This Chinese company just leap-frogged Tesla in the autonomous electric car race

While Tesla engineers have been gradually adding autonomous capabilities to its electric stable, Chinese firm LeEco has gone one step further and announced a car that can do it right from the off.

The LeSEE, announced last night in China, managed to drive itself out of a shipping container and on to the stage with little more than a few voice commands spoken into a smartphone by CEO Jia Yueting. It even reversed, too.

Now, to be fair, you can summon your Tesla via smartphone, but not using voice commands, yet. But this is a big jump for LeEco, a company that has previously produced smartphones and has zero pedigree in the automative space.

Backed Into A Corner: Friendless Beijing Seeks Moscow's Support In South China Sea

China is seeking Russian support in the disputed and increasingly volatile South China Sea, even though Russia is not a claimant in the body of water. However, it is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, as is China.

On Monday, China and Russia said that the South China Sea dispute should not be internationalized and called for its settlement based on negotiation and consultation, according to a report in China’s state-run media outlet Xinhua.

Of course, the problem with that joint statement is that to date China is not willing, nor will it be willing, to negotiate in the South China Sea unless other nations first consent to Beijing’s claim of historical ownership of the body of water.

You'll Never Guess Who This Little Girl Asked to Meet For Her Birthday — or What Happened Next

A little girl named Brooklyn had a very surprising request for her birthday — she wanted to finally meet a man she's been admiring from afar: her family's garbage collector, Delvar. Or as they've taken to calling him, "our favorite awesome smiley garbage man."

Each Thursday for the past year, Brooklyn, who lives in Bloomington, IL, has anxiously awaited the garbage truck's arrival at their house.

Solar panels don't last forever and degradation varies wildly, study says

A recent study by an international certification body found that how well solar panels stand up to wear and tear varies greatly, but where they're manufactured has little to do with quality.

The report, the PVEL-GTM PV Module Reliability Scorecard was published by Norway-based DNV GL. The tests, performed by PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), included five test categories. The number of photovoltaic module manufacturers taking part varied from 17 to 22, depending on the test.

The modules were tested to determine how their solar conversion efficiency stood up to varying degrees of stress. Solar cell "efficiency" refers to the proportion of energy from sunlight that can be converted via photovoltaics into electricity. On average, today's solar panels have a 15% to 18% solar efficiency rate (the best PVs have as high as a 22% conversion rate). So, each solar panel would be tested based on its beginning efficiency rating.

The world's blackest material makes NASA's ultra-black paint look like it’s not even black

The paint used on the Hubble telescope is one of the blackest materials in space. It's there to reduce stray light so the instrument can photograph the best possible images of our solar system and beyond.

But researchers from British company Surrey NanoSystems have made something much, much blacker.

Their material, awesomely called Vantablack, is so black that they can't even measure how dark it is.

Moving to Utah - Surfing Pornhub - Getting on the Dole

Watching pr0n in Utah makes me ill, now to figure out how to get them to cover my disability. How was I to know that the Internet pumping petabytes of pr0n into my house would turn me into a sick person? Seriously this is more about child pr0n, at least right now it is, but what about next week?

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah became the first state in the country to declare pornography a public health crisis, and called on the industry and businesses Tuesday to help keep "evil, degrading, addictive" materials away from children.

FBI Needs Hackers

I would seriously doubt that this story at the New York Times surprises any HardOCP readers. Hell, the FBI has reached to HardOCP at least twice over the years for help on issues they were having.

In Tuesday’s hearing, Ms. Hess did not provide details on how the F.B.I. ultimately gained access to the San Bernardino iPhone but said the agency had come to rely on private sector partners to keep up with changes in technology. She said that there was no one-stop solution and that the agency generally should not use third parties to hack into systems but lacks the expertise to break past encryption.

CIA Releases Secret UFO Files - Including Spaceships Over Britain In 1962

It’s the moment UFO fans have been waiting for -  the CIA has hand-selected some formerly top-secret files and photos to ‘prove’ extraterrestrials exist.
Sadly for extraterrestrial fans, the files are a bit lacking in alien autopsies and crashed flying saucers - but they’re a fascinating insight into the height of the ‘flying saucer’ era.
The CIA released the files - seemingly to coincide with the new X-Files episodes - provoking disbelief on UFO websites.

