Top News Stories –

Max Verstappen: Teenager to drive in practice at Japanese Grand Prix –
Max Verstappen will become the youngest driver ever to take part in a grand prix weekend when he drives in first practice in Japan on Friday. The Dutchman, who is 17 on Tuesday, is making his debut for the Toro Rosso team, for whom he will race in 2015. He will drive Jean-Eric Vergne’s car in preparation for next season when he replaces the French driver. “To be already participating in a practice session is a dream come true,” Verstappen said. [BBC]
Max Verstappen

CIA Starbucks is the weirdest Starbucks –
Nestled in the heart of CIA’s high security Langley, Virginia headquarters is a branch of Starbucks. Its day-to-day operation runs a little different to that of a mall-based coffee shop however, for starters, baristas aren’t allowed to write customers’ names on their cups. Such is the level of secrecy at the agency that receipts for the café simply say “Store Number 1”, with staff affectionately calling it “Stealthy Starbucks”. There are no frequent customer reward cards – officials fear the data they contain could be mined by marketers and compromise undercover agents’ identity – and baristas have to go through thorough background checks before starting and be escorted on and off the work area by “minders”. [The Independent]

Video of the Day –

Why Starbucks Spells Your Name Wrong [Contains strong language]

List of the Day –

Youngest drivers to start an Formula One race

	Driver	Age	Place	Race
1	Jaime Alguersuari	19 years, 125 days	15th	2009 Hungarian Grand Prix
2	Mike Thackwell	19 years, 182 days	Ret	1980 Canadian Grand Prix
3	Ricardo Rodriguez	19 years, 208 days	Ret	1961 Italian Grand Prix
4	Fernando Alonso	19 years, 218 days	12th	2001 Australian Grand Prix
5	Esteban Tuero	19 years, 320 days	Ret	1998 Australian Grand Prix
6	Chris Amon	19 years, 324 days	Ret	1963 Belgian Grand Prix
	Daniil Kvyat		9th	2014 Australian Grand Prix
8	Sebastian Vettel	19 years, 349 days	8th	2007 United States Grand Prix
9	Eddie Cheever	20 years, 53 days	Ret	1978 South African Grand Prix
	Jenson Button		Ret	2000 Australian Grand Prix
Source:[2]

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Donbass
  • Renewed clashes around the Donetsk International Airport between the pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops kill at least 12 people in the worst flareup of violence since the ceasefire accord earlier in September. (CBC)

International Relations

• Argentina‘s central bank announces that it will pay the holders of its restructured debt Tuesday. Implicitly this indicates that it is ready to defy a U.S. federal court which has blocked such payments until the holders of hold-out bonds are included. (Reuters)

Politics and Elections

• Ashraf Ghani is sworn in as new president of Afghanistan. (BBC)

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