In over 210,000 games of Major League Baseball, there have only been 23 perfect games, and fans haven't seen one since Felix Hernandez in 2012.

On Wednesday night, it felt like the Dodgers Rich Hill was going to be No. 24. The Dodgers have been rolling with one of the best regular-season stretches in MLB history, and Hill was rolling on Wednesday night, perfect through seven innings with the game still tied 0-0.

In the eighth inning Josh Bell hit a shot toward second base that for a moment felt like the end of Hill's pursuit of perfection, only for Chase Utley to make one of the best catches of the year to preserve the potential feat.

At this point, it felt like perfection was written in the cards for Hill. But in the ninth inning, things would sadly begin to fall apart.

An error by third baseman Logan Forsythe allowed the Pirates their first baserunner of the game and broke up Hill's chance at the history books. But he still had a no-hitter going, and was able to get out of the inning and send the game to extra innings still tied at zero.

The Dodgers would again fail to put up a run in the top of the tenth, and Hill, with only 95 pitches thrown, took the mound again in the tenth to see if he could keep the magic going and maybe become one of the few men in history to throw an extra-inning no-hitter. Unfortunately, Josh Harrison, the first batter he faced, sent a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence just out of reach of Curtis Granderson.

Rich Hill would finish the game with a line of 9.0 innings pitched, 10 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 run... and a loss.

It's still an impressive line, but when you consider how close he was to perfection, it's tough to imagine a worse way to lose. Instead of going down in history as the 24th pitcher to ever be perfect in the majors, he made a much more unfortunate historical stat. According to baseball statistician Ryan Spaeder, Rich Hill is the first pitcher in history to lose a no-hitter on a walk-off home run.

The Dodgers and Pirates will face off again on Thursday.

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ESPN president John Skipper sent a memo to staff Wednesday to respond to criticism that came after the network's decision to remove a football announcer named Robert Lee was from an assignment at the University of Virginia because of his name.

The move was made in the wake of the recent protests in Charlottesville, but conservative commentators criticized ESPN for what they deemed political correctness gone awry, in part because Lee is Asian-American.

Clay Travis of the sports website Outkick the Coverage broke the news Tuesday in an article with the headline "MSESPN Pulls Asian Announcer Named Robert Lee Off UVa Game To Avoid Offending Idiots.""MSESPN" is a reference to what critics view as ESPN's liberal bias along the same lines of MSNBC.

A statement from an anonymous ESPN executive said the decision was simply made to avoid Lee becoming the subject of "memes and jokes and who knows what else."

Skipper went further in explaining the decision, saying it was made by a production staff outside of Bristol, that Lee had expressed concern with the assignment, and blaming the hoopla over the decision on 'someone with a personal agenda.'"

Here is the memo, via Brian Stelter of CNN:

"Given the amount of media attention being generated by one of the countless, routine decisions our local production teams make every day, I wanted to make sure you have the facts. There was never any concern — by anyone, at any level — that Robert Lee's name would offend anyone watching the Charlottesville game.

"Among our Charlotte production staff there was a question as to whether — in these divisive times — Robert's assignment might create a distraction, or even worse, expose him to social hectoring and trolling. Since Robert was their primary concern, they consulted with him directly. He expressed some personal trepidation about the assignment and, when offered the chance to do the Youngstown State/Pitt game instead, opted for that game — in part because he lives in Albany and would be able to get home to his family on Saturday evening.

"I'm disappointed that the good intentions of our Charlotte colleagues have been intentionally hijacked by someone with a personal agenda, and sincerely appreciate Robert's personal input and professionalism throughout this episode."

The person with a "personal agenda" is likely a reference to Travis, who has often been critical of ESPN.

The Virginia Cavaliers' September 2 game against William & Mary, which Lee was set to broadcast, will be the first game in Charlottesville, Virginia, since a white nationalist rally was held there earlier this month to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. 

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Here are the winning numbers for Wednesday night's Powerball jackpot, which hit $700 million:

6, 7, 16, 23, 26, and Powerball number is 4.

The jackpot is the second-largest in US history. The record was in 2016 for a $1.5 billion jackpot.

Powerball drawings happen every Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. There have been 21 consecutive drawings without a winner— the latest was on Saturday, August 19.

If no one wins, the next Powerball drawing will be on Saturday.

If you won tonight's Powerball drawing, try to resist the urge to tell everyone you know — there will be many people who want a piece of the pie. Hire a lawyer who can help you figure out how to claim your winnings and protect your privacy.

You'll have a choice to claim your winnings in the form of a lump sum or an annuity. The annuity is a series of 30 annual payments, which increase by 5% each year.

Choosing the lump sum might sound tempting, but do note that you'll get less than the face value of the prize. The current value of the cash payout is $443.3 million.

Business Insider's resident personal finance expert, Lauren Lyons Cole, recommends taking the series of payouts, as opposed to the lump sum.

"Most people would do better to choose the annuity rather than the lump sum," she writes. "Unless you're supremely good with money and already have a team of advisers who have proved themselves over time, the annuity is the more cautious choice."

The billionaire Mark Cuban agrees.

There have been plenty of stories about lottery winners who have seen their lives fall apart after the cash windfall. And some research shows that lottery winners often have a hard time finding enjoyment in life after winning.

SEE ALSO: 21 lottery winners who blew it all

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On Wednesday night Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill lost his bid for a perfect game and subsequently his chance at a no-hitter in one of the most heartbreaking games of baseball you'll ever witness. It will surely go down as one of the greatest pitching performances in a loss in the history of baseball.

