associated with a 30% reduction in risk of cardiovascular events and death.
• Providers can use the remote patient monitoring capabilities of wearable technology to improve chronic disease management, lessen the burden of staff shortages, and navigate a changing reimbursement model. And since 90% of patients no longer feel obligated to stay with providers that don't deliver a satisfactory digital experience, wearables could help to attract and retain them.
• Employers can combine wearables with cash incentives to lower insurance costs and improve employee productivity. For example, The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority yielded $5 million in healthcare cost savings through a wearable-based employee wellness program.

Want to Learn More?

The Wearables in US Healthcare Report details the current and future market landscape of wearables in the US healthcare sector. It explores the key drivers behind wearable usage by insurers, healthcare providers, and employers, and the opportunities wearables afford to each of these stakeholders. 

By outlining a successful case study from each stakeholder, the report highlights best practices in implementing wearables to reduce healthcare claims, improve patient outcomes, and drive insurance cost savings, as well as how the evolution of the market will create new, untapped opportunities for businesses.

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• Conservative MPs tell Business Insider that there has been a catastrophic collapse in party discipline ahead of the crucial House of Commons vote on her Brexit deal.
• A dysfunctional and inexperienced whipping operation and a divided Cabinet have caused support for May to fall away.
• "You need to be frightened of the Chief Whip and the prime minister — none of us are," says one Tory MP.
• The prime minister has just over two days left to avoid a historic defeat for her government.

LONDON — Rebellious Cabinet ministers, a chaotic whips office, and the growing weakness of Theresa May's leadership have contributed to a complete collapse of Conservative party discipline that risks spiralling Britain towards a no-deal Brexit, Conservative MPs have told Business Insider.

A number of backbench MPs told BI this week that the government's whips office, which is responsible for party discipline, had become increasingly "dysfunctional" in recent months, with Tory rebels having joined Labour MPs to inflict two further humiliating defeats on the government in parliament this week, as well as three damaging Commons defeats in one day before Christmas.

The MPs who spoke to Business Insider said that Tory colleagues have felt emboldened to vote against the government on Brexit legislation without fear of reprisals because Cabinet ministers are speaking out against government policy with growing frequency, despite being bound by a convention which dictates that ministers must publicly support all government positions. 

"If discipline unravels at the top, it's very difficult to discipline your troops,"said one Tory MP and former minister who plans to vote against Theresa May's Brexit deal next week. 

The series of defeats come just days before Theresa May is scheduled to put her Brexit deal before parliament next week, with up to 120 Tory MPs prepared to vote down her proposals and hand the prime minister a crushing defeat which some believe could end her premiership.

If discipline unravels at the top, it's very difficult to discipline your troops.

One estimate by the BBC suggests that the prime minister is on course to suffer a defeat on her Brexit deal by a margin of up to 228 MPs, the largest for any governing party in history.

Discipline comes from the top

Cabinet ministers are meant to bound by a convention called collective responsibility, which dictates that they must resign if they wish to oppose official government policy. However, that has not prevented growing numbers of ministers from speaking out against Downing Street's position on Brexit.

Why should I fall in line if Amber Rudd doesn't?

This week alone, Digital Minister Margot James suggested that the UK could extend Article 50 and delay Brexit despite Downing Street's insistence that such an option is not on the table. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, meanwhile, suggested on Friday that parliament would likely to find a way to block a no-deal exit from the EU, and Work & Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd broke ranks to say that history would take a 'dim view' of Cabinet if it left without a deal, despite Downing Street insisting that such an option remains on the table. 

   READ MORE: Theresa May suffers Commons defeat by MPs fighting to block a no-deal Brexit

"Why should I fall in line if Amber doesn't?" said the MP who intends to vote against Theresa May's deal. "Collective responsibility has gone."

That breakdown in the discipline has made it harder for whips to make a convincing case to their colleagues for voting in line with the government.

"When a whip says your actions are bad for party unity, you can genuinely say: 'What unity?'" the MP said.

