• Every six months, DARPA stages mock cyber attacks a highly restricted island off the coast of New York.
• Specialists war game a major cyber attack of the power grid on Plum Island, which people need US government clearance to set foot on.
• The exercise involves figuring out how to jumpstart a large electricity system if it gets suddenly taken offline by enemy hackers.
• A DARPA official sent Business Insider photos of the site during one of the drills.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Only a few have gone through the extensive background checks needed to access Plum Island — where a secretive branch of the US government runs exercises to prepare for all-out cyber war.

The speck of land in the Long Island Sound, owned by the Department of Homeland Security is largely deserted. The main attractions are a defunct lighthouse and a center that studies infectious animal diseases.

It is also the perfect setting for the US government to stage mock cyber attacks on the power grid.

Every six months, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — part of the Pentagon — ferries over experts who work to jumpstart a dead grid, while warding off a series of cyber threats. 

The exercise prepares them for a worst case scenario: if hackers succeed in taking the US electric system offline.

In Ukraine people have already seen the consequences of such an attack. Hackers plunged thousands of people into darkness when they compromised parts of the electric grid in 2015 and 2016. 

The country's security services blamed Russia, which had occupied Crimea shortly before, and would ultimately annex it from Ukraine.

The US has not yet seen an attack on its grid. But the FBI and DHS warned that Russian government hackers have in the past managed to access other critical infrastructure like the energy, nuclear, and manufacturing sectors.

Walter Weiss, the program manager overseeing the DARPA exercises, told Business Insider that his team is one of many studying how to defend the grid.

Weiss also sent Business Insider images of the site where DARPA carries out its operations.

"What we do that's different is that we start from the assumption that an attack would be successful," Weiss said.

"What scares us is that once you lose power it's tough to bring it back online... Doing that during a cyber attack is even harder because you can't trust the devices you need to restore power for that grid."

Without electricity, the experts cannot count on light, phone service, or access to the computer networks they need to restart the grid. Their only source of power are old-fashioned generators which need to be refueled constantly.

That means the the specialists cannot focus solely on fighting off cyber attacks, Weiss said, because so much of their focus is taken up with other things.

Without being able to communicate, the tiniest misstep can set the team back dramatically.

Practicing on Plum Island in particular is useful, Weiss said, because it mimics the isolation that could come with a full-scale cyber attack on the mainland.

"That's something we like about the island: You have what you brought with you," he said.

With the exercise, DARPA hopes to reduce how interdependent the different teams are, because it is so hard to coordinate. The less time they need to waste trying to stay in contact, the quicker they can get power back to a population waiting in darkness.

Especially in a developed country like the US, every aspect that citizens consider a basic necessity would be affected — from light, to communication, to running water, to transportation. 

"I'm trying to think through whose life would still be normal in the US or in England without power," Weiss said. "I'm having a really hard time."

SEE ALSO: Cyber-attacks are the newest frontier of war, and can strike harder than a natural disaster. Here's why the US could struggle to cope if it got hit.

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NOW WATCH: We had our earbuds tested for bacteria to find out if it's gross to share headphones

• Powerbeats Pro, the first truly wireless workout headphones from Beats, launched earlier this month.
• I've been using the Powerbeats Pro headphones for about 24 hours now, and I have some thoughts about my experience so far.
• I can definitely see Powerbeats Pro dethroning my current exercise headphones, but I'm not sure if they will become my "everyday" headphones like my AirPods are.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In late March, Apple blog 9to5Mac posted the first pictures of the upcoming Powerbeats Pro wireless headphones, which would eventually be released in the beginning of May.

Those photos of the yet-to-be-announced headphones generated lots of excitement online. It looked like Beats' version of AirPods: totally wireless, but built for exercise (and, presumably, people who like lots of bass in their music). I love my AirPods, so I was excited to try Powerbeats Pro.

Beats was kind enough to send me a review unit this week, and I've had about 24 hours with the wireless headphones so far.

Here are my first impressions of the Powerbeats Pro.

SEE ALSO: Forget about Apple's new 8-core MacBook Pro: Here are 7 reasons you should buy the standard 13-inch MacBook Pro instead

First of all, Powerbeats Pro are supremely comfortable. I feel like I can wear them for a long period of time, and never worry about them falling out of my ears.

This is a revelation for me, because I've never been a fan of headphones with interchangeable ear tips. I don't like having earbuds push into my ear canals; for this reason, I typically prefer over-ear headphones, or earbuds like AirPods that sit on top of the ear canal.

But Powerbeats Pro buck the trend, and offers a comfortable and satisfying experience.

The ear hooks are key.

By wrapping around your outer ear, Powerbeats Pro have a level of stability I've yet to experience in other headphones. I've tried lots of headphones built for exercise, but all of them are still prone to falling off your head, despite being sweatproof.

I can't imagine a scenario where Powerbeats Pro would come off my ears without me manually removing them.

Like other sports earbuds, Beats offers different-sized tips to accommodate most ear sizes. I like the default tips, though.

I have zero issues with the default tips after using them for about 24 hours. 

In terms of sound, Powerbeats Pro are very bass-heavy.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with Beats products.

Almost every piece of audio equipment from this company leans toward providing a heavy, thumping bass experience — like taking the subwoofer in your car and putting it on your head, or in your home.

I actually like how Beats emphasizes bass; I listen to a lot of hip-hop, so this audio profile accentuates the type of music I like. That said, other music genres also sound great in Powerbeats Pro, like rock or even classical music. 

Powerbeats Pro can get very loud — way louder than AirPods — so you can hear lots of details in your music.

Just don't play your music too loudly, or you'll do permanent damage to your ears.

The charging case is well-built and intuitive, with magnets to snap the earbuds into place for charging.

But it's definitely not as pocketable as the AirPods case, which is about the size of dental floss. The Powerbeats case is about four times as big.

I also like the Powerbeats Pro's on-board controls, which are conveniently on both earbuds and not just one.

Pressing the Beats logo on either earbud once pauses the music, twice skips a track, and three times goes back a song. You can also press this button to take or reject phone calls.

There's a volume rocker on top of the Beats logo so you can control your sound without reaching for your phone.

Based on my brief experience with Powerbeats Pro, I've found they have some advantages, and disadvantages, when compared to AirPods.

Powerbeats Pro beat AirPods in three big ways: They're more stable on your head; they offer a deeper and richer audio experience; and they're built for the gym, whereas AirPods should not be worn at the gym, as they can get damaged from sweat or water.

Read more:Stop wearing your AirPods at the gym

But AirPods still have a couple of big advantages over Powerbeats Pro: Taking them in and out of the case, and putting them in your ears, is a completely friction-less experience; and the carrying case is smaller and more portable, which makes them better for taking on a walk. The audio isn't quite as good or loud as Powerbeats Pro, but it's good enough for casual use.

So far, I'm thrilled about Powerbeats Pro. They're a pair of headphones that I can't wait to put on.

I can definitely see Powerbeats Pro dethroning my $60 Urbanears Hellas as the undisputed king of exercise headphones, but I'm not sure if Powerbeats Pro will become my "everyday" headphones like my AirPods are. I'm interested to find out.

This isn't a complete review of Powerbeats Pro, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with the headphones to learn more about their pros and cons. So far, though, I'm impressed by Powerbeats Pro. Beats created an excellent, versatile design that feels good to wear regardless of setting, and no matter what you're doing; you'll often forget you're wearing them. They're great for the gym, or if you want to just sit and listen to music at your desk, or on your commute.

In just 24 hours of testing, I'm feeling optimistic that I've found the perfect pair of wireless headphones. I think they definitely justify their $250 price point, and will make lots of people very happy.

• In videos posted online, followers of the Genesis II church appear to have given a substance called MMS, which they claim has miraculous healing powers, to people suffering malaria and other illnesses in Africa.
• MMS is actually a type of bleach. Health officials say ingesting it can cause nausea, severe dehydration, and can even prove fatal in large doses.
• An advocate of MMS admitted picking Africa as a target because drug safety laws are less strict and many people have poor access to conventional medicine.
• In recent months a network supplied by a US pastor has given the bleach to tens of thousands of Ugandans. 
• A source told Business Insider that in one instance Red Cross officials were told they were making a video about water treatment, which was later edited to look like a support video for MMS. The video — which the Red Cross has disowned — has been held up as "proof" that MMS works.

The film shows officials in Red Cross-branded shirts treating men, women and children who have been diagnosed with malaria in Iganga, a town in eastern Uganda.

They are being given what the narrator claims is an astonishing cure — "Miracle Mineral Solution," or MMS.

The results of the treatment are miraculous, declares narrator Klaas Proesmans, who describes himself as a charity executive.

"In total, we identified 154 malaria positive patients together with the local health authorities and the doctors, all of them were treated, and all of them between 24 hours and 48 hours malaria negative, without any side effects," he says.

