• The PorscheMacan is the brand's best-selling model and accounts for nearly half of its total sales. 
• The German automaker confirmed on Tuesday that the next generation Macan compact luxury SUV will be all electric.
• The Macan EV will be built on the Porsche PPE platform shared with the upcoming Taycan sedan. 
• According to Porsche, the next generation Macan is expected to debut at the beginning of the next decade. 

The Porsche Macan has been a smash hit since its introduction in 2015. The compact luxury SUV is, by far, the brand's best selling model. In 2018, the Macan accounted for more than 41% of the 57,202 cars Porsche sold in the US. 

On Tuesday, Porsche announced that the second generation Macan will be all electric.

"The next generation of the Macan fires the starting pistol for electrification," Porsche said in a statement. 

According to Porsche, the new Macan is set to enter production at the beginning of the next decade and will be built at the company's plant in Leipzig, Germany.

Read more: We took an $81,000 Porsche Macan GTS on a road trip to see if it's a sports car in an SUV body — here's the verdict.

The new Macan will be on the Porsche PPE platform developed with fellow VW Group subsidiary Audi AG. 

In addition, the brand's first all-electric SUV will feature 800-volt fast charging technology.

The Macan is part of Porsche's broader investment in electrification. 

"By 2022 we will be investing more than six billion euros in electric mobility, and by 2025 50% of all new Porsche vehicles could have an electric drive system," Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said in a statement.

Porsche's first EV, the Taycan, known initially as the Mission E, is expected to hit the market at the end of the year. It's a mid-size, high-performance electric sedan that will compete with the likes of the Tesla Model S. After the Taycan sedan, Porsche is expected to follow with the Taycan Cross Turismo electric crossover. 

SEE ALSO: We drove a $152,000 Porsche 911 GT3 to see if it's still the best sports car of all time. Here's the verdict.

FOLLOW US: On Facebook for more car and transportation content!

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Take a look inside Alfa Romeo's plant in Italy and watch how the Giulia sedan is made

• In May, Denver, Colorado, residents will vote on whether to decriminalize psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in "magic" mushrooms.
• Decriminalizing the illegal substance could help keep families together and encourage more research on psilocybin's medical uses, Kevin Matthews, the Decriminalize Denver campaign director, told INSIDER.
• In a phone poll of 172 Denver residents, 45% said they support decriminalizing psilocybin.

Denver, Colorado, is gearing up for a municipal election that could result in the city becoming the first in the United States to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms. In May, residents will vote on whether to eliminate the possibility of felony charges for people found possessing the substance.

Kevin Matthews, the campaign director of Decriminalize Denver, the initiative spearheading local decriminalization efforts, told NBC 9 in January that his team collected 8,000 signatures to advance the measure to the May ballot. In Denver, 4,279 signatures are needed to move a measure along, and the city's elections office has 25 days to verify the signatures.

Psilocybin is currently a Schedule 1 drug in the US, meaning it is considered to have has no medical use and a high potential for abuse. As a result of this, psilocybin is largely unavailable in the country and is illegal to possess. Decriminalization of the substance in Denver means psilocybin would remain illegal, but people 21 and over who possess it would have a lower likelihood of being arrested and put in jail.

Psilocybin decriminalization could protect families and encourage research

If passed, the policy would make anyone 21 or older who possesses psilocybin the "lowest law enforcement priority," NBC 9 reported.

According to Matthews, the measure could keep more families together. "The main reason we are doing this is to keep people out of prison," Matthews told INSIDER. "[We] don't want to have people lose their children, and we believe it's the best and necessary first step to reintegrate psilocybin back into society and encourage more research as well."

Psilocybin research has been limited in the US, but some preliminary studies have found that the psychedelic drug has the potential to treat anxiety and depression.

In one 2016 study, researchers at Johns Hopkins University gave 29 cancer patients magic mushrooms in combination with psychotherapy sessions to help with depression and anxiety they reported as a result of their diagnoses. The patients who recieved psilocybin reported immediate reductions in anxiety and depression.

Matthews told INSIDER that a vote for psilocybin decriminalization could spur more research on the drug's potential medical uses. Through campaigning, he has spoken with many proponents of the substance who said psilocybin has helped them with depression, cluster headaches, and anxiety. Matthews also told NBC 9 that psilocybin has helped him with his own depression.

Read more:A team of Johns Hopkins researchers is calling for magic mushrooms to be made legally available as medicine

In a phone poll of 172 Denver residents that his team conducted, 45% said they were in favor of decriminalization.

"We need people to come out of the psychedelic closet and share their experiences," Matthews said. "There is a deep cultural misunderstanding of psilocybin and what it does."

While growing psilocybin at home will remain illegal in Denver even if decriminalization passes, residents cultivating small amounts won’t have to worry quite as much about being sent off to jail, according to Matthews.

He said that his team wants to create a "healthy relationship" with the city, so the decriminalization plan includes creating a panel of attorneys, health professionals, police, and city council members who can evaluate whether Decriminalize Denver's efforts help keep families together and free up government funds that are typically used to prosecute people in possession of psilocybin.

Peter Kotecki contributed to a previous version of this story.

Read more:

• Evidence is mounting that psychedelic drugs can help treat diseases. Here are the most promising uses
• A top psychedelic scientist says 'the climate's looking good' for magic mushrooms and MDMA to turn into medicines at a gathering of the world's billionaires
• Researchers think magic mushrooms could have the potential to treat depression

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Meet the three women who married Donald Trump

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

Social media is becoming increasingly influential in shoppers' purchasing decisions. In fact, the top 500 retailers earned an estimated $6.5 billion from social shopping in 2017, up 24% from 2016, according to BI Intelligence estimates.

In addition to influencing purchase decisions, social media is a large part of the product discovery and research phase of the shopping journey. And with more and more retailers offering quick access to their sites via social media pages, and shoppable content becoming more popular, it's likely that social media will play an even larger role in e-commerce. 

In this report, BI Intelligence examines the advantages and disadvantages of each platform, and reviews case studies of successful campaigns that helped boost conversion and increase brand awareness. Additionally, we explore how retailers can bring social aspects into their own sites and apps to capitalize on consumers' desire for social shopping experiences.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Social media is becoming more influential in all aspects of the purchasing journey.
• Facebook is the clear winner in social commerce, with its huge user base and wide-ranging demographics.
• However, retailers should have a presence on every platform their target market is on. Each platform will require a different strategy for retailers to resonate with its users.
• Retailers can also benefit from bringing social aspects in-house. They can do this by building their own in-house social networks, or by embedding social media posts into their sites.

