This video is sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.

Driving simulators are usually associated with video games, but they're also saving lives. Car companies use them to conduct tests in controlled environments, allowing them to build safer cars. And one of the most powerful driving simulators in the motor industry – a 1,700-horsepower production – belongs to Mercedes-Benz.

The German manufacturer has established itself as a pioneer in vehicle safety. From developing the "safety cage" construction with front and rear crumple zones in 1951 to being the first company to standardize the emergency brake assist in 1998, Mercedes has long placed safety at the forefront of its approach to vehicle development. According to a study from iSeeCars, Mercedes boasted the lowest overall recall rate of any car manufacturer between 1985 and 2014.

At the end of 2010, at its headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, Mercedes rolled out its latest effort in improving vehicle safety: a $34 million driving simulator.

The simulator, a six-legged hexapod anchored to a 12-meter rail (it looks a little like a giant UFO), can fit an entire Mercedes model inside. Weighing over 300 tons, the simulator features a 360-degree projection screen and the ability to mimic extreme driving situations. As the driver accelerates and brakes inside the simulator, the display screen changes to reflect different types of road conditions, including factors such as traffic and pedestrians. Meanwhile, a control center triggers maneuvers, communicates with the driver, and moves the vehicle through its software.

Mercedes' driving simulator allows the company to improve its models long before the hardware prototypes are even available. As a result, safer cars can be developed in a shorter amount of time.

Watch the video above to see the simulator in action and learn more about how it works.

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The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a 24-hour ban on U.S. airlines flying in and out of Israel as violence wrecks the region.

Delta and United Airlines have halted flights to Israel indefinitely.

A Delta flight from New York to Tel Aviv was diverted on Tuesday amid reports that a rocket landed near Ben Gurion Airport, the Associated Press reported. The plane turned around midflight and headed to Paris.

U.S. Airways canceled its Tuesday flight from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv.

There have been several red alerts in Lod, the town near Tel Aviv where the international airport is located, since the escalation between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, began two weeks ago.

It's long been thought that the potential inoperability of Ben Gurion is a strategic red line for Israel.

"We do not want missiles on Petah Tikva, or Grads on the Ben-Gurion international airport," Benjamin Netanyahu said during a major 2009 address on the peace process at Bar Ilan University, early during his term as Israel's prime minister.

Israel has other commercial airports, in Haifa, the Red Sea resort city of Eilat, and Sde Dov, in northern Tel Aviv. But Haifa and Eilat have both come under rocket fire during this latest conflict, and the Eilat airport doesn't have a long enough runway to accommodate a transatlantic jetliner.

Here's the statement from Delta:

Delta has suspended service until further notice to and from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv and its New York-JFK hub. Delta, in coordination with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, is doing so to ensure the safety and security of our customers and employees.

Delta flight 468, a Boeing 747 from JFK with 273 passengers and 17 crew, diverted to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Tuesday after reports of a rocket or associated debris near the airport in Tel Aviv. Delta is working to reaccommodate these customers.

Delta continues to work closely with U.S. and other government resources to monitor the situation. A customer waiver for travel to Tel Aviv is in effect and published on delta.com.

United sent this statement to Business Insider:

We are suspending operations to/from Tel Aviv until further notice. We are working with government officials to ensure the safety of our customers and our employees and will continue to evaluate the situation.

And the FAA sent this statement:

At 12:15 EST on July 22, 2014, the FAA issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) informing U.S. airlines that they are prohibited from flying to or from Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport for a period of up to 24 hours. The notice was issued in response to a rocket strike which landed approximately one mile from Ben Gurion International Airport on the morning of July 22, 2014.  The NOTAM applies only to U.S. operators, and has no authority over foreign airlines operating to or from the airport.

The FAA immediately notified U.S. carriers when the agency learned of the rocket strike and informed them that the agency was finalizing a NOTAM. 

The FAA will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation. Updated instructions will be provided to U.S. airlines as soon as conditions permit, but no later than 24 hours from the time the NOTAM went into force.

The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza on Monday that recommended that U.S. citizens defer any nonessential travel to those areas.

Some foreign airlines have also suspended flights to Israel amid the unrest.

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There's a lot we don't know about what happened to Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

We know that 298 people were killed while flying over eastern Ukraine. Most experts and U.S. intelligence officials have said they believe a surface-to-air missile was fired at the plane and launched from an area controlled by pro-Russian separatists. This isn't the first plane to be shot down in that area by those separatists. Until aviation and forensic investigators are able to examine the crash site, the bodies, and the plane's black-box data recorders, however, it will be hard to say exactly what happened to the plane and its passengers.

Meanwhile, people around the world, including family members of the victims, are left wondering what happened to the passengers in their final moments. While that depends on how much damage the plane sustained, here's what different experts think:

Passengers probably did not suffer and were not aware of what happened, according to Doug Richardson, the editor of I.H.S. Jane's Missiles & Rockets.

Richardson told Time magazine that the Buk missile allegedly used to shoot down the plane normally detonates right before it reaches its target, releasing shrapnel in a way that's designed to cut through multiple parts of an airplane. The explosion would have caused the plane to suddenly lose pressure.

"The decompression would have been quick, and the passengers would have been knocked out before they knew what was happening," Richardson told Time.

David Cenciotti of The Aviationist gave a similar statement to Fox News, concurring that the missile probably caused a massive decompression.

"It's not easy to guess what may have happened, but I think that the aircraft was invested by the shock wave of the missile," he wrote. "The blast and the shrapnel would cause immediate decompression, fire, lack of electric power, inability to move control surfaces."

After the TWA Flight 800 explosion, trauma surgeon James Vosswinkel conducted a full study into that crash. This disaster was of a different nature, but much of his research is also applicable in this case.

