• The International Trade Secretary had promised to immediately roll over all of Britain's free trade deals it has with non-EU countries as part of its EU membership.
• Liam Fox told Conservative activists: "All these faint hearts saying we cannot do it - it's absolute rubbish."
• However, officials in the UK government reportedly say none of the 40 trade deals are on course to be signed immediately after Britain leaves.
• Fox also promised that a Brexit free trade deal with the EU would be the "easiest in human history."

LONDON — Liam Fox will fail to sign any of the 40 free trade deals he promised for "the second after" Brexit, in time, according to officials inside the UK government.

The International Trade Secretary promised that Britain would immediately roll over all of the 40 free trade deals it has with non-EU countries as part of its membership.

"We're going to replicate the 40 EU free trade agreements that exist before we leave the European Union so we've got no disruption of trade,"Business Insider revealed Fox told a Conservative party fringe event in Manchester back in 2017.

We'll have up to 40 ready for one second after midnight in March 2019

"I hear people saying 'oh we won't have any [free trade agreements] before we leave'. Well, believe me, we'll have up to 40 ready for one second after midnight in March 2019," he told cheering Conservative activists.

The Trade Secretary added that "All these faint hearts saying we cannot do it — it's absolute rubbish."

However, one government official who has seen how talks are progressing told the Financial Times that Fox was not on course to be able to roll over the 40 deals he promised in time.

"Almost none of them are ready to go now and none will be ready to go by March,” the official told the paper.

An International Trade Department spokesperson told the FT: "We don’t comment on leaks," with another official insisting that many of the agreements "are at an advanced stage".

"Our priority is to ensure there is no disruption to our global trading relationships, with more DIT staff allocated to no deal planning in recent weeks, and we encourage businesses to continue to plan for a range of scenarios," an International Trade official said.

Fox has a record of making big promises on the progress of Brexit. At the start of Brexit negotiations in 2017, he promised that a new Brexit trade deal with the EU would be "the easiest in human history" to sign.

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

• Global markets climb after reports US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed the possibility of lifting tariffs on Chinese imports.
• Although such reports were denied by senior administration staff, markets took the reports at face value, and stocks rallied late on Thursday.
• That rally has continued into Friday with some Chinese share indexes gaining more than 2% on the day. Stock indexes in Europe are up by as much as 1% in morning trade.
• Follow the latest market movements at Markets Insider.

Stock markets around the world are bouncing Friday on renewed hopes that tensions between China and the US are thawing.

On Thursday evening, the Wall Street Journal reported that US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had discussed the possibility of lifting some or all tariffs on Chinese imports with Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative.

Such suggestions may be put forward during a new round of trade talks between Beijing and Washington at the end of January, the Journal reported.

"Talk of easing tensions were helping lift riskier assets," Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group said in a morning email. "It seems almost impossible to sensibly gauge where US – China relations stand. Yet the market hangs on each headline, highlighting just how sensitive it is to the ongoing trade issue."

Read more:A bunch of stocks in Hong Kong crashed 70% without warning — and no one really knows why

The report was denied by a spokesperson for Mnuchin, who said: "Neither Secretary Mnuchin nor Ambassador Lighthizer have made any recommendations to anyone with respect to tariffs or other parts of the negotiation with China."

Markets, however, seemingly ignored the denial and focused on the WSJ report, with US stocks rallying into the close. That rally has continued into Friday with both Asian and European stocks climbing on the final day of the week.

Here's how markets look just before 10.00 a.m. GMT (5.00 a.m. ET):

• Chinese stocks rallied sharply during Friday trade with all major indexes on the mainland gaining more than 1%. Leading the way was the China A50, which ended the day up by 2.1%. Elsewhere, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.4%, while stocks on the Shenzhen Component index gained 1.5%.
• Elsewhere in Asia stocks also climbed. Japan's Nikkei ended 1.3% in positive territory, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 1.25% higher, and South Korea's KOSPI was up 0.8%.
• Moving to Europe, all major indexes are higher in the first hour or so of trade, with gains of as much as 1.15% on Spain's IBEX 35. The Euro Stoxx 50 broad index is up just over 1%.
• US futures point to another positive day stateside. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are set to open 0.25% higher, while the Dow Jones looks to gain 0.35%. US indexes closed around 0.7% higher on Thursday.

SEE ALSO: A drastic plunge in shipping to China is the latest horrible signal for its economy

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NOW WATCH: China made an artificial star that's 6 times as hot as the sun, and it could be the future of energy

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. This report is exclusively available to enterprise subscribers. To learn more about getting access to this report, email Senior Account Executive Jeff Jordan at jjordan@businessinsider.com, or check to see if your company already has access.

Although competition in the US wireless carrier market remains fierce, the price war among the Big Four US carriers — Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint — began to cool over the past year.

In an attempt to avoid further competition on price, carriers began shifting their focus to adding value to their mobile plans with new offerings to differentiate from the competition. This helped average revenue per user (ARPU) start to stabilize across all carriers in Q1 2018, after declining over the last two years.

The Big Four have now begun reshuffling their unlimited plans to lure subscribers by providing more options. This strategy has been unrolling in two flavors: introducing new, expensive unlimited plan tiers loaded with an array of features and choices, while also catering to price-sensitive customers with more affordable plans that strip away extra perks like free digital content and international coverage. As a result, a new battleground is emerging, with differentiation now coming down to the value loaded in their mobile plans.

Looking forward, the US carrier market will see competitive pressure pick up due to a number of trends: 

• The US smartphone market is creeping toward saturation. Penetration in the US hit 85% in 2018, up from 82% in 2017 and 77% in 2016.
• eSIM technology is making it easier for consumers to switch carriers. eSIM technology is a nonphysical SIM card slot that pairs with the physical SIM card to enable dual-SIM functionality — allowing customers to switch carriers without changing to a different SIM card or device.
• And cable mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) are edging in on US carriers' share of wireless adds. Cable MVNOs, such as Comcast's Xfinity Mobile and Charter's Spectrum Mobile, are expected to snag roughly 50% of total wireless customer net adds, or about 2.2 million subscribers, by 2020.

All of this means fostering loyalty and winning over new subscribers is more important than ever for the Big Four, making it crucial for these mobile carriers to understand consumer sentiment around their services.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence uses consumer survey data from our proprietary panel, collected during 2017 and 2018, to evaluate which features are most important to consumers when selecting a mobile provider, as well as to determine which features would convince them to switch to the competition. It contains insights that can help telecoms guide strategic investment and marketing decisions to win and retain customers in this increasingly competitive space.

The companies mentioned in the report are: AT&T, Amazon, Apple, Charter, Comcast, Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Sprint, T-Mobile, Tidal, and Verizon.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• T-Mobile came out on top again, outpacing the rest of the Big Four US carriers on value, loyalty, and satisfaction. T-Mobile customers want to see coverage improvements, though. 
• Verizon customers don't see much more value in its offerings than a year ago.
• AT&T was the only carrier to show declines in all capacities. 
• Sprint is still a good deal, but it doesn't offer much else.
• When it comes to features, subscribers still value the basics most. However, demand for international coverage is growing.
• 5G is the next major battleground for the Big Four, and the winner of the 5G race has the potential to leap ahead in customer volumes. 

