• Ashton Kutcher is a prodigious tech investor: He has a stake in companies like Uber and Airbnb, and has funded many more through his firm Sound Ventures. 
• At TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, Kutcher explained what it takes for an entrepreneur to pique his interest in a pitch meeting.

As an early investor in companies like Uber and Airbnb, Ashton Kutcher is used to entrepreneurs asking him, or at least his firm Sound Ventures, for some investment capital. 

At TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, Kutcher explained onstage the key to piquing his interest -- and it largely has to do with how well an entrepreneur can spin a compelling narrative. 

"One of the critical tests that I try to run when I'm sitting across from a founder is: Can you sell me your idea?" said Kutcher.

For Kutcher, the ability to convey a company's mission determines whether or not they'll be able to snag the best talent in a competitive job market. 

"If you can't sell me, how are you going to sell your first hire, your second hire, your third hire?" Kutcher asked. "How are you going to create the capacity for the rest of your team to sell those next hires?"

He continued, "For early stage companies, generally the CEO of the company has to hire the first 40 people ... If you're competing for the best talent in the world and you can't sell your idea to the best talent in the world, how are you going to get all A players around you to turn this into an explosive company? If at the end of the conversation [you] can't sell me to work for you, how are you going to sell your first 50 employees?"

Kutcher described this ability to tell the story of an early stage company as integral to its future growth. 

"I think the storytelling piece has to happen," he said. "You can refine it and make it better and improve it and figure out how to communicate it to a consumer over time, but [for] early stage companies, that person has to do all of those things."

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NOW WATCH: An environmental group is testing giant floating pipes to clean up oceans

• Hurricane Florence is tearing through the Carolinas with disastrous flooding and record-setting rainfall.
• "We just don't want people to think this is over because it's not. It's not anywhere," North Carolina governor Roy Cooper said on Saturday.
• The storm has killed 11 so far, and officials expect the death toll to rise.

Hurricane Florence, now a tropical storm, is tearing through the Carolinas, bringing heavy rainfall and catastrophic flooding.

The storm has already left at least 12 people dead and knocked out power for more than a million residents. As of Saturday evening, Florence was moving west at 2 mph, with winds at a speed of 45 mph.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned in a briefing Saturday morning that more people in the state are in danger now than when Florence made landfall there on Friday.

"The rainfall is epic and will continue to be," Cooper said. "We just don't want people to think this is over, because it's not. It's not anywhere."

Cooper warned: "Don't drive through water, no matter how confident you feel or how much you want to get out of the house. Roads are closed in many places and more are closing even as we speak."

The storm has killed at least 12 people in North Carolina. Authorities expect the death toll to rise in the coming days.

A mother and baby died when a tree crashed into their home, the Wilmington Police Department said on Twitter Friday afternoon. A 78-year-old man was killed while trying to connect extension cords outside in the rain, ABC News reported, citing Lenoir County Emergency Services Director Roger Dail.

Another man was blown away by strong winds while outside checking on his dogs. The man's family found his body Friday morning, according to Dail.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh, North Carolina, also confirmed Saturday that an 81-year-old man in Wayne County fell and fatally struck his head while packing to evacuate the previous day, according to the Associated Press.

The office also said a husband and wife died in a house fire on Friday in Cumberland County.

President Donald Trump tweeted out condolences to the families of the dead on Saturday, mistakenly saying there were only five deaths after authorities had already raised the toll.

"Five deaths have been recorded thus far with regard to hurricane Florence! Deepest sympathies and warmth go out to the families and friends of the victims. May God be with them!" Trump tweeted.

Read more: Why Hurricane Florence could dump so much water on the Carolinas

The storm was also a factor in the death of a woman who suffered a heart attack since emergency crews couldn't reach her due to a fallen tree, as The Wall Street Journal reported.

The center of the storm is hovering over eastern South Carolina, after making landfall at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, on Friday.

But the wind is not the main threat to people and property from the storm; it's the storm surge and rainfall, which combined have caused serious flooding in the low-lying coastal regions of the Carolinas.

"The flood danger from storm is more immediate today than when it made landfall 24 hrs ago," North Carolina Emergency Management said on Twitter. "We face walls of water. More ppl now face a threat than when the storm was offshore. Flood waters are rising, & if you aren't watching for them, you are risking life." 

In total, Florence is forecast to dump about 18 trillion gallons of rain over North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Maryland before the storm is over. That's enough water to fill the Chesapeake Bay or to cover the state of Texas in 4 inches.

And the deluge is not even close to over — parts of North Carolina are set to receive another 15 inches of rain in the coming days, according to The National Weather Service. That means the storm could easily drop 40 inches of rain in some spots.

Read more: How hurricanes like Florence form

As of Saturday morning, the storm had dumped over 30 inches of rain in parts of North Carolina. Swansboro, a town near North Carolina's coast, received 30.58 inches of rainfall as of Saturday morning, setting a record for tropical storm-associated rainfall in the state, meteorologist David Roth said.

Over 100 people remain trapped in New Bern, a town on the Neuse River which has been hit hard by rain and flooding. "Nobody expected this," a rescued resident, Tom Ballance, told The Weather Channel. "We were fools."

According to Gov. Cooper, rescue operations are underway across the state. Here's the rundown:

• Three medical centers have been set up in North Carolina.
• 23 aviation rescues, and counting.
• Authorities have set up 89 emergency operation centers throughout the state.
• 60 primary roads have been closes, with more closures expected.

Dana Varinsky and Michelle Mark contributed reporting.

This post will be updated.

Read more of Business Insider's hurricane coverage:

• Photos and videos show the flooding and devastation as Hurricane Florence hits North Carolina
• Hurricane Florence has 150 trapped, stranded as flood waters swallow small North Carolina town
• Weather Channel video illustrates the horrifying reality of towering floodwater in North Carolina
• Hurricane Florence could dump up to 40 inches of rain on parts of the Carolinas — here's why the deluge may be so intense
• Hurricane Florence could bring a wall of water up to 11 feet high — here's what a storm surge is and why it forms
• The 14 most important things you should do to prepare for a hurricane
• 'Watch out, America!': Astronauts in space photographed Hurricane Florence, and they say the view is 'chilling'

SEE ALSO: How hurricanes like Florence form

Join the conversation about this story »

LONDON — As the UK edges dangerously close towards leaving the EU without an agreement, the once-unthinkable prospect of a no-deal Brexit has become an increasingly realistic one.

On Thursday, the UK government published its final batch of no-deal technical notices, which advised businesses and consumers on how to prepare for leaving the EU empty-handed.

So here are just some of the other things that could happen if May fails to secure a Brexit deal.

SEE ALSO: British trucks would be blocked from entering Europe under no-deal Brexit, industry leader warns

DON'T MISS: Labour will lose a big chunk of voters if it doesn't oppose Brexit, a new poll finds

The NHS could run out of drugs

Most people take the day-to-day functioning of the NHS for granted. But the flow of medical supplies — cancer medicines, vaccines, clinical devices, and blood — are dependent on complex supply chains across Europe which are designed to be traded within the single market.

In a leaked letter between NHS chiefs in July, Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, warned: "Public health and disease control coordination could also suffer, and our efforts to reassure, retain and attract the European workforce on which the NHS relies could also be jeopardized."

Around 45 million packs of medicine go from the UK to Europe every month and 37 million packs travel in the opposite direction. Every single one of those needs to be licensed and tested and certified by the European medicines regulator.

At the moment, a test in the UK is valid in the EU and a test in the EU is valid in the UK. If the UK left without a deal, that would cease to be the case, according to the Brexit Health Alliance.

Licenses held by a UK company to sell medicines in the EU would become void overnight, meaning that 361 products (37% of the market) could not be sold in Europe. Many of those are life-saving drugs.

Conversely, where licenses were held in the EU, there would likely be the disruption of their supply in the UK. That means the UK would be forced to find an arrangement for the 978 medicines sold across the country which were issued under EU rules.

What is the government's plan? Well, the government has announced that it would simply accept the testing of medicines if they're carried out by a member state.

As for UK medicines heading to the EU, the government would merely hope the EU offered the same deal in return. Health experts are not reassured.

