Our 2018 Honda Accord Sport test car. Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider
The Honda Accord has long been a major player the in the midsize sedan market. Since 1976, Americans have purchased more than 13 million Accords.
Even though sales of passengers cars, in general, have fallen considerably over the past few years, the Accord and its rivals from Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and others remain strong sellers.
Through July, Honda has sold more than 163,000 Accords in the US, making it the number tk best seller in the midsize segment.
For the 2018 model year, Honda rolled out a brand new 10 generation Accord.
After a decade in the wind, Honda's passenger cars have been resurgent in recent years. The Japanese automaker absolutely nailed the current 10th generation Civic back in 2016.
And Honda looks to return the Accord to its former glory after earning mixed reviews for its eighth and ninth generation models.
Earlier this year, Honda dropped off a 2018 Honda Accord 2.0T Sport in San Marino Red for Business Insider to evaluate. And it certainly didn't disappoint.
We came away impressed by the Accord's new infotainment system, interior design, and powerful turbocharged engine.
Our Marysville, Ohio-built Accord test car was an absolute blast to drive. Especially considering the fact that, at its heart, it is a sensible family sedan. The 252 horsepower, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, and six-speed manual transmission delivered strong acceleration off the line and silky smooth power while cruising.
The base 2018 Accord LX starts at $23,570, while the top-of-the-line Touring model starts at $33,800.
Our mid-grade Sport model starts at $25,780, but fees and the optional 2.0-liter engine pushed the as-tested price up to $31,200.
The 2018 Honda Accord is available with an impressive mix of luxury, tech, and safety features. Here's a look at its coolest features:
It isn't always easy to carve out time for a vacation.
The average American worker takes just eight days a year, according to 2015 figures from the US Department of Labor.
That would have been unimaginable for a medieval peasant, who took anywhere from eight weeks to half the year off.
The short breaks mean that Americans are donating an average of $604 in work time to their employers every year in unused vacation time that can't be rolled over or paid out, according to a 2017 estimate from the US Travel Association.
Nearly half (49%) of American workers said they can't vacation because their workloads are too heavy, according to a 2016 survey from NPR, Harvard, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. And 42% of those survey respondents said they felt they couldn't take all their paid vacation days because there weren't enough people to cover for them.
But there are some signs Americans are starting to change their ways: a 2018 report from the US Travel Association suggests that after two decades of declines in the number of vacation days workers took per year, employees who work more than 35 hours a week and receive paid time off are now starting to both earn and use up more allotted holiday time than they did a few years back. In 2017, vacationers spent an an extra half day away from their desks on average than they did in 2016, according to the report.
Although it can feel tough to get away from the office, we're likely not doing ourselves any favors by working ourselves into the ground. There are real, important benefits to a restful vacation.
Here's what vacation can do for your body and your brain, according to research.
Nervous stock traders at the exchange in Rio de Janeiro. Gregg Newton/Reuters
US markets are headed in the opposite direction to the rest of the world.
Last week, US stocks extended their recovery from the correction in February and powered to new highs. Strong second-quarter earnings were powerful enough to make this the longest-running bull market— a feat which was confirmed on Friday, August 23, when the S&P 500 closed above its January high of 2,872.87.
However, emerging-market stocks and other risky assets are still stuck in a rut.
The S&P 500 has gained 8.6% this year, but the MSCI Emerging Markets index has slumped by almost the same magnitude (-8.7%).
The pain in emerging markets has not been limited to equities. Turkey's lira, which lost more than one-third of its value in August, is perhaps the poster child of a sell-off in EM currencies that's was partly triggered by higher US interest rates. And right on cue, the emerging-markets carry trade, in which investors borrowed in US dollars to invest in foreign places with higher interest rates, has also fallen sharply.
"Non-US equities have underperformed the US by the most since the Global Financial Crisis and EM equities are back sub-11x earnings," said James Barty, the head of global cross-asset and emerging-market strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Even though emerging markets are deep in the red, it's not the same for the rest of the world. The MSCI All-Country World Index, for example, has gained 2.2%, outpacing its emerging-market counterpart.