 In full, the report:

• Determines the features that are most important to consumers when selecting a mobile provider.  
• Identifies which features are nice to have or essential in consumers' willingness to switch carriers. 
• Examines consumers' feelings on emerging technologies and trends in the mobile industry, such as 5G, new network-connected devices, and the T-Mobile-Sprint merger.

SEE ALSO: 5G in the IoT: How the next generation of wireless technology will transform the IoT

Join the conversation about this story »

• The wild popularity of the NBA's annual pilgrimage to London raises questions about the league's potential for expansion.
• The NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in the past that because of logistics and flights, if the NBA expanded into Europe, it would have to create four new franchises.
• But speaking ahead of the Washington Wizards vs. New York Knicks match at the 02 Arena in London on Thursday, Silver said the league is still not yet ready to grow.
• Silver has concerns about the effect fights and timezones could have on athletes, and believes a small European division that eventually travels to the United States could dilute the overall quality of the NBA.
• His focus, for now, remains on the 30-team league.

The Washington Wizards came from behind to beat the New York Knicks 101-100 in the NBA's annual showpiece in front of 20,000 fans in London on Thursday, raising questions about the league's potential for expansion.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver previously said in 2015 that the league was not ready to expand because of logistical challenges like game frequency, facility quality and availability, and travel. "We'd have to put both feet down,"he told The Guardian at the time. "That would mean having four franchises in Europe." But he did add: "I believe it's our destiny to expand."

Four years on, the sport is becoming increasingly popular in Europe, and the question of league expansion continues to be put to Silver. But the timing for a worldwide NBA league is still not quite right, according to Silver, who is concerned about the travel, the timezones, and the "impact on a player’s body."

At a pre-game NBA press conference on Thursday that Business Insider attended, Silver said: "We now know the impact on travel, and the change in sleep patterns can result in injuries to our players."

An interesting workaround, Silver suggested, could be a "European division that plays itself," similar in structure perhaps to the Eastern and Western Conferences that already exist in the United States, albeit on a far smaller scale.

"Maybe there is a way where we have a European division that plays itself, then they travel [to the US]," he said.

But another possible problem that concerns Silver is that adding too many teams in a new territory too soon could end up compromising the overall quality of the NBA.

"We have made progress in the NBA… we have several really good teams," he said. "One of the issues with expansion, with a whole division in Europe… rosters have 15 players. That means 90 players coming into the league [with six new teams]. We're not quite there yet.

"We don’t want to dilute the quality of NBA talent," he said. "My focus is on a 30-team league."

SEE ALSO: Adam Silver says NBA supports Enes Kanter for avoiding team trip to London over fear for his safety after comments on Erdogan

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NOW WATCH: China made an artificial star that's 6 times as hot as the sun, and it could be the future of energy

• Meghan Markle visited animal welfare charity Mayhew on Wednesday, of which she is a patron.
• She was introduced to a care home resident named Peggy McEachrom, who told her: "You are a fat lady."
• The Duchess of Sussex laughed and replied: "I'll take it!"
• Twitter users were quick to point out that in African and Caribbean culture, calling a pregnant woman fat is a compliment.

If you haven't heard that Meghan Markle is expecting a baby in April, we can only assume you've been living under a rock.

Known for her toned, slim figure, the Duchess of Sussex is now also sporting quite the baby bump — and she's absolutely rocking it.

One woman, however, phrased her approval of the bump in a bit of a strange way when she met Markle on a royal outing.

During a visit to animal welfare charity Mayhew in north west London on Wednesday, Markle was introduced to a group of women, including a care home resident named Peggy McEachrom.

After shaking Markle's hand, McEachrom told her "God bless you," before adding "you're a fat lady."

The Duchess of Sussex — and the rest of the room — burst into laughter, before she replied: "I'll take it!"

Read more:Prince Harry called himself 'a feminist' during a visit to a women's charity, and hugged or shook the hand of everyone there

A few royal correspondents caught the moment on camera, and posted the exchange to Twitter.

However, ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship shared a comment from a Twitter user who told him that calling someone a "fat lady" is a compliment amongst African and Caribbean people.

Another Twitter user added: "HRH MM demonstrated cultural sensitivity. In Africa, calling a pregnant woman fat is a BIG BIG complement."

The Duchess is now a patron of Mayhew, and during her visit was told about how the charity helps its patrons through pet therapy.

Mayhew is one of Markle's four new patronages, all of which tap into her past experiences and passions, including animals, the arts, women, and education.

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

• Ariana Grande just dropped a new track.
• "7 Rings" is a "flex" and a "friendship anthem," she said.
• But while the message is uplifting, it makes some fans feel broke.
• The song was inspired by Grande buying all her friends diamond rings from Tiffany.

Ariana Grande just dropped her new track "7 Rings," after about a week of teasing fans with photos of the video on Instagram.

While her last single "thank u, next" was a song dedicated to her ex-boyfriends, "7 Rings" is an anthem for friendship and "a flex," she said.

Read more:'Flexing' or bragging about your expensive things may stop you from making friends, research shows

In December, Grande tweeted about the inspiration for the song, which was when her friends took her to Tiffany's after a "pretty rough day in NYC."

"We had too much champagne. I bought us all rings." she said. "It was very insane and funny. [And] on the way back to the [studio] Njomza was like, 'B----, this gotta be a song lol.' So we wrote it that afternoon."

The lyrics to "7 Rings" mostly involve buying expensive things, in an ode to Julia Andrews' "My Favorite Things." It also has references to Breakfast at Tiffany's, which Grande has a tattoo dedicated to.

Read more: Ariana Grande got a new tattoo of her favorite Pokémon: 'I've wanted this for so long'

She sings about her success — "Lashes and diamonds, ATM machines / Buy myself all of my favorite things"— and her resilience to the hardships she's been through, like her breakups and the death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller — "Been through some bad shit, I should be a sad b---- / Who woulda thought it'd turn me to a savage?"

She also references her signature hairstyle, with the lyrics "You like my hair? / Gee thanks, just bought it."

But while it's all about embracing a new chapter, "7 Rings" is also making fans feel a little poor— especially when she says her receipts "be lookin' like phone numbers," and "Whoever said money can't solve your problems / Must not have had enough money to solve 'em."

Fans are taking to Twitter to talk about feeling broke after listening to the new track.

One said: "Wow, Ariana really just said "my receipts be lookin like phone numbers." Go off, Ari, go off."

Another tweeted: "Me listening to #7rings knowing my bank account is empty."

Another said: "Me listening to Ariana call me a broke b---- for 3 minutes."

Meanwhile, another joked that they were singing along to the anthem despite having just $5 in their bank account.

