Black holes collide, world's first hijacking, 7 steps to better health: Catch up on the day's stories
Here's what else you might have missed during your busy day.
Using ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein, researchers detected a cosmic merger of unprecedented proportions. A collision between two black holes — each more massive than 100 suns — is the largest of its kind ever recorded, astronomers said.
When Annette McKay's first grandson was born, she thought her mother would be over the moon. She had become a great-grandmother. Instead, it led her to reveal a secret. An excavation in Ireland is shedding light on stories that have been buried for decades.
Taking care of your heart has an influence on the health of your whole body, according to a new study. It found that better health can be broken down into several factors known as 'Life's Simple 7.'
On this day in 1948, a seaplane crashed during a short flight to Hong Kong. There was only one survivor — a Chinese rice farmer — but his story didn't add up. That routine 20-minute jaunt became the world's first airplane hijacking.
You don't need to get worked up about wine, but there's no denying that a perfect pairing can accentuate the taste and tone of your soirée. Here's how to find the best notes.
GET '5 THINGS' IN YOUR INBOX
If your day doesn't start until you're up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite morning fix. Sign up here for the '5 Things' newsletter. ⚡ 'Oh jeez!' A paraglider struck power lines and crashed into the Red River in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Firefighters rushed to the scene to rescue the man, who was not injured.
Trump says it's 'highly unlikely' he'll fire Powell after suggesting otherwise in meeting with lawmakers
Trump lashes out at 'weaklings' who believe Epstein 'bullsh*t' amid building GOP pressure to release documents
Louisiana police chiefs among those arrested and accused in a bribery scheme to help foreign nationals get visas
🪨 That's how much the world's biggest Mars rock — a meteorite weighing 54 pounds — just sold for at a Sotheby's New York auction.
⚰️ 'Buried in style': The typical somber procession of mourning takes a celebratory turn among the Ga people in southeast Ghana, where coffins are intricately designed by families of the deceased. A photographer documented the secretive tradition.
'It was touch and go for a while.'
Barack Obama
🤭 Just kidding: The former president joked about divorce rumors circulating about him and his wife Michelle. Speculation picked up steam after several public appearances where she didn't join her husband, including President Donald Trump's inauguration.
📺 Which actor, pictured here, just apologized for his disastrous 2009 interview with David Letterman?A. Ethan HawkeB. Joaquin PhoenixC. Mark RuffaloD. Paul Rudd⬇️ Scroll down for the answer.
🦟 Healthier babies: The first malaria drug for newborns and young infants is expected to be approved in Africa within weeks. Ghana has agreed to use it, and eight more African countries could follow suit within 90 days. Malaria is a potentially deadly disease spread by mosquitoes.
👋 We'll see you tomorrow.🧠 Quiz answer: B. Joaquin Phoenix's appearance went so badly that some wondered if he was having a breakdown. The actor called it 'one of the worst nights of my life.'📧 Check out all of CNN's newsletters.
Today's edition of 5 Things PM was edited and produced by CNN's Kimberly Richardson and Chris Good.
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Patrick Ryan, who grew up in the 1930s in County Tipperary, Ireland, understood that as the second son — and one of six children — he could not hope to inherit the family farm. But that didn't concern him. He had known since the age of 10 that he wanted to become a Roman Catholic priest. In those days, he once said, nothing confirmed the social status of a family in rural Ireland more than 'a bull in the field, a pump in the yard and a priest in the family.' When he was 14, he entered a junior seminary run by the Pallottine order, also known as the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, which preaches comity and mercy. But even then, there were hints that he might someday find a calling more aligned with his natural proclivities. Every night, he thrilled to stories his mother would tell about fending off the Black and Tans, the loathed British paramilitary forces (named for the uniform they wore), during the Irish War of Independence. An accomplished poacher even as a child, he was skilled at shooting and skinning wild rabbits. Later, in East Africa, he would shoot elephants for sport. Posted there by the Pallottine order in the 1950s, Father Ryan built housing and hospitals and distributed pharmaceuticals. He learned how to excavate freshwater wells and pilot a plane, which he flew on daring medical missions. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Washington Post
3 days ago
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6 students drown after falling into slurry-filled tank on field trip
Six university students drowned Wednesday after they fell into a tank while on a field trip to an ore processing plant in northern China, Chinese state media reported. The students, who were majoring in mineral processing engineering at Northeastern University in Shenyang, were on a field trip to Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China, when the grid plate they were standing on collapsed as they were observing a flotation cell, according to state media. Flotation is a stage in the mining process used to concentrate the minerals. Finely ground minerals are mixed with water in a container called a flotation cell to produce a 'metallurgical pulp' that helps sort the valuable from the unneeded materials. The students fell into the flotation cell, which looks like a large container, at about 10:20 a.m. Rescuers scrambled to retrieve them, but the students were pronounced dead. A teacher was also injured in the incident. China National Gold Group, the company operating the plant, said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange that 'all-out rescue efforts' were used to try to save them and that it 'extends profound mourning for those who unfortunately perished in the incident.' Northeastern University declined to comment. An engineering student from the university who had previously been to the same plant told the Southern Metropolis Daily that the tanks are some 33 feet high and are filled with thick slurry, making it unlikely they would have been able to move. The student, who was not named in the report, identified those who died as junior-year undergraduates and said that their field trip was part of an internship organized by the university. In a now-deleted company blog post this past February, China Gold said it had recently replaced grid plates and 'eradicated safety hazards' at the plant. The death of the six university students was trending on the Weibo microblog Thursday morning, with the hashtag #ChinaGoldApology garnering roughly 52 million views within a two-hour time span. 'If daily safety checks had been done thoroughly, how would they drown during a visit?' one Weibo user commented. 'Who will answer for the trauma felt by the six families? And who will bear the pain of the six kids dying?' Inner Mongolia is no stranger to tragedies in the mining industry. An open-pit coal mine caved in 2023, killing 53 people and injuring six. China's national broadcaster showed footage of massive plumes of soil and dust rising into the air during the collapse, and said that a subsequent landslide had hampered rescue efforts. Authorities in China later pinned the incident on 'a long-term existence of major hidden risks,' including poor construction and irresponsible management of mining activities, according to Chinese nationalist newspaper Global Times. Several company workers were arrested and dozens of civil servants were placed under investigation or faced penalties, it said.
New York Times
3 days ago
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Corrections: July 24, 2025
A map with an article on Friday about recent military drills by China's aircraft carriers in the Pacific reversed the colors of two carriers in the map's key. The Shandong was in Hong Kong, not the Liaoning. Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions. To contact the newsroom regarding correction requests, please email nytnews@ To share feedback, please visit Comments on opinion articles may be emailed to letters@ For newspaper delivery questions: 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637) or email customercare@