Inexperienced whips

The relative inexperience of the Whips' Office has also contributed to the government's loss of authority in key votes, three different Conservative MPs told Business Insider.

They said that the government was gutting the Whips' office to fill gaps in ministerial positions which have been vacated by numerous ministers who have resigned in protest at Theresa May's Brexit deal.

"There is little experience in the current whips office," said one MP who is a member of the European Research Group of Leave-voting Tory MPs.

"A lot are new MPs, which is a terrible mistake. The government is using the whips office as a nursery for rising stars before they are promoted to ministerial positions."

You need to be frightened of the Chief Whip and the prime minister — none of us are

Thirteen MPs from the 18-strong Whips' office, including Chief Whip Julian Smith, were elected in 2010, and the remaining five were elected in 2015. A second MP said "a lot of experienced members of parliament" frequently complained about an underpowered whipping operation.

Several talented whips, such as Chris Heaton-Harris, have left the Whips' Office to become junior ministers in recent months, and been replaced by less experienced colleagues, one former Tory whip said.

"The government has been using the Whips' Office to plug gaps in other departments," the MP said.

The Leave-voting MP said that the lack of experience made the prospect of defying whips less "scary."

"You need to be frightened of the Chief Whip and the prime minister," the ERG member said. "None of us are."

In one particularly strange decision before the Christmas break that has crystallised criticisms of the operation among Conservative MPs, the chief whip Julian Smith invited TV cameras in to view him failing to convince MPs to back May's deal.

Were Tory rebellions on Brexit inevitable?

While there is a broad consensus among MPs that the Whips' Office lacks experience, several questioned whether a better operation would have prevented any of the Brexit defeats the government has suffered at the hands of Tory rebels on Brexit in recent weeks, especially given the government's lack of a majority.

There was always going to be a battle of wills about Brexit.

"When governments have a small majority, it empowers MPs to exert their demands," the Leave-voting MP said.

"A majority of fifty or sixty, and the rebels wouldn't be able to do anything. But if you have a slim majority — or in our case, no majority at all — every man and his dog has the power to try and steer Downing Street in whatever direction they should so choose."

Other MPs emphasised that otherwise loyal Tory MPs had always been ill-disciplined on European issues, and said it was inevitable that the parliamentary party would be divided on the issue of Brexit.

"There was always going to be a battle of wills about Brexit," said an MP who intends to support Theresa May's deal next week.

"There was no way this was ever going to be smooth."

SEE ALSO: British business leaders to launch emergency no-deal Brexit interventions if May's deal is defeated

SEE ALSO: Has the UK parliament really taken back control of Brexit from Theresa May?

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: MSNBC host Chris Hayes thinks President Trump's stance on China is 'not at all crazy'

• MPs are reportedly planning to change House of Commons rules to seize control of the Brexit process.
• A cross-party group is working on plans to give MPs the power to initiate legislation.
• Theresa May has warned MPs that failure to deliver Brexit would be an "catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy" ahead of the meaningful vote on her deal.
• May is almost certain to lose that vote. Potentially by a margin of over 100 MPs.
• A cross-party group of MPs are reportedly planning to exploit parliamentary arithmetic to weaken the prime minister and give greater powers to backbench MPs who want to soften, delay and stop Brexit.
• MPs will vote on the Withdrawal Agreement on Tuesday. 

LONDON — Theresa May has warned that failure to deliver Brexit would be a "catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy" has MPs plot to sideline the prime minister and take control of the process.

Writing for the Sunday Express today, May says that the meaningful vote on her Brexit deal on Tuesday would be the "biggest and most important decision that any MP of our generation will be asked to make."

She adds that MPs "cannot — and must not — let you (voters) down" and urged MPs "to forget the games and do what is right for our country" ahead of the historic House of Commons vote on her deal with the European Union."

The prime minister is almost certain to lose that vote with MPs on all sides opposed to the Withdrawal Agreement.

