• The ability to conduct banking activities via a sleek mobile app is no longer enough to satisfy consumers — it's table stakes.
• Banks need to focus on deploying robust personal finance management (PFM) features that pull consumers in.
• There are three common approaches banks can take to effectively implement these tools.

It’s no longer enough for banks to offer customers a sleek mobile banking app; in fact, they expect it.

And with emerging fintechs continuously creeping in on incumbents’ marketshare, legacy banks must work to provide additional tools that will keep users engaged in-app — and prevent their eyes from wandering to startup solutions.

The best opportunity banks have to do this is by introducing personal finance management (PFM) features to their existing offerings. These features empower customers to take more control over their financial lives by tracking spending, managing investments, and maintaining greater visibility into their overall financial health.

Fintech startups have already refined many of these technologies and, in turn, pressured traditional banks to achieve feature parity or lose customers. Personal Finance Management, a new research report Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has outlined the best ways for banks to catch up to the competition.

Here are three approaches banks can take to implementing PFM tools:

• Partnering with a PFM-focused fintech: This can save the partnering banks critical time by bypassing building features themselves — enabling a quicker go-to-market strategy. However, banks must be prepared to forego the ability to implement more customized  services.
• Working with a PFM technology supplier: B2B suppliers like Meniga and Personetics, on the other hand, can help banks overhaul their existing mobile apps with specially designed features. They provide the enabling infrastructure banks need to successfully offer PFM features to their customers.
• Acquiring a PFM startup: Although often more expensive, this option grants banks the ability to acquire valuable talent, as well as complete control over their integrations.

Want to learn more?

This is just a preview of Personal Finance Management, a new report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. The full report breaks down the different approaches banks can take to offer their customers better PFM features as competition from fintechs increases.

In full, the report provides insights into the benefits and challenges of each approach, how the industry may change in the future, and which PFM features will soon become table stakes for consumers.

Join the conversation about this story »

With the rapid spread of marijuana legalization in the US, lawyers are discovering that the tangled web of regulations guiding the rapidly growing industry is a boon for business.

After last year's midterm elections, some form of cannabis is now legal in 33 states, and many in the industry say it's only a matter of time before legalization sweeps the nation.

Big money — and big law — has followed. The market could be huge: some Wall Street analysts say marijuana could become an $80 billion in the US alone in the next decade, with the global market hitting close to $200 billion. 

There are several key reasons lawyers are attracted to the marijuana industry. For one, as cannabis companies grow, merge, and start getting the attention of Fortune 500 corporations as acquisition targets, they need more sophisticated advice on financing, tax planning, corporate structure, and M&A.

Publicly traded cannabis companies were on a dealmaking tear in 2019, scooping up competitors and signing multibillion-dollar tie-ups with pharmaceutical, alcohol, and tobacco corporations. It's a trend heating up in 2019.

Read more: Big law firms are building out specialized pot practices to chase down a red-hot market for weed deals

In addition, many marijuana companies still directly flout US federal law, despite being publicly traded and posting multibillion-dollar valuations.

That's an opportunity to a select group of lawyers who have cut a trailblazing path into the industry. Once reluctant, some of the biggest law firms, like Duane Morris, Baker Botts and Dentons, are building out specialized cannabis practice groups as the industry continues to grow in profitability and complexity.

And even some of the most world's most prestigious law firms, like Sullivan and Cromwell, have gotten in on the marijuana mergers-and-acquisitions action.

Business Insider has pulled together a list of the top lawyers who've worked on the largest deals in the past year in the growing marijuana industry.

Here's the list:

SEE ALSO: The top 12 venture-capital firms making deals in the booming cannabis industry that's set to skyrocket to $75 billion

Patricia Olasker, Brian Kujavsky: Davies Ward Phillips and Vineberg

Firm: Davies Ward Phillips and Vineberg

Location: Toronto and Montreal

Davies, one of the largest Canadian law firms, first got involved in the cannabis industry at the request of an important client in October 2017.

That client was Bank of America, which had provided financing for the beer maker Constellation Brands' initial purchase of a stake in Canopy Growth, a publicly traded marijuana cultivator.

"We were really led by our clients into this space," said Patricia Olasker, a capital-markets partner in Davies' Toronto office. "We had to get smart about the opportunity very quickly."

Since that first deal, Davies has ramped up its M&A work in the sector, particularly after Canada legalized marijuana federally last year.

"There were a lot of internal discussions as to how comfortable we were advising companies in the space, and how to get comfortable," said Brian Kujavsky, a partner in Davies' Montreal office.

The firm then provided regulatory advice to Canopy on Constellation's subsequent $4 billion investment into the marijuana cultivator last summer.

Davies also represented investment bank Lazard's Canadian arm on the deal that saw Altria, the tobacco maker behind Marlboro, sink $1.8 billion into a 45% stake in marijuana cultivator Cronos Group in December.

The firm now advises marijuana cultivators, like Canopy and Cronos Group, at the "senior end" of the market, Olasker said.

"When a major client like Altria wants to enter the space, you're going to say, 'Yes, we're here to help you,'" Olasker said.

Looking forward, Olasker said consolidation will slow in the cannabis industry, but she expects to see a lot of deals on the radar. Expect to see tie-ups with consumer packaged goods, tobacco, and pharmaceutical companies either through joint ventures or strategic acquisitions, she said.

And since the passing of the Farm Bill, which legalized hemp in the US in December, Canadian marijuana companies are looking southward.

"The holy grail for Canadian [marijuana cultivators] is how to get exposure to the US market and not be offside stock-exchange requirements and anti-money-laundering regulations," Olasker said.

Jonathan S. Robbins: Akerman LLP

Firm: Akerman LLP

Location: Fort Lauderdale

Jonathan Robbins first got exposure to the cannabis industry in 2014 after a real-estate client called him up to ask questions about leasing space to a medical-marijuana company.

After that call Robbins saw the writing on the wall. "I approached the CEO of the firm the following day and told him we'll be kicking ourselves if we miss this opportunity," he said.

That was at the outset of Florida's medical-marijuana program, which has now blossomed into a big business, with many US marijuana retailers vying for a piece of the market.

Robbins is now the chair of Akerman's Cannabis Practice Group, which he says is one of the first cannabis practices at a national US law firm.