But before the night turned tragic, Hill had some help, most notably from veteran second baseman Chase Utley, whose flash of the glove in the eighth inning would save Hill's perfect game for the moment.

With no outs in the inning, Pirates first baseman Josh Bell hit a shot toward second that for a moment felt like the end of Hill's pursuit of perfection, only for Utley to make a diving catch that would have gone down as the defining defensive moment of this game had the perfect game come to fruition.

As the announcer's call goes: "CHASE UTLEY... OH MY GOODNESS... He saved the day for now."

For an instant after Utley came down with the ball, it felt like perfection was simply in the air, and inevitable outcome for one of the hottest teams in regular season baseball history.

Sadly for Hill, Utley, and the rest of the Dodgers, the announcer's call would prove foreboding. Hill would lose the perfect game in the ninth after an error by third baseman Logan Forsythe, and give up the no-hitter and the win in the tenth inning with a walk-off to Josh Harrison.

Rich Hill had pitched nine no-hit innings only to take the loss, and Utley left the game with a defensive highlight that will go unremarked in the history books besides a possible spot on tomorrow's SportsCenter Top 10.

The Dodgers and Pirates will face off again on Thursday.

SEE ALSO: Dodgers pitcher Rich Hill lost a perfect game in one of the worst ways possible

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The intensity of President Donald Trump's public remarks on controversial issues has ratcheted up alongside the collective indignation media personalities have expressed in response to it.

That's what former Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro asserted in a CNN interview on Wednesday night.

"One thing Trump has benefited from, is that the left is constantly reacting to everything he says with an enormous level of passion and I think that's actually a negative," Shapiro told CNN host Don Lemon.

Shapiro was speaking about the reaction within left-leaning media circles that followed Trump's freewheeling rally in Phoenix, Arizona, a day earlier, where Trump relitigated his remarks about a deadly white nationalist protest that erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month.

While conservative media largely applauded Trump's remarks on Tuesday night, some commentators on left-leaning media outlets called the president's behavior "unhinged," a "disaster," and "downright scary and disturbing."

Trump began his remarks by reading from a script, before he lashed out at the journalists and news outlets that covered him. After the Arizona rally, some commentators questioned Trump's fitness for office and his mental health.

Shapiro argued that liberal media tends to take an emotional stance on Trump when the president goes off the rails.

"Instead of doing objective analysis of where he was not telling the truth, they jumped to extraordinary critiques of his mental health and talking about how he was crazy and how he was morally bereft," Shapiro said of Trump.

"All that does is it plays to his crowd. His crowd thinks that the media is out to get him. His crowd thinks that the media have a particular emotional animus for him, personally."

Shapiro pointed to Lemon's own Tuesday-night response to Trump as an example.

Lemon defended his choice to take a position on Trump's fiery remarks at the Phoenix rally, but insisted that having a point of view is not the same as being biased, or harboring personal hostility toward Trump.

Shapiro responded to that assertion: "Whether it's true or not, that's the way a lot of his followers are going to take it."

Watch Shapiro's remarks below:

SEE ALSO: Trump rehashes his Charlottesville response at wild Arizona rally by reading a different version of his original statement

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"Rocket League" is unlike any video game you've ever played. It's essentially a game of soccer, but with rocket-powered cars instead of human players. 

It's one of my favorite games on the PlayStation 4 (it's also available on Xbox One and PC via Steam), but later this year, it will arrive on Nintendo's newest console, the Switch, which itself has been on a rocket ever since its release in early March.

Though most people have praised the Switch (myself included), one of the biggest sticking points with critics has been its limited roster of must-have games. Of course, this is understandable since the console only launched about six months ago, but the addition of "Rocket League" only makes the Switch a better sell. Two of the biggest hits on the Nintendo Switch currently, "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" and "Splatoon 2," encourage people to play with and against each other, thereby taking advantage of the Nintendo Switch's unique multiplayer capabilities. "Rocket League" fits that bill in a similar fashion, and it's also a proven winner on otherconsoles, meaning it's easy to recommend before it's even released.

For the Nintendo Switch version, "Rocket League" maker Psyonix created some new cars themed after Nintendo's most famous mascots, including Mario, Luigi, and Samus Aran of "Metroid" fame — all three of these cars are featured in Psyonix's new teaser for the game, which it released on Wednesday night. You can watch that teaser below.

"Rocket League" will release on the Nintendo Switch sometime in "holiday 2017."

SEE ALSO: The 25 best games every PlayStation 4 owner should have in their library

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LONDON — Ports in Britain and across Europe face "gridlock" if the UK and EU fail to agree on a frictionless trade deal, the head of the UK's shipping lobby said.

Guy Platten, chief executive of the UK Chamber of Shipping, warned on Wednesday that a so-called cliff-edge Brexit — in which Britain leaves the EU without any sort of transitional deal — could cause chaos that would have a knock-on effect around Europe.

Asked what the worst outcome would be for the shipping industry in Britain from Brexit talks, Platten said that this border would end up causing "gridlock" at places like Dover — one of the UK's busiest lorry ports — and Holyhead, which handles cargo coming to the UK from the West.

A hard border would lead to lengthier checks of cargo passing through ports, adding time to current procedures, which in turn would likely lead to major backlogs at ports. Dover currently handles around 9,000 to 10,000 lorries per day. It currently takes about 20 minutes to process a non-EU truck.