The margin of victory could be over 100 MPs, with tens of Conservative MPs and the Democratic Unionist Party that props up May's government set to join all opposition parties in voting against the Brexit deal.

The prime minister is set to return to the Commons within days of a defeat to lay out what she'll do next, with MPs calling for a range of options including a softer Brexit, an extension to Article 50, and a new referendum.

Staunch Brexiteers want May to ditch the controversial backstop for Northern Ireland and negotiate a cleaner break from Brussels, with some calling for a no-deal Brexit.

READ MORE: Conservative MPs blame Theresa May's 'dysfunctional' leadership for looming Brexit deal defeat

According to a report in The Sunday Times, a cross-party group of MPs including pro-second referendum Conservative MP Dominic Grieve is planning to take greater control of the Brexit process.

MPs will reportedly try to re-write parliamentary rules to make motions proposed by backbench MPs take precedent over government business, therefore putting what happens next in the hands of MPs.

10 Downing Street fears that this "very British coup" will give pro-Remain MPs greater power to delay Britain's exit from the EU or even put the issue back to the public via another referendum, the report suggests.

A government source is quoted as saying: “Without control of the order paper, the government has no control over the House of Commons and the parliamentary business and legislation necessary to progress government policies.

"The government would lose its ability to govern."

In practice, it would give backbench MPs the power to dictate what legislation is put to Parliament. It would represent a historic enhancement of power for the House of Commons.

It goes on to add that Grieve — who has been behind a number of amendments designed to stifle May's Brexit plan — met with House of Commons Speaker John Bercow earlier this week. Bercow infuriated the government this week when he upended constitutional convention to let MPs vote on amendment to a usually unamendable motion.

Grieve refused to deny the reported plans, telling The Sunday Times: "I have no doubt that lots of people may be looking at all sorts of ideas since we are in a deepening national political crisis."

On Friday, Grieve told an anti-Brexit rally that he would do everything in his power to stop a no-deal Brexit, telling campaigners: "Parliamentarians have a responsibility to prevent national suicide and a no deal Brexit would be just that."

His Conservative party colleague, Nick Boles MP, has confirmed that he is working on an amendment that if passed would make it illegal for the government to take the country out of the EU without an exit deal.

SEE ALSO: Exclusive: Second Brexit referendum campaign fear it's 'game over' unless Corbyn backs a People's Vote

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NOW WATCH: MSNBC host Chris Hayes thinks President Trump's stance on China is 'not at all crazy'

• Analysts at Credit Suisse think smartphone production levels are in free-fall, and the bottom is nowhere near in sight.
• The investment bank said smartphone production levels will drop to their lowest level since 2013 in the first three months of 2019.
• People are happier to hang on to their handsets for longer and breakout innovation is becoming harder to come by, with many phones capable of doing similar things.

Apple is far from alone in feeling the pain of falling demand for new smartphones.

After its earnings warning shook Wall Street earlier this month, new figures show that all manufacturers are increasingly struggling to get customers to upgrade or buy new phones.

In a note to clients, Credit Suisse published estimates showing that global smartphone production is in free-fall, and the bank's analysts warned that the "bottom not yet in sight."

Credit Suisse revised down its smartphone production forecast for the final three months of 2018, predicting it will fall by 3% quarter-on-quarter to 357 million units. It said first-quarter output will fall 19% to 289 million units.

Read more: Apple is reportedly cutting iPhone production by 10% after one of the darkest weeks in its history

Put another way, Credit Suisse thinks smartphone production levels will drop to their lowest level since 2013 in the first three months of 2019. This graph says it all:

If Credit Suisse's forecasts prove accurate, it means that first-quarter smartphone production will have fallen for five consecutive years. "It is too early to say whether this news is already fully discounted in share prices, or will continue to have an impact," it added.