Customs checks could delay treatment of critical injuries

Customs checks at borders would also pose a huge problem for the care and treatment of people critically injured during emergencies.

Accident and emergency trauma packs — which are full of equipment and medicines — are often flown into the UK within hours of being ordered.

During times of large-scale emergencies, such as terrorist attacks, the short time frame is especially necessary because a large number of people are suddenly injured.

Hospitals tend not to stockpile these supplies because they have a short shelf-life. Doing so would mean many packs were wasted at great expense.

Under a no-deal scenario, customs checks between the UK and EU would increase dramatically because the UK would be a third country with no arrangement in place to ease the flow of goods. The prospect of having to wait even a few extra hours for such supplies could be a matter of life and death.

Health secretary Matt Hancock this week said he was planning to "switch supply from land to air" for short-life medicines. But that would likely depend on a scrambled aviation agreement with the EU, which would require... a deal.

Border chaos & spiralling costs for businesses

The no-deal notices published by the government reveal the extraordinary level of costs and bureaucracy that such a scenario would entail, as well as the chaos it would mean for Britain's borders.

If there was no deal Britain would revert to "third country" status, and the government has detailed a long list of extra checks that firms exporting and importing to and from the EU would face. 

Businesses would need to make customs declarations, pay tariffs on both imports and exports, and invest in expensive new computer systems to track goods. 

"If the UK left the EU on 29 March 2019 without a deal, there would be immediate changes to the procedures that apply to businesses trading with the EU. It would mean that the free circulation of goods between the UK and EU would cease," the government said.

Extra procedures are both timely and very expensive for businesses. Many British firms which export or import goods have warned that they would cease to operate very quickly under such a scenario.

• Loneliness affects 20-40% of the entire population at some point.
• Everyone from a four-year-old child to an 80-year-old in a care home can feel lonely.
• Loneliness also has a negative impact on your health, causing stress, and even heart problems.
• The burden of loneliness on the entire population is huge.
• Karen Dolva, the CEO of No Isolation, is trying to combat this.
• The company is tackling the loneliness of different demographics in innovative ways.

Imagine you're eight years old. You go to school every day, see your friends, and have lessons where you learn all the basics to set you on whatever path you eventually choose.

But imagine at eight years old you're also diagnosed with a debilitating condition, and you have to take months off school, without seeing your friends, missing out on all the different parts of school life.

Children are just one of the groups of people Karen Dolva is trying to help with her company No Isolation. People of all ages experience loneliness, from four year olds to the elderly in care homes, and there isn't a single way to help everyone at once.

"To us early adults in our 20s, 30s, and 40s, everything out there is basically made for us," Dolva told Business Insider.

"We started digging and we quite quickly found that's not the case for everyone else. We have these huge groups that are falling behind and dropping off, and these kids were only a fraction of that. Hence the company name 'No Isolation' — we want to help everyone who is socially isolated or lonely, and bridge the gap."

At No Isolation, Dolva and cofounders Marius Aabel and Matias Doyle are using technology to try and help people of all ages. Tech isn't the problem, Dolva said. It's definitely not to blame for why we are becoming more socially isolated than ever, as tech is only a tool.

"You wouldn't blame your washing machine for making you socially isolated, and that's a technology," she said. "We want to prove that tech is just what you make it out to be."

Children can live through a robot avatar

In order to help children, No Isolation built a robot called the AV1. By interviewing the children themselves, teachers, and hospital staff, they wanted to find out what happens when a child gets a serious diagnosis that will put them in hospital for a long time. Dolva spent three months mapping out this space.

As many children are bedbound when they're sick, they can't go over to friends' houses like they used to. The AV1 attempts to change all that.

It's effectively a small, portable avatar with two-way audio and a one-way camera, that takes them places they couldn't otherwise go.

While traditional TelePresence robots often have a camera to show the person on the other end, children lying down in their beds in pyjamas much preferred being able to see what was going on in the classroom without worrying about being shown to everyone.

The idea is that by carrying around the robot, other children can take them out for breaktime, hang out with them in classes, and even take them home or on field trips. "It's supposed to be an extension of yourself," Dolva said.

She added that the robots become "very personal" to a child.

"I think the concept of avatars is just so familiar to kids," she said. "The kids dress it up in stickers and everything."

You can see how the AV1 works below:

Older people can more easily connect with their families

Older people struggle with technology for different reasons. They may be unable to use a tablet or a phone — perhaps because it's too different to what they're used to, but it also may be because they cannot see the screen properly, or it isn't responsive to their fingers due to poor circulation.

No Isolation built a computer called KOMP that has just one button. Even people with dementia should be able to recognise a big button easily, Dolva said, so older people can push it on and off and be connected to the rest of the family in an instant.

"All of a sudden we've made them online," she said. "We try and bring them into the same platform as everyone else, without changing the habits of the younger generations."

The burden of loneliness is incredibly high. Studies have shown how the stress of being lonely has a bad impact on your heart, and it can affect your brain and body in many harmful ways.

Finding the 'price tag' of loneliness

This isn't just bad for the people who are lonely, but for society too. That's why Dolva says she wants to find the "pricetag of loneliness" to really push them forwards.

That means calculating the cost of what happens if a child gets diagnosed with cancer at eight, then isn't able to go to school for two or three years.

"What's the likelihood of dropping out of school, and what's the likelihood of getting a job if you drop out of school?" Dolva said. "Same with the seniors. If we manage to increase [their] quality of life, and enable them to stay at home for a week, two weeks, maybe a couple of months longer, what does that mean for the government in numbers?

"I want those numbers because that's the only way we can keep really pushing the market in front of us."

The causes of loneliness are hard to measure, because there are so many different factors for different age groups. Older people are isolated from their family and have lost many of their friends. Younger people, like millennials, may be more affected by looking on social media.

Whatever it is, Dolva said the research shows a connection between loneliness and our expectations compared to reality.

"For example, you would feel more lonely if you were alone on a Saturday than on a Tuesday night," she said. "Because your expectation level is much higher on a Saturday. And this might be something that social media has increased... We continuously see other people doing a lot of things, so we feel like everyone is doing something all the time, and we should too."

But blaming technology for our problems isn't the answer, she said. Instead, it's about looking at where it falls short and demanding for it to be better.

"You could start to question whether or not social media is social at all," Dolva said. "If you drill down and see what social media was meant to do, and what is at the core business there, it has nothing to do with long conversations or close relations… social networks have not been made to increase the value of the friends that you have."

Ultimately it doesn't matter if you have two, 20, or 100 friends. Your social satisfaction depends on how close you are to the ones you have, and to what extent you meet your expectation levels. If you're happy with the amount of time you spend with your two close friends, then you won't feel lonely.

"It's the second you start thinking I want more, I wish I could do this tonight, but I don't have anyone to talk to about that — that's when we start experiencing that we're lonely," Dolva said.

A lot more people need help

Four months after starting up, No Isolation rolled out 20 prototypes of the AV1 robot, and immediately the team were receiving emails from moms and dads. The same happened with the KOMP screen for older people. People were getting in touch saying how wonderful it was that they could now be connected to their grandparents in such an easy way.

"We've been saying amongst ourselves as long as we help one more kid we will succeed," said Dolva. "If we can do that by bringing one more unit out then that's a success."

Somewhere between 20 and 40% of the population experience loneliness, so there's more than enough people to take them.

"I think we have our hands full if we want to help them all," Dolva said. "But that would be the end goal... That people aren't suffering from loneliness anymore."

SEE ALSO: Lonely millennials are at a greater risk of developing anxiety and depression — but the reasons for their isolation are unclear

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: I woke up at 4:30 a.m. for a week like a Navy SEAL

• Serena Williams is being attacked by an Australian newspaper.
• The American tennis player received three code violations during her loss to Naomi Osaka in last weekend's US Open women's final.
• These violations were criticized, perhaps fairly, by the Herald Sun newspaper.
• But the paper has continued a mean-spirited crusade against Williams. It lampooned her in a vulgar cartoon, and a headline in a conservative columnist's article claimed she "is no feminist hero."
• Here's why they're dead wrong.

Serena Williams is under attack.