His findings reported that after a midair explosion, trauma would be caused by the blast itself, followed by the immediate deceleration of the plane, and then the fall of the aircraft. He told Bloomberg that the loss of cabin pressure would have caused hypoxia within seconds, meaning that everyone would have lost consciousness.

"No one was conscious or experienced that fall," he said.

SEE ALSO: Here's What Investigators Will Be Looking For At The MH17 Crash Site

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Tesla is getting serious about its next vehicle, the highly anticipated Model X. So serious that the company is shutting down production of the Model S sedan for two weeks at its factory in Fremont, Calif. to install new equipment.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is revealing his grand ambitions for a multi-vehicle lineup with this move. The Model X, with its exotic falcon-wing doors and highly touted mashup of "SUV and minivan," will be built on the same assembly line as the award-winning Model S, Bloomberg reports.

This will crank up the plant's output by 25%, if all goes according to plan. Tesla plans to install $100 million in new robots so it can construct both cars at the same time — no easy task for a startup automaker that has so far only managed to build one vehicle at a facility that was formerly shared by Toyota and General Motors.

But there's no question that Tesla needs to allow Model S production to take a brief hit in July in order to lay the critical groundwork for the Model X, the vehicle whose overriding mission is to provide consumers with a cheaper, family-oriented electric car. Tesla wants to begin delivering the Model X by spring 2015.

The decision to retool the Fremont plant may not sit well with Model S customers, who are already being asked to wait until late October to take delivery of their cars. But from Musk's perspective, the assembly line needs to be upgraded now to increase Model S production to meet both domestic and, increasingly, Chinese demand.

SEE ALSO: The First Person Ever To Die In A Tesla Is A Guy Who Stole One

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On any given weekday, commuters into Manhattan almost double the island's population. 

During the workday, Manhattan's overall population rises from around 1.6 million to 3.1 million people as workers scramble to get to work on time. About 608,000 people, nearly the population of Baltimore, commute into New York City from across the Tri-State area.

NJ Transit alone ferries approximately 420,000 people throughout their daily commutes by train, bus, and light rail across New Jersey and into New York or Philadelphia.

This commute can be exhausting, as I learned traveling 90 minutes every day to and from Summit, N.J. for the past year, and there are people with considerably worse commutes than that. Long commuters may enjoy cheap housing and other benefits of suburban life, but I will be glad next month when I finally move to Queens.

My commute is better than many people's. I only have to go around 20 miles, which takes 50 minutes on the train and 90 minutes total.

It starts with a drive to the nearest train station.

A single overly long red light could be the difference between getting to work on time or not.

Major US, European and Canadian airlines cancelled flights to and from Israel after a rocket fired from Gaza struck near its main international airport in Tel Aviv.

The cancellations highlighted heightened worldwide fears of a rocket hitting a passenger jet in the wake of last week's downing of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 over rebel-held eastern Ukraine with nearly 300 on boar

That incident underscored the vulnerability of commercial aircraft to surface-to-air missiles, even at cruising altitudes in excess of 30,000 feet.

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned US airlines from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport for at least 24 hours, citing the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

Delta, US Airways and United Airlines heeded the order, with Delta diverting a Tel Aviv-bound Boeing 747 with 273 passengers and 17 crew on board to Paris.

"Due to the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza, all flight operations to/from Ben Gurion International Airport by US operators are prohibited until further advised," said the FAA's Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM, issued shortly after 1600 GMT.

"This NOTAM will be updated within 24 hours," it added.

In an accompanying press statement, the FAA said it had immediately notified US carriers when it learned of the rocket strike.

Deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said it was likely that the flight ban could be extended beyond 24 hours.

The FAA is expected to update its guidance later Wednesday.

US Airways said it plans to resume its direct flights from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Flight 796, originally due to leave Philadelphia at 9:10 pm on Wednesday (0110 GMT Thursday), arriving in Tel Aviv 11 hours later, has been rescheduled for the following day, US Airways said on its website.

It added the same was true for Flight 797, originally due to depart Tel Aviv at 11:30 pm (2030 GMT) Wednesday, arriving in Philadelphia 13 hours later.

US Airways flights to Tel Aviv are routed through Philadelphia.

Air France said it was canceling its Tel Aviv flights "until further notice." Lufthansa said it was doing likewise, for 72 hours. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines suspended its services as well, citing "security reasons."

Lufthansa explained that it was suspending its Tel Aviv service "for the security of passengers and crew" amid the "unstable situation" near the airport.

Air Canada also canceled service to and from Tel Aviv on Tuesday, and said on Twitter it would "continue to evaluate going forward & update."

British Airways and its low-cost rival EasyJet, however, maintained their flights.

"We continue to operate as normal," a British Airways spokesman said. "Safety and security are our highest priorities and we continue to monitor the situation closely."

National carrier Royal Jordanian said on Wednesday it has suspended flights to Tel Aviv.

The announcement by the airline, which operates 20 weekly flights to Tel Aviv, was made in a short statement carried by state-run Petra news agency.

- Rocket strike -

Prompting the rush of cancellations was a rocket fired from Gaza which, according to Israeli police, struck north of the airport.

"A house was damaged in a rocket strike in the Kiryat Ono Yehud region, several kilometers from the airport," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP.

Delta said it had diverted the Tel Aviv-bound flight after "reports of a rocket or associated debris" near Ben Gurion airport.

"Delta, in coordination with the US Federal Aviation Administration, is doing so to ensure the safety and security of our customers and employees," it said in a statement.

US Airways meanwhile told AFP in a Twitter exchange it had canceled its flights Tuesday between Philadelphia and Tel Aviv "in response to security concerns" at the airport in Tel Aviv.

And United said: "We're suspending operations to/from Tel Aviv until further notice. We'll continue to evaluate the situation."

United was more discreet on its website, where it said its two flights Tuesday to Tel Aviv from Newark airport outside New York had been "canceled due to aircraft availability."

