In 2015, it's still perfectly normal to drive yourself in a fuel-powered car that you actually own. One day though, that concept will sound quaint.

With new technologies like Uber for car sharing, Tesla for electric vehicles and Google's driverless cars, the way in which we drive is rapidly transforming into something completely different. It's very possible in the near future people won't have any relationship with cars at all: not putting gas in them, not driving them, not owning them.

"I'm glad I'm retired if there are going to be driverless cars," said racing legend Mario Andretti in an interview with CNBC at Pocono Raceway, ahead of Sunday's IndyCar race. After taking me around the track for three "hot laps" that scared the hell out of me, Andretti chatted about the future of driving and the sport. "These poor guys are going to be out of a job" in reference to the current crop of racers—including his grandson Marco. "The human element needs to still be involved to have any value at all."

Roger Penske took a more optimistic approach about the changing landscape. "The great thing about Uber is somebody's got to sell them cars. So I'm going to make a knock on their door." In addition to owning top teams in several racing series including NASCAR and IndyCar, Penske has a stake in many auto-related business, including car dealerships (PAG) and truck rental operations.

For all the discussion on truck fleets that might not need drivers, Penske didn't think it would go fully automated. "I think you'll always have someone sitting in the car, but they can do other things ... things that you can't do today." He did say "the safety aspects of driverless cars are important" over the long term.

On the topic of electric vehicles, Penske wasn't as immediately excited. While he did say, "Tesla has done an amazing job," he countered with, "Today it's all about total cost of ownership, and today total cost of ownership doesn't drive electric vehicles." He thought big changes would come soon, "over the next three to four years," and that "it's going to be driven politically ... by people wanting to have less emissions."

Read More"Mushy Middle" Threatens Driverless Roadways

Summary: IndyCar legends Mario Andretti and Roger Penske along with second-generation racer Graham Rahal offer thoughts on new auto technologies.


Abe has said as a general principle, Japanese troops would not be sent to fight in foreign territory or waters but an exception could be made for mine-sweeping in the Hormuz Strait if maritime commerce is blocked.

Abe has also said Japan would not send troops to fight in multinational conflicts such as the 2003 war in Iraq.

A new, permanent law would allow Japan's military, with prior parliamentary approval, to provide logistical support to armed forces of other countries seeking collectively to secure international peace, if a U.N. resolution has been adopted. Activities would be limited to areas where conflict is not underway.

This removes the need for a new, specific law for each operation as when Japan provided refueling support for U.S.-led operations in the Indian Ocean during the Afghan war.

Allows Japan to provide logistical support to the United States and other countries engaged in operations in situations with "important influence" on Japan's security. This expands the current scope and clarifies that there are no geographical constraints.

Read MoreWill a militaristic Abe torpedo his own leadership?

Expands scope for providing services and supplies, including ammunition, to U.S. and other militaries. The government has cited the example of logistical support in contingencies on the Korean peninsula.

Abe has ruled out providing logistics support for U.S.-led operations against Islamic State.

In addition to U.N. peacekeeping operations, allows Japan's military to take part in multilateral peace and security operations outside the U.N. framework.

Allows Japanese military to protect civilians or troops of other countries participating in peacekeeping.

Relaxes rules on use of weapons during peacekeeping operations.

Allows Japan's military to protect weapons and other equipment of U.S. and other countries' armed forces when they are engaged in operations that contribute to Japan's defense.

Summary: Japan is expected to enact into law legislation that allows Japanese troops to fight overseas for the first time since WWII.


Josh Brown is making the first move in a year-long stock competition between the CNBC "Halftime Report" traders.

Of the six contributors involved in the "Halftime" Portfolio Challenge, Brown is the only one using a quantitative approach, following certain rules to direct his trading. His ultimate goal is to find stocks that could break out above the psychologically important $100 a share mark.

Summary: Josh Brown makes the first trade of CNBC's "Halftime" Portfolio Challenge.


ANKARA, Sept 4 (Reuters) - World financial leaders will agree to calibrate and communicate monetary policy carefully to avoid triggering capital flight, but will not call an expected Federal Reserve rate rise a risk to growth, a draft communique showed on Friday.

Many emerging market economies are concerned that when the U.S. Federal Reserve raises borrowing costs, investors will withdraw from other markets and buy dollar assets, leading to the depreciation of emerging market currencies.

Officials from emerging markets wanted the communique from finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of 20 biggest economies to say that such a rate rise in the U.S. now would be a risk to growth.

But the draft avoids such wording.

"We note that in line with the improving economic outlook monetary policy tightening is more likely in some advanced economies," the draft communique, seen by Reuters, said.

"We will carefully calibrate and clearly communicate our actions to minimize negative spillovers, mitigate uncertainty and promote transparency," said the draft, which may yet change before it is finally agreed on Saturday.

The text welcomed strengthening activity in some economies but said that global growth fell short of expectations.

The draft indirectly also addressed the devaluation by China of its renminbi currency in August, in a sign the move was not seen as a competitive devaluation to prop up Chinese exports.

"We reiterate our commitment to move toward more market determined exchange rate systems and exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals, and avoid persistent exchange rate misalignments. We will refrain from competitive devaluations and resist all forms of protectionism," it said.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Nick Tattersall)

Summary: ANKARA, Sept 4- World financial leaders will agree to calibrate and communicate monetary policy carefully to avoid triggering capital flight, but will not call an expected Federal Reserve rate rise a risk to growth, a draft communique showed on Friday. Many emerging market economies are concerned that when the U.S. The draft indirectly also addressed the...


Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Employees assist shoppers at the check out counter of a Walmart store in Los Angeles.

Starting Christmas Day, Wal-Mart is letting customers exchange gift cards from more than 200 retailers, airlines and restaurants for a Wal-Mart card. The cards don't expire and can be used in stores and online. The exchange may send more shoppers to the website of the world's largest retailer.

It's a test program, but if it's successful, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the card swap could become a permanent service. Wal-Mart spokesman Ravi Jariwala said the chain doesn't have specific metrics to evaluate that but will watch how shoppers react. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Read More US minimum wage hikes to impact 1,400-plus Walmart stores

Shoppers won't get the full value of their gift cards to use at Wal-Mart. For example, with Amazon.com, customers can redeem up to 95 percent, while for Staples that figure is up to 90 percent and for Gap, up to 85 percent.

For some brands, a Wal-Mart gift card will be worth just 70 percent of the original card. Up to about $1 billion worth of gift cards will go unused this year, according to CEB TowerGroup, a consultancy. That's because recipients either lose them or can't figure out what to buy.

Read MoreWal-Mart, Sears in alleged illegal toy gun crackdown

Summary: Wal-Mart will begin testing on its new gift card exchange program on Christmas Day.


09/25/2015 AT 12:20 PM EDT

It's official: A judge has approved

's request to legally be declared a woman.

in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Sept. 15.

On Friday, Jenner's lawyers appeared in court, and a Los Angeles judge approved the request. Jenner was not present in the courtroom, based on a live stream of the proceedings hosted by

According to court documents, Jenner formally requested to be called "Caitlyn Marie Jenner" instead of "William Bruce Jenner" in the name and gender petition.

The filing states that Jenner also requested that information necessary for the process, such as her medical history, be sealed.

Jenner said that although public support for her transition has been positive, she has received "unwelcome negative attention from private citizens," and her motion to file portions of the petition under seal was granted.

Not all of Jenner's family members, however, refer to the former Olympian as Caitlyn.

In a recent interview with

: "It's been a ride, for sure," she said. "But I've known since I was a kid. He never confirmed it to me, but I've known for a very long time. It's the same person. My dad says it herself sometimes, it's kind of like mourning the loss of someone, because it is. My dad is my dad, but he's not there physically anymore. But she lets me call her 'Dad' – that's the last little piece of Dad I've got."

The reality star has been embroiled in a legal battle since February, when, while still known as "Bruce," she was involved in a car crash on the Pacific Coast Highway that

against Jenner, and prosecutors may

Summary: A Los Angeles judge approved Jenner's name and gender change petition Friday


Gold has held largely between $1,160 and $1,230 since mid-March, struggling to break higher despite an ostensibly bullish rise in tensions over Greece.

"We would have expected gold to trade much higher, given all the issues in Greece," Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said. "It's being kept in check by an ongoing withdrawal by speculative financial investors. If this doesn't stop, the gold price won't be able to recover."

Global equity markets edged lower on lingering worries over Greece.

Greece failed again to clinch a deal with its international creditors on Thursday, setting up a last-ditch effort on Saturday to avert a default next week.

"We attempted this week to break $1,200 and failed, and that doesn't look so good," said Afshin Nabavi, head of trading at MKS.

Read MoreWith Greece as backdrop, new data get a look

"With gold, either people wait for it to go much lower so it's a bargain, or for it to get more expensive (so it has investment value). Now, people are waiting for lower numbers to buy."

Silver was down 0.4 percent at $15.86 an ounce.

