Good morning. It's Wednesday, June 30, and we're covering the search and rescue effort in Surfside, an exciting astronomical discovery, and much more. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Day Seven in Surfside

The search for survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed Miami-area condo building stretches into its seventh day today, with shifting debris and rain slowing rescue crews. Twelve victims have been identified as of this morning, with about 150 others remaining unaccounted for. 

Engineers say available data suggest the collapse may have been triggered when a ground-level pool deck caved into an underground parking garage (see diagram). A 2018 structural survey is said to have found significant water damage in the concrete slabs beneath the deck, and the condo association's president reportedly warned residents in April the damage had grown worse and would require $15M in repairs. A more thorough probe of the root cause is expected to take months.  

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the site tomorrow; see security camera footage of the collapse here (warning: sensitive content). 

A Cosmic Feast

Astrophysicists reported yesterday the observation of two separate instances of a neutron star falling into a black hole, representing the first two times the phenomenon has been directly observed. The measurements were made by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration, an international partnership between the US and European facilities capable of measuring gravitational waves.  

Black holes form when massive stars collapse at the end of their life, with gravitational fields so strong that not even light can escape. Neutron stars form when a specific type of star dies, and are among the densest objects in the universe, with a mass roughly equal to the sun packed into a 12-mile-wide sphere. The merger triggered a massive explosion in the form of gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of space-time—which lasted less than a minute. 

What happens when you fall into a black hole? Some spaghettification, but no one fully knows. 

Jacob Zuma Jailed

Former South African President Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in jail yesterday by the country’s top court after failing to appear at a corruption inquiry. Zuma, 79, is accused of financial scandals during his 2009-18 tenure known as “state capture”—where the corruption runs so deep it influences the decision-making process. 

Zuma, an associate to Nelson Mandela and leader of South Africa for nearly a third of its post-apartheid history, alleges the probe is politically motivated. In place of appearing at court, the former president instead publicly released a letter addressed to the chief justice (read here), accusing the panel of bias. 

Zuma has had a rocky legal history. He pleaded not guilty last month to corruption charges over a 1999 arms deal with a French manufacturer in which he allegedly took bribes while he was deputy president. He would be the first former South African leader to be imprisoned after his term.

56% of Americans can't name an objective news source—share 1440 with a friend. 

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

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> "Black Panther" sequel began production yesterday in Atlanta, with most of original cast returning except for the late Chadwick Boseman (More) | Apple to develop drama series based on Negro League Baseball (More)

> Ray MacDonnell, "All My Children" star who won a lifetime achievement Emmy, dies at 93 (More) | Emmy-winning actor Stuart Damon, best known for role on "General Hospital," dies at 84 (More)

> Serena Williams out at Wimbledon after injury sustained in first-round match, the earliest exit Williams has ever made at the tournament (More)

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Science & Technology

> Data on 700 million LinkedIn users reportedly leaked onto a popular hacker forum; hack said to include inferred salaries, covers more than 90% of the platform's users (More) | Facebook unveils Bulletin, its newsletter service meant to compete with Substack (More)

> Japanese researchers claim to have found a treatment that halts, and in some cases reverses, symptoms associated with Alzheimer's and dementia in mice; human clinical trials scheduled to begin within the next year (More)

> Network of Bronze Age merchants developed a set of standardized weights and measurements that facilitated commerce across Asia roughly 3,000 years ago, study suggests (More)

Business & Markets

> US home prices in April's Case-Shiller index increase 14.6% over last year, the highest annual increase in over 30 years (More) | US consumer confidence index rises for sixth consecutive month, to the highest level since before the pandemic (More)

> United Airlines orders 270 airplanes from Boeing and Airbus, the company’s largest-ever purchase (More)

> Didi—the “Uber of China”—prices initial public offering at $14 per share, representing a value of approximately $67B; to start trading today on NYSE (More) | Nasdaq stock exchange sees 395 IPOs in the first half of 2021, raising a record $103B in proceeds (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> Supreme Court votes 5-4 to deny emergency request to strike down a federal eviction moratorium created in September during the pandemic; ban on evictions runs through July (More)

> Planned blackouts cut power to thousands of homes in Washington state as historic heat wave strains electric grid (More) | Lytton, Canada, sets country's all-time high temperature for third day in a row at 121 degrees (More)

> Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalizes recreational marijuana; citizens may use and grow the plant after obtaining a permit (More)

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ETCETERA

Spectator who caused a massive Tour de France crash to be sued. 

A stunning video of Lake Superior cliffs collapsing. 

Putting the Pacific Northwest's heat wave in context.

"Clifford the Big Red Dog" may be the year's scariest movie.

Mesmerizing rafts of floating fire ants.

Black-and-white photos capture the power of thunderstorms.

Octogenarian awarded with master chess title. 

... and a septuagenarian lives out her Yankees dream. 

Clickbait: Never call to ask why you weren't arrested. 

Historybook: Famous Oxford debate on evolution takes place (1860); Singer and civil rights activist Lena Horne born (1917); Boxing champ Mike Tyson born (1966); HBD Olympic legend Michael Phelps (1985). 

"Don't be afraid to feel as angry or as loving as you can, because when you feel nothing, it's just death."

- Lena Horne

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