Delta, which links Tel Aviv with New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, said it was "working to reaccommodate" passengers on its Paris-diverted flight.

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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The top U.S. diplomat flew into Israel's main airport Wednesday despite a Federal Aviation Administration ban in an apparent sign of his determination to achieve a cease-fire agreement in the warring Gaza Strip despite little evidence of progress in ongoing negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during what appeared to be a crucial day in the flailing talks. U.S. officials have downplayed expectations for an immediate, lasting truce between Israel and the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza. At the least, Kerry's mission Wednesday sought to define the limits of what each side would accept in a potential cease-fire.

Kerry flew into Tel Aviv on an Air Force jet one day after the FAA banned commercial flights into Ben-Gurion Airport. The FAA imposed the 24-hour restriction after a Hamas rocket landed within a mile of the airport on Tuesday.

The FAA was going to reassess its ban by midday Wednesday in Washington. The European Aviation Safety Agency also issued an advisory saying it "strongly recommends" airlines avoid the airport. Israeli officials said the precautionary U.S. step was unnecessary and "gave terror a prize" by reacting to Hamas' threats. It also prompted a complaint to Kerry by Netanyahu.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday's meetings would continue Kerry's efforts to get Hamas and Israel to declare a truce after more than two weeks of fighting in the Gaza Strip. More than 630 Palestinians and about 30 Israelis have been killed in the violence. Israel says its troops have killed hundreds of Hamas gunmen, while Gaza officials say the vast majority have been civilians, many of them children.

Kerry flew to Tel Aviv from Cairo, where he met Tuesday with Egypt's president and other high-level officials. Egypt, Israel and the U.S. back an unconditional cease-fire, to be followed by talks on a possible new border arrangement for Gaza. Israel and Egypt have severely restricted movement in and out of Gaza since Hamas seized the territory in 2007.

But Hamas has rejected repeated Egyptian truce proposals. The militant group, with backing from its allies Qatar and Turkey, says it wants guarantees on lifting the blockade before halting its fire. Kerry spoke several times Tuesday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiya.

Egypt has also been negotiating with some Hamas officials, but relations between the two sides have been strained since Egypt outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, which has ties to Hamas, after last year's overthrow of former President Mohammed Morsi.

Israel launched a massive air campaign on July 8 to stop relentless Hamas rocket fire into Israel, and expanded it last week to a ground war aimed at destroying tunnels the military says Hamas has constructed from Gaza into Israel for attacks against Israelis. Israel has struck almost 3,000 sites in Gaza, killed more than 180 armed Palestinians and uncovered 66 access shafts of 23 tunnels, its military said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said Tuesday's talks were focused "to not only resolve this issue, but also to set in motion once again the peace process that Secretary Kerry has been so actively involved in so as to end this ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis."

It's unlikely that Washington is ready to wade back into the morass of peace negotiations that broke off last April after nearly nine months of shuttle diplomacy by Kerry. But the new round of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants who control Gaza has reached the level of violence that U.S. officials warned last spring would happen without an enduring truce.

Kerry stopped short Tuesday of advocating a new round of peace talks. Still, he left the door open for broad negotiations between Israel and Palestinian officials once a cease-fire is in place.

"Just reaching a cease-fire is clearly not enough," Kerry told reporters after meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. "It is imperative that there be a serious engagement, discussion, negotiation regarding the underlying issues and addressing all the concerns that have brought us to where we are today."

The U.N.'s Ban met Tuesday with Palestinian authorities in Ramallah and with Netanyahu in Israel, where he urged a resumption of talks toward bringing about a two-state solution.

Netanyahu responded that Hamas, a group whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel, does not want a two-state solution and said the international community needed to hold Hamas accountable for the latest round of violence, saying its refusal to agree to a cease-fire had prevented an earlier end to the fighting.

"What we're seeing here with Hamas is another instance of Islamist extremism, violent extremism," Netanyahu said at a joint press conference in Tel Aviv. "What grievance can we solve with Hamas? Their grievance is that we exist. They don't want a two-state solution, they don't want any state solution."

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At least 47 people have died in a passenger plane crash in Taiwan.

Local media reports from soon after the crash put the death toll at 51, with 7 injuries, but Taiwan's transportation minister recently confirmed that 47 people died and 11 were injured in the crash.

The TransAsia Airways flight was reportedly trying to make an emergency landing on a small island in typhoon conditions.

The storm was centered over mainland China, but Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau was advising heavy rain for Taiwan, according to the Associated Press.

The plane reportedly crashed into residential buildings on its way down, according to The Straits Times in Singapore.

The flight took off from Kaohsiung International Airport in Taiwan at about 5 p.m. local time and was flying to Penghu’s Magong Airport, the South China Morning Post reports.

The plane's captain reportedly lost contact with the control tower before the crash landing at about 7 p.m. It was the aircraft's second attempt to land. There were 58 people aboard the plane.

Hundreds of rescuers have been dispatched to the scene.

TransAsia Airways is a Taiwanese airline that makes mostly domestic flights.

These photos reportedly show the scene of the crash:

Reports said pilot was having problems landing the plane in Penghu due to typhoon. http://t.co/RyoOFDyZ4Kpic.twitter.com/2fofl5BsdL

— The Straits Times (@STcom) July 23, 2014

Photo shows TransAsian #GE222 crash site at Magog airport in Taiwan -@PDChinapic.twitter.com/gK14nejK93

— WorldMic (@World_Mic) July 23, 2014

#TransAsia Airways plane crash: Total causalities unknown yet; Taiwanese officials will give 2nd press conf late pic.twitter.com/8V5KdqkkP1

— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) July 23, 2014

A reporter for the South China Morning Post is tweeting updates about the scene:

RT @anthonywx: Unbelievably, this was the radar near the time of the crash of this plane in Taiwan. pic.twitter.com/tx0HAm7fsg

— Danny Lee 李嘉洪 (@JournoDannyAsia) July 23, 2014

Here is the TransAsia tailfin of ATR-72 of Taiwan plane crash with 51 feared dead, 7 injured. From Apple Daily TW pic.twitter.com/Gg3RqLTQOq

— Danny Lee 李嘉洪 (@JournoDannyAsia) July 23, 2014

As you can see, the mangled wreckage of buildings and plane, after it tried emergency landing during Typhoon weather pic.twitter.com/oc0QO9Dghk

— Danny Lee 李嘉洪 (@JournoDannyAsia) July 23, 2014

Here's where the plane was trying to land:

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The 1958 Ford Edsel was supposed to be the new car for middle-class Americans.

