WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday floated a theory that the Democratic National Committee staffer who was shot dead in the streets of Washington last month had been targeted because the operative was an informant. In an interview on Dutch television, the Australian cyberactivist invoked the unsolved killing of Seth Rich, 27, earlier this summer to illustrate the risks of being a source for his organization. Citing WikiLeaks protocol, Assange refused to confirm whether or not Rich was in fact a source for WikiLeaks, which has released thousands of internal DNC emails, some of them politically embarrassing.

1. Hanks took the role 1.5 hours into reading the script, but he said he'd only take it if ...
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton launched an open appeal Wednesday to independents and Republicans repulsed by Donald Trump, after the party's nominee again sparked controversy with comments seen by some as a threat against her. The latest Trump firestorm erupted when he suggested at a rally Tuesday in North Carolina that "Second Amendment people" -- those who support gun rights -- could take action to stop Clinton from appointing US Supreme Court justices as president. After his comments were judged by many as courting violence, the Clinton team pounced by announcing a new "outreach to the growing number of Republicans and independents" who are prepared to vote for the former secretary of state on November 8.
The 10-year-old boy killed during a ride on the world's tallest waterslide was decapitated in the accident, a person familiar with the investigation said. The person was speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the death of Caleb Schwab Sunday on the "Verruckt" raft ride at the Schlitterbahn WaterPark in Kansas City, Kansas. The boy's parents — Republican state Rep. Scott Schwab and his wife, Michele — have not spoken publicly since the death.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Thursday denied requests to loosen the classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical use. The decision is the DEA's response to a 2011 petition by two former state governors who had urged federal agencies to re-classify marijuana as a drug with accepted medical uses. In a letter to the petitioners, the DEA said it had asked the Department of Health and Human Services for a scientific and medical evaluation of the issue.

Décryptage : Quel avenir pour l'assurance des conducteurs dans un monde avec des voitures connectées et sans chauffeur ?
Democratic Senate candidate Ted Strickland has apologized for a comment he made about former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. During a Monday campaign event in Cleveland, Strickland, Ohio’s former governor, had said Scalia’s death “happened at a good time” because of pending court decisions. In a video posted by NTK Network on YouTube, Strickland is shown speaking to AFL-CIO members about how Supreme Court rulings on labor laws could affect America’s labor unions.
Shifting sands on a Hawaiian beach have revealed — and then concealed again — carvings that Hawaii's indigenous people made on the shoreline at least 400 years ago. Two tourists from Texas stumbled across the petroglyphs last month on Oahu's Waianae Coast on the western side of the island. "It was just a stroke of luck," Lonnie Watson, one of the visitors, said in a statement issued by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
It has become increasingly apparent over the past few months that Tesla's advanced Autopilot technology is a work in progress. Early media coverage of the nifty new feature was for the most part breathless praise, as bloggers and journalists marveled at how advanced Tesla's self-driving tech was compared to the competition. Since then Autopilot has been under the microscope and Tesla has been repeatedly accused of using its drivers a guinea pigs despite having logged more than 130 million miles without a fatal accident.

Start early with your child's education by providing them with books, games, puzzles and more! Try it free for 30 days!
A massive wildfire has destroyed scores of buildings and threatens to raze several vineyards in California, where a prolonged drought has left vegetation tinder-dry, officials warned Tuesday. The Soberanes fire, in the coastal Big Sur tourism hotspot, has incinerated 105 square miles (270 square kilometers) of the Los Padres National Forest since it started more than two weeks ago. Some 5,000 firefighters are battling the blaze, which is just 50 percent contained, Rigoberto Herrera of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) told AFP.
Thousands of Portuguese firefighters struggled on Thursday to control nearly 200 forest fires after flames killed at least four people on the mainland and the island of Madeira the previous day. Prime Minister Antonio Costa cut short his holidays and flew to Madeira, where more than 200 buildings in the regional capital and popular resort Funchal had been destroyed or damaged and some 1,000 people including tourists evacuated. “We understand the dimension of this horrible tragedy that devastated various municipalities here in Madeira, and we also know about the calamities affecting other zones of the country that now have to be addressed,” he told reporters.
Police in Kentucky are in search of an arsonist who appears to accidentally light himself on fire in surveillance footage. "He did more damage to himself than the building," Madisonville Fire Chief Ray Wyatt told InsideEdition.com. The Madisonville Police Department shared footage of the bumbling fire bug to its social media on Monday.

Spy tech goes cheap. Track your vehicle with your smartphone.