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Taliban says 5 former detainees who were exchanged for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have re-joined its ranks

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The

  • A Taliban spokesperson said five members of its organization have joined the group's office in Qatar.
  • The five men were former US detainees, held in Guantanamo Bay until President Barack Obama negotiated for their release in 2015.
  • They were exchanged for captive US Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured in 2012 by Taliban forces after leaving his Army post.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban spokesperson says five members of the Afghan Taliban who were freed from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for captured American army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have joined the insurgent group's political office in Qatar.

That means they will now be among Taliban representatives negotiating for peace in Afghanistan, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tells The Associated Press.

After drawn-out negotiations, the five Taliban were released in 2015. Bergdahl, who had been held in Taliban custody since 2009 when he wandered off a U.S. army base, was given a dishonorable discharge last year and fined $1,000 on charges of desertion and misbehavior.

The stature of the five, which includes an ex-army chief, would make a peace deal palatable to the rank and file, says former Taliban Hakim Mujahed.

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I got to try out the new iPad Pro, and it's clear that it's Apple's biggest update to the iPad lineup in years (AAPL)

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iPad Pro 2018 00067.JPG

NEW YORK CITY — If you want an iPad, any iPad, you can buy a new one for $329. But if you plan to run Photoshop, play advanced games, or use Apple's stylus, called Pencil, you'll want the iPad Pro. 

Apple updated its iPad Pro lineup on Tuesday with two new models: one with a 11-inch screen, and one with a 12.9-inch screen. 

It's the biggest update to the iPad lineup in years. Gone is the old home button, which brought you back to the home screen. Instead, you now unlock the iPad Pro with your face — using Apple's Face ID — and use gestures to change or quit apps. 

These changes enabled Apple to make the bezels smaller, packing the same-sized screens as previous models into tablets with a smaller overall size — the 11-inch version is about the size of a piece notebook paper, for example.

There's also been a ton of other changes, too, like a shift from Apple's proprietary Lightning charger to the cross-platform USB-C standard. 

With these changes comes an increase in price: now, the smaller iPad Pro costs at least $799. The bigger model starts at $999. And that price can skyrocket if you get all the bells and whistles, including a new keyboard case, more storage space, and an LTE modem.

We were able to try out Apple's newest tablet for power users on Tuesday. Here's what we thought: 

The first thing you'll notice is that the screen takes up a larger percentage of the front of the device.



It also comes in two sizes.



The corners of the screen are rounded, a lot like the iPhone X. You can also see how large the bezels are in this photo.



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How Eileen's Special Cheesecake became NYC's best cheesecake

13 women share why they love being single

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woman backpacking travel alone mountains hiking

When it comes to your relationship status, it seems like it's always a conundrum. If you’re single, people assume you’d rather not be. If you’re in a relationship, it seems to be the only thing people want to talk about. While finding someone you want to spend time with is wonderful, what’s so bizarre about the idea that someone would rather be single?

These single women shared why they absolutely love being single.

"Being single helps me to be able to understand and appreciate my independence."

“I’m a Nigerian woman in her mid-twenties and in my country, being single is not popularly valued. Single women are often stigmatized so we often feel pressured to be married early and immediately start having children. So it’s not easy to be single but truthfully, the experience can be just as fulfilling as being in a relationship.

"Being single helps me to be able to understand and appreciate my independence. You explore your surroundings and environments by yourself. You learn how to make yourself happy by being proactive with the activities you do and the company you keep. The main thing I appreciate about being single is that it has enabled me to love myself more. This is because I put my self-care and happiness as my responsibility.” - Isioma



"We’re having a blast and are happy to be enjoying the single life."

“I’m 28 years old, and three of my best friends from college got married when we were 23. I was in those three weddings all within four months of each other, fresh out of college, and I’ve been a maid of honor twice and a bridesmaid five times. I moved to Chicago and instead of being sad about being the single one, I’ve found a new identity through living the single life in the city. I live with two other single 28-year-old girls, and we LOVE living together.

"... We love that we can go to boozy brunch on Saturdays then go spend $100 (shopping) and have no one to report back to. Yes, we realize that we’re probably each other’s reasons we’re still single, but we’re having a blast and are happy to be enjoying the single life over worrying about finding someone. Hopefully it happens for us soon – we all go on a lot of fun dates – but it’ll happen when it happens!” - Sarah

 

“As a now-divorced single woman, I love that I don't have to answer to anyone about where I am going, when I am going and when will I return, and to whom I will be going with. I just live my life like it's golden!” - Michelle

 

“I'm single and I love it. My favorite part is having complete control over my time and not having to check in or compromise with anyone on what I want to do with my time. Every day feels like an expansive field of awesome opportunities, and I love changing my mind on a whim and doing whatever I want with my day.” - Celia



"I can also focus on my passions without having to divide my time."