Ford was so confident in the product that it pumped $250 million into it. But instead of starting a revolution, the company lost $350 million on the gas-guzzler, making it a great example of how not to develop and market a new product.

In the late John Brooks' book "Business Adventures," a collection of New Yorker articles from the '60s, Brooks explains what went wrong in "The Fate of the Edsel."

Bill Gates recently revealed that "Business Adventures"is his favorite business book, and that he finds the Edsel piece especially interesting. He explains in his blog:

[Brooks] refutes the popular explanations for why Ford's flagship car was such a historic flop. It wasn't because the car was overly poll-tested; it was because Ford's executives only pretended to be acting on what the polls said. "Although the Edsel was supposed to be advertised, and otherwise promoted, strictly on the basis of preferences expressed in polls, some old-fashioned snake-oil selling methods, intuitive rather than scientific, crept in." It certainly didn't help that the first Edsels "were delivered with oil leaks, sticking hoods, trunks that wouldn't open, and push buttons that…couldn't be budged with a hammer."

Here are some key takeaways from the launch that make it one of Gates' favorite case studies:

Don't let egos trump research.

Ford's designers and marketers began development on the car in 1955, with the intent of creating an automobile tailored to the desires of the American people, as determined through seemingly endless polling.

Ad men got to work thinking up thousands of names and testing them in focus groups with civilians and Ford execs, and even consulted the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Marianne Moore for the perfect name for the perfect car (Moore suggested such absurd names as the Utopian Turtletop and The Intelligent Whale). Despite endless hours of testing and consultation, the chairman of the board decided at the last minute that he was going to go with Edsel, the name of Henry Ford's son.

"As for the design," Brooks writes, "it was arrived at without even a pretense of consulting the polls, and by the method that has been standard for years in the designing of automobiles — that of simply pooling the hunches of sundry company committees."

Focus your vision.

In the late '50s, American consumers had a limited choice of car models, and there weren't tremendous differences in performance from model to model, at least by today's standards. Edsel's designers knew that they were creating an image, a character, but instead of refining their vision, they decided to make it everything at once.

In a lazy attempt to please everybody, they made the terrible decision to debut 18 variations of the car at launch. The academic S. I. Hayakawa dubbed the car the Edsel Hermaphrodite because it seemed as if it were explicitly trying to be masculine and feminine.

And, because it was 1957, Ford decided to have two media previews, one for male reporters and one for their wives. In the former, the Edsel was driven around a stunt course as if it were in a Hollywood blockbuster — at one point an Edsel almost flipped.

Gates mentions in his blog that the women's event, a fashion show, was one of his favorite passages in the story because the host was revealed to be a "female impersonator," which was not only bizarre but, as Gates says, "would have been scandalous for a major American corporation in 1957."

Don't put yourself in a situation you can't get out of.

A year before launch, Ford began a teaser campaign for the E-Car, the code name for the Edsel as it was being developed. It gave customers the expectation that they were going to get an irresistible car of the future.

Ford execs seemed to never once consider failure to be an option. They created an entire Edsel division and persuaded dealerships to order a certain number of cars before the Edsel was even finished.

Had they acted more cautiously and avoiding betting so much on the car, they could have pulled back once the stock market took a nose dive in the summer of 1957 and people stopped buying mid-priced cars. Mere weeks before the car's launch in September, Brooks writes, "Automotive News reported that dealers in all makes were ending their season with the second-largest number of unsold cars in history."

If you fail, accept it and move on, all the wiser for it.

At launch, the car was too expensive, used up too much gas, and was mocked in the press. A redesigned 1959 Edsel debuted to better reviews, but the damage was done. Nobody wanted an Edsel. A 1960 Edsel came out in limited production, but Ford president and future secretary of defense Robert McNamara finally pulled the plug in 1960.

Brooks estimates that "every Edsel the company manufactured cost it in lost money about $3,200, or the price of another one."

Even though Ford recovered from the setback, the executives who led the project expressed to Brooks no recognition of their countless mistakes, and even looked back fondly on their time developing and marketing the car.

J.C. Doyle, an Edsel marketing manager, even went so far as blaming the American public for the failed launch. He tells Brooks:

People weren't in the mood for the Edsel. Which is a mystery to me. What they'd been buying for several years encouraged the industry to build exactly this kind of car. We gave it to them, and they wouldn't take it. Well, they shouldn't have acted like that... And now the public wants these little beetles. I don't get it!

The previously out of print "Business Adventures" is being re-released in September, and the ebook version is available now.

SEE ALSO: There's A Great Xerox Growth Story In Bill Gates' Favorite Business Book

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Over the course of a single day, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas ensured that its latest escalation with Israel will not be resolved any time soon.

On Monday, Hamas fighters entered Israel through an infiltration tunnel, killing four soldiers inside Israeli territory. Hours later, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed near Ben Gurion International Airport — triggering a 24-hour suspension of American flights to the country that Hamas called"a great victory."

The 24-hour ban was extended earlier Wednesday.

