The latest on Saturday's crash of a Russian plane in Egypt that killed 224 people.

The latest on Saturday's crash of a Russian plane in Egypt that killed 224 people. All times local. 12:45 a.m.

A U.S. official briefed on the matter says U.S. intelligence agencies have assembled preliminary evidence that a bomb brought down the Russian airliner.

The official says intercepted communications played a role in the tentative conclusion that the Islamic State group's Sinai affiliate planted an explosive device on the plane.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and others said there had been no formal judgment rendered by the CIA or other intelligence agencies, and that forensic evidence from the blast site, including the airplane's black box, were still being analyzed.

12:10 a.m.

The deputy head of Sharm el-Sheikh airport says Britain acted too hastily when it decided to suspend flights to the airport following the crash of a Russian plane in the region.

Hany Ramsay says Britain's conclusion that the plane may have been brought down by a bomb comes "too soon" and may be aimed at damaging the country's vital tourism sector. "Other countries might soon follow them. They want to hurt tourism and cause confusion," Ramsey told the AP Wednesday. He suggested that ulterior political and commercial motives may be behind the British statement.

The Russian jet had left Sharm el-Sheikh airport shortly before it crashed over the Sinai Peninsula early Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.

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11:30 p.m.

Ireland has followed the British lead and directed Irish airlines to suspend flights to Sharm el-Sheikh Airport following the crash of a Russian airliner that killed all 224 people on board. In a statement Wednesday, the Irish Aviation Authority urged airlines not to fly to or from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport or in the Sinai Peninsula "until further notice."

It said an update will be issued when more information becomes available.

The British government earlier Wednesday suspended flights to and from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, saying it is increasingly concerned that the Russian plane was brought down by a bomb.

British aviation experts are travelling to Sharm el-Sheikh, where the flight that crashed Saturday originated from, to assess security. It wasn't immediately clear if the Irish government would also send down a security team to Egypt.

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11:15 p.m.

Egypt has confirmed that the voice recorder of the Russian plane that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula is damaged.

Egypt's Aviation Ministry says the cockpit voice recorder of the plane is "partially damaged" and that as a result "a lot of work is required in order to extract data from it."

Russian officials earlier Wednesday said the voice recorder had suffered serious damage.

Egyptian officials could not be reached for comment on the British government's suggestion that the aircraft may have been brought down by a bomb. Britain has suspended all flights to and from Sinai as a precaution.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who arrived in London on a previously scheduled trip Wednesday, has said the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula is under "full control." He said earlier this week that the cause of the crash may not be known for months and that there should be no speculation until then.

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10:25 p.m.

Russia's Interstate Air Commission says the cockpit voice recorder from the Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt, killing 224 people, has suffered serious damage.

In a statement posted on its website Wednesday, the commission said that information from the flight's data recorder has been successfully copied and handed over to investigators, but that there was "serious mechanical damage" to the voice recorder.

The Interstate Aviation Committee is a Moscow-based organization that oversees civil aviation in much of the former Soviet Union.

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8:05 p.m.

The British government says it is increasingly concerned that a Russian jet was brought down by a bomb and is suspending flights to and from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Prime Minister David Cameron's office says British aviation experts are travelling to the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the flight that crashed Saturday originated from, to assess security before British flights there will be allowed to leave.

Cameron's office at Downing St. says "we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device."

The British government's crisis committee is due to meet later Wednesday. The crash in the Sinai killed all 224 people on the Metrojet Airbus plane.

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5:55 p.m.

Egypt's Islamic State group affiliate has allegedly reiterated its claim to have downed a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula last week, killing all 224 people on board.

In an audio recording circulated among militant supporters online Wednesday, a speaker said the crash coincided with the anniversary of the group's pledge of allegiance to the IS group. The dates of the crash and the pledge roughly coincide according to the Islamic calendar.

Experts say the militants lack the sophisticated arms needed to shoot down a plane at cruising altitude. The speaker did not say how the militants brought down the jet.