As well as six of her friends Tayla Parx, Rim Taya Shawki, Victoria Monet, Njomza, Alexa Luria, and Courtney Chipolone, the video for "7 Rings" also features Grande's dog Toulouse.

Grande tweeted that he wasn't supposed to be on set, "but he literally wouldn't leave me."

The track is the second single from Grande's upcoming album, "thank u, next." Here's the full video.

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NOW WATCH: I went on Beyoncé's 22-day diet — and I lost 15 pounds

• Malaysia's finance minister has hinted that the country's government may consider dropping charges against Goldman Sachs over its alleged role in the 1MDB scandal in return for a massive payout in the region of $7.5 billion.
• "An apology is just not sufficient. Not enough. There must be the necessary reparations and compensations," Lim Guan Eng told reporters.
• Lim's words come just two days after Goldman's CEO David Solomon apologised publicly to the people of Malaysia for the role that Timothy Leissner, one of the two ex-partners facing criminal charges, played in the scandal.
• You can follow all Business Insider's coverage of the 1MDB scandal here.

Malaysia's finance minister has hinted that the country's government may consider dropping charges against Goldman Sachs over its alleged role in the 1MDB scandal. For a price.

Lim Guan Eng told reporters on Friday that Malaysia would consider a settlement with the bank to the tune of $7.5 billion. 

"An apology is just not sufficient. Not enough," Lim said on Friday, speaking from Malaysia's administrative capital Putrajaya. "There must be the necessary reparations and compensations."

Lim earlier this week launched a stinging attack on Goldman, which acted as an adviser and fundraiser for the 1MDB fund.

"Goldman Sachs should understand the agony and the trauma suffered by the Malaysian people as a result of the 1MDB scandal."  

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, or 1MDB, is at the center of one of the biggest financial scandals in history, as it is the subject of corruption and money-laundering investigations in at least six countries.

Goldman earned roughly $600 million in fees for raising $6.5 billion for the fund.

Read more: Goldman Sachs' 1MDB problems are eating into employee morale, and insiders worry the firm will use its legal woes as an excuse to scrimp on bonuses

In December, Malaysia filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs, saying that $2.7 billion of the proceeds of three 1MDB bonds was misappropriated and that it was seeking "well in excess" of that amount in fines.

Malaysia also filed charges against two former Goldman partners for their role in the scandal.

Lim's words come just two days after Goldman's CEO David Solomon apologised publicly to the people of Malaysia for the role that Timothy Leissner, one of the two ex-partners facing criminal charges, played in the scandal.

On the bank's earnings call Wednesday, Solomon said Malaysia had been "defrauded by many individuals" including Leissner.

"At least he accepted that they have to bear and shoulder some responsibility," Lim said in response to Solomon's apology.

"That apology of course goes some way toward that, but that is insufficient."

Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday, but in a statement earlier this week, the bank maintained that it will "vigorously defend" itself against any charges, and accused former government officials of lying to the bank.

The full Goldman statement is below:

SEE ALSO: The bizarre story of 1MDB, the Goldman Sachs-backed Malaysian fund that turned into one of the biggest scandals in financial history

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NOW WATCH: What will happen when Earth's north and south poles flip

• The Duchess of Cambridge prefers bacon on pizza than pepperoni because it's less "spicy."
• Kate made the controversial remark while making pizza with some children in north London.
• Many people have expressed shock at her comments.

The Duchess of Cambridge has revealed her pizza preference — and her thoughts have raised some eyebrows.

Kate Middleton said she prefers having bacon than pepperoni on her pizza because it's less spicy than the traditional topping.

It's not the idea of bacon being a delicious addition to the Italian staple that has got tongues wagging though, but rather the suggestion that pepperoni is too spicy.

The Duchess was visiting young pupils of St Jude and St Paul’s CE Primary School at King Henry's Walk community garden in north London earlier this week when she made the startling statement.

Upon rolling out some pizza dough with the children, the mother to Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis said that she thinks pizzas are "some of the best things to make."

"It's such fun, you can choose what you put on there, all the different toppings," she said.

The Duchess was, unsurprisingly, somewhat taken aback by 8-year-old Patrick's suggestion that "cheese and cucumber" would make for a good pizza, but the children were thrown by her topping preferences too.

"Does anyone ever put bacon on a pizza?" Kate asked. "Bacon's great."

The kids weren't impressed though.

"Do you not think that sounds good?" asked the Duchess, who celebrated her 37th birthday last week. "I quite like that actually."

She continued: "It's like having pepperoni but it's not as spicy. Very good."

One of the children also asked Kate whether the queen had ever had pizza — unfortunately, the Duchess didn't know but said she might ask next time she sees Her Majesty.

Many people have expressed confusion and shock at Kate's comments, seemingly unable to believe the Duchess could class pepperoni as spicy.

"I can't stop thinking about how Kate Middleton thinks pepperoni is 'spicy'," wrote one person on Twitter.

Another person suggested the news had "ruined" her afternoon.

"In what universe is pepperoni considered spicy?" asked another outraged Twitter user.

When it comes to pizza, people have strong feelings. 

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NOW WATCH: An exercise scientist reveals exactly how long you need to work out to get in great shape

• Tesla is laying off 7% of its employees, according to an email Elon Musk sent to workers.
• The move comes as Tesla seeks to prove it can become consistently profitable.

Tesla is laying off 7% of its employees, according to an email Elon Musk sent to workers, which was published on the company's website.

The job cuts will impact more than 3,000 members of staff after Musk said last year that the electric carmaker had a workforce of 45,000 people. It follows a similar round of layoffs in June last year.

Tesla shares are down around 8% in premarket trading.

More follows

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NOW WATCH: Airports are dealing with massive lines during the government shutdown as TSA employees are working without pay

• Banksy's latest known artwork has been sold for a six-figure sum, it was announced on Friday.
• The famous street artist had painted a mural on a garage in Port Talbot, Wales, entitled "Season's Greetings."
• The garage owner, steelworker Ian Lewis said the sale was a weight off his shoulders after he was left with security and legal bills to foot in order to protect the artwork.
• "Season's Greetings" was purchased by Essex-based Banksy collector John Brandler who promised to keep the mural in Port Talbot.
• Brandler told the BBC that Lewis turned down higher offers in order to keep the art in the Welsh town.

British steelworker Ian Lewis never thought he'd be losing sleep over a highly-valuable piece of artwork on his property, but that's exactly what happened when Banksy painted a mural on his garage.

Thousands of people flocked to the garage in Port Talbot, Wales, to get a glimpse of the famous street artist's latest work, which was entitled: "Season's Greetings." As a result, Lewis had to organise 24-hour security to ensure that no one was able to damage the mural — which was attempted on a number of occasions.

Read more:The new Banksy mural is under guard after being attacked by a 'drunk halfwit'

Finally, though, Lewis can rest easy as the artwork has been sold to Essex-based Banksy collector John Brandler who plans to keep the mural in Port Talbot.

