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Charlie Kirk Assassinated |
Conservative activist and influencer Charlie Kirk was killed yesterday after being shot in the neck while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. Authorities are searching for the suspect as of this writing; at least two people were taken into custody and later released. The campus is closed, and classes have been canceled. See live updates here.
The 31-year-old Kirk cofounded the conservative student organization Turning Point USA and had amassed over 3 million followers on his YouTube channel. A university spokesperson said Kirk was struck from roughly 200 yards away—about the length of two football fields—20 minutes into the event, where at least 3,000 people had gathered. According to videos posted to social media, Kirk had been answering audience questions about mass shootings and gun violence before being shot.
The incident is among recent attacks on political figures in the US and follows last summer’s assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and June's assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband. |
NASA’s Perseverance rover has found rocks pointing to signs of past life on Mars, according to a new study. The discovery marks the clearest signs yet of life, although researchers stress further analysis is needed.
Since landing on Mars in February 2021, Perseverance has been exploring the Jezero Crater (see path), which billions of years ago was believed to be a lake bed. Last July, the rover discovered a rock formation nearby speckled with dots resembling poppy seeds and leopard spots. The colorful patterns indicate the presence of vivianite and greigite—two minerals rich in iron, phosphate, and sulfide that, on Earth, have been produced through biological activity. Researchers found no evidence that the minerals were produced through heat, an alternative theory.
NASA’s effort to retrieve and further study the samples is stalled until at least the 2040s due to cost, now estimated at $11B. Read the study here. |
France deployed 80,000 police yesterday to quell nationwide protests against President Emmanuel Macron amid debates over the country's growing debt. The demonstration coincided with Sébastien Lecornu's first day as prime minister, after parliament ousted his predecessor, François Bayrou, Monday.
The “Block Everything” protest was conceived online this summer out of frustration across the political spectrum with Bayrou’s proposal to cut $51B in public spending (see previous write-up). Bayrou’s dismissal appeared to have minimal impact on confidence in Macron's administration. Critics noted Macron selected the new prime minister from his inner circle; Lecornu has served on the president's team since 2017, most recently as defense minister. France’s Interior Ministry recorded over 800 demonstrations nationwide involving 175,000 people and over 450 arrests.
“Block Everything” has been compared to France's “Yellow Vest” movement, which began online among the rural working class, led to months of demonstrations, and resulted in Macron introducing over $10B in reforms. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> WNBA regular season wraps up tonight with the playoffs set to begin Sunday; see complete postseason bracket and schedule (More) | WNBA history (1440 Topics) |
> Eight Detroit Tigers employees accused of sexual misconduct in the past two years, report reveals (More) | NCAA permanently bans three men's basketball players for betting on their own games (More) |
> Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Ava DuVernay among 3,900 people from the film and TV industry to sign pledge to boycott Israeli film institutions they deem complicit in alleged war crimes (More) |
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In partnership with Motley Fool Money |
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> Amazon launches electric robotaxi Zoox with free rides in Las Vegas; the Waymo and Tesla rival plans to enter the Austin and Miami markets next (More) |
> Advanced instruments enable clearest-ever detection of gravitational waves emitted by black hole merger, confirming Stephen Hawking's black hole area theorem (More) | How Hawking shaped our understanding of black holes (1440 Topics) |
> Neuroscientists link rare gene variant to the development of Alzheimer's and find treating mutated neurons with choline—an essential nutrient found in foods like eggs, meat, and legumes—reduces disease risk (More) |
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> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.3%, Dow -0.5%, Nasdaq +0.0%) (More) | Oracle, OpenAI sign $300B, five-year cloud computing deal; Oracle shares rise nearly 36% in best day since 1992, founder Larry Ellison tops Elon Musk as world's richest person (More) |
> Fintech startup Klarna shares close up over 14% after debuting at $52 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, valuing the Swedish firm at roughly $17B (More) |
> Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk to cut 9,000 jobs, or about 11% of global workforce, as part of restructuring (More) |
The Federal Reserve: Today's Business & Finance newsletter explores the history and function of America's central bank. Email comes out at 8:30 am ET—subscribe here! |
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> Former FBI leaders sue Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging their firings were motivated by their involvement in investigations into President Donald Trump (More) |
> NATO holds talks after Poland and allies shoot down suspected Russian drones that entered Polish airspace; incident marks first time NATO planes have engaged potential threats in allied airspace (More) |
> Cuba's electrical grid collapses for the fourth time in less than a year, leading to second nationwide blackout this year; outages reportedly caused by aging infrastructure and fuel shortages (More) |
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> The Enduring Legacy of 9/11
Pew Research | Hannah Hartig, Carroll Doherty. What public opinion polls reveal about American perspectives in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and two decades later. (Read) |
> The Falling Man
The Ringer | Bryan Curtis. Behind the search for the identity of a man, whose final seconds—captured in a photograph—encapsulate the visceral horror of 9/11. (Read)
Editor's note: The original Esquire piece, found here, has been placed behind a paywall. See more background on the photo here. |
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Ranking the happiest states in the US.
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The gruesome reason psychiatrists are called “shrinks.”
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Clickbait: Zookeepers hail iguana as a one-lizard wonder.
Historybook: College football coach Bear Bryant born (1913); Chilean President Salvador Allende dies by suicide in midst of coup d'état (1973); Pete Rose breaks baseball’s all-time hits record (1985); Coordinated terrorist attacks in the US kill 2,977, injure over 6,000 others (2001); US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, attacked resulting in death of four Americans (2012). |
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"So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart." |
- Billy Collins*
*The final line from the poem, "The Names," US poet laureate Billy Collins' ode to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. |
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*Disclosure: "Journal of Retirement Study Winter" (2020). The projections or other information regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of your future results. Please follow the link to see the methodologies employed in the Journal of Retirement study. |
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