Tuesday, June 30

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Grateful Dead bassist and founding member Phil Lesh has died at 84
World News

Grateful Dead bassist and founding member Phil Lesh has died at 84

Phil Lesh Photo: AFP / GETTY IMAGES / CORY SCHWARTZ Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of iconic rock band Grateful Dead, has died. He was 84. The news was announced on Lesh's verified Instagram, which said he died "peacefully" on Saturday morning. "He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love," the announcement on social media read. "We request that you respect the Lesh family's privacy at this time." CNN has reached out to a representative for the Grateful Dead. No cause of death was immediately available, but the Associated Press reported that Lesh had previously survived prostate cancer, bladder cancer and a liver transplant in 1998 brought on by a hepatitis C infection and years of...
Iran: Explosions heard in Tehran as Israel confirms strikes | World News
Business

Iran: Explosions heard in Tehran as Israel confirms strikes | World News

Several loud explosions have been heard in Iran's capital Tehran and Israel has confirmed it has launched strikes on military targets.The Israeli military said it is conducting "precise strikes" on military targets in Iran in response to what it called "the continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against Israel". An Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) statement added: "Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond."Reports in the US said the White House was warned shortly before the strikes began.Israel has been planning a response to a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on 1 October - Tehran's second direct attack on Israel in six months. Iranian authorities have warned Israel against launching an attack, saying any strik...
Deadly Israeli strike on journalists in Lebanon prompts global condemnation
World News

Deadly Israeli strike on journalists in Lebanon prompts global condemnation

A car marked "Press" at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area where a number of journalists were located in the southern Lebanese village of Hasbaya on 25 October 2024. Photo: AFP / ALI HANKIR Three journalists were killed in Lebanon by an Israeli strike, their colleagues said, drawing condemnation from rights advocates about the number of reporters who have lost their lives in the region over the past year. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it "strongly condemned" the attack, urging the international community to "stop Israel's long-standing pattern of impunity in journalist killings." Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously denied deliberately attacking journalists. The last year has been the deadliest period for jo...
Biden says U.S. Indigenous boarding school system was ‘a sin on our soul’ – National
Politics

Biden says U.S. Indigenous boarding school system was ‘a sin on our soul’ – National

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday formally apologized to Native Americans for the “sin” of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a “blot on American history” in his first presidential visit to Indian Country. “It’s a sin on our soul,” said Biden, his voice full of anger and emotion. “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make.”It was a moment of both contrition and frustration as the president sought to recognize one of the “most horrific chapters” in the national story. Biden spoke of the abuses and deaths of Native children that resulted from the federal government’s policies, noting that “while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing” and that great nations “must know the good,...
Where have North Korean troops been seen in Russia? | World News
Business

Where have North Korean troops been seen in Russia? | World News

While North Korea has been supplying weapons to Russia for some time, the arrival of troops is a major escalation in its involvement in the war of Ukraine. The first official evidence of large numbers of North Korean troops entering Russia was provided by the South Korean government, who last week published a press release outlining the increasingly close military cooperation between the two states. Image: A map of sites in the Russian far east linked to the reported presence of North Korean soldiers According to the press release, an initial contingent of 1,500 North Korean special forces troops were transported on Russian naval ships to the port city of Vladivostok.The South Koreans provided two high-resolution satellite...
Guadeloupe entirely without power, authorities blame striking workers
World News

Guadeloupe entirely without power, authorities blame striking workers

A street in the city of Point-a-Pitre on the French Caribbean island of Guaedloupe in April. Photo: AFP / CEDRICK-ISHAM CALVADOS France's overseas territory of Guadeloupe was entirely without power on Friday, with authorities blaming striking workers for the outage. Workers at the territory's thermal power station in the industrial zone of Jarry entered the command room "and caused an emergency shutdown of all the engines", the Guadeloupe prefecture said in a statement. Restored electricity supply for the 230,000 affected households was expected at 8am - 3pm local time - at best. Police intervened and the archipelago's prefect had "requisitioned" staff to bring the station back up to speed, it said. The French government has mobilised "services and operators" to bring power back as soon...
Big earnings disappointments spoiled the stock market party this week
Business

Big earnings disappointments spoiled the stock market party this week

A torrent of big-name earnings hit the stock market this week — and the majority did not live up to analysts' muted expectations. Of the S & P 500 companies that have reported so far, about 74% of companies have beaten earnings expectations . But their blended earnings growth rate, which includes the reports already out and estimates for those on the docket, is 3.4%, falling short of the 4.2% estimate. The growth rate of just the companies that have posted so far is 3.1%, according to FactSet. Aside from electric vehicle maker Tesla , tobacco company Philip Morris and cloud-based IT service manager ServiceNow , this week was especially rough for most of the approximately 110 companies that posted earnings. Of the 20 largest companies that reported, shares of 13 ended in the red. Take a...
Chinese hackers targeted Donald Trump and JD Vance’s phones
World News

Chinese hackers targeted Donald Trump and JD Vance’s phones

Photo: CLIVE MASON/Getty Images via AFP Chinese hackers who tapped into Verizon's system were targeting phones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The newspaper said investigators were working to determine what communications, if any, were taken. The Trump campaign was made aware this week that Trump and Vance were among a number of people inside and outside of government whose phone numbers were targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems, it added. The campaign did not confirm that Trump's and Vance's phones were targeted. Steven Cheung, the campaign's communications director, said the former president's Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris has ...
Elon Musk and Putin talks ramped up during Twitter takeover: WSJ
Business

Elon Musk and Putin talks ramped up during Twitter takeover: WSJ

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has engaged in secret talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022, according to reporting published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.Citing "several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials," the Journal reported that conversations between Putin and Musk, a Republican megadonor and Pentagon contractor, took place while Russia was waging a brutal war on Ukraine, a top U.S. ally. Topics ranged from business to personal and geopolitical issues.In one instance, Putin pressured Musk to direct SpaceX to withold Starlink, its powerful satellite internet communications service, from Taiwan as a favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Journal reported, citing two people briefed on the request. Beijing is a crucial ally to the Kreml...
Northern Irish man jailed for sexual extortion of girls on ‘industrial scale’
World News

Northern Irish man jailed for sexual extortion of girls on ‘industrial scale’

By Amanda Ferguson, Reuters Alexander McCartney was given a life sentence in a Belfast court. Photo: PSNI / AFP A Northern Irish man was given a life sentence for the mass online child sexual abuse and blackmail of young girls around the world, with police saying one incident led to a 12-year-old American girl and her father taking their own lives. Belfast Crown Court heard that 26-year-old computer science student Alexander McCartney, operating from the bedroom of his family home, groomed victims on messaging sites including Snapchat and Instagram by making them believe they were talking online to a teenage girl of similar age. He would then encourage them to send indecent images or engage in sexual activity via a webcam or mobile phone, which he would then share online with others ...