"It is going to be an absolute disaster for the ports and for our sector as well," Platten said when discussing the same issue in April this year, the Guardian reported at the time.

Any return to a hard border would likely see scenes similar to those seen during the summer of 2015 when French ferry workers went on strike, causing a backlog of trucks that stretched to Maidstone, around 40 miles from Dover, and contained 7,000 lorries.

"It is absolutely critical that UK customs takes this issue seriously and is prepared to handle it from day one because even one day’s delay is disruption to the supply chain and costs to trade," said Jack Semple, the director of policy at the Road Haulage Association said in February.

Frictionless trade is set to be a core topic during Brexit talks, with the UK looking to establish a brand new trading relationship with the EU as it leaves. As it stands, the UK's official plan is to leave the customs union in March 2019 and negotiate a totally "new" customs relationship with the EU, which would "minimise disruption" and be as "frictionless" as possible.

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LONDON — Investors are too optimistic about the UK's chances of securing a Brexit trade deal, according to the latest research from analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

As many as 70% of investors said that they "expect a transition of near-EU membership for at least 1-2 years," according to a note circulated to clients on Wednesday from BAML's European Economics group.

Analysts Robert Wood, Gilles Moec, and Sebastien Cross argued this is unrealistic.

"David Davis suggested a customs union only transition was the furthest the UK would consider," they say, noting that this would "disappoint market expectations."

"We think the UK remaining in the single market would be unsustainable in the long-run: it would mean accepting EU rules without any say," BAML says, noting that this would not be politically viable given the government's staunch commitment to leaving the single market, and its recent position papers, which effectively rule that out.

Here is the chart of market expectations:

Last week the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) published its official plan to leave the customs union in March 2019 and negotiate a totally "new" customs relationship with the EU, which would "minimise disruption" and be as "frictionless" as possible.

The British side hopes the EU will agree to a bespoke, time-limited customs arrangement, which will protect the UK economy from a "cliff-edge" Brexit and allow businesses to carry on as normal during an interim period, according to the position paper.

That position paper effectively rules out staying within the single market during any transition period, regardless of how long that period is, meaning that it seems an awful lot of the market will be disappointed.

There is a crack of light, BAML argues, saying that the chance of the government choosing to remain in the EEA — doing a massive u-turn in the process — cannot be completely ruled out.

"Of course the more optimistic scenario markets seem to be pricing in appears to have become more possible now, but we think the risks are skewed to the downside of market assumptions."

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Good morning! Here's what you need to know in markets on Thursday.

1. JP Morgan Cazenove, the corporate broker to Provident Financial Plc, has told investors that the subprime lender's troubled home credit business is worthless, the Times reports. In the latest blow to Provident, analysts at JP Morgan Cazenove, which acts as the company’s broker and adviser, said in its sum-of-the-parts valuation of the group that "we give zero value to HC."

2.  The decline in the British car market has been greatly exaggerated by its own chief flag waver, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the Times reports. In one of the biggest muddles in industry statistics in recent times, the society was forced to withdraw last week’s announcement that used car sales had plunged in the second quarter of the year by a record-breaking 13.5%: In fact, the drop was only 0.7%.

3. The food and drink industry has issued a warning of significant disruption and economic damage if the government fails to stem the flow of EU nationals leaving the UK, the Guardian reports. Nearly a third of British food and drink businesses have had non-UK EU workers leave their employment since last summer’s Brexit vote, according to a survey of more than 600 businesses representing nearly a quarter of the food chain’s 4 million workforce.

4. The euro has jumped to a two-year high against a basket of currencies and hit a post-crisis extreme against sterling after the European Central Bank shrugged off concerns about the strong exchange rate.Mario Draghi, the ECB’s president, said the eurozone economy is firing on all cylinders as super-easy monetary policy continues to flush the system with liquidity.

5. Ad giant WPP, founded and run by Sir Martin Sorrell, reported billings down 4.7% on a constant currency basis to £26.9 billion. WPP, run by Sir Martin Sorrell, blamed populist politics in the UK and US, fake news on platforms like Facebook and Google, and short-term thinking in business, for a terrible start to the year.

6. Sorrel said Brexit has driven advertising and marketing giant WPP to invest in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. He told Sky News on Wednesday morning: "The migration issue or the fluidity of people is really important to us. About 17% of the 14,000 or 15,000 people we have in the UK come from the EU. If there are severe restrictions on their movement, inward or outward, in the future, that obviously impacts our business in the UK.

7. The owner of the Slug and Lettuce bar chain will on Thursday take a decisive step towards a £100m takeover of rival operator Revolution Bars, Sky News reports. Sky says privately-owned Stonegate Pub Company has agreed the terms of a 203p-a-share offer for Revolution, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

8. The reclusive billionaire brothers who own Chanel paid themselves a $3.4 billion  (£2.66 billion) dividend last year, the Guardian reports. Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, who have run the luxury goods company for more than 30 years, took more than four times the company’s net profit and double the dividend they received in 2015.

9. A Nobel economics laureate, Sir Christopher Pissarides, has hit out at Germany’s refusal to increase its domestic state spending in order to help entrench the eurozone’s recovery, reports the Independent. Speaking at the Lindau meetings in Germany on Wednesday, Sir Christopher said that despite the bounce back in the single currency zone in recent months after years of crisis, the Continent’s largest economy was still exerting a damaging and unnecessary drag.