Ben Gurion's closure to American air traffic is the realization of a long-held Israeli fear — one that the country's officials frequently raised in meetings with their U.S. counterparts in the years after Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. According to the Wikileaks cables, in a January 2006 meeting with American officials, a deputy director of Israel's National Security Council argued against a unilateral drawdown in the West Bank, saying, "If Israel were to withdraw now, Qassam rockets would find their way into the West Bank and would be launched against strategic targets like Ben Gurion Airport."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then the head of the Likud party faction in the Knesset, worriedduring a December 2008 meeting with U.S. members of Congress that "an Israeli pullout from the West Bank would put Iranian proxies in rocket range of Ben Gurion Airport."

In the late 2000s, Israeli anxieties over Ben Gurion were somewhat different from how they are today. In the cables, the Israelis worry over homemade Qassam rockets and mortars fired from the West Bank hills overlooking the airport, a potential danger in the event of an Israeli pullout from the formerly Jordanian-occupied territories that Israel seized during the 1967 war in the Middle East.

It would be years after these cables were written before Hamas had the Syrian- and Iranian-produced long-range projectiles needed to hit the airport from Gaza. 

So this week's flight cancellations represent a certain loss of strategic depth for the Israelis: proof that its enemies can have a major disruptive effect on the country in ways that weren't possible just a few years ago.

Yesterday's halt in American air traffic shows that militant groups do not need to be perched over Ben Gurion's runways to render one of Israel's most important pieces of infrastructure partly inoperable. 

In practicality, there probably wasn't much of an actual threat to planes entering and leaving the airport, according to Steven Frischling, a blogger and aviation security analyst. Hamas isn't firing surface-to-air missiles, but rockets with poor accuracy.  

"It's like standing at the end of the runway at Logan with a slingshot, or firing model rockets at LAX," Frischling told Business Insider of Hamas's capability to bring down a plane at Ben Gurion. 

He adds that airlines could eliminate most risk by having their planes fly novel approach patterns that would be well within a trans-Atlantic commercial pilot's abilities.

"If you fly in a spiral pattern, it's harder for a random rocket to hit you," says Frischling, referring to the corkscrew-type approach sometimes used at particularly hazardous airports. "If you're in the left seat of a triple-7, you know how to do it."

This doesn't mean that the Federal Aviation Administration's decision was rooted in anything other than necessity, or a concern over the safety of U.S. air passengers. As Frischling notes, the shoot-down of MH17 has led to a sudden drop in public confidence in commercial aviation, and both governments and airlines are mindful of the costs of another crash.

From Israel's perspective, this context doesn't matter.

With capabilities that Israeli policymakers were barely contemplating just a few years ago, Hamas has exposed a major vulnerability and demonstrated that it does not even need to credibly threaten the lives of air travelers to get Ben Gurion partly shut down. With enough perceived danger, and the right confluence of global events, the group can do it with its existing arsenal.

Hamas has crossed two major Israeli red lines over the course of a single 24-hour period. The Israelis almost certainly won't agree to a ceasefire while there are American restrictions for Ben Gurion, and Hamas possesses the ability to kill Israelis within their territory — after weeks of fighting and the loss of dozens of Israeli soldiers, this would be viewed within Israel as a landmark capitulation.

And with both vital infrastructure and territory under threat, the Israelis no longer need a long-term strategic objective to have an imperative to keep fighting. For both sides, the stakes are now higher than they've ever been.

SEE ALSO: The mysterious, wheelchair-bound mastermind who might be calling the shots for Hamas

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The Federal Aviation Administration has extended its ban on U.S. airlines' use of Ben Gurion International Airport outside of Tel Aviv, Israel, for an additional 24 hours. Zeke Miller of Time Magazine tweeted a copy of the latest FAA notice: 

The new NOTAM pic.twitter.com/oqGULKW0gC

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 23, 2014

The FAA suspended American air travel to and from Israel's major international airport yesterday after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip — where Israeli forces are currently fighting the Islamist militant group Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization — landed just outside the airport's perimeter.

In response to increased government and carrier restrictions at Ben Gurion, Israel's transportation ministry is opening the Ovda airport, about 40 miles north of the Red Sea city of Eilat and deep inside Israel's Negev desert, as an alternative for airlines that don't want to fly to Ben Gurion.

Most of Ovda's current air traffic comes from international charter flights involving planes that are too large to land on the relatively short runway at the airport in Eilat,. Yet according to Ha'aretz, "No airline that operates at Ben-Gurion Airport has given its approval or agreement to move its flights to Ovda Airport as yet."

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In the Czech town of Nymburk, two young men grew tired of the relentless pollution in Europe and across the world. Marine litter especially, like floating garbage, plague our oceans and seas.

So the duo decided to tackle the problem using the same materials causing it — they built a boat out of plastic bottles.

Jan Kara, 22, a student, and mechanic Jakub Bures, 21, ran their project out of a shed in their yard. 

Below, Bures and Kara attach the bottles to each other, first filling them with dry ice for added buoyancy and then sealing them, BBC News reported. All in all, 50000 plastic bottles would comprise their dreamed-up craft. Below, Bures' hand sticks out of the supply.After that, they needed a structure to support the bottles on water — a sturdy wooden frame.Below, Bures (left) and another friend involved, Jan Holan (right), attach a rudder to a steel propeller at the back.For control, repurposed bike parts take care of pedaling and steering. A long axle connects these to the steel propeller and rudder in the back.

They plan to sail down the river Elbe from their town of Nymburk to Hamburg, Germany as a way to draw attention to the growing threat of plastic pollution in Europe.Here, Bures, Kara, Holan (from left to right) secure plastic garden chairs to the wooden frame behind the pedals.Finally, they put the bottles in position. On July 12, 2014, the four friends needed to pedal, including Jan Brand, officially set sail on the Petburg. Naturally, the launch drew a crowd. 

