• The most-liked post on Instagram is now a simple photo of an egg.
• The photo gained the top spot Monday, and now has more than 33 million likes, beating a record set by Kylie Jenner. 
• Here are the 20 most-liked photos on Instagram, featuring content from the Kardashian-Jenner family and from soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.

If you thought 2018 was an odd year, a simple egg was just crowned the champion of Instagram.

Yep, you heard right: a picture of an egg, posted from the account @world_record_egg on January 4, beat a record set by Kylie Jenner with 18 million likes. As of Monday afternoon, the egg had more than 33 million likes.

Read more:A picture of a humble egg just became the most-liked Instagram post ever

The egg picture is an anomaly among the most-liked Instagram posts, which are dominated by pictures of celebrities posing with their families, or making major life announcements to their millions of fans.

Here are the 20 most-liked Instagram photos of all time as of Janurary 2019:

20. 10.65 million — Kylie Jenner posing with her sister, Kendall Jenner, in October 2018.

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19. 10.72 million — Selena Gomez's post-op photo after getting a kidney transplant in September 2017.

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18. 10.88 million — Kylie Jenner with her boyfriend Travis Scott and their daughter, Stormi, in November 2018.

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• President Trump is serving McDonald's and Wendy's to the Clemson Tigers during their visit to the White House on Monday night.
• Trump has long had an obsession with fast food, which he says he appreciates in part because of chains' cleanliness. 
• According to Michael Wolff's book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," Trump also enjoys fast food because of a longtime fear of being poisoned.

President Trump is serving McDonald's and Wendy's at the White House on Monday night — but it's far from the first time the president's enjoyment of fast food has been apparent. 

On Monday, Trump announced plans to serve the Clemson football team fast food during their visit to the White House, following the team's national-championship win. The decision was in part because most of the White House staff is furloughed, meaning they cannot work or get paid, during the government shutdown, which is now in its 24th day, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told CNN.

"I think we're going to serve McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King with some pizza," Trump told reporters outside the White House. "I really mean it. It'll be interesting."

Photos at the event show a spread of food wrapped in McDonald's and Wendy's packaging. 

According to a video taken by White House correspondent for Yahoo News Hunter Walker, Trump said hamburgers are being served, along with french fries, pizza, and more.

Trump enjoys fast food, according to reports (and social media). "I like it all. It's all good stuff. Great American food," the president says in the video taken by Walker.

Read more: The only restaurant Trump is known to have visited in Washington, DC, as president is the steakhouse at the Trump Hotel

Throughout the presidential campaign, fast food was a staple in Trump's diet. The president's go-to McDonald's order was two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, and a large chocolate shake, according to former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and top Trump campaign aide David Bossie.

"Like an amazing professional athlete who has a routine that they do all the time when they're ready for a big game," Trump "would consistently do the same things," Lewandowski told Business Insider earlier this year.

Trump has previously applauded fast-food chains for their cleanliness.

SEE ALSO: How Donald and Ivana Trump transformed Pizza Hut's stuffed-crust pizza into a multibillion-dollar business

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• Volkswagen unveiled the all-new 2020 Passat sedan on Monday at the 2019 Detroit auto show.
• The redesigned VW Passat will continue to compete in a shrinking, but highly competitive mid-size sedan market currently dominated by the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Nissan Altima.
• It's powered by a mildly-updated version of the 2.0-liter, turbocharged, four-cylinder engine found in the current model. Horsepower remains at 174, but torque output from 184 pound-feet to 207 pound-feet. 
• The 2020 Volkswagen Passat will arrive in US showrooms in the summer of 2019. Pricing information has not been released. 

Volkswagen unveiled the all-new 2020 Passat sedan on Monday at the 2019 Detroit auto show. It's the first major revamp of VW's mid-size sedan offering in the US since 2011. 

"Passat is the only midsize sedan to offer German driving dynamics at an affordable price and has long resonated with buyers for its combination of comfort, reliability and driving dynamics," Volkswagen North America CEO, Scott Keogh, said in a statement. "With this new model, we’ve stepped up the style factor and upgraded the technology to make it even more attractive. "

The redesigned Passat will continue to compete in a shrinking, but highly competitive mid-size sedan market currently dominated by the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Nissan Altima. 

Aesthetically, the Tennessee-built Passat draws heavily from the recently released 2019 Jetta compact sedan.

Read more: Infiniti just unveiled a striking electric SUV concept with Rolls-Royce-inspired coach doors and a marble interior trim.

Power for the Passat comes from a mildly-updated version of the 2.0-liter, turbocharged, four-cylinder engine found in the current model. Horsepower remains at 174, but a new torque converter and updated software boost torque output from 184 pound-feet to 207 pound-feet. 

The only transmission available will be a six-speed automatic sending power to the front wheels. 

The Passat will get an updated touchscreen running Volkswagen's stellar MIB II infotainment system. MIB II is equipped with both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Integration. 

VW's mid-size sedan will also get a host of updated safety tech such as adaptive cruise control, adaptive headlights, lane keep assist, and park assist.

The 2020 Volkswagen Passat will arrive in US showrooms in the summer of 2019. Official pricing for the 2020 Passat has not been announced. However, the current 2019 model starts at $25,295.

