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BusinessThe DriveUber Is Researching Flying Taxis
In order to better handle the transportation needs of urban dwellers, Uber is looking into vehicles that could take off and land vertically. In a discussion at the Nantucket Conference yesterday, Uber products head Jeff Holden said the company has been looking into offering short flights around cities “so we can someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around,” according to Recode. The Uber product boss did not specify whether the vertical-takeoff-and-landing craft, or VTOL, would be piloted like traditional aircraft, remote-controlled, fully autonomous, or some combination thereof, like Airvinci's helicopter drones (pictured above).
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PoliticsAFPTrump says he'll recognize Jerusalem as Israel's 'undivided' capitalRepublican candidate Donald Trump pledged to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's "undivided" capital if he is elected president, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Hillary Clinton also met that evening. Netanyahu met privately with Trump at his residence in Trump Tower on Sunday, a day before the New York billionaire faces off against Democratic rival Clinton for their first presidential debate. "Trump acknowledged that Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people for over 3000 years, and that the United States, under a Trump administration, will finally accept the long-standing congressional mandate to recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the state of Israel," his campaign said in a statement.
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WorldAssociated PressJordanian writer gunned down outside courthouseA prominent and outspoken Jordanian writer on Sunday was shot dead in front of the courthouse where he had been on trial for posting a cartoon deemed offensive to Islam on social media. A Jordanian security official said the shooter was a former imam, or prayer leader, at a local mosque, and said the man had been motivated by his anger over the cartoon posted to Facebook by writer Nahed Hattar. The shooting was the latest in a string of deadly security lapses in Jordan.
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ScienceThe DriveSpaceX's New Raptor Rocket Engine Shoots Massive Flames, As It Should
For the first time, SpaceX has fired the Raptor rocket engine Elon Musk and his company intend to use to send people to the Red Planet. SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted photos of the Raptor rocket engine churning out streams of fiery exhaust Monday morning. In a tweet, Musk stated that "SpaceX propulsion just achieved first firing of the Raptor interplanetary transport engine." The announcement of the first successful firing comes a day before a speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Mexico where Musk will be discuss his plans for sending humans to other planets in our solar system.
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WorldChristian Science MonitorOnce again, despite death reports, Boko Haram leader reappears
Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, made an appearance in a video released by the militant group on Sunday. In the video, he mocked the Nigerian military and spoke about the Chibok girls, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in April, 2014. The Nigerian military reported that they had fatally wounded Shekau in August.
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WorldReutersAfrican elephant population tumbles due to poachingBy Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Africa's elephant population fell around 20 percent between 2006 and 2015 because of a surge in ivory poaching, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a report on Sunday. Switzerland-based IUCN is regarded as the most authoritative source on wild fauna populations and the report's release at a U.N. conference on the global wildlife trade will lend a sense of urgency as some countries seek to keep the global ivory trade shut while others want to reopen it. "This is yet another set of data clearly indicating that governments must take all necessary actions to address the crisis," said Susan Lieberman, head of international policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society.
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SportsYahoo News PhotoGrieving the death of José Fernández
Jose Fernandez escaped from Cuba by boat on his fourth try as a teenager, and when his mother fell into the Yucatan Channel during the journey, he jumped in and pulled her out.Fernandez’s heroic backstory made his death early Sunday that much more heart
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WorldABC News VideosKatrina Vanden Heuvel Says This is a 'Rewrite the Rules Election'The Powerhouse Roundtable preview the upcoming presidential debate.
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U.S.Inside EditionUniversity of Dakota Investigates Two Separate, Racist Photos Posted Online Within 48-hours
The University of North Dakota is investigating two racially charged photos that were reportedly taken by students and posted online in a 48-hour period. The president of the university, Mark Kennedy, said in a statement that he’s appalled at the messages posted to social media. Etonde Maloke, a student at the university, shared what happened on her Facebook page.