In full, the report: 

• Provides an overview of the top social media platforms — Facebook, YouTube, Instagram — that retailers should be using, the demographics of each platform, as well as their individual advantages and disadvantages. 
• Reviews tools recently developed by these platforms that help retailers create engaging content.
• Outlines case studies and specific strategies to use on each platform.
• Examines how retailers like Sephora, Amazon, and Poshmark are capitalizing on consumers' affinity for social shopping by creating their own in-house social networks.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >>Learn More Now
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> Purchase & Download Now

Join the conversation about this story »

• Over the last few weeks, Democratic presidential candidates have been asked whether they'd support reparations for black Americans. 
• Few candidates have voiced outright support for the concept, which doesn't poll well among white and older Americans. 
• But most 2020 hopefuls are running on policy proposals — including cash transfers and tax credits — that they argue would disproportionately benefit black Americans. 

Democratic presidential candidates have been asked by reporters and voters over the past few weeks if they'd support reparations for black Americans impacted by the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination. 

Most responded that the country needs to accept that black Americans face systemic discrimination and a gaping income and wealth gap. But few candidates have said they support any policy that would exclusively provide black Americans with economic reparations.

This tension came into sharp relief on Monday night, when Sen. Bernie Sanders, a 2020 frontrunner, said he was confused by the definition of reparations.  

"We're going to do everything we can to put resources into distressed communities and improve lives for those people who have been hurt from the legacy of slavery," Sanders said during a CNN town hall in response to a question from the audience.

When pressed on whether he'd specifically support reparations, Sanders asked, "What does that mean? What do they mean? I don't think it's clear."

Sanders was opposed to reparations in 2016, calling the concept "divisive." Critics have called his position hypocritical given his calls for a political "revolution." 

Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris have similarly pushed to address the racial wealth gap, but through policies not explicitly crafted to benefit black Americans. 

By contrast, Julián Castro, another presidential hopeful, argued on Monday night that the US must "resolve its original sin of slavery" through reparations specifically directed at "descendants of slaves." 

"It is interesting to me that under our Constitution and otherwise, that we compensate people if we take their property. Shouldn't we compensate people if they were property sanctioned by the state?" Castro told MSNBC, adding that he supports a task force to address the issue.

Sen. Cory Booker, for his part, is running on ambitious "race-conscious solutions"  to aid working-class Americans and reduce economic inequality.

Booker has proposed a "baby bond" program, which would give every child born in the US a set amount of money each year. That money would be placed in an "opportunity account" that would grow with additional government cash transfers every year, calibrated to the child's family income and wealth.

The child wouldn't be able to touch the money until they turn 18. At that point, funds could only be used for "wealth-building" purposes, including paying school tuition and purchasing a home.

And the policy would disproportionately benefit black youth, who would be given more money than their white counterparts, given existing wealth disparities between black and white families. While the average white kid would end up with about $16,000 in their account, the average black kid would get $29,000, according to a recent study by Columbia University researchers. 

Similarly, Harris is running on her LIFT the Middle Class Act, which would give tax credits to families making under $100,000. 

In a Monday interview with The Grio, Harris said her approach wouldn't exclusively aid black Americans in the way reparations would. But she argued her policies would "directly benefit black children, black families, and black homeowners because the disparities are so significant."

"I'm not going to sit here and say I'm going to do something that only benefits black people — no," Harris said. "Because whatever benefits that black family will benefit that community and society as a whole and as a country." 

Marianne Williamson, a self-help guru and author, is the only 2020 presidential candidate so far to make an explicit case for reparations. She's unveiled a proposal to give $100 billion to black Americans.  

A 'divisive' policy? 

The issue of reparations could be one that sways black voters, who made up a quarter of all Democratic votes cast in the 2016 primaries and caucuses.

In South Carolina, one of the first primary states, black voters make up 60% of the primary electorate. A 2016 Point Taken-Marist poll found that about 60% of black respondents were in favor of reparations.

But many, like Sanders, have pointed out that reparations proposals don't poll particularly well among older and white Americans. They fear that reparations could encourage white, Latino, and Asian Americans to resent black Americans. 

The progressive group Data for Progress found last year that while the concept had net positive support among Americans under 45 years old, the concept was 39 points under water with Americans over 45. The Marist poll found that 80% of white respondents were opposed to reparations.

Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates prompted a national discussion about reparations with his widely-read 2014 essay in The Atlantic, titled "The Case for Reparations," in which he called on Congress to create a commission to assess the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, and anti-black racism.

Since then, prominent Democrats have shifted on the issue — at least rhetorically. President Barack Obama opposed reparations when he ran for president. But by the end of his eight years in the White House he argued that reparations might well be justified, if not politically feasible. 

"Theoretically, you can make, obviously, a powerful argument that centuries of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination are the primary cause for all those gaps," Obama said in a 2016 interview with Coates.

He went on, "I have much more confidence in my ability, or any president or any leader's ability, to mobilize the American people around a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment to help every child in poverty in this country than I am in being able to mobilize the country around providing a benefit specific to African Americans as a consequence of slavery and Jim Crow."

SEE ALSO: Amy Klobuchar says she doesn't support free 4-year college and called the Green New Deal and Medicare for All 'aspirations'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The top 15 presidents according to historians

• Tiny houses can cost as little as $8,000 and as much as $150,000 — lower than the median US home listing price — but is the cost worth it?
• Tiny houses can be more expensive per square foot and often come with additional and unexpected costs.
• Real estate experts also say that tiny houses are part of a niche market, making them difficult to resell and therefore a somewhat risky investment.

Want to join the tiny house movement?

Part of the minimalist lifestyle, tiny houses average between 100 and 400 square feet and can be put on trailers to follow you wherever you go. They're often coveted by those who want to live more simply and save money.

But while dramatic downsizing may seem like a financially savvy move, there are a few things to take into consideration before buying or building a tiny house.

Here's what you need to know about the cost of a tiny house.

The cost of a tiny house depends on if you buy it or build it

The cost of a tiny house varies depending on its size, style, and how you go about getting one.

Tiny house construction starts at $45,000, reported Daria Uhlig of GOBankingRates, citing data from Tiny Home Builders. Deirdre Sullivan of home living website The Spruce compared 2017 prices from 25 tiny house building companies in 13 different states and found that the median cost in the US for a tiny house is $59,884. 

But, luxury tiny houses can cost a lot more than that — up to $150,000, reported Sullivan.

It's typically cheaper to build a tiny house than to buy one. Sullivan interviewed several first-time builders, whose costs ranged from $12,000 to $35,000. But it's possible to build a tiny home for less than $10,000: One couple paid $8,000 to build their 24-foot long, eight-foot wide, 13-foot tall tiny house.

And Teri Page of Homestead Honey built her 348-square-foot tiny house for $8,270, although her neighbor's 120 square-foot tiny house cost $21,200 to build. She told Margaret Heidenry of Realtor.com she spent $7,800 on materials alone, but saved on labor costs because her husband did the work. Her neighbor hired labor, which cost an extra $7,000, she said.

Read more:35 incredible tiny homes from around the world

People who want to build instead of buy can also get a tiny house shell — a finished exterior with an unfinished interior to personalize. A standard shell at Tiny Home Builders ranges from $17,000 for a 12-foot tiny house to $37,000 for a 28-foot tiny house, without add-ons like electrical and plumbing and dormers (sloped roofs that create extra space). 