Many of the firm's clients, either private-equity funds, family offices, or high-net-worth individuals, provide a lot of the financing for the cannabis industry as traditional financial institutions like big banks remain wary of working with marijuana businesses, Robbins said.

In the past year, Robbins has helped Green Growth Brands, an Ohio marijuana retailer, acquire valuable grow facilities in Nevada and helped Surterra Wellness, a marijuana company backed by the Wrigley family, make strategic acquisitions in the Sunshine State.

"Just as you're starting to see more sophisticated law firms dip their toes in the water, we're seeing the same thing with more established, sophisticated businesspeople," Robbins added.

He said that the size and complexity of the deals he's worked on have dramatically increased as well.

"We're routinely working on $100 million deals, $200 million deals, public offerings, and complex cross-border transactions," he said.

Christopher Barry, Mike Weiner, Kevin Sam: Dorsey and Whitney

Firm: Dorsey and Whitney

Location: Seattle, Toronto, and Denver

Dorsey and Whitney's first involvement in the cannabis industry came through a serendipitous phone call to partner Christopher Barry.

On the other end of the line was a representative from a multibillion-dollar Asian investment fund looking for advice on investing in marijuana after the fund's regular counsel turned it down.

Since then Barry has found his expertise in cross-border transactions — he's the head of Dorsey's Canada Practice Group — which has dovetailed perfectly with the cannabis industry.

Barry has helped US marijuana retailers, like MedMen and Green Thumb Industries, go public in Canada via a reverse merger on the Canadian Securities Index. Barry helped Canopy Growth, a publicly traded marijuana cultivator, cross-list on the NYSE in May.

For Barry, who was instrumental in building out Dorsey's cannabis practice alongside Mike Weiner and Kevin Sam, being at the forefront of the new industry is what keeps him going.

"This is more fun than a barrel of monkeys," Barry said. "Look, I'm 71 years old. I've been practicing for over 40 years. If I weren't having so much fun with this I'd be retired."

• Wim Hof is an extreme athlete from the Netherlands who holds dozens of world records for activities like swimming in ice water and running barefoot in the snow.
• The self-described "Iceman" promotes a fitness regimen that includes cold water plunges and a special breathing procedure.
• The scientific evidence behind his cold-exposure technique is still limited, but a few studies suggest it works.

The "Iceman" was 17 when he first dove, unclothed, into the bone-chilling waters of Amsterdam's Beatrixpark Canal. It just felt right.

"I felt this attraction to the cold water," Wim Hof, who has become something of a fitness guru, told Rolling Stone in 2017. "After I went in, I felt this understanding, an inside connection. It gave me a rush. My mind was free of gibberish."

The plunge laid the groundwork for a series of world records that Hof has set, including the farthest swim under ice and the fastest barefoot half-marathon on ice/snow. Hence the Dutch athlete's nickname: Iceman. 

Hof proselytizes what he calls the "Wim Hof Method," a three-pronged combination of breathing, cold exposure, and meditation. The 59-year-old has followers around the world, and even offers a free mini-course online in six languages.

"Over time, we as humans have developed a different attitude towards nature and we've forgotten about our inner power," Hof explains on his site. "This is the ability of our body to adapt to extreme temperature and survive within our natural environment." 

The idea, as journalist and anthropologist Scott Carney explains it in his book "What Doesn't Kill Us," is that along with a healthy diet and regular exercise, our bodies might need environmental stress to reach the highest level of fitness.

There is some research to support this— getting out into the cold may increase our beneficial brown fat stores, which help keep us warm and convert stored-up energy (ahem, pudge) into heat. But the scientific jury is still out.

The Iceman's method

The first thing to master, Hof says, is his breathing technique. 

"You will understand 'high on your own supply' when you do this," he says in a video demonstration. 

The technique takes a bit of practice. Hof recommends trying it laying down. It involves first completing a series of about 30 active, deep breaths in, followed by passive breaths out. The goal is to take in more and more oxygen with every breath, breathing in deeper and deeper. After this, Hof asks practitioners to exhale for "as long as you can, without force." Finally, people take a last deep breath in and hold it for about 10 seconds. The goal is to perform four rounds of this cycle.

It's somewhat like the ancient yogic Pranayama breathing techniques. Hof says the practice's calming, therapeutic effects function like a miracle cure for everything from inflammation to anxiety.

After his first wife died by suicide, Hof doubled-down on the his three-pronged technique, crediting it with helping ease symptoms of depression and physical pain.

Aside from the breathing, Hof also swears by frequent cold showers and ice baths. Ice can reduce inflammation and swelling, but Hof also suggests that cold exposure can rev up the metabolism, improve sleep, sharpen focus, and improve the immune system (these claims are debated among scientists). Finally, Hof touts some focus and meditation techniques.   

"We believe you can train your brain to increase willpower and self-control," he says on his site.

The science behind Hof's technique 

Hof's fervor for cold stress makes sense intuitively: when we’re forced into colder conditions, our bodies have to work harder to stay at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

There are some time-tested benefits to cold exposure: stepping out of our 72-degree "cocoon" from time to time can boost the body's metabolism. 

One study of hundreds of Finnish workers in the 1980s found that lumberjacks, painters, farmers, and other men who worked outside in northern Finland — where the average winter temperatures are always below freezing— carried more protective brown fat around their necks and hearts than indoor workers. And a small study of seven men who worked in 14-degree-Fahrenheit cold found that they expended more energy and burned more fat than they did when exercising at room temperature.

In his book, Carney describes how he adopted Hof's technique of cold baths and breathing. Scientists at the University of Colorado in Boulder then studied him, and observed that Carney's body switched into a boosted fat-burning mode, a feat equivalent to including an extra hour of cardio exercise per day. 

Read More: I tried the new fat-burning workout where you're immersed in cold temperatures, and it was surprisingly tough

Still, modern-day humans don't carry around as much brown fat as our ancestors who lived without any climate control. What's more, studies show that there's essentially no difference between the brown fat stores of people living near the poles and those in the tropics around the equator. Even in a study of Hof's own family, researchers found that the Iceman has the same amount of brown fat as his identical twin brother, who does not tend to venture out into Arctic conditions in his skivvies.

So it's tough to know how much our brown fat stores can budge, or whether cold exposure affects how much brown fat we have. 