SEE ALSO: The legendary Toyota Supra sports car has returned to America after a 20-year absence to take on Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes

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NOW WATCH: These bespoke metal cars take 2,000 hours to make by hand — see the step-by-step process

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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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• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has two very specific examples of what's next when it comes to business software.
• Specifically, he sees two new categories of software emerging.
• One new category will track the performance of products as customers use them. It is business software built on the concept of Internet of Things, where objects get sensors and apps.
• The second adds a layer of artificial intelligence magic on top of it all, which will predict stuff about to happen (like something braking) and take actions to prevent it (like sending out a repair person).

There are two new categories of business software that will soon be coming to the corporate world, to hear Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tell it.

And he ought to know: Over his 27-year career at Microsoft, one of the world's largest makers of business software, he's helped bring his fair share of new corporate technologies into the world.

On Monday he told journalists at an invitational editors meeting at Microsoft's headquarters that two new categories of software are on the cusp of taking off.

• One of them he calls "systems of observation," which is software for the Internet of Things - the term for internet-connected gadgetry, like home appliances or autonomous vehicles. 
• The second he calls "systems of intelligence," which uses artificial intelligence to predict what will happen, respond and take action.

These two new categories follow what he calls "systems of record," his term for financial planning applications that track everything a company buys and earns, known also as enterprise resource planning software or ERP. They follow what he calls "systems of engagement;" his term for the sales software also known as customer relationship management or CRM. 

Read: CEO Satya Nadella didn't think it was worth celebrating when Microsoft became the world's most valuable company.

While the jargon is thick, the concept isn't that hard to understand, as Nadella described it.

Companies already track everything they buy from suppliers and all the product they sell. They already track who is doing the buying. Next up they will be making their products smart, adding sensors and apps that track how their product are used, how those products perform, and when they are showing signs of failing, he described.

So they will use "systems of observation" to watch this "digital trail" these products, in customers' hands, create.

At that point, companies can add software with artificial intelligence to the mix and "triangulate" on issues or opportunities, Nadella says.

An AI app will be able to watch for patterns and then predict them. The top example is seeing signs of failure in the product and then, before the product actually breaks, it can order the part from the supplier (from the ERP system), and coordinate a service professional to go the customer site (through the CRM system).

Read: The president of Microsoft says top leaders at the world's biggest tech companies meet regularly to talk about the major issues facing Silicon Valley and the world

Nadella calls this a "big shift"— knowing who bought it, how they're using it, and what's going to happen next, you can do all kinds of nifty new things. 

"Once you have these three things, you now can say, let me do a system of intelligence, which really triangulates these three and adds new value," he said.

And, as you might imagine, Microsoft already has popular ERP and CRM apps, in the form of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 suite of apps. And it also already offers IoT software and artificial intelligence technology. 

SEE ALSO: 

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NOW WATCH: Japanese lifestyle guru Marie Kondo explains how to organize your home once and never again

• What family meal time looks like in each individual household can vary greatly.
• It's something photographer Lois Bielefeld wanted to explore in her series "Weeknight Dinners."
• She visited more than 80 households across the Midwest and the South to capture how, what, when, and where people spend dinnertime with their families.
• Take a look at her series.

SEE ALSO: Stunning photos show how different young people's bedrooms look around the world

DON'T MISS: This entrepreneurial power couple run 4 businesses together out of their West Village home — here's their best advice for making it work

Studies have repeatedly shown the benefits of having a set family meal time every day.

Source: Journal of Adolescent Health

Research has shown that the benefits are especially pronounced in children.

Source: The Washington Post

Those who regularly eat a daily meal with their families often show higher achievement scores and are generally more physically fit.

Source: The Washington Post

• A bipartisan working group is trying to create a compromise to end the record-breaking partial government shutdown.
• Any product they produce will have to get President Donald Trump's seal of approval or will face a veto.
• Most Republicans are holding the line on ensuring there is enough border security in any agreement that is to Trump's liking.

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan working group of senators have formed to try to hash out the details of a solution to what has now become the longest government shutdown in US history.

But even as the small group of Senate Republicans and Democrats begin putting their heads together, they have to contend with the fact that whatever product they produce must have a guarantee from President Donald Trump that he would sign it, in addition to appeasing an equally stubborn House led by the newly powerful Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Read more: Trump's threat of a national-emergency declaration to fund the border wall is leaving Capitol Hill in shock

The bipartisan group held discussions on Monday and its members include what Texas Sen. John Cornyn described as the "usual suspects" who emerge during tense times to find a solution, including Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Joe Manchin.

Cornyn noted that some kind of clean funding bill without border security funding like Democrats have passed in the House is entirely off the table in the Senate, which Trump has so far refused to support. So in order for the bipartisan gang to find a solution, it is going to have to include significant border security funding, with physical barriers as a key component.

"This isn’t going to be decided unless and until everybody comes up with some good faith negotiations where nobody gets everything they want and nobody ends up empty handed," Cornyn said. "But again, until they come up with something the president will sign it’s kind of an unfortunate, futile effort."

Cornyn, who recently relinquished his role as Senate Majority Whip, placed blame on Democrats for being stubborn in negotiations by refusing to budge on border-security funding.

"This isn’t really about solving a problem. This is about point scoring," he said. "And at some point Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer take whatever they think they’ve got and settle it."

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who is a member of the bipartisan group, told reporters in the Capitol Monday that "clearly structures are a part of" any deal that needs to be reached, but that it is just one component.

"I think again the big problem is people are simplifying this and just saying this is about the wall," he said. "But if you take a look, even in the $25 billion in the February proposals last year, a significant amount had nothing to do with a physical structure. So I’m very mindful of the words mattering to some of the members."

