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President Biden announced on Sunday that he will not seek reelection and has endorsed Vice President Harris to become the Democratic Party’s nominee. This decision gives Harris a significant boost as Democrats determine what comes next in the wake of Biden’s seismic decision.   Biden took to the social platform X to share his decision, stating that he will focus on his duties as President for the remainder of his term and fully support and endorse Harris to be the nominee of their party this year. This move gives Harris a clear edge to replace Biden atop the ticket in November.   Harris expressed her honor to receive the endorsement from Biden and stated her intention to “earn and win” the Democratic presidential nomination. Following Biden’s announcement, a flood of Democratic lawmakers voiced their support for Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket, while some prominent Democrats did not immediately back Harris as their party’s nominee.

In a series of posts on X, the billionaire revealed that SpaceX's headquarters will be moved from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas, a new company town in the southern region of the state. Additionally, Musk stated that the social media platform X will also be shifting its base from San Francisco to Austin, Texas. Musk cited the SAFETY Act, a recent law signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, as the primary reason for the move, expressing his dissatisfaction with the legislation and its impact on families and businesses. This decision comes after one of Musk's children sought legal recognition for a new name and gender in California, further emphasizing the family's ties to the state. Musk has previously faced criticism for his comments on gender identity matters on X. Furthermore, Musk highlighted concerns about rising crime rates near X's current location in San Francisco. Musk's preference for Texas has been evident for some time, with SpaceX already filing to change its business incorporation location from Delaware to Texas earlier this year. In previous years, Musk had also announced plans to relocate Tesla's headquarters from the Bay Area to Austin, Texas, and personally moved to Texas in December 2020.

President Joe Biden has expressed his disapproval of the attempt on Donald Trump's life, urging all Americans to reject such "sick" violence. The US president swiftly called for unity after a gunman shot Trump in the ear, killing one person and injuring two others at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The gunman was killed by Secret Service agents. In a statement released within an hour of the attack, Mr Biden stated that "there is no place in America for this. We must come together as one nation to denounce it. It's sick, it's sick". The attack occurred during a heated election race between the two, marked by personal insults and criticisms of their time in office. In an effort to present a united front, Mr Biden, speaking from his home in Delaware, said that "everyone must condemn" the violent events in Butler. "We cannot allow this to happen. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this," he added. He also expressed gratitude for the news that Trump was safe and doing well. He said he was praying for him, his family, and all those at the rally. He and his wife, Jill, thanked the Secret Service for ensuring his safety. The White House later announced that Mr Biden had spoken to his Republican election rival by phone after he left the hospital, while Biden campaign managers said they were pulling television ads as quickly as possible following the attempt on Trump's life. Democrats come together to denounce the attack President Biden's remarks were echoed by his vice president, Kamala Harris. Senior Democrats, including former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also spoke out. Ms. Harris stated in a release that she was "relieved" Trump was not seriously injured in what she called a "senseless shooting". "Violence like this has no place in our country," she added. "We must all condemn this abhorrent act and do our part to ensure that it does not lead to more violence." Ms. Pelosi, the former House Speaker who helped impeach Trump twice, said she was praying for him.

In a shocking turn of events, former President Donald Trump claimed that he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a gunman on a nearby rooftop opened fire during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The terrifying incident resulted in the death of one spectator, left two others critically injured, and caused chaos at the event. As the former president was addressing the crowd, gunshots rang out, prompting Trump to take cover with his hand to his ear. He was quickly surrounded by agents and escorted off the stage to safety amid the panic and confusion of the crowd. The FBI, under the oversight of the Justice Department's National Security Division and the U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh, is conducting a thorough investigation into the shooting, which occurred in a heightened threat environment on the eve of the Republican National Convention. According to the Secret Service, the shooter, who was positioned on a rooftop adjacent to the venue, fired multiple shots toward the stage using an AR-style rifle before being neutralized by agents. The gunman, located 200-300 yards away from the venue, has since been confirmed deceased.

Authorities have revealed the identity of the individual who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania this past Saturday. According to the FBI, the deceased shooter has been identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. However, the motive behind the attempted assassination remains unclear. The Secret Service promptly "neutralized" the gunman, as confirmed by chief of communications Anthony Guglielmi. Bethel Park, located in the southern area of greater Pittsburgh, is a predominantly white and relatively affluent city. The rally took place in Butler, which is approximately an hour's drive north of Pittsburgh. Public records from Pennsylvania show a Thomas Matthew Crooks with the same address and birth date registered as a Republican. It's not evident from the records when this registration was established. During a press conference on Saturday night, law enforcement announced that they were nearing a positive identification of the shooter, who did not have any identification on his person, according to state police Lt. Col. George Bivens. "The shooter has been tentatively identified," he stated. "Biometric confirmations are currently underway." Authorities at the press conference also emphasized the importance of establishing a motive and determining whether the shooter had any accomplices.

The secret behind the magic sticks holds most iPhone products at Apple Store has been revealed; but it might not be a big surprise. The recently released patent “Product Display Stand with Reduced Movement” contains details about the display stand itself. It refers to the long poles shown in displays that are most commonly found in Apple Stores around the world. Several features are outlined in the patent that are designed to keep the product atop the display stand in place. These features include reducing the time a customer spends interacting with the product, quickly reducing any oscillations and dampening any movement. The key to all of this is the damping chamber. This is typically found under the surface of the table at an Apple Store. The tables’ typically deep edges provide plenty of space to hide the patented component. With most patents, there’s no guarantee that customers will see these concepts in a physical product. In the case of Apple’s display stand, that’s not true. We’ve seen it at product introductions, and it’s on display at Apple Stores. It’s encouraging to see businesses in the real world taking care of the small stuff. While creating a better display may seem like a lot of work, it’s a visible effort that impacts the culture at Apple.

As Samsung launches three new Galaxy S24 smartphones this month, there are some exciting freebies for those who pre-order one of their flagship phones. Samsung is expected to hold a Galaxy Unpacked event on January 17 to launch the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 Ultra. The phones should go on general sale in key regions by the end of the month, but the sale will have a pre-order window with several freebies. The first is dual storage, which allows consumers to upgrade to the next model's storage at no extra cost, if you buy the 128GB model of the Galaxy S24, you'll get the 256GB model for the entire range. who buy the Galaxy S24 Ultra 512GB model and get the 1TB model. You'll see it as double storage, or at a discount on models with more storage; Either way, it's an attractive option for those on a budget. Then you have bonus accessories. Samsung is expected to offer a discount on the Galaxy Buds Fan Edition wireless buds and Galaxy Watch smartwatches to every buyer of the Galaxy S24. The last Buds FE was released late last year with the Galaxy S23 FE smartphone, offering active noise cancellation and transparency for $99. The Galaxy Watch 6 was released in the summer of 2023 with longer battery life, thinner bezels and WearOS 4 for $299. It remains to be seen which peripherals will be offered with which phones and how many discounts will be offered. In comparison, Google offered a free set of Pixel Buds Pro when pre-ordering the Pixel 8 smartphone, and a free Pixel Watch 2 when pre-ordering the Pixel 8 Pro. Finally, the exclusive models are only available through the Samsung website. Samsung has a wide range of colors for the S24, but some are only available through the website. Those looking for the top-of-the-line Galaxy S24 Ultra will have to order through Samsung's website, with the 1TB storage option only available online, as expected. Recent leaks about possible European prices suggest that the Galaxy S24 and S24+ will be slightly cheaper than their S23 counterparts. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is more expensive than last year's Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The clock has turned on the latest Apple Watch after the White House refused to take last-minute emergency measures to keep the best-selling smartwatch on store shelves. The Biden White House had until the end of Christmas Day to overturn a decision by the US International Trade Commission  that prevents Apple from selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, along with other newer models, because they violate registered patents of another company. But as expected, it did not intervene. The office of US Trade Representative Katherine Tai confirmed the decision in a statement on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT "After careful consideration, the Thai ambassador decided not to overturn the ITC's decision and the ITC's decision became final on December 26, 2023," the Thai office said. Apple has already removed the offending watch models from its online store, and Apple Stores opened on Tuesday without  the latest high-end watches. The cheaper Apple Watch SE, which was not part of the decision, continues to be sold, but the ban applies to the Apple Watch Series 6 and newer, as well as all Apple Watch Ultra models. Apple Appeals Apple appealed to a federal district court to overturn the ITC's decision. The company said on Tuesday it is exploring both legal and technical options to continue importing the top-of-the-line watches, including sending redesigned Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches through U.S. customs. In Tuesday's urgent appeal, Apple asked for a temporary ban at least until US Customs can consider its transformation, which is expected to happen by January 12. The company said in the motion that if the ban is upheld while the appeal is pending, it could suffer irreparable harm. “At Apple, we work tirelessly to create products and services that meaningfully impact users’ lives. It’s what drives our teams Clinical, Design and Engineering to dedicate years to developing scientifically validated health, fitness and wellness features for Apple Watch,” Apple said in a statement. “We strongly disagree with the USITC decision and resulting exclusion order, and are taking all measures to return Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 to customers in the U.S. as soon as possible.” Patent Infringement In October, the US International Trade Commission ruled that Apple had infringed on a patent for a pulse oximeter, which uses light-based technology to read blood oxygen levels, held by medical device maker Masimo. Other retailers, including Amazon and Best Buy, will continue to sell the remaining Apple Watches in stores and online. But the ITC ruling prevents Apple from bringing more smartwatches to the US.