Apple, Samsung, and companies like Huawei — the second biggest phone manufacturer in the world — are all feeling the squeeze. People are happier to hang on to their handsets for longer and breakout innovation is becoming harder to come by, with many phones capable of doing similar things.

As James Cordwell, a tech analyst at Atlantic Equities, told Business Insider this month, the smartphone market has "become a bit boring."

SEE ALSO: Apple's brutal sales warning sparked a Wall Street debate on whether tech stocks will be dragged into a disastrous downturn

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NOW WATCH: 7 science-backed ways to a happier and healthier 2019 that you can do the first week of the new year

• China is facing international pressure over its crackdown on its Muslim ethnic minority, the Uighurs.
• Chinese authorities are accused of arbitrarily imprisoning Uighurs in prison-like camps and making them renounce their religion.
• More and more activists and countries, including those with Muslim majorities, are condemning Beijing over these actions.
• Pakistan, a major economic ally of China, was first to censure Beijing. But over the past few months, it started toeing the Chinese line.
• Experts say it illustrates the power of Chinese money.

Pakistan, China's largest economic ally in the Muslim world, abruptly stopped censuring Beijing over its unprecedented crackdown on Muslims.

The shift clearly illustrates the power of Chinese money, activists and critics say.

China is facing international pressure over its treatment of the Uighurs, a majority-Muslim ethnic minority who live mainly in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Activists accuse Chinese authorities of imprisoning up to 1 million Uighurs in prison-like camps, where detainees are reportedly forced to sing hymns to President Xi Jinping and renounce their religion.

Beijing justifies these measures as counterterrorism, and routinely calls the camps "free vocational training," meant to turn Uighurs into "normal persons."

After an initial period of silence, Muslim nations have started to speak out about the treatment, which has been condemned by the UN and the US, as well as by dozens of human rights groups.

Read more:A wall of silence around China's oppression of its Muslim minority is starting to crumble

But Pakistan — where Islam is the state religion and where Muslims make up more than 90% of the population — has increasingly muted its voice on China's human rights record in recent months.

In September, it was the first country in the Muslim world to censure Beijing over its treatment of the Uighurs. 

Pakistan's federal minister for religious affairs, Noorul Haq Qadri, said that China's intensive regulation of Uighur activity is fuelling extremism, rather than countering it. Beijing's response was to deny that the criticism even happened.

Since then, Pakistan has dramatically changed its tune.

'The Chinese have been a breath of fresh air for us'

In December, Pakistan's foreign ministry toed the Chinese line, accusing the media of "trying to sensationalize" the Xinjiang issue, according to Agence France-Presse.

Mohammad Faisal, a spokesman for the ministry, echoed China on the detention camps, saying that some Pakistanis detained in Xinjiang were "undergoing voluntary training" instead.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan this week claimed "I don't actually know much" about the situation of Muslims in Xinjiang. He discussed his country's economic partnership with China instead.

Pakistan is one of the largest recipients of Chinese aid and infrastructure contracts. Loans and infrastructure contracts have been a lifeline to the Pakistani economy, which faces a growing mountain of national and foreign debt.

"In this doom and gloom which we inherited, the Chinese have been a breath of fresh air for us," Khan told Turkey's TRT World news channel. "They have been extremely helpful to us ... we have these plans of reviving our economy, [and] China is going to play a huge part."

China is 'buying the silence of Pakistan'

Experts have made an explicit link between Pakistan's increasingly tepid response and its reliance on Chinese investment.

Many Muslim countries have refrained from criticizing China over its treatment of Uighurs in the past, likely to keep Chinese investments coming, or to avoid charges of hypocrisy over their own human rights record.

Pakistan is a major part of the Belt and Road Initiative, a major Chinese project that aims to link the country to more than 70 countries via infrastructure.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — a massive, $62 billion partnership between the two countries consisting of transport and energy projects — passes directly through Xinjiang.

Simone van Nieuwenhuizen, a Chinese politics researcher at University of Technology Sydney, told INSIDER: "From the Pakistani government's perspective, it would be wary of raising concerns about human rights in Xinjiang in case this might jeopardize further negotiations.