Filmed in 2012, the video seems to offer a glimpse of a new breakthrough in malaria treatment, pioneered by the world's most famous aid organization.

A source at the charity now tells Business Insider that they believe their staff were duped into giving their patients poison.

MMS advocates with ties to a US religious group told local Red Cross staff they were working on a water treatment project. But they later edited the video to make MMS look like a cure for malaria, the source says.

The video then became a fundamental piece of "evidence" in a wider movement to push MMS on thousands of vulnerable people, even though the Red Cross denounced the video at the time.

When contacted by Business Insider, the advocates who made the video denied they did anything wrong. A spokesperson for the church said in an email, "We don't answer FAKE NEWS organizations that lie with an agenda from the REAL owners that are just plain evil and DO NOT want to see the TRUTH get out about how BIG Pharma/Medical industry are paying the politicians and the courts to look the other way while the world is being poisoned by their Toxic DRUGS!" 

As many as 50,000 Ugandans given MMS

MMS is, in fact, a type of toxic bleach which is banned in several countries and can prove fatal in large doses. In the US, complainants to the Food and Drug Administration have claimed it is linked it to two deaths.

This week, Business Insider published an investigation into MMS, laying out a slew of medical complaints, and at least one criminal prosecution, in several western countries.

Recent reporting by outlets including the Guardian and Business Insider have prompted warnings in Uganda from the police, the government, and the US embassy, all of which state emphatically that MMS has no known curative properties.

On May 23, three men were arrested over their MMS activities, in an apparent sign that Ugandan authorities are ready to take action.

In their mission to spread the word about MMS, followers of the Genesis II church have targeted communities in Africa, where they have found less resistance from government officials. According to the Guardian, as many as 50,000 people in Uganda may have been exposed to MMS over the years.

"This video is not only wrong, it is dangerous"

The video has found particular traction on YouTube. It shows locals being used as guinea pigs in bogus medical trials — that the Red Cross says never occurred — depicting people in Red Cross shirts administering MMS to infants, disabled children, and people with HIV and malaria.

Sam Little, one of the men arrested on May 23, told Business Insider earlier this year that the video inspired him to go to Uganda in the first place.

Several versions were hosted by YouTube until the company was made aware of them by Business Insider. Some were removed for violating YouTube's policies against harmful content. 

At the time of publication one version had been viewed more than 250,000 times, with other versions uploaded on the platform, subtitled in several languages, viewed thousands of times more.

In the film, Proesmans — identified as CEO of a non-governmental organisation called the Water Reference Center — says that his organisation partnered with the Red Cross to distribute MMS.

When reached by Business Insider staff, Proesmans denied that he had misrepresented the Red Cross. "It is not possible," he said. "There was no trial with Red Cross. There is more to the picture than meets the eye."

"But if you would move from behind your desk into the field with me, you can write about what you will witness with your own eyes," he said in an email.

The Red Cross denied involvement in the video in a 2012 statement claiming it "does not support or endorse in any manner the claims made in relation to this project, and has at no time been involved in 'clinical trials' related to malaria treatment."

But in 2019, a Red Cross official told Business Insider that the Ugandan Red Cross Society officials were duped into taking part. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the organisation was approached to partner on a water treatment project. (Sodium chlorite can be used to purify water in extremely small doses.)

The project was later morphed into the fake clinical trials depicted in the video without the Red Cross's understanding or consent, the source says.

Emanuele Capobianco, Director of Health at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told Business Insider, "This video is not only wrong, it is dangerous. MMS is not a malaria cure. It is bleach — it is snake oil. At the very least, it diverts attention away from what actually works."

Two bloggers have a theory about how a malaria cure could be faked

Dutch skeptic and blogger Pepijn van Erp and British blogger and chemist Myles Power have written about the video, and have a theory for how the Red Cross could have been manipulated into helping present MMS as a cure.

According to van Erp and Power, the advocates could have used sleight-of-hand to make it appear that people had malaria when they really did not. 

Test subjects could have been screened for malaria using a rapid test method, which can give false positives, Van Erp and Power believe.

The false-positive patients could have then been given MMS, which can be seen in the video.

According to van Erp, the "patients" could then have been recorded taking a more reliable blood smear method the following day — which would naturally test negative for malaria.

The pair say that the elimination of the false positives — in people who never actually had malaria — could then be theoretically held up as evidence of a cure.

"I'd seen a previous study from the Red Cross, it's on YouTube"

Since 2012, advocates of MMS have continued to target communities in Africa.

A network supplied by a pastor from New Jersey has this year alone distributed the bleach to tens of thousands of people in Uganda, as reported by the Guardian.

They too have broadcast their efforts on YouTube. In a video uploaded to YouTube in March, Sam Little, the MMS advocate arrested on May 23, gave an MMS demonstration to officials in a government health centre in the town of Nyankwanzi, western Uganda.

They are then shown distributing the substance to people with malaria, including a baby and a child who appears to be around eight years old.

Little claims that tests taken by a health center official show that all those who took MMS were cured of malaria, proving that MMS is a cure. He says he has treated "well over ten thousand people, and fifteen thousand people."

On May 23, 2019, Little was arrested by Ugandan police in connection with his MMS activities.

Before his arrest, Little told Business Insider that it was the 2012 video which inspired him to go to Uganda himself. 

Little spoke to Business Insider via cellphone from a community in Uganda, and said that he had become convinced that MMS works after giving it to a pet. He said he had "proved that it can cure HIV and malaria."

He claimed to be acting "out of the kindness of my heart."

He said: "If I was doing this to do something bad, I wouldn't be posting it on my Facebook. I've got nothing to hide. Any money the church gets, it gives out to help people. It's not a thing to make money."

He declined to give the names of doctors whom he had said could vouch for his claim that he had used MMS to cure HIV and malaria. 

"They don't have the options that we have in the richer countries"

In his film, Little appears alongside a man called Samula Albert Araali. He appears to be the same man as Samuel Albert, whom police in Uganda named as one of the three arrested on May 23.

In videos uploaded last year Araali claims to be a "bishop" in the Genesis II Church, and distributes the substance to Ugandans whom he says suffer from "malaria, tuberculosis, common coughs and colds and diabetes."

Araali also cites the Red Cross video, which he says "proves " the substance works.

Araali did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Business Insider, made before and after his apparent arrest. 

After being tipped off about Araali's video, an official from Uganda's National Drugs authority told Business Insider that officials were investigating, and are considering legal action.

The Ugandan network is organized by American pastor Robert Baldwin, according to the Guardian. When reached by Business Insider, Baldwin insisted that chlorine dioxide was FDA-approved for certain uses in food. "The FDA has a direct conflict of interest to approve any natural health treatments, they are staffed by people from the drug industry. You cannot patent natural health solutions like chlorine dioxide. Therefore, there is no profit," he said.

In a taped conversation with anti-MMS campaigner Fiona O'Leary, heard by Business Insider, Baldwin said he was training a network of pastors to give MMS to congregants.

Baldwin, who is based in New Jersey, said he went to Africa because of its weaker regulation.

"America and Europe have much stricter laws so you are not as free to treat people because it is so controlled by the FDA," he said. "That's why I work in developing countries."

"Those people in poor countries, they don't have the options that we have in the richer countries. They are much more open to receiving the blessings that God has given them."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: NASA's 5-step plan for when it discovers a giant, killer asteroid headed straight for Earth

• Graduations are the stuff of tradition, but sometimes those traditions are truly bizarre.
• Some schools race wooden hoops, some throw watches off rooftops, and some distribute the wrong diplomas.
• They may be ridiculous, but those traditions are what make some schools treasured institutions.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

For those graduating from university this year, it's going to be hard to say goodbye to their alma mater. 

Thankfully, graduation ceremonies exist as both a formality for their parents to take pictures of, and as an opportunity for the new grads to conclude years of hard work and hard partying by throwing their caps in the air.

But not all grads throw their caps in the air. Some colleges have stranger traditions — Smith College distributes diplomas unlike any other school, Yale University has a lucky toe, and Wellesley College rolls wooden hoops downhill.

Here are some of the strangest and silliest graduation traditions in American universities.

SEE ALSO: Every Ivy League university ranked from least to most expensive

Smith College's Diploma Circle

While most graduates receive their diplomas when their names are called as they walk across the stage, at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, graduates get a random diploma with any one of 700 classmates' names. They then walk over to a field on campus where they form the Diploma Circle.

The Diploma Circle, a century-old tradition, is when the graduating class stands around in concentric circles while diplomas are passed from student to student until everyone has her diploma. 

Wellesley College's wooden hoops

Wellesley College students have one of the strangest traditions upon graduating: they race wooden hoops down Tupelo Street.

It started out as May Day celebration in honor of spring, but soon grew to become a graduation day tradition. The winner of the race is said to go on to achieve success. The winner is also swept up by the other students and promptly thrown into Lake Waban.