Exposure to extremes can be unsafe

Some researchers who've studied Hof suggest he may harbor a"stress-induced analgesic response" that relieves pain. His increased cold tolerance could also be a byproduct of the breathing and mental-training exercises he uses, which are similar to Tummo meditation techniques popular with Tibetan Buddhist monks.

Meditation is certainly an effective way to tamp down stress and inflammation-linked proteins in the body, and there's even some evidence that it may play a role in decreasing feelings of anxiety and depression, while improving focus. One study compared 12 people following Hof's method to 12 control subjects, and found that Wim Hof followers may benefit from a "pro-inflammatory" immune response, possibly as a result of hyperventilation they undergo during breathing exercises. 

But as far as environmental exposure is concerned, it's important to remember that when people stay in cold conditions for too long, their core temperature drops, leading them to become delirious and unconscious, suffer tissue damage, and even die.

At least a few men have died in cold waters practicing Hof's techniques. People can develop hypothermia more quickly in frigid water, since heat is pulled away 25 times faster from us in water than in the air.

One of the first signs of hypothermia is shivering and shuddering. Interestingly, lab tests showed that Hof doesn't shiver as quickly as most people do, and neither does his twin.

SEE ALSO: I tried the new fat-burning workout where you're immersed in cold temperatures, and it was surprisingly tough

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A Navy SEAL explains why you should end a shower with cold water

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.
• Li said he hopes Telsa can be "a promoter of the stability of Chinese-US relations," in a sign that the two countries' trade war may be thawing.
• Tesla kicked off the construction of its new $2 billion Gigafactory in China this week.

Elon Musk is on a charm offensive in China — and his latest meeting may be a sign that trade hostilities between the US and China are thawing. 

After beginning construction on Tesla's new $2 billion Gigafactory in China this week, Musk met with Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday in Beijing, at the Great Hall of the People.

The pair posed for photographs and made short press statements as part of the meeting. It came against the backdrop of three days of talks between Washington and Beijing over a trade deal.

Read more: Elon Musk has started building a Tesla Gigafactory in China, and it could let him dodge Trump's trade war

There are signs are that negotiators may have reached a preliminary agreement, and Li bolstered this theory by saying that he hopes Tesla can become an "a promoter of the stability of Chinese-US relations."

"We're incredibly excited to break ground on the Shanghai Gigafactory," Musk added.

At the White House, Bloomberg said some advisers are pressing for a speedy end to the trade war to help soothe recent volatility that has gripped markets. US President Donald Trump tweeted on Tuesday night: "Talks with China are going very well!"

But if hostilities continue, Tesla's new Gigafactory could help the carmaker side-step retaliatory tariffs in Trump's trade war.

Tesla announced in October that it was accelerating construction on the Chinese factory, as tariffs of up to 40% were making it uncompetitive in China, and in November it cut the price of its cars in China to balance out costs to customers.

SEE ALSO: Self-driving, electric transport will eventually be like a public utility — here's why that could be bad for Tesla

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NOW WATCH: British Airways has a $13 million flight simulator that taught us how to take off, fly, and land an airplane

• Super Bowl LIII will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, one of the swankiest arenas in the entire NFL.
• The stadium, which is located in downtown Atlanta, cost $1.5 billion to build and was officially opened on August 26, 2017.
• Fans will enjoy the retractable roof, beautiful lounges, football-field length bar, and stunning views of the city's skyline during the 2019 Super Bowl.

The Georgia Dome — the former home of the Atlanta Falcons — was only 25 years old when it was demolished by the city of Atlanta.

The Falcons moved into the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium — a stunning $1.5 billion stadium with a retractable roof — to start the 2017 season. It is like nothing else ever seen in the NFL and looks from the outside like a gigantic metal origami structure.

Here is a tour of some of the stadium's stunning features. Many of the images are from a rendering produced before the stadium was opened.

The Georgia Dome was taken down on Monday with a controlled implosion. It opened in 1992.

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/932589631236984832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
GOODBYE GEORGIA DOME: Here is NewsChopper2 video of the @GeorgiaDome demolition: https://t.co/oILFX7EZuTpic.twitter.com/C8rRtzddgt

The Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which sits right next to the lot where the Georgia Dome once stood, is located in downtown Atlanta.

Here is the outside of the stadium and the area surrounding it, which includes a fan plaza, solar panels, and electric-vehicle charging stations in the parking lot.

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.

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

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• President Donald Trump will visit cities along the US-Mexico border on Thursday to renew calls for his desired wall.
• He reportedly told TV anchors in private that the trip was just a photo opportunity and that "it's not going to change a damn thing."
• The federal government has been partially shut down since December 22 over the disagreement between Trump and congressional Democrats on funding the wall.
• The shutdown enters its 20th day on Thursday. If the shutdown is not resolved by Saturday, it will become the longest in US history. 

President Donald Trump is heading to the US-Mexico border on Thursday to make a case for his proposed wall, despite reportedly dismissing the trip as a photo opportunity that was "not going to change a damn thing."

Trump plans to visit a border-patrol station in McAllen, Texas — one of the busiest parts of the border for illegal crossings. He will discuss immigration and border security and receive a security briefing on the border, the Associated Press reported.

It's not clear what the trip will achieve as far as changing lawmakers' minds. Trump, in private, reportedly dismissed the trip as a useless photo opportunity, saying, "It's not going to change a damn thing, but I'm still doing it."

Read more: 'How much more American blood must we shed': Trump delivers his first prime-time address from the Oval Office amid a government shutdown over funding for his border wall

He also reportedly said the televised address he gave from the Oval Office on Tuesday was pointless.

The comments about both the Oval Office address and Thursday's trip were said to have come during an off-the-record lunch on Tuesday with television anchors, which was reported on by The New York Times.

On Thursday the federal government entered its 20th day of a partial shutdown over a disagreement between Trump and congressional Democrats over funding for the wall.

It is close to becoming the longest shutdown in US history— the record stands at 21 days, which took place in 1995-1996.

The president is said to have stormed out of a meeting over the government shutdown on Wednesday after Democratic leaders once against refused to fund a wall or similar steel barrier on the US-Mexico border.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump "sort of slammed the table" and walked out of the room when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said no to funding for a wall or steel barrier.

Trump has also repeatedly floated the idea of declaring a national emergency to start construction on a wall on the border in an effort to circumvent Congress. Democrats have said he has no legal basis to do this, and Republicans are uneasy about the issue.