"There are lots of people who support us," Kara told BBC. "But there are also lots of people who are convinced we're going to sink after 10 metres. So it'd be worth it just to prove it to them."Here's a view from the top. The back of the boat even includes a small cabin for shelter or short breaks.Complete with portholes.Below, Kara drinks bottled water in the cabin of a boat made of plastic bottles, floating on water. Pretty meta. The journey would last about 850 kilometers, or 530 miles, according to Radio Prague. Here, the foursome waits in a lock chamber on the Elbe.Their rudimentary steering system functioned swimmingly. The young adventurers expect the journey to last a month — maybe two, they told Deutsche Welle. Here's the Petburg's approximate path, starting near Prague and ending in Hamburg. 

SEE ALSO: Here's What It's Like To Suffer Through A 90-Minute Commute From New Jersey Every Morning And Evening

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Tesla has been stringing California along when it comes to the company's intentions for its $5 billion gigafactory.

Back in May, CEO Elon Musk said it was "improbable" that the massive lithium ion battery facility would be built in the Golden State, but he didn't rule it out. Now there's speculation California may seriously be back in the running.

There's just one potential sticking point: according to local news outlet KTVU, California could be offering real estate at a Superfund site that's not completely cleaned up. It's the former Concord Naval Weapons Station, a sprawling, 12,800-acre site, about 30 miles east of San Francisco.

Possible Gigafactory locations in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and — most humiliatingly for California, home to Tesla's Palo Alto headquarters — Texas have all reportedly been discussed. Tesla has also indicated that its timetable for constructing a factory is brisk. The company wants to have the annual capacity to produce enough lithium-ion battery packs to power 500,000 vehicles by 2020 (only about 50,000 cars now roll off the assembly line).

The Concord Naval Weapons Station is where the U.S. Navy stored bombs, torpedoes, and missiles for decades, beginning during World War II (a devastating explosion at Port Chicago, part of the complex, killed over 300 sailors and civilians in 1944). There's more than enough land available for Tesla to realize its gigafactory ambitions, but the Superfund site cleanup of various highly toxic contaminants is still ongoing (heavy metals are the environmentally destructive military-industrial gift that keeps on giving).That process could be too slow for the electric-car startup. Musk wants to increase production of the Model S sedan over the next year and gear up to manufacture two new vehicles through 2017: the family-oriented Model X SUV and the smaller Model 3 sedan.

However, Tesla's on-again, off-again gigafactory flirtations with its home state have exasperated some outspoken critics of the way that California does business. Venture capitalist Tim Draper has made Tesla's rebuff of California a talking point for his controversial "Six Californias" initiative. Losing Tesla strikes him as a smack-your-forehead example of the state's dysfunctional business and political culture.

No one in California government, at either the state or local level, is happy that a futuristic, media-darling company like Tesla has signaled that it wants to create over 6,000 jobs someplace else, either. California has all but branded itself as the natural entrepreneurial engine of the new transportation economy. And although Tesla remains committed to its plant in Fremont, its audition of other western states and their more enticing tax arrangements proves that while Musk & Co. may be committed to the idea that California nurtures innovation, the reality of running a capital-intensive car company means that nothing is ever set in stone.

Tesla didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment, but the company did tell KTVU that it hasn't made a final call on the gigafactory location.

SEE ALSO: California Is Desperately Trying To Get Tesla To Build Its Gigafactory In The State

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With this month's downing of MH17 and the March disappearance of MH370, it seems that if Malaysia Airlines didn't have bad luck, it wouldn't have any luck at all.  

It is incredibly rare for two catastrophic events to happen to the same airline in such a short period of time, Chris Sloan, president of aviation news organization Airchive, told Business Insider.

Malaysia's recent tragedies have indelibly stained the reputation of an airline that has one of the best safety records in the world. Until this year, Malaysia Airlines had experienced only two fatal accidents in 68 years of operation. In fact, the last 19 years have been fatality-free. And the airline regularly receives stellar marks for service and comfort from airline ratings agency Skytrax. 

Despite high marks from passengers, the airline's financial performance over the years has been dismal. With the Malaysian government holding a majority stake in the airline through its holding company, Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad, Malaysia Airlines has become a veritable black hole that sucks in money. Multiple government bailouts over the past decade were required keep the carrier aloft.

In the past three years, the airline has lost an astonishing $1.2 billion, reports Businessweek. And according to the CAPA Centre for Aviation, Malaysia Airlines lost a further $140 million in the first quarter of this year alone, with business down 59%. In other words, the airline hasn't been profitable for years. And it's unlikely to achieve profitability anytime soon.

With the loss of consumer confidence compounding the company's financial troubles, what's in store for Malaysia Airlines? Here are three ways the company could turn around.

1. Rebrand

A potential solution is to simply rebrand the airline: Take the existing company and relaunch it with a new logo and a fresh coat of paint. This strategy was successful for both ValuJet and Swissair, though under different circumstances.

ValuJet was a budget airline that rebranded as AirTran Airways after a fatal crash and subsequent financial losses in the mid-1990s.

While the company's transformation following its merger with AirTrain was nothing short of spectacular, its situation differed greatly from Malaysia Airlines in both complexity and symbolism. 

At the time of ValuJet's rebranding, it was a 5-year-old airline with a small, aging fleet of 15 short-range DC-9/MD-80 series jets.

Malaysia Airlines, on the other hand, is nearly 70 years old, with a fleet of 100 aircraft, ranging from smaller Boeing 737s to 500-seat Airbus A380 superjumbos. As Malaysia's flag carrier, the airline is also a symbol of national identity, serving as a flying ambassador for the country. 

Swissair's rebranding also offers some parallels. Swissair, known for its high-quality service and strong financial performance, was referred to as the "flying bank" for many years. However, by the late 1990s, after a decade of poor financial decision making, the Swiss national airline was struggling to deal with massive amounts of debt. Its grim financial situation was worsened by the crash of Flight 111 off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1998.

