- U.S.The DriveMultimillionaire Gym Mogul Crashes Lamborghini Murciélago, Kills Uber Driver
J. Gerald Smith, an 82-year old Uber driver, died this week after a yellow Lamborghini Murciélago struck his Buick Enclave, which was sitting at a stop sign. Roger Wittenberns, the 60-year old multimillionaire health club mogul, was behind the wheel of the Murciélago at the time of the wreck. Mr. Smith was a retired real estate agent.
- U.S.Olivier KnoxObama vetoes 9/11 lawsuit bill, triggers override fight
President Obama speaks at a memorial ceremony at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2016. Risking an election-year public backlash, President Obama on Friday vetoed popular but controversial legislation allowing the relatives of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts. Obama’s rejection of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) sets up what seems likely to be the first-ever successful congressional vote to override his veto.
U.S.Associated PressAfter an assault trial, alleged victim faces her own lawsuitAs Yee Xiong prepared to leave the sentencing hearing for a man she said sexually assaulted her at an off-campus apartment when they were students, she felt ready to finally put the case behind her after four years. Then, she was handed a $4 million defamation lawsuit. The lawsuit from Lang Her, who pleaded no contest to felony assault, stated that Xiong and her three of her siblings colluded to alienate him from the close-knit ethnic Hmong community and called him a rapist on Facebook.
- LifestyleThe DriveLexus’s New UX Concept Is Packed with Holographic Displays
When Lexus gave the world its first glimpse of the UX Concept a couple weeks back in advance of the car’s Paris Motor Show debut, we at The Drive were, well, less than wowed. The sole pic Lexus dropped—a rear three-quarter shot—revealed a two-box crossover that looked like a cross between the Ferrari GTC4Lusso and a Ford Raptor. It wasn’t ugly, but generally speaking, Lexus crossovers don’t do much for us.
- U.S.ABC News VideosPolice Remain Confident They Will Find Faith Hedgepeth's Killer: Part 6
Each year, Faith Hedgepeth's family holds a fundraiser and gives away two scholarships in her memory.
WorldAFPSyria launches Aleppo push as truce plan floundersA defiant Syrian regime launched a new assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Thursday as the United States and Russia failed to revive a floundering peace plan. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gathered two dozen international envoys at talks in New York to address the crisis. Kerry said he was ready to meet the Russians again on Friday to see if there are any means to revive the truce that failed this week, but diplomats were pessimistic.
WorldReutersMorocco, seeking support for W.Sahara plan, asks to rejoin African blocMorocco has applied to rejoin the African Union 32 years after it left, the bloc said on Friday, as the North African kingdom seeks support for its plan to end a decades-old row over Western Sahara. Morocco, which claims the sparsely populated stretch of desert, left the African Union in 1984 when the bloc recognized a republic covering part of the territory declared by Polisario Front independence fighters. Morocco submitted its letter of intention to rejoin the union on Thursday, the AU said in a statement, without giving details of any reasons.
- BusinessThe DriveExploring the Remains of the Wyoming Company That Used WWII Bombers to Fight Wildfires
Hawkins & Powers got off the ground in the early ‘60s, snatching up planes and the retired crew necessary to keep them in the air. The company struggled on for a while, racking up debt to pay pilots and mechanics to keep their birds on the ground.
U.S.Yahoo News PhotoTerence Crutcher fatally shot by Tulsa, Okla., police officerTulsa Police Officer Betty Shelby turned herself in early Friday after being charged with first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Terence Crutcher. Shelby was booked this morning at the Tulsa County Jail at around 1 a.m. local time and was released on a $50,000.00 bond about 20 minutes later. Shelby reacted “unreasonably by escalating the situation from a confrontation” with Crutcher, according to an affidavit by an investigator with the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office. Shelby became “emotionally involved” to the point that she overreacted, the affidavit states, adding that she was “not able to see any weapons or bulges indicating a weapon was present.” The Tulsa Police Department said it would make a determination on her employment status after an internal affairs review. Crutcher, 40, was killed Friday night after Shelby came across his SUV in the middle of a two-lane roadway while it was still running. Crutcher ignored dozens of commands Shelby gave him, according to Wood, and she shot him as he allegedly tried to reached his arm into the open driver’s side window. Another officer who perceived the same threat deployed his Taser at the same time Shelby fired her weapon, Wood said.