Tillis, like most Republicans, lamented Pelosi's hard line that she will not authorize funding for a wall along the US-Mexico border, comparing it to Trump's stubbornness.

"I think the same could be said for how could you advance these talks if [Pelosi] refuses to talk about funding border security," he said. "Somebody’s got to move and we’re trying to help that."

SEE ALSO: Democratic contenders for the 2020 presidential nomination are turning to Instagram Live as a secret weapon

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

• Artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and self-driving technology are helping the transportation and logistics industry finally transform by cutting costs, optimizing delivery routes, and automating mundane tasks.
• Startups will be the lynchpin of this transformation because they specifically target areas of need  with cutting-edge solutions.
• Business Insider Intelligence examined the top 5 startups within five key areas: digital freight services, warehouse robotics, AI for supply chain management, last-mile delivery robotics, and self-driving car software.

Transportation and logistics industries have operated largely the same way for decades. But the surge in e-commerce in the last several years, combined with consumers’ appetite for same-day delivery, has brought us to a tipping point.

Delivery companies are doing all they can to get orders to customers’ doors as quickly as possible, which has facilitated wholesale changes in how they operate.

Cutting-edge digital solutions (including digital freight services, warehouse robotics, AI for supply chain management, delivery robotics, and autonomous driving software) are forcing traditional delivery companies to either evolve or see their core businesses erode.

Transportation & Logistics Startups to Watch, a new report from Business Insider Intelligence, monitors the biggest change agents in the industry to offer unique insight into the development of the transportation and logistics space at large, and shows how traditional companies are adapting to their new environment.

Want to Learn More?

Business Insider Intelligence's Startups to Watch reports give a high-level overview of the funding trends for startups in a particular coverage area, as well as a list of key startups (by function, what they do, key news, and statistics). Businesses need to understand new competitive threats, technologies, and acquisition opportunities in order to thrive. These reports provide that contextual information in an easy-to-digest manner.

In full, the Transportation & Logistics Startups to Watch report dives into the top 25 companies - five startups across five key disruption areas - that are easing shipping burdens, improving order fulfillment efficiency, optimizing delivery, and automating processes.

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• Active-duty troops deployed to the US-Mexico border will not be leaving anytime soon, the US Department of Defense announced Monday evening.
• The border mission, initially expected to wrap up on December 15, 2018, has been extended to September 30, 2019.
• The cost of the deployment is expected to hit $132 million by the end of this month.

US troops deployed to the US-Mexico border will remain there until at least the end of September, the Pentagon revealed in an emailed statement Monday evening.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who took over for former Secretary of Defense James Mattis at the beginning of the year, has approved Department of Defense assistance to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through September 30, 2019.

The decision was made in response to a DHS request submitted in late December.

The initial deployment, which began in October as "Operation Faithful Patriot" (since renamed "border support"), was expected to end on December 15, 2018. The mission had previously been extended until the end of January.

Thousands of active-duty troops, nearly six thousand at the operation's peak, were sent to positions in California, Texas, and Arizona to harden points of entry, laying miles and miles of concertina wire. The number of troops at the southern border, where thousands of Central American migrants wait in hopes of entering the US, has dropped significantly since the operation began.

Read more: The military's mission at the US-Mexico border will no longer be called Operation Faithful Patriot

The Department of Defense is transitioning the support provided from securing ports of entry to mobile surveillance and detection activities, according to the Pentagon's emailed statement. Troops will offer aviation support, among other services.

Shanahan has also given his approval for deployed troops to put up another 115 miles of razor wire between ports of entry to limit illegal crossings, according to ABC News.

The extension of the border mission was expected after a recent Cabinet meeting. "We're doing additional planning to strengthen the support that we're providing to Kirstjen and her team," Shanahan said, making a reference to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Military.com reported earlier this month.

"We've been very, very closely coupled with Kirstjen," he added. "The collaboration has been seamless."

The cost of the Trump administration's border mission, condemned by critics as a political stunt, is expected to rise to $132 million by the end of this month, CNN reported recently.

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NOW WATCH: The US Air Force refuels combat jets in midair with a 'flying boom system' — watch it in action

• Apple should be in the hunt for a video content company, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a new report.
• The company's future growth is dependent on its services business, and a streaming video offering is expected and needed to drive that business, Ives said.
• Ives think the company has several potential and notable targets.

Dan Ives thinks the time has come for Apple to open up its wallet and buy a piece of Hollywood.

Like others on Wall Street, Ives, an analyst who covers the iPhone maker for Wedbush, thinks the company's future is in its services business. A key component of that business going forward is likely to be the subscription streaming video offering it's widely expected to launch this year.

But even as Apple is spending more than $1 billion a year to develop new video content, it faces a big challenge going up against Netflix, not to mention the new and upcoming streaming services from Disney and the combined AT&T-Time Warner — it has little in the way of a library of movies and TV shows.

"Now is the time for Apple to rip off the band-aid and finally do significant content [mergers and acquisitions]," Ives said in a new research note. Should the company pass on the opportunity, he continued, "it will be a major strategic mistake ... that will haunt the company for years to come, [because] content [is] the rocket fuel in the services engine that is currently missing in the portfolio."