While the exact amount paid for the piece has not been disclosed, Bradler told the BBC that the sum was more than £100,000 ($129,000).

He also revealed that Lewis had turned down higher offers for the mural in order to keep it in Port Talbot.

"Ian was amazing not going for the highest price to keep it in the community," Brandler told the BBC. "I think an awful lot of people would have taken the money and run, but he wasn't selfish and he deserves recognition for that."

"It's where it belongs," he added.

"It could be the control magnet for other tourist-based opportunities in the town.

"I have other pieces by Banksy and, depending what is discussed with the local council and the Welsh Government, I could have half a dozen Banksys on display in the town.

"Let's take it and move it into the middle of the town where the public can see it without anybody stopping them."

Brandler said "Season's Greetings" would stay in Port Talbot for "a minimum of two to three years."

When viewed from one side, the artwork appears to show a boy playing in the snow. But move around the corner, and the full image shows the boy covered in ash thrown up by a dumpster fire.

Banksy's mural appears to highlight the plague of polluted air and is the artist's first artwork in Wales. Port Talbot is the site of a major steelworks, which employs around 10% of the town's population. According to locals, the steelworks generates considerable pollution, affecting their health.

Lewis told the BBC that the artwork had been "life-changing" for him.

He said: "I think the town has fallen in love with it, I think everybody loves it and it would have been a shame for it to move from the area.

"There were lots of offers, lots of options of what people wanted to do with it. There were art collectors, dealers, people who wanted to take it away basically."

"The artwork is going to be moved and I'll rebuild the garage. I think that every graffiti artist in the area is going to come down and have a go at it now though, although I don't think Banksy will be back again," Mr Lewis added.

"I'm still thinking about what to do. Now the stress has been lifted off me I should have more time to think about what I really want to do. I'm planning to stay here, maybe a few little holidays, but I'm going to stay in Port Talbot.

"Personally I think it was an ideal spot for the theme of the artwork. I don't think it was anything to do with me, just the garage."

Gary Owen, a 55-year-old former steelworker, revealed that he had written to Banksy via Instagram to ask the artist to create a new mural. The artist never replied but, some months later, the new artwork appeared in Port Talbot.

The BBC reported that the Welsh Government offered to take on security arrangements while Lewis considered his options and locally-born actor Michael Sheen helped pay security and legal bills.

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NOW WATCH: An exercise scientist reveals exactly how long you need to work out to get in great shape

• Cries for an imminent recession are getting louder by the day, but there are still ways to make money in the stock market by choosing companies set to thrive in a late-cycle environment.
• Goldman Sachs has identified the 17 companies it says will grow margins the most in 2019, which should make them good buys.

No matter how optimistic an economist may be these days, chances are they'll still tell you a recession is coming in the next year or two.

That's a view also shared by equity strategists all across Wall Street. To them, it's not a matter of whether we're going to get a recession — it's a question of when. The spectre of that eventual economic meltdown hangs over their commentary like a dark cloud, and also informs the majority of their investing recommendations.

That's certainly true for Goldman Sachs. And the good news there is that the firm has a veritable war chest of suggestions to help the average investor navigate choppy waters.

Read more: RECESSION WATCH: Goldman Sachs has created a 5-part checklist for investors looking to avoid the next economic meltdown

One way Goldman says to play an aging economic cycle is by buying stock in companies poised to see robust margin growth. After all, margins — and, by extension, earnings — normally get constrained in a late-cycle environment. So identifying the exceptions can be a profitable endeavor.

With that established, here are the 17 stocks Goldman says will expand their margins the most in 2019.

Note that these are the only companies in the universe screened by Goldman poised to see margin growth exceeding 100 basis points. They're listed in increasing order of 2019 expected margin expansion.

17. Cintas

Ticker: CTAS

Sector: Industrials

Market cap: $19 billion

Year-to-date return: 4%

2019E margin growth: 103 basis points

16. Citrix Systems

Ticker: CTXS

Sector: Information technology

Market cap: $14 billion

Year-to-date return: 1%

2019E margin growth: 111 basis points

15. TripAdvisor

Ticker: TRIP

Sector: Communications services

Market cap: $7 billion

Year-to-date return: 6%

2019E margin growth: 112 basis points

• 2018 was an active year for broadcast-station M&A, with $8.9 billion in deal volume, the second-biggest year in the past decade.
• Consolidation among broadcasters means that station ownership is concentrated among fewer broadcast groups.
• It also gives them more leverage in negotiating fees, which are then passed down to consumers in the form of higher cable and satellite bills.

Consolidation among TV broadcasters and distributors ends up soaking consumers as cable and satellite bills balloon every year.

With bigger, more powerful, negotiators at the table, disputes over retransmission fees, or the price paid to a broadcaster to distribute its content, have been increasing in number. They've exploded to 140 in 2018 from eight in 2010, according to the American Television Alliance.

That results in channel blackouts and higher fees for broadcast content that get passed on to television subscribers.

"The broadcasters, at least in my view, have the most leverage in these disputes," Justin Nielson, an analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told Business Insider.

But there are options on the horizon for consumers to access some of this content for free.

Broadcasting has consolidated

Merger activity is one reason for increased bargaining power. M&A had its second largest year in 2018 in the past decade, with $8.9 billion in total deal volume, according to Kagan, which is part of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Nexstar announced it would buy all of Tribune Media for an estimated $3.5 billion, and Gray Television bought Raycom Media for $3.4 billion.

The result is fewer broadcasters comprising more of the total industry.

In 2000, the top 10 broadcasters (ION, CBS, Fox, Tribune, Nexstar, Univision, NBC/Telemundo, Sinclair, Disney/ABC, TEGNA) owned 18% of local broadcast TV stations, according to Kagan analysts. Today, they own 39%, inclusive of Nexstar’s pending deal for Tribune.

The same trend has occurred throughout the television ecosystem, with MVPDs, like Charter Communications buying rival Time Warner Cable in 2016, also consolidating.

Read more: As pay TV takes a hit, Dish Network's Sling TV is fighting back with 'synthetic' bundles to retain subscribers

That deal activity has coincided with increasing retransmission fees.

Retransmission fees are increasing for several reasons. As viewers watch less linear TV and cut the cord, broadcasters lose out on advertising share, so they make up for some of that loss by increasing retrans fees.

But the fees are also increasing because they were at zero before the government passed the Cable Act of 1992, letting broadcasters negotiate pricing on their content.

"Before it became law, cable was taking [content from] broadcast stations for free and reselling it for profit," Dennis Wharton, SVP of communications at the National Association of Broadcasters, told Business Insider. Wharton said cable companies still mark up the cost they pay for broadcast station content, and pass that on to customers in their cable bills.

Retrans fees also increase as programming costs for highly sought-after content, like sports rights, continue to balloon. The fees then get baked into the cost consumers pay for their cable or satellite TV bills.

This trend will continue, experts say.