"We expect to see further losses for both gold and silver, although that being said precious metals do look a little bit oversold in the short-term," said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst for Forex.com.

"What's more, Greece could still default and exit the euro zone. Should this happen, it would undoubtedly boost the appeal of safe haven assets."

Spot platinum was up 0.8 percent at $1,079.25 an ounce, and spot palladium was down 2.3 percent at $677.25 an ounce.

Palladium fell to its lowest since July 2013 at $668.25 an ounce earlier, having broken through key chart support last week. Prices have slid more than 14 percent this year so far, hurt by perceptions that supply of the white metal is plentiful.

Summary: Gold eased for the fifth straight session on Thursday as traders awaited further news on Greece's negotiations with its creditors.


Even as growth and deflation fears roil global markets and weak data casts a shadow over Japan's economy, the Bank of Japan appears set to resist pressure for more stimulus measures or to accept that its inflation target is unrealistically high.

People familiar with its deliberations said the BOJ, which has failed for two decades to drag Japan's economy from the grip of no or zero inflation, is preparing to roughly halve its 1 percent economic growth forecast for this fiscal year, but stand pat on policy and its prediction that inflation will hit its 2 percent target in the year from next April.

Private economists think inflation has peaked at barely half the bank's forecast rate, however, and financial markets had been expecting the central bank to add to its massive monetary easing, with speculation growing it could act at its policy meeting on Oct. 31.

"We think the BOJ's view on consumer prices is overly optimistic," said Hiroshi Shiraishi, senior economist at BNP Paribas Securities. BNP's current expectations for inflation are around 1.8 percent at the end of 2015, but Shiraishi said global conditions could render that time frame optimistic, too.

Read MoreBOJ to stand pat on policy, warn of weak factory output

A sharp slide in Japanese stocks and a rebound in the yen, driven in part by concerns about global growth, have added to headwinds for Japan's economy, which is struggling with soft exports and the chilling effect of a sales tax hike in April.

Tokyo shares are down 10 percent from September's seven-year high, while the dollar has slid to around 106 yen from a six-year high of 110 yen in the past two months.

The sources said BOJ officials think the market turmoil is temporary and unlikely to do lasting damage to the economy. They are unlikely to change their on-hold policy stance unless it becomes a shock severe enough to derail their forecast of moderate economic recovery, the sources added.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has stuck to his upbeat tone on the outlook, stressing that Japan is on track to meet the BOJ's inflation target as the pain of the jump in sales tax to 8 percent from 5 percent starts to ebb.

Read MoreAre Japan stocks a bargain yet?

"Japan's economy is expected to continue growing at a pace above its potential as a trend since the virtuous cycle from income to spending has been operating steadily in both the household and corporate sectors," Kuroda told investors in New York last week.

At the Oct. 31 meeting, the BOJ will release new long-term economic and price forecasts in a semi-annual report that serves as a basis for policy decisions.

In a quarterly review in July, the BOJ forecast core consumer inflation would hit 1.9 percent next fiscal year, higher than the 1.2 percent projection in the latest Reuters monthly poll of economists. The BOJ tips 2.1 percent inflation for the year from April 2016.

The bank's forecast of 1.0 percent growth this fiscal year is also much higher than the Reuters survey result of 0.3 percent.

Summary: Even as growth and deflation fears cast a shadow over Japan's economy, the Bank of Japan appears set to resist pressure for more stimulus measures.


A 6-year-old boy was out on the playground at his Ohio school pretending to be a Power Ranger with other first graders when he decided to deploy his secret – and imaginary – weapon.

He drew back his arm and pretended to shoot his invisible bow and arrow. In doing so, however, he violated the Catholic school's zero-tolerance policy on violence – whether real or make-believe – and was suspended for three days, his father, Matthew Miele, tells PEOPLE.

"I feel it was a severe overreaction," Miele tells PEOPLE of the suspension after the Oct. 29 incident, adding that he wants the school to revise its policies. "Obviously this suspension is not a teaching moment," he says.

The principal of the elementary school, Our Lady of Lourdes school in Cincinnati, did not reply to PEOPLE's requests for comment. But in a letter to parents, which was verified as authentic by Miele, the principal, Joe Crachiolo, contends that strong measures are necessary in light of recent school shootings and other violence.

"These games are not appropriate in a Catholic school, or any other school setting," Crachiolo wrote. "It is not 'fun' and certainly not Catholic to pretend to harm another person."

He noted that similar imaginary games were considered acceptable years ago, and that he himself engaged in them, but said that nowadays they are "no longer appropriate."

"Schools have been in the news far too often due to violence, threats and the like," he wrote.

As such, he wrote, "I have no tolerance for any real, pretend, or imitated violence."

Miele, 36, a Cincinnati firefighter, and his wife, Martha, 35, a pediatric nurse, say their son had no prior disciplinary reports and that he was sad when he was learned of the suspension.

"He was kind of upset and confused," Matthew Miele says. "I don't think he understands that it was violent. He's thinking, 'I'm acting out a character.'"

That kind of imaginary play is beneficial for kids, he said. "It's incredibly important for a child developing his abstract thought and empathy," Miele says, who likened the fantasy violence to that in Peter Pan other children's plays.

Martha Miele said her son was told on the first day of school about the restrictions, but, she tells PEOPLE, "He told me, 'Mom, I just forgot.'" Martha Miele says she would like the school to exercise more discretion. "He's a little boy playing a game," she says. "He's not malicious."

The couple says their son will finish out the school year, and that he knows to follow the rules. However, Matthew Miele says he isn't certain if his son will return to second grade at the school.

"I told him, 'Right now we can't have any superpower play at school," says Matthew Miele, adding that he plans to work on getting the policy changed. "I hope we're able to show him that adults can disagree and bring positive solutions out of it."

Summary: Catholic school has zero-tolerance policy against violence, real or imagined


A fresh search for missing Australian submarine AE1 starts next week with searchers believing this is the best shot yet at solving a century old mystery.

Patrolling off East New Britain on September 14, 1914, AE1, Australia's first submarine, vanished with all 35 Australian and British crewmen.

Like many submarine losses from the two world wars, AE1 sailed out on patrol and simply never returned. There was no distress call and no witnesses and all who might have shed any light on events sank with her.

Chairman of the Find AE1 group, retired submariner and navy Rear Admiral Peter Briggs, said the search would start next Friday, using a leased multi-beam sonar carried aboard a chartered mining survey boat.

"If the submarine is there and intact we have a 95 per cent chance of spotting it," he told AAP.

Over the years there have been a number of searches for AE1, most recently last year when a navy minehunter found no trace of the missing vessel.

Admiral Briggs said minehunter technology was better suited to locating seamines in the shallow water of harbour entrances.

The Find AE1 group has refined the search to an area east of Duke of York Island, off the New Britain capital Rabaul.

AE1's final contact with destroyer HMAS Parramatta at 2.30pm that afternoon placed her in this area. Native legends speak of a of a "devil fish" sighted in the water at this time.

Admiral Briggs said it was unlikely AE1 was lost through enemy action - the only German vessel anywhere near at that time was a small survey ship.

Because no wreckage, oil or bodies were found, it's thought that AE1 sank intact, most likely after striking a reef, which holed the pressure hull.

"The primary search area is down to 400 metres. That is defined by the probability that it will have ended up on the bottom inside this area. We will cover about a third to a half of the primary area with a high degree of probability," he said.

The secondary search area is water deeper than 400 metres and the route back to Rabaul, on the basis that AE1 may have sought to reach port while taking on water.

If AE1 isn't found, this effort will have further refined the search area to this deeper water. That will require even more sophisticated towed side-scan sonar of the type used in the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

This week-long search is costing around $250,000 and that doesn't include a camera-equipped remotely operated vehicle to eyeball promising contacts.

"We could well find ourselves with a high probability contact that we are unable to look at. There may well be a second phase to this," he said.

AE1 was one of two E-class submarines constructed in Britain for the new Australian navy.

AE2 achieved fame when she penetrated the Dardanelles waterway at the same time Australian troops landed on Gallipoli. After attacking Turkish shipping in the Sea of Marmara, AE2 came under fire from a Turkish gunboat and was scuttled so she would not fall into Turkish hands.

Her wreckage was discovered in 1998.

AE1, commanded by Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Thomas Besant, had accompanied the Australian expeditionary forces dispatched at the start of WWI to capture then German-occupied New Britain.

Summary: A fresh search for missing WWI submarine AE1 starts next week with searchers 90 per cent certain they will solve this century old mystery.


It’s the season of giving. And, oh my, the things people give.

Consider some of the donations made to Dress for Success Boston, which provides suits and other professional attire to low-income women searching for employment.

Nightgowns. Bathing suits. Tennis shoes. Flip flops.

“One time we got a blazer covered in gold sequins, which was really kind of cool,” said Kimberly Todd, the group’s executive director, “but we couldn’t put anyone in that for a job interview.”

Struck by the holiday spirit of generosity — as well as a desire to clear out their closets for incoming gifts and lock in year-end charitable tax deductions — many people flood nonprofits this time of year with items that may be perfectly lovely and in pristine condition, but are useless or burdensome to the groups meant to benefit.