A conservative columnist at the Herald Sun has accused her of going "nuclear" during last weekend's US Open women's final. The Herald Sun is the Australian newspaper that published a vulgar cartoon this week grossly exaggerating her weight, lips, and nose and depicting her as an angry baby. The paper has also attempted to discredit her character.

According to the headline of an Andrew Bolt column in the paper, Williams "is no feminist hero"— but he's wrong.

Williams has been put under the microscope for smashing a racket and calling the chair umpire Carlos Ramos a "liar" and a "thief" for punishing her during her showdown against Naomi Osaka at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. Ramos singled her out for receiving coaching. Ramos then docked her a point for throwing her racket on the ground and later a game for verbal abuse when she channeled John McEnroe.

The heat of elite competition can make even mild-mannered athletes lose their cool. Just ask Roger Federer, who argued with the match umpire, smacked his racket on the ground, and lost the 2018 Indian Wells Masters final earlier this year.

Williams is not the first to do so, and she will not be the last. This happens in sport, and it was fair for the Herald Sun, in its own way, to criticize her for that.

But the publication did not stop there. It has embarked on a mean-spirited crusade by republishing the cartoon — a drawing that has been rebuked for perpetuating racist tropes — on the front page of its Wednesday edition. And it wants to tell you that her behavior last weekend means she can no longer be considered a feminist hero, if she ever was.

Williams has suffered on-court meltdowns before, sure. She was fined $10,500 for "unsportsmanlike behavior" when she verbally attacked a lineswoman who called a foot fault during her 2009 US Open semifinal against Kim Clijsters. "I swear to God I'll f------ take the ball and shove it down your f------ throat,"The Guardian quotes her as saying at the time.

But that was nine years ago. And an athlete, high on adrenaline, in the middle of a high-stakes, high-pressure competition can act in ways he or she otherwise would not. If it happens irregularly, it does not detract from what that person does off the court or the field. If that were the case, then Federer, also a racket smasher, would not be thought of so highly for his philanthropy — helping raise $40 million to educate approximately 1 million children in Africa.

Likewise, regardless of sporadic "unsportsmanlike behavior," Williams remains a feminist hero — and I'll tell you why.

Williams is a tutu-wearing badass

A 23-time Grand Slam champion, Williams won her first major at age 17 in 1999. Considering she is a two-time Grand Slam finalist in 2018 alone, it would not be a shock to watch her lift a 24th major next year — 20 years after lifting her first.

It is longevity rarely seen at the upper echelons of sport, and, because of it, she has become an inspiration to many — Osaka included, who grew up idolizing Williams and even wrote a report about her in third grade.

Williams has dominated tennis in a way few have dominated any sport, and she comes equipped with clear messages.

In August, the French Open made a bizarre decision to ban her iconic "Black Panther"-style catsuit, a neck-to-ankle skintight outfit that was designed to help prevent blood clots — something she has a history of, and an issue that proved problematic after the birth of her child when she developed clots in her lungs.

Williams said the catsuit had another advantage — it made her feel like a "warrior princess" from Wakanda, the fictional nation in the smash-hit Marvel film. The French Open thought differently, saying: "Serena's outfit would no longer be accepted. You have to respect the game and the place."

Her response? To wear a series of headline-grabbing tutus at the US Open.

Williams, known the world over for her fashion choices, is a competitive badass, and she has enjoyed rivalries with the five-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis, the former world No. 1 player Jennifer Capriati, and the clay queen Justine Henin.

One athlete she would beat begrudgingly is her sister, Venus Williams.

Serena Williams dumped Venus Williams out of this year's US Open, and said of her best friend: "When she loses, I feel like I do."

Of all the rivalries, Williams has always come out on top — against Hingis, Capriati, Henin, and yes, against Venus. There is little question that she is the best women's tennis player of her generation and, very likely, of all time.

But her prowess perhaps transcends her sport.

The trailblazing former mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey bulldozed through many of her Strikeforce and UFC opponents during a thrilling and captivating run in the cage, the marathon icon Paula Radcliffe ruled long-distance and cross-country events for over a decade, and the Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn is mesmerizing on the slopes.

All three are extraordinary athletes, but Williams, with her powerful and accurate serves, her signature forehand, and her wildly competitive spirit, is in a class of her own.

Williams is a tutu-wearing, title-winning badass on the court — but she also uses her profile to raise awareness for key causes off it.

'I like to stick up for women and women's rights'

Like Federer, Williams has a passion for helping children have access to education, and her Serena Williams Foundation was crucial in the construction of two schools in Kenya. She also built a school in Uganda and another in Jamaica. Wearing a safety hat and goggles, and with a hammer in her hand, she literally helped build one of the schools herself.

According to Global Citizen, a website designed to help people learn about issues that trap people in extreme poverty, Williams' school in Jamaica imposes "strict guidelines and rules to support gender equality in access to education."

Of her schools across the world, Global Citizen adds: "Serena's gender ratio rules work toward addressing a major problem around the world, particularly in developing countries where girls and women frequently bear the burden of household chores, like collecting water and caregiving responsibilities, which forces girls to leave school."

Williams has used her profile to elevate causes elsewhere. In 2015, she wrote an article for Wired imploring Silicon Valley to employ "more women and people of different colors and nationalities in tech." And in 2017 she wrote an article for Fortune helping to shine a light "on the long-neglected fact that the gender pay gap hits women of color the hardest."

She also happens to be a mother — and a good one at that. Her Reddit-cofounder husband, Alexis Ohanian, even installed four giant billboards in California that say "Greatest Mother of All Time" to welcome Williams back to tennis after she gave birth.

Ohanian has called his marriage to Williams "a front-row seat to greatness," saying: "I really thought I was like the hardest working person I knew. I thought tech was the hardest working industry … but then I started talking to her and then realized, very quickly, just how wrong I was."

She returned to competitive tennis just six months after giving birth and has performed remarkably well in 2018. She has played in only eight tournaments this year but managed to reach the Wimbledon final in July and the US Open final in September — and her daughter only recently had her first birthday.

Considering Williams' track record, it is no surprise that she told The Sunday Telegraph's Stellar magazine last year that she liked "to stick up for women and women's rights."

Despite Williams' US Open outburst, there's no denying she's an inspiration to young girls. Nike demonstrated this perfectly in its ad for the US Open, which shows her as a 9-year-old being coached by her father, Richard Williams, on a tennis court. He's heard telling her to play "like you're at the US Open" seconds before the film flicks to her on a US Open court, a six-time champion of the tournament still gunning for more success.

At 36, Williams makes time to show off her extraordinary athleticism on the court and to deliver her message of equality for women both on and off it — a message that even the Herald Sun cannot erase, try as it might.

SEE ALSO: An Australian newspaper printed a cartoon showing Serena Williams as an angry baby with grossly-exaggerated features

DON'T MISS: The cartoonist who turned Serena Williams into an angry baby doesn't think his drawing is racist and says 'the world has just gone crazy'

UP NEXT: Tennis umpires are reportedly considering a boycott of Serena Williams' matches unless she apologizes for calling Carlos Ramos a 'liar' and a 'thief'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: What it takes to be a World Cup soccer player

• US household net worth recently climbed above the $100 trillion threshold for the first time in history.
• New research suggests this could be signaling the next big market crash, because that type of excess becomes unsustainable when it diverges so much from actual household income.
• Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, outlines what he thinks could land the death blow for markets, given how overextended conditions appear to be.

One would think US household net worth soaring above the $100 trillion mark for the first time would be cause for celebration.

But when that figure is compared to actual US household income, things look decidedly less rosy. The latter has only recently climbed back to levels seen in 2007, before the financial crisis caused it to decline.

In other words, there's been a sharp divergence between the two measures over the past decade — one that will create an increasingly untenable situation as it gets more distorted.

It's a dynamic that played out before the last two market crashes. And experts at AJ Bell warn that we're currently dealing with similarly excessive conditions.

"Household net worth cannot sustainably grow this much faster than incomes," Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, wrote in a note to clients. "Assets have been bid up (and up) and at some stage there has to be chance that they correct, just as happened in 2000 and 2007."

The chart below shows US household net worth over history. Note how its two most glaring pullbacks occurred around the past two stock-market bubbles.