- LifestyleThe DriveHonda Civic Hatchback Pricing Announced and the Chevy Equinox Gets a Diesel Engine: The Evening Rush
The Evening Rush is your daily roundup of auto, gear, and lifestyle news, all in one place. The Honda Civic has always been affordable, but nowadays, it also packs enough niceties that it doesn't feel like a compromise. Case in point: the 2017 Honda Civic Hatchback is loaded to the gills with nice little features, yet it starts at just $20,535.
- U.S.Associated PressPuerto Rico power utility restores service
Electricity was restored to most of Puerto Rico by Saturday following a rare, island-wide blackout caused by a power plant fire, the territory's power utility said Saturday. "We have been operating under normal conditions since 2:30 a.m.," said Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Executive Director Javier Quintana, noting that 60 hours had passed since power was knocked out for most of the island's 1.5 million homes and businesses, affecting the majority of the island's 3.5 million residents. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla lauded the efforts of utility workers, firefighters, police and emergency management officials during the emergency.
WorldAFPGoogle gets more time to answer EU charges: officialEU anti-trust authorities have granted US tech giant Google a few extra weeks to answer charges that it has abused its market dominance, an EU official told AFP on Friday. The Silicon Valley firm now has until October 13 to answer questions about its Google Shopping search engine, October 26 for its Adsense advertising business and October 31 for its Android mobile phone operating system. "In each of these cases, Google asked for additional time to review the documents in the case file," according to an official from the European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation union.
- BusinessThe DriveHow We Broke The Electric and Autonomous Cannonball Run Records
Two days ago, Franz Aliquo, Warren "Mr. X" Ahner, and I announced that we broke both the electric and autonomous vehicle Cannonball Run records, covering 2,877 miles from Redondo Beach, California to the Red Ball Garage in 55 hours—97.7 percent of that time with Tesla’s Autopilot in operation. California is the finish line of the Western world. Regular gas cars don’t have a lot of room for improvement, but with electric and self-driving cars, the sky’s the limit.
- LifestyleU.S.News & World ReportTarget Corporation Spikes Kid Shopping Carts Amid Store Chaos (TGT)
The kids are not all right, as far as Target Corporation (ticker: TGT) is concerned. Target recently ended a test of kid shopping carts in certain Target stores. The company stopped the test on the account of consumer social media complaints, detailing ankle and shin bruising in addition to having trouble keeping control of kids and their carts, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
- U.S.Reuters'Bridgegate' trial star witness describes favors for endorsements
By Hilary Russ NEWARK, N.J. (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's office turned a regional transportation agency into a "goodie bag" from which to dole out favors and funds to Democrats who might endorse the Republican during his 2013 re-election campaign, according to prosecutors' star witness in the so-called Bridgegate trial on Friday. David Wildstein, a former executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who pleaded guilty and is testifying for the prosecution, described how requests from state officials went first to a top Christie aide for approval - for everything from patronage jobs at the agency to tours of the World Trade Center site, which the Port Authority owns. The aide, Christie's then-deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly, and William Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority, are on trial for wire fraud and civil rights deprivation.
WorldAFPNigeria's Buhari appeals to world for aidNigerian President Muhammadu Buhari appealed Friday for the international community to help relieve the growing humanitarian disaster triggered by the Boko Haram insurgency in a plea for aid at the UN General Assembly. Warnings about food shortages caused by the conflict in the country's northeast and the broader Lake Chad region have intensified in recent months, with humanitarian organisations cautioning of a looming famine. Speaking in New York, Buhari said that the devastation wrought by Boko Haram had been compounded by climate change.