And so the groups sometimes have to say no.

The Women’s Lunch Place, for example, a day shelter on Newbury Street, doesn’t generally accept clothing, except winter wear and ponchos.

Still, “people come and say, ‘Happy holidays,’ and leave large trash bags or shopping bags full of donations that we have to sort through,” said executive director Elizabeth Keeley. “Some are useful but others are not, and we have limited storage space, so when we get everything all at once it’s overwhelming.”

For the Women’s Lunch Place, the onslaught starts around Thanksgiving and continues into the New Year, resulting in a 50 percent increase in donations, according to Keeley. At Dress for Success, donations double over the winter holidays, causing a serious storage dilemma for the 1,400-square-foot store, Todd said.

Claire DesHotels held high heels that were donated to the Women's Lunch Place but aren’t suitable for the group’s clients.

Rosie’s Place, the South End women’s homeless shelter, has learned to cope with the outpouring of coats it receives — and wants — each winter by renting a trailer for storage.

“This is a perennial cycle and you plan for it,” said executive director Sue Marsh. “Just like the holidays are when stores get busier, there’s a lot of donation activity around this time of year.”

Then there is the double-edged sword of clothing drives, in which individuals or businesses put out a wide call for apparel donations. Sometimes, unannounced, they then deliver that massive collection to a nonprofit — which, even if it need the items, may not be able to handle the quantity.

“Some wonderful volunteers once had a coat drive and brought in 100 coats all at once,” recalled Keeley. “It was certainly well-intentioned, but they may not realize they weren’t the only ones with that idea.”

The Pine Street Inn stopped accepting all but winter clothing about a decade ago because the sorting and cleaning became too time-consuming, according to shelter spokeswoman Barbara Trevisan. Yet general clothing donations occasionally still arrive, and once included a box of used underwear, which is “not something we’re going to reuse,” Trevisan said, “and we had to get rid of.”

Many organizations spell out their donation needs on their websites. Dress for Success says it tends to get plenty of smaller-size clothing but badly needs items size 12 and up. Rosie’s Place welcomes gift cards to grocery stores and retail chains such as Target. Women’s Lunch Place has a constant appetite for travel-size toiletries, including toothpaste and deodorant.

Some donors are eager to give, but on their own terms, without regard for what the nonprofit could most use.

“I’ve had companies say, ‘We want to do a suit drive,’ and I’ll tell them, ‘What we really need are shoes and purses,’ and they say, “But I really want to do a suit drive,’” recalled Todd. “In that case, what I am to say?”

Inevitably, nonprofits also end up receiving what can only be categorized as garbage: shoes with worn-out heels, sweaters covered in dog hair and pocked with cigarette holes, ripped and stained clothing just a step above rags.

“I think people imagine that someone who is poor or homeless will be happy to get anything,” Keeley said, “but we really try to give our women clothing that not only fits them, but is clean and presentable.”

When Dress for Success receives items it can’t use — and because its standards are high it generally keeps only 25 to 30 percent of what it receives — it typically gives them to organizations such as the Salvation Army and Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries. Those groups can accommodate much larger quantities of donations, and have networks of thrift stores that sell all types of items.

Another local beneficiary of unwanted donations is the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston, which has a fleet of trucks available to pick up clothing from people’s homes. It then sells those clothes to thrift stories for between about 30 and 50 cents a pound, a revenue stream that will earn the organization $350,000 this year, according to chief executive Deb Re.

Yet even these beneficiaries-of-last-resort send some donations straight to the trash.

“If you’re replacing your dishes because you want a new style or pattern,” they could make a wonderful charitable contribution, said Goodwill chief executive Joanne Hilferty. “But if your old ones are chipped or broken, then you should throw them away — even if Aunt Tillie gave them to you.”

Some nonprofits that accept clothing would, ideally, like donations to arrive dry-cleaned and on hangers, and appointments for drop-offs are preferred. Even then, they may not be able to accommodate all charitable gestures.

“It’s so tricky because we need the clothing to survive, so it’s very hard for us to turn people away or to seem ungrateful for what we’re receiving,” said Todd. “But there are times we’re literally full — like full-to-the-ceiling full — and we just can’t take more donations.”

Malynda Roberto, boutique inventory manager with Dress for Success, looked at donated items.

Summary: Nonprofits often become victims of holiday generosity this time of year, with a massive onslaught of donations flooding through their doors, including items they don’t need or want. The well-intentioned charitable gestures often end up being a burden, not a benefit.


By James Hibberd and Lanford Beard

01/13/2016 AT 01:10 PM EST

They'll be there for us!

NBC announced at a Television Critics Association panel on Wednesday that the long-awaited

reunion is really, truly happening.

, the entire cast will reunite for a two-hour special honoring the sitcom's director James Burrows, who helmed episodes of iconic shows including

and who recently shot his 1,000th episode of television.

NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt confirmed that

"I'm hoping all six will be in same room at same time," he told reporters, but, "I'm not sure we can logistically pull it off."

It would appear LeBlanc is certainly

Should be a good time! https://t.co/5mrWPJkD3R

The special will air Feb. 21 on NBC.

Summary: The special is a tribute to iconic sitcom director James Burrows


entered the campaign fray with a controversial swipe at

' single-payer health care plan, mom

is coming to her defense.

"First of all, you know, I adore my daughter and I know what she was saying," Clinton said on

Wednesday. "Because if you look at Sen. Sanders' proposals going back nine times in the Congress, that's exactly what he's proposed. To take everything we currently know as health care – Medicare, Medicaid, the CHIP Program, private insurance, now of the Affordable Care Act – and roll it together."

Clinton charged that Sanders' single-payer health care plan will "cost middle-class families and working families."

He should "tell the American people how much that's going to cost him," Clinton said. "Because every analysis that I'm aware of shows it's going to cost middle-class families and working families. And also explain, why after this historic achievement of

– we've been fighting to get some kind of affordable care since Harry Truman – now he wants to start all over again. I think those are legitimate questions."

Chelsea took aim at Sanders during a campaign event in New Hampshire Tuesday, saying the Vermont senator wants to "dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare and private insurance."

"I worry if we give Republicans Democratic permission to do that, we'll go back to an era – before we had the Affordable Care Act – that would strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance," Chelsea added.

Obama's former strategist David Axelrod was one of the first to criticize Chelsea's comments, telling

, "Bernie Sanders is proposing single-payer, universal healthcare. You can hardly say he is trying to take healthcare away from anyone or retreat from Obamacare, he's trying to exceed it. And so, it's not really an honest attack. And it's not something that they should have sent her out to do."

Sanders also said Chelsea's claims were "absolutely wrong." In an interview with CNN after the State of the Union address Tuesday night, the Democratic hopeful said of his Medicare For All Plan, "This is a plan that works in 50 states in this country, whether you have conservative Republicans or progressive Democrats. It's a national program." Sanders added that his proposal would save middle-class families thousands of dollars.

Sanders struck back at Clinton's campaign even harder on Wednesday, tweeting a photo of himself and Clinton together, which she had signed, "To Bernie Sanders with thanks for your commitment to real health care access for all Americansâ¦"

"To Bernie Sanders with thanks for your commitment to real health care access for all Americans..."-@HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/XMVPEx8fT8

Two new polls show Sanders is

in Iowa and leading her by a margin of 53 percent to 39 percent

The senator said he believes Clinton's recent attacks on him, and the fact that she's beginning to draw more contrasts between the two rivals, are "an indication that the Clinton campaign is getting very, very nervous."

Clinton laughed that idea off on

, saying, "Now we're in the sprint, and it is time to draw contrasts â¦ This is all in the context of my deep respect for him and his many years of service, but we have differences on guns and taxes and health care and I think people should have that information."

Summary: "I adore my daughter and I know what she was saying," Hillary Clinton said of Chelsea Clinton's attack on Bernie Sanders


Aliens sure have got it in for us in the YA-lit adaptation “The 5th Wave.” Shortly after their gargantuan ship appears in the sky, all “Independence Day” portentousness, they cut the world’s power with an electromagnetic pulse in their invasion’s first wave. Then it’s city-leveling quakes and tsunamis. Then a deadly pandemic. Then a body-snatching infiltration campaign. So we know that fresh hell number five is going to be bad, all right. Turns out it’s bad scripting.

Chloë Grace Moretz performs quite capably as Cassie, our rattled, resilient teen heroine, until she finds emotional connection amid the chaos, and the story’s dialogue and tone turn laughable. Moretz’s material isn’t necessarily the dopey stuff, but there’s plenty to which she’s forced to react, and it’s consistently distracting. Equally self-defeating: It keeps the movie from more fully articulating intriguing themes about humans being robbed of their humanity. It’s tough to stay focused on the provocative bits when soapy talk of teenage yearning and angst keep making us snicker.