He has also reportedly instructed the White House Office of Management and Budget to explore whether he can use the Department of Defense's budget to fund the wall without requiring Congress' permission.

• Read more on the government shutdown and border wall:
• Trump's threat of a national-emergency declaration to fund the border wall is leaving Capitol Hill in shock
• Government shutdown: Pelosi says Trump thinks federal workers can 'just ask their father for more money. But they can't.'
• As the government shutdown over Trump's border wall rages, a journey along the entire 1,933-mile US-Mexico border shows the monumental task of securing it
• A massive amount of American food safety inspections aren't happening due to the government shutdown, and it could mean more food-poisoning outbreaks

Join the conversation about this story »

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

• Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused by an ex-girlfriend of psychologically abusive behaviour.
• Jasmine Lennard reportedly dated Ronaldo in 2008, and claims he told her that if she dated "anyone else" then he'd have her "kidnapped," cut up, put in a bag, and "thrown in a river."
• Lennard, who claims she has been in regular contact with the Juventus FC striker, wants to help Kathryn Mayorga, who last year accused Ronaldo of raping her in a Las Vegas penthouse in 2009.
• Ronaldo denies the allegations and regards Lennard's statements as "false and defamatory."

One of Cristiano Ronaldo's ex-girlfriends has accused him of being a "psychopath," according to Fox Sports, MARCA, and the Daily Mail.

Jasmine Lennard, a 33-year-old model and former Big Brother UK contestant, reportedly dated Ronaldo in 2008 when the striker played for the Premier League team Manchester United.

But Lennard has been in regular contact with the Juventus FC player over the last 18 months, she says, and she has messages and recordings that would be "invaluable" to Kathryn Mayorga, who last year accused Ronaldo of raping her in a $1,000 per night penthouse in Las Vegas, in 2009.

Read more: The mother of the 34-year-old accusing Cristiano Ronaldo of rape says her daughter would 'completely disintegrate' when she saw him on a billboard after the alleged attack

Additionally, Lennard says Ronaldo showed psychologically abusive behaviour when they were together a decade ago, as Ronaldo reportedly told her that if she dated "anyone else" then he'd have her "kidnapped," put "in a bag," and "thrown in a river."

Business Insider has contacted the Portuguese Football Federation for a comment. TMZ says Ronaldo views Lennard's allegations as "false and defamatory."

Fox Sports posted a series of tweets by Lennard that have since been removed from the social media platform. Fox Sports claims Lennard directed a post at Ronaldo and said: "Who the hell do you think you are?"

She added that he told her if she "dated anyone else" or if she left her house, then he'd have her "kidnapped" and have her "body cut up and put in a bag and thown in a river." Lennard insisted she had proof of "everything," adding: "He's a psychopath."

Lennard said: "He legitimately thinks he's going to get away with it. Not now. I have had a relationship with him for a decade. We have been communicating pretty much on a daily basis for the last year and half and I have messages and recordings that'll be invaluable to Kathryn [Mayorga] and her team in showing his true nature and character how unwell he is."

Read more: Cristiano Ronaldo has 'firmly' denied the rape allegations being made against him — and says he refuses to 'feed the media spectacle'

"No one has any idea what he is truly like," she said, according to Fox. "If they had half a clue they'd be horrified. I'm not sitting back any longer and watching him lie in the brazen arrogant entirely insensitive way that he is whilst he employs teams of PRs and lawyers."

SEE ALSO: The mother of the 34-year-old accusing Cristiano Ronaldo of rape says her daughter would 'completely disintegrate' when she saw him on a billboard after the alleged attack

DON'T MISS: Cristiano Ronaldo's lawyer says rape allegations are based on 'fabricated documents' that may have been sold to the media by a cyber criminal

UP NEXT: Cristiano Ronaldo has 'firmly' denied the rape allegations being made against him — and says he refuses to 'feed the media spectacle'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This tiny building in Wilmington, Delaware is home to 300,000 businesses

• Jeremy Corbyn says Article 50 could be extended to provide enough time for Labour to renegotiate with the EU after a general election
• "An extension would be a possibility because clearly there has to be time to negotiate," he said.
• It is the first time the Labour leader has discussed the possibility of pushing back the UK's exit date.
• Labour's Brexit secretary Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he "genuinely" doesn't think the UK can leave the EU by March.

LONDON — Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said that Article 50 may have to be extended to delay Brexit beyond March and provide time for a general election.

Speaking in Wakefield on Thursday, Corbyn called for Theresa May to call a general election and said an extension of Article 50 "would be a possibility" because Labour would need time to renegotiate a Brexit deal in Brussels.

"Moving into office right up against the clock, there would need to be time for that renegotiation," he said.

"An extension would be a possibility because clearly there has to be time to negotiate."

It is the first time the Labour leader has formally called on the prime minister to consider delaying the UK's departure from the EU beyond March 29.

It comes ahead of next week's parliamentary vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal, which the prime minister is likely to lose by a significant margin.

Corbyn reiterated that Labour would vote against the prime minister's deal and called for a general election, pledging that Labour would "negotiate a better deal for Britain and secure support for it in Parliament and in the country."

A general election would likely also require an extension of Article 50 to allow time for a new government to form and to possibly renegotiate the Brexit deal in Brussels.

The EU has indicated that it would be willing to grant a technical extension of a few months in order to facilitate an election or a fresh referendum. 

Brexit 'simply not viable'

It follows Labour's Brexit secretary Keir Starmer saying on Wednesday that he "genuinely" doesn't think the UK can leave the EU by March after the prime minister suffered a further round of humiliating setbacks in the Commons this week. 

The shadow Brexit secretary said the scheduled date for the UK's departure from the bloc was "simply not viable, for so many practical reasons."

He said: "We are going to have to have a discussion I think next week, starting after Tuesday about where we go next.

"I genuinely think that leaving with no-deal would be catastrophic, I actually genuinely think we can’t do it on 29 March this year. It’s simply not viable, for so many practical reasons.

"So we’re going to have to look at what are the available options that realistically are still on the table, and what now are the merits of each of them."

Labour has said it would seek to renegotiate Theresa May's Brexit deal to include permanent customs union membership.

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

Join the conversation about this story »

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

Here is what you need to know.