The AP could not independently verify the recording but it resembled previous statements issued by the group. The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites, picked up the recording and circulated a translation.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said an earlier IS claim was "propaganda" aimed at damaging Egypt's image.

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4:35 p.m.

Authorities are making another attempt to evaluate information from the voice recorder of the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt, after damage to the device prevented an earlier try.

Germout Freitag, spokesman for the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, said the plane's flight data recorder had been analyzed Tuesday though results had not yet been reported.

He says the plane's cockpit voice recorder could not be immediately evaluated because of damage to it, but investigators were working on it again Wednesday.

Two Germans are helping with the investigation because the aircraft was manufactured in Germany, while French experts were involved because the plane was designed in France.

All 224 people on board the plane died when it crashed Saturday into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

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10:30 a.m.

A Russian official says families have identified the bodies of 33 victims killed in Saturday's plane crash over Egypt.

The Russian jet crashed over the Sinai Peninsula early Saturday, killing all 224 people on board. Most of them were holidaymakers from Russia's St. Petersburg.

Igor Albin, deputy governor of St. Petersburg, said in a televised conference call that as of Wednesday morning families have identified 33 bodies.

Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said rescue teams in Egypt have expanded the search area to 40 square kilometers (15 square miles).

Russian officials have refrained from announcing the cause of the crash, citing the ongoing investigation.

A cargo plane has crashed on take-off near the international airport in South Sudan's capital Juba.

Two people were pulled from the wreckage alive but one of them later died, leaving a young boy as the only survivor, the Red Cross said.

The Antonov An-12 plane was heading to Paloch, Upper Nile State, and crashed 800m (half a mile) from the runway.

In a statement, Ukraine-based Antonov said the plane had not been airworthy.

It said the plane, which was built in 1971, "was is no state to fly because it failed to undergo timely technical servicing... that should have included work on extending its resources and exploitation timeframe", AFP news agency reported.

South Sudan authorities warned that the death toll could rise as the debris was cleared.

The plane crashed into a farming community on an island on the White Nile River but so far all the victims recovered were from the aircraft, the Red Cross said

The World's Highest-Paid Women In Music 2015

The top-earning woman in the music business has been cashing in on a massive world tour, a constant stream of hit singles and a string of endorsements with a slew of major companies, while occasionally throwing thinly veiled barbs at her chief rival. Sounds like Taylor Swift—but, in fact, it’s her frequent competitor, Katy Perry. Largely because of her Prismatic World Tour, which is now winding down, Perry pulled in $135 million this year. She grossed more than $2 million per city over the course of 126 shows in our scoring period, and added to her total through deals with Coty, Claire’s and Covergirl.

“I am proud of my position as a boss, as a person that runs my own company,” Perry told FORBES for our Celebrity 100 cover story this past summer. “I’m an entrepreneur. … I don’t want to shy away from it. I actually want to kind of grab it by its balls.”

Swift has also been having quite the year, claiming the No. 2 spot with $80 million. More than a year after the launch of 1989—the top release of 2014 with over 3.6 million copies sold—her latest single, “Wildest Dreams,” has ascended to the top of the charts, boosted by a music video with Scott Eastwood. But it was the beginning of her epic 1989 World Tour that placed her so close to the top of this list. 

Swift has also been having quite the year, claiming the No. 2 spot with $80 million. More than a year after the launch of 1989—the top release of 2014 with over 3.6 million copies sold—her latest single, “Wildest Dreams,” has ascended to the top of the charts, boosted by a music video with Scott Eastwood. But it was the beginning of her epic 1989 World Tour that placed her so close to the top of this list.

Rounding out the top three is Fleetwood Mac at $59.5 million. Though the band contains three men, it also boasts two high-profile ladies—Stevie Nicks and the recently-returned Christine McVie—rendering the group eligible for this list. Its On With The Show tour included 86 concerts during our scoring period, grossing well over $1 million per city.