“As a now-divorced single woman, I love that I don't have to answer to anyone about where I am going, when I am going and when will I return, and to whom I will be going with. I just live my life like it's golden!” - Michelle



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This ex-Googler's mobile app testing startup is now worth $500 million after only three years

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Manish Lachwani CEO HeadSpin 2

  • HeadSpin, a startup that creates a platform to help developers more easily test apps and sites on mobile devices, has raised $20 million in Series B financing.
  • This three-year-old startup is now worth $500 million.
  • Co-founder and CEO Manish Lachwani drew on his experiences from Google, Zynga and other companies to solve the difficulties he faced when testing mobile apps. 

Over three-fourths of Americans own smartphones, which means that it’s incredibly important for tech companies to nail their mobile apps. But testing those apps to make sure they're working correctly can be a hassle.

HeadSpin, a Silicon Valley startup, allows developers to easily test, debug and monitor mobile apps and sites in real-time on actual devices. Oftentimes, developers use a simulator on their computers to test these apps, but even then, there might be unexpected bugs on the actual mobile app when used by real customers on a real phone.

And investors see potential for this idea: On Tuesday, HeadSpin announced $20 million in Series B financing. With this funding, HeadSpin’s valuation is now north of $500 million, just three years in.

As an engineer, HeadSpin co-founder and CEO Manish Lachwani has worked on a wide variety of projects, from online games at Zynga to YouTube and Chrome at Google. But one problem stood out to him: testing apps. And it was “nearly impossible” to pinpoint why mobile apps sometimes failed.

“There was no way of understanding whether something would work or not,” Lachwani told Business Insider. “That’s where a number of these games failed. We had a very hard time.”

HeadSpin can solve these problems within five minutes, Lachwani says, and being able to test apps can save developers both time and money.

With the funding, HeadSpin plans to incorporate more automation into the app to identify high-priority issues for apps.

“All this learning helped us create a platform that helps you understand what to fix prior to launch,” Lachwani said. “Developers can see, this is where the problem is.”

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A woman claims she's had sex with 20 ghosts and is now engaged to one, and people are confused

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Amethyst Realm

  • British woman Amethyst Realm, 30, announced she is engaged to a ghost. 
  • Her engagement comes almost a year after she told "ITV This Morning" that she had cheated on her human fiancé with a ghost, and went on to have several other paranormal affairs.
  • People on social media were quick to question her story, while others jokes about her lively dating life.

A British woman who claimed she slept with at least 20 ghosts has announced her engagement to a spirit just in time for Halloween.

Amethyst Realm, 30, told the British TV show "ITV This Morning" last year that she had cheated on her human fiancé with a ghost, and went on to have several other paranormal affairs.

And now Realm has announced she is happily engaged to a ghost, who she said proposed in England's Wookey Hole caves after a nine-month relationship, according to The Sun.

"There was no going down on one knee — he doesn’t have knees. But for the first time, I heard him speak," she told The Sun. "I could actually hear his voice and it was beautiful. Deep, sexy and real."

People on social media were quick to question her story.

Others joked that despite being with a ghost, Realm's lively dating life was far more exiting than theirs.

Realm said she hasn't planned the wedding yet, but she hopes it will be a big event.

She added that her family and friends have embraced her relationship with the ghost, who doesn't seem have a name.

And despite previously having a real, human fiancé, Realm said she's much happier with a ghost.

"Sometimes I get the feeling that I'm being moved," she said. "Orgasms I have with my spirit lovers have been way more satisfying than any I’ve had with ordinary men."

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Prince Harry deviated from royal tradition to take a selfie with a young fan who lost his mother

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Prince Harry

  • While in Auckland, New Zealand, Prince Harry broke protocol to comfort a young fan whose mom recently passed away.
  • The Duke of Sussex reportedly delivered encouraging words to 6-year-old Otia Nante during a stop at Auckland's Viaduct Harbor.
  • Having lost his own mother 21 years ago, the duke has previously spoken out about losing his mother and keeping her legacy alive with his own charity initiatives.


Although it's not a strict rule, Prince Harry and other members of the royal family typically avoid taking selfies
But, on Tuesday, day 15 of the current royal tour, the father-to-be broke royal protocol for a very sweet reason.

While at Auckland's Viaduct Harbor with Meghan Markle, Prince Harry came across 6-year-old Otia Nante. According to News.com.au as per News Corp Australia, Nante's grandmother, Te Nante, told Prince Harry that the boy's mother recently passed away. 

People reported that Prince Harry consoled the young boy, telling him, "Life will always be alright. You know that? I've made it to 34 years old, and life is great. I have a beautiful wife and a baby on the way. Your life is going to be sorted. Don't you worry about that."

Although royal family members typically avoid posing for photos with fans, the duke made an exception for Nante and took a selfie with him. 

😢🥇Prince Harry to Auckland boy, 6, who lost his mum: 'Everything will be OK - look at me‘ /Andrew Hough

A post shared by Meghan & Harry 💍 supporters (@harry_meghan_updates) on Oct 30, 2018 at 2:47am PDT on

Read More: Here's why you'll rarely see a fan selfie with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

The photo was quickly posted to the Instagram account Harry_Meghan_Updates.