You can also buy a tiny-house kits that can cost less than $10,000 and can come with blueprints, a customized trailer to build upon, and a list of needed supplies, wrote Heidenry.

Compared to Zillow's median home listing price of $275,000, a tiny house may seem like a cheaper option no matter how you acquire it, but that's not always the case.

Technically, tiny houses can be more expensive

When you look at the price per square footage, tiny houses can be more expensive than regular houses. 

According to Uhlig, the average home costs about $150 per square foot to build. Tiny houses built by Tumbleweed Tiny House Company cost more than twice that amount — $400 per square foot. And Zack Giffin, host of reality TV series Tiny House Nation, told Brigitt Earley of Apartment Therapy that the price of building a tiny house costs $300 per square foot.

"The average cost per square foot is more because you're consolidating everything into a small space," he said. "In construction so much of the costs are in the details."

Tiny houses can also be more expensive than their tiny home rivals, mobile homes, which start around $30,000 for a 765-square-foot single-wide, according to Earley. 

The house itself is only part of the cost

To build a tiny house, you may need to pay for a local building permit, which can cost as little as a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, Heidenry wrote.

And if you plan to travel with your tiny house, you'll need to take in a few extra considerations — like paying for a truck strong enough to pull your tiny house, a trailer hitch, and a trailer brake controller, as well as a private lot or RV park for parking, the latter of which can cost $500 to $1,500 a month, according to Sullivan.

Read more: These $133,000 tiny homes can be taken apart in a few hours to move with their owners

Even if you're not moving around, you still need to place to put your tiny house, and that could involve purchasing land or leasing a lot, according to Uhlig. Zoning laws for tiny houses can be strict, and some require you to own the land where your tiny house is built or parked. They can even dictate the size of the lot. 

There are also additional costs like insulation and electricity and plumbing, Heidenry said — plumbing can cost around $1,000 and solar panels around $3,500.

Giffin said utilities are the most expensive part of building a tiny house. Because tiny houses require specialized appliances — energy-efficient and compact enough for the space — you'll have to pay more for them. 

You'll also need tiny house insurance, which can be difficult to get, he added.

And if you can't downsize your possessions to match the size of your home, then you may not end up saving money. 

Mike Arman, mortgage broker and economic development director for Oak Hill, Florida, told Trulia that with no storage space, some people might end up renting a storage unit. "You can buy a plain old 'non-tiny' house for the same money and get much more utility from it," he said.

The return on investment for tiny houses isn't always great

Justin Udy, real estate agent with Century 21 Everest Realty Group, told Trulia that tiny houses are part of a niche market — not good in real estate, where sales rely on supply and demand.

"A tiny home is not recommended because it only fits a small demographic of buyers in the market," he said. "The more restraints the property offers the market, the more niche it becomes. The more niche the home, the less buyers available for the home."

Resale also may be hard because, "You can’t really expect [a tiny home] to appreciate in the way you can expect property to appreciate," Giffin said.

According to Uhlig, smaller houses are appreciating faster than larger ones, making them a better long-term investment than a tiny house.

Read more: Cities across America are giving homeless people tiny homes, and it's working

And finding a buyer can also be difficult because tiny houses are seen as a fad rather than a trend, according to both Uhlig and Keith Thompson, a real estate broker with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Carolinas Realty, who also spoke with Trulia.

"This is a totally unproven market, buoyed by the intense interest in reality TV," he said. "I'd say the artificial interest caused by the TV trend and the uncertainty in a newer, unproven market make tiny homes a risky investment."

SEE ALSO: Here's what living in a tiny house is really like, according to people who traded their homes for minimalism

DON'T MISS: 9 of the coolest tiny homes around the world to rent on your next vacation

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What it's like to do your own taxes for the very first time

• The Federal Trade Commission announced a new task force which will look at antitrust behavior in the technology market.
• It's the first major moved by the FTC to address growing public concern over the size of tech companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon.
• The new task force will look at industry practices and conduct law enforcement investigations. It also has the ability to look at both past and present mergers.
• But industry insiders said they don't expect to see the FTC break up large tech companies, even if there is precedent set by its past actions in the hospital industry.

Big Tech got a big scare on Tuesday when federal regulators launched a task force to patrol the market for signs of outsized power and to re-examine the validity of mergers that closed years ago.

The prospect that the likes of Facebook and Google could be forced to give up crown jewels acquired for billions of dollars — WhatsApp, in the case of Facebook, and YouTube or DoubleClick, for Google — is the most striking sign yet of the public's unease with the corporations that dominate the internet age. 

But while the Federal Trade Commission's so-called Technology Task Force heralds a new era of scrutiny for an industry accustomed to hands-off treatment, industry insiders say the chances of mergers being reversed are highly unlikely.

"The idea of breaking up any company, particularly a company that doesn't have easily separable assets like a tech company, that's the nuclear option and it's almost never used," said Mark Ostrau, an antitrust lawyer with Fenwick & West.

Ostrau said what's more likely is that the task force looks "more seriously" at new, technology-specific theories of what violates antitrust laws.

The unprecedented changes enabled by online technology, from retail to transportation, have upended long established industries and, some say, allowed newcomers to sidestep ground rules that no longer reflect the realities of the market. 

Most recently, antitrust law in the US has focused on whether or not consumers have access to low-cost goods. So while a company like Walmart may have had a large share of a market, regulators weren't concerned so long as there wasn't price gouging. 

Read more: US antitrust merger investigations neared record lows in 2018 even as scrutiny of Facebook, Google and Amazon picked up

But since many of today's largest tech companies offer free products to consumers, antitrust theorists will have to consider new issues, like whether consumers have the option to opt out of a service if they don't like its privacy policies, or whether network effects prohibit new competition from entering the market, Ostrau said. 

On the more obscure side, Ostrau said, he also expects to see new developments in laws relating to anticompetitive price fixing through algorithms which enable competitors to automatically compare and adjust prices.

"That's not so much a new theory," Ostrau said, "but instead of clandestine face to face meetings, [companies are] achieving it through automatic algorithms."

There's precedent with Microsoft, CDK Global

The FTC's move comes at a time when concern over data privacy and the concentration of advertising dollars have come into sharp focus. High-profile scandals such as the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data leaks, as well as concerns over the content that gets shared on social media, have increased pressure on the government to act. 

One of the most striking parts of the FTC's announcement is that it will look at both "prospective merger reviews in the technology sector and reviews of consummated technology mergers."

This indicated to some that the FTC could retroactively challenge past mergers, such as Facebook's $19 billion WhatsApp acquisition in 2014 or Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick in 2007.

One lawyer familiar with the FTC's thinking said that in all likelihood the agency won't waste its resources trying to break up high-resource companies who will fight its decision in court.