Read this:Investors focused on Apple's disappointing iPhone sales are missing the company's hidden goldmine

Making such an acquisition would represent a major shift for Apple. While the iPhone maker has purchased lots of smaller companies, it has traditionally eschewed big mergers. To date, the biggest acquisition deal Apple has ever completed was its $3 billion purchase of headphone maker Beats in 2014.

But with some $237 billion in cash and investments as of the end of September, Apple has plenty of money with which to go shopping. And now would be an ideal time, argued Ives. With AT&T having completed its merger with Time Warner last year and Disney expected to close its deal to acquire 21st Century Fox this spring, consolidation is about to become the name of the game in the content business, he said.

While Apple has been trying to build up its content library piece by piece, it risks being left far behind by rivals that are spending many times what it is each year and which already have significant holdings of movies and TV shows, Ives said.

"Apple significantly lacks the core content to get its loyal customer base to pay $10 per month," he said, adding that CEO Tim "Cook, Jony Ive (Chief Design Officer), Eddy Cue (head of Apple's content strategy), and others on the leadership/strategy team continue to drive in the right lane at 55 mph, while competitors from all areas of technology and media are passing the technology stalwart in the left lane driving 100 mph in their new content sports cars."

So where should Apple put its money? What content companies should it buy?

Here are the ones that Ives thinks could be prime targets for Apple:

SEE ALSO: Here's why Apple's China situation is at 'code red,' and why it needs to take dramatic action to plug up a key weakness in the business

A24

An independent film distribution and production house, A24 has made a splash in recent years with several acclaimed films, including "Lady Bird" and Jonah Hill's "Mid90s."

The studio has more recently branched into television, distributing last year's "Pod Save America" TV special and the upcoming "At Home with Amy Sedaris."

Lionsgate

A venerable player in the independent film market, Lionsgate hit it big in recent years with some popular franchise films, most notably "The Hunger Games" series. The company also owns the rights to the "Divergent" and "Twilight" series.

The company also has a significant television arm. Among its more notable productions are "Nashville" and Netflix hit "Orange is the New Black."

Sony Pictures

An Apple acquisition of Sony Pictures would be an interesting turn of events. The studio was formed in the late 1980s when that era's dominant electronics firm — Sony — decided it needed to get into the content business and purchased Columbia Pictures from Coca-Cola.

Purchasing Sony Pictures would be among the biggest moves Apple could feasibly make; Sony Pictures is considered to be one of the Big Six Hollywood studios. In addition to films such as the "Spider-Man" series, Sony Pictures has a major television arm, which has produced shows such as "Shark Tank" and "Masters of Sex."

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

Remittances, or cross-border peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers, hit a record high of $613 billion globally in 2017, following a two-year decline.  And the remittance industry will continue to grow, driven largely by digital services.

Several factors will fuel digital growth globally, such as increased smartphone penetration, greater demand for digital transactions, and an overall need for faster cross-border transfers. And with the shift to digital comes an audience of younger, digital-savvy customers using remittances — a segment that companies are looking to target.

As a result, the global remittance industry is becoming increasingly competitive for firms to navigate, with incumbents like Western Union and MoneyGram competing for the same pool of customers as digital upstarts like WorldRemit and Remitly. And in order to win, companies across the board will need to prioritize the four areas consumers value most in remittances: cost, convenience, speed, and safety.  

In The Digital Remittances Report, Business Insider Intelligence will identify what young, digitally savvy users value in remittances. We will also detail the concrete steps that legacy and digital providers can take to effectively capture this opportunity and monetize digital offerings — the primary growth driver — to emerge at or maintain their presence at the forefront of the space. 

The companies mentioned in the report are: MoneyGram, Remitly, Ria, Western Union, WorldRemit, TransferWise, and Xoom, among others.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• The global remittance industry recovered from a two-year decline in 2017 to reach a record $613 billion in transfer volume. That growth will continue and will be fueled by digital remittances, which Business Insider Intelligence expects to grow at a 23% CAGR from $225 billion in 2018 to $387 billion in 2023.
• There’s a new segment of customers that both legacy and digital firms are competing to grab share of. Young, digital-savvy consumers are the customer segment that all firms are vying to reach, which is creating a highly competitive dynamic. The needs of those consumers will precipitate transformational change in the industry.
• We’ve identified several tangible steps firms can take to improve in four key areas — cost, convenience, speed, and security — to not only attract but also maintain this customer segment to align with their preferences and ultimately win in the space.

 In full, the report:

• Outlines the global remittance landscape and sizes the opportunity that the industry presents. 
• Identifies the new audience for remittances and future drivers of the remittance space going forward. 
• Discusses four key areas that providers can focus on — cost, convenience, speed, and security — to improve offerings and ultimately capture that shifting audience. 

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SEE ALSO: These were the biggest developments in the global fintech ecosystem over the last 12 months

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• Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa was stripped from his committee assignments on Monday night after his controversial remarks on white supremacy drew backlash from lawmakers in both parties.
• King's comments, published in a New York Times report on Thursday drew swift backlash after he questioned why "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" were considered controversial.
• Following his removal from the committee assignments, King described the move as a "a political decision that ignores the truth."
• King disputed The Times' reporting, which he called "completely mischaracterized."

Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa was stripped from his committee assignments on Monday night after his controversial remarks on whether white supremacy was offensive drew backlash from lawmakers in both parties.

King, who was on the Agriculture and Judiciary committees, was removed from the positions by the Republican Steering Committee, the congressional group that assigns lawmakers their committee roles, Republican officials said to The New York Times.