Prince Harry's mother, Princess Diana, was tragically killed in a car accident 21 years ago when he was only 12 years old

prince harry princess dianaPrince Harry has previously spoken out about how difficult it was to lose his mother and he has carried on her legacy in many ways.

"I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well,” he told Telegraph in 2017. He also added that he eventually sought support, and he's lucky he learned to talk about his feelings. 

The duke also told Telegraph that because of what he went through, he's "been able to put blood, sweat, and tears into the things that really make a difference." And he has — throughout his charity initiatives, the duke has found numerous ways to pay homage to his late mother.

Recently, Prince Harry announced a partnership with singer Elton John, an AIDS initiative aimed at expanding the diagnoses and treatment of HIV infections in men with the goal of ultimately eradicating AIDS by 2030. In 1987, Princess Diana famously made headlines for being the first royal family member to make contact with a patient diagnosed with AIDS. 

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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Here are the 10 best internships at Wall Street banks

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wall street intern suit employee

Each summer, a new crop of students descend onto Wall Street for financial internships. 

A killer internship helps you gain hands on experience and expands your network, arming you with the right knowledge for a future finance career. 

To help you navigate through the internship hunt, Vault.com surveyed more than 12,000 current and former interns and provided a compilation of the best internships for 2018. The respondents were asked to review and rate their internship experiences based on an assortment of components. On a scale of 1 to 10, respondents scored their internships for five main areas: quality of life, compensation & benefits, interview process, career and development, and full-time employment prospects. 

Vault then calculated the rating for each company and ranked them in order. Take a look at the 10 highest rated internships among investment banks, with comments pulled directly from Vault's intern survey. 

Perella Weinberg Partners Advisory Summer Internship Program

Perella Weinberg Partners is a boutique investment bank that provides corporate advisory and asset management services. It was founded in 2006 by notable investors including Peter Weinberg and Joseph R. Perella. 

The firm's summer advisory internship program received the highest score among the 10 best investment bank internships. It recruits summer analysts and associates to work in "advisory M&A and restructuring practices." The program lasts for 10 weeks and contains a one-week training session, which hones interns' skills in modeling and analytical expertise. 

Score: 9.733

Pros: - "Significant levels of work responsibility. People weren't shy with [about] giving interns analyst-level work, such as modeling.
- Fantastic firm culture. Everyone I've worked with was positive, cooperative, and welcoming.
- Lean teams. Deal teams were small enough that interns were given significant exposure to directors and above."

Cons:"Hours can be long when you are busy. Addition of homework."

Advice: "I initially considered pursuing a bulge bracket bank as a sophomore and a junior intern. However, I am very pleased that I had an opportunity to intern with Perella Weinberg. The access to the senior bankers provides you with an industry experience that larger banks can't provide. The ability to see a project from start to finish teaches a great deal about [the] analysis that you don't receive at bulge bracket banks that have you churn a great number of reps on the same concepts. Most importantly, the relationships you can build at a smaller firm like Perella are truly what make[s] the firm great. Being able to walk into a firm and know almost every single person that works in the office is special in the finance industry and is something that I will certainly cherish."



Evercore Advisory Summer Analyst and Summer Associate Program

The New York-based boutique firm offers a 10-week summer internship program, putting interns on a host of tasks including "attending client meetings, financial modeling, industry analysis, due diligence and process management and execution of transactions.

Score: 9.639

Pros:"The responsibility was a great aspect. We were put onto deal teams as full-fledged members, and expected to bring our own angle and insights to the table. What came with this role was a large amount of responsibility, which, although daunting at first, was a very candid glimpse at what the full-time job would entail. The training program was also excellent, enabling us to step into these roles with the fundamentals and a solid foundation under us."

Cons:"The hours can sometimes be long and unpredictable; however, this is something that comes with any job in investment banking. Relative other banks, the hours were actually quite good!"

Advice to potential interns:"While I had a lot of visibility going into the internship because the former interns and current analysts had spent a lot of time talking to me during the process about the experience, I wish I'd known that the interviews for Evercore are more technical and challenging than most other Investment Banking interviews."



William Blair Investment Banking Summer Analyst and Associate Internships

William Blair, a Chicago-based investment firm, also has a 10-week internship program providing opportunities for interns to learn about the deal process. Interns will get exposure to a wide range of transactions types, including "mergers and acquisitions, public equity offerings, and private equity placements."

The firm recently poached the U.S. head of credit sales and trading from the French bank Credit Agricole and an executive from JPMorgan to join its fixed income team in New York. 

Score: 9.140

Pros: "We were allowed to work on live transactions as well as pitch projects, also in direct interaction with the clients that are mostly senior management members of US companies."

Cons: "The fact that it's near impossible to make plans outside of work in advance, because your schedule is very unpredictable, and [you're] often at work late."

Advice to potential interns:"Network as much as possible within the bank and learn the ins and outs of the company. Talk to current and former employees to get unbiased feedback."