"It's possible that Pakistan has moved towards tacit endorsement of China's 're-education' facilities in Xinjiang because it considers the Chinese Communist Party's justification of its Xinjiang policy — in terms of counter-terrorism and stability maintenance — as being beneficial to the security and longevity of the CPEC project," she added.

Peter Irwin, a project manager at the World Uyghur Congress in Munich, said China was "buying the silence of Pakistan."

He told INSIDER: "Khan's statement this week was incredibly worrying, but very much expected.

"Khan is trying to stabilize the Pakistani economy and he knows that with unreliable American support under Trump, China remains the much more appealing choice — he knows he simply needs to keep his mouth shut."

"Someone like Khan has a very good idea of the balance of power in their relationship with China," he said.

• Read more on the Uighurs:
• A wall of silence around China's oppression of its Muslim minority is starting to crumble
• US clothing company cuts ties with Chinese factory that reportedly used forced labor to make college sportswear
• China is locking up its Muslim minorities, and pushing Islamophobia to get Europe to do it too

SEE ALSO: A wall of silence around China's oppression of its Muslim minority is starting to crumble

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This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence. Current subscribers can read the report here.

Blockchain technology promises to transform how nearly all industries manage data. Since roaring onto the scene as the engine behind Bitcoin in 2009, it's become applicable to a diverse array of industries beyond financial services, including industrial manufacturing, healthcare, and logistics.

The common thread between these industries is that they all feature complex supply chains, large numbers of interconnected players, and vast amounts of data. The digital advertising industry shares those characteristics as well. These characteristics, combined with the industry's transparency issues, make advertising a prime candidate for blockchain solutions.

Blockchain can help solve one of the advertising industry’s biggest challenges: opaque advertising practices.  Publishers, advertisers, and ad tech vendors are exploring blockchain as a tool to boost transparency around ad practices, with the end goal of reducing fraud. Ad fraud is expected to cost the industry $44 billion by 2022, up from $19 billion this year, according to Juniper Research estimates. Through its function as a public database, blockchain can store information about a digital advertisement, like who has created it, while sharing it with everyone else on the network in a verifiable and immutable way. For digital advertising, that means ad impressions can be tracked along the supply chain, and advertisers can record where an ad is delivered. 

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence will explain what blockchain technology is and how it can inject transparency into the advertising supply chain. We will then highlight the significant hurdles to adoption, and propose different ways the industry could navigate those challenges. Finally, the report will profile companies that are at the forefront of the blockchain advertising space to give advertisers an idea of what blockchain looks like in practice today.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Basic Attention Token (BAT), IBM, Kochava, and MetaX. 

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report: 

• Blockchain promises to mitigate ad fraud through its function as an immutable public database, which allows it to store and validate previously murky information about digital ads.
• Despite this promise, just 11% of advertisers and agency executives have completed an ad buy using blockchain technology, according to an Advertiser Perceptions survey.
• Limited adoption is the result of several significant hurdles — like ad executives' skepticism around the technology's usefulness — which must be overcome before blockchain is widely accepted.
• Blockchain is heralded as a transformative technology, and while it has that potential, it's not quite there yet for advertisers.
• Still, it shouldn't be dismissed as "pie in the sky"— blockchain presents several short-term use cases for advertisers, and those who take advantage will be set up for long-term success as the technology matures.

In full, the report: 

• Highlights how blockchain technology works, and how it can be integrated into the advertising supply chain to improve transparency. 
• Outlines practical, low-risk ways marketers can prepare themselves to benefit from blockchain including using smart contracts, registering domain names, and exploring tokens that reward consumers for use of their data. 
• Profiles several companies at the forefront of the blockchain advertising space, gaining industry-wide recognition as thought leaders.