Crash test video pits 2009 Chevy Malibu against 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air – guess who wins?

 If a 2009 Chevy Malibu got in a head-on collision with a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air, which car would emerge with the least amount of damage? At first glance, you’d expect an old tank like the Bel Air to obliterate the Malibu, right? But nothing could be further from the truth.

As you’ll see in the video below, the Bel Air is destroyed in this dangerous head-on collision that was posted in 2009 on Consumer Reports’s YouTube channel and rediscovered by Kottke.

The light Malibu is much better at absorbing the shock of the impact, and the airbags deploy well ahead of the impact. The passengers will undoubtedly feel a jolt, but they’ll have a much better chance of surviving accidents.

Military Wife Expresses Heartfelt Gratitude to Furnace Repair Man

A mother of two boys was touched by a selfless act of kindness when her local repair man fixed her furnace free of charge.

Bridget Stevens returned to her Pittsburgh-area home earlier this month and realized her furnace was not functioning.

Stevens' story, which she shared on Facebook, has now gone viral.

Stevens texted her husband, Bobby, who is deployed overseas with the National Guard. When Bobby couldn't figure out what to do, she called Betlyn Heating and Cooling in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Owner Paul Betlyn immediately came to the rescue.

One astronomer has an unsettling reason we haven't found aliens

In 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi raised a very important question about the universe and the existence of extraterrestrial life.
Given the size and age of the universe, he said, and the statistical probability of life emerging in other solar systems, why is it that humanity has not seen any indications of intelligent life in the cosmos?
This query, known as the Fermi Paradox, continues to haunt us to this day.
If there are indeed billions of star systems in our galaxy, and the conditions needed for life are not so rare, then where are all the aliens?
According to a recent paper by researchers at Australian National University's Research School of Earth Sciences, the answer may be simple: They're all dead. In what the research team calls the "Gaian Bottleneck," the solution to this paradox may be that life is so fragile that most of it simply doesn't make it.
To put this in perspective, let's first consider some of the numbers. As of the writing of this article, scientists have discovered 2,049 planets in 1,297 planetary systems, including 507 with multiple planets. In addition, a report issued in 2013 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA indicated that, based on Kepler mission data, there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zones of sun-like stars and red dwarfs within the Milky Way and that 11 billion of these may be orbiting sun-like stars.

China warns George Soros against going to 'war' on its currency

China officially issued a warning to George Soros: beware of going to "war on the renminbi."
The message comes in a piece published in China's People's Daily, titled "Declaring war on China's currency? Ha ha."

People's Daily is the Communist Party's mouthpiece. 

"Soros's war on the renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar cannot possibly succeed — about this there can be no doubt," the opinion piece by a commerce ministry researcher warned, according to the Financial Times.

This warning comes at time when China's officials are trying hard to get everyone confident in the renminbi again. The currency has fallen by about 5.7% since August, when the People's Bank of China first depreciated it.

As for Soros, last week the billionaire investor told Bloomberg TV that he had best against the S&P 500, Asian currencies, and commodity-linked economies.

Navy SEAL in DeLand fatal-parachute crash wasn't jump certified

An investigation has concluded that a Navy SEAL who died in a parachute training accident in DeLand last year became unconscious after exiting the plane.
The investigation also found that Petty Officer 1st Class William Blake Marston was unable to open his main chute, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
It also determined that Marston shouldn't have been on the plane to begin with because of a discrepancy over whether he was up to date with a required certification.

GoPro Cutting Jobs

GoPro Chief Executive Nicholas Woodman announced today that his company would be cutting seven percent of its workforce. Shares were down twenty eight percent in extended trading.

GoPro Inc said it was cutting 7 percent of its workforce and estimated revenue for the holiday quarter below estimates as it sold fewer action cameras than expected, sending its shares plunging 28 percent in extended trading. GoPro said it expects revenue to be about $435 million for the fourth quarter, well below analysts' average estimate of $511.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Intel: Integrated Graphics Are Catching Up With Discrete GPUs

Did you hear that guys? We can all ditch our SLI and Crossfire setups in favor of integrated graphics! Think of all the money we'll be saving! 

