Got a 5 hour flight but only an hour or two worth of battery left on your gadgets? Depending on your airline, you may have a power outlet or USB port in your seat. Here's how to find out which planes have some extra juice to give.
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Siri's clearly found hitching lifts in Chevy's Spark and Sonic cars comfortable, as it's now planning road trips in several of the company's other rides. Apple's virtual assistant will now partner with MyLink infotainment systems in 2014 editions of the Camaro, Cruze, Equinox, Malibu, SS and Volt, ...NEW YORK (AP) — After 20 years, it's possible for the details of a relationship to get fuzzy.
Just ask David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, who first premiered their roles as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully on "The X-Files" two decades ago. The series aired nine seasons and resulted in two feature films.
While the two were unsure where they left their relationship in the show and films, the 53-year-old Duchovny and 45-year-old Anderson both said they're open to making a third "X-Files" movie.
The actors got together Saturday to mark the 20th Anniversary of the series' premiere. They participated in a panel discussion for fans at The Paley Center for Media in New York.
When asked where their characters left off, the two weren't completely clear on the specifics.
"Well they (Mulder and Scully) were married the last movie," Duchovny said, referring to 2008's "The X-Files: I Want to Believe."
"Were we actually married?" Anderson asked.
"I believe so. That was my impression," he responded.
Their characters did become romantically involved in the TV series and were a couple during the 2008 movie. However, it was not clear whether they were married.
The both are clear, however, about their interest in another "X-Files" film.
"All the principals are on board," including "X-Files" creator Chris Carter, Duchovny said. "Gillian and I want to do it, so it's really up to Twentieth Century Fox at this point."
Anderson said if fans want another film they should let their voices be heard.
"If it takes fan encouragement to get Fox interested in that then I guess that's what it would be."
An email message sent to Twentieth Century Fox seeking comment on Saturday was not immediately returned.
For an indefinite future, Duchovny and Anderson spent a lot of time over the weekend promoting the franchise. They appeared at Comic-Con in New York and also took part in a "ask me anything" session on the website Reddit.
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Alicia Rancilio covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her online at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The imprisoned leader of the Kurdish rebels on Monday called for the start of "meaningful and deep" talks with Turkey to end a nearly three-decade-old conflict.
Abdullah Ocalan's message was relayed by Kurdish lawmakers days after his rebel group, which is engaged in peace talks with Turkey, accused Turkish leaders of not taking enough steps toward granting greater rights for the Kurdish minority. The rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, also warned it could end a unilateral cease-fire that began six months ago.
The PKK already has suspended a planned pullout from Turkish territory into bases in northern Iraq, saying Turkey has not kept its promises.
Last month, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a package of reforms to help restore momentum to the peace process. The proposals included lifting some restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language, but the rebel group and Kurdish politicians said those steps fell short of expectations.
Ocalan said he still hopes for a solution but warned that "in-depth" negotiations must start soon.
"I have presented my proposals to the state... I am waiting to see the state's position toward the start of meaningful and deep negotiations," Ocalan said in his message. He did not provide any details on his proposals.
Ocalan is leading the peace talks with Turkey from a prison island off Istanbul, where he is serving a life term.
The PKK has fought Turkey for autonomy for Kurds in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984. The group is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Kurds, who make up an estimated 20 percent of Turkey's some 75 million people, have faced decades of discrimination including restrictions on the use of their language.
By Chris Francescani
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mother of "Baby Hope", who was murdered and packed in a cooler in 1991 and only recently identified, said she was devastated to hear about her daughter's death allegedly at the hands of a relative, according to news reports.
Margarita Castillo, 52, broke her silence on Monday, telling reporters from behind her Queens apartment door that she is "just waiting for justice" for Anjelica Castillo, who was four at the time of her death.
"We are not going to have peace," she said in Spanish, the New York Daily News reported. "You can't even describe a punishment."
Two sources close to the case told Reuters that a Manhattan grand jury is reviewing evidence against Conrado Juarez, 52, a relative of the victim on her father's side, who was arrested on Saturday in connection with the case.
Juarez confessed to the killing after more than 12 hours of interrogation, his court-appointed public defender, Michael Croce, said on Monday.
Juarez, who despite his age was Angelica's cousin, has been placed in protective custody on Riker's Island "for his own safety" Croce said, adding that Juarez "is in a state of shock."
Castillo, meanwhile, is cooperating with investigators, one of the two sources told Reuters on Monday.
ANONYMOUS TIP
The extraordinary brutality of the "Baby Hope" case shocked New Yorkers as news accounts cited investigators' findings about her final days.
Her bound, asphyxiated body was found packed beneath soda cans inside a cooler along a Manhattan highway in July 1991. She had been starved and sexually abused in the days preceding her death, investigators said.
New York detectives on the case for years had called the nameless child "Baby Hope" and paid for her funeral and burial when no one came forward to identify her - and vowed never to give up their pursuit of her killer.
A fresh lead emerged last summer after police cold case investigators launched a publicity campaign tied to the 22nd anniversary of the gruesome 1991 discovery.