"The TV ecosystem on the distribution side behaves as a vicious cycle," Tony Lenoir, an analyst at S&P, told Business Insider. Programming expenses have increased at a fast clip, which leads distributors to raise their rates and pass the programming inflation onto consumers, he said. Cable and satellite bills in turn become more expensive for consumers, which contributes to cord cutting. This loss of revenue from video subscribers begins the cycle of programmers raising rates anew. 

In 2008, the average monthly revenue per MVPD subscriber, which is viewed as a proxy for a monthly TV bill, was about $71, according to Kagan analysts. By 2018, that cost has crept up to about $102 a month, a 45% increase.

Consumers have cheaper alternatives

Consumers looking for cheaper alternatives can access broadcasting stations for free over the air with an antenna. Nielsen found that over the past eight years, US households using an antenna to access broadcast increased 50% to reach 16 million homes, TechCrunch reported.

And broadcasters are beginning to offer their own OTT services to customers for free. Sinclair Broadcast Group on Wednesday launched Stirr, an ad-supported OTT entertainment bundle that will include local news and sports.

So as pricing around traditional linear-TV cable and satellite bills continues to increase, consumers should continue to have cheaper alternatives.

Most at risk are smaller programmers and MVPDs, according to S&P analysts. Smaller programmers will likely get pushed out of cable bundles as distributors drop all but the most popular programming to save costs. It's already starting to happen. Comcast and Verizon Fios dropped Fuse, a channel partly owned by entertainer Jennifer Lopez, in 2018.

The largest cable-TV distributors, like Comcast and Charter, will be able to sustain video-customer churn. They have about 22 million and 16 million customers respectively, and have broadband offerings that continue to grow as video subscribers shrink. They also have the added benefit of discounts on programming costs because of their massive footprints. On the other hand, smaller MVPDs don't have the benefit of size and their margins have dwindled.

These smaller cable distributors will likely begin to eschew video offerings and lean into their broadband services. Cable One, is one such company that is changing its name and dropping video offerings.

SEE ALSO: Channel blackouts have exploded over the last decade — and Verizon could be the big winner as pay TV customers look for other options

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• An ad slot during the Super Bowl doesn't come cheap. CBS is charging north of $5 million for a 30 second-spot in the game this year.
• There are several newbies making their Super Bowl debuts, like Procter & Gamble's beauty brand Olay, dating app Bumble, and Kraft's frozen-food brand Devour.
• Regulars like Anheuser-Busch InBev, Avocados From Mexico, and Kia are returning.
• Here's everything we know about the commercials airing during the Super Bowl 2019.

What's Super Bowl Sunday without the commercials?

You may have to wait to find out which two teams duke it out for the Lombardi Trophy this year, but you don't have to wait until the big game to find out which brands will be taking over screens with their ads.

A premium ad slot during the game doesn't come cheap. CBS is charging north of $5 million for a 30 second-spot in the game this year, in line how NBC priced it last year.

There are several newbies making their Super Bowl debuts, like Procter & Gamble's beauty brand Olay, dating app Bumble and Kraft's frozen-food brand Devour joining the regulars, like Anheuser-Busch InBev, Avocados From Mexico, and Kia.

Read more:You can stream the Super Bowl online for free — here's how

Others, like Airbnb, Jaguar and Land Rover are sitting this year out. As is Skittles — which is trying and steal attention from the main stage by putting together a one night-only play called "Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical" in lieu of a traditional Super Bowl ad.

Here's a first look at all the advertisers that are confirmed to be buying ads in the big game. We'll update the post as more advertisers confirm their participation and as the teasers and ads roll out. 

Anheuser-Busch InBev

The brewer is leaving no stone unturned to make its presence known at the Super Bowl this year, with eight ads featuring five brands and seven products slated to run. 

Brands including Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra, Stella and Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer are all running ads, amounting to nearly 5 minutes of ad time in total.

Audi

Audi is using its 60-second spot during the second quarter of the big game to showcase its electronic car range E-Tron.

The spot has been produced by its agency Venables Bell & Partners, and is the automaker's 10th Super Bowl appearance.

Avocados from Mexico

The brand is coming back to the Super Bowl for the fifth consecutive year with its signature humor in a 30-second ad slated to run in the second quarter.

The spot, by agency EnergyBBDO, will showcase its tagline "Always Worth It."

• Macquarie analysts think investors ought to consider creatures of Greek mythology to understand the ins and outs of today's financial markets.
• By Macquarie's assessment, the Federal Reserve is Zeus, China is "probably" Poseidon, the underworld is ruled by computer trading, and Aphrodite and Hermes, who could "seduce anyone," are communication policies by central banks and the public sector.
• Greek Gods, ever fickle, would have "understood Draghi's flexibility but would have been appalled by a stubborn desire to return to fundamentals. For investors, one should either join machines & help Hades or retreat to investment niches."

"Investors are confused and ask when normality would return. Never."

That's how Macquarie analysts Viktor Shvets and Perry Yeung view the market right now. They detailed their outlook in a new report, "What lessons can Greeks teach investors?" because sometimes the stock market in 2019 behaves in such a way that pushes analysts and strategists to look 3,000 years into the past. Stocks, after all, are tossed around by computers, tweets, central bankers, and concerns over global growth.

So they say investors ought to consider creatures of Greek mythology to understand the ins and outs of today's financial markets.

"Greek Gods had a very flexible understanding of morality," Shvets and Perry wrote. "They were alternatively angry, vindictive and generous. They would have understood Draghi's flexibility but would have been appalled by a stubborn desire to return to fundamentals."

The analysts, based in Hong Kong, place an emphasis on how heavily they believe central bankers' communication has influenced the market, and how the market is devoid of fundamental consideration.

"Eurozone is lost in a maze of its regulations while Trump pursues his own toxic messaging," Shvets — known for his out-of-the-box investing interpretations— and Yeung told clients. "At the same time, economists are lost in their models, which have at best only a tenuous relationship with reality."

The S&P 500's 2018 peak was around the time Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said we were "a long way from neutral," suggesting further interest-rate hikes were on the way. Then, earlier this month, Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed officials "could afford to be patient about further policy firming"— the S&P 500 has since gained 3%.

"While in the past, communications were there to explain policies; today they are the policies," the duo wrote.

"They create reality, or destroy it in seconds, with Hades diligently dragging 'victims' (whether companies, CEOs, analysts or investors) into the underworld. A misplaced word or a phrase can either freeze or open high yield markets. They can lead to sudden stock rotations, or steepening of the yield curve (after an inversion only 24 hours earlier), or to a collapse of mortgage applications."

Here are a few of the parallels Macquarie makes between Greek mythology and market participants today.

• The Federal Reserve is Zeus. "They might not be called Gods anymore, but there is no doubt that the Fed is today's equivalent of Zeus, with rates & liquidity being its thunderbolt."
• China is Poseidon. "China is probably a Poseidon, without which global flows, supply chains and output would grind to a halt, just as Poseidon connected the Ancients."
• Machines are the underworld. "Today's underworld is unquestionably ruled by technology, with AI, computer trading, algos and ETF's capable of dragging anyone to the realm of the dead."
• Central bankers' messaging is Aphrodite and Hermes."However, the most powerful were Aphrodite and Hermes, who could seduce anyone, both mortal and divine; their today's equivalents are communication policies by [central banks] & public sector."