It may seem like an exciting race, but the reality is a little more haphazard — grads dropping their hoops, colliding into one another, all to win the coveted first place.

Yale University's lucky toe

Yale students have a rather bizarre tradition that involves the toe of former Yale president Theodore Dwight Woolsey's bronze statue.

Yale tour guides routinely explain that students rub the toe for good luck once they graduate. Legend has it that Woosley, when he was president, would attend a regatta in support of the Yale crew team. Every time he kicked off a boat with his left toe to start the race, the Yale team would win.

Unfortunately, however, this legend has no basis in fact, and the toe itself isn't known to be lucky. And the tradition that grads rub the toe isn't true either — it was invented to cover up the real tradition: when students graduate, they urinate on the toe, which might explain the slightly worn golden tint of the bronze toe.

Williams College's watch throwing

At Williams College, a destructive tradition has been held for the last century — throwing watches off of Thompson Chapel, to celebrate the passage of time. Perhaps these grads don't want time to keep on moving. If they could stop time at any moment in their lives, graduation day is a fitting choice. 

Throwing a watch, like many graduation traditions, is said to bring good luck to the thrower.

Notre Dame's 3D graduation cap decorations

Students graduating from Notre Dame's School of Architecture make their graduation cap decorations over-the-top — literally.

The students build 3D replicas of buildings, bridges, Ferris wheels, and more to wear during commencement ceremony. 

"Needless to say, the architecture seating assignment during the University Commencement Ceremony is located in the back rows of the main floor section," says the Notre Dame school website.

Liberty University's nursing students burn their scrubs

Liberty University nursing students celebrate their freedom from school by burning their scrubs — and the school dean joins in.

Each year, graduating students gather at the home of Dean Deanna Britt's house for a bonfire, where they fling their scrubs into the fire.

"It's freedom! In the hospital we are recognized by our uniform and so burning our white scrubs means that we no longer have to label ourselves as student nurses," former nursing student Sarah Hacking said on the school's website.

West Point nominates a "class goat"

In an otherwise cruel nightmare, the worst-performing West Point student gets recognized in front of the entire graduation crowd and gets named the "class goat."

Though the practice seems harsh, class goats are a time-honored tradition. They also receive a cash prize and a standing ovation, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Notre Dame walking down the steps

The steps outside the front of Notre Dame's main campus building — with the iconic Golden Dome — are off-limits to students until after they graduate. When graduation day comes, excited seniors get to walk down the steps on their way to the commencement ceremony. 

The tradition dates back to the 19th century, when students used to smoke with professors after completing a degree program, according to the school's website.

• Hawaii is a great place to be a psychiatrist or an astronomer.
• Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found the 30 jobs with the highest average salaries in Hawaii.
• Seven of the top 10 jobs were in the medical field, which is common in other states.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Hawaii is beloved for its weather and its surf spots, but it's also a great place for medical professionals and scientists.

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics program, we found the 30 jobs with the highest average annual salaries in Hawaii as of May 2018, the most recently available data. The top spot was taken by psychiatrists, who make an average of $269,800 a year. Seven out of the top 10 occupations were also in the medical field. 

Hawaii is home to 23 observatories, making it ideal for astronomers. Mauna Kea Observatory is the world's largest, and has the second and third-largest telescopes in the world, Keck 1 and Keck 2.

Here are the 30 highest-paying jobs in the Aloha State.

SEE ALSO: The 30 highest-paying jobs in Florida, land of gators and 20,000 CEOs

Construction Managers make an average of $109,850 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 1,900

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate, usually through subordinate supervisory personnel, activities concerned with the construction and maintenance of structures, facilities, and systems. Participate in the conceptual development of a construction project and oversee its organization, scheduling, budgeting, and implementation. Includes managers in specialized construction fields, such as carpentry or plumbing.

Air Traffic Controllers make an average of $110,050 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 260

What they do, according to O*NET: Control air traffic on and within vicinity of airport and movement of air traffic between altitude sectors and control centers according to established procedures and policies. Authorize, regulate, and control commercial airline flights according to government or company regulations to expedite and ensure flight safety.

First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives make an average of $110,470 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 610

What they do,according to O*NET: Supervise and coordinate the investigation of criminal cases, offering guidance and expertise to investigators, and ensuring that procedures are conducted in accordance with laws and regulations.

Lawyers make an average of $111,290 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 2,020

What they do, according to O*NET: Represent clients in criminal and civil litigation and other legal proceedings, draw up legal documents, or manage or advise clients on legal transactions. May specialize in a single area or may practice broadly in many areas of law.

Marketing Managers make an average of $112,800 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 600

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate marketing policies and programs, such as determining the demand for products and services offered by a firm and its competitors, and identify potential customers. Develop pricing strategies with the goal of maximizing the firm's profits or share of the market while ensuring the firm's customers are satisfied. Oversee product development or monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services.

General and Operations Managers make an average of $114,040 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 9,550

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate the operations of public or private sector organizations. Duties and responsibilities include formulating policies, managing daily operations, and planning the use of materials and human resources, but are too diverse and general in nature to be classified in any one functional area of management or administration, such as personnel, purchasing, or administrative services.

Natural Sciences Managers make an average of $115,240 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 250

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, statistics, and research and development in these fields.

Optometrists make an average of $117,310 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 170

What they do, according to O*NET: Diagnose, manage, and treat conditions and diseases of the human eye and visual system. Examine eyes and visual system, diagnose problems or impairments, prescribe corrective lenses, and provide treatment. May prescribe therapeutic drugs to treat specific eye conditions.

Financial Managers make an average of $118,740 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 2,560

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment.

Nurse Practitioners make an average of $120,570 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 410

What they do, according to O*NET: Diagnose and treat acute, episodic, or chronic illness, independently or as part of a healthcare team. May focus on health promotion and disease prevention. May order, perform, or interpret diagnostic tests such as lab work and X-rays. May prescribe medication. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.

Petroleum Engineers make an average of $121,050 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 70

What they do, according to O*NET: Devise methods to improve oil and gas extraction and production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer technical advice.

Aerospace Engineers make an average of $121,100 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 30

What they do, according to O*NET: Perform engineering duties in designing, constructing, and testing aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft. May conduct basic and applied research to evaluate adaptability of materials and equipment to aircraft design and manufacture. May recommend improvements in testing equipment and techniques.

Physician Assistants make an average of $121,120 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 320

What they do, according to O*NET: Provide healthcare services typically performed by a physician, under the supervision of a physician. Conduct complete physicals, provide treatment, and counsel patients. May, in some cases, prescribe medication. Must graduate from an accredited educational program for physician assistants.

Pharmacists make an average of $121,780 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 1,710

What they do, according to O*NET: Dispense drugs prescribed by physicians and other health practitioners and provide information to patients about medications and their use. May advise physicians and other health practitioners on the selection, dosage, interactions, and side effects of medications.

Education Administrators (Postsecondary) make an average of $124,160 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 410

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate research, instructional, student administration and services, and other educational activities at postsecondary institutions, including universities, colleges, and junior and community colleges.

Computer and Information Systems Managers make an average of $124,660 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 830

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as electronic data processing, information systems, systems analysis, and computer programming.

Medical and Health Services Managers make an average of $124,970 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 1,640

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate medical and health services in hospitals, clinics, managed care organizations, public health agencies, or similar organizations.

Astronomers make an average of $126,170 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 90

What they do, according to O*NET: Observe, research, and interpret astronomical phenomena to increase basic knowledge or apply such information to practical problems.

Physicists make an average of $126,480 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 50

What they do, according to O*NET: Conduct research into physical phenomena, develop theories on the basis of observation and experiments, and devise methods to apply physical laws and theories.

Health Specialties Teachers (Postsecondary) make an average of $137,560 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 500

What they do, according to O*NET: Teach courses in health specialties, in fields such as dentistry, laboratory technology, medicine, pharmacy, public health, therapy, and veterinary medicine.

Architectural and Engineering Managers make an average of $140,610 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 810

What they do, according to O*NET: Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as architecture and engineering or research and development in these fields.

Pediatricians (General) make an average of $174,390 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 190

What they do, according to O*NET: Physicians who diagnose, treat, and help prevent children's diseases and injuries. Prescribe or administer treatment, therapy, medication, vaccination, and other specialized medical care to treat or prevent illness, disease, or injury in infants and children.

Nurse Anesthetists make an average of $192,580 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 80

What they do, according to O*NET: Administer anesthesia, monitor patient's vital signs, and oversee patient recovery from anesthesia. May assist anesthesiologists, surgeons, other physicians, or dentists. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.

Dentists (General) make an average of $196,690 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 640

What they do, according to O*NET: Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums. May treat diseases of nerve, pulp, and other dental tissues affecting oral hygiene and retention of teeth. May fit dental appliances or provide preventive care.