The 2001 DC Circuit ruling on Microsoft's antitrust case set the precedent against breaking up a company which grew organically, and a merger would need to be directly tied to anticompetitive conduct for a company to be broken up as a punishment, the person said. 

The FTC has recently prevented mergers in tech, but it's rare.

CDK Global's plan to acquire Auto/Mate, which was announced in May 2017, terminated in March 2018 after the FTC blocked the deal on antitrust grounds. In that case, the person said, it appeared that CDK Global wanted to acquire its emerging competition to squash it. This is likely different from a situation like Facebook and Instagram, where the latter grew into a formidable player in social media once it was acquired, the person said.

The current antitrust laws would need to completely change for a merger like Facebook and Instagram to be broken up over unrelated privacy concerns, the person said.

Whether or not the SEC wins its cases, Ostrau said that technology antitrust law could move forward on momentum alone.

"There is some benefit in just opening the investigations and bringing the cases, even if the FTC doesn't ultimately win or get a consent decree because it heightens the sensitivity to a particular area of conduct and has an effect on the industry," Ostrau said. "To say, this is an area of potential concern, so we ought to tread carefully, whether or not there's a case."

Hospital mergers show a way forward

Microsoft isn't the only antitrust case to set a precedent. Others, including the FTC, point to its past work on hospital mergers as a precedent for what could happen with technology.

The FTC said that its new Technology Task Force is modeled after the Merger Litigation Task Force, which was launched in 2002 to monitor mergers in the hospital space. That task force did in fact successfully challenge consummated mergers, including ProMedica Health System’s acquisition of St. Luke’s Hospital.

That acquisition closed in 2010, but the hospitals operated separately during the FTC's investigation which launched in 2011 and ultimately required divestiture. ProMedica finally divested St. Luke's in 2016.

While the FTC may consider this a success of its task force, not everyone is convinced that it went far enough.

"The impact is merely slowing down a bad trend, not stopping it or reversing it," said Matt Stoller, a fellow with the Open Markets Institute, a think tank that advocates against corporate monopolies. "I don't think this new task force is meaningful. I think it's a new seating arrangement inside the building and I don't care about that."

As for whether or not it's too difficult to break up two companies which have already merged, Stoller said companies prove they can do it anytime they decide to sell one of their assets of their own volition.

"It's not like building moon bases on Jupiter, this is stuff they do all the time," he said.

SEE ALSO: Meet the jet-setting Goldman Sachs banker who led Qualcomm through a hostile takeover, got stuck in Trump's trade war, and made magic happen across the semiconductor industry

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 6 reasons Snapchat is losing its popularity

Tech-driven disruption in the insurance industry continues at pace, and we're now entering a new phase — the adaptation of underlying business models. 

That's leading to ongoing changes in the distribution segment of the industry, but more excitingly, we are starting to see movement in the fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims management. 

This report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, will briefly review major changes in the insurtech segment over the past year. It will then examine how startups and legacy players across the insurance value chain are using technology to develop new business models that cut costs or boost revenue, and, in some cases, both. Additionally, we will provide our take on the future of insurance as insurtech continues to proliferate. 

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Funding is flowing into startups and helping them scale, while legacy players have moved beyond initial experiments and are starting to implement new technology throughout their businesses. 
• Distribution, the area of the insurance value chain that was first to be disrupted, continues to evolve. 
• The fundamentals of insurance — policy creation, underwriting, and claims management — are starting to experience true disruption, while innovation in reinsurance has also continued at pace.
• Insurtechs are using new business models that are enabled by a variety of technologies. In particular, they're using automation, data analytics, connected devices, and machine learning to build holistic policies for consumers that can be switched on and off on-demand.
• Legacy insurers, as opposed to brokers, now have the most to lose — but those that move swiftly still have time to ensure they stay in the game.

 In full, the report:

• Reviews major changes in the insurtech segment over the past year.
• Examines how startups and legacy players across distribution, insurance, and reinsurance are using technology to develop new business models.
• Provides our view on what the future of the insurance industry looks like, which Business Insider Intelligence calls Insurtech 2.0.

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

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

Learn More

Purchase & download the full report from our research store

Join the conversation about this story »

This is a preview of The Reverse Logistics Report from Business Insider Intelligence. Current subscribers can read the report here.

With e-commerce becoming a lucrative shopping channel, retailers and their logistics partners have been primarily focused on how to quickly move goods through the supply chain and into the hands of consumers — a process commonly referred to as forward logistics. However, the opportunities presented by the growing popularity of e-commerce also come with a challenging, multibillion-dollar downside: returns.

Return rates for e-commerce purchases are between 25% and 30%, compared with just 9% for in-store purchases. Turning reverse logistics — the process of returning goods from end users back to their origins to either recapture value or properly dispose of material — into a costly and high-stakes matter for retailers.

Not only are retailers experiencing more returns as a result of e-commerce growth, but consumer expectations also demand that retailers provide a seamless process. In fact, 92% of consumers agree that they are more likely to shop at a store again if it offers a hassle-free return policy (e.g. free return shipping labels). Some consumers even place large orders with the intention of returning certain items. 

And e-commerce sales are only going up from here, exacerbating the issue and making retailers' need for help more dire. However, for logistics firms that can offer cost-effective reverse logistics solutions, this has opened up a significant opportunity to capture a share of rapidly growing e-commerce logistics costs in the US, which hit $117 billion last year, according to Armstrong & Associates, Inc. estimates. 

InThe Reverse Logistics Report, Business Insider Intelligence examines what makes reverse logistics so much more challenging than forward logistics, explores the trends that have driven retailers to finally improve the way in which returns move through their supply chains, and highlights how logistics firms can act to win over retailers' return dollars.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• E-commerce is now a core shopping channel for retailers, and it's still growing. US e-commerce sales are set to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% between 2018 and 2023, surpassing $1 trillion in sales, according to Business Insider Intelligence estimates.
• Booming e-commerce sales have driven product returns through the roof. Business Insider Intelligence estimates that US e-commerce returns will increase at a CAGR of 19% between 2018 and 2023, surpassing $300 million dollars. 
• Consumers have high expectations about how returns are handled, and retailers are struggling to find cost-effective ways to meet their demands. Sixty-four percent of shoppers stated they would be hesitant to shop at a retailer ever again if they found issues with the returns process. And retailers don't have the expertise to effectively keep up with how demanding consumers are about returns — 44% of retailers said their margins were negatively impacted by handling and packaging returns, for example.
• Logistics firms are well positioned to solve — and profit from — returns. These companies can take advantage of their scale and expertise to solve pain points retailers commonly experience as goods move through the reverse supply chain. 
• Reverse logistics solutions themselves present a lucrative opportunity — but they're also appealing in the potential inroads they offer to supply chain management. The global third-party logistics market is estimated to be valued at $865 billion in 2018, according to Bekryl. 