The top-level graphics processors integrated in Intel’s chips, called Iris and Iris Pro, can outperform 80 percent of discrete graphics chips, Bryant said. "We have improved graphics 30 times what they were five years ago," Bryant said during a speech at a J.P. Morgan forum last week at CES.

Yahoo Class Action: $4 M For Lawyers, $0 For Users

Unfamiliar with the way class action lawsuits work? Here's a perfect example of how they can go wrong in a hurry. Since this is still subject to the court's approval, there is still a slim chance things might change.

Last week, they asked US District Judge Lucy Koh to accept a proposed settlement (PDF). Under the proposal, the massive class of non-Yahoo users won't get any payment, but the class lawyers at Girard Gibbs and Kaplan Fox intend to ask for up to $4 million in fees. (The ultimate amount of fees will be up to the judge, but Yahoo has agreed not to oppose any fee request up to $4 million.)

Walmart is closing hundreds of stores and laying off thousands of employees

(AP) A Walmart employee in Walpole, Massachusetts. Walmart is closing 269 stores and laying off thousands of employees.

The move will affect more than 16,000 employees, including 10,000 in the US.

The closings include 154 locations in the US — 102 of which are the company's smallest stores, called Walmart Express, which have been in pilot since 2011.

U.S. tightens visa waiver program in wake of Paris attacks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House announced changes to the U.S. visa waiver program on Monday so that security officials can more closely screen travelers from 38 countries allowed to enter the United States without obtaining visas before they travel.

Under the new measures, which were prompted by the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris by Islamic State militants, the Department of Homeland Security would immediately start to collect more information from travelers about past visits to countries such as Syria and Iraq, the White House said.

The changes will "enhance our ability to thwart terrorist attempts to travel on lost or stolen passports," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Paris, where President Barack Obama is attending U.N. talks on climate change.

Fed ends 'too big to fail' lending to collapsing banks

The Federal Reserve is cutting its lifeline to big banks in financial trouble.

The Fed officially adopted a new rule Monday that limits its ability to lend emergency money to banks.

In theory, the new rule should quash the notion that Wall Street banks are "too big to fail." Translation: the government has to save them during a crisis.

China may be trying to take over a critical US air base in the Atlantic

Over Thanksgiving, I briefly visited the Azores, an archipelago in the middle of the North Atlantic, home to Lajes Field, a Portuguese Air Force Base that's also home to the US Air Force's 65th Air Base Wing.

The US has had almost a century of interaction with the Azores. During World War I, the US Navy briefly occupiedPonta Delgada, from which it flew hydroplanes to help spot German submarines. With the end of the war, the American contingent returned home, but various Azores airfields served as waypoints as transatlantic aviation developed.

During World War II, however, Lajes Field became a significant base under British control from which both US and British planes flewmissions to protect Atlantic shipping. The US Navy also used it as ablimp waystation.

U.S. Air Force chief cites concern about leak of bomber data

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. Air Force general on Tuesday confirmed that the service had raised concerns about the release of sensitive data about a next-generation bomber that was included in a report published by Forbes magazine last month.

"We did have a concern about data that should not have been released," Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh told industry executives and foreign military officials at an event hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank.

"I think it's our duty to identify the fact that that should not have been made available and try to keep the process as pure as we can. That’s why the Air Force highlighted that as an issue," Welsh said.

Reuters reported last week that the Air Force was looking into how classified data about the bomber competition had found its way into the Forbes report.

These graphics show the crucial differences between the world's 3 types of aircraft carrier

(REUTERS/Adnan Abidi ) 

Aircraft carriers are the ultimate symbol of a country's military power and prestige. These floating islands of military power take years to build, and they do not come cheap. The first of the US's new Ford-class of super carrier has a $13 billion price tag.

Still, despite the cost, a number of countries have succeeded in building or acquiring a carrier. Although the US has the largest number of carriers with the most advanced technology and the largest flight decks, a variety of carriers of various sizes and sophistication are in use around the world.

Teen Allergic to Wi-Fi Commits Suicide, Parents Say

The mother of a teen who committed suicide after suffering from what she calls a rare allergy to Wi-Fi is accusing her daughter’s school of failing to protect her.

Jenny Fry, 15, was found hanging from a tree near her home in the U.K. last June. Her story is now coming to light because of a legal investigation into the cause of Jenny’s death.