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NFL teams were eager to upgrade for a playoff push, making for a wild trade deadline — here's the full list of deals

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Golden Tate

  • The NFL trade deadline was Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.
  • Some teams were eager to add a final piece to their roster before a playoff push, while others were looking to acquire more assets ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft.
  • We've collected all the biggest deals from deadline day below.


We've made it to the halfway point of the NFL season, and in the hours leading up to the trade deadline, teams across the league had to decide if they were buyers looking for an extra piece that could take them to the next level, or sellers that were prepared to start thinking about next season.

Leading up to deadline day, some teams had already made their position clear — the Cowboys paid top-dollar to bring Amari Cooper to Dallas, while the Raiders seemingly have been trading every Pro Bowler on the roster that's not nailed down.

Read more: NFL POWER RANKINGS: Where all 32 teams stand going into Week 9

Still, the deadline brought a few more revelations as to which teams believe they're only a piece away, with the Texans, Eagles, and Rams all bolstering their rosters for what they hope will be a deep playoff run. Meanwhile, the Lions and Broncos gave up a few pieces that seem to indicate they don't think this year is their year.

Take a look below at all the trades that happened on the NFL's deadline day. 

Houston Texans trade for Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas:

  • Texans get: Demaryius Thomas, 2019 seventh-round pick
  • Broncos get: 2019 fourth-round pick, 2019 seventh-round pick

Philadelphia Eagles trade for Detroit Lions wide receiver Golden Tate:

  • Eagles get: Golden Tate
  • Lions get: 2019 third-round pick

Baltimore Ravens trade for Green Bay Packers running back Ty Montgomery:

  • Ravens get: Ty Montgomery
  • Packers get: 2020 seventh-round pick

Los Angeles Rams trade for Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Dante Fowler Jr.:

  • Rams get: Dante Fowler Jr.
  • Jaguars get: 2019 third-round pick, 2020 fifth-round pick

Washington Redskins trade for Green Bay Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix:

  • Redskins get: Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
  • Packers get: 2019 fourth-round pick

SEE ALSO: NFL POWER RANKINGS: Where all 32 teams stand going into Week 9

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The true story behind Boston gangster Whitey Bulger

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  • James "Whitey" Bulger, the notorious Boston gangster, was found dead at a West Virginia prison on Tuesday.
  • His life story was filled with drugs, violence, and murder and inspired the movie "Black Mass" starring Johnny Depp as well as Jack Nicholson's crime boss character in "The Departed."
  • Watch the video above for the true story of how he ruled Boston's criminal underworld and managed to avoid capture for years.

The real story of Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger is filled with drugs, violence, and murder.

Bulger was the subject of Toronto International Film Festival stunner "Black Mass" starring Johnny Depp. Here's the true story of how he ruled Boston's criminal underworld and managed to avoid capture for years.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published September 15, 2015. Eames Yates contributed reporting on a previous version of this article.

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The US military is sending more than 5,200 troops to the southern border: NORTHCOM commander

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national guard border mexico

  • The US military is preparing to send even more US troops to the southern border in preparation for the arrival of a caravan of migrants.
  • There will be additional forces on top of the 5,200 announced Monday, a top US commander explained Tuesday, but the exact number has yet to be officially revealed.
  • Reporting from last week suggested that only a few hundred troops were headed to the border. Now that number is in the thousands.

The US military intends to send even more active-duty troops to the US-Mexico border than previously revealed by the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

"What I can confirm is there will be additonal forces," Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, commander of US Northern Command, told reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday. "But the magnitude of that difference we don’t have an answer for right now."

The general announced Monday at a joint DoD/DHS press conference that the US military was deploying around 5,200 active-duty troops to the southern border in support of the Customs and Border Protection mission. The mission is to advance Operation Faithful Patriot.

"Our concept of operations is to flow in our military assets with a priority to build up southern Texas and then Arizona and then California to reinforce points of entry to enhance CBP’s ability to harden and secure the border," O'Shaughnessy explained, noting that the increased security is a response to the caravans of migrants marching on the border.

He characterized the caravans as "different than what we've seen in the past," adding, "What we have seen is clearly an organization at a higher level than we have seen before." The general is referring to several groups of migrants heading north through Mexico on foot, the largest group consisting of more than 3,000 people.

There are already more than 2,000 National Guard troops at the border carrying out missions as part of Operation Guardian Support.

The military is responding to the orders of the Trump administration, which is emphasizing its immigration crackdown ahead of upcoming mid-term elections. "This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!" President Donald Trump tweeted Monday.

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Here's what it takes to get a driver's license in 13 countries around the world

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Driver's License

While how you get your license, as well as how much it costs may vary around the world, one thing remains the same: getting it is a point of pride and a day of celebration.

In Sierra Leone, requirements include playing a traffic-related board game, while in Russia, drivers must take a whopping 150 hours of theory classes. In Brazil, you need to pass a psych evaluation.

Keep scrolling to learn more about how getting a driver's license differs from country to country. 

