USA Headline news in Banda Aceh
Motor racing: Hamilton takes little for granted at Sepang
SEPANG, Malaysia (Reuters) – Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton was handed a lucky break in Singapore but the Mercedes driver can take little more than the heat and humidity for granted in Malaysia this weekend. The Briton needs no reminding of just how fickle fortune can be as he returns to the steamy circuit where his 2016 title hopes suffered a blow that ultimately proved too great to overcome. Hamilton has a 28 point advantage over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel thanks to the German crashing out on the opening lap
Read MoreNFL players, owners defy Trump on anthem protests
SOMERSET, N.J.,/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – National Football League players sat out, knelt and linked arms during pre-game national anthems played across the country and in London on Sunday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump called on fans to boycott teams that do not discipline players who protest. In the first few games since Trump stepped up his criticism of NFL players, dozens of players and coaches of teams including the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins did not stand for the anthem and took a knee, a gesture Read More
House unanimously approves sweeping self-driving car measure
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House on Wednesday unanimously approved a sweeping proposal to speed the deployment of self-driving cars without human controls and bar states from blocking autonomous vehicles. The bill now goes to the Senate and would allow automakers to obtain exemptions to deploy up to 25,000 vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards in the first year, a cap that would rise to 100,000 vehicles annually over three years. Automakers and technology companies, including General Motors Co and Alphabet Inc‘s self-driving unit Waymo, have been pushing for
Read MoreVivien Leigh’s diaries recording Olivier romance up for auction
(Reuters) – Diaries and a ring tracing the love affair between “Gone with the Wind” star Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier are going up for auction in London next month, providing a glimpse into one of Hollywood’s most notorious relationships. “Told Leigh,” wrote the British actress on June 10, 1937, recording the day she informed her husband, Leigh Holman, about the affair. “Left with Larry,” is the hasty entry six days later. The diaries, which carry an estimated auction value of 2,000-3,000 pounds ($2,587-$3,880), form part of Leigh’s personal collection Read More
Amazon’s Alexa to chat up Microsoft’s Cortana
(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) have forged a partnership that will allow their voice-controlled virtual assistants to talk to each other later this year. Users of Amazon’s Alexa will be able to ask Microsoft’s Cortana to do a range of activities — from booking a meeting to reading work email. And Cortana users will be able to call on Alexa to play music, order an Uber or turn on their house lights. Users will be able to turn to their Echo device and say, “Alexa, open Read More
Kremlin says got Trump adviser email about tower project but ignored it
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman confirmed on Wednesday he had received an email in January last year from an adviser to Donald Trump about a Moscow real estate project, but said he had neither replied nor discussed it with Putin. The Washington Post reported this week that Michael Cohen, one of Trump’s closest business advisers, had emailed Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, seeking his help in advancing a stalled Trump Tower development project in Moscow. Trump was running to become president at the time. Peskov, answering questions about
Read MoreKuangChi says parent invests $600 million for 1.88 percent of Unicom
HONG KONG (Reuters) – KuangChi Science Ltd said its parent has invested 4 billion yuan ($600.3 million) in a 1.88 percent stake in China United Network Communications Ltd, becoming one of its strategic investors under a mixed ownership reform plan. KuangChi Group-controlled KuangChi Connection Technology will cooperate with China United Network in areas including cloud computation, big data, internet of things, artificial intelligence, digital content and payment finance, the Hong Kong-listed firm said late on Monday. KuangChi Science – an investment company engaged in space equipment, paper and property with
Read MoreBritain’s Big Ben falls silent for four years of renovation work
LONDON (Reuters) – The “Big Ben” bell in the British parliament’s famous clock tower tolled for the last time on Monday before it ceased its regular bongs for four years while renovation work is carried out. The bongs will sound for events such as New Year’s Eve celebrations but the four-year length of the outage has caused consternation among British politicians. Prime Minister Theresa May has said the length of the absence “can’t be right”. The hammers which have struck the 13.7 tonne bell every hour for most of the
Read MoreFour Boston Teamsters acquitted of ‘Top Chef’ extortion plot – world news headlines from reuters
(Corrects paragraph 12 of Aug. 15 story to say that Mark Harrington was sentenced to six months of home confinement, not prison. The error first appeared in Update 1) By Nate Raymond BOSTON (Reuters) – Four Teamsters union members in Boston were acquitted on Tuesday of charges they tried to extort jobs from a production company filming “Top Chef” in 2014, using thuggish tactics that included threatening host Padma Lakshmi. A federal jury found Daniel Redmond, John Fidler, Robert Cafarelli and Michael Ross not guilty of conspiracy and attempted extortion
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