The action opens midstream with Cassie already very much in survival mode, packing an assault rifle and facing down a dicey situation in a ransacked convenience store. Director J Blakeson then just as effectively cuts back to Cassie’s life before Armageddon, when she was just a typical Midwestern girl with typical preoccupations: hanging with girlfriends, checking in by curfew with her dad (Ron Livingston), nursing a crush on hottie classmate Ben (Nick Robinson, “Jurassic World”). So carefree, so alien-free.

Cassie lands in a refugee camp, where things don’t go well for her father, and she winds up separated from her traumatized little brother (Zackary Arthur) in a military evacuation. There’s some solid writing in Cassie’s somber inner musings about the questionable ways that circumstance is changing her. (You’ll forgive these voiceovers if they seem a tad eloquent for adolescent diary scribbling.) But oof, the exchanges she shares with Evan (Alex Roe), a hunky, enigmatic survivor who agrees to help her find her brother. And there’s not quite “Hunger Games” credibility to the evacuated kids’ reconditioning as junior warriors, led by Liev Schreiber’s serviceably flinty colonel but also by Maria Bello’s bewilderingly Kabukified propaganda officer.

Meanwhile, that ominous final phase of the title is delayed and delayed for an eventual Big Reveal — but it’s less a twist than a culmination of all the ham-handedness. You’ll be more than ready to wave goodbye.

Directed by J Blakeson. Written by Susannah Grant, Akiva Goldsman, and Jeff Pinkner, based on the novel by Rick Yancey. Starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Alex Roe, Liev Schreiber. Boston Common, Fenway, suburbs. 107 minutes. PG-13 (violence and destruction, some sci-fi thematic elements, language, brief teen partying).

Summary: As a rattled, resilient teen heroine facing an escalating alien invasion in “The 5th Wave,” Chloë Grace Moretz performs quite capably – until she finds emotional connection amid the chaos, and the story’s tone turns laughable.


A complaint dated May 6 on the 2014 Camaro noted "knee bumped key, engine turned off at 60 mph." There were no injuries or deaths reported in that incident.

"The Camaro ignition system meets all GM engineering specifications and is unrelated to the ignition system used in Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars included in the ignition switch recall," GM said in a statement.

Adler said GM discovered the issue in the Camaro as it was testing a wide range of its models after the widely publicized small-car ignition switch recall.

Read MoreRenting a car? GM recalls may affect you, too

Jeff Boyer, appointed to the new position of vice president for GM global safety earlier this year in response to the small-car ignition switch recall, said the Camaro recall was a quick action that is "the new norm for product safety at GM," according to the press statement.

Barra is to appear before Congress next Wednesday, her second trip to Congress on the small-car ignition switch recall.

GM said it will send letters to owners shortly advising them to visit dealers to get a new key made.

Summary: GM will recall 511,528 Chevrolet Camaro cars, mainly in North America, because a driver's knee can bump the key fob and cause a loss of power.


At least one person is dead and entire villages are feared destroyed after the worst tropical cyclone in Fiji's history.

Locals, tourists and aid workers are waking to scenes of utter destruction after a category five cyclone battered the South Pacific nation with wind gusts as strong as 325km/h and waves up to 12m high.

The Bureau of Meteorology released satellite imagery of the eye of the storm making landfall. (BOM)

"The scale of the destruction is absolutely massive and it's still far too early to tell just how many people's homes and livelihoods have been devastated by this storm," Australian Red Cross aid worker Susan Slattery said from Suva.

Yesterday afternoon the Fijian government declared a state of emergency and imposed a nationwide curfew.

New Zealand's Weatherwatch said the storm was the strongest on record to hit Fiji.

Winds had eased in most places as the storm passed this morning, although flooding is expected to remain and large parts of the country are without power.

The cyclone began to make landfall on the main island of Vitu Levu after the curfew took effect at 6pm local time, after earlier sinking boats and causing flash flooding on the nation's outer islands, including Vanua Levu.

About 750 evacuation centres opened and international flights were cancelled as the storm descended.

One resident shared this photo of queues of people lining up to stock up on supplies. (Twitter: @viti_kid)

Fiji's Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama urged residents to stay safe, and its Cabinet declared a state of natural disaster effective for the next 30 days.

"Tropical Cyclone Winston has begun its assault on Fiji. It is being described as one of the most powerful in recorded history - a Category 5 cyclone with winds approaching 300 kilometres an hour," Mr Bainimarama said in a statement.

"As a nation, we are facing an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We must stick together as a people and look after each other. Be alert and be prepared."

"Last flight out" - a Twitter user shared this photo, apparently of the last Air New Zealand flight to leave Fiji before the storm. (Twitter: @loteight)

About 1200 Australians are thought to be in Fiji, with Emma Kavsic and Matthew Ryan among them.

"Terrifying, pretty scary... didn't sleep last night at all," Ms Kavsic told 9NEWS.

She and Mr Ryan have moved hotel rooms three times in preparation for the cyclone, she said.

"Got our little bunker set up, here's our bed, emergency bag with passports, bags, food and some water," Ms Kavsic said.

Earlier this afternoon, the Fijian government posted details of the curfew on Facebook, stating that everyone must remain inside after 6pm.

Fiji locals boarding up shops in Nadi in preparation for the cyclone. (Twitter: @MKarstunen)

The curfew was a measure "designed to restrict movement and ensure the safety of all Fijians", the post read.

"The National Disaster Management has advised that a total public curfew will take effect across the country today from 6.00pm."

National Disaster Management Director Akapusi Tuifagalele told Fijilive that authorities were well-prepared.

"We are prepared to face a very strong cyclone and are urging people all over the country to be prepared as well," Mr Tuifagalele said.

"Our officers are stationed in every part of the country to assist our people and evacuation centres have been set up for people who may be at risk in their respective homes."

The UN humanitarian agency UNOCHA has said it is ready to support the nation's disaster management office if required.

Most public transport services in parts of Fiji stopped at 5pm local time, The Ministry of Rural & Maritime Development a National Disaster Management confirmed on Facebook.

Anyone seeking assistance can access emergency services or information on the following numbers:

National Disaster Management Office: 3319250

Virgin Australia announced earlier today all services in and out of Nadi had been cancelled, with an update not expected until Monday.

Affected travellers can change their travel dates or destination without incurring fees or receive a full travel credit.

The full statement from the Prime Minister is below:

Tropical Cyclone Winston has begun its assault on Fiji. It is being described as one of the most powerful in recorded history - a Category 5 cyclone with winds approaching 300 kilometres an hour. As a nation, we are facing an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We must stick together as a people and look after each other. Be alert and be prepared.

I urge you all, if you haven’t already done so, to finalise your own preparations to survive this terrible event. We cannot afford to be complacent. And I am especially concerned that some people in urban areas of the country in particular do not appear to have heeded the warnings about the seriousness of the threat we all face.

I want to assure the nation that the Government is thoroughly prepared to deal with this crisis. Our evacuation centres are fully operational. And if you have any doubts about the ability of your own home to withstand the onslaught, I urge you to seek shelter where you are most likely to be safe and our officials can assist you.

I ask parents to be especially careful of the young and the elderly. Do not allow anyone to go outside during the storm itself. The threat of being hit by flying debris is extremely high.

By now, you should have done all you can to secure your property. Make sure you have adequate food and water, flashlights, candles and lanterns in case the power supply is disrupted and a battery operated radio to keep abreast of news of Cyclone Winston’s progress.

Let us all pray for our nation, ourselves and each other and ask God’s blessing on our beloved Fiji.

Hon. JV Bainimarama Prime Minister

Summary: Flights are being cancelled in and out of Fiji, as Tropical Cyclone Winston has begun to lash the South Pacific nation.


Best known for his ice-bound Finlandia vodka bottle, Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala also worked in wood—and never more poetically than in his Bird side table (1952), which Poltrona Frau has now mass-produced for the first time. A laminated birch top rests on joined feet, and a black spine dips to the ground with quiet insouciance. $12,320; poltronafrau.com. ...

Best known for his ice-bound Finlandia vodka bottle, Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala also worked in wood—and never more poetically than in his Bird side table (1952), which Poltrona Frau has now mass-produced for the first time. A laminated birch top rests on joined feet, and a black spine dips to the ground with quiet insouciance. $12,320; poltronafrau.com.

Summary: Tapio Wirkkala’s table will be mass-produced for the first time by Poltrona Frau.


In an attempt to fix some of the problems that caused the housing bubble and financial crisis, banking regulators are coming up with new mortgage lending rules that will address what lower-risk quality mortgages should look like. The goal is to let lenders sell so-called “qualified residential mortgages” to investors without having to retain the risks.

The question the Treasury Department must now answer is what makes a qualified mortgage? Regulators including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are pushing for a 20% down payment on such loans. While the big banks like Bank of America BAC and JP Morgan Chase JPM have not formally weighed in, their lobbyists at American Bankers Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association say that requirement is far too high and would price many buyers out of the housing market.