“Fleetwood Mac is out there slogging it on the road,” says Gary Bongiovanni, chief of concert data outfit Pollstar. “From a fan perspective, I think that Fleetwood’s core fan base recognized that Christine McVie being back in the group was something special, and worth coming out for.”

Lady Gaga ranks fourth with $59 million, followed by Beyoncé at $54.5 million. The former played 66 shows during our scoring period, also cashing in on deals with Versace and MAC, as well as her own Fame fragrance. The latter’s On The Run tour with husband Jay Z grossed over $100 million for 19 North American dates, giving music’s first couple a nightly average comparable to that of the Rolling Stones.

Other big names on the on the list include Britney Spears (No. 6, $31 million), who makes the bulk of her bucks on a lucrative Planet Hollywood residency in Las Vegas, and Rihanna (No. 10, $26 million), who only played nine dates in our scoring period but is set to release new album Anti in the coming months; more touring will likely follow.

Though a pay gap regrettably pervades the music business—albeit not as badly as other parts of the entertainment world—this year the top most high-earning ladies in the industry boast earnings competitive with their male counterparts, as FORBES will reveal with its overall list of the highest-paid musicians in December.

Our list of the highest-paid women in music measures pretax income from June 1, 2014, to June 1, 2015, before subtracting management fees. Figures are based on data from Nielsen, Pollstar and the RIAA, as well as interviews with agents, managers, lawyers—and some of the stars themselves.

Given the nature of our scoring period, Perry will have some stiff competition for next year’s list: Swift’s 1989 Tour is grossing well over $4 million per city, and shows no signs of slowing down.

“It’s a stadium tour, it’s enormous,” says Bongiovanni. “I would imagine that she’s going to dwarf what everybody else does.”

SONY ADDS OVER 100 GAMES TO PLAYSTATION

Sony has expanded its PlayStation Now streaming subscription service, adding more than 100 PlayStation 3 games to its unlimited-play lineup.

The latest PlayStation Now update features dozens of games from publisher Capcom, including multiple entries in its Resident Evil and Street Fighter franchises.

PlayStation Now is a subscription-based streaming service that allows members to experience featured PlayStation 3 games on-demand and with no purchase or download required. Gameplay is delivered via streamed video, eliminating the need to load and process game data on the user’s end. Service subscribers can play hundreds of compatible games with linked PlayStation 4, PS3, PS Vita, and PlayStation TV devices.

Capcom’s current PlayStation Now lineup includes retail-released standouts like Dead Rising 2, Asura’s Wrath and Ultra Street Fighter 4, along with retro-inspired titles like Mega Man 9, Strider, Bionic Commando Rearmed, and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

A significant quantity of Resident Evil games are also available for PlayStation Now streaming, including recent series entries Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6. Subscribers can additionally stream a remake of the Dreamcast-era sequel Resident Evil: Code Veronica X, an upgraded version of Resident Evil 4, and the rail shooter spinoffs Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.

Other major titles premiering for PlayStation Now this week include Arc System Works’ one-on-one fighter Guilty Gear Xrd: SIGN, Koei Tecmo’s gory action game Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, acclaimed third-person shooter Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD, and several PS Vita RPGs, including Ragnarok Odyssey Ace and Atelier Rorona Plus.

Retrogaming is another major focus for PlayStation Now, with this week’s update introducing classics like Fatal Fury, The King of Fighters ’95, Dragon’s Lair, Frogger Returns, Spelunker HD, and Double Dragon Neon.

PlayStation Now subscriptions are priced at $20 per month, which grants members unlimited play of as many featured games as they wish.

THE 2017 MERCEDES-BENZ GLS-CLASS

Mercedes-Benz has introduced the 2017 GLS-Class, a new model that replaces the GL. The first-ever GLS is scheduled to greet the public for the first time later this month at the Los Angeles Motor Show.