The United States is one of few countries that allows 14-year-olds to drive.

In the US, some states — like Alaska, Arkansas, and Iowa — allow 14-year-olds to drive with a learner's permit. But since driving regulations are controlled by state governments, this varies by state.

For most states, drivers must take a written test to earn a learner's permit and then take a driving test to get a license. Generally speaking, classes and driving lessons are not required.



While requiring a higher minimum age, the UK tests are similar to those in the US.

In the UK, one must be at least 15 to be eligible for a driver's license. At that time, you can apply for a provisional driver's license which is a simple application process. Only then are you able to sign up for driving lessons, but you will need a provisional license to take the theory test. Once you pass the mandatory theory test, then you can take your driving test.

This applies to all citizens except for Queen Elizabeth. She does not need to take any tests and does not need a license to get behind the wheel.



Meanwhile, getting a driver's license in India can be shockingly easy.

In parts of India, one can allegedly buy a license without taking any sort of driving test.

Not surprisingly, the roads can be dangerous. One driver told The Telegraph that "often you’ll come across a truck that's on the wrong side of the road coming towards you and you have to deal with that."

According to India Today, the government has been working to make road tests more accessible in New Delhi so that more people can be properly certified. Generally, this practical test requires parallel parking, reversing, and driving through eight loops



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The most popular books in all 50 states right now

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The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

Book mapPopular reading app Scribd has compiled a list of the most popular books in all 50 states right now.

With over 700,000 paying subscribers and more than 100 million unique visitors per month, Scribd has a good amount of data to pull from.

Below, you'll find the most popular books people have been reading on the app in every state.

You can buy them directly through the link on Amazon if you just want one, or you can sign up for Scribd and get your first month free (and pay $8.99/month going forward) for unlimited access to all of them. I've waxed poetic on them before, but it's a pretty insanely good deal as far as digital reading goes.

These are the most popular books in every state right now:

SEE ALSO: Amazon’s first-ever waterproof Kindle is one of the best tech purchases I've made this year

Alabama: "The Passenger" by Lisa Lutz

Buy it here >>



Alaska: "Cruel Beauty" by Rosamund Hodge

Buy it here >>



Arizona: "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline

Buy it here >>



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Turkey is famous for pulling pranks with their ice cream — here's where the tradition came from

How voting rights in America have changed over time

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The 2018 midterm elections are just a week away, and millions of Americans are expected to head to the polls to exercise their right to vote.

Voting is one of America's most cherished democratic liberties, and it has a long and storied history. While the founding fathers saw voting as a fundamental component of the democracy and perfect union they sought to create, the right to vote was denied for many populations for centuries of US history.

In the beginning of the republic, voting was mainly restricted to property-owning white men, which would later be extended to all white men. While the right to vote was also eventually granted to women with the 19th Amendment in 1920, white women were the main beneficiaries.

Men and women of color would continue to fight to battle discriminatory voting practices for decades even after technically receiving the right to vote, culminating in the historic civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which led to landmark legislation that transformed American voting rights.

But even today, activists and civil rights groups are continuing to fight voting laws they see as discriminatory.

Here's a look at how voting rights in America have evolved over the centuries, and what issues remain today:

“History“History

SEE ALSO: All the dates, deadlines, and rules you need to know before voting in the 2018 Midterm Elections

DON'T MISS: In New York, California, Texas, and 27 other states you can take time off from work to vote — here's the full list

1776 and before: Only men who owned property, who were mainly white, Christian, and over 21, had the right to vote.

The earliest settlers of colonial America brought over many of the laws and customs of England with them to the United States. One of those laws stipulated that only "free holding" men, or those who owned property and paid taxes, could vote.

Those men were overwhelmingly white, Protestant, and over the age of 21, meaning only a small subset of the population could vote. Just 6% of those in new America were eligible to vote to elect the first president, George Washington, in 1789.

After the United States of America declared independence from Britain in 1776 and won the Revolutionary War in 1783, it was left up to the individual states as to how to determine who could vote.

Over time, individual colonies and states steadily began expanding the right to vote to all white men, not just property owners.

Sources: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American HistoryConstitutional Rights Foundation



1848: Abolitionists and pro-women's suffrage groups first meet and organize in Seneca Falls.

In 1848, prominent abolitionist activists such as former slave and author Fredrick Douglass and women's suffrage advocates like Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton convened together for the first time in Seneca Falls, New York.

The convention, which is now considered the birth of the women's suffrage movement in the US, took place over two days.

The attendees all wrote and signed a Declaration of Sentiments modeled after the Declaration of Independence listing their grievances and demands, calling on women around the country to organize for greater property and economic rights — and the right to vote.

In a play on a famous line from the Declaration of Independence, they wrote: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal."

Just one of the attendees of the convention, Charlotte Woodward Pierce, who was 19 at the time, lived long enough to see all women receive the right to vote in 1920.

Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, Encyclopedia Britannica



1856: The right to vote was extended to all white men.

In 1856, North Carolina became the last state to remove property ownership as a requirement for voting, meaning all white men could vote by this time.