The debate will have broad implications for how homebuyers finance their mortgages. During the housing boom, many Americans took out home loans with little to no money down. When prices fell steeply following their mid-2006 peak, many borrowers didn’t have enough equity to cushion the blow, leading to record foreclosures nationwide. Meanwhile, the big banks and investors holding these risky loans suffered huge losses.

Joseph Pigg, vice president and senior council of the ABA, says the 20% proposal is much too narrow and he worries it could further hamper demand for homes, especially when the fragile real estate market is still recovering. And while a heftier down payment generally reduces the risks of a loan, he says, other factors such as income, credit score, and the property’s location determine the quality of a loan.

But perhaps it’s time to question whether homeownership should even be part of the American Dream. Tighter mortgage lending rules could return the housing market to the way it was in the 1970s, when homeownership was much lower and virtually all homebuyers put down at least 20% of the value of the house. Standards began changing around the 1980s as home prices appreciated significantly and mortgage financing became more sophisticated.

It’s easy to see why bankers would gripe about the 20% minimum. Smaller loans translate into smaller profits, and a smaller market for securitized mortgages. And lenders can fully securitize only qualified mortgages — any loans made without the designated down payment can still be sold, but the lenders would have to retain 5% of their value on their books.

Wells Fargo WFC is the one exception among the banks on this rule — it’s arguing for a 30% down payment for qualified mortgages. Wells executives call it skin in the game, but smaller lenders are calling it an unfair competitive advantage — as one of the largest lenders, Wells would be able to tolerate more risk on its balance sheet from the many borrowers who won’t be able to afford such a down payment.

Certainly a 20% down payment — much less a 30% one — isn’t easy for many homebuyers, especially as unemployment stays unnervingly high. The average loan-to-value ratio for January 2011 was 73%, which means borrowers on average put 27% down, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But while home sales have started to tick up slightly, demand is mostly coming from cash-rich investors who are scooping up foreclosed properties at bargain prices, not from first-time buyers. Economist Paul Dales of Capital Economics recently pointed out that more than two-thirds of existing home sales since last summer were made to cash buyers or investors, while a mere 6% were sold to first-time homebuyers.

Maybe the answer isn’t to give borrowers more leeway, but less. Given all we’ve learned in the years following the housing crash, perhaps a little time travel back to the 1970s might not be so bad. During the boom years, many lenders passed on their mortgages, including all of the risk, to speculative investors. That proved disastrous, leading to a banking crisis and a housing bubble that all too quickly went bust.

It will be painful to endure a longer, deeper housing crisis that could come from tighter standards. But do we want to relive the nightmare that got us here?

Summary: Most banks want to securitize loans made to borrowers buying homes with little money down. Did we learn nothing from the financial crisis?


To entice more workers, farmers have increased wages along with paying for meals and giving bonuses for those workers who stay a whole season. Traditionally on the lower pay scale, real average hourly earnings of nonsupervisory farm laborers has been between $10.50 and $10.80 since 2007 and stood at $10.80 in 2012, according to the U.S Department of Agriculture.

But the actual wages can vary from farm to farm, and there are no benefits or guarantee of work, as weather conditions, such as California's devastating drought, can leave fields fallow and no crop to harvest. An estimated that 800,000 acres of the Golden State's farm land will be idle this year, creating some $2.7 billion in crop losses.

Any increase in worker pay can be a financial burden on farmers, said John Kempf, CEO of Advancing ECO-Agriculture, a crop nutrition consulting company.

"As farm income has increased, so have prices for fertilizer and machinery necessary for farming," said Kempf, who has his own farm in Ohio. "That really goes against the idea that farmers, and especially smaller ones, are making enough money. They're keeping very little of what they make."

Experts say consumers may feel the pinch of higher prices from increased labor costs and a lack of harvested crops, but they will keep buying what they need.

Read MoreMeet the '4%': Small number of farms dominates US

Whatever lure there is from better pay may not be enough to bring in more farm workers, said Tim Richards, professor of agribusiness at Arizona State University.

"It's back-breaking work for low pay," he said. "When a lot of agriculture jobs were eliminated during the last recession, a lot of people moved on to construction and other jobs that paid more and they're not coming back."

Taylor said the worker shortage might be eased if farmers used their workers more efficiently and cooperated in how they use their labor. That could translate into more job security by having workers contracted on several farms during harvest season instead of farms individually hiring workers on their own, experts say.

To help offset the labor shortage, many farms, especially larger ones, have turned to technology. That includes using special picking machines and other robotics to harvest crops like delicate fruits and vegetables.

"New technology can help improve worker productivity and cut down costs on the labor intensive crops," said Taylor. But he added that high technology might not be useful for every crop, like labor intensive berries.

Summary: Farmers will face a shortage of workers come harvest time. And the solution may not be as simple as immigration reform.


Design patents on Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service website (credit: PocketLint)

The memo adds that the device is linked to a smartphone and displays alerts for information running on the phone, according to the WSJ. It adds that the device features a lens that is either transparent or translucent.

Technology companies such as Samsung file a large number of patents for products in development every year. However, very few of them make it into the marketplace.

A Samsung device would be following hot on the heels of the Google Glass -- a product that is still in its prototype stage but has already received widespread attention.

Google Glass is a wearable computer with a head-mounted display that lets users search the web, use apps and respond to spoken instructions. However, its most controversial feature is its ability to record video, an issue that has raised privacy concerns. A consumer version of Google Glass isn't expected to hit the shelves until early next year.

(Read more: Samsung keeps it simple to overtake Apple)

If Samsung's new patent turns into a consumer product, it will be the second wearable product that the company has produced. In early September, Samsung's first smartwatch was released, but the Galaxy Gear has since received disappointing reviews from technology analysts.

Despite the rocky start, wearable technology could grab vital revenue in the future as technology firms look to diversify away from a maturing smartphones.

Summary: Samsung could be readying itself to release a product in direct competition to Google's Glass device, according to a patent application posted in October.


The former NBA star hopes to enter fashion’s (really) big leagues.

What do most professional basketball players do after retiring?

“A lot of guys get on the golf course,” says Kevin Willis, whose 23 years in the NBA included a 2003 championship with the San Antonio Spurs. “A lot try to get into some type of business venture, but when you don’t really have the experience, or you’re not knowledgeable, it doesn’t go well.” That’s an understatement. (Ask Scottie Pippen or Latrell Sprewell, both of whom blew their basketball bucks post-retirement.)

Yet Willis, 49, a still-muscular 7-footer, made the transition so smoothly it was almost as though the NBA was merely a long, lucrative interlude in the life of his business. In a way, it was. He’d known since 1988, when he and Michigan State classmate Ralph Walker opened their first Willis & Walker big and tall clothing store in Atlanta, that he would focus on fashion once he left basketball. Willis built the business even as he prospered in the league, playing an amazing 21 seasons before leaving at 45, in 2007. During his tenure, he says, “There wasn’t a day when I wasn’t on the phone at least once, or doing something physically, that pertained to my business.”

Originally Willis & Walker focused on custom suits, priced around $1,200. They then expanded into jeans, with great success: NBA players would come in when their team was in Atlanta and buy as many as eight pairs at just under $200 a pop. Willis & Walker clothing has been sold in Rochester Big & Tall, which has 27 U.S. stores, and in Stanley Korshak, a Dallas department store. It almost made it to Nordstrom JWN , but Willis shot an air ball; his factory put in five-inch zippers on all the jeans rather than the seven inches he favors.

Now, however, Willis & Walker is trying to become a global lifestyle brand, thanks to a new equity partnership with Marcraft Apparel Group, which also licenses Tommy Hilfiger and Marc Ecko. Marcraft will take over manufacturing and help build connections with retailers. “The reason Kevin appealed to us wasn’t because he’s famous or played in the NBA,” says Gary Brody, co-president of Marcraft, “but because he’s a really smart designer.” Pre-Marcraft, the store brought in some $1 million in sales. Now Willis thinks the group can become a mainstream brand. Already, Willis & Walker has one new deal in the can with Men’s Wearhouse MW .

It won’t be easy. After all, if a rich athlete wants a suit, why would he choose a Willis & Walker over an Ermenegildo Zegna? Brody contends it’s because Willis knows customers’ needs better; Willis adds that taller-size suits by other labels are boxy and hang like a curtain.

In September, Willis presented the first-ever Willis & Walker runway show during New York’s Fashion Week. Models trotted out in slim-fitting suits and Japanese denim with suede jackets. Guests included NBA alum Charles Oakley (who Willis estimates owns more than 30 Willis & Walker suits) and actor Quinton Aaron, who starred in The Blind Side. Can Willis & Walker become the go-to brand not just for NBA stars but all big men? Says Catherine Moellering, head of trend-forecasting firm Tobe: “These are consumers who have been marginalized. So the potential is huge.” Huge indeed.

This article is from the November 7, 2011 issue of Fortune.