Funeral held for French teenager as arrests mount on fifth night of protests Jeanbrun said that he had “no words strong enough to describe his emotion towards the horror of this night” and thanked police and rescue services for their help. France has been rocked by a wave of protests following the death of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old of Algerian descent who was shot by a police officer in Nanterre earlier in the week and whose funeral took place on Saturday at a mosque in Nanterre amid a heavy security presence. The youth’s death has reignited a debate on policing in France’s marginalized communities and raised questions over whether race was a factor in his death. His mother, Mounia, told television station France 5 on Friday that she blamed only the officer who shot her son for his death. Nonetheless, the killing has sparked widespread destructive unrest.

Hundreds detained

While the French government has deployed security forces and riot police across the country, the unrest continued into a sixth night of protests. Overnight Saturday into Sunday 427 people were detained, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, who tweeted early on Sunday that it had been a “quieter night thanks to the resolute action of the police.” The previous night, more than 1,300 people were detained and 2,560 fires reported on public roads. France’s Interior Ministry on Saturday said 1,311 people and reported fires on public roads, with more than a thousand cars burned. Many of those detained since the unrest began on Tuesday are minors, with an average age of 17, according to Darmanin.

Another wave of wildfire smoke has drifted into the US, dimming blue summer skies and igniting troubling concerns regarding the increasing frequency of fires, and what they have to do with climate change. More than 100 million people are under air quality alerts from Wisconsin to Vermont and down to North Carolina as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to waft south, though conditions are expected to improve slowly into the holiday weekend. Map: Track air quality across the US   Air quality on both sides of the border has been affected as more than 500 active wildfires raging across Canada. Some fires are so out of control officials have no choice but to leave them burn. Meanwhile, at least 10 countries have deployed their own firefighters to assist Canada with putting out the ones threatening communities whose residents have scrambled to evacuate. Scientists continue to reiterate warnings the effects of climate change have arrived, emphasizing wildfires and the plumes of toxic smoke generated by them will become more frequent. As plumes of smoke billow out of Canada’s forests, some may be wondering why many of the fires are being allowed to burn unchecked. Here’s why:

Some of the fires are in extremely remote areas

While every Canadian province responds to the fires in their regions differently, they all have common guidelines emphasizing the importance of prioritizing which fires to fight and which to leave alone. Massive fires burning in remote areas – like some of those currently burning in northwestern Quebec – are often too out of control to do anything about. “If you have limited resources, and you have a lot of fires, what you do is you protect human life and property first,” Robert Gray, a Canadian wildland fire ecologist, told CNN. “You protect people, infrastructure, watersheds, so there’s a prioritization system.” He added, “If you’ve got these fires that are burning way out in the back forty, and they’re not threatening anything immediately, then you’re going to have to let them do their thing.” People urged to stay indoors as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to create unhealthy air quality from the Midwest to the Northeast While the thought of massive fires burning through millions of hectares of forestland might sound unfathomable, it isn’t entirely new. “There’s always been fires Canadian fire managers don’t fight. It’s expensive to do so, ecologically undesirable, and kind of just messing with nature,” said Daniel Perrakis, a fire scientist with the Canadian Forest Service. “The smoke is a problem but even if we wanted to do something about it, it wouldn’t really be clear how to do so. You’re talking about huge areas where there’s no road access, no communities in some cases.” Of the 522 fires currently burning, 262 are listed as out of control across Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Along with remoteness and distance from people, terrain is another factor. Some of the fires are being allowed to burn simply because they are too treacherous for firefighters to even attempt to tackle. “These fires are so big that you really can’t put people anywhere near them, the winds kick up, they move very fast, they can start out ahead of you and they can trap crews,” Gray said.

There are not enough resources to fight all the fires

Firefighters from at least 10 countries, including the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, and France, have been deployed to assist with the Canadian wildfires since the first week of June. Firefighters from South Africa are among the crews working in Alberta, Canada, to help with ongoing fire suppression efforts. “Canada doesn’t have a lot of firefighting resources,” Gray said. “Individual provinces have their own contracting crews, but they have brought in thousands of folks from outside the country to help.” One factor contributing to the lack of resources, evident in the current fight against the out of control fires, is funding, Gray acknowledged. “They don’t typically appropriate a lot of money upfront for firefighting,” he continued. “But once the fires break out, the governments can certainly find all the money necessary to suppress them.” “International groups keep saying, you need to shift the focus to upfront mitigation and prevention so you’re spending less money on response and recovery,” he added. “It’s ridiculous. We spend billions of dollars once the fire breaks out, but we don’t invest the money upfront to mitigate the fires from happening in the first place.”

Not enough prevention tactics to decrease the number of fires

More work needs to be done to reduce the opportunity for future wildfires, which may someday end in catastrophic tragedy. One of the most effective fire prevention tactics is through prescribed burns, which are fires set intentionally as part of a forest management plan to reduce the risk of more serious and damaging blazes. “We don’t do anywhere near enough prescribed burning in BC,” Gray said. “Right now we’re burning about 10,000 hectares a year. The state of New Jersey burns more than we do here at BC.” Canadian wildfire smoke reaches Europe as Canada reports its worst fire season on record Prescribed burns have been an important cultural and environmental tradition in Indigenous communities, who for thousands of years set low-intensity fires to rid the land of wildfire fuel like debris, scrub, undergrowth and certain grasses. Such fuel ignites easily, allowing for more intense flames, which are harder to fight. The intentional burning practices can increase the forests’ resiliency and decrease the likelihood of future wildfires. Perrakis echoed Gray’s sentiments: “It would be very useful to have maybe 10 times or 20 times more prescribed burning than what we’re doing presently.” Since prescribed burns come with liability issues and pose a risk of ending in accidental unmanageable fires if not done correctly and at the right time, this will require more funding from the government and proper training. “We would be removing the fuel from the fire before there’s even a fire,” Perrakis said. “It wouldn’t be used all across the Canadian countryside, but very strategically around communities and other values and will be in line with the local ecosystem.” Along with prescribed burns, other tactics, like large scale thinning, need to be ramped up, Gray said. “We need large scale thinning in these forest types that don’t produce a lot of dimension lumber, so there’s a lot of small trees and we need to come to do something with them,” he added. “We can ship them into the bioeconomy, produce bioenergy markets, engineering, wood products; there’s a lot of things we can do with low value wood, and that’s a lot of what’s out there burning up right now.”