10. Japan's Nikkei share average slipped towards a 3-1/2-month low on Thursday, dragged down by Wall Street losses, while steel makers fell after reports that Toyota Motor Corp was looking to cut the price of steel supplied to component makers. Bucking gains elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei was down 0.2% at 19,364 points by 6.58 a.m. BST (1.58 a.m. ET).

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Good morning! Here is the tech news you need to know this Thursday.

1. Samsung officially announced the Galaxy Note 8, coming on September 15. The successor to the ill-fated Note 7 has design and specs similar to the Galaxy S8+, but adds a dual camera setup, the signature S-Pen, and a starting price of $930 (£750).

2. Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth is reportedly taking over all of Facebook's hardware efforts, including the company's famous Building 8 and Oculus. His team is already working on a video-chat device, which will be the first of a series of consumer gadgets such as a Echo-like smart speaker, 360-degree cameras, and "futuristic wearables."

3. Apple is reportedly lagging behind its competitors in the self-driving technology race. A person who worked on the project told Business Insider that Apple is now "where Google was three years ago," and that the scaled down team working on the technology is "still in turmoil" after last year's major internal reorganisation.

4. The US Federal Trade Commission has approved Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods. In a statement, it said that it was no longer investigating into the $13.7 billion (£10.7 billion) deal, initially deemed as potentially anti-competitive.

5. Samsung Mobile's president DJ Koh said that the company is working on a smart speaker. It's not clear whether the device will use Samsung's own Bixby smart assistant, but it will compete directly against products like Google's Home and the Amazon Echo when it launches.

6. Snap's vice president of content Nick Bell said that he expects the company to publish scripted shows on Snapchat by the end of the year. He claimed that "mobile is not a TV killer," and that with its mobile-focused programmes Snap wants to "complement" television instead.

7. Elon Musk revealed the design of SpaceX's new space suits in an Instagram post. The CEO made it clear that the suit shown is not a mockup but an actual render, and that balancing the aesthetics with usability was "incredibly hard."

8. Facebook is rolling out a new feature that will allow users to take 360 degree photos from inside the app. Users will then be able to share the picture or use it as their new cover photo.

9. Google and Walmart are partnering to offer voice shopping through Google Assistant on the Home smart speaker. Specifically, consumers will be able to use Walmart's "Easy Reorder" feature that works integrated with Google's "Express" shopping service.

10. Google will now offer a clinically validated screening quiz to users searching for "depression" on the web engine. The feature is currently live exclusively in the United States, and only works on mobile.

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

Social networks are here to stay, and they're constantly evolving. Globally, more than 2.8 billion people — or 37% of the world's population — use social media, but the way those users interact with each other, and the platforms they adopt, vary widely.

In the US market, gender, income, and education level have little impact on whether an individual has adopted social networking as an activity. Age does remain a factor — younger internet users tend to be more likely to engage in social networking overall, and adopt specific social platforms.

While social platforms offer tools that let marketers target particular audience segments, advertisers must track how these audience bases — and their behaviors — are shifting. Nearly 70% of US adults use at least one social media site, according to Pew Research Center, up from 60% in 2013 and 50% in 2010.

In a new report, BI Intelligence highlights the key audience demographics for six major social platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. It examines multiple dimensions of change within each platform's demographic makeup — including age, income, education, gender, and overall adoption in terms of online adults in the US — and assesses how certain segments of the US population have adapted their social media behaviors. The report also explores how much time each age demographic is investing on each platform.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

• US Facebook users aged 45-54 are spending more time on Facebook, and represent 21% of the total time spent on the platform, more than any other age group.
• The age composition of Snapchat users in the US has become more evenly distributed over the past year, and it appears the company is doing a better job of attracting older users.
• Teens are starting to use a category of social media called “digital hangouts.” These are apps that enable users to video chat with several friends simultaneously. Over 60% of users on Houseparty, one of the most popular digital hangout apps, are under 24 years old.
• LinkedIn is popular among high-income users. Forty-five percent of US adult internet users with an income higher than $75,000 annually are on LinkedIn, making it more popular among this demographic than Instagram (31%), Pinterest (35%), or Twitter (30%).

 In full, the report:

• Breaks down the reach of social platform audiences in terms of age, income, education, and gender. 
• Examines how time spent and monthly users across major age brackets have changed in the past three years. 
• Explores the preferences of US teens and young millennials, and how they're changing. 
• Identifies the most important demographic changes that advertisers should monitor as social platforms continue to grow. 

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

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. »Learn More Now
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LONDON — Electrical retailer Dixons Carphone on Thursday warned investors it will deliver lower-than-expected profits.

Shares fell more than 30% at the start of trading.

Dixons Carphone, which owns Dixons and Carphone Warehouse, told investors to expect pre-tax profit of £360 million to £440 million this year. That represents a dip on last year's figure of £501 million and below early analyst forecasts of profit between £465 million and £495 million.

CEO Seb James blamed the profit warning on Brits hanging on to their mobile phones for longer, changes to EU roaming charges, and a change to the way it sells its Honeybee sales software.

'People hold on to their phones for longer'

"Currency fluctuations have meant that handsets have become more expensive whilst technical innovation has been more incremental," said James.

The pound has collapsed against the dollar, euro, and other major currencies in the wake of last year's Brexit vote, making importing handsets more expensive and therefore pushing up the price of smartphones.

James, who went to university with David Cameron and Boris Johnson, said: "As a consequence, we have seen an increased number of people hold on to their phones for longer and while it is too early to say whether important upcoming handset launches or the natural lifecycle of phones will reverse this trend, we now believe it is prudent to plan on the basis that the overall market demand will not correct itself this year."