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BusinessThe DriveVolkswagen Teases Its Paris-Bound 300-Mile Electric Car Concept
Few cars due to make their debut at this week’s Paris Motor Show are more hotly anticipated than Volkswagen’s new electric car concept, which previews its upcoming compact production EV. Previous reports have suggested the car, expected to go on sale by 2019, could cost less than a similar gas-powered hatchback, as that was one of CEO Matthias Müller’s stated goals for the project.
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PoliticsAFPClash of the titans: Clinton, Trump go head to headHillary Clinton and Donald Trump face off Monday in one of the most consequential presidential debates in modern US history, with up to 100 million viewers to tune in for the hotly-anticipated political duel. With polls tightening into a virtual dead heat, the stakes could hardly be higher: the first woman to win the White House nomination for a major US party, against a New York tycoon turned reality star who has upended the political establishment. Commentators call it a clash of the titans: a 90-minute endurance test between Clinton the Democrat, arguably the most experienced US presidential candidate ever, and Trump the Republican, perhaps the least experienced nominee for a major party.
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U.S.Associated PressPemex says fire put out on tanker off Mexico's Gulf coastA fire on a tanker carrying gasoline and diesel off Mexico's Gulf coast was put out Sunday, a day after the blaze began, the country's state oil company said. Firefighting boats had battled the blaze since Saturday aboard the Burgos, which is owned by the company, Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. Pemex said a flight over the ship had determined that only a minimal amount of fuel was in the water and it was contained by floating booms.
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BusinessThe DriveSwizz Beatz Hit With $42M Lawsuit for Supercar Fraud
Swizz Beatz is being sued for $42 million for his alleged role in civil racketeering. A lawsuit filed last week in Brooklyn federal court levies a claim that Swizz Beatz leased at least 10 supercars, including McLarens, Bentleys, Porsches and Ferraris, using a company named Metro Gem Leasing and Funding to bankroll the leases, then illegally resold the vehicles. Metro Gem Leasing and Funding, who filed the suit, says they put up the capital required to help Beatz, real name Kasseem Dean, and his wife Alicia Keys lease a slew of high-end rides.
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WorldAFPAnti-govt protest in Jordan over murder of writerProtesters called on Monday for Jordan's government to resign over its failure to prevent the murder of Christian writer Nahed Hattar, as the killing was condemned internationally. Carrying his portrait, they called for the resignation of both Prime Minister Hani al-Malki and Interior Minister Salama Hammad. "We handed over 200 names (of people who had threatened the writer) to the governor (of Amman), including that of the assassin, and demanded protection," said Khaled Hattar, one of the victim's brothers.
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WorldReutersKerry defends diplomacy as Russian-backed forces pound AleppoBy Patricia Zengerle and Lisa Barrington CARTAGENA, Colombia/BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry defended his efforts to negotiate with Moscow over the war in Syria on Monday, despite the collapse of a ceasefire that has led to a massive Russian-backed assault on the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo. Medical supplies were running out in eastern Aleppo, with victims pouring into barely functioning hospitals as Russia and its ally President Bashar al-Assad ignored Western pleas to stop the bombing of the last major urban area in opposition hands. Moscow and Damascus launched their assault last week despite months of negotiations led by Kerry that resulted in a short-lived ceasefire this month.
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BusinessU.S.News & World ReportIs 4 Percent Still the Safest Retirement Amount?
Back in 1994, William Bergman, a now-retired California financial planner, published a report in the Journal of Financial Planning that pegged 4 percent as the "safest" withdrawal number that would hike the odds of retirees not outliving their money. By and large, Bergman's 4 percent rule was meant to cover 30 years worth of retirement savings. Thus, if a newly-minted 65-year-old retiree could manage to limit annual withdrawals to 4 percent of savings, he or she would still have retirement fund cash available to them by his or her 95th birthday.