By 2001, the company announced it would have to liquidate its assets. SWISS International Airlines arose from the ashes, and has since been rated as one of the best in the world. The success of SWISS shows it's possible to rebrand a nation's flag carrier and recover financially. However, SWISS had two advantages that Malaysia Airlines does not: Consumer confidence in the Swissair brand wasn't fatally tarnished by the company's troubles, and Switzerland's aviation tradition was well-established. 

So Malaysia Airlines may have to do more than simply rebrand—it may need a top-to-bottom overhaul.

Korean Air's revamp in the early 2000s offers some context, says Airchive's Sloan. In 1999, the airline suffered three crashes in six months. Two were fatal.

Instead of simply rebranding, Korean Air made major internal changes. The airline brought in Lufthansa to retrain its pilots, changed its corporate culture, and relaunched. Malaysia will have to follow a similar playbook, Sloan says, adding, "they have to show the world they learned their lesson."

2. Nationalize

There have been calls from inside Malaysia for the government to dump its investment in its money-losing airline. However, Sloan believes the opposite is likely to happen: Not only will the government pump more money into the airline, it will also nationalize it, he says. No country wants to lose such a prominent international symbol at a time of weakness. 

Nationalization could provide the airline with a temporary financial safe haven, buying time to execute the sweeping changes needed to ensure long-term viability. In 2001, the New Zealand government nationalized Air New Zealand and injected more than $700 million into the company after the airline's failed merger with Ansett Australia drained its coffers. The nationalization allowed Air New Zealand to make drastic shifts in its business model. Eventually, that airline returned to profitability. 

3. Merge

If the Malaysian government does not step up to the plate, another option for Malaysia Airlines is to seek a merger. In the month before the crash of MH17, rumors sprang up about cash-rich Etihad Airways' interest in acquiring shares of the airline. But since the crash, the Abu Dhabi-based carrier has distanced itself from the rumors. 

One prospective partner for Malaysia Airlines may very well be a competitor: AirAsia, a low-cost carrier that also operates out of Kuala Lumpur.

In the last 15 years, CEO Tony Fernandes has taken AirAsia from a tiny, debt-ridden operation to a financial juggernaut. Much of its explosive growth has been at the expense of more established regional competitors.

Now, Fernandes wants to jump into the long-haul game with the company's AirAsiaX brand. In fact, the airline purchased 50 Airbus A330neo long-haul airliners at this month's Farnborough Airshow. 

To remove a local competitor and bolster its transcontinental operation, AirAsia may be willing to take on Malaysia Airlines' international assets for a reasonable price. It's not unheard of for a younger regional airline to swallow up a large international carrier. In 2007, Brazil's Gol Airlines purchased the remnants of the country's bankrupt national carrier, Varig. After the merger, Varig—once Brazil's preeminent international airline—now operates as an arm of Gol Airlines. 

In 2012, Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia actually agreed to $364 million stock swap that was nixed by pressure from Malaysia Airlines' union. With the airline confronting an unprecedented crisis and AirAsia enjoying a meteoric rise, it may make sense for the airlines to revisit their past agreement. 

SEE ALSO: Experts Say MH17 Passengers Were Probably Unconscious Before They Knew What Was Happening

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Things are going well for NASCAR's top team, Hendrick Motorsports, which includes some of the sport's top drivers, including Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. But a closer look at the value and profit of the other top teams reveals a sport that is trending in the wrong direction.

According to Forbes.com and its valuations of NASCAR's top nine teams, the current value of Hendrick Motorsports ($348 million) is relatively unchanged since 2010 ($350 million). However, the average team has seen a 31.1% drop in profit since 2010 which has translated into an average team value of $139.7 million, down 16.4% during the same span.

NASCAR's popularity surged up until 2007, but then the bubble burst. Forbes blames the recent decline in values on plummeting attendance and TV ratings.

What is particularly interesting is that the last decade has seen the number of teams reduced through mergers and acquisitions, which you would think would increase the value of larger teams. But that is not happening.

A recent report by Andrew Maness of Racingnomics.com shows that the top nine teams represent what was once 15 different teams just eight years ago. In other words, there are fewer teams, but the pie they are fighting has been shrinking even faster.

This suggests that there are still too many teams for the current economic climate and further reduction to 6-7 major teams would help teams return to the profit margins seen in 2010.

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An TransAsia Airways ATR-72 regional airliner crashed this morning while attempting an emergency landing in one of Taiwan's Penghu Islands.

Reports out of Taiwan indicate that TransAsia flight GE222 crashed into a residential neighborhood after flying through a patch of rough weather caused by Typhoon Matmo.

According to local news sources, Taiwan's Transport Ministry confirmed the crash led to 47 deaths and 11 injuries.

Here's everything we know so far about the airline and the aircraft that went down.

The aircraft in question is a French-built ATR-72 regional airliner and is one of 10 ATRs in TransAsia's fleet. We have not been able to confirm the exact tail-number of the aircraft that crashed. Founded in 1981, ATR (Avions de Transport Regional) is a joint venture between Airbus Group and Italian aerospace firm Alenia Aermacchi for the stated purpose of building advanced regional airliners. 

Powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney PW127 turboprop engines, the ATR-72-500/600 has been one of the most popular regional airliners in the world since its debut in 1997. According to Airsafe.com, today's accident marks the eighth fatal crash for the aircraft type.

TransAsia Airways is a small regional carrier based in Taipei. According to the Airfleets.net, the airline's fleet of 23 aircraft ranges from turboprops like the the ATR to wide body long-haul jets like the Airbus A330. The airlines serves mostly customers in East and Southeast Asia with scheduled and charter flights.