Summary: The former NBA star hopes to enter fashion’s (really) big leagues. What do most professional basketball players do after retiring? "A lot of guys get on the golf course," says Kevin Willis, whose 23 years in the NBA included a 2003 championship with the San Antonio Spurs. "A lot try to get into some type of…


Walmart wmt said it will build a dairy processing plant in Indiana to supply private-label milk to about 600 stores, curtailing business with some suppliers in the retailer’s sole foray into food processing in the United States.

The move – announced by Wal-Mart on Friday but not widely reported by media until Tuesday – helped spark a 12% slide in shares of Dean Foods df , one of the suppliers of milk to the affected stores.

In a securities filing on Tuesday, Dean Foods said the change by Wal-Mart could lead to the loss of 100 million gallons of “very low-margin private-label fluid milk volume” from late 2017. It said it did not expect any impact on the supply of its own national brands and would not be material on its results.

Wal-Mart confirmed that Dean Foods would continue to supply milk for its Great Value and Member’s Mark private label white and chocolate milk to other Walmart supermarkets and Sam’s Club membership-based wholesale stores. The retailing giant is the largest grocer in the U.S. with more than 5,000 locations.

The move comes with Wal-Mart’s profits weighed down by costs to increase wages and invest in its e-commerce operations. The retailer is also facing tough competition from Kroger and other national and regional grocery chains and has recently ratcheted up pressure on suppliers to help it lower costs.

“This is a smart investment that enables us to aggressively manage costs, keep prices low for our customers and remain competitive with the majority of major grocery chains already bottling their own milk,” said spokesman John Forrest Ales.

Wal-Mart said it would build a more than 250,000 square foot milk processing plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, creating more than 200 jobs. Due to come on-line in the summer of 2017, the plant will supply milk to stores in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and northern Kentucky, the company said.

Eliminating intermediary suppliers would likely give Wal-Mart greater control over input costs and more closely align it with other grocery chains like Kroger and Texas-based H-E-B that have already set up their own milk processing plants.

The shift also dovetails with Wal-Mart’s strategy of boosting its private brand offerings as a way to better compete on price, although the company said it did not have any plans for additional milk or food processing plants.

Summary: Walmart spoiled its day.


02/06/2007 AT 08:10 AM EST

Anne Hathaway says she suffered from anxiety and depression in her teens, but that she rejected medication and instead worked through her troubles.

"I said to Mom the other day, 'Do you remember that girl? She has now gone, gone to sleep. She has said her piece and she is gone,' " Hathaway, 24, tells Britain's

magazine. "But then I thought, 'I so remember her, only she is no longer part of me.' "

She continues, "I am sorry she was hurting for so long. It's all so negatively narcissistic to be so consumed with self."

The actress is the latest celebrity to discuss depression recently, joining

Next up, Hathaway will star as Jane Austen in the movie

Why play the legendary author? Because of one of her idols, Emma Thompson. "I was having doubts," she says. "But then I met Emma, who asked me what I was doing. I couldn't tell her I was

going to play Jane Austen. So I just did it."

Hathaway, who's been dating real-estate developer Raffaello Follieri, 27, for three years, lives in New York City – because she can't live in Los Angeles. "I am too pale and I don't drive," she says.

Summary: As a teen, the Devil Wears Prada star was "hurting for so long"


06/03/2016 AT 02:35 PM EDT

was arrested for public intoxication in Georgia on Thursday, PEOPLE confirms.

Dekalb County police arrested Farrah Franklin outside of a Planet Fitness gym for public intoxication and possession of marijuana at around 3 a.m., a Dekalb County Sheriff's Office spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

"She was at the gym and there was an argument with another individual," the spokesperson says.

Officers soon arrived and asked Franklin how much alcohol she drank, the spokesperson says the singer allegedly replied, "Not enough."

Police also found weed in the woman's purse, the spokesperson adds.

Franklin, 35, was held for a few hours before being released.

From left: Farrah Franklin, Kelly Rowland, Beyonce, Michelle Williams

in South Carolina for disorderly conduct.

Franklin was a member of the

that Franklin was fired after she missed a promotional trip to Australia.

"The bottom line is that Farrah didn't show up for work," Knowles said. "I just don't think she knew what she was getting into when she joined the group."

Summary: When asked how much alcohol she had consumed, Farrah Franklin allegedly answered, "not enough"


The Honest Company pledges to provide the best and safest products, a claim that’s attracted devoted customers and a nearly $1.7 billion private valuation. However, recent tests have found that it’s laundry detergent isn’t as squeaky clean as it claims.

Two independent lab tests commissioned by the Wall Street Journal found that the brand’s laundry detergent contained sodium lauryl sulfate, or SLS as it’s commonly called. In fact, one of the labs found that the concentration of SLS was nearly equal to that found in Tide, the popular detergent made by Proctor & Gamble. Honest Company has said that its products are “Honestly free” of potentially dangerous chemicals, including SLS which the company lists first in its compilation of ingredients it avoids.

SLS can be found in hundreds of consumer products, from Colgate toothpaste to Pantene shampoo and Method hand wash. The chemical, which is what creates a foamy lather, has garnered an overall low hazard label by the Environmental Working Group, a non-partisan group that researches chemicals in consumer products, and generally can cause skin irritation and rashes in high concentrations. However, many people seek to avoid the chemical for its possible, though not scientifically proven, links to endocrine disruption and cancer.

The Honest Company has said that its products are SLS-free, and they instead use sodium coco sulfate (SCS), which they say is a “gentler alternative always derived from coconut.” The company told the WSJ that its own lab findings found no SLS in its products and has confirmation from its partners and suppliers that there’s zero SLS content in its products.

Fortune reached out for comment and an Honest Company spokeswoman said she would be in touch.

David Andrews, a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group, told the publication that in order to produce the SCS used in the Honest Company detergent, it would require some level of SLS in it. Chemicals manufacturer Stepan echoed that statement, saying that SCS does contain SLS.

Your 5 Favorite ‘Healthy’ Brands May Not Be So Healthy

The Honest Company has since updated its website to say that its products are “Honestly made without” its list of maligned ingredients, a change from previous wording that proclaimed its “Honestly Free Guarantee,” saying its products were “free” of the proclaimed ingredients, including SLS, reported the WSJ.

This wouldn’t be the first time actress Jessica Alba’s company has been accused of dishonest labeling. The company is facing a lawsuit filed last month that alleges that the company’s labeling is inaccurate, saying that the Honest Co. “falsely” and “deceptively” labeled its products natural or other similar terms, like “plant-based,” when they actually contained synthetic ingredients.

Summary: According to two recent lab tests


FRESNO, Calif., March 22— The dedication that flashes on the screen at the end of Francis Coppola's new movie reads: ''The film 'The Outsiders' is dedicated to the people who first suggested that it be made - librarian Jo Ellen Misakian and the students of The Lone Star School in Fresno, California.''

Making a movie nowadays is a $10 million gamble. Movies get made when tax-shelter financing ''falls into place,'' or some agent packages the ''box-office insurance'' of Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn or Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, or a studio wants to take another chance on a director whose last picture did well enough at the box office.

Movies get made because they are sequels to successful movies or because horror has been selling tickets, and one might as well jump in before the slice-and-dice cycle is over. Movies emphatically do not get made because a group of seventh and eighth graders from a country school sends a letter to a director asking him to please make a movie from their favorite book.

In this case, the students from the Lone Star School sent their letter to the wrong address.

The letter, dated March 21, 1980, was sent to the corporate headquarters of Paramount Pictures, a studio for which Mr. Coppola made the ''Godfather'' movies six years earlier. What happened afterward is a fairy tale that might itself have made one of the heartwarming movies Hollywood used to churn out in an innocent and less expensive era 50 years ago.

The final scene in the fairy tale came last week when a Warner Bros. corporate jet touched down here to bring the finished movie of and five of its stars to the school where it all started. Aboard the plane were Leif Garrett, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Darren Dalton and C. Thomas Howell. The film's best-known actor, Matt Dillon, would join them later at a preview for the 104 Lone Star students who wrote to Mr. Coppola in 1980. ''It was like writing to Santa Claus,'' Lucy Fisher, a Warner Bros. production vice president, said. On Friday, ''The Outsiders,'' a $10 million movie, will open in 850 theaters.

''The Outsiders,'' - which is about a group of unwanted, switchblade-carrying, long-haired kids from the wrong side of the tracks, permanent outsiders - is a dramatic version of the alienation many teen-agers experience. Susie Hinton wrote the novel when she was 15 years old, and it was published in 1967 when she was 17. It quickly became a staple in junior high school libraries across the country.

''The teen-age point of view is usually interpreted by an adult,'' said Mr. Swayze, who plays the oldest brother of the boy on whom the film focuses. ''Susie Hinton's insights were phenomenal about the pain teen-agers go through,'' he said. Of the five actors on the Warner plane, Mr. Howell - a 16-year-old who enacts the sensitive hero, Ponyboy, in ''The Outsiders'' -did not read the book in junior high school.

The saga of how ''The Outsiders'' became a movie actually began in 1972 when Jo Ellen Misakian, a parent and newly hired librarian aide at the Lone Star School, passed the book to her 13-year-old son. ''I had been so frustrated because the kids, the boys especially, didn't read,'' she said. ''Somehow, 'The Outsiders' caught on.''