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• A prominent research group, the CIES Football Observatory, has updated its list of the most valuable soccer players in Europe's best leagues.
• There are now 37 athletes who are valued at $100 million or more.
• Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are sliding down the list because of age, which means younger talent have leapfrogged them near the top.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi may be the most famous soccer players on the planet, but their transfer value is waning with age and they have been leapfrogged by the sport's brightest talents.

Identifying a player's transfer value is never easy, but a prominent research group in Switzerland — the CIES Football Observatory— has done just that by updating its list of 100 big-five league players with the highest valuations according to its own algorithm.

Only considering players from England's Premier League, Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A, Germany's Bundesliga, and France's Ligue 1, in order to calculate a player's value in the current transfer market, the Observatory has been monitoring soccer transactions since 2010, speaking to market actors (club executives operating in elite soccer), and studying factors like playing activity, the club the athlete plays for, the athlete's age, playing position, and economic level of the releasing club.

The findings are interesting, not least because there are now 37 players worth $100 million or more, but also because there are a number of new faces — and teenagers — who are capable of improving further and enhancing their worth in the transfer market.

Here are the 37 most valuable soccer players competing in Europe right now, ranked in ascending order:

SEE ALSO: Lionel Messi says his 6-year-old son criticizes him and demands an explanation whenever FC Barcelona loses

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37: Atlético Madrid midfielder Saúl Ñíguez is worth €90.2 million ($103.9 million).

36: Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford is worth €90.4 million ($104.2 million).

35: Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi is worth €91.8 million ($105.8 million).

• As the stock market enters its most crucial earnings season in some time, investors will be closely watching for signs that profit growth is slowing.
• When it comes to earnings forecasts, there's a big divide between what Wall Street analysts are expecting, and when the market is pricing in.
• We explain why that tension could eventually manifest itself in more sharp stock selling.

The upcoming earnings season will be one of the most important and closely watched in years.

Stock investors will be scouring results for any sign of an impending profit growth slowdown — or perhaps one that's already underway. And based on what's happened in recent weeks, they're right to be worried.

In early January, Apple got out ahead of what's looking like a rough quarter by cutting its sales forecast. American Airlines made similar downward adjustments to both revenue and earnings on a quarterly and full-year basis. And then you had retailers like Macy's and Kohl's, who both warned recently that a weak holiday season will weigh on fourth-quarter profits.

No matter how you slice it, it's shaping up to be a dismal earnings season. And the market has taken note. Recent data compiled by JPMorgan shows stock traders are pricing in a 9% profit growth contraction for 2019.

That implied estimate stands in stark contrast to what analysts across Wall Street are forecasting. They still think S&P 500 corporate earnings are going to expand by 7.7% this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Their optimism is reflected in the chart below. Sure, their forecasts are tempered relative to the earnings-growth heyday companies experienced in 2017 and 2018, but their divergence from what the market is signaling is still alarming.

This chasm in profit expectations is notable because any capitulation on the behalf of analysts could cause traders to de-rate stocks even further than they have over the past few months. After all, if the market is so negative on earnings at a time when Wall Street is still largely optimistic, it's impossible to know how deep the selling could go if those analyst forecasts roll over.

When you combine that fact with the myriad other headwinds swirling around stocks — such as Federal Reserve tightening and the trade war — it's clear analyst forecasts that end up being mispriced could speed up any stock sell-off that arises.

We could find out pretty soon. Faced with the harsh possibility of a bigger-than-expected growth slowdown, Wall Street experts have already started lowering forecasts. One such recent example comes from Wells Fargo, which lowered its profit expansion estimates last week.

"The continued (but gradual) increase in wages and corporate borrowing costs also should create headwinds for corporate margins to expand further from historically high levels," the firm's investment institute wrote in a client note. "Additionally, investors are unlikely to pay multiples that are as high as those of a year ago, before markets began to reprice economic and earnings growth to lower levels."

However, another way to read the profit pessimism being priced in by the market is to view it as a safety net of sorts. If expectations are already at rock-bottom levels heading into an earnings report, it's that much for difficult for companies to disappoint. The shares could even rebound sharply if results come in better than expected.