Put another way: "Although Zeus was the most powerful, Poseidon and Hades were far more feared while some minor Gods like Aphrodite (goddess of love) and Hermes (messenger of Gods and later a token of luck for merchants, thieves and financiers) were more persuasive."

Read more about the market:

• The unprecedented US shutdown is the latest headache for the stock market — and some experts say it could speed up the next recession
• Forget FANG — a $135 billion investor says a new group of stocks is poised to dominate the market going forward

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• Fedora, a popular open source operating system sponsored by Red Hat, has rejected MongoDB support.
• MongoDB recently changed its license in a defensive move against having its code monetized by cloud titans like Amazon Web Services — but Fedora says that the new license just causes "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" for users.
• Red Hat itself has dropped MongoDB support in its flagship Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system, saying that the new license places an unreasonable burden on customers in order to stay in compliance.
• This episode highlights a larger debate taking place in the free software community: Are these new licenses antithetical to the whole idea of open source? 

Open source software companies like MongoDB are making drastic moves to protect their intellectual property from cloud giants like Amazon or Alibaba — but a clash between MongoDB and $31 billion software giant Red Hat highlights the potential pitfalls of that strategy. 

Fedora, a Red Hat-sponsored open source operating system, has dropped support for the very popular MongoDB database. Although Fedora is sponsored by Red Hat, and has project leaders who work at Red Hat, it's technically a separately-run open source project. Fedora cited concerns over the company's controversial new licensing agreement, and indeed, Fedora has tacked MongoDB's SSPL onto its "bad license" list.

This comes months after Red Hat, which is on the cusp of being acquired by IBM, removed MongoDB support from its Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS in November. 

Late last year, MongoDB announced the Server Side Public License, or SSPL. Under the terms of the SSPL, any cloud provider who wants to take the free MongoDB database and package it up as service for their own customers has to also release their code as open source, free for anybody to see and use...or else pay MongoDB for a license. It's intended to make it harder for cloud providers to make money from MongoDB without paying up. 

The problem, in Red Hat's view, is that the SSPL violates a core principle of open source, which states that anybody should be able to use this free software any way that they want to, without restrictions, even if they're using it to turn a profit — a line of thinking that echoes many critics of MongoDB's SSPL and licenses like it. 

"It is the belief of Fedora that the SSPL is intentionally crafted to be aggressively discriminatory towards a specific class of users," Tom Callaway, a technical and community outreach program manager at Red Hat, wrote in a blog post. "Additionally, it seems clear that the intent of the license author is to cause Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt towards commercial users of software under that license."

For its part, MongoDB has disputed the characterization that the SSPL disqualifies the platform as open source. Indeed, MongoDB has submitted a redrafted second version of the SSPL to the Open Source Initiative, an industry body, to win the right to call it an open source license.

Read more: Two software companies, fed up with Amazon, Alibaba and other big cloud players, have a controversial new plan to fight back

"We continue to work with the OSI as they deliberate on the SSPL and we still strongly believe that the SSPL meets the tenets of open source," Eliot Horowitz, CTO and co-founder of MongoDB, said in a statement.

However, Red Hat itself isn't so bullish about MongoDB's chances, here. Richard Fontana, senior commercial counsel at Red Hat and himself a member of the OSI board, calls SSPL the "most controversial license the OSI has received in years," and admonished MongoDB for breaking from the open source community.

"Here's a major community project that looks carefully at the license and says, 'look it doesn't need community standards on what a free software license is,'" Fontana said. "It's a strong statement and that may have an impact on the debate as it goes forward."

Bradley M. Kuhn, the president of the Software Freedom Conservancy, says that he consulted with Red Hat on this situation, and isn't surprised that the company is moving away from MongoDB. 

"MongoDB released this license with no discussion with the community. This frustrated all of us, and I sense that frustration with Red Hat as well," says Kuhn. 

'A burdensome requirement'

Beyond Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat is looking at other places where it might have to take action over MongoDB's move towards the SSPL, says Fontana. 

The general feeling at Red Hat, says Fontana, is that the SSPL adds a potential legal headache for customers and users of its products. There's no precedent for something like the SSPL, and that could make problems for any company who wanted to ensure they were in full legal compliance while using MongoDB, he says. 

"Our customers really appreciate the fact that we are very careful about the licenses that we say are open source products. They look to us for guidance. If they found this unusual license with an unprecedented restriction, I think some customers might be legitimately concerned," says Fontana. 

Read more: Startups are taking on Amazon's cloud with a controversial new plan, but experts warn it could undermine the foundations of open source

More than anything, SSPL essentially requires users that are offering MongoDB's database server as a service to make much of their own, potentially proprietary code, available for free. Fontana says this goes far beyond what any other free software license requires.

"That's actually such a burdensome requirement that I would say it's impossible to comply with," Fontana said.

Moving forward with the license

While MongoDB awaits a verdict on the second version of the SSPL, it's still using the first. Other companies, like Confluent and Redis Labs have also made similar license changes, for similar ends, though they haven't submitted them to the OSI. 

Ultimately, the SSPL didn't stop Amazon Web Services from creating its own MongoDB-compatible database service called DocumentDB, though MongoDB has said that the two aren't directly competitive.

While Fontana gives MongoDB credit for going through the approval process, and calls MongoDB's issues with cloud providers "a legitimate concern," he believes MongoDB should not have started using SSPL before it was vetted by the open source community.

"I would encourage MongoDB to go back to using an accepted and approved license for an open source license. They should wait for OSI to make a decision about SSPL," Fontana said. "That would be a preferable way to proceed."

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• A 41-year-old Florida man has been arrested and faces charges of unlawful sex with a minor and 22 counts of child pornography, among other charges.
• Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said the suspect, Anthony Gene Thomas, allegedly used the video game "Fortnite" to meet the 17-year-old victim.
• Moody said that a search of Thomas's phone uncovered multiple images and videos of the underage girl, and investigators believe there could be more victims.

A Florida man arrested and facing charges of unlawful sex with a minor and 22 counts of child pornography allegedly used "Fortnite" and an accomplice to meet the victim, prompting a response from Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

In a statement posted to the Florida Office of the Attorney General website, Moody said that Anthony Gene Thomas, 41, of Broward County, used the video game "Fortnite" to meet a 17-year-old girl and have sex with her. Moody said pictures and video of the sexual encounter were discovered when police executed a search warrant on Thomas's phone. 

“This case is disturbing not only because it involves child pornography, but also because a popular online game was used to communicate with the victim," Moody said in the statement. "We have reason to believe there could be additional victims, and I am asking anyone with information about the recruiting of minors for child pornography, or any other type of sexual exploitation, to call law enforcement immediately."