Mrs. Misakian is not quite sure when she decided that ''The Outsiders'' should become a movie. But she does remember how unsure she felt when she called a columnist on the local newspaper, The Fresno Bee, and asked who would be most amenable to turning the novel into a movie. ''I was so relieved because he didn't laugh,'' said Mrs. Misakian.

The columnist suggested she write to Lloyd Shearer, the movie editor of Parade magazine. Mr. Shearer, in turn, suggested she write to ''the author of the book.'' She did, but Miss Hinton did not answer.

''When there was no answer from the author, I wondered what to do with the petition the kids had signed,'' said Mrs. Misakian. ''I picked up Newsweek magazine and read a review of 'The Black Stallion.' I got Mr. Coppola's address from the reference section of the Fresno County Library. I told him about our school with 324 children from kindergarten through the eighth grade. I enclosed a copy of the paperback because I knew he wouldn't go out and buy it.''

If Mrs. Misakian's letter had been sent to the right address, it might never have reached Mr. Coppola. Letter Read in New York

''We get tons of that kind of mail,'' said Fred Roos, producer of most of Mr. Coppola's films for the last decade. ''It was lucky for the kids that we were in New York when it was sent over. Francis doesn't get much mail in New York, so he read the letter.''

Mr. Roos remembered Mr. Coppola's reaction as: ''Look at that cute letter. I bet kids have a good idea of what should be a movie. Check it out, Fred, if you want to.''

For a very specific reason, Mr. Roos had no intention of checking it out. ''The jacket was so tacky. It looked like the book was privately printed by some religious organization. I carried it around with me for weeks, but I didn't open it. One day I found myself on an airplane, and I was tired of carrying it around. I said to myself that I'd give it 10 pages. I ended up reading it cover to cover and I agreed with the kids. I thought it was a movie.''


Looking to get in shape for summer? Fitness may be its own reward, but these seven apps can sweeten the deal by prodding, encouraging and even paying users to roll off of that couch and unleash their inner gym bunnies — or just move a bit more. No pressure.

Human can track a whole range of movements, in and out of doors, whether the user is pounding the pavement or dancing alone in front of the mirror. Any activity short of shifting about in a chair counts toward a daily goal of 30 minutes in motion (busybodies can revise their goal upwards to 60 or 90 minutes). On those occasional inert days, the app automatically prods the user to get moving. It’s a great starter app for anyone who wants to get active, but doesn’t want to commit to a single, repetitive fitness routine.

It pays to workout with Gympact, literally. A community of users bet $5 to $10 that they’ll stick to their weekly exercise routine. Those who break their pact automatically lose money, which is disbursed to those who uphold their end of the bargain. The app tracks progress toward your weekly goals using the phone’s motion sensor for movement and GPS for gym visits. With payouts ranging from $0.30 to $5, the carrot doesn’t quite match the stick. Then again, it’s one of the only workout apps to brandish a carrot and a stick in the first place.

Fitocracy adds a competitive twist to the workout routine, awarding points for each recorded workout, badges for significant milestones and bragging rights on a social network of more than one million users (including Arnold Schwarzenegger). If points, public glory and a loose affiliation with the Terminator aren’t motivation enough, users can also hire a personal trainer for coaching and nutritional advice at $1 a day.

Couch to 5K may sound like an ambitious goal for anyone on the couch-end of the spectrum, but this app’s training regimen starts easy and gradually ratchets up the run time from one training session to the next. Audio cues from a personal trainer prompt the user to push just a little bit longer than the previous session. Stick to the program, and novice runners can complete a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) circuit within nine weeks.

RockMyRun arranges music mixes by tempo, so that the beat falls roughly in line with your running pace, whether its an easy jog (120 beats per minute) or a hard run (150 beats per minute). Android users can manually change the tempo, but iPhone users can take advantage of the latest feature: tempos that automatically sync up to footfalls or heartbeats.

Johnson & Johnson 7 Minute Workout

Ever since a groundbreaking fitness study found that 7 minutes of exercise could yield impressive results, there has been a veritable explosion of 7-minute workout apps. Johnson & Johnson whipped up the cleanest looking interface. Reading the instructions is the easy part — actually following through on the high-intensity workout, not so much. On the upside, the end is always seven minutes in sight.

The absolute last refuge for texting addicts, Type n Walk uses the smartphone camera to display the pavement immediately in front of you in real-time. Compose texts or emails against this moving backdrop. “This combined with your peripheral vision is just enough visual information to help you avoid obstacles,” the app makers say. Test their claim at your own risk.

Read next: The 10 Essential Rules of Gym Etiquette

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Summary: There's an app out there to help you get moving


In August 1941, a 21-year-old Isaac Asimov had a meeting scheduled with John Campbell, editor of the pulp science fiction magazine Astounding. Asimov had sold five stories and was meant to pitch another that afternoon. He had no idea. “I opened a book at random and set up a free association,” Asimov wrote later. It was a book of Gilbert and Sullivan plays. Somehow, Asimov got from there to wanting to write Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in space. The result was one of science fiction’s greatest space operas. Asimov also introduced the fictional science of psychohistory–a method of predicting mankind’s future by studying the psychology of the masses. Though it might sound far-fetched, Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents pursues a similar inquiry.

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Summary: The imagined shape of things to come.


s girlfriend put on a show at LAX yesterday ... FLASHING her man (and the rest of the arrivals) ... by throwing open her robe ... and there wasn't much underneath.

Keelan was doing charity work in the Philippines ... so his GF

decided to give him a hero’s welcome at the gate ... and flashed some sexy red lingerie for the entire crowd to soak in.

Keelan looked pretty shocked ... at one point crashing his luggage cart into the exit door ... but Sukie clearly wasn’t shy ... telling our photog she was just “Unleashing the dragon.”

Summary: Pro skater Keelan Dadd’s girlfriend put on a show at LAX yesterday ... FLASHING her man (and the rest of the arrivals) ... by throwing open her robe…


Clayton K. Yeutter, the United States Trade Representative, once boasted at a State Department lunch about the bargain he had found last May in a tailor's shop in Seoul, South Korea. The two suits he bought there cost only $150 each, he said, adding, ''They would be $500 apiece here.''

Anyone who has shopped for a quality men's suit recently knows how difficult it would be to pass up such a bargain, even if, like Yeutter, his job was to limit textile imports. A man's suit from a highly respected maker, such as Oxxford or Hickey Freeman, frequently costs over $500, a price that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Even the cost-conscious Consumer Reports magazine, which reviewed the quality of 29 men's suits in its August 1986 issue, gave its highest rating to a $710 Oxxford Exmoor N2 suit and ranked second a $715 Giorgio Armani suit. The ''best buy'' was a worsted wool Daks Tyne suit costing $300, nearly double the price of the best suit a man could buy at Brooks Brothers in 1965.

Why pay these prices? In fact, most men don't: As of 1984, more than 80 percent of the suits sold annually in the $4 billion American suit business had a retail price of less than $200. In this price range, men's suits have remained a bargain. The Consumer Price Index, which has recorded the cost of men's tailored clothing since 1977, shows that the annual average price of suits, sport coats and jackets has increased by about 21 percent in this period, as opposed to an overall annual average increase in the Consumer Price Index of 68 percent.

''You take a chance when you go below $200,'' said Endre Lukacs, one of the textile experts for Consumer's Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports. At that price, he said, the interfacing and padding of the suit are far inferior, its fabric is not as likely to be high-quality all-wool, it is less likely to retain its appearance and it will not have the soft, supple feel of more expensive clothes.

But consumers willing to pay as much as $1,500 for a Giorgio Armani suit or $850 for an Oxxford often wonder what they are paying for.

Certainly not improved quality, says Clifford Grodd, the energetic president of Paul Stuart, one of the more expensive men's-wear stores in New York City. ''Nobody will say it, but people are not getting as much bang for the buck as they did 20 years ago,'' he said recently, sitting in his cluttered Madison Avenue office with his chocolate Labrador retriever, Amos, at his feet. ''We can give them the same quality, but the cost has risen disproportionately. I sell Southwick suits for $430 today that 20 years ago, I sold for $125.''

Alan Flusser, the clothing designer who recently opened his own shop on 52d Street in New York City, believes that quality has actually declined. ''There's no question that the quality of clothes has not increased over the last 20 years; it's decreased,'' he said.

Although some feel that suit quality does not justify high retail prices, men's-wear manufacturers point out that their own costs have increased. The high cost of labor and of fabric, they say, are the two most significant factors in rising suit prices, but trade restrictions, construction costs, store markup and the emphasis on prestigious labels and designers also play a role.