Billed as the S-Class of the SUV segment, the GLS gains a redrawn front end that predictably falls in line with Mercedes’ latest design language. It features a twin-slat horizontal grille with a big three-pointed star emblem, bullet-shaped headlights, and a new hood accented by a pair of power domes. Out back, the SUV is fitted with sleeker-looking LED tail lamps and a more streamlined lower bumper.

Chrome accents add a touch of elegance to the boxy silhouette, while new alloy wheel designs and additional paint colors round out the list of exterior updates. Select models can be ordered with a Sport exterior treatment that brings add-ons such as a deeper front bumper with three mesh air dams, side skirts, a roof-mounted spoiler, and specific 21-inch alloy wheels.
With seating for up to seven passengers, the GLS’ spacious cabin receives a three-spoke steering wheel, a more modern-looking instrument cluster with a configurable TFT screen, and a new center console with a touch pad that lets the front passengers navigate the infotainment system. Mercedes has also fitted its biggest and boldest SUV with a high-resolution eight-inch touch screen that sticks out from the center console. Leather upholstery comes standard on all versions of the GLS, and buyers can make the off-roader their own by choosing from one of five trim options such as black, ginger beige/espresso brown, and saddle brown/black.
The GLS’ long list of standard safety features includes crosswind assist, collision prevention assist plus, attention assist and numerous airbags. For added peace of mind, Mercedes’ excellent Distronic Plus technology is offered at an extra cost.


The GL’s engines carry over to the GLS with minor modifications that promise to boost performance and — importantly for a roughly 5,500-pound behemoth — gas mileage. Positioned at the bottom of the lineup, the GLS400 packs a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 engine that makes 329 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque. Next up is the GLS350d, which is powered by a 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6 rated at 255 hp and 457 lb-ft. of torque. Finally, the GLS500 uses a 4.7-liter V8 engine that delivers 449 hp and a stout 516 lb-ft of torque.

All engines are linked to a new nine-speed automatic transmission and Mercedes’ time-tested 4Matic all-wheel drive system. Adventurous motorists who regularly trek far off the beaten path can order a low-range gearbox and a center differential lock at an extra cost. Don’t let its upscale look and its posh, comfort-focused cabin fool you, the GLS is capable of driving through over 23 inches of water when properly equipped.

Positioned at the very top of the lineup, the physics-defying Mercedes-AMG GLS63 packs a hand-built 5.5-liter V8 that uses two big turbochargers to provide 577 ponies — 27 more than the outgoing model — and 561 lb-ft. of torque from just 1,750 rpm. A seven-speed automatic transmission controlled by shift paddles sends power to all four wheels, but performance specifications haven’t been published yet.

The 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class will go on sale nationwide next month, and the first deliveries are scheduled for March of next year. Pricing information will be published in the coming weeks.

GOOGLE’S SMART REPLY FOR INBOX USES

Pecking out replies to emails on a smartphone is bad enough, but somehow worse when they’re all incredibly inane — typing “I’m on it” or “Sounds good” dozens upon dozens of times throughout the day is, needless to say, frustrating. But if Google’s new project works as advertised, that monotonous chore will soon be a thing of the past. On Tuesday, the search giant revealed Smart Reply, a feature for Inbox that uses artificial intelligence to generate quick replies for emails.

According to Google software engineer Bálint Miklós, Smart Reply is a two-part ordeal: It scans the content of the e-mail and, based on what it learns, generates three possible responses. It’s a machine learning workflow Miklós calls “sequence-to-sequence learning” — one flexible enough to understand the meaning or intent of an e-mail without getting stuck on unfamiliar words but powerful enough to spit out replies that make grammatical and contextual sense. The end result is a system which works far better than “brittle, rule-based systems ever could,” said Miklós.

But the first iteration of Smart Reply wasn’t perfect. It had a tendency to suggest replies that, while worded differently, were identical in meaning. And more amusingly, it frequently offered “I love you” as a possible response (the reason, Miklós said, is because “I love you” is an unsurprisingly common answer). A few tweaks to the system’s understanding of semantics later, though, and Smart Reply was “a less lovely, but far more useful, email assistant,” Miklós wrote.