1. The Fed can 'afford to be patient' on future rate hikes. Minutes from the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting released Wednesday reiterate the Fed's claim that it is not on a preset rate path.
2. The US is likely to lose its crown as the world's most powerful economy next year. China will probably become the world's strongest economy in 2020, when measured by a combination of purchasing power parity, exchange rates, and nominal GDP, and is unlikely to ever relinquish its spot, according to the bank Standard Chartered.
3. A growing number of companies are warning about China's economy. Apple isn't the only company that has pointed the finger at China for a slowdown in business — here are some of the others.
4. The comeback of stock-market volatility was supposed to be good for stock pickers and it hasn't been — here's why there could be more pain ahead. Sure, volatility is great for traders, but the bottom line is they still need to pick the right stocks.
5. Ford is cutting thousands of jobs as it looks to turn around its struggling business in Europe. It is unclear exactly how many jobs will be lost, but the automaker employees 53,000 workers across the continent, Reuters says.
6. Bed Bath & Beyond soars after earnings. Shares soared more than 15% late Wednesday as investors shrugged off disappointing sales and guidance, instead focusing on the earnings beat.
7. Apple is reportedly cutting production — here are the suppliers who could get hit the hardest. The Nikkei Asian Review reported Apple was cutting iPhone production again, so Business Insider rounded up a list of companies with a large chunk of their revenue tied to the company.
8. Stock markets around the world are lower. Japan's Nikkei (-1.29%) was hit hard in Asia, and Germany's DAX (-0.33%) paced the decline in Europe. The S&P 500 was set to open down 0.66% near 2,568.
9. Earnings reports trickle out. Synnex reports after markets close.
10. US economic data is light. Initial claims will cross the wires at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 1.3 basis points at 2.70%.

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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

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.

Relative to many other sectors around the globe, the US healthcare industry has been notoriously slow to embrace new payment systems and processes. 

For example, approximately 77% of healthcare providers still use paper-based patient billing methods, according to an MGMA and Navicure survey. The lack of urgency to innovate has resulted in confusion, inefficiencies, and security issues among stakeholders. 

However, this stagnation is enabling payments firms to capitalize on two key trends to disrupt — and capture a piece of — the $3 trillion healthcare industry:

• The consumerization of healthcare. Consumers are increasingly being urged to play a more prominent role in managing and paying for their own health. In effect, they've become better informed and more critical of the quality of health services. Considering that the billing process is typically the first and last interaction a patient has with a provider, a negative experience could directly impact a healthcare firm's bottom line — only 15% of patients who reported a less than satisfactory billing experience would recommend the hospital to others, according to Becker's Hospital Review. 
• The digitization of healthcare. Healthcare legislation, rising costs, and a shift from fee-for-service care to value-based care are incentivizing payers and providers to seek out digital solutions that drive down costs and improve services. 

Now is the time for payments hardware, software, and processing firms to introduce specific solutions that accommodate the shifting landscape. These could include digital payment options, such as online checkouts or point-of-service mobile wallet acceptance, or value-added services that enhance the overall payments and billing experience. However, before payments companies introduce new solutions, they must navigate the highly regulated and complex industry.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, explains how a typical healthcare transaction is structured, identifies the major players in the industry, and pinpoints the most pressing pain points for stakeholders. We then look at the opportunities available to payments companies, and explore specific solutions that could help them attract partners in the space. 

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Healthcare in the US is a key industry for payments firms — spending increased 3.3% to reach $3.3 trillion in 2016, according to the Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
• Despite the size of the market, very few new opportunities have opened up for payments companies because of the healthcare industry's slow innovation and the complex regulations around entering the space. 
• However, two key trends — the consumerization of healthcare and the digitization of healthcare — will put some payments companies in a strong position to capture a larger share of the market. 
• The payments firms that rise to the top of the market will have to offer digital solutions that accommodate the shifting landscape, such as mobile wallet acceptance — 61% of consumers reported having interest in using mobile wallets, such as Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, to make healthcare payments, according to InstaMed. 
• Payments companies will also have to introduce value-added services that appeal to healthcare providers while differentiating their offerings from competitors, such as easy-to-understand billing, integrated check-ins, and AI-based engagement tools.  

In full, the report:

• Tracks the growth of US healthcare spending. 
• Identifies subsets of healthcare payments — specifically, where payments are coming from and where they're going. 
• Explains the intricacies of a healthcare transaction and pinpoints where there are potential bottlenecks. 
• Details what some of the leading players in the healthcare payments space are doing to differentiate themselves.
• Lists some specific solutions that payments companies could turn to in order to attract healthcare partners. 

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• Chick-fil-A has revealed its 10 top-selling items in 2018.
• Waffle fries took the top spot and the chicken sandwich beat out the chicken biscuit.

Chick-fil-A is expected to become the third largest fast-food chain in the US this year in terms of sales, behind only McDonald's and Starbucks. 

That's a significant jump from the No. 7 spot that Chick-fil-A held in 2017, when it ranked behind competitors like Taco Bell,Subway, and Wendy's. 

Chick-fil-A's explosive growth has been driven largely by the popularity of its famous chicken sandwich, which was the company's third best-selling menu item last year, according to the company.

Here are all the other best sellers in 2018, according to Chick-fil-A:

SEE ALSO: Chick-fil-A is on track to become the third-largest chain in America — and McDonald's and Wendy's should be terrified

10. Milkshake

Chick-fil-A has about a half-dozen milkshake flavors, including frosted lemonade, frosted coffee, cookies and cream, and strawberry.

9. Chick-n-Strips

Chick-fil-A's chicken strips ranked lower than their smaller counterparts, the chicken nuggets. 

8. Chicken biscuit

This breakfast staple, which consists of a chicken patty on a buttery biscuit, was the eighth most-ordered item last year. 

• A Saudi diplomat joked that he wished Thai police had taken the phone of a teen who fled her family, not just her passport. 
• He made the joke in Arabic during a meeting on Tuesday with Thai immigration police, a video shows.
• Rahaf al-Qunun launched a viral Twitter campaign asking for help, which resulted in the UN granting her refugee status.
• The publicity from her message, where she said she fears being killed for renouncing Islam, changed Thai officials' minds about deporting her.
• The Australian government says it is considering granting al-Qunun asylum.

A Saudi Arabian official joked that Thailand should have confiscated the phone of a teen asylum seeker, who avoided deportation and was placed under UN protection after her posts went viral.

A video posted online shows a man —identified in local media as Saudi charge d'affaires Abdullah al-Shuaibi — noting the large audience Rahaf al-Qunun managed to find on social media.