According to Taiwanese news, the GE222 crash is the seventh incident involving a TransAsia ATR-72 in the last 15 years and the second fatal crash after a TransAsia ATR cargo plane crashed in 2001 due to ice forming on its wings. 

SEE ALSO: More Than 50 Feared Dead In Passenger Plane Crash In Taiwan

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Nearly a week after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 went down over eastern Ukraine, the victims are finally being returned home.

CNN has reporters in the Netherlands, where there is a procession on Wednesday for victims of downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. A plane arrived with the first 40 coffins Wednesday morning, and now dozens of hearses are making their way through the Netherlands.

Families are mourning their loved ones even as some bodies have yet to be identified.

Some family members of victims spoke to CNN. One man lost two nephews in the plane crash:

Others were on their way to vacation:

Most of the plane's passengers were from the Netherlands — 193 Dutch nationals were killed when the plane was shot down.

The country is holding a national day of mourning for the victims.

The coffins arrived on planes:

Netherlands officials were there as the planes arrived:

And hearses were waiting to transport the bodies:

Dutch military personnel carried the coffins off the planes:

The bodies are being taken to be identified by forensic experts:

A motorcade accompanied the vehicles:

Thousands lined up along streets and highways to watch:

Check out some of the photos that have been posted to Twitter:

Hearses carry victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to Hilversum, Netherlands: http://t.co/dcvkrUJgJbpic.twitter.com/L7YZy0HgrS

— CNN Photos (@CNNPhotos) July 23, 2014

Very impressive: A huge procession for the 40 MH17 victims pic.twitter.com/1tGrctrfrb

— Michael van Poppel (@mpoppel) July 23, 2014

The procession of hearses as they enter the base at #Hilversum the true scale of the human loss is very visible #MH17pic.twitter.com/A7ML7J8K5g

— Jonathan Swain (@SwainITV) July 23, 2014

People waiting for #MH17 procession near the entrance military base Hilversum #bringthemhomepic.twitter.com/xLLqnUjpkk

— Bertine L. Moenaff (@Bertine83) July 23, 2014

This photo really shows the scope of the procession:

A pic is sometimes stronger than a thousand words. Bodies of #MH17 victims arrive in Holland: pic.twitter.com/nlKuamAik9

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) July 23, 2014

People even crowded along overpasses to watch the procession go by:

Great shot of onlookers in Netherlands for #MH17 victim procession today #CNN; via Getty pic.twitter.com/mCJnbsD3q8

— Jason Morrell (@CNNJason) July 23, 2014

MH17 was reportedly shot down by pro-Russian rebels as it was flying over eastern Ukraine. Nearly 300 people died in the disaster.

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The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its ban on U.S. flights going in or out of Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport late Wednesday evening.

"Before making this decision, the FAA worked with its U.S. government counterparts to assess the security situation in Israel and carefully reviewed both significant new information and measures the Government of Israel is taking to mitigate potential risks to civil aviation," the FAA said in a press release.

The change comes less than 24 hours after the agency had announced a one-day extension of its travel ban to the international airport in response to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip.

The rocket had landed just outside the airport's perimeter.

The FAA did not mention specifics in its reasoning, although it promised to "closely monitor the very fluid situation" happening around the airport.

Here's the full release:

The FAA has lifted its restrictions on U.S. airline flights into and out of Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport by cancelling a Notice to Airmen it renewed earlier today. The cancellation is effective at approximately 11:45 p.m. EDT.
 
Before making this decision, the FAA worked with its U.S. government counterparts to assess the security situation in Israel and carefully reviewed both significant new information and measures the Government of Israel is taking to mitigate potential risks to civil aviation.
 
The FAA’s primary mission and interest are the protection of people traveling on U.S. airlines. The agency will continue to closely monitor the very fluid situation around Ben Gurion Airport and will take additional actions, as necessary.
 
The FAA initially instituted the flight prohibition on Tuesday, July 22, in response to a rocket strike that landed approximately one mile from the airport.

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PLAINFIELD, Ind. (AP) — The family of an Indiana teenager who crashed in the Pacific Ocean during an around-the-world flight says he knew the risks and had prepared for them.

The body of 17-year-old Haris Suleman of Plainfield, Indiana, was recovered after his single-engine plane crashed Tuesday night shortly after taking off from Pago Pago in American Samoa. Crews were still searching for his father, 58-year-old Babar Suleman.

The duo had hoped to set the record for the fastest circumnavigation around the world in a single-engine airplane with the youngest pilot in command to do so. They also were raising money to help build schools in Pakistan.

Both Sulemans had undergone training for water emergencies and wore protective immersion suits over water. But experts note that young pilots have less experience handling emergencies.

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A flight chartered by Air Algerie crashed in Mali after disappearing from radar en route from Burkina Faso to Algiers late Wednesday night.

Air-navigation services lost track of flight AH5017 about 50 minutes after takeoff from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso in West Africa.

The status of the 110 passengers (including at least 50 French nationals) and six Spanish crew members on board the Swiftair MD83 is unknown.

Algerian authorities say the plane was flying over Gao, Mali, when the crew requested a route change request because of weather.

A diplomat in the Malian capital Bamako said that the north of the country — which lies on the plane's likely flight path — told Reuters that the country was struck by a powerful sandstorm overnight.

Weather Channel digital meteorologist Nick Wiltgen tweeted this infrared image of the weather conditions when contact was lost:

CNN reports that Flight AH 5017 left Ougadougou at 00:45 local time on Thursday (8:45 p.m. Wednesday EDT) and was scheduled to arrive at Algiers' Houari Boumediene Airport at 5:40 a.m. local time (12:40 a.m. Thursday EDT). The plane had been missing for hours before its disappearance became public.

The crewmembers, two pilots and four in the cabin, are Spanish nationals while reports suggest that multiple nationalities were on the flight. 

Flight AH5017 flies the four-hour passenger route four times a week. 

Refresh for updates.

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