First, suits are the most labor-intensive product in the apparel industry. The average wage paid to the men and women who make men's tailored clothing has increased from $2.16 an hour in 1965 to $6.65 an hour in 1985, according to Ronald Blackwell, an economist with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. He said, however, that the increase in United States wages has not kept pace with the country's rise in the cost of living, and would not explain high clothing prices. Furthermore, said Blackwell, approximately 25 percent of the men's and boys' suits sold in the United States are manufactured overseas. The proportion of wool suits made abroad is even higher: 40 percent, according to Carl H. Priestland, chief economist for the American Apparel Manufacturers Association in Arlington, Va. (These suits include some blends. The U.S. Commerce Department classifies a wool/synthetic suit as wool if more than half the cost of the fabric comes from wool.) These suits are imported primarily from Italy and South Korea, where wages are lower. In South Korea, for example, apparel workers were paid the equivalent of approximately 98 cents an hour in 1986. Clothing manufacturers, however, contend that many in the higher end of the market still make suits domestically and that the cost of overseas production is not invariably cheaper.

They also emphasize the high price of fabric, which, they say, accounts for one-quarter to one-third of the wholesale cost of a good, hand-tailored suit. Whereas manufacturers who offer less-costly styles may use only 3.4 yards for a two-piece suit, the Hickey Freeman Company, for example, uses 4.2 yards for one of its patterned styles. Most of the fabric used to make such fine men's suits in the United States is also woven overseas, particularly in England and Italy. William Flink, a vice president of the Hickey Freeman Company, believes that new trade restrictions, the declining value of the dollar and increasing inflation rates in the fabric-manufacturing countries have pushed up the price of the goods.

Summary: LEAD: Clayton K. Yeutter, the United States Trade Representative, once boasted at a State Department lunch about the bargain he had found last May in a tailor's shop in Seoul, South Korea. The two suits he bought there cost only $150 each, he said, adding, ''They would be $500 apiece here.''


Ford Motor f Chief Executive Mark Fields is joining IBM’s ibm board of directors as the No. 2 U.S. automaker explores alternative mobility options beyond selling cars and trucks.

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM said on Tuesday that Fields, 55, was elected to join the board starting March 1.

“Mark led the highly successful transformation of his company in a competitive industry where technology has driven innovation. He is leading Ford into a future where cars are not only vehicles, but increasingly becoming mobile technology platforms,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Under Fields, Ford has looked at alternatives to traditional car ownership, including mergers and acquisitions and partnerships.

Ford and other automakers are increasingly focused on self-driving cars and the potential disruptive influence autonomous cars may have on future car ownership. They face potential threats from new competitors from Silicon Valley. Ford is exploring alternatives like car-sharing and other options to meet future transportation needs.

Ford spokesman Mike Moran said “IBM is a global company with a rich history of innovation and disrupting its business model to deliver results – which is very complementary to what we are doing at Ford. Mark will bring unique insights to IBM, and his experience and new relationships serving on the IBM board will bring equal benefits back to Ford.”

Fields briefly worked at IBM in sales and marketing after graduating from Rutgers and before attending Harvard Business School.

Fields told Reuters earlier this month the automaker is exploring various options to boost its move into car-sharing, self-driving technology and services built on staying connected with customers during the 900 or so hours a year they are behind the wheel.

The company has repeatedly declined to comment on reports that Ford is pursuing an alliance with Internet leader Alphabet Inc’s Google to collaborate on development of self-driving cars. Reuters reported in December that the companies have held talks and Fields met with Google co-founder Sergey Brin that same month to discuss the status of the talks.

Ford is pursuing its own efforts to develop autonomous driving technology, and said earlier this month it would triple the size of its self-driving car test fleet to 30 vehicles.

Ford’s previous CEO, Alan Mulally has been a director at Google since 2014.

IBM also said two longtime board members, Alain J.P. Belda and William R. Brody, are retiring.

Summary: As it explores options beyond selling cars and trucks


CUPERTINO, Calif.— JOHN SCULLEY, chief executive of Apple Computer Inc., traveled the world last year to preach about products he predicted would set his company apart from the rest of its industry.

The star of his show was a palm-sized computer that would read handwritten notes jotted on its screen with a special pen, convert them to text, store them for future use, even transmit them wirelessly to other computers. More than that, the computer would anticipate its master's needs like a secretary -- for example, automatically entering into the machine's electronic datebook an appointment time transmitted from someone else. Dubbed the Newton, the new device would arrive, he promised, not in the 21st century but well in time for a place under the Christmas tree in a year or two.

To those who heard Mr. Sculley and watched demonstrations of the Newton, it seemed it was almost ready to ship.

The truth was very different. While Mr. Sculley was proclaiming an era of "Newton Intelligence," the team designing the computer was floundering. For one thing, the computer language on which the Newton was supposed to be based was nowhere near ready; even as Mr. Sculley was touting the Newton, its design team was throwing out four years of Apple research and starting from scratch using another language.

The completion of the Newton, originally scheduled for April 1992, would ultimately be postponed until August 1993. And the computer would be far less ambitious than the one Mr. Sculley was describing.

The pressure to finish, exhilarating at first, eventually overwhelmed some of the young designers. After 18-hour days, some engineers went home and cried. Some quit. One had a breakdown and ended up in jail. One took a pistol and killed himself.

Suddenly people at Apple were calling the team a zombie-like cult. "What's going on over there?" they would ask.

Then, when all seemed lost last December, a half-dozen programmers, led by a software engineer named Steven Capps, worked heroically while their teammates took a Christmas break to turn the project around.

For all their efforts, though, the Newton has so far come up short. It has been ridiculed for its mistakes in translating handwriting and called unworthy of its price, $699 and up. Apple has sold little more than 50,000 Newtons in the four months since the computer hit the market; by contrast, the company's Macintosh computer sold 70,000 machines in just its first three months a decade ago, even though it cost three times what the Newton does. The Perils of Innovation

What happened? Why has the Newton been a disappointment? The reasons are by no means unique to this product and offer a study in the pitfalls awaiting companies rushing to define a new generation of a product.

Perhaps the main problem was a chief executive who didn't really understand the technology he was championing or how much time it would take to make it work, and who in spite of his efforts to sell himself as a technology visionary never really felt comfortable with the engineers who could have set him straight. As a result, Mr. Sculley promised the computer buyer too much too soon. Furthermore, by trumpeting his coming product so aggressively, he actually encouraged others to work on competing products; some of these competitors were Apple engineers who had left after being alienated.

The story of the creation of the Newton is also a tale of the dedication, personal sacrifice, rivalries and compromise that occur before a radically new product finally makes it to market.

The Newton was born in 1987 of the frustrations of Steve Sakomen, an engineer who saw a future beyond the personal computer as it was then known. It was a future in which people no longer needed a keyboard or a mouse but rather just a pen-like stylus to operate computers. Mr. Sakomen went to Jean-Louis Gassee, who ran Apple's research and development.

The two decided that Mr. Sakomen would lead a small group -- free of Apple's corporate culture -- in rethinking the future of computing. He set up shop in a warehouse on the edge of Apple's campus here, about 50 miles south of San Francisco.

One of Mr. Sakomen's early hires was Mr. Capps. At 38, he is the consummate computer hacker, a whiz at writing elegantly simple programs who also had helped design a key part of the Macintosh software.

Mr. Capps is perpetually dressed in T-shirts, baggy shorts and a pair of checkered slippers. Like most hackers, he lived on the other side of the clock during many months of the Newton project. A normal workday would begin around 3 or 4 in the afternoon and last until first light. This owlish existence allowed him to work free of common interruptions.

Partly because the Newton team was under Mr. Gassee early on, it never achieved the close relationship with Mr. Sculley that Steve Jobs had with the Macintosh programmers when he led Apple. Communications Gaps A Chief Executive Who Didn't Relate

Mr. Sculley, who is 55, made an effort to get closer to the long-haired, unshaven programmers and computer designers who are Apple's heart and soul. But at first his visits were rare and, to the Newton team, he seemed aloof and uncomfortable. Never mind that Mr. Sculley was later to anoint himself chief technology officer at Apple. His background was not in technology. He had come to Apple in 1983 from Pepsico, where he was known as a marketing wizard. To the Newton team members, he never felt like one of them.


06/21/2016 AT 08:00 PM EDT

Summer Sixteen Tour will have to see the rapper from the audience, and the audience only.

An industry source tells PEOPLE that Drake has canceled all of his fan VIP packages for the tour, which kicks off on July 20 in Austin.

The packages sold for up to $1000, according to the source, with some including a photo opportunity. All purchasers have been informed that the sessions are now canceled due to "scheduling issues" and are in the process of being refunded.

Advertised online VIP packages from

promise a seat in the first five rows and a variety of merchandise, as well as meet and greets with Future, who is touring with Drake.

Drake is just the latest celebrity to

from the fan one-on-one sessions, with

starting the trend earlier this year. Bieber announced in March that the meet and greets "drained" him and made him "unhappy."

The news also follows the

, who was shot by a crazed fan as she signed autographs at an Orlando venue following a performance.

was released in April, and features 20 songs, including hit single "One Dance."

A rep for Drake had no comment.

Summary: Drake is the latest star to step back from up close and personal backstage time with tour attendees