The ecosystem depends on fires, and climate change is making them worse

Fires have always served a vital ecological purpose on Earth, essential for many ecosystems. They restore soil nutrients, helping germinate plants and remove decaying matter. Without fires, overgrown foliage like grasses and shrubs can prime the landscape for worse flare-ups, particularly during extreme drought and heat waves. Most of Canada is covered by boreal forest, the world’s largest and most intact biome. The ecosystem with trees like spruce, pine, and fir makes up about one-third of all forests on the planet. But it is a fire dependent ecosystem, meaning the species in the forest have evolved in the presence of fire, and fire “is an essential process for conserving biodiversity,” according to the Nature Conservancy. “We have records as far back as the 1700s and 1800s of yellow sky and black sky and smoky sky days.” he added. “It’s the natural cycle of the boreal forest. There really isn’t much Canadian fire management agencies can do, even if they wanted to.” While natural fires in the system have always been present and are usually caused by natural elements like lightning, climate change is making them more frequent, increasingly unmanageable, and a lot more difficult to prevent. One year ago, after enduring a record-breaking temperature of 121 degrees, the British Columbia village of Lytton was leveled by a wildfire, drawing stark attention to the effects of climate change. Heat-trapping emissions have led to hotter and drier conditions, and wildfires now burn longer and are becoming hotter in places where they have always occurred; meanwhile, fires are also igniting and spreading in unexpected places. “We know that the weather is the most important ingredient of fire behavior, and climate and weather are linked,” Perrakis said. Another issue is the increase in the wildfires are caused by climate change, and are simultaneously making climate change worse. Boreal forests are carbon dense, releasing 10 to 20 times more planet-heating carbon pollution for each unit of area burned by wildfires than other ecosystems, according to a 2022 study published in the journal Science Advances. Over the years, researchers say it has become a vicious climate change feedback loop. The emissions from wildfires contributes to increasing global temperatures, which in turn fuel even more wildfires. “Things are changing due to climate change, and that’s catching everyone somewhat by surprise, even though we’ve been talking about it for decades,” Perrakis said. “It takes a big season like this one for everyone to really wake up to what climate change looks like. It’s pretty undeniable.” As Canadians near the fires evacuate while firefighters try to save their homes and communities, other, bigger fires burn freely with no way to control them, and people in the US will continue breathing in unhealthy smoke. It all begs the question: When will it end? “People should probably get used to it, because it’s not something that has come out of nowhere,” Perrakis said. “Climate change is undeniable, and now it’s time to think about the future, 10 or 20 years down the line, and what needs to be done.”

Following his defeat in the 2020 election, President Donald Trump spoke to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to discuss the results, a source familiar with the call told CNN. Publicly, Ducey said at the time that the two Republican leaders had spoken, though he did not describe what they had talked about. Behind closed doors, Ducey said that the former president was pressuring him to find fraud in the presidential election in Arizona that would help him overturn his loss in the state, a source with knowledge said. Trump narrowly lost Arizona to Joe Biden by less than 11,000 votes. There was no recording made of the call between Trump and Ducey, according to a source familiar with the matter. Trump also repeatedly pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, to help him find evidence of fraud and overturn the 2020 election results. Pence told the governor that if there was hard evidence of voter fraud to report it appropriately, one of the sources said. Pence spoke to Ducey multiple times about the election, though he did not pressure the governor as he was asked, sources familiar with the calls said. A spokesperson for Pence declined to comment. The Washington Post first reported on Trump pressuring Ducey on overturning the election results. Trump publicly attacked Ducey over the state’s certification of the results. As Ducey was certifying the election results in November 2020, Trump appeared to call the governor – with a “Hail to the Chief” ringtone heard playing on Ducey’s phone. Ducey did not take that call but later said he spoke with Trump, though he did not describe the specifics of the conversation. A spokesman for Ducey told CNN earlier this week that the former governor had not been contacted by the office of special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 elections. Those efforts include outreach to various state officials, including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Smith has interviewed. In January 2021, Trump told Raffensperger to “find” the votes he needed to win the state, a call that’s at the center of the Fulton County district attorney’s investigation into attempts to overturn the election in Georgia. The special counsel’s office did not respond to a request for comment. A Ducey spokesman said Saturday that the former governor “stands by his action to certify the election and considers the issue to be in the rear view mirror – it’s time to move on.” “This is nothing more than a ‘copy and paste’ of a compilation of articles from the past two years, disguised as something new and relying on shaky and questionable sourcing,” spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said in a statement. “Frankly, nothing here is new nor is it news to anyone following this issue the last two years. Governor Ducey defended the results of Arizona’s 2020 election, he certified the election, and he made it clear that the certification provided a trigger for credible complaints backed by evidence to be brought forward. None were ever brought forward.” Trump is currently seen as the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination as he seeks a return to the White House. A Trump spokesperson said in a statement: “These witch-hunts are designed to interfere and meddle in the 2024 election in an attempt to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House to make this country great again. They will fail and President Trump will be re-elected.”

ClimateDepot publisher Marc Morano discuss the EV push and how Ford is preparing another round of layoffs on ‘The Bottom Line.' Electric truck manufacturer Lordstown Motors announced Tuesday morning that it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an effort to "maximize the value" of its assets.  The bankruptcy filing comes five years after the Ohio-based company was founded and three years after former President Trump hosted it at the White House. In a release Tuesday, Lordstown Motors said it would file for bankruptcy, put itself up for sale and file a lawsuit against Taiwanese tech company Foxconn, which previously agreed to provide critical funding for the EV maker."As one of the early entrants to the EV industry, we have delivered the Endurance, an innovative and highly-capable EV with significant commercial and retail potential — and had subsequently engaged with Foxconn in a purposeful, strategic partnership to leverage this expertise into a broader EV development platform," Lordstown CEO Edward Hightower said in a statement.  "Despite our best efforts and earnest commitment to the partnership, Foxconn willfully and repeatedly failed to execute on the agreed-upon strategy, leaving us with Chapter 11 as the only viable option to maximize the value of Lordstown's assets for the benefit of our stakeholders," Hightower continued. "We will vigorously pursue our litigation claims against Foxconn accordingly." PETE BUTTIGIEG CONSULTED CHINA-TIED GROUP PUSHING GAS STOVE BANS, ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATES Then-President Trump speaks alongside former Lordstown Motors CEO Steve Burns at the White House on Sept. 28, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images / Getty Images)In 2021, Lordstown Motors and Foxconn announced they had reached an agreement for Foxconn to pay Lordstown Motors $230 million for its Lordstown, Ohio, factory and purchase $50 million worth of common stock from the company. Then, last year, Foxconn said it would invest another $170 million in Lordstown Motors, months after the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law.While Foxconn executed the first payment under the 2022 deal, it failed to make a second payment earlier this year and accused Lordstown of violating a condition of the deal after its share price fell below $1 per share amid floundering sales and manufacturing struggles.REPUBLICANS PUSH TO STRIKE DOWN CALIFORNIA'S ELECTRIC VEHICLE MANDATESIn February, the company reported that it had, up to that point, only manufactured 31 vehicles for sale, but was pausing production to address quality issues.Lordstown Motors was repeatedly touted by the Trump administration as a success. In September 2020, Trump hosted the company for an event at the White House celebrating its Endurance, one of the first-ever electric trucks. He also applauded the company for purchasing a former General Motors plant to make the vehicles. The Lordstown Motors headquarters is pictured in Lordstown, Ohio, on May 15, 2021. (Dustin Franz/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)"Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is incredible. So this is a vehicle where the — essentially, the engines — the motor’s engines are in the wheels. They’re in the wheels — in all four wheels," Trump stated. "This is a company that went in — and, I guess, General Motors is your partner. But they went in, and they have an incredible vehicle.""This is a great technology. They’ve known it," he continued. "But until this, nobody has actually done it, having the motors in each wheel — having motors in each wheel, and they’re very well coordinated, and you can work them individually or whatever is necessary by computer. It’s an incredible concept. I think it’s an incredible concept."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLordstown Motors founder and former CEO Steve Burns, who attended the White House event, ultimately resigned a year later after the company was accused of fabricating sales numbers, Bloomberg reported.

Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday renewed his yearslong attack on a landmark First Amendment decision, with the conservative jurist again calling for the Supreme Court to revisit the “flawed” ruling in the 1964 case. The decades-old case, New York Times v. Sullivan, created a higher bar for public figures to claim libel and has been a bedrock of US media law. But some conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, have frequently taken aim at it, arguing it provides too much protection to news outlets. As part of a separate case decided Tuesday, the majority invoked Sullivan when it wiped away a lower court decision upholding the stalking conviction of a Colorado man who sent hundreds of messages to a woman over Facebook. The 7-2 ruling said it would suffice for prosecutors to show that the speaker was aware that his speech could be viewed as a threat and that the speech was reckless, even if not intentionally threatening. Ad Feedback In a fiery two-page dissent, Thomas criticized his colleague’s use of the Sullivan case, saying they were wrong to apply it to the matter at hand and calling again for the high court to take another look at the landmark ruling. He said his dissent intended to “address the majority’s surprising and misplaced reliance on New York Times Co. v. Sullivan,” and quoted from previous dissents he’s penned in which he has called into question the 1964 ruling. “It is thus unfortunate that the majority chooses not only to prominently and uncritically invoke New York Times, but also to extend its flawed, policy-driven First Amendment analysis to true threats, a separate area of this Court’s jurisprudence,” Thomas wrote. “It’s not surprising that Justice Thomas is once again beating his drum to revisit Sullivan – one of the modern Court’s most important First Amendment precedents with respect to press freedom,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “But today’s lineup reaffirms that he appears to be in a minority of one on that point.” Thomas has issued similar public critiques of Sullivan in recent years, including in 2019, when he wrote that the 1964 ruling and “the Court’s decisions extending it were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law.” Since then, he’s been joined in his anti-Sullivan crusade by at least one other member of the current court, something he made note of on Tuesday. close dialog “I am far from alone. Many Members of this Court have questioned the soundness of New York Times and its numerous extensions,” Thomas wrote, before going on to cite dissents from past members of the court, as well as more recent writing from conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch. In 2021, Gorsuch also questioned Sullivan, writing in a dissent when the court decided not to take up a defamation case that the 1964 ruling should be revisited in part because it “has come to leave far more people without redress than anyone could have predicted.” But on Tuesday, Thomas again found himself fighting a solo battle, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett penning the only other dissent. Though she, too, was critical of her colleague’s use of Times in the case decided Tuesday, the conservative justice didn’t go as far as Thomas did in calling for the court to revisit the case. “The Court has … extended Sullivan in a way that makes no sense on Sullivan’s own terms,” Barrett wrote. CNN’s Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday wiped away a lower court decision upholding the stalking conviction of a Colorado man who sent hundreds of messages to a woman over Facebook. The justices said the court had used the wrong standard in convicting the man and sent the case back down with a new test to apply to the case. The justices said it would suffice for prosecutors to show that the speaker was aware that his speech could be viewed as a threat and that the speech was reckless, even if not intentionally threatening. The court’s move could worry those working to combat stalking in the age of social media where the internet has expanded the number of violent threats, enabling activities that include online harassment and intimidation. They fear the court’s standard could raise the bar for the government when trying to prove that a series of messages amounted to a true threat, unprotected by the First Amendment. While advocates for abused women have pushed the court to protect less such threatening speech, free speech advocates have expressed concern that the court could act too broadly and chill speech that is misunderstood to be a threat. The case involves a Colorado man, Billy Raymond Counterman, who was convicted of stalking a songwriter, Coles Whalen, after sending her hundreds of direct messages on Facebook. Whalen found the messages “creepy” especially because they indicated he was surveilling her. She never responded, but instead, repeatedly tried to block him on Facebook. But he continued to create new accounts in order to send her messages. The messages –over a two year period– included: • “was that you in the white Jeep?” • “seems like I’m being talked about more than I’m being talked to. This isn’t healthy.” • “You’re not being good for human relations. Die. Don’t need you.” At one point he asked her for a “hot date at Wal-Mart” and another time expressed anger and frustration at her lack of response. Whalen was so upset she took preventative measures such as hiring extra security and even canceling some of her performances. Ultimately, she filed suit, and Counterman was found guilty of stalking and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. But his lawyers argued that the conviction violated his free speech rights. The Supreme Court has defined “true threats” – those that are unprotected by the First Amendment – as statements by which the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence. The speaker need not carry out the act. But lower courts have been divided over whether the government must demonstrate that the speaker knew the threatening nature of the speech. Some courts have said it’s enough that a “reasonable person” recognized the threat. John Elwood, a lawyer for Counterman, argued that his client’s speech was protected by the Constitution’s Free Speech Clause and said the justices should insist on a standard that “considers the speaker’s intent” in order to “avoid criminalizing inevitable misunderstandings.” He said that Counterman suffers from mental illness and did not understand his messages to be threatening. “The bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment is that the government may not prohibit expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable,” Elwood said. Colorado defended its stalking law, stressing that it protects victims from “intrusive, threatening, and escalating course of conduct characteristic of stalking.” Colorado Attorney General Philip J. Weiser argued that Whalen had dedicated her life to making music and after years of unwanted messages, her dream “ended” and her mental health deteriorated.

Christine Dawood, whose husband Shahzada and son Suleman died aboard the Titan submersible, has revealed that she had intended to take part in the doomed expedition but stepped aside so her son could go instead. The family had been planning a trip on the Titan submersible for some time, Dawood told the BBC in her first interview since the tragedy, but it was postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic. She had originally planned to make the trip with her husband because Suleman was too young at the time. “Then I stepped back and gave the space to Suleman because he really wanted to go,” Dawood said. “I was really happy for them because both of them, they really wanted to do that for a very long time,” she added. Asked how she felt now about her son taking her place on the submersible, Dawood declined to say. She also told the BBC that the 19-year-old was a Rubik’s Cube obsessive who took the puzzle, which he could solve in 12 seconds, with him on the Titan. “Suleman did not go anywhere without his Rubik’s cube,” Dawood said. Suleman Dawood (left) and Shahzada Dawood “He said, ‘I’m going to solve the Rubik’s Cube 3,700 meters below sea at the Titanic,’” she added. close dialog Play/Pause Video Mute/Unmute Video Advertisementclose dialog “He was so excited about this,” Dawood said, describing how Suleman taught himself to solve the puzzle using YouTube videos. Dawood also spoke of how she met husband Shahzada at university, and recalled how his great curiosity about the world meant he would make the family watch documentaries together. “He had this ability of childlike excitement,” she said. Dawood recounted the moment that those on board the Polar Prince support vessel – including herself and her 17-year-old daughter, Alina – were told that staff were no longer able to communicate with the Titan. “I didn’t comprehend at that moment what that meant – and then it just went downhill from there,” she said Everyone thought the submersible would resurface, Dawood added. “There was a lot of hope,” she said. “I think I lost hope when we passed the 96 hours mark,” Dawood said, adding that at that point she messaged her family. “I said: ‘I’m preparing for the worst.’ That’s when I lost hope,” she said. As for what happens now, Dawood said she doubted she and Alina would ever be able to find closure. “Is there such a thing? I don’t know,” she said. However, the pair have vowed to learn to solve the Rubik’s Cube, she added. “We promised ourselves we’re going to learn it for Suleman,” said Dawood. The family will also work to continue Shahzada’s work. “He was involved in so many things, he helped so many people and I think I really want to continue that legacy and give him that platform… It’s quite important for my daughter as well,” she said. “I miss them,” she added. “I really, really miss them.” The Dawoods are from a prominent Pakistani business family. Dawood Hercules Corp., their business, is among the largest companies in the country, with a portfolio spanning energy, petrochemicals, fertilizers, information technology and food and agriculture. Shahzada and Suleman joined a voyage on board the Titan submersible – roughly the size of a minivan – to observe the wreck of the Titanic ocean liner, which lies around 12,500 feet below the surface of the North Atlantic. The submersible went missing on June 18, about 1 hour and 45 minutes into its descent to explore the wreckage. On Thursday, debris from the sub was found by search teams, indicating that the vessel had suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five people on board. CNN’s Steve Almasy and Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.