King's comments from a New York Times report published Thursday drew swift backlash after he questioned why "white nationalist" and "white supremacist" were considered controversial. King also added that he supported immigrants who legally came to the US and eventually assimilated to the "culture of America."

"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?" King said, according to the Times report. "Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?"

Following the publication of the report, King issued as statement calling himself a nationalist, and saying that although he supported "western civilization's values," said he did not condone "white nationalism and white supremacy."

"Today, the New York Times is suggesting that I am an advocate for white nationalism and white supremacy," King said in a statement on Thursday. "I want to make one thing abundantly clear; I reject those labels and the evil ideology that they define. Further, I condemn anyone that supports this evil and bigoted ideology which saw in its ultimate expression the systematic murder of 6 million innocent Jewish lives."

But his comments caught the attention of his fellow Republican lawmakers throughout the weekend, including that of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

"There is no place in the Republican Party, the Congress or the country for an ideology of racial supremacy of any kind," McConnell said in a statement. "I have no tolerance for such positions and those who espouse these views are not supporters of American ideals and freedoms. Rep. King's statements are unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position."

On Sunday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ensured that "action will be taken," against King after having "a serious conversation."

"I will not stand back as a leader of this party, believing in this nation that all are created equal, that that stands or continues to stand and has any role with us," McCarthy said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Following his removal from the committee assignments, King described the move as a "a political decision that ignores the truth." King disputed The Times' reporting, which he called "completely mischaracterized."

"We discussed the worn out label 'racist' and my observation that other slanderous labels have been increasingly assigned to Conservatives by the Left, who injected into our current political dialogue such terms as Nazi, Fascist, 'White Nationalist, White Supremacist, — Western Civilization, how did THAT language become offensive?[sic]'" King said of his interview with The Times in a statement released on Monday. 

"When I used the word 'THAT,' it was in reference ONLY to Western Civilization and NOT to any previously stated evil ideology ALL of which I have denounced," King added. "My record as a vocal advocate for Western Civilization is nearly as full as my record in defense of Freedom of Speech."

King, who has a documented history of making contentious remarks on race, faces the threat of censure from the Democratic-controlled House. Aside from his rhetoric, King has also attracted criticism for other controversial acts, including the display of a Confederate battle flag at his desk.

King has also been no stranger to the possibility of facing the congressional rebuke. In 2018, King's previous remarks were described as "antisemitic and offensive not just to the Jewish community, but to all Americans" by the Anti-Defamation League, and some (but not all) Republicans withdrew their support during the midterm elections.

SEE ALSO: Top Republican promises that 'action will be taken' after Rep. Steve King asks why white supremacy has 'become offensive'

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

Digital disruption is affecting every aspect of the fintech industry.

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

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

So what's next?

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

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

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

The virtual reality (VR) market is expected to rally in 2018 after seeing slow growth from 2016 to 2017. The uptick will be largely catalyzed by the emergence of the newest headset form factor, stand-alone VR headsets, which address some of the biggest pain points that have prohibited mainstream consumers from adopting VR.

This new form factor is more affordable than cost-prohibitive high-end headsets and more capable than its smartphone-powered counterparts. Additionally, it features in-unit processing that frees the VR headset from wires. The first major stand-alone headset, the Vive Focus from HTC, was launched in January of this year, and more from other major companies like Oculus and Google are expected to follow over the next six months. 

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence lays out where the VR market is and forecasts how it will grow over the next five years. We dissect the various hardware categories and the unique strengths and opportunities of each, and identify how they will gain traction at different points of the market’s evolution. Finally, we examine various components impacting consumer adoption.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Business Insider Intelligence forecasts shipments of all VR headsets to grow 69% year-over-year (YoY) to reach 13.5 million in 2018. Powering that growth is the stand-alone VR headset category, which is expected to account for 30% of total headsets shipped in the year ahead. 
• The VR hardware market is volatile because getting a device right is a balancing act. On one hand, the price point needs to be affordable for most consumers, and on the other, the experience has to be distinctive and immersive enough to convince a consumer to strap a visor to their face on a regular basis. 
• While only a handful of stand-alone VR headsets will hit the market in 2018, they mark the biggest step toward mainstream adoption of consumer-oriented VR headsets by making the technology more accessible for the average consumer. 
• Declining price points, coupled with high-quality headsets and the introduction of a game-changing app, are crucial for the VR industry to achieve before VR can really gain traction on a global scale.

In full, the report:

• Forecasts the growth projections and shipment expectations of the global VR headset market, and breaks it up by the major headset categories.
• Explores the four major segments in the current VR hardware market, defined by the hardware needed to power the experience — stand-alone, smartphone-powered, PC-powered, and game console-powered VR.
• Identifies the key players shaping the burgeoning stand-alone VR headset segment.
• Discusses the biggest challenges to VR development and adoption.

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	This report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports
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	Forecasts of new and emerging technologies in your industry
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• Canada has joined the US in raising its travel warnings for China, fearing a growing pattern of the arbitrary application of local laws to detain citizens from those countries.
• The move comes just hours after a Chinese court in Liaoning province sentenced Canadian citizen Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death on rebooted drug-trafficking charges.
• Diplomatic relations between the US, Canada and China have been in sharp deterioration since the December arrest of a high-profile Huawei executive in Vancouver.

Canada on Monday night issued a travel advisory, raising the risk-level for citizens already on the ground, or planning to visit China.