The swelling of US household wealth to unprecedented levels is directly linked to the surging valuations in the stock and housing markets, which many experts say are exhibiting bubble-like behavior.

Mould says this is why the discrepancy between wealth and income has widened to such an alarming degree.

"The difference is likely to be accounted for by the surge in the value of financial and other assets — equities, bonds, property and frankly everything from vintage cars to art to wine to baseball cards," he said. "And this is one warning that at some stage another collapse in financial markets will sweep around the globe."

In addition to stretched valuations through the market, Mould is wary of rising debt levels. Not only are global debt burdens higher than they were before the last two crashes, they also make up a larger percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).

So with all of these troubling elements in place, what could end up striking the death blow for markets? Mould raises the prospect of a Federal Reserve policy error as the central bank looks to increase interest rates from historically low levels.

He argues that more borrowing, combined with net worth being more linked to financial-market exposure, could make any negative impact of Fed rate hikes even worse. And that, in turn, puts increased pressure on the Fed to make the right decisions.

So as the central bank continues to tighten monetary conditions as a response to rising inflation, the risk of a mistake will continue to mount.

"The Fed seems determined to press ahead with rate hikes and the danger is that they overdo it," Mould said. "Hence, Fed policy error remains the most likely candidate for a fresh tumble in markets."

SEE ALSO: Wall Street is turning its back on a crucial part of the tech industry — and it's threatening to tank stocks across the sector

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why horseshoe crab blood is so expensive

The Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim ethnic minority in China, are subject to some of the most severe surveillance and repression in the country's history.

Around 1 million are reportedly imprisoned in detention centers or re-education camps in the western region of Xinjiang, where many of them live. Uighurs refer to the region as East Turkistan.

The detentions are part of China's "Strike Hard" campaign in Xinjiang, an anti-terrorism policy introduced in 2014 purporting to clamp down on militant terrorism. Beijing has repeatedly accused Uighurs of starting terrorist attacks across the country since at least the mid-1990s.

As part of this crackdown, China has used a slew of bogus and draconian reasons to lock Uighurs up — from having a beard to talking to people in foreign countries.

Scroll down to see some of the most bogus excuses China has allegedly used to imprison Uighurs.

SEE ALSO: What it's like inside the internment camps China uses to oppress its Muslim minority, according to people who've been there

Setting clocks to two hours after Beijing time.

One man was arrested and detained for being a terrorist suspect because he set his watch to "Urumqi time," an unofficial time zone set two hours behind Beijing's, Human Rights Watch reported.

China has one official time zone for the entire country — China Standard Time (CST) — which follows Beijing hours. But because the country is so big, Beijing is actually two hours ahead of the natural daylight schedule in Xinjiang, which is in the west.

Setting clocks to "Urumqi time" is therefore seen as a form of resistance against the Chinese Communist Party.

Read more:China reportedly detained a man on terrorist charges because he set his watch 2 hours behind Beijing time

Using a VPN to do homework.

A woman identified by the pseudonym Sofia said her daughter, a college student studying outside of China, got detained for using a virtual private network (VPN) to bypass China's strict firewall to do her homework during a visit to Xinjiang.

The daughter was "visiting relatives [in Xinjiang] and needed to access her school’s website for homework ... and [she] used a VPN," Sofia said.

"But throughout my daughter's detention, they never told us why they were holding her. I only knew about the VPN after my ex-husband made enquiries about why she wad detained and those [who knew] told him."

Read more: China's 'Great Firewall' is taller than ever under 'president-for-life' Xi Jinping

Showing distinct markers of Islam, like having a beard or wearing a veil.

China has prohibited the distinct markers of Islam, such as growing long beards and wearing veils in public, since at least 2017.

Erkin, a Uighur who was previously held in a political education camp, confirmed to Human Rights Watch that not following those rules is a cause for detention.

"There was an [ethnic] Uighur, who was our leader" in the detention camp cell, Erkin said. "He'd been detained for having a beard."

A 23-year-old Muslim Uighur, identified by the pseudonym Guli, also told The Guardian that she was interrogated by local authorities because they heard reports that she wore a hijab and prayed. She was later sent to a detention center for eight days, although her charge is not clear.

While detained Guli added that she had met a woman was imprisoned because police found a message saying "Happy Eid" on her phone.

Provided you're in one for long enough, relationships are full of milestones. There's "the talk," the first time you say "I love you," and meeting each other's parents. Then there's the point where you move in together.

Spending more time with the person you love can seem like a great idea on paper, but there's also going to be a lot you didn't predict. For instance, you'll learn more about your partner's bad habits, and you'll realise how much you liked having your own space.

We asked millennials what they learned when they moved in with their significant other, and what they wish they'd known before taking the step. Unsurprisingly, many of them wanted to remain anonymous.

Below you'll find their answers in a list of what to expect if you're considering moving in with someone.

It's definitely a learning curve.

1. You'll learn more about each other

"I learnt family norms are definitely not norms for everyone. Although our cohabiting is a multicultural contrast, so at times we just learnt about our different ways of life, before knowing each other. [It] was a brilliant way to bond and grow with each other! I didn't expect that to be such a positive!"— Jessie, a nurse in Norwich.

2. You'll accept each other's habits.

"And after a while, those awkward habits happen and you learn to love them. Even the ones that gross you out."— Jessie.

"Girls are gross too. You will now find clumps of long hair stuck to the wall in your shower and hair clips in every nook and cranny in your house."— anon in London.

3. You'll miss each other more when you're apart

"The first week I was away from my boyfriend after moving in together felt really long and very strange. You quickly get used to always having them there."— anon in London.

• The amount of time people are spending on Facebook is dropping.
• Compared with a year ago, time spent on the social network has fallen by almost 7%, according to an analysis of new Nielsen data.
• Google is eating into Facebook's share of the total time people spend consuming digital media.

Facebook's grip on people's time and attention is slipping.

The amount of time people are spending on the Silicon Valley company's main social network has dropped by almost 7% from a year ago, according to new data from the research firm Nielsen that was highlighted in a recent research note by Pivotal's Brian Wieser. Though users are spending more time with the Facebook-owned Instagram, it didn't make up for the declining use of Facebook's primary service.

"Overall, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, Facebook's share of digital consumption was at 15.2% vs. 16.9% in the year-ago period," Wieser wrote in his note.

Facebook will have a roughly 23% share of US digital ad revenue this year, he said, noting that the percentage is significantly higher than Facebook's share of users' time.

"To the extent that Facebook continues to hold a share of consumption at around 15%, it implies Facebook is over-monetizing vs. the industry to a significant degree," Wieser said.

The Nielsen data wasn't the only bad news for Facebook. A new study of teens by Common Sense Media cited by the news website Axios found that only 15% of those ages 13 to 17 said their "go-to social site" was Facebook, down from 68% in 2012.

Such statistics suggest consumers are increasingly turning away from the world's largest social network in favor of its competitors, underscoring the challenges facing the firm as it attempts to rebound from a series of bruising scandals.

While Facebook is declining, Google is gaining

The Nielsen data offered an additional worrisome detail for Facebook. Over the past two years, its share of digital content consumption across all its apps has dwindled from just under 20% to about 15%. By contrast, its archrival Google, buoyed by YouTube, has grown markedly — from less than 25% two year ago to almost 35% today.

Instagram was a bright spot for Facebook in the new Nielsen data. The amount of time consumers spent on its service jumped 38% over the past year, and it saw a 15% gain in users. Facebook, by contrast, saw a much more modest 3.5% increase in users.

But as Wieser pointed out, because Instagram is so much smaller and less mature than Facebook, it can't offset all of the bigger service's losses.

"Instagram still only captures time from consumers equivalent to around 15% of Facebook's total," he said.

Facebook's decline comes against a backdrop of scandals and shifts in direction. Battered from the fallout from everything from Russian misinformation campaigns to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the company is trying to emphasize the quality of the time users spend on its service rather than the amount of time they spend.

But the extent to which this change in emphasis has affected use of Facebook's services is unclear. Nielsen's data indicates the decline in use dates as far back as 2016, long before the company started deprioritizing the amount of time users spent on its apps and site.