A ground worker who was “ingested” into a plane’s engine at San Antonio International Airport Friday died by suicide, according to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office. The cause of death is listed as blunt and sharp force injuries. The manner of death is listed as suicide, an office assistant for the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office told CNN in a phone call. Delta Flight 1111 had arrived at San Antonio from Los Angeles Friday and was taxiing to a gate using one engine “when a worker was ingested into that engine at about 10:25 p.m.,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement to CNN on Sunday evening. Ad Feedback The safety board is continuing to gather information about what happened, it said. San Antonio International is working with authorities on the investigation, a spokesperson said. “An accident occurred on the ground at San Antonio International Airport (SAT) Friday night that resulted in the fatality of an airline ground crew member,” airport spokesperson Erin Rodriguez said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened by this incident and are working with authorities as they begin their investigation. We will share more information as details become available.” Delta Air Lines said it was “grieving” the loss. “We are heartbroken and grieving the loss of an aviation family member’s life in San Antonio. Our hearts and full support are with their family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time,” a Delta spokesperson told CNN in an email. Unifi Aviation provides aviation services at San Antonio International Airport and employed the worker who died. “Our hearts go out to the family of the deceased, and we remain focused on supporting our employees on the ground and ensuring they are being taken care of during this time,” the company said in a statement to CNN. “From our initial investigation, this incident was unrelated to Unifi’s operational processes, safety procedures and policies. Out of respect for the deceased, we will not be sharing any additional information. While police and other officials continue to investigate this incident, we defer to them on providing further details.” An airport worker who died in an accident at the Montgomery Regional Airport in Alabama last New Year’s Eve also was ingested into the engine of an aircraft, the NTSB said in a January statement. That aircraft, an Embraer 170 operated by regional carrier Envoy Air, was “parked at the gate with the parking brake set when a ground support personnel was ingested,” said the agency. “We are saddened to hear about the tragic loss of a team member of the AA/Piedmont Airlines,” the airport’s executive director, Wade Davis, said at the time. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.”

Russia glimpsed the threat of armed insurrection over the weekend, with Wagner Group mercenaries marching toward Moscow as President Vladimir Putin vowed retribution – all before a sudden deal seemed to defuse the crisis as rapidly as it had emerged. The immediate risk of bloodshed appears to have dissipated, but much remains uncertain; experts warn that the rare uprising is still likely to have consequences down the line. Putin must now navigate the aftermath of the most serious challenge to his authority since he came to power over 20 years ago, which appeared to have him on the back foot for a day and half.   Ad Feedback The fate of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin – who led the provocative march and seizure of cities along the way – remains murky. The typically outspoken oligarch has been quiet about the Minsk-brokered deal, which would see him sent to Belarus and his troops absorbed by the Russian military. Neither the Kremlin nor Belarusian officials could say where he was on Sunday. Here’s what we know.

What’s the latest?

According to the deal described by the Kremlin and the Belarusian government, Prigozhin has agreed to leave Russia for neighboring Belarus. However, his whereabouts remain unknown. Wagner fighters leave the military headquarters they had briefly occupied in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24. Belarusian officials told CNN on Sunday that they had no details on what Prigozhin’s status would be in Belarus and could not confirm whether he had already arrived in the country. The press service for Prigozhin’s Concord management company declined to offer an update, telling CNN only that the warlord “sends his regards to everyone and will answer questions when he has proper communication.” A Kremlin spokesman also said that a criminal case against Prigozhin for the rebellion will be dropped. Wagner fighters will now sign contracts with Russia’s Ministry of Defense, the spokesman also said – a move Prigozhin had previously rejected as an attempt to bring his paramilitary force in line. Videos authenticated and geolocated by CNN on Saturday showed Prigozhin and his forces withdrawing from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

How did this happen?

The crisis in Russia erupted Friday when Prigozhin accused Russia’s military of attacking a Wagner camp and killing his men – and vowed to retaliate by force. Prigozhin then led his troops into Rostov-on-Don and claimed to have taken control of key military facilities in the Voronezh region, where there was an apparent clash between Wagner units and Russian forces. Prigozhin claimed it wasn’t a coup but a “march of justice.” But that did little to appease Moscow, with a top security official calling Prigozhin’s actions a “staged coup d’état,” according to Russian state media. Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation after an insurrection led by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 24. Russia’s Defense Ministry denied attacking Wagner’s troops, and Russia’s internal security force opened a criminal case against Prigozhin. Then came a remarkable national address from Putin. In a speech that was broadcast across Russia on Saturday morning local time, a visibly furious Putin vowed to punish those “on a path to treason.” Wagner’s “betrayal” was a “stab in the back of our country and our people,” he said, likening the group’s actions to the 1917 Russian Revolution that toppled Tsar Nicholas II in the midst of WWI. Things were tense on the ground, with civilians in Voronezh told to stay home. Meanwhile, Moscow stepped up its security measures across the capital, declaring Monday a non-workday. Photos show Russian forces in body armor and wielding automatic weapons near a highway outside Moscow. All signs pointed to an impending armed confrontation in the capital as rumors and uncertainty swirled. Then almost as suddenly as it began, the short-lived mutiny fizzled out with the Belarus deal seeming putting out the fire – at least for now.

What’s next for Prigozhin and Wagner?

Much remains unclear, such as what will happen to Prigozhin’s role within Wagner and the Ukraine war, and whether all his fighters will be contracted to Russia’s military. The Kremlin spokesperson said on Saturday he “cannot answer” what position Prigozhin will take in Belarus. Prigozhin himself has provided little detail about his agreement to halt the advance on Moscow. The Wagner group is “an independent fighting company” with different conditions than the Russian military, said retired US Army Maj. Mike Lyons on Saturday. For instance, Wagner fighters are better fed than the military – meaning a full assimilation would be difficult. “Maybe some will splinter off,” he added. “Those people are loyal to the man, Prigozhin, not to the country, not to the mission. I think we’ve got a lot more questions that are not answered right now.”

New videos show Wagner private military chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his forces leaving the Russian military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don in southwestern Russia after announcing that his forces will turn around from a march toward Moscow. Prigozhin has reached an apparent deal with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, but the Kremlin have only provided scant details about the agreement. If you're just now reading in, here's what you should know: Prigozhin will be sent to Belarus: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Prigozhin has "the word" of Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will be able to leave and go to Belarus. Though Prigozhin was seen leaving Rostov-on-Don, his current whereabouts are unknown. Case against Prigozhin will be dropped: Peskov also revealed that Lukashenko was able to draw on a personal relationship with Prigozhin to broker the deal, which includes any criminal charges against Prigozhin to be dropped. Wagner fighters will return to base: Peskov said the fighters will sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense and will not face legal action for taking part in the march, adding that the Kremlin has "always respected their heroic deeds" on the front lines. What others are saying: Former Russian member of Parliament Sergey Markov told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that Prigozhin was never a threat to Putin, citing Putin's popularity now being at “about 80%."Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro threw his support behind Putin on Saturday and condemned Wagner's actions, saying that he rejected "any violent or unconstitutional change of power or uprising."Meanwhile, the leaders of UK, US, France and Germany spoke earlier in day to discuss the situation in Russia and reiterated their continuing support for Ukrainian sovereignty, a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said. Foreign ministers for the G7 countries have also been in contact, the spokesperson added. The US State Department said Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau to discuss the situation. Ukraine's reaction: Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Prigozhin's escalation "almost nullified" Putin and criticized Prigozhin for "suddenly" turning his forces around. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his nightly address, claimed Putin is “very afraid,” saying that the Russian president is "probably hiding somewhere, not showing himself.”How we got here: Prigozhin on Friday accused Russia’s military of attacking a Wagner camp and killing a “huge amount” of his men. He vowed to retaliate with force, insinuating that his forces would “destroy” any resistance, including roadblocks and aircraft.By Saturday, Igor Artamonov, governor of the southwestern Russian region of Lipetsk, said Wagner equipment was moving across the region's territory. Russian military also carried out “combat measures” in the southern Russia city of Voronezh, the region's governor said, in light of Prigozhin's claim Saturday to have seized control of key military facilities in the Voronezh and Rostov regions.What else is going on: Ukrainian forces launched simultaneous counteroffensives in multiple directions, according to Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar. She said that "there is progress in all directions" without giving any further detail.Earlier Saturday, Ukraine claimed it had taken back territory in the east that was held by Russia since it annexed Crimea in 2014. Ukrainian forces claim to have taken the area prior to the apparent Wagner insurrection but only announced it Saturday.

