Our kitchens have become a warzone for beverage makers battling to get their drink dispensing appliances on our counters. Pod-based coffeemakers and soda carbonators have taken an early lead, but now Heineken's decided to enter the fray with a sleek beer dispenser called The Sub that promises to chill your suds to two degrees celsius—or about four degrees colder than your fridge can.
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The federal government is restarting its engines after the shutdown. But the domestic economy took a hit, and some of America's trade partners say gridlock makes them lose faith in the U.S. What will it take to get America back on track? Guest host Celeste Headlee speaks with NPR's Marilyn Geewax and Bloomberg Businessweek contributor Roben Farzad.
If worrying about your vehicle and personal possessions has always made you hesitant about using valet parking, Honda will alleviate your fears with a new system that replaces clumsy valet drivers with overhead tracking cameras and software smart enough to juggle an entire lot full of cars.
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ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Overseers of Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque say they asked pop star Rihanna to leave the compound after she posed for photographs considered to be at odds with the "sanctity" of the site.
Rihanna hasn't publicly responded to the actions by staff at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Her show took place on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
Photos posted on various websites show the singer posing on white marble, dressed fully in black, with her hair covered according to the mosque's guidelines.
The mosque statement, published Monday in local newspapers, said Rihanna was in an area normally off limits for visitors. It says the fashion-style photo session violated rules on the "status and sanctity of the mosque."
The mosque is a major tourist site in the United Arab Emirates' capital.
By Aileen Wang and Kevin Yao
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy grew at its quickest pace this year between July and September in a rebound fuelled largely by investment, although signs are already emerging that the pickup in activity may lose some vigor.
Gross domestic product in the world's second-biggest economy rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier, official data showed, marking only the second quarter in the last 10 in which growth has accelerated.
An unexpected fall in exports in September, and easing growth in factory output and retail sales suggested the economy was already slowing down at the end of the quarter.
Authorities are also expected to cool credit growth as inflation pushes to a seven-month high, another factor analysts say will drag on economic activity.
"The growth peak was behind us in the third quarter," said Ting Lu, an economist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. "We believe the People's Bank of China will slightly shift its monetary policy from a moderate expansion in the third quarter to a neutral stance."
After three decades of double-digit growth heavily reliant on exports and investment, China is trying to shift or "restructure" the economic mix so that activity is geared much more to consumption, as it is in more developed countries.
But the latest figures show investment accounted for over half of the expansion so far this year, underlining the challenge Beijing faces to restructure the economy, which it hopes will provide for more sustainable growth in the future.
Reducing reliance on China's traditional growth drivers is expected to crimp the economy, although sluggish global demand has provided an added drag.
In the first nine months of the year, the $8.5 trillion economy grew 7.7 percent from a year earlier, putting it on track to achieve Beijing's 2013 growth target of 7.5 percent, which would still be China's worst performance in 23 years.
The surprise fall in exports came after emerging market demand wilted as choppy financial markets sapped confidence, a trend the government said this week is likely to continue.
The impasse in the U.S. Congress over the government's debt ceiling could be replayed before a new February 7 deadline, shaking confidence once more.
And with the yuan hitting a record high on Friday for the fifth consecutive day, Chinese exporters face the hurdle of a rising currency eroding their competitiveness.
"The economy is facing a complex and uncertain domestic and international environment," Sheng Laiyun, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics told a briefing.
"In addition, we have accumulated chronic structural imbalance problems in our economy and need to deepen reforms."
REBALANCING?
The data shows China is a long way from having consumption as the main driver of its economic growth.
Consumption accounted for 46 percent of growth in the first nine months, compared with 56 percent taken up by investment. Exports, on the other hand, subtracted 1.7 percent from growth.
The government has sped up projects in infrastructure to support growth, although it has stayed away from more aggressive measures to avoid undermining its efforts to steer the economy in another direction.
Overall investment in infrastructure expanded at a red-hot pace of 29 percent between January and September, the second-fastest area of investment growth after agriculture.
Nie Wen, an analyst at Hwabao Trust in Shanghai, estimated government-backed investment could have accounted for around 25 percent of the total in the first three quarters of the year, Usually, it is 15-20 percent, Nie said.
Investment in the property sector, where prices are at record highs despite measures to calm the market, were also especially buoyant, with the housing industry accounting for 16 percent of the economic activity in the first nine months. That is up from 15 percent in the first six months.
Overall investment rose in the first nine months by 20.2 percent from a year earlier, compared with expectations for a 20.3 percent gain.
CONTROL LOAN GROWTH
The figures suggesting the economy lost steam towards the end of the third quarter mirror a fall in power consumption growth, one of the barometers of economic health favored by China's Premier Li Keqiang.
Factory output in September climbed 10.2 percent from a year earlier, slightly above expectations of 10.1 percent but weaker than August's annual pace of 10.4 percent.
Retail sales rose 13.3 percent from a year ago, slightly missing forecasts for a 13.5 percent rise and down from August's 13.4 percent gain, despite a seasonal spike in car purchases.
To underpin the economy, most analysts believe China will keep interest rates unchanged in the next year-and-a-half.