Chief Executives make an average of $201,680 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 1,090

What they do, according to O*NET: Determine and formulate policies and provide overall direction of companies or private and public sector organizations within guidelines set up by a board of directors or similar governing body. Plan, direct, or coordinate operational activities at the highest level of management with the help of subordinate executives and staff managers.

Internists (General) make an average of $212,360 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 270

What they do, according to O*NET: Physicians who diagnose and provide non-surgical treatment of diseases and injuries of internal organ systems. Provide care mainly for adults who have a wide range of problems associated with the internal organs.

Physicians and Surgeons (All Other) make an average of $228,470 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 1,380

What they do, according to O*NET: This job category includes allergists and immunologists, dermatologists, neurologists, pathologists, physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, radiologists, and urologists.

Family and General Practitioners make an average of $231,750 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 420

What they do, according to O*NET: Physicians who diagnose, treat, and help prevent diseases and injuries that commonly occur in the general population. May refer patients to specialists when needed for further diagnosis or treatment.

Obstetricians and Gynecologists make an average of $237,050 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 210

What they do, according to O*NET: Physicians who provide medical care related to pregnancy or childbirth and those who diagnose, treat, and help prevent diseases of women, particularly those affecting the reproductive system. May also provide general medical care to women.

Psychiatrists make an average of $269,800 a year

Number of people employed in Hawaii: 100

What they do, according to O*NET: Physicians who diagnose, treat, and help prevent disorders of the mind. Prescribe, direct, or administer psychotherapeutic treatments or medications to treat mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders.

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

Outside of the US Postal Service (USPS), FedEx and UPS have dominated the domestic logistics industry — and in particular, the last-mile of the delivery — for decades. On a quarterly earnings call in 2016, FedEx estimated that itself, UPS, and USPS executed a whopping 95% of all e-commerce orders.

But rapidly rising volumes have put the pair of legacy shippers in a bind. E-commerce sales have risen over 50% and are projected to continue their ascent into the next decade. High volumes are already straining shippers' networks — UPS struggled to bring consumers their parcels on time due to higher-than-anticipated package volume, which upset some big-name retail partners, including Macy's, Walmart, and Amazon. As online sales surge further, package volumes will outstrip legacy shippers' capacities, creating space for new entrants. 

Amazon is uniquely well-positioned to dethrone UPS and FedEx's duopoly. It's built up a strong logistics infrastructure, counting hundreds of warehouses and thousands of delivery trucks.

Further, as the leading online retailer in the US, it has a wealth of data on consumers that it can use to craft a personalized delivery experience that's superior to UPS and FedEx's offerings. Amazon must act soon, however, as UPS and FedEx are hard at work fortifying their own networks to handle the expected surge in parcel volume.

The longer the Seattle-based e-tailer delays the launch of a delivery service, the more it runs the risk that these legacy players will be able to defend their territory. 

In a new report, Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, explains how the age of e-commerce is opening up cracks in UPS and FedEx's duopoly. We then outline how Amazon's logistics ambitions began as an effort to more quickly get parcels out the door and fulfill its famous 2-day shipping process and how it'll be a key building block for the company if it builds out a last-mile service. Lastly, we offer concrete steps that the firm must take to maximize the dent it makes in UPS and FedEx's duopoly.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Alibaba, Amazon, FedEx, and UPS.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• While UPS and FedEx have dominated the US last-mile delivery market for the last few decades, the surge in e-commerce is creating more volume than shipping companies can handle.
• Amazon is uniquely well-positioned to put a dent in UPS and FedEx's duopoly due to its strategic position as the leading online retailer in the US.
• Amazon can carry its trust amongst the public, a wealth of consumer data, and its ability to craft a more personalized delivery experience to the last-mile delivery space to ultimately dethrone UPS and FedEx.
• The top priority for Amazon in taking on UPS and FedEx needs to be offering substantially lower shipping rates — one-third of US retailers say they'll switch to an Amazon shipping service if it's at least 20% cheaper than UPS and FedEx. 

In full, the report:

• Outlines Amazon's current shipping and logistics footprint and strengths that it would bring to the last-mile delivery space in the US.
• Lays out concrete steps that Amazon must take if it wants to launch a standalone last-mile delivery service, including how it can offer a more memorable, higher-quality delivery experience than UPS and FedEx.
• Illustrates how Amazon can minimize operating costs for a delivery service to ultimately undercut UPS and FedEx's shipping rates in the last-mile space.

SEE ALSO: Amazon and Walmart are building out delivery capabilities

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• President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he wasn't "disturbed" by recent North Korean missile tests, even though his advisers were.
• He said he has "confidence" in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and said he "smiled" when he learned Kim had insulted former Vice President Joe Biden.
• Top Trump officials like John Bolton, the national security adviser, have condemned the North Korean tests, saying Saturday they violated United Nations resolutions.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday that he has "confidence" in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and wasn't "disturbed" by the country's missile tests earlier this month that his own advisers have said violated United Nations resolutions.

He also appeared to laugh at Kim's recent insults toward former Vice President and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, whom he called "an imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being" and a "fool of low IQ," according to the North Korean news agency KCNA.

"North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me," Trump tweeted. "I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Bidan [sic] a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that's sending me a signal?"

Read more: North Korea called Joe Biden a 'fool of low IQ' who is 'seized by ambition for power' after he labeled Kim Jong Un a 'tyrant'

Top Trump administration officials have condemned North Korea's testing of short-range ballistic missiles, and the White House national security adviser, John Bolton, said Saturday that "there is no doubt" the tests violated UN Security Council resolutions.

Bolton said Saturday that the Trump administration has "not heard much" from North Korea since the summit in Hanoi in February, during which Trump refused Kim's request to lift economic sanctions in exchange for dismantling only part of its nuclear weapons system.

Trump spent Saturday in Tokyo, on the first day of a four-day trip where he will hold a summit meeting with Prime Minister Shizo Abe, where the topic of how to handle North Korea is expected to arise.

• Read more:
• Kim Jong Un reportedly demanded to hang out with 'famous' basketball players during nuclear negotiations with US
• Take a tour of the closest Chinese city to North Korea, which Kim Jong Un recently passed to meet Trump — the nearest thing to the outside world most North Koreans will ever see
• The US and North Korea weirdly fired off missiles at almost the exact same time
• The Pentagon has given up work on one of the only concrete agreements Trump got from North Korea

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NOW WATCH: White House photographer Pete Souza reveals what it was like to be in the Situation Room during the raid on Osama bin Laden

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.

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• A Dutch astronomer captured video footage showing a string of roughly 60 Starlink satellites.
• The video shows the "train" of satellites speeding in a straight line as they orbit around the earth.
• The satellites were launched Thursday evening by SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket company.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A stunning video shot by a Dutch astronomer captured a string of roughly 60 Starlink satellites zooming across the night sky, one day after they were launched into orbit.

The video shows the "train" of satellites speeding in a straight line as they orbit around the earth.

The astronomer, Marco Langbroek, wrote in a blog post that he had calculated the search orbit himself to find out when they would pass by, and "stood ready" with his camera. The train zoomed by within three minutes of his predicted time.

"It started with two faint, flashing objects moving into the field of view. Then, a few tens of seconds later, my jaw dropped as the 'train' entered the field of view," Langbroek wrote. "I could not help shouting 'OAAAAAH!!!!' (followed by a few expletives…)."

Read more: SpaceX just unleashed its first 60 Starlink high-speed-internet satellites and recorded a 'weird' video of the maneuver

The satellites were launched Thursday evening by SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket company. The company's goal is to ultimately launch up to 12,000 of the telecommunications satellites, with the intent of forming a network that could provide internet access across the earth and move internet traffic nearly to the speed of light in a vacuum.

Dave Mosher contributed reporting.

• Read more:
• A SpaceX contractor risked disaster by forging safety inspectors' signatures for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket parts, US prosecutors say
• 'Like trying to build the USA in the middle of the Atlantic': Elon Musk just dunked on Jeff Bezos' vision to build floating space colonies
• SpaceX is suing the US Air Force, accusing it of awarding $2.3 billion worth of contracts to firms with 'unbuilt, unflown' rocket systems
• Elon Musk has a 2027 deadline to surround Earth with high-speed Starlink internet satellites — but the service would work far sooner than that

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This stunning visualization breaks down all the ingredients in your favorite processed foods

• The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into religious discrimination complaints against two US aiports over their decisions to block Chick-fil-A restaurants from the premises.
• The FAA confirmed Friday it was investigating the San Antonio International Airport and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
• Chick-fil-A has long drawn scrutiny over its donations to charitable organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating airports in Texas and New York over complaints that they discriminated against Chick-fil-A by blocking the fast-food chain from its airport concession contracts.

Chick-fil-A has long drawn backlash over the chain's record on LGBT issues — particularly its donations to charitable organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.