A tip from the dead child's older stepsister led police to Castillo, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited an unidentified law enforcement source late on Monday. Soon investigators approached Juarez, a dish washer at a Greenwich Village restaurant.
LINGERING QUESTIONS
Still, crucial questions surrounding the child's disappearance remain unanswered.
Chief among those is why no one - including her mother, father, other relatives, neighbors or any of Castillo's nine other children by three different men - ever reported the child missing.
On Monday, Castillo declined to answer that question, the Daily News reported.
A law enforcement source involved in the case said Castillo, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, may have feared deportation if she drew authorities' attention to her family.
The two sources close to the case told Reuters that Anjelica's parents split up in the late 1980s. Her father took Anjelica and two other daughters by Castillo to live with his niece and other relatives in another section of Queens.
Soon after the split, people familiar with the case said, Castillo went to the relative's apartment to retrieve her daughters, but only came away with one.
Anjelica and another sister stayed with their father and his relatives, until the father returned to his native Mexico. The two sisters were left with the relatives, the sources said.
Sometime soon after that, Anjelica disappeared from the apartment. Castillo told investigators that when she began to inquire about her daughter's whereabouts with the relatives the child had been left with, she was told that Anjelica was no longer living there, but little more, according to a law enforcement source.
Investigators are continuing to question Juarez and other relatives about the case.
(Reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by Ken Wills)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, leans in toward Afghan President Hamid Karzai as they say goodbye at the end of a news conference announcing a tentative agreement between the two countries at the Presidential Palace during Kerry's unannounced stop in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013, as a deadline approaches for a security deal about the future of U.S. troops in the country. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, leans in toward Afghan President Hamid Karzai as they say goodbye at the end of a news conference announcing a tentative agreement between the two countries at the Presidential Palace during Kerry's unannounced stop in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013, as a deadline approaches for a security deal about the future of U.S. troops in the country. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry paces while on a mobile phone call from the second story of the Afghan Presidential Palace during a break in an extended meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the palace during an unannounced stop in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013, as a deadline approaches for a security deal about the future of U.S. troops in the country. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, turns with Afghan President Hamid Karzai as they say goodbye at the end of a news conference announcing a tentative agreement between the two countries at the Presidential Palace during Kerry's unannounced stop in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013, as a deadline approaches for a security deal about the future of U.S. troops in the country. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry leaves ISAF Headquarters as he leaves Afghanistan after announcing with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that they've reached a tentative agreement in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013, as a deadline approaches for a security deal about the future of U.S. troops in the country. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, points toward U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as he jokes with him at the start of a news conference at the Presidential Palace during Kerry's unannounced stop in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013, as a deadline approaches for a security deal about the future of U.S. troops in the country. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. and Afghan President Hamid Karzai reached an agreement in principle Saturday on the major elements of a deal that would allow American troops to stay in Afghanistan after 2014.
However, U.S. officials said a potentially deal-breaking issue of jurisdiction over those forces must still be worked out with some political and tribal leaders in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials traveling with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the deal negotiated with Karzai meets all American conditions, including on the jurisdiction issue, and that all that remains is for Karzai to win political approval for it.
During the talks, Kerry made frequent phone calls back to Washington, speaking with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and national security adviser Susan Rice multiple times, the officials said.
The American contingent was hopeful that a national consultative assembly of tribal elders, or Loya Jirga, and the Afghan parliament would approve the agreement, the officials said. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the agreement by name.
Kerry spoke with Karzai after a marathon series of meetings and repeated delays of Kerry's departure from Afghanistan. Both men later said agreement had been reached on a series of contentious sovereignty issues and the safety of Afghan citizens at the hands of American and allied troops that had deadlocked talks in the past year.
But Karzai said he would punt the issue of who has jurisdiction for any crimes committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan after 2014 to the Loya Jirga that he has asked to be convened within a month. Their opinion on whether to approve or disapprove an American demand that its forces be remanded to U.S. military courts would then be sent to the Afghan parliament.
Kerry responded that any decision made by the Loya Jirga and parliament would be respected, but he added that if the jurisdiction issue was not resolved there would be no agreement.
In Iraq, a similar deal fell apart after U.S. officials were unable to reach an agreement with the Iraqis on the same issue that would have allowed a small training and counterterrorism force to remain there. The United States completely pulled out of Iraq after the deal collapsed.
The jurisdiction issue came to the fore after an American soldier, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, killed 16 people in two villages in southern Afghanistan last year. He was convicted in August by a military court and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of release.
Kerry explained that the issue should not be equated with immunity, as it is perceived by many Afghans. He said the United States would prosecute any wrongdoing and that similar agreements existed with many countries, like Japan and South Korea.
Kerry began negotiations with Karzai in the morning, the second day of talks after he arrived late Friday. He left shortly after the last meeting, headed for Europe and the United States.
Discussions had repeatedly stalled in recent weeks over Karzai's demand for American guarantees against future foreign intervention from countries like Pakistan, and U.S. demands for any post-2014 residual force to be able to conduct counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations.