ScienceReutersWork on sex life of rats, life as a badger honored at Ig Nobel PrizesBy Scott Malone CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Scientific research into how polyester pants affect the sex life of rats, what it's like for a human to live like a badger and how different the world looks when viewed through your legs was honored at this year's Ig Nobel spoof awards. The group also took a dig at Volkswagen AG, lauding it in chemistry for engineering its vehicles to produce fewer emissions "whenever the cars are being tested." The prizes will be awarded for a 26th straight year at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Thursday by a group of actual Nobel Prize winners, and are intended to honor accomplishments in science and humanities that make one laugh, then think. "The prizes are for something pretty unusual," said Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, and host of the awards.
- U.S.Associated PressThe Latest: Police don't plan to remove peaceful protesters
Charlotte police say they don't plan to forcibly remove protesters from the street after curfew as long as the situation remains peaceful. Campagna says people inside the group of demonstrators helped keep things peaceful Thursday, the third night of protests after an officer fatally shot a black man. Mayor Jennifer Roberts signed documents Thursday night to put in effect a curfew from midnight until 6 a.m.
- BusinessPopular MechanicsYahoo Confirms 500 Million Accounts Affected In Breach
From Popular MechanicsYahoo says the personal information in 500 million accounts was stolen in a massive security breakdown. The breach disclosed Thursday, the latest setback for the beleaguered internet company, dates back to late 2014. The stolen data
WorldAssociated PressRouhani: Halt on flights over Syria would help radicalsIranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday joined in opposing a call by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to halt all flights over Syria in efforts to get relief shipments through, saying that would only help Islamic radicals gain ground. Rouhani also alleged Washington was sowing fear among financial institutions wanting to do business with his country as part of the sanctions relief due Tehran under a deal with six powers in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
- HealthLiveScience.comA Look at Holiday Weight Gain in 3 Countries
Holiday weight gain isn't unique to the United States: A new analysis finds that people in Germany and Japan also pack on pounds during festive seasons. In the study, which was published today (Sept. 21) in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers gave wireless digital scales to nearly 3,000 participants in Germany, Japan and the United States. People in all three countries gained weight, on average, around Christmas, according to the study.
- BusinessThe DriveThe 2015 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Final Edition Is the End of an Era
Because good luck finding a new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution on a dealership lot anywhere in the United States, since Mitsubishi pulled the plug on the Evo's production line back in August, as one of the final chapters of the company's two-decade realignment from "fun alternative Japanese carmaker" to "boring crossover-and-EV company." Hence this, the final version of the final car to carry on the performance legacy of the 3000GT, the Eclipse, and so forth. Don't think the Final Edition is one of those badges-and-floormats special editions, though. The Final Edition is the most potent stock Lancer Evolution ever to hit American streets, packing 303 horsepower and 305 lb-ft of torque.
BusinessAFP Relax NewsWhat the Marriott and Starwood merger means for hotel guestsThe merger between Marriott and Starwood is now complete, bringing with it a host of new implications for loyalty members at some of the biggest brands around the world. Nearly a year after announcing plans to acquire Starwood Hotel & Resorts, Marriott International is now officially the world's largest hotel company, a merger that expands the brand's portfolio as well as the benefits that loyalty members can now reap. To appease nervous guests who had racked up a healthy number of points with either Marriott Rewards or Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott has announced that members will have their status matched across both programs, giving them access to brands and destinations that were previously unavailable.
WorldAFP'No camps in France,' vows Hollande, under rightwing pressurePresident Francois Hollande, under pressure from the right wing, on Saturday stepped up his pledge to combat illegal migration, vowing to dismantle a squalid settlement near Calais and prevent similar camps from becoming established in France. "There will be no camps in France," said Hollande, two days ahead of a maiden visit to the notorious "Jungle" settlement near Calais, where between 7,000 and 10,000 desperate migrants live. Hollande's government has vowed to scrap the Jungle "before winter" and a flurry of preparations underway there suggest the operation may begin shortly.
WorldAFPThird deadly drone strike in a week hits Yemen QaedaAden (AFP) - An apparent US drone strike has killed five suspected Al-Qaeda members in Yemen in the third such attack this week, a security official said on Saturday.Washington is the only government to operate drones over Yemen but only sporadically
