Attractions

Google cofounder Larry Page's flying taxi project is cleared for take off. Kitty Hawk, the Silicon Valley startup backed by Page, said it is building and testing "all-electric vertical take-off and landing products" in New Zealand. It released footage of one of those vehicles in flight, billing it   as a cross between the Delorean from "Back to the Future" and "The Jetsons" hovercar. Dubbed "Cora," the vehicle can "take off like a helicopter and transition to flying like a plane," Kitty Hawk said in a statement on Monday. Cora is also self-piloting, can fly faster than 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles per hour) and has a range of 100 kilometers (62 miles), according to the company. "We are offering a pollution free, emissions free vehicle that flies independently," Fred Reid, head of Kitty Hawk operations in New Zealand, said in a video posted on the company's website. Kitty Hawk had previously tested a...

So, your iPhone doesn't work like it used to. Maybe it has slowed considerably, or it powers off prematurely. The good news: You might not need to splurge for a new device. It could just be your battery. To check quickly, search for "Battery" in Settings. A small notice   will appear at the top of the device to indicate if it needs to be replaced. If the notice appears, you have three options: Get Apple to replace the battery, pay a third-party professional to help or replace the battery yourself. Here's what to expect for each option: Get Apple to replace your iPhone battery Apple will cover the cost of a new battery if it's defective and the phone is under warranty. A new iPhone is only under warranty for a year after you purchase it. (You can extend that period by paying for an AppleCare plan.) But if your battery is showing regular signs of wear and tear, you'll have to pay $79 for a replacement from Apple. You can mail your phone to an  A...

It's starting to look like President Trump will name CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow to replace Gary Cohn as the head of his National Economic Council. Trump even said Tuesday there was a "very good chance" Kudlow would get the job. It's a pick that Wall Street will probably like, but it's also one that might be at odds with the increasingly protectionist economic stance that Trump has taken lately. Kudlow was a former Reagan administration economist, who became the chief economist for now-defunct Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns.   He is staunchly pro-free trade. In fact, Kudlow co-wrote an editorial for CNBC and theNational Review earlier this month with prominent economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, a CNN contributor, urging Trump to consider that tariffs will wind up as taxes on American consumers. They added that the tariffs could also lead to massive job losses. Kudlow says tariffs put 5 million US jobs 'at risk' Kudlow, L...

Moscow has threatened to ban all British media from Russia if its state-backed television network RT is pulled off the airwaves in the UK. Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, said Tuesday during a television appearance that "no British media will work in our country if they close Russia Today." The threat is a sign of escalating tensions between London and Moscow after Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday that a nerve agent developed by Russia had been used in the attempted murder of a former double agent, Sergei Skripal. The British government has demanded an explanation from the Kremlin. UK media regulator Ofcom has said it would consider whether RT was "fit and proper" to hold a broadcast license once the government had more information. The regulator said Tuesday that it had warned RT that it would "carry out our independent fit and proper assessment on an expedited basis" if UK authorities conclude that Rus...

Microsoft has received hundreds of harassment and discrimination complaints from female employees in recent years, according to court documents made public this week. Women at  Microsoft   ( MSFT )  filed 238 complaints with the company's HR department between 2010 and 2016, including 108 complaints about sexual harassment and 119 about gender discrimination, according to a filing. There were also eight complaints of retaliation and three about pregnancy discrimination, it said. The court documents are part of a gender discrimination lawsuit against Microsoft filed in 2015 by Katherine Moussouris, a computer security researcher who worked at the company from 2007-2014. She claims she was passed over for promotions while male colleagues, who were less qualified, were promoted. Two other Microsoft employees, Holly Muenchow and Dana Piermarini, later joined the suit. The attorneys representing them are seeking class-action status for the case. No tria...

The VIX volatility index, which tracks short-term market turbulence, jumped 116% on Monday -- the highest daily percentage recorded. The index has data going back to 1990. It's the biggest move since February 2007, when the index rose 64%."That shows how much fear has jumped back into the market in a very short period of time," said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research. Monday was the worst day for markets in recent memory. The Dow plunged almost 1,600 points before recovering slightly. It closed down 1,175 points, the worst single-day point decline in Dow history. Its 4.6% fall was the biggest percentage decline since August 2011, during the European debt crisis. The VIX reflected that turmoil. The index, which hit 37.32, is now the highest it's been since August 24, 2015, the last time the Dow plunged 1,000 points in a day. A big reason for the sudden surge in volatility is that stocks have been calm for months, which has kept the VIX...

Users of Apple's iCloud services in China are being forced to share their data with a state-run Chinese company. Apple   ( AAPL )  flagged the change to customers this week, advising them to read the terms and conditions of an agreement that hands operations of iCloud in mainland China to a company owned by the government of Guizhou province. The terms include a clause that Apple and the Chinese company "will have access to all data that you store on this service, including the right to share, exchange and disclose all user data, including content, to and between each other under applicable law." They apply to anyone with iCloud accounts registered in mainland China, according to Apple. Apple made the move to comply with the country's latest regulations on cloud services. Beijing'scontroversial cybersecurity law, which went into effect last July, requires companies to keep all data in China. Critics have blasted the law, saying the regulations force t...

The world's thirst for oil may finally be quenched. Global demand for crude is likely to "plateau" during the late 2030s, mostly because of the rise of electric cars and trucks, BP predicted Tuesday in its annual outlook. BP thinks 320 million electric vehicles will be on the road by 2040, compared with about 2 million in 2016. The company thinks electrics will hit a tipping point and really take off after 2035. The prediction is more evidence of a dramatic shift in appetite for oil. And talk of peak oil demand — from one of the world's largest oil producers, no less — shows how the thinking in the energy market has been upended. A decade ago, people were worried about the opposite problem — a peak in how much oil could be pumped out of the ground. Those fears briefly sent prices skyrocketing as high as $147 a barrel. Yet the world is now awash in oil. Excess supply, driven largely by the U.S. shale revolution, forced OPEC and Russia to dial back product...