The situation deteriorated in the past week following a series of angry comments from Karzai that the United States and NATO were repeatedly violating Afghanistan's sovereignty and inflicting suffering on its people.
Karzai has been reticent to sign a deal, worried about his legacy and possibly because of a lingering bitterness over what he considered as foreign meddling in the 2009 presidential vote that almost cost him the election. Having completed a second term, he is not eligible to run in the April 5 presidential elections.
He is keenly aware that previous leaders of his country historically have been punished for selling out to foreign interests and wants to make sure that any U.S.-Afghan agreement is not seen in that light.
There currently are an estimated 87,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including about 52,000 Americans. That number will be halved by February and all foreign combat troops will be gone by the end of next year.
The U.S. wants to keep as many as 10,000 troops in the country to go after the remnants of al-Qaida, but if no agreement is signed, all U.S. troops would have to leave by Dec. 31, 2014. President Barack Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press he would be comfortable with a full pullout of U.S. troops.
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Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-13-Kerry-Afghanistan/id-40fffdfc39084a789f5b17f0be2e43d9
John Moore/Getty Images
It used to be that your cover letter was all about you. But things have changed.The modern cover letter should focus first and foremost on the company it's directed to, career experts say. Gone are the days where you could spend a few paragraphs detailing your own accomplishments. Today, you also need to demonstrate a genuine interest in the company and prove you know how to help it.
"People need to focus their cover letters on the company they’re applying to, not on themselves," says Dan Schawbel, author of best-selling book "Promote Yourself" and managing partner of consultancy Millennial Branding. "Show how you can make a difference for that company."
That's easier said than done, especially when you're trying to distinguish yourself among dozens or hundreds of other applicants. Below, career experts weigh in on the new essential guidelines to writing a successful cover letter.
1. Keep your letter short enough for someone to read in 10 seconds.
Three paragraphs is the ideal length, says Vicki Salemi, a career expert and author of "Big Career in the Big City." Use the first paragraph as an intro, the second for the meat, and the third to wrap up. The hiring manager giving a first read to your letter is probably going to spend 10 seconds or less on it, Salemi adds. They want to read something succinct.
2. Hook your reader's interest in the first sentence.
"It is with great interest that I write to apply for the position of..." is a great first line if you want to lose your reader's interest. It's dreadfully boring. Assuming you applied to the job online, the hiring manager already knows what the position is and that you're writing to apply. Instead, try a professional but bold statement that catches the reader's eye. Salemi suggests opening with a pitch, such as: "Looking for a dynamic marketing guru? Look no further. Here I am."
3. Pick two or three skills from the job description and show you have them.
Read the job description carefully and identify the top two or three qualities the company wants in a candidate, Salemi says. Then use your cover letter to demonstrate you have those skills, giving examples of when and how you've used them in the past. Show that you're equipped to make a difference from day one.
4. Use numbers and statistics to back up your claims.
It's good to say you're experienced with social media. But it's much, much better to say you led a successful social media campaign that generated 3.2 million followers and increased revenue by 3%. The goal, Schawbel says, is to present yourself as a proven results-getter and show that you can replicate your past successes at a new company.
4. Don't just rehash your résumé in paragraph form.
The cover letter is designed to showcase your interest in the company and your best attributes for the position. That doesn't mean it needs an itemized list of your every job and achievement. To be sure, if you won an exceptional award or executed a stunning project, then make sure to highlight it in the letter. You should also discuss previous work that relates specifically to skills and experiences the hiring manager is looking for. But as a general rule of thumb, if it doesn't jump off the page, leave it out.
5. Address your cover letter directly to the hiring manager or recruiter.
Nothing says "I don't care about your company" like an opening of "To Whom It May Concern." That may have been OK before the advent of modern technology, but today it generally takes as little as a Google search or a phone call to figure out the name of the hiring manager. Addressing your letter to the correct person (and spelling their name correctly!) will automatically ingratiate you to the reader and show that you've spent some time researching the company and position.
6. Customize your tone for the company culture.
You might be applying to a Fortune 500 company, a startup, or something in the middle. No two companies are alike, not just in mission but also in culture. An important part of tailoring your cover letter to the company is striking the right tone, Schawbel says. If you know the place you're applying to has a casual vibe, then your letter can reflect that with pithy sentences and fun anecdotes that show an easygoing side of your personality. On the other hand, if the company seems to have a formal culture, it's probably best to use traditional phrases like "Dear Mr./Ms." and straightforward prose.
7. Proofread carefully, and consider getting a second pair of eyes.
How you absolutely don't want to be remembered is as the person that submitted the sloppy cover letter. So proof, proof, and proof again, or enlist a friend to look at your document with a fresh set of eyes. A typo, grammar mistake, misspelling, or other error can "leap off the page in a bad way," Salemi says, and is the easiest way to let a hiring manager knock your application straight from their desk to the trash bin. Don't give them the chance.
What are your most pressing workplace challenges or concerns? What questions do you have on how to get ahead in your career today? Email the Business Insider Careers team at careers@businessinsider.com, and we’ll find the answers.