Source: Constitutional Rights Foundation



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Most Americans think Trump has encouraged white supremacists, and some are worried he has become a 'legitimizing voice' for hate groups

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President Donald Trump

  • A poll released by the Public Religion Institute found that the majority of Americans believe that President Donald Trump has encouraged white supremacists. 
  • Trump has been criticized for his rhetoric that has viewed as echoing that of white nationalists.
  • Multiple studies have found that hate crimes in the US are on the rise, and some have been correlated to Trump's tweets. 

In light of a wave of high-profile hate threats and attacks, President Donald Trump has been widely criticized in the media for stoking conspiracy theories and false narratives among the conservative fringe.

Now, a poll from the Public Religion Research Institute released Monday suggests that most Americans agree that Trump has "encouraged white supremacist groups" with his decisions and behavior. 

The poll, which surveyed 2,509 adults from all 50 states through online surveys and live telephone interviews between September 17 and October 1, found that 54% of participants believed that Trump's decisions and behavior have encouraged white supremacist groups, and 69% of participants said that Trump has "damaged the dignity of the presidency."

The poll, while taking place before the more recent threats and attacks, suggests that even before the shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and bomb threats sent to Trump critics, much of the public believed the narrative that Trump has played a roll in stoking hate. 

charlottesville 2018

'It's not a surprising result given the type of rhetoric we've seen come out of the White House'

Keegan Hankes, senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, says he's not shocked by the results.

"It's not a surprising result given the type of rhetoric we've seen come out of the White House, in particular out of President Trump's Twitter account," Hankes said. 

According to Hankes, Trump's rhetoric is similar to that found in white supremacist spaces.

"We've seen him promote demonizing vulnerable populations such as immigrants, refugees, Muslims, and so on," says Hankes. "That was exactly the type of rhetoric that we see coming out of the white supremacist community."

Most recently, Trump has been criticized for playing a role in encouraging alarmist theories that alleged Tree of Life  synagogue shooter Robert Bowers posted on fringe social media site Gab.

Right before the shooting, Bowers singled out Jewish nonprofit HIAS, which resettles refugees in the US, writing: "HIAS likes to bring invaders that kill our people. I Can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I'm going in." The post, along with others shared and written by Bowers, suggest that the alleged killer was motivated by a conspiracy theory alleging that the migrant caravan making its way toward the US border through Central America is part of a Jewish plot (this has no basis in fact).

Trump and his administration have pushed alarmist messages about the caravan in recent weeks, with both Vice President Mike Pence and Trump himself saying that "Middle Easterners" and "terrorists" were part of the caravan. After the Tree of Life attack, Trump echoed Browers's exact rhetoric in a tweet, labeling the caravan an "invasion."

Trump's rhetoric also notably aligned with white supremacists in his response to the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017, which was organized by a group of neo-Nazis and white supremacists and left one counterprotester dead. Despite ample documentary evidence of marchers at the event chanting "Sieg Heil" and "Heil Trump," Trump insisted that there were "very fine people on both sides."

Hankes said the recent attack in Pittsburgh and the wave of bomb threats "represent the danger of that type of rhetoric coming out of the most powerful halls of government," calling Trump a "legitimizing voice for white supremacist groups."

Hankes's assertion may not just be guesswork either. Hate crimes increased by 12% in America's 10 largest cities in 2017, according to a report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. A separate paper published by the Social Science Research Network found a statistical correlation between the number of tweets Trump made per week related to Islam and the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes that took place following that period (though the correlations only applied to tweets and attacks related to Islam).

The data should at least suggest rhetorical caution, Hankes said.

"Trump's rhetoric, demonizing vulnerable populations is not helpful," he said. "Rhetoric has consequences, sometimes violent consequences as we saw Saturday. When these opinions are coming from the government, they legitimize people with racist, bigoted, extreme beliefs, who are sometimes violent minded. It's a dangerous combination we're talking about."

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'My eyes are now wide open': Kanye West says he's been 'used' and plans to quit politics

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Kanye West

  • Kanye West said he's "distancing himself from politics" to focus on creative work.
  • West — a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump — said he's been "used" to spread messages he doesn't believe in.
  • The fallout follows a dispute with Candace Owens, who said West designed a logo for "Blexit," a movement to convince African-Americans to leave the Democratic party. West said he didn't design the logo.

In a move that's being hailed as a "Yexit," Kanye West said Tuesday he was quitting politics to focus on his creative work.

"My eyes are now wide open,"he wrote on Twitter. "I am distancing myself from politics and completely focusing on being creative !!!"

West said he's been "used" to spread messages he doesn't believe in. He singled out Candace Owens, a conspiracy theorist and the outreach director for Turning Point USA, a conservative outreach organization that targets college students.

At Turning Point USA's black leadership summit on Saturday, Owens said West designed a logo for "Blexit"— a movement she invented hoping to get African-Americans to leave the Democratic party.

