- PoliticsJon WardThe surprising agreement between Trump and Clinton on gun control
In the four-dimensional chessboard on which the politics of gun control plays out, anything can happen — and for a brief moment in Monday night’s presidential debate, it did, as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton found themselves in agreement on at least one small aspect of it. At issue was a ban on gun sales to people on the government’s terror watch lists, a move that has taken on huge symbolic importance since Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., began pushing for it earlier this year in the wake of the deadly attack at an Orlando nightclub.
- BusinessThe DriveHere's Our First Look at Mercedes-Benz's Futuristic Electric Concept Car
Automakers across the board are filling more and more of their lineups with utopian people-movers for the 21st Century, and Mercedes-Benz is no exception. To tease its new electric concept car before its full reveal at the Paris Motor Show this week, Mercedes-Benz released a short clip of the vehicle showing off a few details and hinting at other clues on the new car. Previously, The Drive reported on how Daimler, Mercedes-Benz's parent company, has been looking to start up its own electric car sub-brand to rival Tesla.
- U.S.Inside EditionTeacher Invited 2 Students to Her Home for Sex: Cops
A substitute teacher was arrested last week after police say she had sexual encounters with students she invited to her Georgia home. While Cherokee County Sheriff's Office officials said the students were at the age of consent for the state, it was 38-year-old Laura Rich's position of authority that makes her alleged deeds a crime. Rich is accused of starting a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old shortly after she began substitute teaching in early 2015, Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jay Baker said.
- WorldYahoo News PhotoIsraeli ex-president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres dies at age 93
Israeli ex-president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres died on Wednesday, some two weeks after suffering a major stroke, triggering an outpouring of grief for the historic figure and beloved statesman. Peres, who was 93, held nearly every major office in the country, serving twice as prime minister and also as president, a mostly ceremonial role, from 2007 to 2014. Peres died around 3:00 am (0000 GMT), Rafi Walden, who was Peres’s personal doctor and also his son-in-law, told AFP.
- BusinessABC News VideosCongressman Asks Fed Chairwoman if Wells Fargo Should Be Broken Up
California representative Brad Sherman asks Janet Yellen if she will use powers granted to her to break up the bank following the resent fake accounts scandal. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from California mr. Schuermann.
- WorldForeign Policy MagazineRussia Is In Tailspin Over MH17 Shootdown Report
A new Dutch-led investigation of the 2014 deadly shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in a separatist-held area of Ukraine corroborates what was already widely documented: A Russian Buk missile system caused the crash. Prosecutors stopped short of directly blaming Moscow, which has denied involvement. Moscow’s spin machine quickly took flight after the inquiry’s report became public.
WorldAFPTourists flee volcano at popular Indonesia hiking spotHundreds of tourists have fled a volcanic eruption at a popular Indonesian hiking destination, an official said Wednesday, expressing fears some may have stayed behind to document the natural wonder. Around 1,000 tourists, including about 600 foreigners, were believed to be in the area when Mount Barujari sent columns of ash and smoke shooting high into the sky over holiday island Lombok Tuesday, according to the official disaster agency. Barujari is a small cone within the crater of Mount Rinjani, Indonesia's second-highest volcano and a major attraction for foreign tourists visiting the archipelago.
U.S.ReutersCongress rejects Obama veto, Saudi September 11 bill becomes lawBy Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected President Barack Obama's veto of legislation allowing relatives of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia, the first veto override of his presidency, just four months before it ends. The House of Representatives voted 348-77 against the veto, hours after the Senate rejected it 97-1, meaning the "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act" will become law. The vote was a blow to Obama as well as to Saudi Arabia, one of the United States' longest-standing allies in the Arab world, and some lawmakers who supported the override already plan to revisit the issue.
WorldAFPTough anti-corruption law takes effect in S. KoreaA tough new anti-graft law came into force in South Korea Wednesday with many hailing it as a milestone to help root out widespread low-level corruption. Dubbed the Kim Young-Ran law after the former supreme court judge who drafted it, the sweeping legislation covers some four million public servants and employees of education institutions in the country of 50 million. The law targets teachers bribed by parents to give better grades, journalists paid to give favourable publicity and officials bought off by businessmen to speed up bureaucratic processes.