Neil Wilson, an analyst with ETX Capital, says in a note on Thursday monring: "Brexit matters here – the weak pound exchange rate has made devices more expensive and consumers are less willing to replace old handsets so quickly.

"The lack of a significant upgrade cycle from Apple has played a part and we might expect an improvement when the iPhone 8 is released, which might be towards the end of the year, although the chief executive Seb James isn’t betting the farm on the next Apple device."

Roaming charges cost up to £40 million

The EU scrapped roaming charges in June and Dixons Carphone said this will also hit revenues, costing it anywhere between £10 million and £40 million in one-off costs this year.

Dixons Carphone is also changing the way it sells Honeybee, its new software platform for retailers. The company is moving to a subscription model for Honeybee rather than just upfront sales. While it hopes this will make it more sustainable in the longterm, the changes mean Dixons Carphone expects the division to "generate limited profits overall."

Investors have not taken the update well. Shares crashed over 30% at the open in London on Thursday morning, although ETX Capital's Wilson points out that "7.75p, or around three percentage points, of that is due to the stock going ex-dividend today as well." Dixons Carphone's share price is now at a five-year low.Across the group, Dixons Carphone said first quarter revenue was up 6%. UK revenue was up 4%, but only 1% when currency fluctuations were excluded.

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• London police are deploying a team of "super recognisers" to monitor CCTV footage from the Notting Hill Carnival this year to prevent violence and drug dealing.
• Super recognisers have exceptionally high perception and memory skills. They are able to recognise strangers even from grainy footage.
• The Met currently has more than 140 officers with these capabilities.

As London braces for 1.5 million to turn out for the Notting Hill Carnival — Europe's largest street festival — this Bank Holiday weekend, police are keen to crack down on drug dealing, gang violence, and knife crime.

Officers have already made over 290 arrests, seized 190 knives, 18 guns, and various class A and B drugs — including a kilogram of heroin— in preparation for the carnival, the London Metropolitan Police said in a press statement on Tuesday.

And on the day itself, the Met will rely on an elite team of 140 highly-skilled officers, known internally as "super recognisers," to monitor live CCTV feeds of the event for crime and people prohibited by their bail conditions to attend the event, a police spokesman told Business Insider UK.

"Super recognisers" are officers with exceptionally high perception and memory skills, who have the ability to recognise total strangers on the streets based on what they've seen in person. Sometimes they can even identify people based on grainy footage, according to the New York Times.

Super recognisers are born with their skill

These officers can recall up to 95% of the faces they see, while the average person remembers just 20%, the BBC noted. To date, scientists don't know how some people are born with these recognition skills. Brad Duchaine, a psychology and neuroscience professor, told Yahoo Health it could just be down to "genetic good luck."

Super recognisers probably make up less than 1% of people, according to psychologist Josh P. Davis. In this video, Davis explains how they work:

Scotland Yard currently has more than 140 officers "who have been recognised as having heightened ability in facial recognition," a spokesman said. Not all of these officers will be involved in monitoring the Notting Hill Carnival, however.

The force also has a central unit of super recognisers who investigate unidentified criminals, while others work throughout the Met in other capacities, he added.

Some 73% of identifications made by the Met's super recognisers led to criminal charges, the New Yorker reported in 2016. But 13% of identifications have also been wrong in the past.

Eliot Porritt, a detective sergeant in the super recogniser unit, insisted that their work only helps direct investigations. "It's never our word alone that puts someone away," he told the American magazine.

Super recognisers: The crack cases

For now though, that the work of super recognisers will remain integral to the Met's work. Here are some key cases over the past six years:

• Following the north London riots in 2011, super recogniser Gary Collins successfully recognised 190 people while reviewing CCTV footage — four times more than any other officer, the BBC reported.
• After 14-year-old Alice Gross disappeared in London in 2014, 10 super recognisers identified and located the victim and her abductor after viewing low-quality CCTV footage across London, according to the BBC.
• Idris Baba, a Westminster-based detention officer who was awarded a British Empire Medal for his work as a super recogniser. He even received a note from a "baffled" burglar praising him for his extraordinary memory, the Met reported this year.

The importance of super recognisers are slowly being acknowledged around the world too.

Last year, German police enlisted two British super recognisers to help identify offenders behind the New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne, which saw almost 400 women file criminal complaints of sexual assault.

The St Petersburg police department in Florida also announced last year that it had identified 18 super recognisers in its force after conducting months of testing.

The Met first started employing super recognisers to monitor the Notting Hill Carnival in 2013.

Police made 454 arrests at last year's festival, most of which involved possession of knives, weapons, and drugs, according to the Associated Press. It was not clear how many of these arrests were facilitated by the work of super recognisers.

The Met has not revealed the total number of police and super recognisers deployed at this year's Notting Hill Carnival, or the cost of the operations. The Met has not responded to BI's request to comment on these figures.

Six thousand officers were deployed, and £8 million was spent, in policing operations in last year's carnival, the Evening Standard reported. Undercover armed soldiers will also patrol this year's carnival amid terror attack fears.

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LONDON — Britain's food industry has warned that labour shortages after Brexit could leave over a third of its businesses unviable.

In a survey of the "farm-to-fork" supply from the Food and Drink Federation, 36% of businesses said they would be unable to adapt if they did not have access to EU labour after Brexit.

A severe labour shortage is becoming a realistic outcome in a sector dominated by European workers.