I'm in my early 50s, have more than $1 million in retirement savings and plan to retire around age 60. I've heard about Warren Buffett's strategy of keeping 90% of one's assets in stocks and 10% in bonds and like the idea of investing my savings that way to earn higher returns. I know my accounts would take a hit if stock prices fall, but I believe I could survive a market downturn. Do you think this is a good strategy for retirees and near retirees?—C.P. Anyone who's followed the strategy of putting 90% of their money in stocks and 10% in bonds that Warren Buffett mentioned in his 2013 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders — would have done very well in recent years. After all, since that missive was released in March 2014, stocks have returned nearly 60%, while the broad taxable bond market has returned just a bit over 8%. So clearly, investing nearly all of your retirement savings in equities has paid off, whether you're still building a retirement...

President Trump has backed up his vow to revive coal by toppling Obama-era environmental rules, by attempting a coal rescue plan and by promising to yank the United States out of the Paris climate accord. Yet more than a year into Trump's presidency, there remains deep pessimism in the energy industry about the chances of a coal comeback in the near-term -- or even in the long run. Hurt by booming renewable energy and cheap natural gas, coal's share of U.S. power generation slipped to an all-time low of 30% in 2017, according to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. That's down from more than half the electric grid in 2001. A dozen coal-fired power plants are slated for closure in 2018, rivaling the record-high of 15 that shuttered in 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Thirty-three coal plants closed during President Obama's second term. Trump has attempted to resuscitate the coal industry by gutting the Clean Power P...

General Electric isn't planning a hasty divorce from oil services giant Baker Hughes after all. GE was considering a sale of its majority stake in  Baker Hughes   ( BHGE )  because it is running low on money. But the company reversed course on Wednesday and said that Baker Hughes won't be part of its broader plans to get rid of at least $20 billion of businesses in the next few years. A sale would have been stunning because GE had only completed a combination of its oil and gas business with Baker Hughes months earlier. It also would have forced GE to get around restrictions that prevented it from selling the stake before mid-2019. "At this point in time, we have no intent to change anything" before the restrictions lift, Jamie Miller, GE's chief financial officer, told analysts at the Barclays Industrial Select Conference. "We like that combination a lot. Managing is doing a very nice job executing in the portfolio and we have a lot of confidenc...

It's a good time to be a German autoworker. About 120,000 unionized  Volkswagen   ( VLKAY )  workers just agreed to a deal that gives them a significant pay bump and, in some cases, six extra days off. Volkswagen said the workers will get a 4.3% pay rise starting in May, and from 2019 an extra 2.3% bonus and more pension benefits. Night shift workers, and those caring for children and elderly relatives, can swap the new bonus for six extra days off. If they do, they'll be entitled to about 45 paid days off each year, including public holidays. Volkswagen Group -- which also owns the Audi and Porsche brands -- employs about 286,000 workers in Germany and 350,000 in other countries. German workers are taking advantage of low unemployment and strong economic growth to flex their muscles at the negotiating table. Volkswagen's agreement is similar to another deal the IG Metall labor union negotiated earlier this month with Mercedes-...

If Congress fails to reach a deal on immigration in the next couple of weeks, thousands of young people who were brought to this country as children could soon start losing their protection from deportation and their ability to legally work in the United States. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has allowed nearly 689,000 Dreamers to come out from the shadows and openly attend school, get work permits and driver's licenses and even buy homes without the fear of being deported. But the March 5 deadline to end DACA, imposed by President Trump imposed last year, is looming. And while the courts have put the termination on hold for now, thousands of DACA recipients will become vulnerable to deportation if the court ruling is overturned and new legislation isn't put in place. For some communities, that would mean the possibility of losing fellow residents who are firefighters, nurses, emergency care workers and teachers. Here are three Dreamers...

Britain has registered its first rise in unemployment since the Brexit referendum in 2016. The increase in the jobless rate to 4.4% surprised economists, and the pound dropped by about 0.6% against the dollar as investors pondered whether the new data could delay the next rise in UK interest rates. In the three months to December, 46,000 people were added to the unemployment tally, representing the biggest increase since early 2013. It took the total to 1.47 million. Despite the rise, the unemployment rate remains just 0.1 percentage points above its lowest levels in decades. Growth in the UK economy slowed last year, partly because of uncertainty over the outcome of negotiations on the future trade relationship with the European Union after Brexit takes effect in March 2019. At the same time, British companies continue to create new jobs. There were 823,000 vacancies in the three months to January 2018, 70,000 more than at the same time last year. "The signific...

President Trump has backed up his vow to revive coal by toppling Obama-era environmental rules, by attempting a coal rescue plan and by promising to yank the United States out of the Paris climate accord. Yet more than a year into Trump's presidency, there remains deep pessimism in the energy industry about the chances of a coal comeback in the near-term -- or even in the long run. Hurt by booming renewable energy and cheap natural gas, coal's share of U.S. power generation slipped to an all-time low of 30% in 2017, according to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. That's down from more than half the electric grid in 2001. A dozen coal-fired power plants are slated for closure in 2018, rivaling the record-high of 15 that shuttered in 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Thirty-three coal plants closed during President Obama's second term. Trump has attempted to resuscitate the coal industry by gutting the Clean Power ...