The FAA confirmed to media outlets that it's investigating the San Antonio International Airport and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport over the issue.

"The FAA notes that federal requirements prohibit airport operators from excluding persons on the basis of religious creed from participating in airport activities that receive or benefit from FAA grant funding," the agency said in a statement to Fox News.

Read more: Chick-fil-A's mobile sales are skyrocketing as execs say the chicken chain is entering a new tech-obsessed era

San Antonio's city council voted in March to exclude Chick-fil-A from its concession contract for the airport, arguing that the move would help ensure inclusion and equality in the city. Chick-fil-A supporters, however, have argued that the decision was discriminatory against the company owner's religious beliefs.

San Antonio's city attorney, Andy Segovia, told the San Antonio Express-News that his office received notice of the FAA's involvement on Friday and would review it and "determine our course of action."

In Buffalo, the company that operates the airports restaurants, Delaware North, announced in March that it had scrapped plans to open a Chick-fil-A in the airport. The news came after a New York state assemblyman publicly opposed the restaurant chain.

• Read more:
• Chick-fil-A is finally bringing back a menu item that customers have been begging the chain to resurrect
• Chick-fil-A is testing spicy chicken strips as the chain looks to expand its spicy menu offerings
• For Chick-fil-A, impact trumps 'any political or cultural war' when it comes to controversial donations
• The head of Chick-fil-A's charity says the chicken chain would consider working with an LGBT organization if the partnership was 'authentic'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Nxivm founder Keith Raniere began his trial. Here's what happened inside the alleged sex-slave ring that recruited actresses and two billionaire heiresses.

• Devin Haney defeated Antonio Moran in showstopping fashion at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill on Saturday.
• It was the 20-year-old American's debut on the DAZN platform, having signed with English boxing promoter Eddie Hearn earlier in the year.
• Haney's performance made the industry sit up and take notice considering the vast potential of the youngster.
• And Hearn himself described the knockout as "like watching an artist draw a beautiful picture and then at the end just sign his name off and walk away into the night."
• Watch the knockout right here.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Devin Haney delivered a stunning knockout win on his DAZN debut on Saturday.

The 20-year-old American fighter's whole life has been about boxing, according to Eddie Hearn, the group managing director of Matchroom Sport.

And Haney showed his new promoter Hearn what he is capable of on May 25 when he gave a vicious beating to opponent Antonio Moran at the MGM National Harbo in Oxon Hill, Maryland — a victory so brutal it made the industry stand up and take notice.

Read more: Manny Pacquiao's next opponent Keith Thurman has pushed back against Deontay Wilder's controversial comments, saying boxing is 'not about killing people'

Haney showed heavy hands, ring generalship, and a merciless nature as he sent Moran to the canvass in the seventh round, having dominated throughout the fight.

The ESPN journalist Steve Kim said Haney "looked like an elite, blue-chip prospect/young contender" and is "one of the future pillars of boxing." Iconic ring announcer Michael Buffer even called him a "potential superstar."

Watch his knockout win below:

Or here if you are in a different region:

Read more: A 25-year-old Brazilian made his UFC debut on Saturday, and won praise for his button-bashing PlayStation style victory

After the fight, Hearn waxed lyrical over Haney, saying to Boxing Scene: "Where I come from in England, if we had a star like this, the country would be going mad. So you guys need to get behind Devin Haney because let me tell you, America has a superstar on their hands.

"That was like watching an artist draw a beautiful picture and then at the end just sign his name off and walk away into the night."

That life Haney had dedicated to boxing certainly seems to have been a life well spent so far.

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NOW WATCH: WATCH: The legendary economist who predicted the housing crisis says the US will win the trade war

• Even more airlines are demanding compensation from Boeing over its 737 Max crisis.
• Two more Chinese airlines are looking for compensation over losses made after the grounding of 737 Max planes in the aftermath of two fatal crashes, and delayed deliveries of more Max planes.
• They join a growing list of airlines from China and around the world that want compensation or amending orders as Boeing's crisis continues, even as some of them continue to express support for the manufacturer.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Two more Chinese largest airlines have joined a growing list of carriers that are looking for compensation from Boeing as the 737 Max plane remains grounded around the world following two fatal crashes.

State-aligned Chinese outlet the Global Times reported on Friday that Xiamen Airlines, which has 10 Max planes, and Fuzhou Airlines, which has 2 planes, are seeking compensation from Boeing for the losses that have resulted from the plane's grounding plane and the delayed deliveries of more of the plane model. 

They are the latest Chinese carriers to make the announcement, after Air China, China Southern Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines said this week that they are requesting compensation, Reuters reported, citing Chinese state TV.

They join airlines in the US, Europe, and around the world that have reacted to the crashes or the wait for Boeing the plane to return to service by cancelling or amending orders, or looking for compensation.

Here is the full list:

• Xiamen Airlines and Fuzhou Airlines: The airlines want compensation for economic losses they have incurred since grounding the plane in March, and for delayed deliveries of more planes
• Air China, China Southern Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines: The airlines are asking for compensation for losses after the grounding of the planes and delayed deliveries of new Max planes.
• Ryanair: The budget airline's CEO said he wants compensation for the delays, but said his company still has confidence in Boeing.
• Turkish Airlines: The airline's chairman said he expects compensation from Boeing and would talk with the manufacturer about its orders.
• FlyDubai: FlyDubai's chairman said in April that the airline has the "right" to ask for compensation and could replace its order for Max jets with an order from Airbus, Boeing's European rival, amid uncertainty over when the Max will fly again.
• Norwegian Air: Norwegian said in March that it was seeking compensation from Boeing for its grounded fleets.
• Southwest: Gary Kelly, Southwest's chief executive, said the airline would talk to Boeing "privately" about arrangements, The Financial Times reported, though he told Bloomberg that it was "premature" to talk about what compensation it was seeking.
• United Airlines: United's chief financial officer said in April that the airline would discuss compensation with Boeing over the grounding of the planes.
• Garuda: Indonesia's flagship airline asked to cancel a $5 billion order for 737 Max planes because passengers "lost trust and no longer have the confidence" in the plane.

Boeing's Max planes were grounded around the world after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed in March, killing all 157 people on board. The plane was the second Max to crash in less than five months, following a Lion Air plane that crashed in Indonesia killing the 189 people on board in October 2018.

Boeing has completed a software update for the Max, which will undergo scrutiny from the US Federal Aviation Administration and regulators around the world before the plane can return to the skies.

Read more:After the first fatal 737 Max crash, Boeing said it hadn't installed an extra safety feature because it might 'confuse' pilots

But the groundings, delayed deliveries of new Max planes, and continuing uncertainty over when the plane will be able to return to service has led airlines to cancel months of flights and warn of hits to their profits.

European and US airlines have warned that they will lose hundreds of millions of dollars over the crisis. Southwest, which has the largest 737 Max fleet in the world, said it lost $200 million in the first three months of 2019 due to cancellations caused by the grounding of the plane and the government shutdown.

The crisis cost Boeing itself $1 billion in the first quarter of 2019, and it also faces lawsuits from victims' families and from shareholders and federal investigations into how the plane got certified in addition to the airlines' demands.

Boeing has promised that the plane will be one of the "safest ever to fly" when it returns to service and that the company will "earn and re-earn" flyers' trust. It said that it is working closely regulators and with airlines and pilots to provide additional training.

Do you work at Boeing or the FAA, or are you a pilot? Got a tip or a story to share? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +353 86 335 0386 using a non-work phone, or email her at sbaker@businessinsider.com, or Twitter DM her at @sineadbaker1.

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• Senior German politicians have warned Jews that they should not wear the traditional skullcap, known as a kippah, in certain parts of the country, thanks to a rise in the number of anti-Semitic crimes being committed.
• "I cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany," Felix Klein, the country's anti-Semitism minister told the Funke newspaper group, according to a BBC.
• There were 1,646 hate crimes committed against Jews in Germany last year, an increase of more than 10% from 2017.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

Senior German politicians have warned Jews that they should not wear the traditional skullcap, known as a kippah, in certain parts of the country, thanks to a rise in the number of anti-Semitic crimes being committed.

"I cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany," Felix Klein, the country's anti-Semitism minister told the Funke newspaper group, according to a BBC report.

Instances of anti-Semitic crime have risen sharply in Germany in the past handful of years, leading Klein to say his opinion on overt shows of Judaism such as wearing a kippah has "changed compared with what it used to be."

According to BBC reporting, there were 1,646 hate crimes committed against Jews in Germany last year, an increase of more than 10% from 2017. Of those hate crimes, 62 saw instances of physical violence, up from 37 in 2017, an increase of over 65%.