- PoliticsChristian Science MonitorWhy the US government will pay native Americans nearly half a billion dollars
The Department of the Interior and the United States Attorney General announced this week that the federal government will pay 17 native American tribes $492 million, settling claims that the government mismanaged tribal resources for years. This week’s settlement is the latest in a series of similar agreements with more than 100 tribes in total, as the federal government attempts to chart a new course in tribal relations and dispute resolution. Although native American tribes have called attention to these issues for decades, this week’s resolution is representative of the federal government’s changing approach towards federal disputes with tribal governments, some experts say.
- BusinessThe DriveMercedes Is STILL Running "Self-Driving Car" Ads For The NOT Self-Driving E-Class
Just when you thought the saga of Mercedes-Benz claiming the 2017 E-Class was a “Self-Driving Car” was over, well, it’s not over. The saga began with early ads for the new E-Class stating “Introducing A Self-Driving Car from a very Self-Driven Company.” As I pointed out in my review of Mercedes’ DrivePilot, in no universe does the Mercedes system make it a Self-Driving Car, or anywhere near Level 4 Autonomy. Mercedes DrivePilot is no more than ADAS, and nowhere near Tesla’s state-of-the-art Autopilot system, which is at or slightly above Level 2.
- U.S.Inside EditionMassive Search Underway for Missing 11-Year-Old Girl Considered A Runaway
An 11-year-old North Carolina girl who vanished Tuesday after getting off her school bus was found safe after emerging from the woods outside her the following night. The Conover Fire Department confirmed in a tweet Wednesday night that Emily Dowdle was found safe. The girl had skipped nine straight days of school, a fact her parents only found out Monday, Catawba police chief Duane Cozzen told InsideEdition.com.
U.S.Associated PressThe Latest: Friend: Starbucks victim was naturalized citizenThe man killed in a shooting at a Starbucks coffee shop in Las Vegas was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Tblisi, Georgia, where he served in the military and learned not to back away from conflict. The defendant in the slaying case, 34-year-old Pedro Jose Garcia, made an initial court appearance Wednesday on murder and other charges in the Sunday slaying.
PoliticsReutersTrump gets back on message at first rally after debateBy Steve Holland MELBOURNE, Fla. (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump got back on message on Tuesday after Democrat Hillary Clinton put him on the defensive at their first debate, and he cast her as "stuck in the past" and himself as a change agent. Trump's speech to thousands at a rally in a Florida airport hangar included some points that some supporters wished he had made before the record television audience of 84 million people for the debate on Monday in Hempstead, New York. One was Clinton's promise during her successful campaign to win a U.S. Senate seat in 2000 to create jobs in upstate New York.
- WorldForeign Policy MagazineSitRep: Russia Implicated in Airline Shoot Down; U.S. Strike in Afghanistan Under Investigation
Russia shot down airliner. A Dutch-led investigation to be released Wednesday has concluded that a Russian surface-to-air missile system shot down a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine two years ago, killing all 298 on board.
WorldAFPStudent protests spread in South AfricaStudent protests in South Africa spread Wednesday with police firing rubber bullets at demonstrators on campuses in Johannesburg and Grahamstown as unrest over tuition fees roils universities across the country. The University of Johannesburg's Doornfontein campus was hit by violent clashes between students and campus security guards as running battles erupted through the evening, AFP photographers witnessed. Police in Grahamstown, in Eastern Cape province, arrested at least 11 Rhodes University students after they allegedly violated a court interdict which barred protests on the university grounds.
- WorldReutersNo more trade in endangered pangolins, U.N. meeting decides
By Tanisha Heiberg JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The United Nations on Wednesday banned global trade in highly endangered pangolins, a scaly animal with the dubious distinction of being the world's most poached mammal. Member states of the U.N.'s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, known as CITES, voted to place the eight species of pangolin on the convention's "Appendix I," which prohibits any cross-border movement in the animals or their body parts for commercial purposes. Like other illicit wildlife commodity pipelines, such as elephant ivory and rhino horn, Africa is the main source of pangolin supply, while the demand comes from Asia.