After a days long, massive search for a Titanic-bound submersible that captured international attention, US authorities announced the vessel had suffered a “catastrophic implosion” – and new information from a US Navy source helps shed light on when that disaster may have unfolded. All five people aboard the submersible, known as the “Titan,” were killed, the US Coast Guard said in a Thursday news conference. The tail cone and other debris from the missing submersible were found by a remotely operated vehicle about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, which rests about 13,000 feet deep in the North Atlantic Ocean. “The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel,” US Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger, the First Coast Guard District commander, told reporters. A senior Navy official told CNN the Navy detected an acoustic signature consistent with an implosion on Sunday in the general area where the vessel was diving and lost communication with its mother ship. The Navy immediately relayed that information to on-scene commanders leading the search effort, and it was used to narrow down the area of the search, the official said Thursday. But the sound of the implosion was determined to be “not definitive,” the official said, and the multinational efforts to find the submersible continued as a search and rescue effort. The Wall Street Journal was first to report about the acoustic signature picked up by the Navy. Follow live Titanic submersible updates Billionaire explorer and a prominent Pakistani father and son duo are on board the missing sub Minutes before the US Coast Guard news conference, OceanGate Expeditions, the company that operated the deep-sea submersible, issued a statement grieving the five men on board. “We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost,” OceanGate said in a statement. “These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.” The news ends a saga that began Sunday when the Titan began its descent to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. The expedition was billed as “a chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary” and cost each participant $250,000, an archived version of OceanGate’s website shows. However, the cramped vessel lost contact with its mother ship about 1 hour and 45 minutes into its dive and did not surface as expected, prompting an extensive search and rescue operation in a remote area several hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland. The expedition reflects the ongoing fascination with the Titanic more than a century after it hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage, killing more than 1,500 people. The journey was also part of the growing business of wealthy adventure tourism, along with the space flights of Blue Origin or the rise of guided tours to Mount Everest. The focus on the vessel renewed criticisms of OceanGate’s approach to safety from employees and other industry leaders. The 23,000-pound deep-sea vessel was made of an experimental combination of carbon fiber and titanium and relied on decidedly low-tech parts, such as a video game controller. Officials will now be tasked with answering more questions, including piecing together what exactly happened and how to best prevent it from happening again. A massive search effort The OceanGate Titan submersible is seen in an undated photo. From OceanGate/FILE The international search and rescue efforts kicked into high gear in the past few days. The last communication between the vessel and its mother ship, the Polar Prince, came in at 11:47 a.m. Sunday. With no GPS underwater, the submersible was only guided by text messages from the surface ship. A remotely operated vehicle was looking for the submersible on the sea floor, the US Coast Guard’s Northeast District tweeted Thursday morning. Aircraft also scanned the search zone and an ROV from a French vessel was also deployed, and equipment from Magellan, the team that mapped the Titanic wreckage site last year, was headed to the site to assist. What it's like inside the Titanic-touring submersible that went missing with 5 people on board Earlier this week, there were moments that offered hope to the family and friends of the missing vessel. Banging noises were detected underwater by sonar Tuesday and Wednesday in the massive search area, though their origin was not clear. The sounds on Tuesday first came every 30 minutes and were heard again four hours later, according to an internal US government memo update on the search. When asked about those noises Thursday, Mauger said, “There doesn’t appear to be any connection between the noises (and) the location on the seafloor.” The US Navy also helped analyze the audio signatures of banging and other acoustic data that were heard throughout the search efforts, the Navy official told CNN. Those were likely some form of natural life or sounds given off by other ships and vessels that were part of the search effort, the official said. The audio of the implosion picked up by the US Navy came from a network of sensors as part of an underwater Navy acoustic listening system, the official said. OceanGate faces questions on safety of vessel A screengrab from a Canadian Armed Forces Operations video released on Wednesday shows search efforts for the OceanGate Titan submersible. Canadian Armed Forces The implosion of the Titan and deaths of those on board has put its operator’s safety procedures under the microscope. Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, told a Mexican travel blogger in 2021 he wanted to be known as an innovator who broke the rules. “I think it was (US Army) Gen. (Douglas) MacArthur who said, ‘You’re remembered for the rules you break,’” Rush told Alan Estrada, who documented his trip to the Titanic, including an aborted attempt in July 2021 before a successful visit in 2022. “I’ve broken some rules to make this,” Rush added. At least two former OceanGate employees years ago expressed safety concerns about the vessel’s hull, including the thickness of the material used and testing procedures, CNN has learned. OceanGate Expeditions faced hurdles in executing its excursions to the Titanic OceanGate Expeditions strayed from industry norms by declining a voluntary, rigorous safety review of the vessel, according to an industry leader. If the company had pursued a certification review “some of this may have been avoided,” Will Kohnen of the Marine Technology Society told CNN on Wednesday. The company also faced a series of mechanical problems and inclement weather conditions that forced the cancellation or delays of trips in recent years, according to court records. The scuttled excursions led to a pair of lawsuits in which some high-paying customers sought to recoup the cost of trips they said they didn’t take. The complaints alleged that the company overstated its ability to reach the Titanic wreckage. OceanGate did not respond to the claims in court and could not be reached for comment. Some expeditions were delayed after OceanGate was forced to rebuild the Titan’s hull because it showed “cyclic fatigue” and wouldn’t be able to travel deep enough to reach the Titanic’s wreckage, according to a 2020 article by GeekWire, which interviewed the company’s CEO. CEO of company and wealthy adventurers among the victims   These are the people onboard the missing submersible 02:36 - Source: CNN The Titan generally carried five people: a pilot, in this case Rush; three paying passengers, in this case Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood and Suleman Dawood; and a content expert knowledgeable of the Titanic, in this instance Paul-Henri Nargeolet, according to OceanGate’s archived website. Harding, a British businessman and the chairman of aircraft brokerage Action Aviation, had a lengthy list of extreme expeditions under his belt. In 2019, he was part of a flight crew that broke the world record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe via both poles, and in 2020, he became one of the first people to dive to Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean, widely believed to be the deepest point in the world’s oceans. Last year, he paid an undisclosed sum of money for one of the seats on Blue Origin’s space flight. “Today, we are united in grief with the other families who have also lost their loved ones on the Titan submersible,” read a statement on behalf of his family from Action Aviation. “Hamish Harding was a loving husband to his wife and a dedicated father to his two sons, whom he loved deeply.” “What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it’s that we lost him doing what he loved,” the statement added. “He will leave a gap in our lives that can never be filled.” The Pakistani billionaire Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, were part of a prominent Pakistani business family. Dawood Hercules Corporation is among the largest corporations in the country, with a portfolio spanning energy, petrochemicals, fertilizers, IT, food and agriculture. In a statement posted to the Twitter account of The Dawood Foundation, Shahzada’s parents Hussain and Kulsum Dawood announced the deaths of Shahzada and Suleman. “We are truly grateful to all those involved in the rescue operations. Their untiring efforts were a source of strength for us during this time,” the statement said. “We are also indebted to our friends, family, colleagues, and well-wishers from all over the world who have stood by us during our hour of need. The immense love and support we receive continues to help us to endure this unimaginable loss.” Nargeolet, an acclaimed French diver, had decades of experience exploring the Titanic. He served as the director of underwater research at RMS Titanic Inc., the company that has exclusive rights to salvage artifacts from the ship. According to his biography on the company’s website, Nargeolet completed 35 dives to the Titanic wreck and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artifacts. He spent 22 years in the French Navy, where he rose to the rank of a commander, the website says. His family called him “a man who will be remembered as one of the greatest deep-sea explorers in modern history” in a statement signed by his wife and children. “When you think of the Titanic and all we know about the ship today, you will think of Paul-Henri Nargeolet and his legendary work,” the statement added. “But what we will remember him most for is his big heart, his incredible sense of humor and how much he loved his family. We will miss him today and every day for the rest of our lives.”  

James Cameron, director of the 1997 film “Titanic,” was the next deep-sea explorer to follow. He piloted a submersible — one that he personally had helped design — to about 35,787 feet (10,908 meters), setting a world record in 2012.

2. A plastic bag was found in the trench

Another explorer who returned to the site was Victor Vescovo, a Texas investor who journeyed 35,853 feet (10,927 meters) down and claimed a world record in 2019. Vescovo gave depressing insight into humankind’s impact on these seemingly untouchable remote locations when he observed a plastic bag and candy wrappers at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. A handful of explorers have trekked to the Challenger Deep since then, but the expeditions are not common — and the journey is extremely dangerous. For every 33 feet (10 meters) traveled beneath the ocean’s surface, the pressure on an object increases by one atmosphere, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An atmosphere is a unit of measure that’s 14.7 pounds per square inch. A trip to the Challenger Deep can put a vessel under pressure that is “equivalent to 50 jumbo jets,” Feldman noted.