Read more:Uber barred a London driver after he canceled a ride for 2 men wearing skullcaps because 'I don't take Jews'

Klein did not give any guidance on the specific parts of Germany where he believes Jews should avoid wearing the skullcap, but said "increasing social disinhibition and brutality," is likely to blame for the rise in anti-Semitic crime in the country, according to the Times of Israel.

Increased policing, and greater education on anti-Semitism are the key to tackling the problem, Klein said, according to the Times of Israel.

"There is much insecurity among police and government officials in dealing with anti-Semitism. Many officials do not know what is allowed and what is not," he said.

"There is a clear definition of anti-Semitism, and it has to be taught in police schools. Likewise, it should be part of the education of teachers and lawyers."

Klein's comments came weeks after Claudia Vanoni, one of Germany's foremost legal experts told the AFP that anti-Semitism remains "deeply rooted" in the country's society.

"Anti-Semitism has always been here. But I think that recently, it has again become louder, more aggressive and flagrant,"Claudia Vanoni told AFP, according to France 24.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Nxivm founder Keith Raniere began his trial. Here's what happened inside the alleged sex-slave ring that recruited actresses and two billionaire heiresses.

• Internal Google emails allegedly show that engineers at the company knew credit was being generated for clients whose money was wasted on invalid clicks. That money was not returned, the emails allegedly show.
• The emails come from a federal lawsuit filed by AdTrader, a Google advertising client.
• The CEO of AdTrader recorded a phone call in which a Google sales staffer said his clients would be refunded for invalid clicks. The money never arrived.
• Now Google has decided to return $75 million to clients who were allegedly ripped off.
• Alphabet, Google's parent company, denies that it intentionally defrauded any publishers or advertisers.
• See more stories on Business Insider's front page.

Internal Google emails show that for years the company failed to return credit or refunds to advertisers when they were billed for fraudulent advertising activity, according to US federal court documents obtained by Business Insider.

The emails were introduced or quoted in litigation between Google and a company called AdTrader, which has in the past handled online advertising for clients such as Citroen, Allianz, Nestle.

AdTrader sued Google in 2017, claiming that $476,622 paid by its clients for ads on web sites that contravened Google's rules was not refunded after Google discovered the clicks that generated the bills were invalid.

Google denies the claims.

A taped phone call

AdTrader discovered the alleged non-payment after its CEO, Martin Stoev, recorded a phone call in which a Google staffer assured him that his clients' money would be returned. AdTrader acted as both a buyer and a seller of ad space for clients, so it was able to check whether the $476,622 actually arrived in client accounts. It did not. "It was clearly a lie," Stoev said.

• Listen to the phone call here.

The litigation also revealed that Google now intends to refund $75 million to advertisers who were defrauded prior to late 2017. Google will call some of the biggest advertisers by phone to inform them how much they are owed. Clients will have a July 15 deadline to register for credits. The company's position is that the refunds are being issued after a historical analysis of traffic activity, and not because of the lawsuit.

"While we have had a longstanding policy of refunding advertisers for invalid traffic, we recently expanded this policy to include ads purchased via Display & Video 360. As part of this change, we decided to issue historical invalid traffic credits to our Display & Video 360 partners," a Google spokesperson told Business Insider. (D&V360 is an advertising management tool offered by Google.)

"They're hiding the total amount of the refund"

The planned refund has angered AdTrader because in its proposed message to affected advertisers, Google does not want to mention the lawsuit or the total amount of money that went awry. AdTrader's lawyer, Randy Gaw, wants the judge in the case to alter the message to mention the suit.

"We're not trying to prevent the refunds from going forward. We're trying to prevent them from hiding it," he told Business Insider. "They're hiding the total amount of the refund."

As the litigants prepare for trial, AdTrader has obtained some internal documents from Google in the discovery process. It has also deposed a Google principle software engineer, Felix Chang, who worked on DoubleClick Bid Manager (DBM), a Google tool that clients use to buy ads.

"Any idea what we do with any refunds issued to us from AdX for accidentally served spam?"

The emails show that Chang and a colleague discussed in December 2015 the issue of credits for advertisers whose ad campaigns had been affected by spam. AdX, Google's ad exchange system, was generating the credits for advertisers placing campaigns via DBM. "Any idea what we do with any refunds issued to us from AdX for accidentally served spam?" Chang was asked.

He told his colleague the credits would not be passed back to the advertisers, the emails show: "No, we don't directly pass any AdX credit back to DBM partners and DBM advertisers," he wrote at the time.

That's a smoking gun, AdTrader believes. "For two years before this lawsuit they knew," Gaw said. "When they catch ad fraud they just sit on it."

Chang did not respond to messages requesting comment.

"Nobody knew that there is a pipeline ... that is generating refund requests"

Another email, from 2017, shows Chang describing in some detail Google's internal ignorance about whether it should have been refunding money to advertisers whose budgets were wasted on abusive or spam web sites.

"Nobody knew that there is a pipeline on one hand that is generating refund requests saying refund this, refund this, refund this to specific F1 customer IDs, but nobody on DDM billing or DBM reporting knows that such a system exists and never built a system to read that output and map, its F1 customer ID to DBM advertiser ID. Now we are, and we are required to reprocess all historical entries as much as humanly possible," he told a colleague at the time. 

The lawsuit is still in its early, pre-trial stage.

"We're really happy that advertisers are finally being refunded," AdTrader's Stoev told Business Insider. "$75 million is just a drop in the bucket. I think there is a lot more under the couches, we can discover as the lawsuit progresses."

Here is a selection of text from Google's internal emails that have been published or quoted in the litigation so far: 

September 24, 2014 email between Google staffers Phillippe Rivard and Vegard Johnsen: "On platforms such as DBM [] advertisers don't get refunds."

2015 presentation by Google AdSpam Team advising recipients that, "All invalid activity needs to be refunded to advertisers, so that will happen 100% of the time, Why? Lane's Gift Settlement in 2006[.]"

August 24, 2015, email from Diogo Farinha to a Google colleague: "there is not such a thing as spam credits in the product DBM."

December 9, 2015, email from Steve Suppe, a product manager at Google: "Any idea what we do with any refunds issued to us from AdX for accidentally served spam?" Chang responded: "No, we don't directly pass any AdX credit back to DBM partners and DBM advertisers."

October 20, 2017, email from Chang to "Mr. Maymudes": "We currently are looking at around 75 million USD of previously unprocessed refunds. Around 40 million USD for Skyray-migrated advertisers and another 35 million USD for pre-Skyray migration. Because nobody knew that there is a pipeline on one hand that is generating refund requests saying refund this, refund this, refund this to specific F1 customer IDs, but nobody on DDM billing or DBM reporting knows that such a system exists and never built a system to read that output and map, its F1 customer ID to DBM advertiser ID. Now we are, and we are required to reprocess all historical entries as much as humanly possible."

• Read more about alleged ad fraud at Google:
• Lawsuit based on a surreptitiously recorded phone call claims Google doesn't refund advertisers who spend money on fraudulent clicks
• This company says it lost $1 million because it didn't follow Google's rules
• Google sued over conspiracy theory that it defrauded thousands of publishers of ad money
• This man is furious at Google for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from his AdSense account
• Why some advertisers sympathize with the false theory that Google is stealing from publishers
  
• Google is enraged by a conspiracy theory that it is stealing money from publishers

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: I've used iPhones for nearly a decade and switched to the Samsung Galaxy S10. Now I understand Android loyalty in a way I never understood before.

• Gerry Smith is CEO of Densify, a cloud computing company that has worked with the likes of Dell, HP, and IBM among others.
• Smith sold his previous company, Changepoint, for $100m after a fire at his house prompted him to cancel a planned IPO.
• Despite his success, Smith says there is one thing he wishes he'd done differently during his career.
• "Hire slow and fire fast," is his simple advice for aspiring tech leaders.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

As CEOs go, Gerry Smith is not short of experience.

Since 2005, Smith has led Densify, an award-winning cloud computing company that has worked with the likes of Dell, HP, and IBM among others.

Before that, he served as CEO of Changepoint, a software company he founded in 1992, helping it raise more than $40 million in venture capital.

This week, Smith told Business Insider how he sold Changepoint for $100 million in 2004, four years after a fire at his family home prompted him to call off an IPO.

It was a defining moment in his career, in which he felt he made the right call. But Smith doesn't reflect on everything in his career so warmly. There is one thing, in particular, he wishes he had done more often — and it concerns his approach to recruitment.

'Hire slow and fire fast'

"Hire slow and fire fast," Smith says, distilling his experience into a handy motto.

He explains: "I need to hire people, and move people on, a little faster than I have done in the past. I need to look more earnestly and make sure I'm doing the best for the company by looking a little more deeply at the people I'm hiring. Sometimes, that's been a challenge."

Without naming names, there is one case that sticks in Smith's mind.

"Years ago, I had a gentleman who regularly came into my office," he says. "He would say 'so, do you think I should be the president and CEO, now, Gerry?'