This is one reason why Barty and his team at BofAML are not throwing in the towel on the global economy just yet. They referred to the current weakness in emerging markets as a "non-recession turning point," adding that similar episodes in the past have been followed by recovery after the initial weakness.
Still, the pullback begs the question of whether it's an opportunity to buy non-US risk assets.
"This is the big call investors have to make," Barty said. "Is it right to continue to anticipate strong global growth and therefore buy risk assets into this pullback? Or are we sufficiently close to the end of the cycle that they should be switching into more defensive assets and selling into any rally?"
The short answer is no. Barty observed that the output gap — between what OECD countries are producing and their potential — is still rising.
"Historically the peak in the cycle is somewhere between 1.5% and 3% positive, as it normally requires some inflation to get central banks to hit the brakes.," Barty said.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
This means there's scope for a rebound in emerging and other non-US markets, even though downside risks remain — notably from China, according to Barty.
Accordingly, Barty's team has taken a trading approach that would benefit from a rebound in risk assets while hedging on the downside. These trades include:
Long US industrials relative to the S&P 500.
Maintain puts on the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index and on AUD/JPY .
Remain bearish on US rates, but move from a short position on the 7-year note to an option position in 6m5y swaps.
Uighur men gather for a holiday meal in Turpan County, Xinjiang, in September 2016. They are not mentioned in this report. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
New details have emerged of the re-education camps in which China has been accused of imprisoning up to 1 million Uighurs, a majority-Muslim ethnic minority, in the country's western region of Xinjiang.
Political prisoners in those camps are both physically and mentally tortured, two eyewitnesses of the camp told BBC Newsnight in a documentary aired on Thursday night.
One, named Azat, had been in a detention centre to visit a detainee, while the other, named Omir, had been imprisoned in one of the camps. Both are Uighurs, and have since fled Xinjiang, the BBC said. The broadcaster did not disclose Azat or Omir's current locations because they feared retribution from the Chinese government.
Omir, who was detained in Karamay, north Xinjiang, described being shackled to a chair, deprived of sleep, and beaten by police in his camp.
He told the BBC:
"They have a chair called the 'tiger.' My ankles were shackled, my hands locked to the chair. I couldn't move. They wouldn't let me sleep. They also hung me up for hours, and they beat me.
"They had thick wooden and rubber batons, whips made from twisted wire, needles to pierce the skin, pliers for pulling out your nails.
"All these tools were displayed on the table in front of me, ready for use at any time. You could hear other people screaming as well."
Omir describes being tortured by Chinese police at an internment camp in Karamay, Xinjiang. BBC Newsnight
Omir added that he was later moved to another internment camp, where he was forced to share a small room with 45 other people. They took turns sleeping because there was so little space, he told the BBC.
He said he ended up in a camp after police accused him of aiding Islamic extremists — an allegation he has denied.
China justifies its surveillance and crackdown in Xinjiang as preventing terrorism, and has repeatedly accused militant Uighurs of starting terrorist attacks across the country since at least the mid-1990s.
Omir's account squares with previous reporting on the camps, such as that by Simon Denyer of The Washington Post published this May. Kayrat Samarkand, another Uighur who had been imprisoned in a re-education camp, also described being strapped in the "tiger chair" and being waterboarded if he disobeyed orders.
Read more:Why the Muslim world isn't saying anything about China's repression and 'cultural cleansing' of its downtrodden Muslim minority
Law-enforcement officials patrol near the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
The torture in China's camps appears to go beyond the physical. Azat, who had visited someone detained in a camp, described seeing detainees literally forced to sing propaganda songs to get food, and watching people he used to know look like the "lost their memory."
Azat, whose face and voice were obscured for his protection, told the BBC: "It was dinner time. There were at least 1,200 people holding empty plastic bowls in their hands. They had to sing pro-Chinese songs to get food."
He told the BBC added that he recognized people he used to know among the prisoners, saying:
"They were like robots. They seemed to have lost their souls. I knew many of them well — [we] used to sit and eat together.
"But now they didn't look normal to me. They behaved as if they weren't aware of what they were doing. They were like someone who had lost their memory after a car crash."