Useful enough for prime time, at least. Miklós said that Smart Reply will roll out on Inbox for Android and iOS later this week.

Smart Reply isn’t Google’s first application of machine learning to e-mail’s more onerous tasks — in July, it rolled out an “artificial neural network” for the purpose of better identifying spam and phishing scams. Google’s artificially intelligent email may be a far cry from an inbox that clears itself, but here’s hoping that’s a dream realized — within reason, of course — sooner rather than later.

U.S. Issues Huge Fine Over Airbags as Honda Drops Takata

Honda Motor Company on Tuesday dropped the embattled manufacturer Takata as its airbag supplier, concluding that the company, its longtime partner, had “misrepresented and manipulated test data.” 

Also on Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a $70 million penalty for Takata, one of the world’s largest airbag makers, for failing to promptly disclose defects in its airbags, millions of which have now been recalled. That penalty could increase by $130 million if Takata does not live up to the terms of the consent order, a condition that would make it a record civil punishment for the auto industry.

Anthony Foxx, the transportation secretary, also said that Takata manipulated the test data. In its consent order, the safety agency said that “in several instances, Takata produced testing reports that contained selective, incomplete, or inaccurate data.”

“Delay, misdirection and a refusal to acknowledge the truth allowed a serious problem to become a massive crisis,” Mr. Foxx said at a news conference. “When we first brought this issue to light, there was a lot of denial on the part of Takata.”

How the Takata Scandal Unfolded

• May 2004

  An airbag explodes in a 2002 Honda Accord. Honda and Takata deem it “an anomaly” and do not involve federal safety regulators.

• November 2008

  After becoming aware of three more ruptures in 2007, Honda recalls about 4,000 vehicles to repair Takata airbags for potential ruptures — the first recall related to the defect.

• November 2009

  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opens an investigation into Takata’s airbags. It closes it months later, citing the seemingly isolated nature of the problem.

• June 2014

  After deaths related to defective airbags, N.H.T.S.A. opens another investigation. Major automakers, including Toyota and BMW, begin regional recalls over the next several months.

• November 2014

  N.H.T.S.A. demands that Takata and automakers expand their recalls to cover the entire United States. Takata does not immediately comply.

• May 2015

  Takata admits that millions of its airbags are defective. N.H.T.S.A. estimates that more than 19 million vehicles are affected. 

• November 2015

  N.H.T.S.A. announces that it has levied a fine of up to $200 million against Takata, the largest civil punishment ever imposed in the auto industry.
• Eight deaths and over 100 injuries have been linked to the defective airbags, whose metal casing, called an inflater, can rupture violently, sending shards flying into the passenger cabin. More than 19 million vehicles in the United States and millions more worldwide have been recalled. In a statement, a Takata spokesman, Jared Levy, did not dispute the claims that the company had manipulated testing data.
• “We do not believe that these issues, which we brought to the attention of N.H.T.S.A., are connected to the current recalls, which extensive testing continues to show are associated with long-term exposure to conditions of high heat and absolute humidity,” Mr. Levy said.
  “Indeed, some of the issues relate to development testing done on inflaters for Honda vehicles 15 years ago, which have been subject to recalls for several years,” he said.
  
  
  A Honda spokesman said that information it had now indicated that Takata “was not forthcoming” during a N.H.T.S.A. investigation into the earliest recalls over the defect.
  “Honda has also identified other apparent instances of misleading or inaccurate test data that were provided to Honda over time,” the spokesman, Chris Martin, added. “The Takata airbag inflater test data of which Honda is now aware relates to a variety of testing.”
  Mr. Martin declined to give further details. He said that Honda had alerted federal regulators to these documents as they had become available, and had ordered third-party auditing of all of Takata’s test data to more fully understand the issue.
  