He then jokes that Thailand's immigration police ought to have taken her phone instead of taking her passport.

Without her ability to tweet, al-Qunun's case would not have become a global news story. Thai officials only abandoned a plan to send her back to her family in Kuwait after her story started to spread, Reuters reported. 

Here is the video:

INSIDER has verified the translation. Al-Shuaibi says: "So as soon as she arrived, she opened an account, and got about 45,000 followers in a single day."

He added: "I wish they would've confiscated her phone instead of her passport."

According to Reuters, the video was first published by Thai immigration police. INSIDER was unable to locate the original, but al-Qunun and other activists have published it since.

Al-Qunun gathered 114,000 Twitter followers, and sparked the #SaveRahaf hashtag, with a series of tweets and videos in which she said she was fleeing her family.

She said they "consider me as property" and want to kill her for renouncing Islam. The UN this week granted her refugee status, which means they judged her fears to be legitimate.

The Thai immigration police responded to the video this week.

In comments reported by the Thailand's English-language news site Khaosod, the agency's chief said: "I'd like to emphasize that police didn’t have the authority to confiscate her phone."

"She didn’t commit a crime, and it was within her rights [to tweet]".

The Australian government said on Wednesday that it is deciding whether to approve al-Qunun's asylum claim.

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

• An Instagram model told her 196,000 followers that she used to stay thin by living off cocaine and tapas.
• Ruby Tuesday Matthews used to weigh just 54kg (119lbs).
• She says her former lifestyle is common in the industry, and she hopes her honesty will help others who might feel pressured to behave in a similar way.

An Australian Instagram star has shocked her fans by revealing that she used to stay thin by living off tapas and cocaine.

Ruby Tuesday Matthews recently held a Q&A on the social media platform, allowing her 196,000 followers the opportunity to ask her questions.

One person asked the mother-of-two how she used to maintain such a trim physique, having weighed just 54kg (119lbs) before having children. 

Matthews responded, saying that she used to suvive off "tapas and cocaine."

"I did a lot of cocaine, like a lot so basically I just smoked cigarettes, had long blacks and did coke," she said, according to news.com.au.

The 25-year-old explained that very few people knew about her unhealthy lifestyle.

"People don't realise how easy it is to hide something," she continued. "Whether it's addiction, depression, anxiety, it's easy to hide those things."

Scientists have wondered whether sites like Facebook and Instagram contribute to mental health problems for years.

Recent research has showed that people portray their lives in a more positive light on social media, and a new study also suggested a connection between social media use and depression.

Read more: An Australian Instagram star with 2 million followers has some pretty intense dress code requirements for guests attending her wedding

Matthews implied that she wasn't the only influencer to have a penchant for cocaine.

"I need to be careful what I'm saying here, but in the influencer industry, everyone loves the baggie. That is how most physiques are maintained… that's how my physique was maintained," she said.

However, she has made it clear that she does not endorse drug use.

When she became pregnant with her first child, Matthews quit cocaine and now weighs a healthier 65kg (143lbs).

She says that she has "no desire" to go back to her old lifestyle and extremely thin figure.

Matthews has been largely praised for being honest about her past.

"Glad you were honest about the coke because it's so true, 99.9% of bodies do not look that thin naturally, people should at least be honest on why they look like that," one person commented on Instagram. "I'm so glad you are living a better life now."

The social media star hopes that by speaking candidly about her experiences, more people will be able to do the same.

"I have battled with mental health demons on and off for most of my life," she said in the Q&A. "It is a topic I am going to be talking about a lot more this year."

Matthews did not immediately respond to INSIDER's request for comment. 

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• China's economy has taken a beating in recent weeks as the trade war bites. And it may get worse.
• "So far, the trade war has had a much bigger impact on Chinese growth than US growth," Bank of America Merrill Lynch says.
• But Beijing has been throwing all available stimulus options at its economy, and it's just getting started.
• US corporates are feeling the pinch. And longer-term, the US is losing its economic dominance.

Donald Trump may be winning the trade battle with China. But China could still end up winning the war. 

China's economy has taken a beating in recent weeks. Manufacturing is contracting for the first time in two years. There's a real-estate crisis. China just posted the first annual car sales decline in 20 years. There's a retail slump. Foreign investment into China has plummeted. 

The country just posted its worst quarter of growth since the financial crisis. And Chinese equities capped 2018 with a tumble of 27%, the world's worst performing market. 

"So far, the trade war has had a much bigger impact on Chinese growth than US growth," Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a recent note. 

Read more: China stock markets rally on Trump optimism before trade talks: 'Good things are going to happen'

And it may get worse. If the US levies an additional 15% tariff rates on Chinese exports after March 1, Citigroup says China's overall export growth will plunge to 5.1%. (It was a whopping 15.5% in October 2018.)

In a survey, the US Chamber of Commerce found that about 30% of US companies in China say they are weighing adjustments to their supply chain. The diversion of exports through Vietnam and the Philippines among others is happening faster than expected, Citi said in a January 9 note.

China's fighting back

Beijing has been throwing all available stimulus options at its economy, including tax cuts and weakening its currency. The government just green lighted new rail projects worth more than $125 billion in the past month to counteract the slowdown.

Those efforts, and the first in what's likely to be about four cuts to banks' reserve requirement ratios, should help turn things around, possibly by the spring, BofAML says.   

And HSBC says it's just getting started: "It is possible that the government steps these up more meaningfully, and at a faster pace than the market anticipates," HSBC economists led by Janet Henry, referring to China's fiscal and monetary stimuli, said in a recent report. 

She also said China is adapting: "China has also been better than the US at diversifying its export growth to more rapidly-growing markets."

And now the US is feeling the pinch, too

The impact of the trade war is starting to be more keenly felt in the US, meanwhile. 

"The impact of the trade war on US confidence seems to be growing," BofAML said. "The US had a big offset to the trade war — a double dose of tax cuts and spending increases. Now, with the stimulus fading, confidence seems more sensitive to news that would have been ignored in the past."

US corporates have felt the pinch. While Apple dominated headlines after blaming its weaker sales outlook on a slowdown in the country, a chorus of other US corporates have been sounding the alarm for months: Shipping company Maersk, Ford, agricultural giant Cargill, and General Motors have all blamed either a China slowdown or the trade war specifically for earnings woes.