Azat's observations are consistent with those cited in The Washington Post's May report, which said that a typical day in an internment camp in Karamagay, another village in Xinjiang, included studying President Xi Jinping's political dogma, singing about the Chinese Communist Party, and chanting phrases like "Long live Xi Jinping."
Uighurs in Kashgar, Xinjiang, carry a flag of the Chinese Communist Party and walk past a billboard with President Xi Jinping's face on it in June 2017. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
The Chinese government has denied that internment camps exist, but have acknowledged a program of "resettlement" for people it refers to as extremists. It also told the BBC that the Xinjiang government "has taken lawful and effective measures including education and training to prevent the infiltration and spread of religious extremism."
The UN on Thursday called on China to "halt the practice of detaining individuals who have not been lawfully charged, tried, and convicted for a criminal offense in any extra-legal detention centre."
A group of 17 bipartisan lawmakers in the US also wrote an open letter on Wednesday calling on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to apply sanctions against China for its repression on the Uighurs.
Sadiq Khan has laughed off plans to launch a balloon blimp of him in a bikini in central London.. Getty
LONDON — London Mayor Sadiq Khan has laughed off plans by far-right campaigners to launch a balloon blimp of him in central London on Saturday.
The campaign, which was set up and promoted by known Donald Trump-supporters and anti-Islam activists, was created in response to Khan's decision to allow a blimp depicting the US President in a nappy to be flown in Parliament Square during his visit to the UK this summer.
Some of those backing the Khan campaign predicted there would be an "outcry" if the protest was allowed to go ahead. However, Khan laughed off the protest on Thursday.
In a statement released to Business Insider, he said: "If people want to spend their Saturday looking at me in a yellow bikini they're welcome to do so - I don't really think yellow's my colour though."
Khan's comments come as former UKIP leader and leading Trump supporter, Nigel Farage, raised the prospect of standing against Khan in the next London mayoral election.
Farage told the Financial Times that he was being urged by supporters to stand against the London mayor, who defeated Conservative candidate for the job Zac Goldsmith, in 2016.
LONDON - Talk of a new political party is dominating discussions in the bars and coffee shops of Westminster as both the Conservatives and Labour spend their summers in varying degrees of internal warfare.
With the main two parties increasingly polarised and dysfunctional, discussions have turned to the possibility of a new party prepared to scoop up voters who identify neither with Theresa May's Tories or Jeremy Corbyn's Labour.
The name that most often crops up in these conversations is Simon Franks. Franks was the multimillionaire owner of LoveFilm and a former Labour donor who is close to launching a mysterious party he has been quietly working on since late 2016.
This new party, 'United for Change,' has been targeting figures from the three main parties ahead of an official launch. However, what shape that party would take, who would stand for it, and what would it stand for, are all questions that have been unanswered until now.
So what is 'United for Change' and what does it want to achieve? Business Insider has been talking to people with inside knowledge of Franks' plans to get the fullest picture yet of the new party that hopes to transform British politics.
How it all began
Simon Franks speaking at Labour Conference YouTube
In late 2016, Franks discussed his plan to create a new party over dinner with Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent Drinks and former Vice Chair of the pro-Remain Britain Stronger In Europe campaign, and Alex Chesterman, the founder of Zoopla. Former and current staff members from existing political parties, mainly Labour, were also present.
Franks, frustrated with what he regarded as tribalism and poor leadership in Westminster politics, decided he would set up a new party. He planned to throw together a small team of advisors and press officers plucked from across Westminster and launch in late 2019, around six months after Britain's scheduled exit from the EU.
Franks believed he should launch United For Change first and worry about politicians and policies later. "First would be the launch," one staffer told BI. "Then in Simon's mind, the money and supporters would come. After that, you would be able to hire 'top tier' advisors. Finally, the politicians and defections would come too."
Those around Franks were baffled by this plan, however. One senior campaign manager who held meetings with him described the strategy as "incredibly naive." Political figures who Franks approached weren't impressed, either.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Vote Leave Campaign Director Dominic Cummings, and Patrick Heneghan, ex-Labour campaign director, all left meetings with United For Change uninterested in getting involved, sources told BI. Labour and Lib Dem press officers were allegedly offered starting salaries of £40,000 a year to join United For Change.