Join the conversation about this story »

• Bars in the nation's capital plan to show Michael Cohen's public hearing on TV screens Wednesday morning.
• Some locations will open early, serving themed drinks for the DC subset of people who want to watch President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer testify before the House Oversight Committee with a boozy beverage in hand.
• The testimony, which begins at 10 a.m. ET, will be the first time that Cohen will be publicly questioned by lawmakers since he pleaded guilty to charges leveled by the special counsel Robert Mueller's office and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.
• Politico got ahold of Cohen's opening statement, which reportedly says, "I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience."
• If you're in Washington, DC, here's where you can watch with like-minded spectators.

Bars in the nation's capital plan to show Michael Cohen's public hearing on TV screens Wednesday morning.

Some locations will open early, serving themed drinks for the DC subset of people who want to watch President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer testify before the House Oversight Committee with a boozy beverage in hand.

The testimony, which begins at 10 a.m. ET, will be the first time that Cohen will be publicly questioned by lawmakers since he pleaded guilty to charges leveled by special counsel Robert Mueller's office and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

Cohen was charged by Mueller with lying to Congress, and he was charged by federal prosecutors with tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations — and implicated Trump. He's been sentenced to three years in prison.

The testimony has the potential for not only political theater but revelations about Cohen's work with Trump. As INSIDER's Sonam Sheth and Alexandra Ma wrote, "Democrats on the panel plan to question Cohen extensively about several hush-money payments made during the 2016 election to women who said they had affairs with Trump."

The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source, reported that Cohen plans to "publicly accuse the president of engaging—while in office—in criminal conduct related to a hush-money payment to a porn star."

Politico got ahold of Cohen's opening statement, which reportedly says, "I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience."

"He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat," Cohen says.

If you're in Washington, DC, here's where you can watch with like-minded spectators.

1. Duffy's Irish Pub

Duffy's Irish Pub will open at 10 a.m. local time, and it will be playing the hearing on eight TVs, The Hill reports.

Duffy's will also be serving the "Flipper Cocktail."

"The ingredients are redacted but we can tell you that it is 100% PARDON FREE," the bar's Facebook page says of the cocktail.

2. The Midlands

According to their Facebook page, The Midlands beer bar will open at 10 a.m. local time.

"We're gonna watch it anyway so we're opening the bar up!!" The Midlands' Facebook page says.

The will have its TVs on — both inside and outside by the fire pits.

3. Shaw's Tavern

Shaw's Tavern is opening with food service at 10 a.m. local time, alcohol service will begin at 11 a.m., according to the bar's Facebook page.

This is not the first time Shaw's has opened its doors for Congressional hearings, DCist reports. The bar offered specials when former FBI Director James Comey, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before Congress.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why Tesla's Model X was the first SUV to receive a perfect crash-test rating

• Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, will say that he is "ashamed ... to take part in concealing" Trump's alleged "illicit acts," according to a statement he is expected to publicly deliver to lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
• In his statement, Cohen claims Trump did not explicitly order Cohen to lie to Congress, but that his directive was implied.
• "Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress," Cohen will say. "That's not how he operates."
• Cohen claims he was deeply ashamed of his actions in serving Trump for decades as his "fixer."

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, will claim that he is "ashamed ... to take part in concealing" Trump's alleged "illicit acts," according to a statement he is expected to publicly deliver to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

The statement, first obtained by Politico on Tuesday night, provides a stark contrast from his previous statements made prior to his conviction. Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud, campaign-finance violations and lying to Congress about plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow.

In his statement, Cohen claims Trump did not explicitly order Cohen to lie to Congress, as was previously reported by BuzzFeed News in January, but that his directive was implied.

"Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress," Cohen writes. "That's not how he operates."

"In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and tell me there's no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American people by saying the same thing," Cohen added. "In his way, he was telling me to lie."

Cohen's false-statements charge centers primarily on claims he made about his involvement in the Trump Organization's push to build a Trump Tower in Moscow at the height of the campaign. Lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees questioned Cohen extensively on the project last year, and Cohen expanded on it in statements he provided to both panels.

Prosecutors said Cohen knowingly misled congressional investigators when he said negotiations for the deal ended in January 2016 and that he did not discuss it extensively with Trump Organization executives.

They wrote that Cohen "discussed the status and progress of the Moscow Project" with Trump "on more than the three occasions Cohen claimed" to the Senate Intelligence Committee and that "he briefed family members" of Trump within the Trump Organization about it.

Cohen was also discussing it with the Russian-born businessman Felix Sater as late as June 2016, the document said. Meanwhile, candidate Trump said repeatedly during the election that he had no business or financial interests tied to Russia.

Cohen will tell lawmakers on Wednesday that he is deeply ashamed by his actions and his gullibility in serving Trump for decades as his "fixer."

"I am ashamed of my weakness and misplaced loyalty – of the things I did for Mr. Trump in an effort to protect and promote him," Cohen writes. "I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience."

In another stunning revelation, Cohen will also tell Congress that the longtime GOP strategist Roger Stone spoke to Trump about WikiLeaks' plans to dump hacked emails that were damaging to the Hillary Clinton campaign days before the Democratic National Convention in 2016.

Trump and Stone frequently spoke on the phone during the election, but both men have denied discussing any topics related to WikiLeaks, the hack of the Democratic National Committee, or any planned document dumps.

The FBI has determined that the Russian government was behind the DNC hack and subsequent dissemination of stolen emails though WikiLeaks and the Russian hacker Guccifer 2.0.

A day after Cohen's public hearing on Wednesday, he is scheduled to testify in a closed-door session before the House Intelligence Committee.

SEE ALSO: A defiant Michael Cohen speaks ahead of public congressional testimony amid taunts from GOP lawmaker

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What happens when the president declares a national emergency

• Just after midnight, Politico published Michael Cohen's full opening statement, ahead of his testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
• On Wednesday at 10 a.m., Cohen will testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee — the second in three days of hearings before congressional lawmakers.
• In the opening statement, Cohen outlined the documents he gave to the committee to back up his claims.

Just after midnight, Politico published Michael Cohen's full opening statement, ahead of his testimony before the House Oversight Committee.

Cohen served as President Donald Trump's lawyer and fixer. He pleaded guilty to charges in two separate federal investigations: one count of lying to Congress in the Robert Mueller probe, charges of bank and tax fraud, and campaign finance violations in a case brought by the US attorney's office in Manhattan.

On Wednesday at 10 a.m., Cohen will testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee — the second in three days of hearings before lawmakers.

Read more:'I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is': Michael Cohen's bombshell opening statement before the House Oversight Committee drops hours before he is scheduled to testify

In addition to calling Trump a "racist,""conman," and "cheat" and naming Trump as "Individual 1" as it is referred to in court documents, in the 20-page document Cohen outlined the documents he gave to the committee to back up his claims.

"I recognize that some of you may doubt and attack me on my credibility," Cohen's statement says. "It is for this reason that I have incorporated into this opening statement documents that are irrefutable, and demonstrate that the information you will hear is accurate and truthful."