Superman Unmasks Batman in New 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' Clip

Things don’t look good for the Caped Crusader in the exclusive sneak preview of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that aired Monday during the fall finale of Fox’s Batman-based crime drama, Gotham.

Groupon's New CEO Insists The Company Is 'Misunderstood'

Raise your hand if you think that the problem with Groupon is that the company is just misunderstood by everyone. Anyone?

Last week Groupon's shares hit an all-time low, only days after appointing Rich Williams as its new CEO in place of co-founder Eric Lefkofsky. What's more, Groupon recently ceased operations in Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and a handful of other countries, adding to notable layoffs the company announced back in September. All of this is to say that Groupon, which offers coupons and deals to online customers, is at a crucial point in its short history -- how much longer can it go on like this?

Another Kickstarter Disaster: The Coolest Cooler

I guess I'd be pretty upset too if I was a backer of this Kickstarter. Nothing sucks worse than seeing the product you've been waiting a year for show up for sale to the public on Amazon. 

Last August, one of the most financially successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time concluded. It was a cooler called the Coolest, which was pricey but promised to contain most of what you need for a beach party. $300 backers were supposed to receive the Coolest, which would retail for $500. Then backers noticed that the product was available on Amazon’s crowdfunded products section… even though original backers from over a year ago hadn’t received theirs yet.

Intel’s 72-core processor is coming to desktop computers next year - 2016

You think your PC gaming rig has a powerful processor? You haven’t seen anything yet. PC World reports that Intel wants to put its so-called Knights Landing chip into a limited number of workstation desktop computers starting next year. Knights Landing, which Intel says is its most powerful chip to date, is a 72-core processor with 8 billion transistors. Next year will mark the first time it’s been used in workstations.

Why Boeing's Design For A 747 Full Of Cruise Missiles Makes Total Sense

After the Carter Administration's cancellation of the B-1A program due to fiscal concerns, the rise of air-launched cruise missiles and the possibility of developing a stealth bomber, Boeing put forward a low-risk, relatively cheap, cruise missile delivery vehicle alternative based on the mighty 747. It was called the Cruise Missile Carrier Aircraft, or CMCA for short.

The idea was relatively simple, turn the premier long-range commercial hauler into an arsenal ship capable of carrying between 50 and 100 air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs). At the time the AGM-86 air-launched cruise missile was all the rage (it is still in service today) so the 747 CMCA concept was built with the 21ft winged missile in mind.

Charlie Sheen to Make ‘Revealing Personal Announcement’ on ‘Today’ Amid Tabloid HIV Reports

Charlie Sheen will appear on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday to make “a revealing personal announcement” during an interview with Matt Lauer,  the network announced Monday.

News of the live in-studio interview comes just as National Enquirer publishes a report that the former “Two and a Half Men” star is HIV positive, and has been concealing his status.

"Cowardly murder": Ex-drone operators speak out about their jobs

Washington (AFP) - America's use of drones to kill suspected jihadists around the world is driving hatred toward the United States and causing further radicalization, four former airmen have said.

In an open letter to President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and CIA Director John Brennan, the four former drone operators said they were involved in the killing of innocent civilians, and had gone on to suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Science Says Super Bacteria Coming to Kill Us Is Imminent, "People Will Die"

According to a study published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, scientists in China have discovered significantly increased levels of bacteria resistant to the antibiotic colistin in pigs. The drug is a last line of defense against a host of bacterial infections, many of which are common in people. Researchers said they expect the resistant bacteria to spread outside of China, if it has not already done so.

"What is particularly worrying about this is the mechanism of this resistance means that it can spread very easily between species. So global spread is likely." Liz Tayler of the World Health Organization told BBC4 Radio. "This paper suggests that this has already spread out of China and into Malaysia."

Exclusive: U.S. probes Bosch in VW cheating scandal - sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are investigating German auto supplier Robert Bosch GmbH [ROBG.UL] over its role in Volkswagen AG's massive scheme to cheat U.S. emission standards, according to people familiar with the matter.

Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice are examining whether Bosch, the world's largest auto supplier, knew or participated in Volkswagen's years-long efforts to circumvent U.S. diesel emissions tests, the people said. Bosch built key components in the diesel engine used in six Volkswagen models and one Audi model that the automaker has admitted to rigging to defeat emissions tests. Federal authorities are also investigating how deeply the scheme permeated VW’s hierarchy, according to people familiar with the matter.