"I was working under the impression it would just be me and Simon", one source present at early meetings said. "Then I turned up, and there were seven or eight people in the room with us."
From anti-Brexit to UKIP-lite
United for Change webpage unitedforchange.uk While most talk about a new British political party focuses on an opposition to Brexit, United For Change will be no such outfit — at least according to Franks' current plans.
Franks considered creating an anti-Brexit party but changed his mind after polling indicated greater demand for a party closer in outlook to UKIP than Anna Soubry and Chuka Umunna. Insiders cited figures like Cummings' willingness to interact with United for Change as evidence they were not looking to be the party of Remain.
Instead, United For Change is set to be an "anti-politics" party, multiple insiders have told BI, with the "old Labour vote" — historic Labour supporters targeted by UKIP and Leave.EU — its intended audience.
In notes leaked to BI, United for Change has drafted an eclectic mix of policy ideas, like more English language classes for migrants, cracking down on missed NHS appointments, and closing tax loopholes. Insiders say that Franks is more interested in sentiment than policy. "He's more [Donald] Trump than [Emmanuel] Macron," one told BI.
MPs often touted as potential defectors want little to do with United For Change. Indeed, the project is totally separate from conversations between Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem MPs about a new centrist movement.
One leading Labour backbencher said Franks was "pissing in the wind," and an example of "business people getting involved in politics thinking they can do it better than politicians, but soon find out it's not like running a business."
They added: "The last person to launch a new party in this country right now is a multimillionaire... The alt-left which runs the Labour party and the alt-right in the Tories would have an absolute field day."
The last person to launch a new party in this country right now is a multimillionaire... The alt-left which runs the Labour party and the alt-right in the Tories would have an absolute field day.
But if not anti-Brexit, and already unpopular with potential breakaway MPs, then what does Franks have in mind?
As things stand, United For Change doesn't have much to offer on policy. This is at least partly due to Franks' indecisiveness, insiders claimed, evidenced in his decision to ditch early plans of being unambiguously pro-EU.
More recently, the LoveFilm founder has taken a page out of the Lib Dems' book, and approached political strategists in Canada for advice, well-placed sources told BI. United For Change seemingly does not have a great deal in the politics of Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron — but insiders say Franks admires their styles.
"Macron has a lot to answer for," a well-placed source said. "Every f****r wants to be Macron."
United For Change will for the time being be reliant on Franks' persuading donors, MPs and policy wonks to get involved. This could be tricky, given he is apparently pretty unpopular in the Westminster bubble.
"He's conceited and rude," one Labour MP said. A United for Change source added: "If you're going to start a new party, you've got to see eye to eye with the people you're starting it with." Another staffer described him as "highly abrasive." A source familiar with Franks' conversations with MPs claimed he scrapped plans to hold a summer barbeque for potential defectors due to a lack of interest. Franks has not responded to BI's request for comment.
Disunited for change
REUTERS/Neil Hall With United For Change unlikely to win over MPs anytime soon, and with a manifesto half-baked at best, it is not surprising that the general consensus in Westminster is that Franks' political adventure is doomed to fail.
His project has already suffered an exodus of sorts. In July, United for Change was said to have had around 12 full-time staff members, which is now down to 4. Adam Knight, who served as Chief Executive Officer, has reportedly left to start his own project separately, called Twelve Together.
Meanwhile, those in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's office are much more concerned about anti-Brexit Labour MPs like Umunna and Chris Leslie breaking away to join forces with like-minded MPs in the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
However, with many voters still disillusioned with the two main political parties, the opportunity for a new party to transform British politics still remains to be grasped.
We visited British Airways Technical Block A, which is home to 16 flight simulators making it the biggest flight simulator facility in the UK.
British Airways Captain Claire Bunton taught us how to fly the Airbus A380, which is the biggest commercial airplane in the world. We learned how to take off, fly, and land the giant aircraft.
BA pilots spend around 50 hours inside the simulator as part of their training, but we only spent one hour inside.
See how we did with just one hour of training.
Produced and filmed by David Ibekwe. Additional Camera by Charlie Floyd. Special Thanks to Britsih Airways.