But with inflation hitting a seven-month high in September of 3.1 percent at a time when the central bank has voiced concerns about a brisk expansion in credit, points to some policy tweaks.
Chinese banks lent more than expected in September, data showed last week, taking total loans issued for the year to 7.3 trillion yuan, a level that could easily breach last year's 8.2 trillion yuan.
Lu from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said the government could take steps to crimp rapid credit expansion and avoid expanding its "mini stimulus", which has so far included accelerating infrastructure investment.
"This could be as good as it gets," said Mark Williams from Capital Economics in London. "We continue to expect gross domestic product growth to slow next year to around 7 percent."
(Additional reporting by Shao Xiaoyi and Natelie Thomas; Writing by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Neil Fullick)
David Gibson,left, and Rich Kiamco, right, of Jersey City display their marriage license, which they obtained earlier today, during a rally on the lawn in front of Garden State Equality tonight, Friday Oct. 18, 2013, in Montclair, N.J. The state Supreme Court ruled today that the state must begin granting same-sex marriage licenses. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)
David Gibson,left, and Rich Kiamco, right, of Jersey City display their marriage license, which they obtained earlier today, during a rally on the lawn in front of Garden State Equality tonight, Friday Oct. 18, 2013, in Montclair, N.J. The state Supreme Court ruled today that the state must begin granting same-sex marriage licenses. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)
Karen Nicholson-McFadden,left, and Marcye Nicholson-McFadden,center, of Aberdeen, listen as their son Kasey, 14 and their daughter Maya, 10, speak to a crowd of about 150 people gathered on the lawn in front of Garden State Equality Friday Oct. 18, 2013, in Montclair, N.J. The rally was in support of the state Supreme Court ruling that the state must begin granting same-sex marriage licenses. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)
Troy Stevenson, Executive Director of Garden State Equity, addresses a crowd of about 150 people gathered on the lawn in front of their office Friday Oct. 18, 2013, in Montclair, N.J. The rally followed a state Supreme Court ruling that the state must begin granting same-sex marriage licenses. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)
Hayley Gorenberg,left, the Deputy Legal Director for Lambda Legal, pops the cork of a bottle of champaign as Udi Ofer, right, the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, cheers at the end of a rally on the lawn in front of Garden State Equality Friday Oct. 18, 2013 in Montclair, N.J. The state Supreme Court ruled today that the state must begin granting same-sex marriage licenses. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)
Steven Brunner, left, and Daniel Baum, a same sex couple that applied for a marriage license, speak to the media on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, in Asbury Park, N.J. New Jersey's highest court ruled unanimously Friday to uphold an order that same-sex marriages must start Monday and denied a delay that had been sought by Gov. Chris Christie's administration. (AP Photo/The Asbury Park Press, Bob Bielk)
Couples who have dreamed for years, even decades, of being able to legally wed in New Jersey are getting their wish after the state Supreme Court on Friday refused to delay a lower-court order for the state to recognize same-sex marriages starting Monday.
Because of the unexpected decision, same-sex couples who want to be the first to get married in New Jersey are in a scramble to plan ceremonies.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker and David DelVecchio, mayor of the gay-friendly community of Lambertville, both plan to lead ceremonies for gay couples at 12:01 a.m. Monday. A handful of towns, including Hoboken and Collingswood, are opening offices Saturday to accept applications for marriage licenses from same-sex couples.
Amy Quinn and Heather Jensen applied for a marriage license at 8 a.m. Friday in Asbury Park, the town where they live and where an influx of gay couples during the last decade has been a major part of the area's revival. Their plan was to be married the second they were eligible to do so.
But by Friday afternoon, Quinn said she didn't know precisely when that would be, or where. She's spending the weekend doing wedding planning on the fly.
"There was another couple that got their license today ... they got a photographer," said Quinn, a member of the Asbury Park City Council. "I've got to step up, right?"
She said she hadn't done much planning largely because she suspected the state's top court would grant the request of Gov. Chris Christie's administration to delay gay marriages while it considered a broader case.
But the court ruled Friday afternoon that it did not think the state's arguments were likely to prevail in the end and that delaying the lower court's order would hurt couples who would not be eligible for federal benefits until they can be married legally in New Jersey.
For Quinn and Jensen, a couple for 10 years who were married in New York in June, there was another issue. Under state law, couples must normally wait 72 hours after applying for a marriage license before they can tie the knot.
A judge on Friday, before the high court's ruling, denied Jersey City's request to waive the requirement. But it's not clear how much of an obstacle that will be.
Troy Stevenson, the executive director of the gay rights group Garden State Equality, said he was trying to line up judges who could waive the waiting period for individual couples late Sunday night so they could exchange vows after the stroke of midnight.
Further, state law says that couples married legally elsewhere can wed in New Jersey without a waiting period — a provision that appears to apply to Quinn and Jensen and many other New Jersey couples.
Not everyone in a long-term relationship was rushing to get married.
Jay Lassiter of Cherry Hill said he and his partner will talk about marriage now. "I'm actually now having to confront my relationship issues," he said. "This is going to force a lot of gay couples to have a lot of serious discussions."
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