“They Used To Be Okay With Just A Kiss. Now They All Want To Bang-Bang!”

If you don’t think the casting couch exists, ask someone who’s faced it many times…

I was more than a little nervous when Sharika Raina, a film and television actor, greeted me at her front door. It’s not every day that I get to meet cute, on-air personalities (or any women in general), but my anxiety wasn’t about that. It was about the ‘why’ of the meeting. I was here to talk to Sharika about her casting couch experiences.

As I entered, the first thing that caught my eye was her 'Bar Council of India’ Sanad (certificate), neatly framed over a sofa. “Of course, I’ve practiced law. I used to work with my father. I was a corporate lawyer!” You’re wondering, right – how does one go from corporate law to acting? “By auditioning, auditioning, and then auditioning some more.”

New charges for ex-Taco Bell exec - Benjamin Golden - in Uber fracas

A Taco Bell executive who lost this job after allegedly beating an Uber driver — an incident caught on video — was slapped Tuesday with further criminal charges that put him at risk of spending up to a year behind bars and paying a $10,000 fine.

Benjamin Golden, 32, who lives in Newport Beach, California, was charged with four misdemeanor counts by the Orange County District Attorney's office on Tuesday, a day after a YouTube video of the Uber car incident went viral.

The DA accused Golden of assault on public transportation property, battery on a public transit employee with injury, assault and battery. Golden originally was charged with misdemeanor assault and public intoxication by Costa Mesa police.

BAE Systems just invested $30M in a new rocket engine that could revolutionize space travel - Skylon/SABRE/Reaction Engine

British defense contractor BAE Systems, one of the world’s foremost purveyors of futuristic defense technologies, just officially announced that it plans to invest roughly $31.7 million to help develop a hybrid rocket engine with Britain’s Reaction Engines Limited. If completed, the Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine –or SABRE for short— would revolutionize the industry of space travel with its ability to operate not only in outer space, but within Earth’s atmosphere as well. Though testing is still likely many years out, the new cash infusion from BAE Systems will allow REL to expand its research and officially complete a test model.

“This investment by BAE Systems reflects the strength of British engineering and technology and our ambitions as a leading space nation,” says MP Jo Johnson, the United Kingdom’s Minister for Universities and Science. “I am sure that this partnership will strengthen both organizations — helping to create more jobs in the UK’s growing space sector and ultimately to make the SABRE engine a reality.”

View gallery

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The SABRE engine

Death rate on the rise for middle-aged white Americans

For decades, nearly all Americans -- in every age and racial group -- have seen decreases in death rates. But in the last nearly 15 years, middle-aged white Americans have been left out, according to a study.

Death rates for white Americans ages 45 to 54 climbed half a percent each year between 1999 and 2013, researchers at Princeton University found using mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the previous two decades, the death rate for this group had dropped by 2% each year. Middle-aged blacks and Hispanics continued to see a 2% annual decline between 1999 and 2013.

"We have come to expect mortality rates in middle age to continue to decline, which they did throughout most of the 20th century...it was really a surprise to see a sustained period when mortality rates actually increased (among middle-aged white Americans)," said Anne Case, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University.

Target - announces 13 U.S. store closures

Target is closing the doors to 13 of its stores.

On Wednesday, Target (TGT) confirmed that the locations across the U.S. would be closing by January 31, 2016.

A Target spokesperson said "the decision to close a Target store is not made lightly."

She added that before the company decides to make a closure, a store's financial health is evaluated over a long period of time. "Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability," she said.

The Latest: Commander defends probe of Illinois cop's death

ROUND LAKE BEACH, Ill. (AP) — The latest developments in the investigation into the shooting death of an Illinois police officer in August. (All times local):

11 a.m.

Authorities are defending the time it took to conclude that an Illinois police officer killed himself and was not killed by others.

Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko told reporters Wednesday that police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz elaborately staged a crime scene, scattering his pepper spray, baton and other equipment before shooting himself twice on Sept. 1.

Lake County Sheriff's Office spokesman Christopher Covelli added that investigators had to filter through thousands of pages of financial documents, 6,500 pages of text messages and 40,000 emails.