West said on Twitter he didn't create the logo, but merely introduced Owens to the person who did.

"I never wanted any association with Blexit. I have nothing to do with it," West said.

Read more:Kanye West took over the Oval Office in front of Trump — here's the full video of their meeting

In a series of tweets, West outlined some of his political beliefs before explaining that he was leaving politics.

West has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump since the beginning of his presidency and met with him in the Oval Office earlier in October.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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Here's how the regtech landscape is evolving to address increasing compliance needs

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Growth Regtech Firms

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.

Regtech solutions seemed to offer the solution to financial institutions' (FIs) compliance woes when they first came to prominence around 24 months ago, gaining support from regulators and investors alike. 

However, many of the companies offering these solutions haven't scaled as might have been expected from the initial hype, and have failed to follow the trajectory of firms in other segments of fintech.

This unexpected inertia in the regtech industry is likely to resolve over the next 12-18 months as other factors come into play that shift FIs' approach to regtech solutions, and as the companies offering them evolve. External factors driving this change include regulatory support of regtech solutions, and consultancies offering more help to FIs wanting to sift through solutions. Startups offering regtech solutions will also play a part by partnering with each other, forming industry organizations, and taking advantage of new opportunities.

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, provides a brief overview of the current global financial regulatory compliance landscape, and the regtech industry's position within it. It then details the major drivers that will shift the dial on FIs' adoption of regtech over the next 12-18 months, as well as those that will propel startups offering regtech solutions to new heights. Finally, it outlines what impact these drivers will have, and gives insight into what the global regtech industry will look like by 2020.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

  • Regulatory compliance is still a significant issue faced by global FIs. In 2018 alone, EU regulations MiFID II and PSD2 have come into effect, bringing with them huge handbooks and gigantic reporting requirements. 
  • Regtech startups boast solutions that can ease FIs' compliance burden — but they are struggling to scale. 
  • Some changes expected to drive greater adoption of these solutions in the next 12 to 18 months are: the ongoing evolution of startups' business models, increasing numbers of partnerships, regulators' promotion of regtech, changing attitudes to the segment among FIs, and consultancies helping to facilitate adoption.
  • FIs will actively be using solutions from regtech startups by 2020, and startups will be collaborating in an organized fashion with each other and with FIs. Global regulators will have adopted regtech themselves, while continuing to act as advocates for the industry.

In full, the report:

  • Reviews the major changes expected to hit the regtech segment in the next 12 to 18 months.
  • Examines the drivers behind these changes, and how the proliferation of regtech will improve compliance for FIs.
  • Provides our view on what the future of the regtech industry looks like through 2020.

     

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Electronic Arts is getting in on the next big thing in video games with 'Project Atlas,' a cloud gaming service to take on Google and Microsoft (EA, GOOG, GOOGL, MSFT)

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Battlefield 5

  • Electronic Arts, the largest video game developer in the world, is the latest company to reveal plans for a cloud gaming platform.
  • EA's Chief Technology Officer Ken Moss announced the new platform, Project Atlas, in a blog post on Medium.
  • With a stable internet connection, Project Atlas will be able to stream full quality video games to mobile devices and home computers, eliminating the need for expensive video game consoles.
  • Microsoft and Google have their own, similar initiatives in the works — meaning that the race to take cloud gaming to the mainstream is now in full effect. 

Electronic Arts has announced a new cloud gaming platform, Project Atlas, that will be capable of streaming the company's latest video games to almost any mobile device or computer with a sufficient internet connection.

Chief Technology Officer Ken Moss detailed Project Atlas in a blog post published to Medium on October 29th, just weeks after both Microsoft and Google revealed their own cloud gaming platforms.

Cloud gaming uses remote servers to stream video games directly to the player. In the simplest terms, the server runs the game and sends the player a video feed from the cloud, while the player's controller inputs are sent back to the server. This allows the user to play the game remotely on their choice of computer or mobile device. With the server doing the heavily lifting, players will no longer need expensive video game consoles to run the latest games. Of course, cloud-based services still require a strong, stable internet connection to stream games properly.

Google launched a private beta test of its cloud gaming service, ProjectStream, at the start of October, giving players access to the recently released "Assassin's Creed Odyssey." The only requirements for ProjectStream are a computer Google's Chrome internet browser, and an internet connection with 25 mbps or higher download speed. While Google isn't known for video games, the ProjectStream experience was comparable to playing the game on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, both of which start at $300. However, the ProjectStream beta doesn't work with mobile devices as of yet.

Microsoft followed Google with the announcement of Project xCloud, a gaming streaming service that will utilize the company's Azure Cloud computing service. Project xCloud will not enter beta tests until 2019, but Microsoft has already confirmed several popular Xbox games for the platform, including including "Halo,""Gears of War,""Forza" and "Minecraft." According to Microsoft, thousands of developers will be able to release their new games simultaneously for Xbox and Project xCloud without additional steps. Rumors suggest that the next generation of Xbox devices will likely utilize some form of cloud gaming as well.