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TechnologyTech Media Network (Tom's Guide)The Latest Hint That Apple's Gearing Up to Make Cars
Last Friday (Sept. 23), many in the media were shocked to find out that Chris Ziegler, a founding member and deputy editor of The Verge had been working for Apple for two months while still employed by the technology website. This story is bigger than clandestine work hours, though, as it could be the latest smoke-signal from Apple that the company is working on an automobile project. Ziegler's title at The Verge may have been deputy editor, but anyone familiar with his years of work covering the car industry for the website (his last piece covered a partnership between BMW and Intel) can read between the lines.
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WorldAssociated PressChina begins operating world's largest radio telescopeThe world's largest radio telescope began searching for signals from stars and galaxies and, perhaps, extraterrestrial life Sunday in a project demonstrating China's rising ambitions in space and its pursuit of international scientific prestige. Beijing has poured billions into such ambitious scientific projects as well as its military-backed space program, which saw the launch of China's second space station earlier this month. Measuring 500 meters in diameter, the radio telescope is nestled in a natural basin within a stunning landscape of lush green karst formations in southern Guizhou province.
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LifestyleThe DriveMercy, the Nissan GT-R Has Gotten Expensive
The R35 Nissan GT-R, the first generation sold in America, arrived at the L.A. Auto Show nine years ago. The spec (478 hp, 434 lb-ft.) put it squarely in period supercar territory. And the price, under $70,000, had everybody in fits. When the first GT
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PoliticsForeign Policy MagazineWhy Are We So Sure Hillary Will Be a Hawk?
If she wins election in November, the conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton’s handling of foreign affairs will be less restrained than Barack Obama’s, and that she’d be more willing to use military force to advance U.S. objectives in various corners of the world. Unlike some of the things of which Clinton has been (bizarrely) accused, this particular claim isn’t without some basis. As I’ve observed, most of her close advisors are card-carrying liberal interventionists (or worse), which reinforces concerns that a future Clinton administration would be ready to repeat the same policies that have consistently disappointed in the past.
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U.S.AFPTrump trips over African American museum's nameRepublican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who is seeking to shore up support among black voters, has stumbled over the name of the new Washington museum on African American history. The new museum is a "really beautiful place," Trump told thousands of supporters in Roanoke, Virginia, on Saturday. In fact, the long-awaited institution, which opened Saturday amid fresh racial strife in the country, is called the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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BusinessReutersU.S. official says inadequate EU emissions testing was widely knownEurope's car emissions tests have been seen as inadequate for decades, a top U.S. regulator told European Union lawmakers on Monday, saying much stronger enforcement will be needed to stop cheating by automakers like Volkswagen . Testifying before a European Parliament committee investigating foul play on diesel-car emissions tests, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Christopher Grundler said new EU testing rules were far from enough. "The European test cycle has been acknowledged quite broadly since the 1990s to be inadequate," Grundler, director of the EPA's transportation and air quality office, said in a written answer to lawmakers' questions.
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U.S.Associated PressProtests remain peaceful outside Charlotte Panthers NFL game
Nightly protests have shaken the city of Charlotte since the shooting death of a black man by police last week, but Sunday's NFL game between the Carolina Panthers and the Minnesota Vikings was played without interruption. A group of around 100 demonstrators gathered across the street from Bank of America Stadium to keep up the pressure in the aftermath of the death of Keith Lamont Scott. Six nights of protests have followed, the first two of them violent.
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U.S.ABC News VideosTalking with Young Voters at Hofstra University's 'Issues Alley'
ABC News' Charli James bounces around with Hofstra students before the first presidential debate. Yeah. Same thing punting game. We're here on Amazon com the university where we're just hours away from the first president to meet his idol happening.
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WorldAFPIran's Ahmadinejad should stay out of election: conservativesIranian conservatives called on former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to stay out of next year's election following a speech by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday. Although he did not mention Ahmadinejad by name, several conservative figures interpreted his words as a rebuke to the controversial former president who led the country from 2005 until the 2013 presidential election. "Mr Ahmadinejad must be very thankful and grateful for the leader's advice and he will definitely listen to this advice and not run for the election, and will be of service to people in some other position," said Mohammad Gharavian, a cleric in the holy city of Qom, according to ISNA news agency.