Thirty percent of the UK food and drink manufacturing workforce are European migrants, and the Brexit vote already appears to be deterring EU workers from moving in Britain.

In June, a 20% shortfall in European labour was blamed on the EU referendum result appearing "xenophobic" and "racist."

An April report by the Commons Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee said increased living standards in Eastern Europe and a weak pound were also making the UK a comparatively less attractive place for many European workers.

The federation called on the government to guarantee the rights of nationals from the European economic area, an area of Brexit negotiations which is yet to be resolved.

A government spokesperson said: "In June we published our offer to protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK, confirming no-one living here lawfully will be asked to leave when we exit the EU and they will have a grace period to regularise their status."

But the FDF also found:

• 31% of respondents said EU nationals had left since the referendum;
• 47% said EU nationals were considering leaving the UK.

FDF director general Ian Wright said: "It is only a matter of time before the uncertainty reported by businesses results in an irreversible exit of EU workers from these shores.

"Without our dedicated and valued workforce we would be unable to feed the nation."

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LONDON – Rising tensions in North Korea could lead to protectionist measures across the far-east region, impacting the Chinese economy as well as North and South Korea, analysts at Morgan Stanley said on Wednesday.

Morgan Stanley's research team, headed by Deyi Tan, argues that while they do not necessarily expect the thread of "aggressive protectionism" to materialise, but that it could be highly damaging if it did.

"As policymakers strive to find a lasting solution to the uneasy equilibrium, a relevant and important risk to watch is how geopolitics may spill over to trade if the US undertakes protectionist measures to get China to exert influence on North Korea," the team wrote.

"Aggressive protectionism would not only have implications on China but also on the rest of the Asia region, given the regional production supply chain."

It echoes views from Capital Economics in a note discussing the likely economic impacts of nuclear war earlier in August.

"In particular, South Korea is the biggest producer of liquid crystal displays in the world (40% of the global total) and the second biggest of semiconductors (17% market share). It is also a key automotive manufacturer and home to the world's three biggest shipbuilders," Capital Economics' team of Gareth Leather and Krystal Tan wrote.

"If South Korean production was badly damaged by a war there would be shortages across the world. The disruption would last for some time — it takes around two years to build a semi-conductor factory from scratch."

Morgan Stanley makes clear that it does not see this as its base case, setting out three scenarios that it believes could play out.

In the first situation, the North Korean and American regimes maintain a "status quo of uneasy equilibrium," whereby the two nations "oscillate between temporary escalation & temporary de-escalation."

Morgan Stanley called its second scenario: "Peak escalation & disorderly resolution."

Here's how that looks (emphasis ours):

"In this scenario, North Korea does not de-nuclearise due to factors outlined above. The frequency of missile testing/launches by North Korea increases as part of its deterrent policy. Concurrently, military exercises by the US continue as part of its containment policy; the US also further increases its military presence in the region, while an engagement stance by S. Korea does not reap tangible results. Action/reaction from either side de-stabilise the uneasy equilibrium, resulting in peak escalation and a disorderly resolution."

Finally, the bank suggests that a de-escalation of tensions is likely, with North Korea conforming to international norms for the first time.

"North Korea agrees to a sustained effort to denuclearise, in exchange for significant economic concessions and, potentially, assurances of regime continuity," Morgan Stanley wrote.

"It eventually undertakes economic liberalisation/reforms. A nuclear deal, similar to that between Iran and various key stakeholders in 2015, is struck."

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• Allies of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggest he will oppose Heathrow expansion.
• Corbyn and his shadow chancellor have long opposed a third runway.
• Labour has set four tests that expansion must meet for their support.
• Source close to Corbyn denies to Business Insider that a decision has been made.

LONDON — The future of Heathrow is in doubt following reports that Labour are preparing to vote against the expansion of the airport when it comes before Parliament early next year.

While not committing to Heathrow expansion, Labour's general election manifesto did commit to expanding airport capacity in the South East and welcomed work done by the Airports Commission, which backed expansion at Heathrow.

However, allies of the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have told the Financial Times that the party is now unlikely to back a third runway at Heathrow.

"It has to pass our tests and no one here expects that to be likely,” one source told the paper, with another adding that "If the vote is any time soon there is no way we would back it, mainly on the basis of air quality, and that’s unlikely to change any time soon."

Both Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell have long been opposed to expansion, as is the current London mayor Sadiq Khan, while most Labour MPs are in favour.

A source close to Corbyn denied reports that Labour would oppose expansion and said that no decision had yet been made by the leadership.

"We will assess any proposals against our four tests and have not prejudged," they told Business Insider.

Under Labour's manifesto, new airport capacity will only be backed if it meets the following four tests:

• Noise issues are addressed
• Air quality is protected
• The UK’s climate change obligations met
• Growth across the country is supported.

It was reported last year that Labour plans to give its MPs a free vote on Heathrow, which could allow expansion to pass. However, a spokesperson for Corbyn today refused to comment on whether the party still planned to allow MPs a free vote.

"We don't comment on the whip," they said.

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LONDON – One of the financial products blamed for worsening the 2008 financial crisis is back on the market.

Credit default swaps have been growing in popularity since 2015, as investors turn to riskier products in the pursuit of higher returns.

Low volatility in credit markets and high prices for corporate debt have encouraged the growth in activity, with the value of trades for this year up to $30 billion, compared with $15 billion in 2016 and $10 billion in 2015, according to the Financial Times.

When asked about the risk of a high number of defaults, a hedge fund trader told the paper, "I am terrified of it," but said they did not think it would happen.