Britain: Russian jetliner may have been downed by bomb

LONDON (AP) — British and U.S. officials said Wednesday they have information suggesting the Russian jetliner that crashed in the Egyptian desert may have been brought down by a bomb, and Britain said it was suspending flights to and from the Sinai Peninsula indefinitely.

Intercepted communications played a role in the tentative conclusion that the Islamic State group's Sinai affiliate planted an explosive device on the plane, said a U.S. official briefed on the matter. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly.

Tarantino says he won't be intimidated by police boycotts

NEW YORK (AP) — After a week of backlash from police groups threatening to boycott his upcoming film, Quentin Tarantino stood by his comments about police brutality and said he wouldn't be intimidated from voicing his opinion.

Tarantino told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that law enforcement groups are trying to bully him. "Instead of dealing with the problem of police brutality in this country, better they single me out," Tarantino told the Times.

Bunker-Like Underground Mansion Is One Way to Dodge Zoning Rules

Real estate developer and rugby team owner Steve O’Connor wanted to build a mega-mansion in the English countryside. The only problem: Local zoning codes wouldn’t allow a space as large as he envisioned to be built above-ground.

So he went underground.

The tragically powerful story behind the lone German who refused to give Hitler the Nazi salute

(Wikipedia/Amanda Macias/Business Insider) August Landmesser refused to do the "Sieg Heil" salute during a Nazi rally at the Blohm Adopted by the Nazi Party in the 1930s, Hitler's infamous "sieg heil" (meaning "hail victory") salute was mandatory for all German citizens as a demonstration of loyalty to the Führer, his party, and his nation.

August Landmesser, the lone German refusing to raise a stiff right arm amid Hitler's presence at a 1936 rally, had been a loyal Nazi.

Landmesser joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and began to work his way up the ranks of what would become the only legal political affiliation in the country.

The biggest tech deal ever: Dell buys EMC for $67 billion

In the biggest tech deal of all time, Dell announced Monday that it has agreed to buy corporate software, storage and security giant EMC for $67 billion.

The deal completes Dell's transformation from a consumer PC business to an IT solutions provider for companies. That process began when Dell bought Perot Systems for $4 billion in 2009 and went full throttle in 2013 when company founder Michael Dell took the business private.

North Korea stages massive military parade, says ready to defend itself against U.S.

(CNN)Presiding over a massive military parade in the nation's capital, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country was "fully ready" to defend itself against any U.S. threat.

In a carefully choreographed show of strength and celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party, hundreds of troops marched in elaborate formations across Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, which was festooned with national and party flags, footage from state broadcaster KCTV showed.

Kim watched the extravaganza from a viewing platform and gave a rare live televised speech. Last year, Kim didn't show during a mysterious absence that lasted over a month.

"Our party can confidently state that our revolutionary armament today can deal with any kind of war U.S. imperialists ask for, and we are fully ready to persistently defend the country's blue sky and the well-being of the people," he told the gathered crowds.

North Korea's regime is fond of saber rattling and has made plenty of threats before. Intimidating words about the United States and South Korea have been more the norm than not for years.

Foreign dignitaries, media and tourists gathered in Pyongyang for the spectacle, which saw fighter jets flying in a "70" formation.

U.S. delivers 50 tons of ammunition to Syria rebel groups

(CNN)U.S. military cargo planes gave 50 tons of ammunition to rebel groups overnight in northern Syria, using an air drop of 112 pallets as the first step in the Obama Administration's urgent effort to find new ways to support those groups.

Details of the air mission over Syria were confirmed by a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly because the details have not yet been formally announced.

The $725m ranch bigger than New York and Los Angeles combined - Northwest Texas!

(CNN)The final countdown to the real estate sale of the century has begun.

Bigger than New York City and Los Angeles combined,Waggoner Ranch in Texas spans half-a-million acres, boasts more than 100 properties within its boundaries and oil reserves.

The ultimate equestrian estate is yours -- for $725 million. But be quick -- any potential buyers have until October 20 to raise the funds and submit an offer.

Bernard Uechtritz, an Australian realtor living in Texas, has been tasked with the sale of the equestrian estate that has stayed in one family for its entire 165-year existence. He's getting used to turning down the advances of some of the world's richest people in the sale.