Canada's Global Affairs lifted its travel advisory out of a growing trail of examples of Chinese authorities arbitrarily enforcing local laws and detaining foreign citizens.

The move comes just hours after a Chinese court in Liaoning province sentenced Canadian citizen Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death on the charge of attempting to smuggle more than 220 kilograms of methamphetamines.

According to Canada's Globe and Mail correspondent Mark MacKinnon, this would be"the first Canadian or American ever executed," by the People’s Republic of China. Schellenberg is expected to appeal the death sentence, his lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo, said according to Reuters.

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that Canada and its allies were worried about China's random use of the law as a diplomatic tool.

"It is of extreme concern to us as a government, as it should be to all our international friends and allies, that China has chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply (the) death penalty," Trudeau said.

Following the court's decision, Global Affairs Canada, which handles Canada’s diplomatic relations, consular services, and international trade, joined the US State Department which issued a travel advisory earlier this month urging Americans to "exercise increased caution" when traveling to China.

Global Affairs urged Canadians to exercise a high degree of caution.

Likewise, the US State Department's elevated travel advisory was borne out of a similar concern that China may arbitrarily enforce opaque local laws.

The State Department advisory also warned that US-Chinese citizens or Americans of Chinese heritage were especially vulnerable to "additional scrutiny and harassment."

The State Department warned that China could very well just slap US citizens with "exit bans,"which can keep "US citizens in China for years."

Global Affairs says that around 200 Canadians are being held in China "for a variety of alleged infractions." And while that number may have remained "relatively stable" over time, the deterioration in Canadian-US and Chinese relations since the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou, pretty much signals the old diplomatic rule book has been thrown out.

Meng, who is accused of fraud related to violating Iran sanctions, was released on bail but still faces extradition to the US.

Barely one week after Meng's arrest at the behest of the US, two high-profile Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained separately, both accused of "endangering national security"– a phrase largely amounting to code from Beijing for espionage, according to the South China Morning Post.

China has not directly linked the cases, but those detentions have been widely interpreted as retaliation.

A good weather vane for the whims of modern Chinese diplomacy is the state media and proxy for nationalist invective, The Global Times.

Following Meng's detention in Canada, the Hu Xujin — the paper's celebrity editor — promised in this video post that "China will take revenge if Canada does not restore Meng Wanzhou's freedom."

As that video was being shot and uploaded, news of the detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor was breaking, the respected China watcher Jeremy Goldkorn says.

The Dalian Intermediate People's Court

And certainly Beijing has gone out of its way to ensure that as many foreign eyes as possible get a good look at the the Canadian clapped in cuffs and sentenced to death in the coastal city of Dalian. A decision all the more remarkable because Schellenberg was already sentenced to 15 years in November, before his use as a diplomatic lever became a little more apparent.

Nathan Vander Klippe, The China correspondent for The Globe and Mail, was in Dalian covering the sentencing. He said in a tweet:

"How badly does China want coverage of the Schellenberg trial? I'm in Dalian, in a bus taking us to an offsite viewing room. An official said we couldn't leave yet because 'some US and British journalists signed up but haven't arrived yet.'"

SEE ALSO: The US government is warning Americans that if they visit China they may not be able to return home

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• As more and more teenagers use marijuana— a 2018 survey found 2.1 million middle and high school students have vaped the substance— research that looks into the health effects of cannabis is more important than ever.
• A new study in the Journal of Neuroscience found that after just one use of marijuana, the teenage brain can be altered.
• Researchers found that marijuana can increase the amount of gray matter in a teenager's brain, which affects adolescent development.
• Marijuana can also slow a person's reaction time, make their heart race, and affect short-term memory, INSIDER previously reported.

As more and more teenagers use marijuana — a 2018 survey found 2.1 million middle and high school students have vaped the substance— research that looks into the health effects of cannabis is more important than ever. And now, a study published on Monday in the Journal of Neuroscience demonstrates that marijuana can alter the teenage brain after just one use, NBC News reported.

To determine this, researchers scanned the brains of 46 14-year-olds from Ireland, England, France, and Germany. They found that those who used marijuana had higher brain volumes than those who didn't.

Specifically, the teens who used marijuana had more gray matter, a mass of cells that affect how humans mature over time, in their brains than those who did not use it.

"At the age at which we studied these kids (age 14), cortical regions are going through a process of thinning," Hugh Garavan, lead author of the study and a professor of psychiatry, told NBC News. When marijuana was introduced, however, the increased amount of gray matter "disrupted this pruning process" and therefore affected the normal maturation process, Garavan explained.

Marijuana can also slow a person's reaction time, make their heart race, and affect short-term memory

In addition to changing the teenage brain, marijuana also has other effects on the human body. When tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive component in marijuana, reacts with the body's cannabinoid receptors, a person may have slower reaction times than normal, INSIDER previously reported.

Read more:Marijuana use could potentially lower a person's sperm count, making it more difficult to have children

Additionally, marijuana can make a person's heart race temporarily. The National Institute on Drug Abuse said this feeling can last between 20 minutes and three hours and may cause a person's heart to increase up to 50 beats per minute.

A person who uses marijuana may also experience issues with their short-term memory since the substance affects how the brain processes information, according to a 2013 study.