CDS contracts are designed to protect those who own corporate bonds from the risk of default. The seller takes on the risk of default from the buyer, in return for an upfront payment and periodic payments throughout the lifetime of the agreement.

If the issuer does not default, sellers can experience very high yields, higher than the return on most high-yield bonds. Investors are hoping to generate high returns at a time when credit markets are experiencing low fixed rate yields.

"Bespoke tranches" are bundles of CDS contracts, which are divided into "tranches" with varying levels of risk and return.

Since bespoke tranches are not graded by ratings agencies, they have a smaller investor base than some other financial products, and are most commonly bought by credit hedge funds. Recent well known investors include private equity firm Apollo and investment company Bridge Capital, while Citigroup is the largest bank counterparty for the trades, the Financial Times reported.

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LONDON — A right-wing think tank has suggested that the Conservative Party should legalise recreational drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, in order to win more votes from millennials.

"A Millenial Manifesto" has been published by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) and lists 12 policy suggestions that could appeal to young people and make more of them more likely vote Conservative at general elections.

Legalising recreational drugs would "benefit society as a whole as well as making the lives of the young people who wanted to use them both easier and safer," the report, published today, argues.

"The policy of prohibition, penalties and punishment has clearly not succeeded in eradicating their use," it claims, adding their legalisation would mean young people being "brought back into the framework of society."

The other policy proposals include cutting air passenger duty for under-30s, a 50% council tax discount for young people and a graduate tax to replace student loans.

Sam Bowman, the executive director of the ASI said the Tories have "ignored the concerns of young voters, both neglecting their well-being directly and taking positions that are badly out of touch in areas like animal welfare and openness to immigration."

Young people overwhelmingly voted for Labour at the general election, with 60% of those 18-24 voting for Jeremy Corbyn, a pattern that some Conservatives feel is only going to get worse unless the root causes are addressed. Former Chancellor Lord Heseltine warned Tory party colleagues in June that 2% of the party's core electorate, the British elderly, dies each year. 

"One thing which is just worth having in mind, and you can't do anything about it, 2 per cent of the older part of the electorate die every year - they are 70 per cent Conservative,” Lord Heseltine told Sky News.

"Another 2 per cent come in at the young end of the electorate — they are about 70 per cent Labour. That's about 2 per cent change each year. There isn't that much time."

The proposal to cut air passenger duty is because "foreign travel is an important part of the lives of many young people."

The ASI suggest the current levy should be labelled the "Ibiza tax" and the government should not tax under-30s by the measure in order to "enhance their lives and make a significant difference to their opportunities."

Labour MP Cat Smith told HuffPost UK that the plan was a "laughable failure to understand what young people actually care about."

Smith said: "Having spoken to hundreds of young people over this summer I can say that of all their demands from government, from the crisis in mental services to huge personal debts from study, no one has raised Air Passenger Duty with me."

The paper argues that fundamental reform to the housing market is needed in order to improve the lives of young people, suggesting that the liberalisation of planning regulation and a council tax discount of 50% for those under 25.

The report also suggests that graduates should pay a graduate tax rather than paying off a student loan and feel "the burden of debt upon students." 

Madsen Pirie, the president of the ASI and the author of the report, said: "The Conservatives should look at innovative policies, like reducing the cost of travelling and making it easier to work abroad, to win over young voters."

Bowman said: "Today’s paper should start a conversation in the government and the Conservative Party at large about how to win back some of the younger voters lost to Corbyn."

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LONDON — Britain's economy grew as expected in the second quarter of 2017, but continued to experience a Brexit-based struggle, according to the second estimate from the ONS released on Wednesday.

GDP grew by 0.3%, the ONS said, while annual growth was 1.7%.

Prior to the release economists had forecast 0.3% growth, representing a small increase from the 0.2% growth seen in the first quarter. Yearly growth was forecast at 1.7%.

These figures confirmed the first estimate of growth released in July.

The 0.3% growth in the second quarter marks the second slowest growth since the beginning of 2016, with only Q1's number worse.

"GDP growth has slowed markedly in the first half of the year with relatively robust services growth, partly thanks to a booming film industry, offset by weak performances from manufacturing and construction in the second quarter," Darren Morgan, the ONS' head of GDP said in a statement.

"Household spending grew weakly, with the lower-value pound hitting household budgets, while business investment showed no growth at all."

Business investment grew by 0.0% in the quarter, the ONS said, a surprise to the downside. Economists polled prior to the release had expected 0.4% growth during the quarter.

"The GDP figures show that the U.K. economy has been the slowest growing G7 economy this year because Brexit risk has dampened business investment and sterling’s depreciation has hurt consumers more than it has helped exporters," Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics wrote in a note circulated shortly after the data was released.

Here is the chart showing the longer term GDP trend:

It should be noted that these figures could still be revised higher or lower after the third estimate of growth is released next month.

Until the beginning of 2017, the UK economy fared better than all but the most optimistic of forecasters imagined in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum, confounding predictions of an immediate recession, and virtually ignoring any uncertainty over the future.

However, as the falling pound has pushed up inflation in recent months, regular Brits have started to feel the pinch, spending less, and slowing the consumer boom that has fuelled the country's economic performance.

UK GDP has now grown in 18 consecutive quarters. The last time UK GDP shrunk over a quarter was in Q4 of 2012 when the economy readjusted following a huge boost from the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

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• Theresa May's government insists Britain will fully leave the jurisdiction of ECJ after Brexit.
• However, a former ECJ Judge tells Business Insider that it is impossible for the UK to do so.
• Sir Edward David says Theresa May is clearly "ignorant" about how the court works.
• British businesses will have to continue following EU law if they want to trade with Europe.