Got a tip? Contact this reporter via Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a non-work phone, email at rprice@businessinsider.com, WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

SEE ALSO: A day in the life of an intern at Facebook, from free housing to coding crash courses and massive paychecks

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Apple introduced its new iPhone lineup on Wednesday.

The iPhone's flagship X series will now consist of three models.

The iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max are set to go on sale next week, on September 21.

The less expensive, more colorful iPhone XR is set to go on sale October 26.

Business Insider saw the phones unveiled at Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters and was able to briefly handle the new devices after they were announced. Here's what we thought:

SEE ALSO: Here's everything that happened at Apple's huge iPhone launch event

The iPhone XR is the most visually striking of the three new iPhone models. It comes in six colors.

Besides the colorful bodies, the iPhone XR is easy to identify by its single-lens camera.

When I handled one, I could tell it was a little bit lighter than its siblings, the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max.

That's because the XR is made of aluminum, as opposed to stainless steel.

• A bad piece of relationship advice is that you're supposed to make your spouse happy, experts say.
• Instead, you should be a complete person — happy and healthy — on your own.
• Regardless of whether you're currently in a relationship, it's important to work on your self-development.

I recently asked a series of relationship experts to share some relationship aphorisms that, despite being acknowledged as obvious wisdom, are simply not true.

Hal Runkel's answer stood out. The idea that "you're supposed to meet each other's needs and make each other happy," he said, is "BS."

Runkel, who is a licensed marriage and family therapist, was similarly revolted by this particular notion when he spoke with Business Insider in 2017: "That is the most horrific piece of advice I can imagine."

Specifically, he called out people who refer to their spouse as their "other half." Runkel explained why this is the wrong way to approach a relationship, using his own wife as an example.

"I am a whole person," Runkel said. "She is not powerful enough to complete me. I'm not powerful enough to complete her. She's a complete person. That's why I want her. Not because she's half; she's whole."

Instead of needing each other, he suggested, how about wanting each other?

Suzie Pileggi Pawelski and James Pawelski, the married authors of "Happy Together," shared something similar in a Psychology Today blog post.

One potential danger of looking for a soul mate that "completes" us, they wrote, "is that it may lead us to think that our perfect partner is somewhere out there, and that fate will bring us together. This view doesn't involve any intentional action on our part, but instead leads to us wait around for romantic lightning to strike."

It's a twist on the notion that you have to love yourself before anyone else can love you. As Pileggi Pawelski and Pawelski write, it's important to "work on your own self-development" to prepare yourself for a healthy relationship — whether you're currently in one or not.

As Runkel said, "Your spouse will never respect you more than you respect yourself."

SEE ALSO: A marriage therapist breaks down 'the most horrific piece of advice I can imagine' for relationships

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• Facebook's blood donation feature in India risks being abused by black market blood peddlers.
• Local blood donation experts told Business Insider the product can be used to illegally sell blood in the country.
• Facebook says it has only seen one report through its platform, though one expert said victims were unlikely to report the issue and that he has heard reports of blood selling.
• "The Facebook blood donation tool is not only trying to save lives but also indirectly helping to create a very disastrous and illegal blood donation activities," said one blood donor organisation founder.
• This black market pre-dates Facebook's time in the country, but there are fears that the way Facebook connects donors and recipients could exacerbate it.

Several public health officials in India are calling for Facebook to make changes to its blood donation tool, warning that the tech project — although well-meaning — risks fueling a dangerous black market for blood and harming the country's fragile blood collection system. 

Facebook's one-year-old blood donation feature has already helped facilitate tens of thousands of donations since it was launched, saving lives by making it easier for people in need of transfusions to find willing donors with matching blood types.

But the tool's person-to-person format is ringing alarm bells among experts and professionals in the field, who say that it's too easy for unscrupulous characters to latch onto, leaving vulnerable people at risk of paying exorbitant prices and receiving tainted blood, among other issues.

Facebook said that it has only had one report of forbidden behavior on the tool — but the head of one Indian blood donor organization said he has been told about incidents of black market blood selling on Facebook and suggested victims of black marketers were unlikely to report them to the social media firm.

"These types of products ... definitely bring in black marketing, and it's definitely promoting it unknowingly, because it was not the intent of Facebook to promote black marketing," said Biswaroop Biswas, the National Secretary of the Federation of Indian Blood Donor Organisations (FIBDO), a coalition of 126 blood donation groups across India.

The issue, which has not been previously been reported, illustrates the ongoing challenges Facebook faces in its efforts to ensure that its 2-billion member social network is not exploited for nefarious ends, whether that be interfering in US elections or promoting ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.  

The company is walking a delicate tightrope with the India blood donation tool, as it tries balance the unprecedented power, and undeniable benefits, that its technology brings with the potential for it to exacerbate thorny and endemic problems within the country.

In an interview, Facebook health product manager Hema Budaraju said: "What I would like to emphasize is our role is to get more and more blood banks to adopt our features, and to actually build up the culture of blood donation. And as you're already well aware, this system doesn't exist in the US, right? It's because donors are motivated [to give blood regularly]."

"That's the world we are trying to get to, and we are working constantly with NGOs and blood banks."

India has a worrying black market in blood

India quite simply doesn't have enough blood to go around.

There is an annual deficit of more than one million units of blood in the country — meaning patients can sometimes be forced to search for their own sources of blood, asking their social circle for donations or even paying illegal black marketers extortionate sums.

As Facebook grew in the country, it became an avenue for people to request blood donations from others in their network. In response, Facebook launched a tool in 2017 to try and facilitate donations more formally.

Initially available in India and now also live in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Brazil, Facebook's blood donation tool allows organisations and individuals to put out requests for blood donors on the social network at short-notice. Users can voluntarily register themselves on Facebook as blood donors, and then, when a request is put out nearby, they may be notified (or view them in a centralized hub).

These requests may be sent by medical institutions like hospitals and blood banks as part of broad donation drives, or individuals who require blood on behalf on themselves or a family member imminently, and who may or may not be in a medical institution.

More than 11 million people have now signed up for the service across the four countries it operates in, and it has facilitated tens of thousands of donations. 

There is an existing black market for blood in India, preying on desperate sufferers amid blood shortages. FIBDO expressed concerns that Facebook's product may help fuel this. Black market agents can register on the platform as donors, Biswas said. Then, when notifications and requests go out, the agents can contact the requester directly, offering them blood for a fee.

He said he has spoken to people who have been approached by black market blood sellers on Facebook. 

Budaraju said the company has multiple safeguards in place to protect users. New accounts aren't sent notifications about requests, and "the registrations we receive are doubly checked against fake and spammy accounts." Users are also able to report other users if they ask for money in return for blood, and she said there has only been one instance of a report through the platform to date — a post that was soliciting blood in exchange for money, in Bangladesh. (The user was subsequently made unable to use the blood donation tool.)

However, Biswas, who also sits on the governing body of the National Blood Transfusion Council, was skeptical that users would report black market issues to Facebook, suggesting they would simply pay up in a time of need instead. "If you need blood and people ask for money ... Will [you] report or just go with the donor [and] pay him?"

Chethan Gowda, student founder of blood donor organisation Khoon, said unscrupulous middlemen could also potentially use the platform to sell blood at extortionate rates: "The racket personnel can also request for blood, arrange for a donor through Facebook and on the other hand charge huge amount from the patient family, wherein the blood donor who turned up to donate blood will have no idea of what's going on on the other end."

And black market blood that hasn't been vetted carries a risk of being misclassified, tainted or otherwise dangerous, health experts say.

Gowda added: "The Facebook blood donation tool is not only trying to save lives but also indirectly helping to create a very disastrous and illegal blood donation activities."

These problems all pre-date Facebook — but now it has to deal with them

These kinds of problems long pre-date Facebook's entry into the blood donation space, and also take place on other online platforms, Biswas said. Facebook also continues to work with NGOs and blood donor organisations in India to encourage donations, including NTR Trust, the National Blood Transfusion Council, and Giants International. 