Now EA is the latest company to join the cloud gaming race. In describing Project Atlas, Moss explained that the service will streamline game development by providing a unified platform for developers. Currently, development teams need to spend additional time making sure their games play nice with whatever platform they're working with. This means ensuring that social features work on both PlayStation and Xbox, that stats are properly recorded and maintained on different networks, and that updates are consistent across separate platforms. With a cloud-based gaming service, developers would maintain full control of the game, effectively cutting out the middleman.

"With the unified platform of Project Atlas, game makers will have the ability to seamlessly deploy security measures including SSL certificates, configuration, appropriate encryption of data, and zero-downtime patches for every feature from a single secure source," Moss wrote in the post. "This means that they can focus on what game makers are best at — creating the best games."

As the largest video game developer in the world, EA's decision to pursue its own cloud gaming platform speaks to rapid change in the industry. Up until now, major game developers needed to choose which platforms their games could support, often leading to their audiences being fractured between different consoles.

By streaming games directly to players on a device of their choosing, EA can effectively cut out the middleman when it comes to content control and sales. With Project Atlas set to compete directly with Microsoft's Project xCloud and Google's ProjectStream, it will also be interesting to see if Electronic Arts is willing to share its new games on other streaming platforms.

All three cloud gaming services are still very much in their testing phase, so it'll be some time before they're available to the public, and likely longer than that before they become mainstream. It remains to be seen what will come of traditional video game consoles if more developers start to prioritize streaming games from the cloud. 

SEE ALSO: Google's new video-game streaming service could mark the beginning of the end for gaming consoles

SEE ALSO: Microsoft's Project xCloud will let you stream Xbox games straight to your smartphone or tablet

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Here are the 3 missing features that keep Apple's new iPad Pro from really replacing a laptop (AAPL)

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Tim Cook iPad

Apple's latest iPads still aren't a good substitute for a old-fashioned laptop, no matter how much the company keeps promoting them as the next stage in computers.

Unveiled at the company's press event in New York on Tuesday, the company's newest iPad Pro tablets have super-fast new processors, large and beautiful displays, and its FaceID facial recognition system. They also support a much more functional version of Apple Pencil, the iPad's stylus, and a new and improved keyboard case.

But these new iPads — like all of their predecessors — lack three important features found on just about every laptop on the market for the last 20 years. Without them, they'll have a hard time truly replacing those devices.

Here's what Apple's iPad Pros are missing:

SEE ALSO: New AirPods didn't make the cut at Apple's big event — here's what else Apple left out

SEE ALSO: Apple's $1,000 iPhones are turning it into a luxury brand — and it could lose a whole generation of customers

Support for a trackpad or mouse.

Apple's iOS operating system, which underlies both the iPad and the iPhone, has long supported external keyboards. It's never supported a traditional pointing device such as a mouse or trackpad. Instead, the company expects users to interact with its tablets using the device's touch-sensitive screens, either with their fingers or with the Pencil stylus.

That mode of interaction is ideal when you hold an iPad directly in your hands. But it's awkward to have to tap the screen to launch apps or move your cursor when you've got a keyboard attached and are using an iPad like a kind of laptop. It's just a lot more ergonomic — not to mention faster — to use a trackpad near the keyboard than to have to stretch your arm out to touch the screen.



Support for multiple logins.

Pretty much every computer you've likely used for the last 20 years — including Apple's Macs — has been able to support multiple user accounts. With their own logins, users can choose their own desktop images, have access to only their own sets of documents, save passwords to their accounts on particular websites or email accounts, and save and see their own photos.

You can't do any of that on an iPad, unless you have specially configured version sold only to educational institutions.

The lack of support for shared logins severely limits how an iPad can be used. It's hard to share an iPad among multiple users in an office or in a family if all users have access to the same information stored on it.

Apple has never supported multiple logins in the standard versions of iOS. But it may be getting close to adding the feature.

It already supports multiple logins for educational institutions. FaceID in the latest iPad Pros could easily be used to recognize and log in different users to the same device. And technologies Apple has added to iOS in recent years that allow users' apps and data to be stored on its iCloud service rather than on iPhones and iPads themselves could minimize storage space the devices would need to have to support multiple users.



Multiple ports.

Apple has long fetishized minimalism in the design of its devices, cutting out components to get to as simple and streamlined a gadget as possible. The latest iPads are the apotheosis of this ethic — they only have one external port. They don't even have the headphone jack found on all of Apple's Mac computers and on older iPad models.

The company has tried to get around this limitation in some creative ways. Unlike previous iPad models, the port on the new iPad Pros is USB-C, a rising standard across the entire industry. Additionally, the devices have built-in magnetic connectors that allow you not only to connect certain accessories like the Pencil and a new keyboard cover, but to charge them as well.

But you'll still likely need to carry around a pocket full of dongles or connectors if you want to use the iPad Pro like a regular computer. Without one, there's no way to do something as simple as charg the device and connect it to an external monitor at the same time.

That's something most traditional computers can do without a problem. 



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