LONDON — Theresa May's promise to totally remove Britain from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice after Brexit "shows just how ignorant she is," a former British ECJ judge has told Business Insider.

Sir Edward David, who was an ECJ judge for 12 years, told BI this week that the prime minister's determination to cut all ties with the ECJ suggests she doesn't fully understand how the Luxembourg-based court actually works.

"It just shows how ignorant she is. She said it again today [Wednesday]," Sir David said, referring to Prime Minister May's insistence that Britain will fully leave the ECJ's jurisdiction when it leaves the EU in March 2019.

"To end UK jurisdiction is simply to say we are not going to obey EU law anymore. Well, this is fine, as long as British business chooses to operate entirely inside the UK."

He added: "If a business manufacturing goods in the UK wants to export goods to the EU, as hundreds of them do, then those goods must comply with EU standards. As a practical matter, if you're manufacturing wedding cakes, for example, and you have to comply with EU food standards, you don't want to have to create two sets of wedding cake. You want to create one set to come off the production line so the cakes can be consumed both in the UK and the EU.

"In that sense, the EU law will continue to apply in the sense that people will have to obey it. We cannot escape the jurisdiction of the ECJ."

EU law will continue to apply in the sense that people will have to obey it. We cannot escape the jurisdiction of the ECJ.

On Wednesday the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) released a position paper outlining its intention to free Britain of the "direct jurisdiction" of the ECJ after March 2019. The ECJ, set up in 1952, is the EU's highest court and is responsible for ensuring all EU member states and institutions comply with EU law. It also interprets EU law at the request of national courts in EU member states.

Opposition parties accused May of rowing back on the issue of judicial independence. This is because the recent inclusion of "direct" in the government's language suggests a possible role for ECJ judges in resolving future disputes between Britain and the EU after Brexit, such as the terms of any future free trade agreement, despite the prime minister's insistence that European judges will have no sway over UK law once Britain leaves the EU.

"We will not have truly left the European Union if we are not in control of our own laws," the prime minister declared in her keynote Lancaster House speech in January.

However, for Sir David, it is not just May's unrealistic promises regarding the ECJ that have left him frustrated, but signs that both she and the government don't fully understand its purpose and remit. "The ECJ does not have 'direct jurisdiction' in or over the UK," the former ECJ judge tells BI.

• OPINION: Theresa May's pledge to remove Britain from EU courts was one Brexit promise she could never keep

"What it has is the jurisdiction to answer questions regarding the interpretation and application of EU law. In so far as the UK is bound by EU law, then the ECJ interpretation is binding on the UK. Correspondingly, UK courts that seek to know what the correct law is can put the question to the ECJ. The ECJ doesn't have any other jurisdiction in the UK other than to answer questions put to it by UK courts."

The idea that the ECJ is a body like the US Supreme Court that can strike down legislation of states is just false.

He continues: "They [ministers] use expressions like the ECJ can 'enforce' EU law or can 'direct' the UK — but it can't do any such thing. All it can do is say what the law is. The great thing about EU law is it doesn't have any police and enforcement is entirely by consent."

He says the only exception to this is in the "very rare case" of the ECJ fining an EU member state for repeatedly failing to comply with EU law. "It's happened with Greece when it was dumping hospital waste in a stream in Crete. They were told to stop it and they didn't and eventually the Court imposed a penalty on them for every day they failed to deal with the dumping of waste," Sir David explained. "But that's a very remote thing from us [the UK]."

"It's just ignorant," he adds. "The idea that the ECJ is a body like the US Supreme Court that can strike down legislation of states is just false.

"Put it this way: if the ECJ were to say what the law is and say that the UK was acting in a way that was incompatible with EU law and the UK decided to pay no attention to that, then there is nothing the ECJ can do about it. The Commission decides whether to intervene." 

Britain "cannot ignore" European courts

The paper on the ECJ was the latest in a series of position papers to be published this month ahead of negotiations with the EU getting back underway. In all the papers, DExEU has reiterated its desire to maintain a "close and special partnership" with the EU after Brexit, but at the same time quit all of its core institutions, the ECJ included.

Professor Catherine Barnard, a teacher of EU law at Cambridge University, told BI this week it is unrealistic for UK government to think it can secure a "special" relationship with the EU without accepting some ECJ jurisdiction.

"The closer to the UK stays to the EU the harder it is to say that the ECJ jurisdiction should not apply,"Professor Barnard said. "It's unfortunate that the ECJ has been given such a bad reputation and identified as a red line because it's made negotiations a lot more difficult."

Sir David's comments echoed those of Professor Barnard, arguing that the post-Brexit relationship Prime Minister May wants to build with the EU will be too "intertwined" for the ECJ and other EU institutions not to play a part.

"There is talk about the EU's agreement with Canada and the agreement with Singapore and now the latest thing is the agreement with Moldova. The UK is far more closely intertwined with the economy of the EU 27 than the EU and Moldova. The latest thing I've heard is we'll adopt the pattern of the EU agreement with Andorra.

"I mean, For goodness sake."

He adds: "The idea seems to be we are going to float off into the middle of the Atlantic and have no more relations. If we do want to have close, intertwining relations between ourselves and the EU 27, then you cannot ignore the jurisdiction of the ECJ."

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