Research has indeed shown that marijuana does affect the brain in long- and short-term ways, so people who use or are considering using the drug should consider the risks before proceeding.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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• Marijuana makes you want more sex, not less — and it might even make you enjoy it more

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

Edge computing solutions are key tools that help companies grapple with rising data volumes across industries. These types of solutions are critical in allowing companies to gain more control over the data their IoT devices create and in reducing their reliance on (and the costs of) cloud computing.

These systems are becoming more sought-after — 40% of companies that provide IoT solutions reported that edge computing came up more in discussion with customers in 2017 than the year before, according to Business Insider Intelligence’s 2017 Global IoT Executive Survey. But companies need to know whether they should look into edge computing solutions, and what in particular they can hope to gain from shifting data processing and analysis from the cloud to the edge.

There are three particular types of problems that edge computing solutions are helping to combat across industries:

• Security issues. Edge computing can limit the exposure of critical data by minimizing how often it’s transmitted. Further, they pre-process data, so there’s less data to secure overall.
• Access issues. These systems help to provide live insights regardless of whether there’s a network connection available, greatly expanding where companies and organizations can use connected devices and the data they generate.
• Transmission efficiency. Edge computing solutions process data where it’s created so less needs to be sent to the cloud, leading to lower cloud storage requirements and reduced transmission cost.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence examines how edge computing is reducing companies' reliance on cloud computing in three key industries: healthcare, telecommunications, and the automotive space. We explore how these systems mitigate issues in each sector by helping to efficiently process growing troves of data, expanding the potential realms of IoT solutions a company can offer, and bringing enhanced computing capability to remote and mobile platforms.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• In healthcare, companies and organizations are using edge computing to improve telemedicine and remote monitoring capabilities.
• For telecommunications companies, edge computing is helping to reduce network congestion and enabling a shift toward the IoT platform market.
• And in the automotive space, edge computing systems are enabling companies to increase the capabilities of connected cars and trucks and approach autonomy.

In full, the report:

• Explores the key advantages edge computing solutions can provide.
• Highlights the circumstances when companies should look into edge systems.
• Identifies key vendors and partners in specific industries while showcasing case studies of successful edge computing programs.

  Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to:

  	This report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports
  	Access to all future reports and daily newsletters
  	Forecasts of new and emerging technologies in your industry
  	And more!

  Learn More
  

  Purchase & download the full report from our research store

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• More people are choosing to drink in the comfort of their own home, instead of at a bar, which means opened bottles around the house.
• Alcohol doesn't go bad in the same way that food does.
• If you drink expired alcohol, the worst case scenario is you might get an upset stomach.
• When alcohol goes bad depends on the type of alcohol and how you store it.

According to Mintel's April 2018 US On-Premise Alcohol Trends Market Report, 55% of the American population would rather enjoy a drink in the comfort of their own home over meeting friends for happy hour at a bar. What's more, of those surveyed, 38% of in-home drinkers were staying by the homestead in order to "better control their alcohol intake."But if you aren't drinking more than one glass in one sitting, how quickly should you finish a bottle? In other words, when does alcohol go bad?

Alcohol is different than food in that it does eventually go bad just not in the same way. For example, national mixologist for Pernod Ricard, Jane Danger told INSIDER that alcohol above 40% (or 80 proof) won't go bad in a way that will make you sick. It might just be unpalatable.

How and when alcohol goes bad ultimately depends on the type of alcohol you're drinking

"Generally [alcohol goes bad depending on] oxidization, in which the flavor changes to being less vibrant in any distilled spirits," the national director of craft spirits education at Palm Bay International, Diana Novak told INSIDER. When sealed, distilled spirits (think brandy, rum, gin, tequila) don't go bad but fortified, wine-based spirits, like vermouth and sherry, "have a much shorter lifespan once opened" and can change in flavor and color, she said.

Cream-based liqueurs are a different story. Once opened, Novak explained that although generally combined with distilled spirits, cream-based liqueurs significantly change flavor and color and they've been opened. Additionally, there is potential for separation or curdling. "I would recommend checking them monthly to ensure that the consistency remains the same. Generally ballpark of cream liqueurs that I recommend once opened is around 9 months to 15 months" Novak said.

Then there are sugar-based liqueurs. Novak said these types of spirits can experience the same changes with coloring, flavor, and separation.  

You can tell alcohol has gone bad by its color, taste, and/or consistency

For example, vermouth, especially Rosso vermouth, which are pale, dry, and typically bitter, starts to taste like Worcestershire sauce Novak told INSIDER. Sherry, on the other hand, oxidizes when it's gone bad, cream liquors will curdle, and sugar-based liqueurs change color.

Unlike how you can get food poisoning or feel ill after eating something that has gone bad, alcohol that's gone bad doesn't have the same effect. So even if you can't tell one way or another if a bottle you’re pouring from has expired, Novak said worst case scenario you'll experience an intense hangover the next day. Unless you're drinking cream-based liqueur that's curdled; in that case, Novak told INSIDER, you'll probably have a bit of an upset stomach after the fact.

So how long should you keep alcohol after it's been opened?

As far as cream-based liqueurs go Novak told INSIDER that when stored properly an 18-month shelf life is as good as it's going to get.

"It's really just important to keep monitoring them on a monthly basis," she said. "My personal rule of thumb is after about eight months open (if it's around that long) I make an effort to monitor or test monthly to ensure it's still consistent."

Sugar-based liqueurs go south even quicker. At the one year mark, Novak said, you should be regularly checking for change as this is when oxidization and separation could start. But with something like sherry, Novak told INSIDER, you'll start to notice a change in flavor after a week of opening. It's not that the alcohol "goes bad," per se. It's more or less that the taste just goes flat.