"There are known issues of scams/exploitation or bad actors in blood donation in some of the countries where our feature is available," Budaraju said in an email. "We’ve worked closely with partner organizations and NGOs to understand those concerns and the challenges they deal with in order to build a product that helps makes it easier for people to sign-up to be blood donors and find opportunities to donate nearby while also mitigating these risks. While there may be a few bad actors, we see a lot more good happening as a result of this feature."

She said that partners "highlighted a few concerns about potential ... scam[s] or abuse that could happen on Facebook, which is why we've designed the product with a number of safeguards in place. No partners have raised issues since we launched the product in each country, but we continue to work closely with them to ensure the feature is as safe and useful as possible.”

But the concerns of the Indian organizations who spoke to Business Insider point to how as Facebook moves into new markets and experiments with new tools designed to do good, it has been forced to grapple with unprecedented new challenges that would have been unimaginable when it was founded as a simple network for college students in 2004.

Facebook has stumbled in India before, with Free Basics — a program to provide a free, limited internet service to users in emerging markets. Facebook promoted it as a magnanimous project, but it was met with protests, and the company was accused of "digital colonialism" and violating net neutrality principles.

India wants to move away from 'replacement' blood donations

India has set itself a goal: By 2020, it wants to hit 100% voluntary blood donation.

This means 100% of the blood used in the country will come from volunteers proactively going to hospitals, blood banks, and donation drives to donate, which will then be distributed as necessary. At present, a portion of India's blood donations come from what is known as "replacement blood donations"— when a donor agrees to give blood specifically for someone in their network, rather than to the general blood bank.

This system can be problematic, with donors sometimes feeling pressured to donate blood to those in their community, and the lack of anonymity sometimes causing issues with donors attempting to extract favors (if not outright payment) from the recipients. 

FIBDO is concerned that Facebook's mechanism for connecting donors and recipients directly can encourage replacement blood donation. "When they got in touch with us, we told them this is not the way you people will be able to help the society," Biswas said. He believes that Facebook's one-to-one model effectively violates India's National Blood Policy, which calls for a movement away from replacement donors, and he would like to see Facebook remove one-to-one donation options.

Facebook disagrees, arguing that its one-to-one model is a step forward from the status quo, and that it too wants to see a 100% voluntary blood donation model implemented as soon as possible. 

Without Facebook's tools, people needing donations might ask people in real life for a donation, applying significant pressure, Budaraju said. In contrast, Facebook's notifications will also go to people outside a recipient's existing social circle, to people who have already registered and signaled their willingness to donate. The recipient is also unaware of the potential donors' identities unless they choose to respond and share information about themselves.

"In some ways I fundamentally believe the current system that we built on Facebook, even when used in the person-to-person, is a step towards voluntary, because people are under no coercion, do not have social pressures, are choosing to respond of their own volition and going in to donate," Facebook's Budaraju said. "So it's actually the opposite of the replacement system."

There are worries around blood wastage

Another area of concern is around potential blood wastage.

Srijan Pal Singh, the CEO of developmental NGO The Kalam Centre, said that Facebook's focus on increasing blood donations, without building out further blood storage infrastructure, could result in some of the blood drawn being wasted. 

"The time we worked with them, it seemed all about creating more units, but that's not the idea. It's not about creating more units, it's about helping more lives, and there's a difference between the two," he said.

"It's a well-known fact, three million units of blood was wasted in five years [in India] so unless you have the mechanism to store this blood it doesn't make sense."

Facebook responded that it believes that other organisations in the blood donation ecosystem are better placed to work on these problems than it. "We are still a relatively young product, we are focusing on .. Facebook's strengths in terms of education, communication, context, and in bringing awareness, and to build simple tools for blood banks and hospitals,"Budaraju said.

"I don't know that we would be the most effective people to think about storage and infrastructure."

'People will try to abuse those services in every way possible'

It's difficult to assess to what extent some of these concerns might actually be happening on Facebook.

Khoon's Chethan Gowda conceded that it's hard to measure whether the illegal behavior he has seen elsewhere is taking place on Facebook. "Concrete example[s] of a similar scenario happening through the Facebook blood donation tool is tough," he said. "As there's no track on the request."

Singh urged Facebook to get ahead of the problem. "When you have so much outreach and access, a lot of these touts and brokers may emerge, this is a possibility that I also hope Facebook sees will come up," he said. "When they are implementing this platform with all this good intent they should not end up becoming a victim of encouraging a whole black market brokerage."

Biswas said he is confident that black market selling is already taking place on Facebook, and has spoken to people who have been approached by blood sellers on the platform: "These things are happening. And as you can see when the people are in need of blood, they won't come out to say to the donor organisations afterwards that people are coming and asking for money." 

Despite these alleged flaws, Facebook believes it has built a significant improvement on the previous status quo — desperate patients and their families posting unregulated and unmonitored requests for blood directly onto Facebook and other platforms across the web. Both Facebook and FIBDO agree that a priority is education and promoting a cultural shift towards voluntary blood donation; Facebook plans to roll out educational resources for donors in the product soon. 

The company also continues to work with NGOs and blood donation organisations, who have heralded its work to drive blood donations and save lives. "Facebook has long been a positive platform for people in India to connect with Blood Donors and help those in need. NTR Trust welcomes Facebook's efforts to help make it even easier for people to donate blood in India," Vishnu Vardhan, CEO of non-profit organisation NTR Trust, said in a statement when the feature first launched. "We look forward to working together to raise awareness of the importance of donating blood and collectively catalyze sustainable access to safe blood in India. What Facebook is doing has the potential to bring tectonic shifts in Blood Banking in India."

On Friday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg published a post on the social network reflecting on Facebook's efforts to fix its platform over the last year.

"What I've learned so far is that when you build services that are used by billions of people across countries and cultures, you will see all of the good humanity is capable of, and people will try to abuse those services in every way possible," he wrote.

"It is our responsibility to amplify the good and mitigate the bad."

Do you work at Facebook? Do you know more? Contact this reporter via Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a non-work phone, email at rprice@businessinsider.com, WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

SEE ALSO: 'You can see the dripping of hate': Inside the protest group at Facebook attacking its 'intolerant' liberal culture

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Trump is reportedly thinking about getting rid of Mattis, and he's given 'Mad Dog' a new nickname

SEE ALSO: Trump reportedly once asked his 27-year-old assistant what he should do in Afghanistan

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NOW WATCH: Here's what we know about Trump's pick for Defense Secretary: Gen. James 'Mad Dog' Mattis

• The anonymous woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault has spoken out for the first time since her previously secret letter was revealed.
• Research psychologist Christine Blasey Ford told the Washington Post she decided to come forward after hearing misrepresentations of her account and being approached by the press.
• Ford said she wanted to maintain her privacy, but now felt that her "civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation."

The anonymous woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanugh of sexual assault has spoken out for the first time since the details of her allegation were reported.

Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old research psychologist and professor, spoke to the Washington Post to identify herself as the previously anonymous subject in a letter that detailed an incident in the early 1980s in suburban Maryland.

The New Yorker reported details about the letter, but did not identify Ford, who recounted the allegation to the Post that a "stumbling drunk" Kavanaugh pinned her down and forced himself on her while his friend watched and stifled her screams.

"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Ford said of the alleged attack. "He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing."

The accusation first became publicly known after Sen. Dianne Feinstein sent the letter to the FBI on Thursday without identifying its contents to fellow lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee.

The California Democrat, and ranking member of the committee, said in a statement she was compelled to honor the request for anonymity, and found the allegations serious enough to be referred to federal authorities.

Kavanaugh denied the allegations in a statement from the White House: "I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time."

Feinstein said in a Sunday afternoon statement: "I support Mrs. Ford's decision to share her story, and now that she has, it is in the hands of the FBI to conduct an investigation. This should happen before the Senate moves forward on this nominee."

The Post corroborated Ford's account with an interview with her husband, a lie detector test from her lawyer, and notes from therapy sessions that include mention of a "rape attempt" by students from an "elitist boys school" who would become "highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington."

Though not confirmed, Ford told the Post she thought it might have happened when she was 15 in the summer of 1982, after her sophomore year at Bethesda's all-girls Holton-Arms School in Bethesda.

Kavanaugh would have been 17 at the time, attending Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda. Ford said the friend in the room was Mark Judge, a conservative writer who The New York Times previously identified. The Post wasn't able to reach Judge, and he told The Times, "I never saw anything like what was described."