  
  In a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, Hiroshi Shimizu, Takata’s senior vice president for global quality assurance, denied that company engineers had manipulated test data. 
  “There was no problem with our test results. But because there was variation in the data, we did not report everything. We reported only part of the data,” Mr. Shimizu said.
  Still, he said, “there was no data manipulation.”
  Though Honda has distanced itself from Takata, for years it had stood by its supplier. Airbags make up Takata’s largest business, accounting for about 40 percent of the company’s sales to external customers. And the United States is Takata’s largest market, accounting for about 37 percent of its net sales.
  Takata shares have slumped 45 percent since last fall as scrutiny of the issue has mounted. 
  Honda said that no new Honda and Acura models under development would be equipped with front driver or passenger Takata airbag inflaters. Takata continues to supply Honda with other safety equipment, including seatbelts.
  Honda alerted Takata to an airbag rupture more than a decade ago. Deeming the episode an anomaly, it did not issue a recall or seek the involvement of federal safety regulators.
  Internal tests conducted by Takata have been a source of increasing concern as regulators and lawmakers have tried to determine the root cause of the defect. Last year, The New York Times reported that steel inflaters in two of the airbags cracked during tests. But Takata executives discounted the results and ordered the lab technicians to delete the testing data and dispose of the inflaters, according to two former employees, including a senior member of the testing lab. Takata denied the accusations.
  Last month, The Times reported that in 2010, as Takata and Honda assured regulators that the airbag explosions were linked to isolated manufacturing issues, they were also enlisting the help of a top pyrotechnic lab at Pennsylvania State University to determine whether its propellant, called ammonium nitrate, might have been at the heart of the problem. When the study’s 2012 conclusion cast doubt on the use of ammonium nitrate, Takata dismissed the result and waited more than two years before sharing the research with regulators.
  Now, though, Takata will be changing how it makes its airbags.
  As part of the consent order, Takata is required to phase out its use of ammonium nitrate unless it can prove that it is safe.
  Former Takata engineers have said that they raised concerns about the use of the compound in the late 1990s, saying that it is too unstable for a precision product like an airbag. But their concerns went unheeded, they have said.
  If Takata cannot show regulators that the compound is safe, it will be required to recall all of its airbags that contain ammonium nitrate inflaters.
  “There are potentially millions more,” Mr. Foxx said, though he did not have an exact number.
  The long-awaited punishment caps years of recalls, congressional hearings and shifting explanations by Takata to try to explain what was causing the airbags to explode.
  “Takata said it had isolated the problem, it said it had uncovered the mistakes that led to ruptures, and it had pledged its products were safe,” Mr. Foxx said. “But we know that the ruptures have continued.”
  Mark R. Rosekind, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, referred to a meeting between Takata officials and safety regulators in January 2012. Takata, he said, “failed to clarify inaccurate information” provided to the agency during a presentation. He said Takata had also failed to comply fully with instructions in orders issued by the agency in the fall of 2014.
  Takata’s chairman struck a tone on Tuesday that was in contrast to the resistance the company gave regulators a year ago, when it insisted that the safety agency had no legal authority to compel an auto supplier to conduct a recall.
  “We deeply regret the circumstances that led to this consent order,” Shigehisa Takada, Takata’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “This settlement is an important step forward for Takata that will enable us to focus on rebuilding the trust of automakers, regulators and the driving public.”
  Honda’s decision to change suppliers is particularly damaging to Takata’s finances, analysts said.
  Honda, together with Volkswagen, General Motors, Renault-Nissan and Fiat Chrysler, accounted for over half of Takata’s consolidated net sales in the 12 months through March 2015, according to its latest annual report. As of March 31, Honda also held a 1.2 percent equity stake in Takata.
  “Takata is certainly in a very bad spot, both from a financial as well as a business partner standpoint,” said Akshay Anand, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book.
  “This whole issue was a potential death knell for Takata from the start,” he added, “and things aren’t getting any easier.”