3. It lies in the hadal zone, named for the god of the underworld

Much like the Earth’s atmosphere, the ocean can be described in terms of layers. The uppermost portion is called the epipelagic zone, or the sunlight zone, and extends just 660 feet (200 meters) below the water’s surface, according to NOAA. The mesopelagic zone, or the so-called twilight zone, stretches from the end of the sunlight zone to about 3,300 feet (1,000 meters). Then there’s the bathypelagic zone, also called the midnight zone, and, beneath that, the abyssopelagic zone — as in, the abyssal zone — that extends from 13,100 feet (4,000 meters) to 19,700 feet (6,000 meters). That’s nearly 4 miles underwater. Within the abyssal zone, few life-forms can survive, the water is completely devoid of light, and temperatures are near freezing. But the Challenger Deep lies even further — in the hadalpelagic zone, or the hadal zone. It’s named for Hades, the Greek god of the underworld thought to rule over the dead.

4. It’s home to unique aquatic life and mud volcanoes

The hadal zone is one of the least explored habitats on Earth. At bone-crushing depths with no sunlight, it was long thought that nothing could survive there. But that belief has been dispelled. “Even at the very bottom, life exists. In 2005, tiny single-celled organisms called foraminifera, a type of plankton, were discovered in the Challenger Deep,” according to NOAA. Discoveries at the Challenger Deep have included colorful rocky outcrops and bottom-dwelling sea cucumbers. A series of undersea mud volcanoes and hydrothermal vents in the Mariana Trench also support unusual life-forms, according to NOAA. Despite the highly acidic and infernally hot water produced by hydrothermal vents in mud volcanoes, exotic species and microscopic organisms there are able to survive. In the absence of sunlight, the creatures instead benefit from the nutrient-rich waters belched out from hydrothermal vents. The life-supporting medium results from chemical reactions between the seawater and magma rising from beneath the ocean floor.

5. The Mariana Trench was designated as a US national monument in 2009

The Marianas Trench Marine National Monument was established in 2009, in part to protect the rare organisms that thrive within its depths. Objects of interest include the submerged ecosystem and its life-forms, such as deep-sea shrimp and crabs, and — higher up in the water column — stony coral reefs. “A great diversity of seamount and hydrothermal vent life (is) worth preservation,” according to NOAA. The entire national monument protects about 95,000 square miles (246,049 square kilometers).

6. It’s difficult to know just how deep the trench goes

The ocean floor remains one of the most mysterious places in the universe. In fact, “we have better maps of the moon and Mars than we do of our own planet,” Feldman previously told CNN. Though people have been exploring the ocean’s surface for tens of thousands of years, only about 20% of the seafloor has been mapped, according to 2022 figures from NOAA. Given high interest in the Mariana Trench, however, researchers have made several efforts to give increasingly detailed pictures of its features. But that’s not easy: Due to the vastness and deepness of the bottommost ocean zone, scientists must rely on sonar, or acoustic, technology to attempt to give a full picture of what’s below. Because instrumentation and technology are constantly improving, the estimated depth of the Challenger Deep has been updated as recently as 2021 to about 35,876 feet (10,935 meters).

Growing demand and the lack of supply have driven prices for used cars up with little relief in sight, according to a recent report. Used car prices have softened recently but remain significantly higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Edmunds report. Prices on average for used cars dropped 6.4% in the first quarter of 2023 year-over-year, but they remained 44% higher than five years ago.Part of why prices for used cars have soared is because supply can't meet demand. Drivers struggling with high inflation and interest rates seek relief in the used car market. However, the usual spigot for used car inventory – lease returns, trade-ins and daily rentals – remains constrained.    Lease volumes decreased to 559,000 vehicles in the first quarter of this year from 1 million cars five years ago, according to Edmunds. Similarly, trade-in volume dipped to 5.5 million cars in 2022 from 6.2 million vehicles in 2018. Off-rental vehicles, typically the most significant contributor to used car supply, are now much older and pricier.   "The good news is that used prices have softened enough in Q1 to offer some relief for consumers getting pushed out of the new market," Edmunds Director of Insights Ivan Drury. "The not-so-good news is that the used vehicle market continues to be challenging for car shoppers since there are fewer vehicles available and demand is keeping prices historically high." Shopping around for new auto insurance can help lower your costs. The Credible marketplace can help you compare multiple providers and find your personalized rate in minutes without affecting your credit score.

The $20,000 car is no longer on lots

Used vehicles priced under $20,000 are harder for shoppers to find, according to Edmunds. The share of used cars sold under $20,000 was 30.6% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 60.5% five years ago. In the new vehicle market, the share of vehicles sold for under $20,000 was less than 1%.Over the last decade, the shift to higher-end luxury vehicles, driven by a low-interest rate environment and extended financing loan terms, has meant that economy cars are less readily available."Consumers returning to the used market for the first time in years might find conditions a bit shocking: Not long ago, $20,000 was seen as an acceptable amount to spend on a used car to get an optimal blend of miles and age," Drury said. "In today's market, $20,000 puts consumers into a much older or much higher-mileage vehicle." If you are looking to save money on your car costs, you could consider changing your auto insurance provider to get a lower monthly rate. Visit Credible to shop around and find your personalized premium without affecting your credit score.

High-interest rates impact auto loans

The Federal Reserve's battle against inflation has meant higher interest rates and borrowing costs across most loan types. The average annual percentage rate (APR) on new vehicles financed in the first quarter of 2023 climbed to 7%, compared to 4.4% in the first quarter of 2022, according to a separate Edmunds report. That's the highest level since the first quarter of 2008, Edmunds reported. For used cars, the average APR increased to 11.1% from 7.8% a year ago. Consumers paid an average monthly payment of $730 for new vehicles in the first quarter of 2023, compared to $656 a year ago, according to Edmunds. For used cars, consumers paid an average monthly payment of $551, a slight increase from the $542 they paid last year. Consumers in the market for used car vehicles can use these tips to make sure they are getting the best deal, according to Edmunds:

Maximize your trade-in value

Knowing the value of your trade-in will likely get you top-dollar for it, and it could help lower the cost of your next purchase. 

Shop for the best loan terms

Searching for pre-approved financing in a high-interest-rate environment could help you find a better deal. Edmunds advises consumers to shop for pre-approved financing as diligently as they shop for an actual vehicle.

Be flexible with your purchase

An older used vehicle could yield a better bargain but be sure to buy from a reputable dealer that offers a detailed vehicle history report, according to Edmunds.If you are struggling with rising car prices and want to save money, you could consider finding a new auto insurance provider to lower your monthly premium. You can visit Credible to compare multiple car insurance providers at once and choose the one with the best rate for you.