All of this is important to keep in mind as we enter earnings season. The more you know about the situation, the less likely you are to be surprised.

At this point, only one thing is for sure: 2019 is going to be a wild ride.

SEE ALSO: An investor crushing 99% of his peers breaks down 3 stocks he loves right now — one of which is 'beating Amazon at its own game'

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NOW WATCH: The equity chief at $6.3 trillion BlackRock weighs in on the trade war, a possible recession, and offers her best investing advice for a tricky 2019 landscape

In the last few years, there’s been a major shift as to how consumers interact with social media.

Rather than posting content that lives on the platform in perpetuity, users are now posting and viewing more “Stories,” video or images that live for only 24 hours.

Many platforms have introduced some form of Stories format — whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or WhatsApp. Snapchat was the company to introduce it to the world, but Instagram has surpassed it in terms of volume and perhaps usability.

Business Insider Intelligence has compiled a slide deck that looks into how Stories work on Instagram and Snapchat, and how brands and publishers should be using the Stories feature to reach their audiences.

This exclusive deck can be yours for FREE today. As an added bonus, you will gain immediate access to our exclusive BI Intelligence Daily newsletter.

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

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• Crispin Odey, the Brexit-backing billionaire hedge fund manager, now says that Britain won't actually end up leaving the European Union.
• As a result, Odey says he is betting on the pound jumping in coming months.
• The currency "looks like it could be quite strong," Odey told Reuters, saying he sees potential for the pound to reach a level of between $1.32 and $1.35, a gain of as much as 5.5% from its current level. 

Crispin Odey, the Brexit-backing billionaire hedge fund manager, now says that Britain won't actually end up leaving the European Union, and is betting big on the pound jumping as a result.

Odey, the founder of Odey Asset Management, a London-based hedge fund, made headlines in the aftermath of Britain's initial vote to leave the EU after making a reported £110 million from short bets placed against the pound in the run up to the referendum.

Odey has since changed his tune, now saying the complications which have plagued Britain's exit process, and the probable lack of a parliamentary majority for Theresa May's Brexit deal, mean that leaving the European Union will ultimately be abandoned. 

"My view is that it ain’t going to happen," Odey said in an interview with Reuters. "I just can’t see how it happens with that configuration of parliament."

"The unfortunate thing is that almost nobody is leading the Brexit charge, so it’s leaderless, which is the problem," said Odey, who made significant donations to the Vote Leave campaign.

Read more:How Brexit will play out if MPs reject Theresa May's deal

Odey says his stance on Brexit means he's positioning for a significant increase in the pound. 

The currency "looks like it could be quite strong,"Odey told Reuters, saying he sees potential for the pound to reach a level of between $1.32 and $1.35, a gain of as much as 5.5% from its current level. 

He did not reveal the size of his bets.

The pound has fallen around 14% against the dollar in the two and a half years since the referendum, more recently seeing a significant decline in light of the hardships faced by Prime Minister Theresa May in persuading UK lawmakers to get behind her Brexit deal.

Odey's view that Brexit won't actually happen is shared by fellow billionaire financier, Peter Hargreaves, the founder of FTSE 100 investments firm Hargreaves Lansdown.

"I have totally given up. I am totally in despair, I don’t think Brexit will happen at all," Hargreaves, who donated more than £3 million to the Leave campaign, told Reuters.

"They [pro EU politicians] are banking on the fact that people are so fed up with it that they will just say 'sod it we will stay'. I do see that attitude. The problem is when something doesn’t happen for so long you feel less angry about it."

SEE ALSO: Investors are deserting markets and clawing back money from hedge funds — echoing the run-up to the financial crisis

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NOW WATCH: The equity chief at $6.3 trillion BlackRock weighs in on the trade war, a possible recession, and offers her best investing advice for a tricky 2019 landscape