And the US is losing its dominance. Standard Chartered Bank said this week that America could lose its position as the world's biggest economy as soon as next year, and once that happens, will likely never regain the top spot as developing Asian economies power ahead. 

The bank says China will most likely nab the world's biggest economy title some time in 2020. By some measures, China is already there.

SEE ALSO: China stock markets rally on Trump optimism before trade talks: 'Good things are going to happen'

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NOW WATCH: Bernie Madoff was arrested 10 years ago — here's what his life is like in prison

• Unified access management startup OneLogin announced on Thursday that it raised $100 million in new funding.
• OneLogin, which is used by customers like Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), says its annual recurring revenue nearly triple in the last three years.
• OneLogin's major competitors are Okta and Microsoft. 
• Brad Brooks became CEO of OneLogin in 2017 after the founders realized they needed a more experienced CEO to scale the company.

When you're working at a startup, speed matters, and every second counts. Everything could come crashing down at any moment, says Brad Brooks, CEO of OneLogin — but the rewards for making it through are huge.

"Every day can bring that challenge," Brooks told Business Insider. "But you look at the market and you look at what you can trust in, and the future looks good."

That's what OneLogin, a cloud-based identity and access management software company, is dealing with as it races to keep up with the pace of its own growth, he says.  On Thursday, the startup announced it raised $100 million in funding led by new investor Greenspring Associates and existing investors Charles River Ventures and Scale Venture Partners.

OneLogin recently added the Bay Area Rapid Transit as a customer and says its annual recurring revenue has nearly tripled in the past three years, though it declines to disclose the specifics of its financials. As more companies move to the cloud and as OneLogin grew, the co-founder and former CEO Thomas Pedersen realized he needed to find a more experienced person in enterprise to scale it to the next level, and Brooks was hired from DocuSign to be the new CEO in August 2017.

Brooks, who headed up product, engineering and marketing at DocuSign, has also worked at Microsoft and Juniper Networks — experience that the company hopes will prove handy as it moves to compete head on with big players like Microsoft and Okta.

Still, Brooks believes OneLogin's biggest competitor is awareness, Many customers still don't fully comprehend what it means to move to the cloud, and there's a learning curve.

"The Number One thing I figured out in my life is that working in a market where everyone needs your technology is a really good career move," Brooks said. "This is the next generation of technology that everyone needs."

Raising money is one of a CEOs hardest jobs

The San Francisco-based company has raised $170 million in total since it was founded in 2009.

Read more: Okta soared 10% after blockbuster earnings, and a Wall Street analyst says the $7 billion company is becoming a real competitor to Microsoft

Raising money, Brooks said, is one of the hardest jobs a CEO does, but at the end, it feels good. Now, with the funding, OneLogin will focus on increasing adoption of its new products, as well as expanding in North America and Europe.

"[Investors are] going to be very cynical in your business so you've really got to know the process inside out," Brooks said. "You've got to test your belief. At the end of the day, investors will say they want to invest in the latest and greatest technology, but at the end of the day, they invest in the people."

On the upside, although so many companies have yet to move to the cloud, they likely will in the near future.

"All those comes with its own set of challenges and making sure we don't overextend ourselves," Brooks said. "We're not nearly as small as you think we are. We're much bigger than we think we are and are here to stay."

SEE ALSO: These former Red Hat employees just got $25 million to try to find a new business model for open-source software

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• Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies took a sharp and sudden turn lower Thursday morning.
• The selling pushed bitcoin below $3,800 a coin.
• Watch bitcoin trade live.

It may be 2019, but bitcoin is back to its bad habits of 2018.

The largest cryptocurrency by market cap plunged sharply and suddenly early Thursday, falling from near $4,000 a coin to below $3,800. At last look, it was trading down 5.4% near $3,807. Its rivals ether (-11.8%), litecoin (-10.2%), and bitcoin cash (-12.9%) were under even more significant pressure.

"After Bitcoin's leap to $4,000 earlier this week, it seems that we're now seeing a reversal of this surge which in turn, is also causing XRP and Ethereum's price to fall," Mati Greenspan, a senior market analyst at eToro, the global multi-asset investment platform, said.

"While Bitcoin was unable to hold on to Sunday’s momentum, it's important to remember that this price decline still remains within the broader $3,000 - $5,000 range, meaning the significance of this should not be overstated."

And while no one has been able to pinpoint exactly what was behind the drop, Timothy Tam, the cofounder and CEO of the Hong Kong-based crypto research firm CoinFi, told Bloomberg he noticed someone transferred 40,000 ether into an exchange about an hour before the sell-off occurred.

2018 was a rough year for investors in the digital-coin space. The crypto boom from 2017 turned into a bust, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in market cap as investors suffered through sharp and sudden drops in the market. Data from the crypto site CoinMarketCap.com showed the total crypto universe peaked with a market cap of $813.9 billion on January 7, 2018, and that was down to just $103.9 billion by December 13.

Bitcoin was still up 2.9% this year after Thursday's selling.

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• Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced on Wednesday that he and his wife MacKenzie are divorcing.
• Hours later, reports surfaced in the tabloid press that Bezos has been dating former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez.
• Sanchez has a pretty cool life.
• As well as a TV career, she is a licensed helicopter pilot, founded her own aerial filming company, and has starred in movies including "Fight Club."

Hours after Jeff Bezos announced he and his wife MacKenzie are divorcing, the tabloid press was buzzing with stories about the Amazon CEO's new romance.

According to New York's Post's Page Six, TMZ, and the National Enquirer among others, Bezos is dating former TV news anchor Lauren Sanchez.

The Enquirer said it had trailed Bezos and Sanchez for some time, and on Thursday published images of the pair together. In one photo on the Enquirer's front page, the duo appear to be holding hands.

Sanchez has been in the public eye for much of her career, and seems to lead a pretty cool life. Here are six fast facts about the TV star-turned-pilot:

1. She's had a long career as a reporter and news anchor

Sanchez started her journalistic career as an intern on LA Channel 13 while on a scholarship at the University of Southern California, according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

She went on to be a host at various news channels, becoming a longtime co-anchor on Fox 11's "Good Day LA," as well as appearing as a host and correspondent on "Extra."

2. She's a licensed plane and helicopter pilot

Sanchez learned how to fly while working as a news anchor, and she started flying planes in 2011 before going on to get her helicopter pilot's license in 2016.