The full list is reprinted below:

• A copy of a check Mr. Trump wrote from his personal bank account – after he became president - to reimburse me for the hush money payments I made to cover up his affair with an adult film star and prevent damage to his campaign;
• Copies of financial statements for 2011 – 2013 that he gave to such institutions as Deutsche Bank;
• A copy of an article with Mr. Trump’s handwriting on it that reported on the auction of a portrait of himself – he arranged for the bidder ahead of time and then reimbursed the bidder from the account of his non-profit charitable foundation, with the picture now hanging in one of his country clubs; and
• Copies of letters I wrote at Mr. Trump’s direction that threatened his high school, colleges, and the College Board not to release his grades or SAT scores.

SEE ALSO: Michael Cohen plans to publicly accuse Trump of criminal conduct in office during dramatic testimony before Congress

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Meet the three women who married Donald Trump

• Michael Cohen will tell Congress this week that President Donald Trump knew, when he was a Republican presidential candidate, that the GOP strategist Roger Stone was in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about a planned document dump days before the Democratic National Convention in 2016.
• According to prepared testimony that was obtained by several media outlets, Cohen will tell lawmakers that he was in the room when Trump and Stone had a phone call in July 2016, during which Stone allegedly told Trump he had just gotten off the phone with Assange and learned that "there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage [Hillary Clinton's] campaign."
• According to Cohen, Trump allegedly responded with something along the lines of, "Wouldn't that be great."
• Trump and his associates have repeatedly denied having advance knowledge of WikiLeaks' plans.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime former lawyer and fixer, will tell the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that when he was running for president, Trump knew the GOP strategist Roger Stone was in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about WikiLeaks' plan to dump thousands of hacked Democratic emails.

In prepared testimony that was obtained by several media outlets early Wednesday, Cohen describes an alleged phone call between Trump and Stone that he said took place in July 2016, days before the Democratic National Convention.

"I was in Mr. Trump’s office when his secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone," Cohen will say. "Mr. Trump put Mr. Stone on the speakerphone. Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage [Hillary Clinton's] campaign."

The statement continued: "Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of 'wouldn’t that be great.'"

Trump and his associates have repeatedly said he had no knowledge of WikiLeaks' planned document dumps.

Stone, meanwhile, was indicted last month on several counts of obstruction, false statements, and witness tampering. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and said he intends to go to trial.

Stone is central to the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, particularly as it relates to Russia's role in the hack of the DNC and the subsequent dissemination of stolen emails via the Russian hacker Guccifer 2.0 and WikiLeaks.

In their charging document, prosecutors said that around June or July 2016, Stone "informed senior Trump Campaign officials" that WikiLeaks had damaging information about the Hillary Clinton campaign.

After WikiLeaks dumped the first batch of emails on July 22, which Russian hackers had stolen from the DNC, "a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact" with Stone "about any additional releases and what other damaging information [WikiLeaks] had regarding the Clinton Campaign," the indictment claimed.

Afterward, prosecutors allege Stone "told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by [WikiLeaks]."

The indictment did not say who the senior official was or who apparently directed them to maintain a line of communication with Stone. But the revelation was the first indication that a senior Trump campaign official was told by someone higher up to actively solicit information about documents that the Russians had hacked.

Cohen is now the first individual to publicly come out and say Trump himself, then the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks' planned document dump.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What happens when the president declares a national emergency

2019 will be a year of opportunities and challenges in the world of digital media.

The digital duopoly of Google and Facebook will face unprecedented regulatory scrutiny, as Amazon muscles its way into the digital ad space.

Meanwhile, pay-TV companies will continue to struggle as cord-cutting accelerates and TV consumption shifts to digital, and millennials and Gen Z will drive explosive growth in eSports.

Find out about these transformational trends and more in Business Insider Intelligence’s Top 10 Trends in Digital Media slide deck.

As an added bonus, you will gain immediate access to our exclusive Business Insider Intelligence Daily newsletter.

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

Join the conversation about this story »

• The Internet of Things is fueling the data-based economy and bridging the divide between physical and digital worlds.
• Consumers, companies, and governments will install more than 40 billion IoT devices worldwide through 2023.
• The next five years will mark a pivotal transformation in how companies and jurisdictions operate, and how consumers live.

Being successful in the digital age doesn’t just require knowing the latest buzzwords; it means identifying the transformational trends – and where they’re heading – before they ever heat up.

Take the Internet of Things (IoT), for example, which now receives not only daily tech news coverage with each new device launch, but also hefty investments from global organizations ushering in worldwide adoption. By 2023, consumers, companies, and governments will install more than 40 billion IoT devices globally. And it’s not just the ones you hear about all the time, like smart speakers and connected cars.

To successfully navigate this changing landscape, individuals and organizations must understand the full extent and functionality of the “Things” included in this network, the key drivers of each market segment, and how it all relates to the work they do every day.

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has forecasted the start of the IoT’s global proliferation in The IoT Forecast Book 2018— and the next five years will be transformational for consumers, enterprises, and governments.

• Consumer IoT: In the US alone, the number of smart home devices is estimated to surpass 1 billion by 2023, with consumers dishing out about $725 per household — a total of over $90 billion in spending on IoT solutions.
• Enterprise IoT: Comprising the most mature segment of the IoT, companies will continue pouring billions of dollars into connected devices and automation. By 2023, the total industrial robotic system installed base will approach 6 million worldwide, while annual spending on manufacturing IoT solutions will reach about $450 billion.
• Government IoT: Governments globally are ushering in IoT devices to spur the development of smart cities, which would be equipped with innovations like connected cameras, smart street lights, and connected meters to provide a real-time view of traffic, utilities usage, crime, and environmental factors. Annual investment in this area is expected to reach nearly $900 billion by 2023.

Want to Learn More?

People, companies, and organizations all over the world are racing to adopt the latest IoT solutions and prevent growing pains amidst a technological transformation. The IoT Forecast Book 2018 from Business Insider Intelligence is a detailed three-part slide deck outlining the most important trends impacting consumer, enterprise, and government IoT — and the key drivers propelling each segment forward.

Representing thousands of hours of exhaustive research, our multipart forecast books are considered must-reads by thousands of highly successful business professionals. These informative slide decks are packed with charts and statistics outlining the most influential trends on the leading edge of your industry. Keep them for reference or drop the most valuable data into your own presentations to share with your teams.

Whether you’re newly interested in a topic or you already consider yourself a subject matter expert, The IoT Forecast Book 2018 can provide you with the actionable insights you need to make better decisions.

Join the conversation about this story »

Hype around artificial intelligence has never been higher — and one industry where it has a chance to make a major impact on profits is retail.

Business Insider Intelligence projects that AI will boost profitability in retail and wholesale by nearly 60% by 2035, setting off a wave of excitement and investment among companies.

The areas where AI will have its biggest impact are personalization, search and chatbots.

But as hype and misunderstanding continue to build, it’s become harder than ever to keep sight of the true disruptive potential of AI.