Longtime television host and former mayor of Cincinnati Jerry Springer died from pancreatic cancer, his longtime representative Linda Shafran confirmed to CNN Friday. He was 79. Springer’s death had been announced Thursday. “Jerry’s ability to connect with people was at the heart of his success in everything he tried whether that was politics, broadcasting or just joking with people on the street who wanted a photo or a word,” Jene Galvin, a lifelong friend and spokesman for the family, said in a statement. His tabloid talk series, “The Jerry Springer Show,” premiered in 1991 and was wildly successful in syndication. It ended in 2018 after more than 4,000 episodes. Both Springer and his show were often criticized for helping to popularize “trash TV” due to the often outrageous guests he hosted. Springer once told CNN that he did not mind being referred to as the “grandfather of trash TV,” saying in 2010, as “The Jerry Springer Show” celebrated its 20th anniversary on the air: “It’s probably accurate. I don’t know what the award for that is, but I think it is true that we were probably one of the first shows to present some of the outrageousness we have.” Springer had not publicly shared he had been diagnosed with cancer prior to his death. In his heyday Jerry Springer consistently played down the significance of his talk show and its drift into what became known as “trash TV,” dismissing the daytime program as “stupid” and basically a big joke that the audience was in on. Yet TV paid a price for the excesses “The Jerry Springer Show” helped usher in, with the advent of anything-goes reality television and a nastier mentality that oozed across the media spectrum. Springer, who has died at the age of 79, had a background in politics as well as television, and he was a cheerful ambassador for his form of TV escapism, calling the show “silly.” His producer, Richard Dominick, spoke of the wacky content appealing to “the Letterman crowd,” a reference to the sophisticated late-night audience, heavily tilted at the time toward college students and young adults, which originally gravitated toward David Letterman’s brand of comedy. Television hits don’t exist in a vacuum, though, and Springer’s sensationalism bled across the TV landscape, in a manner that was hardly free of consequences. The “craziness” over which Springer presided crept into other daytime fare, as well as the growing trend of “reality” television, mixing the outlandishness of professional wrestling with ordinary people in one big colorful, watchable and occasionally toxic stew. That included the murder of Scott Amedure, a guest on Jenny Jones’ rival daytime show in 1995, after he revealed his “secret crush” on Jonathan Schmitz, who later shot him. In 1999, a Michigan jury issued a $25-million judgment against the show and its distributor, Warner Bros. (like CNN, part of Warner Bros. Discovery), for its negligence in Amedure’s death. An appeals court later overturned that judgment. “Jerry Springer” was also sued unsuccessfully in 2002 by the family of a woman killed by her ex-husband after appearing on the show.  Brawls became a daily staple of Springer’s program, offering just enough titillation to keep the audience coming back. Yet as USA Today critic Kelly Lawler noted, while Springer himself was generally respectful toward his guests – and indeed, often conveyed a sense of bemused detachment from the circus where he served as ringmaster – “part of the series’ success stemmed from trafficking in racial stereotypes, homophobia, transphobia and the othering of disabled people.” While there are few straight lines in pop culture, Springer’s antics clearly played a part in the zigzagging staircase that the media rode into the 21st century, which hinged on pushing boundaries on programming that billed itself as “reality,” despite all the editing and manipulation employed in shaping those stories. Although there were speed bumps along the way, such as the Jenny Jones case, producers and executives found it difficult, if not impossible, to put the toothpaste back in the tube. The occasional excess, even tragedy, became a cost of doing business. In a podcast interview last year, Springer apologized for the influence of what his show helped unleash, saying, half-jokingly, “What have I done? I’ve ruined the culture.” To be fair, Springer had plenty of company and accomplices in leading television down the path that it followed. Yet even Springer appeared to acknowledge that amid the garishness, money and chants of “Jerry! Jerry!,” there was a darker side, too, to that legacy, one whose ripples can be seen not just in what’s on TV, but what flows from it.

Silence is golden — unless you find yourself in the quietest room in the world. In 2015, Microsoft built what is now in the Guinness Book of World Records as the quietest place on the planet. Known as the anechoic chamber at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, “ultra-sensitive tests” performed in 2015 gave an average background noise reading of -20.35 dBA (decibels A-weighted — a measurement of the sound pressure level). Only very few people have been able to withstand being in the room for a long period of time — at most an hour. After a few minutes, you’ll already start to hear your own heartbeat. A few minutes after that, you can hear your own bones grinding and blood flowing. The point of the anechoic chamber isn’t that you will hear nothing, but that it will remove all other outside noise and allow you to hear the endless sounds of your own body.

Only in death is the body completely silent. Environments we think of as ultra-quiet are typically louder than the human hearing threshold, which is around 0 decibels. A library reading room, for instance, might chalk up around 40 decibels. With no sound from the outside world coming in, the total and utter silence will gradually turn into an unbearable ringing in your ears.

This will likely lead you to lose your balance due to the lack of reverberation in the room, which impairs your spatial awareness. “When you turn your head, you can even hear that motion. You can hear yourself breathing and it sounds somewhat loud.” Hundraj Gopal, principal designer of the chamber at Microsoft, previously said. The word anechoic means “without echo.” It took two years to design the space. Made up of six layers of concrete and steel, it’s a bit disconnected from the surrounding building. An array of vibration-damping springs are situated below. Inside, fiberglass wedges are mounted on the floor, ceiling, and walls to break up sound waves before they have a chance to bounce back into the room.

Meanwhile, another anechoic chamber is hoping to earn the new title of the quietest room in the world. Located at Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, the room achieved “a legitimate measurement” of “–24.9 dBA,” according to Steven J. Orfield, who designed the space. It had previously held the record. Orfield told the New York Times that he has filed an application for his chamber to reclaim its title and is currently awaiting a response from Guinness World Records. A representative for Guinness confirmed receipt of Orfield’s newest submission to the outlet, adding that Guinness’s records-management team is in the process of “assessing both his evidence and their testing criteria.”

Summer is typically a time for family vacations, trips to the beach and outdoor gatherings, but COVID-19 has made us rethink several things—even outdoor activities at parks, playgrounds and public pools. Although flights, cruises and other cross-country trips may be canceled, you may wonder if it’s still safe to do other outdoor activities this summer. While organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization provide recommendations to protect you and slow the spread, it really comes down to your personal decision. “Each person needs to assess their own personal risk when deciding whether or not to participate in activities outside their home,” said Brandie Anderson, registered nurse and infection prevention director at Banner - University Medical Center Tucson. “Things to consider are your age, underlying medical conditions, viral spread in that location and what you can do to reduce your own personal risk in that situation.” With this in mind, here are five questions to ask yourself to help guide your decision.

Is it close to my home?

It’s great to get out and enjoy some fresh air but consider a location that’s closer to home to help reduce the likelihood you’ll need to stop along the way for things like bathroom breaks or to refuel. Traveling long distances may contribute to the spread of COVID-19. “Most travel requires you to stop along the way or be in close contact with others … which may expose you to surfaces contaminated with the virus that causes COVID-19,” the CDC said. If you do have to make a pit stop, however, make sure to heed this advice from the CDC: Keep distance between you and others (at least 6 feet). Wear cloth face coverings Wash hands or use hand sanitizer If gassing up, use disinfecting wipes on handles and buttons before you touch them (if available).

Is it safe for me to go?

While many outdoor activities can offer health benefits, it’s important to take the necessary steps to protect yourself and others. Going to the beach, camping, golfing, hiking or to any outdoor gatherings while much of the U.S. (and the world) is experiencing the community spread of COVID-19 can pose a risk to you if you come in close contact with others or share public facilities (i.e., restrooms, tables, chairs). That said, if you do plan to go to an outdoor space, visiting should be OK as long as you remember to follow state and local government guidance and you continue to practice social distancing and these steps: wear a cloth face covering when around others, wash your hands frequently and cover coughs and sneezes.

Will I be able to maintain social distancing?

“If you determine that your personal risk allows you to participate in outdoor activities, I would advise choosing activities with limited numbers of people with minimal contact,” Anderson said. “I would avoid close contact activities such as basketball where it’s hard to social distance." Remember that some people without symptoms may be able to still spread COVID-19, so stay at least 6 feet away from others, do not gather in groups and stay away from crowded places and mass gatherings. If the location you are going is typically a popular site, consider going on off-peak hours or call ahead to see what protocols they have put in place to ensure social distancing is observed. While your little ones might be begging you to take them to a popular park or playground, the CDC does not recommend. They are often crowded, and it may be harder for your children to heed social distancing. It also can be challenging to keep surfaces clean and disinfected.

Should I wear a mask?

If you are unsure that social distancing will be able to be maintained, consider going at off-peak hours and bring a mask along with you just in case social distancing is a challenge. Since COVID-19 can spread very easily and sustainably from person to person, the CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain especially in areas of significant community-based transmission. While it might seem like an annoyance, wearing a cloth face covering can provide an extra layer to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling in the air and onto other people. Here are some do’s and don’ts to remember about face coverings: DO: Make sure you can breathe through your mask Wear it whenever you’re out in public Make sure it covers your nose AND mouth For a reusable cloth mask, wash it after use DON’T: Don’t use on children under 2 years of age Don’t use surgical masks and other PPE intended for healthcare professionals

Am I feeling sick?

This should be a no-brainer, but if you aren’t feeling well: stay home. Save that hike or run for another day. It’s important to be vigilant with your health and well-being, especially if you are exhibiting any symptoms of a COVID-19. Be sure to follow CDC guidance if symptoms develop.

Outlook

Ultimately, the decision to engage in outdoor activities is a personal one, but remember to follow CDC guidelines to help ensure you and your loved ones are safe during this uncertain time. If you have questions or concerns, contact your health care provider to discuss your personal risk and any additional preventative measures.