Ford told the Post she decided to come forward after she feared for her privacy and story's accuracy after reporters visited her at home and at work, and another reporter called her colleagues.

"These are all the ills that I was trying to avoid," she said. "Now I feel like my civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation."

Kavanaugh is in the midst of a high-profile, marathon confirmation process.

During his confirmation hearings, scores of protesters echoed Democratic lawmakers' concerns with Kavanaugh's record on a number of key issues, including abortion and gun control.

But the 51 votes Kavanaugh needs to be confirmed have so far seemed secured.

Read the full report from the Post here »

SEE ALSO: New details are emerging about a woman's allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in a secret letter

DON'T MISS: Here's what Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said about key issues like abortion during his marathon confirmation hearings

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• The Federal Reserve has underpinned stock market gains throughout the 9-1/2-year bull market by keeping lending conditions highly accommodative.
• Barry Bannister, the chief equity strategist at Stifel, sees this becoming problematic for stocks as the Fed adopts a tighter monetary policy.
• He lays out a scenario in which future Fed decisions regarding interest-rate hikes create the next big equity meltdown.

When it comes to the 9-1/2-year bull market, stock enthusiasts are quick to highlight the strong corporate profit growth that has led the way higher.

But what helped catalyze such impressive earnings expansion? Why, the Federal Reserve's historically easy monetary policy, of course.

That's the premise of Stifel's view that this has been a "policy bull market," built on the shoulders of the Fed's extremely accommodative lending conditions.

Sure, it's a cynical way to look at the longest bull run in history. But Stifel has a point. Back in 2008, when companies were going bankrupt in droves, the Fed stepped in to suppress bond yields of all types, forming a market backbone of sorts.

"US equities have become extensions of policy decisions rather than reflections of economic value,"Barry Bannister, Stifel's chief equity strategist, wrote in a recent client note.

By this logic, Stifel thinks it will be the Fed that ultimately causes the next big market meltdown — undoing much of the progress it made following the financial crisis.

At the center of this forecast is a neutral Fed funds rate monitored by Stifel. The firm argues that, following two more rate hikes, this measure will cross a so-called bear-market trigger, which occurs on the rare occasions that the neutral reading climbs above the actual Fed funds rate.

As you can see in the chart below, this also happened in 2000 and 2007, right before large bear-market sell-offs.

"A 'maximum tolerable peak' for the Fed funds above the neutral rate has been associated with bear markets since the late-90s global debt boom," Bannister said. "The line connecting the tops has trended down, perhaps due to diminishing productivity of debt (ability of debt to generate GDP), which magnifies the rate sensitivity of borrowers."

In terms of how bad any stock sell-off can get, Stifel estimates that it could reach bear-market territory. As for the timing of that 20% drop, Bannister says it could happen within six to 12 months.

But it doesn't end there. If that bear market does transpire, Bannister says, it could be followed by eight years of sideways trading for the S&P 500.

Before you go dismissing Bannister's grim forecast, consider that he was one of the Wall Street strategists who predicted the market correction that rocked stocks back in early February.

In terms of how traders can combat an imminent market crunch, Bannister recommends his "tight policy" trade. It involves going long defensive industries like utilities, real-estate investment trusts, and household products while shorting areas like construction, energy, raw materials, and insurance.

SEE ALSO: There's a 'trap door below the market' — the world's biggest stock bear warns of a recent shift that signals the next big crash is near

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Apple just debuted a brand-new Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Series 4.

The new watch has a larger display, upgraded heart-tracking sensors, and a faster chip than last year's model, the Apple Watch Series 3.

But it also bears several similarities to last year's model: the new watch gets the same amount of battery life (18 hours) and the design looks nearly identical to the Series 3, and to previous versions before that. 

So whether you're a first-time Apple Watch buyer, or you're just trying to decide if you should upgrade from last year's watch, here's how the Apple Watch Series 4 compares to the Apple Watch Series 3. 

SEE ALSO: There were two major no-shows at Apple's big iPhone event

The Apple Watch Series 4 and Apple Watch Series 3 bear a lot of similarities. Both watches come with the option for GPS only, or GPS plus cellular connectivity.

There's a price difference if you opt to add a cellular connection — plus, the Apple Watch Series 4 is more expensive than the now-discounted Apple Watch Series 3.

Here's the price breakdown:

• Apple Watch Series 3 with GPS — $279
• Apple Watch Series 4 with GPS — $399
• Apple Watch Series 3 with GPS and cellular — $379
• Apple Watch Series 4 with GPS and cellular — $499

On the design front, there is a change from last year to this year in regards to the cellular version. The Apple Watch Series 3 with cellular had a red digital crown, while the Apple Watch Series 4 with cellular just has a thin red stripe on the crown. Apple also added haptic feedback to the digital crown on the Series 4. 

Both watches get 18 hours of battery life, and are water resistant up to 50 meters.

There are a few key design differences between the two watches. The Apple Watch Series 4 has a bigger case size than the Apple Watch Series 3, and it also has a bigger screen.

The Apple Watch Series 4 has a slightly larger case size than the Apple Watch Series 3. 

Both watches come in two sizes: the Apple Watch Series 4 in 40 mm and 44 mm, and the Apple Watch Series 3 in 38 mm and 42 mm. 

The upside of the larger case, however, is a larger screen:

• Apple Watch Series 3, 38 mm — 563 sq mm display area
• Apple Watch Series 3, 42 mm — 740 sq mm display area
• Apple Watch Series 4, 40 mm — 759 sq mm display area
• Apple Watch Series 4, 44 mm — 977 sq mm display area

• With just 12 years of operations under its belt, the Hong Kong-based carrier Hong Kong Airlines has become one of the best airlines in the world.
• I recently flew from San Francisco to Hong Kong at the very back of the economy cabin on one of the airline's new Airbus A350-900s.
• Though there's no such thing as a perfectly pleasant 14-hour flight in economy, my Hong Kong Airlines experience put other flights I've taken to shame, largely because of the upgraded in-flight entertainment system and the tasty meals.

For some, riding in business or first class is a must when taking long-haul flights. The lie-flat seats, the Champagne, the three-course meals — ah, the luxury.

For the rest of us mere mortals, low-priced economy seats are the way to go.

Such was the case for a recent trip I took to Hong Kong from San Francisco aboard Hong Kong Airlines, a young carrier based out of Hong Kong that has quickly become one of the best airlines in the world.

The airline is known for its "affordable luxury," which I can certainly vouch for — I purchased a round-trip ticket to Hong Kong from the Bay Area for a mere $500.

Here's what my economy experience was like aboard a Hong Kong Airlines flight:

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My trip began at San Francisco International Airport. Always antsy before a flight, I arrived three hours before we were scheduled to take off at 12:30 p.m.

The two largest airlines at the West Coast airport are United and Virgin America, the latter of which merged with Alaska Airlines just this year.

Source: SFGate, Business Insider

The newest player on the SFO scene is Hong Kong Airlines, which in its 12 years of operation has become one of the best airlines in the world.

Source: Airline Geeks, Hong Kong Airlines, Forbes

• While Ibiza is known as a party capital of the world, many wealthy and famous head to the lesser-known pastoral north of the island to relax.
• One of the most luxurious and secluded resorts on the island is Atzaró Hotel and Spa, an agrotourism resort where Rihanna, Shakira, and other celebs have stayed.
• I recently spent the day at Atzaró to see what it's like to live like a popstar. The food was good, the drinks were strong, and the grounds were stunning.

The Spanish island of Ibiza is world-famous as a vacation and partying hotspot for the wealthy and the famous.

Every summer sees the usual influx of actors, billionaires, and models and their entourages flooding in for wild parties at the island's bumping clubs and beautiful beaches.

But what if you are looking for something a bit more secluded, classy, and chic? Ibiza has that, too.

Enter the Atzaró Hotel and Spa, an agrotourism resort hidden in the northern countryside of the island. Considered one of the more prestigious hotels on the island, the resort opened in 2004 after being converted from a 300-year-old traditional farmhouse into the lavish 10-acre estate and gardens it is now.