Keep a close eye on vermouth, too. Novak explained that this kind of spirit, if made well and of higher proof, can sustain its body and flavor for up to three months after it has been opened. But, she said, sweet or dry, her rule of thumb is to regularly check on the bottle after about one and a half months of opening.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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• In his new book, Chris Christie accused the president's son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, of pushing him out of President Donald Trump's orbit because of a long-held grudge.
• The former New Jersey governor says Kushner was behind his November 2016 ouster as the head of the presidential transition team. 
• Christie says that Kushner took revenge on him for prosecuting his father, Charles Kushner, in 2005 for witness tampering and tax evasion. 

Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and head of President Donald Trump's transition team, says the president's son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, pushed him out of Trump's orbit because of a long-held grudge.

In his new memoir, "Let Me Finish," Christie argues that Kusher harbored a deep resentment for him for leading the 2005 prosecution of his father, Charles Kushner, according to The Guardian, which obtained an advanced copy of the book. (The elder Kushner ultimately spent more than a year in federal prison for witness tampering and tax evasion.)

The governor was officially fired from his post leading Trump's transition team by former top adviser Steve Bannon shortly after the November election. Christie wrote that he demanded that Bannon reveal who had made the executive decision to oust him, and Bannon told him it was Kushner. 

"Steve Bannon … made clear to me that one person and one person only was responsible for the faceless execution that Steve was now attempting to carry out. Jared Kushner, still apparently seething over events that had occurred a decade ago," he wrote.  

Read more: It's Chris Christie's last day in office — here's how he became the least popular governor in New Jersey history

Christie said that Kushner dressed him down in a meeting with Trump and Christie in April 2016. 

"He implied I had acted unethically and inappropriately but didn't state one fact to back that up," Christie wrote. "Just a lot of feelings — very raw feelings that had been simmering for a dozen years."

Christie also contends that Trump has been "ill served by poor advice" from Kushner and other top advisers.

Once a star in the Republican Party with a nearly 80% approval rating, Christie left office in 2018 with the lowest approval rating of any governor in the state's history. This came after several scandals, including the criminal convictions of two of his top aides.

Once unafraid to diverge from party orthodoxy, Christie has in recent years tacked to the right, running for president in 2016 on a conservative platform and becoming one of the first prominent Republicans to endorse Trump's presidential bid.

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• The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted new tax rules regarding spousal support payments, also known as alimony.
• In divorces finalized after January 1, 2019, the person paying spousal support can no longer deduct the amount from their taxes.
• For recipients, spousal support payments are no longer considered taxable income.
• The result is an increased tax burden on the spouse paying alimony, and ultimately, more money for the government.

January is unofficially known as "divorce month," and 2019 brings new tax rules for couples who separate this year.

The GOP tax law was passed in December 2017, but it has taken some time for certain laws to come into play. One such law changes the way spousal support, or alimony, payments are taxed and deducted. 

Spousal support is an allowance paid from the higher-earning spouse to the lower-earning spouse during a legal separation and/or divorce. The amount and duration of the payments depends on a variety of factors, including the length of the marriage, age of spouses, and degrees earned.

"Under previous law, the payer can deduct the alimony and the recipient is taxed on it as income," Alvina Lo, chief wealth strategist at Wilmington Trust, explained to Business Insider. "Therefore, typically, the wealthier spouse (who pays the alimony) receives a tax benefit via the deduction, and the less wealthy spouse (who receives the alimony) pays the income tax at a lower tax bracket."

Under the new law, which affects divorces settled on January 1, 2019, and beyond, the wealthier spouse — which Lo notes is typically the husband — is responsible for paying taxes on the payments.

There's an increased tax burden on the spouse paying alimony — and more money for the government

Lo offered the following example: A husband and stay-at-home wife earn a total income of $500,000. Upon divorce, the husband is to pay his former wife $150,000 in support payment.

Under the old law, the husband would get a deduction for $150,000 (husband's tax bracket rate is 35%) and the wife pays income tax on $150,000 at 24% tax bracket rate.

Under the new law, the husband pays income tax on $150,000 (his tax bracket rate is 35%). There is no deduction and the wife does not pay income tax on $150,000.

The result is an increased tax burden on the husband and a lessened tax burden on the wife, Lo said. "The government gets more because the tax on $150,000 is borne by the husband at a higher rate," she added.

For divorces finalized on or before December 31, these new tax rules do not apply.

The new SALT deduction limit may affect divorcing couples

The new tax treatment of spousal support payments isn't the only part of tax reform affecting divorcing couples, Lo said.

"[T]he reduction of the SALT deduction is making it more difficult for the ex-spouse to stay in the marital home," she said. The GOP tax law capped the amount of state and local income taxes (SALT) a person could deduct at $10,000, which disproportionately affects those in high income-tax states like California and New York.

"Prior to the tax law change, someone with a modest spousal support payment, and perhaps a lump sum payment that generates investment income, could stay in a sizable marital home if she (and it's typically the wife in cases like this) can also deduct a significant amount in terms of SALT deduction," Lo said. "With SALT deduction limited to $10,000, the overall tax burden is higher and it is becoming more difficult to stay in the marital home."

SEE ALSO: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a plan to tax the wealthiest Americans 60% to 70%, and it highlights a detail about taxes most people get wrong

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