"I finally came to make up my mind and I said 'if I made you president, then everyone who reported to you would quit. I can't have that.' I then let him go.

"After I [fired him], a whole bunch of people came into my office who said 'thank god you fired him; I was writing my resignation letter.'

"So the fact [I took a long time to fire him] comes from my innate looking for goodness in people. I believe that all people have good value. Sometimes, they may have good value, but not for the position I've hired them for."

Smith also admits his natural lack of caution can hinder his hiring decisions.

Read more: This tech CEO cancelled a lucrative IPO hours after his house caught fire. He later sold his firm for $100 million.

"Most companies seek out reasons not to do something," he says. "I don't suffer from that when sometimes I should. I'm a 'ready, fire, aim' person.

"Sometimes I need a little more aiming before I fire; a little more research; a little more of a systematic approach. I need to be more critical of business plans, and of my own ideas. I'm a glass-half-full type of guy; I'm so convincing at times that I convince myself."

'I don't want to go into a business meeting with someone and not want to chat to them'

This isn't to say that Smith doesn't do any background research, however. What's more, his tendency towards seeing the good in people doesn't mean he's prepared to work with just anyone.

"One thing I look for in new hires – and this is absolutely critical – is that I don't want to work with d******ds," he explains. "I don't want to go into a business meeting with someone and not want to chat to them.

"To gauge whether a prospective employee is a good person, I ask other people whether they'd happily follow [the prospective employee] and move to my company.

"I'm looking for words that suggest they're good to work with, that the other person enjoys their personality – it's important to me. I want to enjoy them as a person."

Sometimes, Smith adds, a focus on hiring good people can have unexpected knock-on effects.

"I recently hired a new chief resource officer for Densify," Smith says. "Within months, a whole bunch of people who had worked for him [followed him to Densify]."

"There's an example of someone who is clearly well-liked, because people were prepared to follow him.

"That doesn't mean I don't like people who challenge others, but learn how to challenge so you get the most out of the person you're challenging."

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• The US-China trade war has taken a toll on multinational companies' bottom lines and has injected an element of uncertainty into business planning.
• An analysis of executives' comments from quarterly conference calls, conversations with investors and analysts, and a recent open letter to President Trump highlight the sheer breadth of the trade war's impact.
• Visit Markets Insider's homepage for more stories.

The impact of the trade war between the US and China can be summarized by a comment last week from Stanley Black & Decker CEO James Loree.

"So it's been a great 20 years of shareholder value creation," he said in a presentation with analysts at an industry conference. "But last year, not so great."

The industrial-tools-and-hardware company took a $370 million hit from US-imposed tariffs, foreign-exchange headwinds, and cost inflation in 2018, Loree said. The stock dropped 29%.

Stanley Black & Decker's CFO said during the company's first-quarter conference call that its tools and storage segment was hit from a similar mix of currency headwinds, tariffs, and commodity inflation.

And in an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Stanley Black & Decker said it planned to move production of its Craftsman wrenches back to the US from China as tariffs have raised the cost of imports.

"If we knew that the tariffs were going to be permanent, we would make sweeping changes to the supply chain," Loree told the outlet.

The company's experience in managing the US-China trade war is emblematic of a broader set of difficulties companies across sectors — from retail to technology — face as retaliatory rhetoric has ratcheted up this month. 

Trade talks between Beijing and Washington have all but stalled. The US government's Huawei ban exacerbated tensions and sparked worries of an all-out technology "cold war."

Read more: It's been more than a year since the US-China trade war started. Here's a timeline of everything that's happened so far.

Corporate management teams are increasingly assessing the financial impact of tariffs, with some changing the way they do business as a result of the newly imposed duties, according to an analysis from Yardeni Research.

Some are trimming their profit outlooks, or searching for new suppliers, the firm's broad analysis found.

"Some companies are hoping their suppliers will absorb the cost of tariffs," Ed Yardeni, the firm's president, said in a May 23 note to clients. "And when all else fails, a few companies are reducing their full-year forecasts."

And while the first-quarter earnings season proved strong by several measures, the threat of further tariffs "is a huge wild card," John Lynch, the chief investment strategist at LPL Financial, said in a report out this week.

Below is a selection of commentary from companies in the retail, technology, and industrial sectors about how they are being impacted by the trade war — and the impact on their customers, too:

Macy's

Macy's is working closely with suppliers "on the potential impact to our shared customers," CEO Jeff Gennette said during the company's first-quarter earnings call. 

"We feel like we're going to be able to come up with solutions that work best for us and our brand partners," he said.

But Yardeni Research isn't convinced Macy's can fully mitigate the impact of tariffs this year, particularly with its China exposure.

"Reading between the lines, it sounds like Macy's is hoping some of its suppliers will eat at least part of the expected price increases due to tariffs, some of the price increase will be borne by Macy's, and prices paid by consumers may rise on certain non-commodity items," the firm said. 

Kohl's

Michelle Gass, the company's CEO, said earlier this week on the company's first-quarter earnings call that it is "planning the year more conservatively" due to the "soft" start.

The company cut its full-year earnings forecast, partly due to the recently hiked tariffs on its China-sourced home and accessories products, Yardeni Research pointed out.

"Our team is working hard to mitigate the impact of the tariffs while we seek to remain competitive by putting our customers first," Gass said.

Foot Locker

"A significant portion of the products that we purchase, including the portion purchased from domestic suppliers, as well as most of our private brand merchandise, is manufactured abroad," Foot Locker said in its 2018 annual report released in April.

"We may be affected by potential changes in international trade agreements or tariffs, such as new tariffs imposed on certain Chinese-made goods imported into the US," the company said, before suggesting China or other countries may then retaliate with their own measures.

Earlier this week, Foot Locker and other shoe companies like Crocs, Nike, and Adidas wrote a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to consider the "catastrophic" impact that tariffs on Chinese goods would have on American customers.

Read more: Nike, Adidas, and more than 170 other shoe companies warned of the trade war's 'catastrophic' impact on Americans in a scathing letter to Trump

Deere

Sales in the US and Canada are expected to be flat to up 5% for this year, Cory Reed, the president of Deere's worldwide agriculture and turf division, said on the company's second-quarter earnings call last week.

"However, as near-term fundamentals have weakened, we anticipate large ag industry sales ton be on the lower end of that range, with Canadian demand turning negative due to adverse weather and currency fluctuations and further complicated by tariffs on certain crops such as canola and lentils," he added.

Nvidia

Nvidia is one of several chipmakers that has said its business has seen minimal impact from the US-China trade war.

"There is relatively little direct impact on us from the tariffs on China imports," CEO Jensen Huang said during the company's annual shareholder meeting earlier this week.

Still, he noted that "most" of the company's partners have moved — or are moving — their impacted assembly work to regions like Taiwan and Mexico.

"But the tariff war is obviously not good for anybody, and we hope the US and Chinese governments look for solutions that is wise and leads to fair trades, which is important to all of us," he said.

Apple

"I think my own view is that China and the US have this unavoidable mutuality where China only wins if the US wins and the US only wins if China wins, and the world only wins if China and the US win," CEO Tim Cook said during the company's second-quarter earnings call earlier this month.

Cook added: "I'm a big believer that the two countries together can both win and grow the pie, not just allocate it differently. And so that's our focus, and I'm optimistic that — I don't know every play by play that will happen, but over time, I think that view will prevail."

Read more: Apple sounds the alarm on a slowdown in China

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• A London festival descended into chaos as attendees were forced to queue for hours to get into the event.
• Attendees allege that people in the queues collapsed from dehydration, while others said there was a dangerous crush when concertgoers attempted to force their way into the grounds, the BBC reported. 
• Some attendees took to Twitter to compare the event to the now notorious Fyre Festival, an ill-fated week long festival in the Bahamas, which was the subject of two documentaries.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

A festival held in London, UK, has been criticized and compared to the notorious Fyre Festival after hundreds of partiers were forced to queue for hours in the hot sun with no access to water, and some "collapsed," according to reports.

The "We Are FSTVL" event, a two-day festival in the east of the UK's capital, has been criticized by attendees, who say that a lack of organisation led to huge queues to get into the event. Temperatures in London hit 72 degrees on Saturday.

Attendees allege that people in the queues collapsed from dehydration, while others said there was a dangerous crush when concertgoers attempted to force their way into the grounds, the BBC reported. 

The festival's organizers apologized on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, saying: "We apologise for the delay in getting in, but can assure you we are doing this as fast and safely as possible." 

One attendee described the festival as: "The most unsafe event I have ever been to."

It is not clear what caused the delays in getting into the festival, but attendees who spoke to the BBC said that organizers had run out of wristbands that allowed people to buy food and drinks.

"They'd run out of wristbands at the door so they didn't have drink token wristbands when they were letting people through," one woman who the BBC did not name said.