The hotel's hidden, serene location has made it a favorite of celebrities ranging from popstars Rihanna and Shakira to actress Kate Hudson, among others. 

I recently visited Atzaró Hotel and Spa on a recent trip to Spain. Keep reading to see what it's like:

SEE ALSO: I stayed at Robert De Niro's ridiculously swanky new hotel in Ibiza — and it makes you feel like a celebrity, if you can afford it

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Getting to Atzaró is a bit of a schlep. Located near Santa Eularia des Riu in the north of the island, it was a 30-minute ride from Sant Antoni de Portmany, one of the major towns on the island. It's about the same distance from Ibiza Town.

The drive there was gorgeous. The ride revealed a lush, green countryside that I didn't even know existed on Ibiza. Located down a small country road, Atzaró is named after the mountain behind the property.

The property was originally a finca, or Spanish farmhouse, built some 300 years ago, that served as the family home of owner and CEO Victor Guasch.

• Karsten, aka "Big Ern," is a former financial professional who retired early at age 44. He blogs at EarlyRetirementNow.com.
• Since he retired in June 2018, he's been traveling with his wife Kristal, also an early retiree, and their young daughter.
• Karsten says he's already learned a lot since retiring, like it's easier than you think to cut down on unnecessary expenses and that full-time travel is just a different type of job.

Eight weeks of retirement already! Actually, a little bit more by the time this goes online, but it was exactly eight weeks when I started writing this.

Early retirement is a lot more than number crunching and safe withdrawal simulations, so today it's time to reflect on the first two months of early retirement. Everybody's experience will be different and here's what have I learned, what surprised me and what didn't surprise me…

1. I have no regrets

I can't remember a single day I woke up and thought "Oh, boy, I wish I could go back to work again today!" And I'm not even talking tongue-in-cheek here; we shouldn't be surprised if folks who hated their job never look back but I actually thoroughly enjoyed my former job, my duties there and the people I worked with.

Of course, in early October when we'll be back in San Francisco Bay Area I will definitely swing by the office and say "Hello" to my former colleagues and bosses. But I'll look forward to the Asia-Pacific part of our World Tour way too much to stay there longer than needed and if they offered me my old job back I'd politely decline!

Of course, doubters could say that I was just plain lucky: the stock market is doing well so far, so it's easy to have no regrets. That's true, to a degree because I know about the challenges of withdrawing money in retirement, the pitfalls of the 4% Rule and the dreaded Sequence of Return Risk. But working in finance, especially asset management, there is one issue to consider, which brings me to the next point…

2. The only thing more stressful than managing your own money? Managing other people's money

When people point out that it must be stressful to live off our money with a lot of exposure to stock market volatility I readily concede that. But I used to work in Asset Management. And my experience there: it's been even more stressful to manage other people's money and go through a market downturn. In this industry you're just one market downturn, one bad year, maybe even one bad quarter away of getting kicked to the curb. Sure, the market will always recover, but that recovery is of no use if your client "fires" you at the stock market bottom and hires the competition to ride the market back up to the next peak.

So, I am actually less stressed out about market volatility now. Investing our own money has the advantage that if things don't go so well in our portfolio I "only" have to report that to my wife. And she has more patience with me and my investing skills than the average client in the asset management business. So, when the next downturn hits I will have the confidence that we have enough wiggle room for a comfortable retirement. And my wife will stick with me going through it! It can't be more stressful than working in finance in 2008/9!

3. I feel the same as before

"Do you feel happier now?" is one of the common questions people would ask. I should be so much happier now, shouldn't I? Maybe as happy as the other Big Ern (Bill Murray in "King Pin")?

My last day at the office was June 1 and, shockingly, I didn't feel all that different on June 2. Is that normal? Did I do something wrong? Does it mean that early retirement doesn't really make you happier? Of course, early retirement makes you happier! A lot! But the increase in happiness was already "priced in" gradually instead of jumping from 0 to 100 on June 2.

A nice analogy from finance (of course!) would be that in light of the corporate tax cuts going in effect on January 1, 2018, prices didn't jump on January 2 (the first trading day) but the projected corporate earnings boost was already priced in way before the tax law changed. For the same reason, my happiness didn't move much on June 2.

4. I got used to discomfort really quickly

We've been living out of suitcases for a while now. Not just since retirement in early June but since early March when we moved out of our condo in San Francisco. Since then we've stored most of our belongings in a self-storage unit in the Bay Area while we stayed in a string of temporary housing arrangements; Airbnb, cruise ships, friends, relatives, vacation condos, etc., with a few suitcases and backpacks. If we really splurge we'd have a place where our daughter has a separate bedroom but for the most part she sleeps in the same room with us, sometimes even in the same bed. I would have never thought we'd so easily give up our nice large 2-bedroom condo in San Francisco; 1,150 square feet, which is yuuuge for SF standards!

But curbing expenses is possible. Lifestyle inflation can be reversed without too much pain and it's easier to declutter our life and especially the spending in one sweeping move, like ripping off a band-aid. Of course, eventually, once we're done with our travel adventure, we'll likely scale up our consumption again: We'll buy a house, own a car and — gasp!!! — might even switch on the cable/satellite TV again. But it's good to know that trimming consumption can be done without too much pain if that ever becomes necessary in the future, i.e., if the market doesn't cooperate, think Sequence Risk.

5. I have less time for blogging now

I retired on Friday, June 1 and then have 40+ extra hours for blogging starting the next week. Great, I can go to two blog posts a week now, right? Wrong! Maybe this would have worked out differently if we had stayed in the same location post-retirement. Because I got a new "job" now: traveling.

And — at least for me — this new job is less conducive to blogging than the day job I held until June. I would occasionally have some downtime at the office and work on my blog — don't tell my former employer!!! But that's not so easy when you're out and about with a backpack and a four-year-old in tow. I hope readers forgive me when I slow down a little while on the road!

Talking about traveling as a job, that brings me to the next lesson…

6. I still need a weekend

There must be something about this biblical convention to have seven days in a week. Not three days per week, not 30 days, but seven days. I mean, after five days at the office everybody needs a weekend but who knew that the same is true when you're on a permanent vacation? After about five to six days of sightseeing, walking, visiting castles, museums, etc. I actually need one to two days of vacation from our vacation! I realized that perma-traveling is a job and you can't do a job seven days a week.

Luckily, we didn't try to pack too much program into our World Tour. For example, we skipped Southern Europe entirely this year and plan that for next year. Instead, we slow-travel through a smaller geographic area — France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic (and now back to Germany again) so far — and factor in enough slack days for the occasional lazy "weekend" when we "only" go for a walk, to a park or to a playground or just watch some TV. Go to a playground while on vacation? That was completely unthinkable pre-retirement when we tried to max out every single precious vacation day.

7. I have yet to meet a naysayer

As I have mentioned before, the reception so far has been extremely positive. Everyone we talked to, whether relatives or friends or strangers on the train seems to be very supportive of our decision to pull the plug. What was the most negative response so far?

"I'd get bored retiring so young!"

In its literal interpretation, that's actually not even much of a criticism unless he meant to say, "You'll get bored retiring so young." So, considering that I'm certainly not bored it probably just means that different people have different preferences. It's also much easier to not be bored as a retired finance professional; I'm still practicing finance after all by managing our own portfolio and by blogging about (personal) finance.

8. You can't get homesick if you don't have a home

Before I retired we'd rarely travel for much more than a week. Occasionally, we'd do 10- to 14-day trips but at the end of the trip, I'd always have the feeling of "I'm ready to head home now!" Isn't that crazy? Even though going home meant going back to work. Sounds like homesickness to me. So, planning a seven-month trip around the world this concern was on my mind.

But I'm glad that traveling hasn't gotten old yet and I hope it stays that way until December! One reason must be that we don't even have a home to go back to (yet). Our belongings are nicely stored/stacked in a self-storage room. That doesn't feel too homely — even though it's climate controlled while we are sweating here in Europe without A/C. So, above all, packing up our stuff back in the US was a nice "hack" to save money but also keeps us motivated to stay on track with our travel plans without feeling homesick.

SEE ALSO: 7 things no one tells you about early retirement

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