Her interest in aviation seems to have been sparked at an early age, as her father was a flight instructor and mechanic who rebuilt planes.

"I was always in the hangar growing up but knew nothing about flying," she told the Hollywood Reporter.

3. She founded her own female-led aerial filming company

Sanchez founded Black Ops Aviation in 2016, a "female owned and operated" aerial filming company, which has shot footage for Amazon, Netflix, and Fox among others.

You can watch the company's demo reel here:

Sanchez also leant her aerial filming knowledge to Christopher Nolan as a consultant on "Dunkirk."

4. She's played a news anchor in a bunch of movies and TV shows

As well as being an anchor in real life, Sanchez has starred as a news anchor in movies including "Fight Club,""The Day After Tomorrow," and "The Fantastic Four,"according to IMDB.

5. She used to host a dancing reality show "So You Think You Can Dance"

Sanchez was an original host on the first series of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," but reportedly left the show after the first season to have her second child.

6. While she is still married to Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell, the pair are reportedly separated

Whitesell is co-CEO of Hollywood agency WME, and his clients include Matt Damon, Christian Bale, and Hugh Jackman. Whitesell and Sanchez married in 2005, and sources told the New York Post that they separated in the fall.

SEE ALSO: Jeff Bezos is the richest person alive — here's how he makes and spends his billions

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NOW WATCH: I cut Google out of my life for 2 weeks, but the alternatives prove why Google is so much better

• Tesla is retiring the cheapest versions of its Model S and X cars, Elon Musk said, and set a deadline for last-minute orders.
• In a tweet on Wednesday, Musk said the cars with a 75 KWh battery (called the 75D,) will be pulled from Monday.
• The 75 kWh versions, Tesla's cheapest, are substantially less expensive than the next up in the range, the 100 kWh. 
• According to current prices, the cheapest Model X will now cost $87,950, up from $72,950.
• The cheapest Model S will now cost $84,750, up from $66,750.

Tesla is retiring the cheapest versions of the Model S and X, Elon Musk said, and announced a final deadline for fans to order one.

Musk said he will stop taking orders for the 75kWh (called the 75D) versions of the S and X, which he said will only be available with the more expensive 100 kWh (100D) batteries from Monday.

In a tweet on Wednesday he said:"Starting on Monday, Tesla will no longer be taking orders for the 75 kWh version of the Model S & X. If you’d like that version, please order by Sunday night."

If the current prices for the larger-capacity models says the same, this will increase the minimum price by around $15,000 for the Model X, and $18,000 for the Model S. 

For the Model X:

The cheapest version will become the $87,950 100D. This is $15,000 more expensive than the 75D, which costs $72,950.

For the Model S:

The cheapest version will be the $84,750 100D. This is $18,200 more expensive than the 75D, which costs $66,750.

Increasing the battery capacity from 75 kWh to 100 kWh will give the Model S and extra 89 miles of range, and the Model X an extra 92, according to Tesla's figures.

Read more:I've driven every Tesla model you can buy. Here are my favorite features.

The decision to remove the 75 kWh versions seems to be because Tesla wants to move away from defining their cars by the size of their batteries.

When asked by a Twitter user under the post:"Are you moving away from battery sizing in a similar sense to how Model 3s are sold ie Long Range, Performance etc?" Musk replied: "Yes."

In September, Musk culled two of the seven color choices Tesla's offered to simplify manufacturing: the Obsidian Black Metallic and Silver Metallic options were retired.

The other Tesla vehicle available, the highly successful Model 3, is cheaper. Versions start from $35,000 according to Tesla's website.

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• More than 40 seals have become stranded in a small Canadian town in Newfoundland after surrounding waters froze over.
• Two of the animals have already been killed by cars, police said.
• "It actually feels like we're being inundated with seals," Roddickton Mayor Sheila Fitzgerald told CBC news.
• There are fears that the seals may starve if they are not returned to the ocean soon.
• Residents are being warned not to interact with the creatures, which are known to be aggressive in order to protect themselves.
• A scientist for the Canadian Fisheries Department told Canadian media that officers were in the town on Wednesday to count the seals, examine the area, and plan their return to the ocean.

A group of more than 40 seals have invaded the small Canadian town of Roddickton-Bide Arm in Newfoundland, Canada, its mayor said on Wednesday.

Two of the animals have already been killed after being struck by a vehicle on Tuesday night, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed.

According to the BBC, the waterborne mammals became stranded after nearby waters froze over and prevented their return to the sea.

Garry Stenson, lead scientist for the Canadian Fisheries Department's marine mammals section, told CTV that the seals appear to have wandered too far from the ocean and become disoriented.

Away from their hunting grounds, the seals may also be starving.

"Seals at mouth of the brook in Roddickton. Wonder where's DFO [Department of Fisheries and Oceans]. Those seals been there for a few weeks. They are 4 or 5 miles from the ocean and they are probably starving," hunting and fishing guide Brendon FitzPatrick said in a tweet.

"It actually feels like we're being inundated with seals, because there's seals on the road, there's seals in people's driveways, the backyards, the parking lots, the doorways, the businesses," Roddickton Mayor Sheila Fitzgerald told CBC news.

"I don't see that there's any way that these seals are going to survive unless [DFO officers] pick them up and literally bring them back to the edge of the ice.

"They're pitiful to look at. I mean, they haven't eaten."

Residents are unable to interact with or attempt to move the seals as it is illegal to disturb marine mammals in the territory. The Fisheries Department issued a statement warning town residents to steer clear of the creatures.

"Seals are wild animals that can be unpredictable, and may become aggressive in order to protect themselves," the statement read.

"In rare cases, seals carry infections that can be passed on to humans."

"We would like to remind people that it is illegal to disturb a marine mammal and human interaction can disturb an animal's normal life processes and can result in injury or death of the animal."

According to Stenson, seals getting lost on land is not uncommon for Newfoundland.

"We get this every year," Stenson told CBC. "If it's near a town you hear more about it, but it's not totally uncommon for us to get this."

Stenson said fisheries officers were in Roddickton on Wednesday to count the seals, examine the area, and plan their return to the ocean.

Earlier this week, officers in the south of Newfoundland island were forced to return a rogue seal to the ocean twice after it came back to a populated region of Burin Peninsula — even blocking off the entrance to a hospital.

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