Find out how AI is being implemented in these three areas and how each one can impact revenue in this new FREE slide deck from Business Insider Intelligence.

In this third and final installment of the three-part Future of Retail 2018 series, Business Insider Intelligence takes a hard look at the retail use cases where AI can make an impact, explores noteworthy examples of retailers implementing the technology, and weighs the benefits of investing in AI today.

As an added bonus, you will gain immediate access to our exclusive Business Insider Intelligence Daily newsletter.

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

Join the conversation about this story »

• Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime fixer and lawyer, provided documents related to hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign, in his prepared opening statement provided to multiple news outlets early Wednesday morning.
• The president's former lawyer pleaded guilty to charges brought by the US attorney's office in Manhattan, including a campaign finance violation related to a $130,000 payment to the adult-film star Stormy Daniels.
• Cohen addresses the payments and presents documents related to them.
• "He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did," Cohen's statement reads. "Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets. She is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly – and she did not deserve that."

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime fixer and lawyer, provided documents related to hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign, in his prepared opening statement provided to multiple news outlets early Wednesday morning.

Cohen is testifying publicly before the House Oversight Committee at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, where lawmakers plan on grilling him over his dealings with Trump — including alleged hush-money payments made during the 2016 election to women claiming to have had affairs with Trump.

The president's former lawyer pleaded guilty to charges brought by the US attorney's office in Manhattan, including a campaign finance violation related to a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford).

He addresses the payments and presents documents related to them.

Read more:Michael Cohen will testify that Trump knew Roger Stone was in touch with WikiLeaks during the election

"He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair, and to lie to his wife about it, which I did," Cohen's statement reads. "Lying to the First Lady is one of my biggest regrets. She is a kind, good person. I respect her greatly – and she did not deserve that."

One of the documents provided to the committee is a copy of the $130,000 wire transfer from Cohen to Daniels' attorney. He claims he was directed by Trump to use funds from his "Home Equity Line of Credit to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign."

The second document related to the hush-money payments is a copy of a $35,000 personal check from Trump to Cohen dated August 1, 2017, which was well into the first year of Trump's presidency. Cohen alleges that he was paid "11 check installments" related to repaying Cohen.

"I am going to jail in part because of my decision to help Mr. Trump hide that payment from the American people before they voted a few days later," Cohen said.

Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, relating to lying about Trump's dealings with Russia when he first testified in 2017, and he acknowledges that lawmakers and the American people may not find him credible. His testimony will again be under oath. He could face more jail time if he made false statements to Congress again.

SEE ALSO: 'I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is': Michael Cohen's bombshell opening statement before the House Oversight Committee drops hours before he is scheduled to testify

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Bud Light's 'Dilly Dilly' just made a comeback at the Super Bowl with a weird crossover ad with Game of Thrones — here's what the phrase means

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Wednesday.

1. The Senate Commerce Committee is demanding answers from Google CEO Sundar Pichai about the company's failure to disclose a microphone inside Nest home security devices. The committee is asking Google to provide written answers to six questions about the initially undisclosed microphone by March 12 and give an in-person briefing on the matter by March 29.
2. The Federal Trade Commission announced a new task force which will look at antitrust behavior in the technology market. It's the first major move by the FTC to address growing public concern over the size of tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
3. It looked like Apple Music was coming to Google Home speakers, but Google says it was only a glitch. On Monday evening, MacRumors discovered that users were able to connect Apple Music with their Google Home smart speakers, but according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, a Google spokesperson said it was just a software bug.
4. Huawei took a swipe at the US, saying it has "no evidence, nothing," of Chinese spying. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress, Huawei's chairman Guo Ping said Huawei had never planted backdoors in its equipment and would not allow third parties to meddle with its kit.
5. US officials called Huawei "duplicitous and deceitful" just as the Chinese firm was making its big 5G pitch. Top US cyber official Robert Strayer said the US government calls on its allies not to trust Chinese firms while buying equipment for upcoming 5G networks due to spying fears.
6. Facebook finally plans to launch its "clear history" privacy feature in 2019. CFO Dave Wehner talked about it at a conference on Tuesday and warned that it could damage Facebook's capacity to target users with ads.
7. The tech industry is begging the Supreme Court to overturn Oracle's lawsuit against Google. Dozens of briefs have been filed begging the Supreme Court to weigh in on Oracle's long-standing lawsuit against Google — and find in Google's favor.
8. Battery company Energizer and French telecoms company Avenir have made a massive smartphone with a huge 18,000mAh battery. The enormous battery means you can talk on the phone for 3 days straight on a single charge.
9. Sources told the Washington Post that the US military interrupted an infamous Russian troll farm's internet access during the 2018 midterm elections. It targeted the Internet Research Agency (IRA) in St. Petersburg, essentially taking the troll farm offline.
10. NASA says SpaceX may launch a new spaceship for the agency on Saturday in an "absolutely critical" test to help show Elon Musk's company can safely fly astronauts. The experimental launch, which will carry only a dummy and some cargo, is scheduled to occur on March 2 at 2:48 a.m. ET.

Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Everything we know about Samsung’s foldable phone

• Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, is expected to deliver an unflattering statement about his former employer's medical deferment during his congressional testimony on Wednesday.
• Trump was not required to serve in the Vietnam War after receiving five deferments.
• "You think I'm stupid, I wasn't going to Vietnam," Trump said, according to a statement prepared by Cohen.
• Cohen also quipped, in light of Trump's ongoing summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, "I find it ironic, President Trump, that you are in Vietnam right now."

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, is expected to deliver an unflattering statement about his former employer's medical deferment, during his highly-anticipated congressional testimony on Wednesday.

Cohen, who will be publicly testifying before the House Oversight Committee, claims in prepared remarks released Wednesday morning that Trump previously tasked him to "handle the negative press" in regards to questions about his medical deferment during the Vietnam War.

Trump was not required to serve in the Vietnam War after receiving five deferments: four for attending college and one for a bone spur diagnosis. Deferments were not uncommon as the Vietnam War raged in 1968, but Trump's lack of military service as a 22-year-old, 6 feet 2 inch athlete raised questions.

"Mr. Trump tasked me to handle the negative press surrounding his medical deferment from the Vietnam draft," Cohen alleges in his testimony. "Mr. Trump claimed it was because of a bone spur, but when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said there was no surgery."

"He told me not to answer the specific questions by reporters but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment," Cohen continued.

News organizations, such as the New York Times, asked Trump for his medical records during the 2016 US presidential election. Then-candidate Trump responded by saying he received "a very strong letter on the heels" from a doctor who approved of his deferment.

Trump added that he did not remember when his alleged condition — a build-up of calcium deposits on the heel's bone — was no longer a noticeable concern. "Over a period of time, it healed up," Trump said to The Times in 2016.

But Trump privately implied that the notion of him deploying to Vietnam was a foolhardy thought, according to Cohen.

"You think I'm stupid, I wasn't going to Vietnam," Trump said, Cohen claimed in his statement.