BusinessAFPTesla 'on autopilot' crashes on German Autobahn: policeA Tesla electric car crashed into a tourist bus on a motorway in northern Germany, police said Thursday, adding that the driver had claimed he had activated the car's autopilot system. The driver of the Tesla car was slightly injured, while the 29 people on board the Danish bus were unhurt in the incident on Wednesday, police in Ratzeburg in Schleswig-Holstein state said. A Tesla spokesperson however said in a statement that "we have spoken to our customer, who confirmed that Autopilot was functioning properly and that his use of Autopilot was unrelated to the accident.
- U.S.UPROXXKnott's Berry Farm Shuts Down 'FearVR' Following Complaints From Mental Health Advocates
Knott’s Berry Farm has undergone its Knott’s Scary Farm transformation for the fall, but one freaky attraction has produced a scary situation for the California theme park. The Los Angeles Times reports that the park’s FearVR attraction has been shut down following complaints from mental health advocates over its content. The attraction is centered around the premise that you’re strapped into a wheelchair at a spooky medical facility with an “unusual patient” named Katie with telekinetic powers and the ability to cause all sorts of horrific things to happen.
- WorldOzyA Nation of Wannabe Europeans
Russia has an identity crisis: To be or not to be … European. In late 2010, more than half the country was in favor of European Union accession, according to poll data from Deutsche Welle. If one in three young people had gotten their way, Russia would have joined within five years, and would already be a full EU member. Good thing they didn’t — since tensions escalated over Ukraine in 2014, support has plummeted to just 11 percent.
U.S.Yahoo News PhotoMidwest flooding subsidesOfficials in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, say their elaborate system of temporary floodwalls is successfully protecting thousands of homes and businesses from floodwaters as the river that runs through the city reached its second-highest peak ever, on Tuesday. Heavy rain flooded homes, closed major highways and stranded motorists in several Midwestern states over the last week. (AP) See more news-related photo galleries ,and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr .
U.S.Associated PressSuspect in Dallas-area shooting rampage arrestedA man suspected in a pair of Dallas-area killings was arrested Tuesday at an apartment about 150 miles to the south near Austin, police said. Silvestre Franco-Luviano was arrested about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday after a standoff at an apartment in Georgetown, about 25 miles north of Austin, said Georgetown Police Chief Wayne Nero.
U.S.ReutersProtesters chant 'murder' in police shooting of black man in CaliforniaBy Dan Whitcomb and Marty Graham EL CAJON, Calif. (Reuters) - Protesters yelled "murder" and demanded on Wednesday a federal investigation into the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in Southern California, just as racially charged anger over two similar incidents during the past two weeks had begun to subside. Tuesday's shooting unfolded as two officers responding to several calls for help in dealing with a mentally unstable person confronted the man walking in traffic in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon, according to local police. Police did not immediately identify the victim, but local activists and friends named him as Ugandan-born Alfred Olango.
- WorldForeign Policy MagazineNew Philippine Leader Wants to Boot U.S. Commandos as ISIS Seeks a Foothold
If Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte makes good on his threats to turn away from his country’s 65-year-old alliance with the United States, the first casualty would likely be the U.S. military mission there, which has become a model for successful counterterrorism operations worldwide. After warning earlier this month that the U.S. military contingent of several hundred troops has to go, Duterte said Monday that his country’s alliance with Washington had reached “a point of no return” and on Wednesday he said an upcoming joint military exercise would be the last with the United States. The threat to push out the team of up to 100 U.S. Special Operations Forces, along with an additional 300 to 500 American conventional troops, comes as concerns mount in Washington and Southeast Asia about the Islamic State’s efforts to spread its tentacles in the region.
BusinessAFPDrone halts traffic at Dubai airportAn unauthorised drone forced Dubai airport to halt air traffic for about half an hour on Wednesday in the second such incident in four months, the airport authority said. Airspace around the world's busiest airport for international flights was closed between 8:08 and 8:35 am (0408 and 0435 GMT) "due to unauthorised drone activity," Dubai Airports said on its Twitter account.
