Maya Kosoff

Google is turning its self-driving cars unit into a standalone business under Alphabet next year, Bloomberg's John Lippert and Jack Clark reported Wednesday.

Google's autonomous cars will offer "rides for hire," according to Bloomberg. That's still pretty vague, but it doesn't sound much different from the service Uber provides — especially since one of Uber's goals, CEO Travis Kalanick has said, is to get into the driverless car business.

"Look, Google is doing the driverless thing, Tesla is doing the driverless thing, Apple is doing the driverless thing," Kalanick said in an interview with "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert in September.

Sleiman Frangieh

Beirut (AFP) - The Lebanese parliament failed for the 33rd time Wednesday to elect a president, despite cautious expectations that a consensus had formed around politician Suleiman Frangieh, a childhood friend of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014, when the mandate of Michel Sleiman expired, because the country's Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Druze cannot agree on a candidate. Under a power-sharing agreement, the president is always drawn from the Maronite Christian community, the prime minister is a Sunni and the parliament speaker a Shiite.

Speaker Nabih Berri scheduled a new session for January 7 after the required two-thirds of MPs -- 86 out of 128 -- was not reached, the National News Agency reported. Only 45 lawmakers showed up. A tentative consensus had seemed to emerge early this month on Frangieh, but his chances dimmed after Wednesday's failed vote.

Armin Rosen

US Secretary of State John Kerry signaled a seemingly significant shift for the US's policy in Syria on Tuesday, after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

"The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change," Kerry said in reference to the US's preferred outcome to the Syrian civil war, according to The Associated Press.

The statement appears to conflict with years of US policy.

US officials, including US President Barack Obama, have insisted since August 18, 2011, that embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down from power.

100 LIVES launches the 'Amal Clooney Scholarship' - an annual scholarship for young Lebanese women to pursue a degree at the United World College (UWC) Dilijan in Armenia. 

 The new 'Amal Clooney Scholarship' is part of an ongoing effort by 100 LIVES - the organization behind the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity - to strengthen cross-cultural education and understanding through collaborative social and philanthropic projects.

"As a leading human rights barrister and campaigner, Amal Clooney is an inspirational role model for young women around the world. She exemplifies integrity, compassion and dedication - and typifies what it means to be a global citizen across all cultures." said Ruben Vardanyan, co-founder of 100 LIVES and UWC Dilijan College, an international co-educational boarding school hosting students from 64 countries. "100 LIVES recognizes the need for future