Read more:Microsoft's Bing search engine reportedly had a child porn problem

Moody's statement did not specify whether images of other underage victims were found on Thomas's phone, but there's been a call for any victims to come forward, and she wrote that "authorities believe there could be as many as 20 additional victims."

The Attorney General's office says a co-conspirator first met the victim on "Fortnite" and eventually introduced her to Thomas. Moody alleges that Thomas "manipulated" the 17-year-old by offering her gifts, credit cards, and a cell phone after she told him she was having a hard time at home.

Eventually, Thomas and his co-conspirator allegedly coordinated an in-person meeting with the victim on Aug. 25, 2018. Moody says the pair picked the victim up and drove back to Thomas's home, where he allegedly had sex with her. The 17-year-old's parents reported her missing the same day; police located her at Thomas's residence and brought her home on August 26th. Moody says that Thomas stayed in contact with the teen after the encounter, and the search warrant that would uncover the child pornography was eventually executed on October 11th.

Thomas faces charges of soliciting a child for unlawful sexual conduct using computers, traveling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual activity, possession with intention to promote sexual performance of a child, 22 counts of child pornography, and unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Police have not identified the name or age of the co-conspirator, or whether they will be facing criminal charges.

Like popular social networks, games like "Fortnite" put young players shoulder to shoulder with adults with few barriers to communication. As Moody suggests, parents should be monitoring their children's online activities to ensure they're not being exposed to physical and emotional violence. 

"Parents need to know that predators will use any means possible to target and exploit a child," Moody's statement reads. "I am asking parents and guardians to please make sure you know who your children meet online, and talk to them about sexual predators.”

SEE ALSO: Microsoft's Bing search engine reportedly had a child porn problem

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• Wine, spirits, and liqueurs should be kept in cool, dark places.
• Opened bottles will deteriorate over time due to oxidation and can lose flavor, color, and in some cases, spoil.
• Aromatized wines like vermouth and Amaro need to be refrigerated once opened.

Whether you're the type of person who likes to keep a stocked home bar for the occasional nightcap or cocktail party, or you just tend to end up with a few gifted bottles of this or that after every holiday season, it's good to know how to best store your alcohol to preserve its flavor.

Unlike with food, your primary concern doesn't need to be the drink "going bad," although that can happen with wine and some liqueurs. (If you're drinking wine that has turned, you'll probably know right away – it will taste like vinegar.) The greater issue is the deterioration of taste and quality. No one wants to be treated to a pricey bottle of booze, only for its quality to decline before you even get to try it.

"Home storage of distilled spirits is a constant competition between convenience and preservation," said Allen Katz, co-founder of New York Distilling Company. Even if you don't have a wine cellar, there are some basic guidelines for how to (and how not to) store alcohol at home. Here's how to best preserve your bottles.

Think of your bottles as vampires: Keep them away from heat and sunlight

This is the golden rule for storing virtually all kinds of alcohol. "To keep spirits, liqueurs and wines at their most pristine," Katz told INSIDER, "you want to store them in a place that maintains a reasonably cool temperature (or simply avoid warm temps like near a radiator or against a wall that gets a lot of sunlight) and avoids natural light."

Researchers from Bacardi presented some detailed information on the effects of light and heat on booze at an event in 2015. Their in-house tests suggested that heat can change the way a spirit tastes, by breaking down its organic molecules, and that light can fade the color of a spirit. Again, this kind of deterioration won't make you sick (well, unless you drink to excess, obviously), but it's also not the kind of "aging" that distillers and vintners work so carefully to create.

Opened bottles are the most at risk of deterioration

Unopened spirits and wine can theoretically keep for years if stored properly. But unless you're having a party, or you only buy nippers, chances are you're going to be storing some opened bottles for a while. Spirits like vodka don't exactly go bad once they're opened, but they will deteriorate in quality over time.

At the same event, the Bacardi researchers also presented some of their findings on the effects of oxidation – the effect of air on alcohol. Since exposure to air can kill some of the flavors of wine and spirits, often leaving behind the more severe, acidic ones to overpower the taste, you'll want to take some precautions to counteract this. Obviously, use the stoppers or caps that come with the bottles – that's a no-brainer. Buy smaller quantities when possible, especially if it's a liqueur or something else you won't use very much of at a time. And try not to leave the last couple of ounces by their lonesome – the less liquid in a bottle, the faster it will oxidize.

Even unopened wine is at risk of oxidation. Keep your wine on its side, like in a wine rack, to make sure the cork doesn't dry out, shrink, and let air in.

Some opened bottles need to be refrigerated

"Once opened, aromatized wines like vermouths and Amaro should be refrigerated to retard oxidation," said Katz.

If you like a martini every now and then, make sure you're not leaving your opened vermouth out alongside your gin or vodka. Fortified wines will deteriorate in flavor, making for a pretty stale drink. Keep it tightly sealed in the fridge and don't expect it to last as long as a straight spirit.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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• The New Orleans Saints will host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in the NFC Championship Game.
• Saints head coach Sean Payton said he hopes the crowd will not only be loud but that they will start to be loud before the play clock reaches 15 seconds on each play.
• Payton is hoping the crowd noise will make is more difficult for Rams head coach Sean McVay to communicate with quarterback Jared Goff, something they often use to relay information about the defense.

The New Orleans Saints host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship this Sunday, with the winner going on to represent the conference in Super Bowl LIII.

On Thursday, Saints head coach Sean Payton revealed one interesting part of his game plan — asking the home crowd for a little bit of extra help.

"What's important for our fan base is understanding when that crowd noise needs to begin — differently this week than normal weeks," Payton told reporters. "That crowd noise needs to begin prior to 15 seconds left [on the play clock ... Just as that last play finished."

Asking for a loud home crowd is far from a rarity, but there's a specific strategy to Payton's request for the New Orleans' faithful this week.

Read more: Meet Sean McVay, the Los Angeles Rams' 32-year-old offensive mastermind who has taken the NFL by storm

Rams head coach Sean McVay's offense made a splash last year for their fast pace, often rushing to line up while there was still plenty of time on the play clock.

This pace allows McVay to take advantage of an oddly specific NFL rule.

In the NFL, coaches can communicate with their quarterbacks through their helmets until 15 seconds are left on the play clock. For most teams, this means getting a play call into the huddle, but with the Rams tendency to rush to the line, McVay is often able to read the defense along with his quarterback, Jared Goff, and work with him through potential audibles.

By encouraging Saints fans to get louder earlier, Payton is attempting to cut the Rams edge a bit, hopefully making it more difficult for the Rams offense to communicate smoothly.

We won't know if his play will work until the teams meet on Sunday, but it's clear that Payton believes the Saints fans could make a big difference in the game.

