- 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.Michael WalshAfter watching, Keith Scott’s family calls for shooting videos to be released
The grief-stricken family of a Charlotte, N.C., man who died in a police-involved shooting was shown videos of this fateful encounter — and wants them released to the public. Keith Lamont Scott’s relatives and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department have painted two very different pictures of what happened leading up to his death on Tuesday. For the family, the videos demonstrate that Scott was not aggressive and posed no threat to the officer who took his life.
U.S.Caitlin Dickson'This is a peaceful masjid’: Muslims in Elizabeth, N.J., gather for Friday prayer after resident accused of bombingsNearly 200 people gathered at the Muslim Community Center of Union County Friday afternoon for the first jumah prayer — Islam’s largest weekly gathering — since Elizabeth resident Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested in connection to mostly unsuccessful bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey last weekend. Like Faisal, the suspect’s father, Mohammad Rahami, is a longtime member of MCCUC, and is known to pray regularly at the red brick mosque, which sits on the leafy corner of a charming, residential enclave less than two miles from Elizabeth’s gritty downtown.
- 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.
- 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.
WorldAFPKerry says 'bit of progress' with Lavrov on SyriaUS Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Russian opposite number on Friday and made what he said was "a little bit of progress" on resolving their differences over the Syrian crisis. "We're evaluating some mutual ideas in a constructive way, period," Kerry told reporters at the United Nations, one day after international envoys failed to find a way to revive a US and Russian-brokered truce. Kerry and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have met several times this week in New York, including on Thursday as joint chairs of the 23-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG).
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.
- 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.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.
PoliticsForeign Policy MagazineTrump Advisor Under Investigation for Russia Ties: ReportU.S. intelligence officials are investigating whether Carter Page, a businessman described by Donald Trump as a foreign policy advisor, has been making backroom promises to Moscow to lift some sanctions against top Kremlin officials if Trump is elected. In recent briefings with senior members of Congress about apparent attempts by Moscow to influence the presidential contest between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, intelligence officials have raised concerns about Page’s travels to Moscow, according to a Yahoo News report on Friday afternoon.
- U.S.Yahoo News PhotoMall shooting north of Seattle
The gunman opened fire with a rifle in the makeup section of a Macy’s department store, killing four women and a man, police said. The FBI office in Seattle said it had no evidence the shooting was terrorism-related. A weapon was recovered at the store in Burlington, a town of about 8,000 people some 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Seattle.
- U.S.Associated PressWitness: Christie used bridge authority to gain endorsements
Republican Gov. Chris Christie's office used the bistate agency that runs the New York area's bridges, tunnels, ports and airports as a clearinghouse for political favors aimed at gaining endorsements from local Democratic politicians, a witness testified Friday in the fraud trial of two former Christie allies. Among those directly involved in the effort or aware of it were Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni, who are accused of creating traffic gridlock at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 to punish one of those mayors for not endorsing Christie, according to David Wildstein's testimony. Wildstein said Christie and his former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, were among those who discussed the strategy at a meeting about Christie's 2013 re-election.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
WorldReutersTurkey's Erdogan says U.S. sent weapons to Kurdish fighters in SyriaBy Daren Butler and David Dolan ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States of supplying more weapons to Kurdish fighters in northern Syria this week, saying Washington had delivered two plane loads of arms to what Ankara considers a terrorist group. Erdogan's comments are likely to add to the tension between Turkey and the United States over Syria, where Washington backs the Kurdish YPG forces against Islamic State. Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State but views the Syrian Kurdish YPG and its PYD political wing as an extension of Kurdish militants who have waged a three-decade insurgency on its own soil.
- 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.
- HealthLiveScience.comEggo Waffle Recall: How To Find Listeria
Kellogg announced on Monday that it is recalling approximately 10,000 cases of Eggo Nutri-Grain Whole Wheat Waffles due to possible contamination with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. There are several ways that bacteria such as Listeria can get into food products, said Benjamin Chapman, a food safety specialist and an associate professor at North Carolina State University. One way is if the bacteria make their way into the food-processing plant, Chapman said.
PoliticsAFPUS presidential campaign week: Attacks, racial tensions and debate prepBomb blasts in New York and New Jersey and a police shooting of an African American man triggering violent protests put security concerns back at the forefront of the US presidential campaign this week, as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump prepared for their first televised debate. It worked incredibly well," he said when asked what he would do to stop violence in black communities.
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.
- U.S.Associated PressPolice probing triple homicide search for missing teen
Police investigating a triple homicide inside a Southern California home were searching for a teenage girl who lived there and is considered at-risk. "Anytime someone loses their life it's a tragedy," police Sgt. Jon Radus said.
BusinessReutersSome Yahoo users close accounts amid fears breach could have ripple effectsMany Yahoo users rushed on Friday to close their accounts and change passwords as experts warned that the fallout from one of the largest cyber breaches in history could spill beyond the internet company's services. After Yahoo disclosed on Thursday that hackers had stolen the encrypted passwords and personal details of more than 500 million accounts in 2014, thousands of users took to social media to express anger that it had taken the company two years to uncover the data breach. "We're probably just going to dump Yahoo altogether," said Rick Hollister, 56, who owns a private investigation firm in Tallahassee, Florida.
- 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.
ScienceAFP'Man-goat' among winners of spoof Nobel prizesA man who lived as a goat in the Swiss Alps and a scientist who studied how pants affect the sex drive of rodents are among the winners of this year's spoof Nobel prizes. The 26th edition of the annual Ig Nobel Prizes, which celebrate the silly side of science, were handed out Thursday at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The top honor in the reproduction category went to the late Ahmed Shafik from Cairo University, who died in 2007, for his work that showed how the sex lives of rats are affected by the fabric of pants they are fitted with.
- 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.