Cohen also quipped, in light of Trump's ongoing summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, "I find it ironic, President Trump, that you are in Vietnam right now."

Trump has continued to boast about making improvements for the US military during his presidency.

However, he has butted heads with veterans from his generation and Gold Star families affected by the War on Terror.

On the campaign trail, Trump made disparaging comments about the late Republican Sen. John McCain's military service as a naval aviator and a prisoner of war.

"He's not a war hero," Trump said at the Family Leadership Summit in 2015. "He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured."

Trump also feuded with the parents of US Army Capt. Humayun Khan, a Muslim-American who was killed in Iraq in 2004. Khizr and Ghazala Khan openly criticized Trump at the Democratic National Convention, to which Trump responded by suggesting their comments were written by Hillary Clinton's "scriptwriters."

Trump later signed a bill naming a post office after Khan and would refer to him as a "hero to our country."

Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison relating to two separate investigations, faces questions about his credibility as a witness. He was charged by special counsel Robert Mueller's office and pleaded guilty to lying to Congress — a development Trump and his loyalists have telegraphed ahead of his testimony.

SEE ALSO: US news reporters were abruptly kicked out of Kim Jong Un's hotel in Vietnam

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The top 15 presidents according to historians

• Pakistan's civil aviation authority has closed the country's airspace as tensions with its nuclear rival India escalate.
• Pakistan says that it shot down two Indian jets and has two Indian pilots in custody because the aircraft crossed into Pakistan's side of the disputed Kashmir region.
• Pakistan also launched air strikes into India-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday after India claimed to strike a militant training camp in Pakistan on Tuesday.
• Tensions have escalated between the two nuclear powers since an attack earlier in February, and Pakistan has convened a meeting of its nuclear commanders while ground forces have exchanged fire in more than a dozen locations.

Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority said on Wednesday that it had shut its entire airspace to all commercial flights after the military claimed to shoot down two Indian jets amid mounting tensions between the two nuclear rivals.

Pakistan's military claimed earlier on Wednesday that it had shot down two Indian aircraft because they crossed onto Pakistan's side of the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistan Air Force spokesperson Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said that the air force "shot down two Indian aircrafts inside Pakistani airspace."

Pakistan added that it has two Indian pilots in custody. Pakistan International Airlines warned passengers in a Wednesday tweet that Pakistan's air space closure might affect its flights.

This map from flight tracker Flightradar 24 shows an empty airspace above Pakistan on Wednesday compared to a month ago:

A spokesperson for India's foreign ministry said that India shot down one Pakistan Air Force plane on Wednesday  and that one Indian pilot is "missing in action." He said that Pakistan claims to have the pilot in custody and that India would be "ascertaining the facts."

Tensions between the two rival countries have mounted since a terror attack in Kashmir that left 40 Indian troops dead earlier on February 14. Both countries have ordered airstrikes against each other, the first time in history that the two powers have done so, according to Reuters.

Ground forces have exchanged fire in more than a dozen locations, Reuters also reported.

India said on Tuesday that it had launched an airstrike on what it said was a militant training base in Pakistan, the AP reported. India claimed that its airstrikes killed as many as 300 Muslim separatist militants, but Pakistan claims its air force scrambled fighter jets and chased India off.

Pakistan immediately convened a meeting of its nuclear commanders after the attack.

Pakistan's air force launched airstrikes into Indian-controlled part of Kashmir earlier on Wednesday, though no civilian casualities were reported, according to the AP.

Read more:Pakistan hints at nuking India after cross border air strikes roil the white hot feud

A spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter on Wednesday that the "sole purpose of this action was to demonstrate our right, will and capability for self defence. We do not wish to escalate but are fully prepared if forced into that paradigm." He used the hashtag #PakistanStrikesBack.

India and Pakistan have fought wars over the disputed Kasmir territory. Both countries claim the region, and rule parts of it.

China has urged Pakistan and India to avoid escallation. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters on Wednesday that China hopes "they will keep in mind the regional peace and stability, exercise restraint, take effective measures to strengthen dialogue, and maintain two sides' fundamental interests and the regional peace and stability," Reuters reported.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What El Chapo is really like, according to the wife of one his closest henchman

• Theresa May faces a series of crunch votes in the Commons on Wednesday, with several that could spell trouble for the government if passed.
• One amendment could allow MPs to hold a series of votes on their preferred Brexit outcomes, something Downing Street is desperate to avoid.
• Labour also plans to formally back a second EU referendum after this evening's votes.
• The prime minister yesterday promised MPs a vote on delaying Brexit.

LONDON — Theresa May will on Wednesday evening seek to fight off a series of attempts by MPs to take control of the Brexit process after the prime minister was forced into offering parliament the chance to delay Britain's exit from the EU.

The prime minister announced the vote on delaying Brexit on Tuesday in order to prevent multiple resignations from her Cabinet. Pro-EU ministers had been threatening to resign in order to back a Brexit amendment due to be voted on tonight which would have taken the decision out of her hands.

However, despite her concession, MPs have still tabled twelve amendments to be voted on this evening, several of which would cause Downing Street a headache if passed.

An amendment by Conservative MP Caroline Spelman could force the government to hold a series of indicative votes on different Brexit options on March 19, just a week after MPs are set to accept or reject Theresa May's Brexit deal and 10 days before Brexit.

The amendment has a good chance of passing this evening, and that could have potentially big ramifications. The way it is designed would give parliamentary time to a motion on indicative votes proposed by Brexit committee chair and Labour MP Hillary Benn.

That would set a precedent for parliament taking control of the Brexit process from the government, something Theresa May has been desperate to avoid.

And there is also a good chance that a majority of MPs, including the Labour frontbench, could indicate support for a Brexit deal which involves customs union membership, which could undermine Theresa May's opposition to such an outcome.

The Cooper-Letwin amendment, which was pulled after May offered a vote to delay Brexit, is still on the order paper for tonight, but those who have tabled it say it won't be moved if ministers provide more clarity on the future vote.

Dozens of Remain-supporting MPs, including several Cabinet ministers, had threatened to rebel against the prime minister and vote for the Cooper-Letwin plan if she failed to offer them a chance to vote on a Brexit delay.

Cooper has also tabled an amendment forcing the prime minister to commit to the promised Article 50 extension vote on Tuesday.

Labour prepares to back a second referendum

This evening is also significant because it is likely to mark the point when the opposition Labour party formally backs a second referendum. 

The party announced earlier this week that it put forward or support "an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country."

Its own amendment — which asks parliament to support Labour's own preferred version of EU exit — will be defeated as usual, at which point the party will formally back a second referendum.

Former Labour MP Chuka Umunna has brought forward an amendment calling for a People's Vote which has already gathered cross-party support. Corbyn will be under pressure to back the amendment, despite it being raised by a rival group consisting mostly of former Labour MPs who are highly critical of his leadership.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What happens when the president declares a national emergency