• More NFL coverage:

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SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know heading into the AFC Championship between the Chiefs and the Patriots

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• The state of Meghalaya in northeastern Indiais home to the two towns with the highest annual rainfall on Earth.
• Historically, India's monsoon season brought heavy storms and floods, leading man-made bridges to rot and decay.
• To survive these conditions, Meghalaya's indigenous Khasi people made bridges out of a tree commonly known as the Indian rubber plant.
• Ficus elastica, a species in the fig genus, has aerated roots that can be tied, twisted, and shaped into bridge-like structures.
• Meghalaya's living root bridges, a few of which are estimated to be over 500 years old, attract tourists from all over the world.

In the wettest place in the world, you won't cross bridges that were built. You'll cross bridges that were grown.

Located in northeast India along the border of Bangladesh, the state of Meghalaya is home to the two towns with the highest annual rainfall on Earth, according to Guinness World Records.

The village of Mawsynram tops the list with 467 inches, or nearly 39 feet, or rain per year, followed closely by the town of Cherrapunji, which gets 463 inches of rain every year.

The indigenous Khasi people in the region have relied on their ingenuity to survive in these conditions. Root bridges are one example of that ingenuity.

The origin of living root bridges in Meghalaya

During monsoon season in India, which lasts from June to September, rivers in Meghalaya flood, leaving local communities stranded. Historically, the Khasi people built bridges out of bamboo to get around, according to the BBC. But their man-made structures were unable to withstand rough storms and would quickly decay. 

So, the Khasi people turned to a tree commonly known as the Indian rubber plant or Indian rubber fig. Ficus elastica, a species in the fig genus, has aerated roots that can be tied, twisted, and shaped into bridge-like structures.

But the process of growing a living root bridge is neither short nor simple. It takes 10 to 30 years before the tree's roots resemble a bridge. Once the bridge is formed, however, it can live for centuries and be sturdy enough to hold upwards of 35 people at once, according to National Geographic.

Traditionally, the Khasi people start the process by planting a tree on each side of a riverbank. Then, they thread and twist the tree's roots around a makeshift wooden bridge, which helps guide the roots to the other side of the river. When the roots are long enough to reach the other riverbank, they plant down into the ground. Over time, the roots grow and strengthen, making the bridge stronger.

While no one knows when the first living root bridge was created, written records of the structures appear as early as over 100 years ago, according to National Geographic. 

Read more: 7 mind-bending bridges in Asia that will make you look twice

Trek to the iconic Double-Decker root bridge

There are dozens of root bridges scattered across northern India, but the Umshiang Double-Decker root bridge in Nongriat village is arguably the most recognizable.

Also known as the Jingkieng Nongriat, this structure features two suspension bridges stacked on top of each other. The bridges are built across the Umshiang River, and they attract tourists from around the world.

But the trek to the Umshiang Double-Decker root bridge is no joke. Hikers must be ready to embark on a strenuous 3,000-step journey into the lush valleys of Nongriat.

Along the way, tourists cross rivers, waterfalls, and wildlife, as well as several other root bridges. One of these bridges is the Ummunoi root bridge, which is considered the oldest living bridge of its kind in the region, according to Indian Holiday Pvt. Ltd, a New Delhi-based travel agency.

Nilisha Mohapatra and Adam Rosendahl are two of the many visitors who have hiked to the Umshiang Double-Decker living root bridge. Speaking to INSIDER, Mohapatra said the Ummunoi root bridge was the "coolest thing [she's] seen."

While it may not be easy, the trek is all worth it once you reach the final destination. There, you'll find the Double-Decker root bridge surrounded by thriving greenery and a rushing waterfall. 

The future of root bridges

The practice of growing root bridges is slowly dying, according to "Solutions," a non-profit, peer-reviewed journal that publishes articles about topics like sustainability.

Today, people are increasingly turning to modern tools and materials to build bridges in Meghalaya, according to The Living Root Bridge Project. Constructing bridges using metals and wires has become an easier, faster solution to growing structures using the roots of the Indian rubber fig.

However, others are working hard to keep the practice alive. At the Double-Decker root bridge, a third bridge is being grown, according to Atlas Obscura.  It will sit above the second bridge and is expected to be complete within a decade.

Since the Double-Decker bridge is currently an important tourist attraction in Meghalaya, the goal of adding a third bridge is to attract even more tourists to the village, which will hopefully raise awareness of the Khasi people's inventive practices, and keep the bridges for centuries to come.

Visit INSIDER's homepage for more.

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• Facebook is quietly building a platform for discovering memes, TechCrunch reports.
• The platform is called LOL, and will consist of "funny videos and GIF-like clips" that users can vote on and share.
• However, LOL was described as "cringey" to TechCrunch, and the platform is said to be out of touch with the wants of meme-obsessed teens.

In its latest effort to stave off the steady flow of teens leaving its platform, Facebook has been building a dedicated space for users to discover memes and viral content.

The new platform, called LOL, is designed as a "special feed of funny videos and GIF-like clips" using content "pulled from News Feed posts by top meme Pages on Facebook," according to a new report from TechCrunch.Under each meme that appears in LOL, users can choose three reactions for the post: "Funny,""Alright," or "Not Funny."

LOL is currently in private beta and is being tested out by 100 high school students who got parental consent to participate and also signed non-disclosure agreements with Facebook, according to TechCrunch.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed in an email to Business Insider that it is working on the platform, saying: "We are running a small scale test and the concept is in the early stages right now." 

However, those who have seen LOL told TechCrunch the design is "cringey" and misses the mark. LOL is apparently featuring content that is weeks old, and that has surely already been seen before by the meme-obsessed users who would actually use the platform.

Read more:An internal email shows how Facebook learned of a 'psychological trick' to get teens to try a new product

From TechCrunch's screen grabs, LOL's design and features draw comparisons to Snapchat's Discover feed. Facebook's LOL includes section for themed content collections called "Dailies," which look pretty similar to curated clips Snapchat compiles for Discover. LOL also lets you filter your feed by category, including "Fails,""Pranks,""Savage,""Wait for It,""Celebs," and a personalized "For You" tab.

As it stands, LOL reportedly acts as a replacement for Facebook's Watch tab. But Facebook has yet to decide whether LOL will exist as a standalone app, or as a feature within the existing app, TechCrunch reports. 

Facebook's increasing unpopularity among Generation Z has been well-documented, and experts say Facebook has been taken over by parents. Only 5% of teens chose Facebook as their preferred social media platform in a Piper Jaffray survey from Fall 2018, and almost 80% of surveyed teens chose either Instagram or Snapchat instead. 

In response to its dwindling presence in teens' lives, Facebook has attempted to grow several features and spinoff apps. Facebook launched a standalone app in November called Lasso that's drawn comparisons to TikTok (and the late video app Vine), but the app has yet to take off like its competitors. Facebook also acquired the anonymous app tbh, which was popular among teens in late 2017, but closed down the app just eight months later. Other ventures include Hello, Slingshot, and Poke, but all have either shuttered or faded into virtual non-existence.

SEE ALSO: Instagram influencers are so overwhelmed by hackers, they’re hiring hackers of their own to get their accounts back

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