"They weren't handing out water so everyone in the queue for three hours didn't have a drink," she added.

The woman told the BBC that after hours of queuing, festival goers started to lose patience, leading to objects being thrown in the crowds. 

"A barrier got thrown into the crowds, the woman next to me got hit by it and it sliced a massive chunk out of her leg," she said.

"She's passed out on the floor, security ran over to her and people were just charging through. They took out the barriers, pushed through security, punching security, just taking everyone out in their way."

Videos posted on Twitter show an apparent crush as festival goers attempted to get into the event:

Another attendee, Renardo Henry, told the BBC that he saw four people collapse in the crowds waiting to get into the festival.

"We were in the queue, four people had collapsed around us, people were throwing up and shouting for medics, all the staff were doing was throwing water bottles into the crowd of people."

One attendee, Alex Smith, tweeted videos from the event, comparing it to the now notorious Fyre Festival, an ill-fated week long festival in the Bahamas, which was the subject of two documentaries.

Another jokingly tweeted a picture of Andy King, one of the organizers of the Fyre Festival, who became a meme after a segment in one of the documentaries, in which he claimed he was asked by fellow organizers to perform oral sex on a Bahamian customs official to ensure bottled water would make it to the festival on time.

According to police, no one at the event was seriously hurt, the BBC reported.

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• As the US-China trade war rages on, equity strategists across Wall Street are getting increasingly divided on the future of the stock market.
• Dennis DeBusschere — the head of Evercore ISI's portfolio strategy research team — has identified one forward-looking signal he says investors should watch closely when assessing when the next stock-market crash will hit.
• DeBusschere explains how the ongoing trade war could push this signal past the point of no return.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Investors have been getting mixed signals from the equity experts on Wall Street.

The divide between bulls and bears has rarely been wider during the 10-year bull market, largely because no one can agree on how the biggest catalysts will play out.

The most prominent example of this is the ongoing US-China trade war.

On one side of the spectrum, JPMorgan thinks President Donald Trump will prevent the market from truly rolling over — and recently called for a 12% increase in the benchmark S&P 500 by year-end. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley just warned that worsening trade tensions will greatly increase the chance of a full-blown economic recession.

And that's just this week's preferred market driver. If the trade war dies down, it's possible that uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's next monetary-policy decision will take the reins and start dictating price action, like it has for much of the past 18 months.

That leaves investors in a precarious situation, seeking any signals that can cut through the noise. Fortunately for them, Dennis DeBusschere— the head of Evercore ISI's portfolio strategy research team — has identified one: credit spreads.

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They're significant because they indicate how investors are worried about the ability of corporate borrowers to service their debt. When spreads are wide, that's a signal of trepidation, while tight spreads show a relative lack of concern.

DeBusschere notes that, at present time, credit spreads aren't flashing any troublesome signals. But he also says that could change on a dime, which makes it something very much worth watching.

At the core of DeBusschere's argument is the high level of BBB-rated investment-grade debt. The BBB tier is the lowest of the bunch, and its portion of the overall universe is the biggest it's been in modern history. The chart below shows this dynamic in play.

And while a growing number of Wall Street experts are crying foul on this seemingly unsustainable debt situation, DeBusschere says it still poses a major risk. Most notably, if an economic slowdown or other exogenous shock makes it more difficult for these companies to service their debt, they could drop down into junk status. In some extreme cases, bankruptcy could be in the cards.

No matter how you look at it, those types of developments are detrimental to the stock prices of those affected. Especially once the holy grail of share gains — earnings growth— is materially impacted.

"To the extent that a deterioration of the bond market leads to increased concerns about the outlook for equities, the willingness to pay for a dollar of earnings could move lower," DeBusschere wrote in a recent client note.

He's also worried about what a full-blown trade war could mean for corporate share buybacks, which have provided the stock market with a ready-made safety net during periods lacking upside catalysts. If financial conditions get tougher and debt pressures increase, DeBusschere says firms will be unable to use cash as freely to repurchase shares.

With all of that established, remember that this isn't DeBusschere's base case right now. All he's saying is that a further escalation of the trade war could violently shake the market at some point in the future.

"A global savings glut favoring US assets and easy global monetary policy are still headwinds for volatility, reducing the odds of a sharp decline in risk," he said. "That would change if credit spreads widen and financial conditions in general tighten."

SEE ALSO: One market expert warns these 3 'black swan' events could combine with the trade war to cause the next big stock crash

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• Some people avoid caffeine completely during pregnancy
• But according to research and doctors, it's safe to drink tea and coffee in moderation.
• Caffeine is a stimulant, so in excess it can cause blood pressure and heart rate to go up.
• "When looked at together, the evidence doesn't suggest that caffeine should be eliminated entirely, but instead, that it should be limited to a moderate amount," said obstetrics and gynaecology consultant Dr Isis Amer-Wahlin of midwife app Bonzun.
• 200 milligrams of caffeine per day is a safe guideline, which is about two mugs of instant coffee.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

It's commonly recommended that women should avoid certain things when they're pregnant, like raw shellfish, soft blue cheese, and undercooked meat. Some also choose to stay away from caffeine for the entirety of their pregnancy too.

But according to Dr Isis Amer-Wahlin, obstetrics and gynaecology consultant for midwife app Bonzun, you probably don't have to give up tea and coffee completely.

She told INSIDER the advice varies between doctors, but studies have shown that caffeine in moderation is perfectly safe to consume during pregnancy.

"Moderation is absolutely key, though, so if you drink a lot of coffee in your day-to-day life, it might be a good idea to cut back for the duration of your pregnancy," she said. "It is also vital to remember that it isn't just coffee that contains caffeine — it can also be found in tea, chocolate, and even certain medications."

Read more: It's a myth that women always feel a 'glow' when they're pregnant

Caffeine has a few known effects on the bodies of both the mother and the baby. For example, caffeine is a stimulant, meaning it makes us feel more alert.

"It also causes the blood pressure and heart rate to go up, both of which should be avoided during pregnancy," said Amer-Wahlin. "When it comes to the baby, their metabolism is not yet as sophisticated as an adult's, so it is harder for them to metabolize the caffeine, which means that their sleep pattern could be disrupted and they could become restless."

She added that there are a few studies that have shown that excess caffeine could increase the risk of miscarriage — further argument that it's important to keep consumption in moderation. 

One study from Norway in 2013 found that excessive caffeine could also reduce a baby's birth weight, which has been linked to an increased risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure later in life.

"When looked at together, the evidence doesn't suggest that caffeine should be eliminated entirely, but instead, that it should be limited to a moderate amount," said Amer-Wahlin. "If you are worried or feel that you would like further clarification on the subject, make sure to speak to your doctor."

She added that the general consensus is 200 milligrams of caffeine per day is a safe guideline, which is about two mugs of instant coffee.

"If you get your caffeine from energy drinks or tea, then be sure to check nutrition labels to make sure that you don't exceed your daily caffeine intake," she said.

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• President Donald Trump will dine on potatoes, Wagyu beef and vanilla ice cream when he sits down for dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo Sunday evening.
• Wagyu beef is one of Japan's most renowned delicacies, and is prized for its tender, melting texture. Wagyu cattle are often massaged, played classical music, and given beer to drink to improve the flavor of their meat. 
• Trump's dinner with Abe comes after the pair attended the culmination of a major Japanese sumo wrestling tournament, where the president awarded a newly created prize, known as the "Trump Trophy" to the winner.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump will dine on potatoes, wagyu beef and vanilla ice cream when he sits down for dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo during his state visit to the country Sunday.

The leaders, along with their wives, will sit down to dinner shortly, and will enjoy a dinner that seemingly combines Japanese ingredients with an American style of cooking.

Here's the menu, according to the White House, via the New York Times' Katie Rogers:

First course: Japanese potato with butter

Second course: Salad

Third course: Grilled chicken

Fourth course: Wagyu beef steak with broccoli and carrots

Dessert: Vanilla ice cream

Wagyu beef is one of Japan's most renowned delicacies, and is prized for its tender, melting texture. Wagyu cattle are often massaged, played classical music, and given beer to drink to improve the flavor of their meat. 

It generally costs more than $110 per pound to buy in the US.

Read more:This steak is so hard to find that only 5 cows of its kind come to America per month to make this $180 sandwich

Trump and Shinzo's dinner comes after the two leaders and their wives attended the culmination of a major Japanese sumo wrestling tournament, where the president awarded a newly created prize, known as the "Trump Trophy" to the winner.

"That was an incredible evening at sumo," Trump told pool reporters.

"We bought that beautiful trophy," he added, "which you'll have hopefully for many hundreds of years." 

Between the sumo tournament and his formal dinner with Shinzo, the two couples briefly dined in a traditional Japanese hibachi restaurant.

"The prime minister and I talked a lot about trade, about military and various other things," he told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Trump and Shinzo played a round of golf together.

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