As a fleet of historic ships from around the world sails majestically into New York Harbor this week, a local maritime gem met a tragic fate beneath the waters off Brooklyn. In an unexpected twist amidst the nautical celebrations, New York’s own cherished vessel mysteriously vanished below the surface.

The schooner known as PILOT, which had been transformed into a restaurant ship and once hosted the renowned researcher Jacques Cousteau, succumbed to the waves early on Wednesday morning. The sudden sinking at Red Hook’s Henry Street Basin left behind a floating trail of bar stools, restaurant equipment, and various flotsam.

Kayakers captured poignant videos of the events, showing the towering masts of this 102-year-old former racing schooner piercing through the water’s surface while wooden chairs bobbed forlornly amidst the debris.

This unexpected demise has been termed a “nightmare” by the vessel’s distraught owner.

“We are heartbroken to share that our beloved PILOT sank overnight at our maintenance location in Red Hook,” Alex Pincus, CEO of Crew, shared with South Brooklyn History. “At this time, we do not yet know the cause of the incident. Most importantly, no one was aboard and no one was harmed. We are deeply grateful for that.”

“Our immediate focus is on working with the appropriate professionals and authorities to understand what happened and determine the safest path to raise Pilot. We are devastated but remain hopeful that she can be salvaged.”

The PILOT had served as a popular bar and oyster restaurant at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 7 until last summer, when it was it replaced with the Fireboat, a retired 1960s FDNY boat-turned-bar owned by Crew.

Crew, which owns numerous floating restaurants throughout the city, had moored PILOT in the Henry Street Basin earlier this year for repairs, with kayakers noting that it appeared in “rough shape.”

“(There) was really deteriorated wood along the side of the hull and in places. More so than I had ever really had a sense of last year when I was on it or near it,” Brad Vogul, of the Gowanus Dredgers, told the blog.

The sinking comes just days before the largest flotilla of US and international ships are set to sail through the New York Harbor in honor of the US’s 250th birthday. The aging ship was not set to participate.

It also comes as the PILOT is in the process of become a National Historic Landmark, according to Crew.

The ship was built in 1924 and is one of the two remaining racing schooners from the International Fisherman’s Cup.

After it’s racing days, it served as a harbor pilot in Boston and, during World War II, was used by the Coast Guard to guide troop transport and supply ships in Boston harbor.

She was also bought by a group that had dreams of circumnavigating the globe in the 1970s, but the crew only made it to Fiji before she was sold to researched in the Galapagos — which is where Cousteau boarded the iconic vessel.

Pincus and his brother Miles purchased PILOT in 2015 and did a full restoration to transform it into the popular oyster restaurant.

On Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced it had killed five members of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan. In contrast, the Kurdish opposition group reported to News Media that six of its Peshmerga fighters, a term used for Kurdish combatants, were killed, labeling the incident as an ambush by the Revolutionary Guards in northwest Iran.

This incident signifies a new peak of tension in Iran’s predominantly Kurdish western regions. Recent days have witnessed a series of attacks and confrontations involving Iranian security forces, the Revolutionary Guards, and Kurdish armed factions.

The clash highlights the precarious stance of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups. These factions had been considered potential leverage by U.S. and Israeli officials to apply pressure on Tehran amid U.S.-Israeli tensions with Iran. However, these groups have refrained from entering the conflict due to ambiguous messages from Washington and pressures from both Iran and Turkey.

Majeed Gly, president of the American Kurdish Committee, cautioned against perceiving these latest clashes as the beginning of a full-scale uprising. However, he emphasized they cannot be simply dismissed as typical border skirmishes either.

“What I’m hearing is, this is not business as usual,” Gly said. “This is not like periodic clashes on the border. This is operations, and it seems to be deep inside.”

Gly said Kurdish frustration has grown sharply after months of Iranian attacks on Kurdish areas and opposition-linked sites, including in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He said the region has been hit by more than 850 attacks since February, leaving at least six civilians dead and dozens more wounded.

Hejar Berenji, the U.S. representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, or PDKI, confirmed to News Media that six PDKI Peshmerga were killed in a clash with IRGC forces in the Piranshahr area of Iranian Kurdistan.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had killed five members of the banned PDKI in northwest Iran, Reuters reported Thursday, citing state media. The IRGC said the group was ambushed after entering Iranian territory in mountainous border areas near Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan Province.

Berenji identified the six Peshmerga as Karo Hormuziari, Fardin Changizi, Mohammad Khaki, Abdullah Mohammadpour, Twana Osmani and Mohammad Amin Bayezidi. He said the incident took place Wednesday night in the village of Qizqapan, near Piranshahr, and said the PDKI unit was on a “political and organizational mission” when it was “ambushed by a large and heavily equipped IRGC force.”

“This should be understood in the broader context of the Islamic Republic’s continued repression in Iranian Kurdistan and its repeated attacks on Iranian Kurdish civilian camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, even during ceasefire and negotiation periods,” Berenji said. “The regime has increased pressure on Kurdish communities because it understands that Iranian Kurds remain among the most organized and determined democratic forces inside Iran.”

The PDKI is one of Iran’s oldest Kurdish opposition movements. The group has been involved in decades of intermittent conflict with the Islamic Republic, while Tehran has long viewed Kurdish armed groups as separatist threats, while others describe it as a historic, centrist and nationalist Iranian Kurdish opposition group that Iran has targeted for years, including through assassinations of its leaders decades ago.

The Kurds are one of the largest stateless ethnic groups in the Middle East with communities spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. In Iran, many Kurds live in the country’s mountainous west and northwest, where Kurdish opposition groups have long accused Tehran of repression, executions, forced assimilation and military crackdowns. Iranian authorities view armed Kurdish factions as separatist or “terrorist threats.”

The latest clash followed several days of violence in western Iran. A similar incident near Piranshahr was reported by Iranian state media Tuesday, with the IRGC saying it had killed six members of what it called an “opposition and separatist group.” 

Two IRGC members were killed and two wounded in a shooting in Kermanshah Province Monday evening, an attack claimed by a newly formed Kurdish armed group seeking retaliation for the IRGC’s role in suppressing the 2022–2023 protest movement, according to the Kurdish rights group Hengaw.

Iran also appeared to be expanding pressure on Kurdish opposition groups beyond PJAK, the Kurdistan Free Life Party, after days of clashes between PJAK and the IRGC, The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. 

Berenji said the latest clash was not a response to ongoing U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding negotiations, which remain unresolved as talks continue without a finalized agreement.

“The Kurdish struggle for freedom, democracy and national rights predates the current negotiations and is not dependent on them,” Berenji said. “At the same time, any agreement that ignores the Kurdish question, the regime’s attacks on Kurdish civilians and the repression inside Iran will not bring real stability.”

Gly said Kurdish anger has been compounded by language in the U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding that critics interpret as Washington agreeing not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs.

“This sentence has taken every Iranian opposition group the wrong way, especially the Kurds,” Gly said. 

He argued that even during negotiations with hostile powers, the United States should not abandon its public support for freedom movements, invoking former President Ronald Reagan’s approach to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Gly said he does not see clear evidence that Kurdish groups have gained major new military capabilities but said the perception of Iran’s strength has changed.

“What has changed is the perception of weakness of Iran,” Gly told News Media. “They are less afraid of the regime.”

The new violence carries broader significance for Washington because Iranian Kurdish opposition groups were recently discussed as a possible ground pressure point against Tehran. 

U.S. officials and Kurdish groups had discussed a potential military operation against Iranian security forces in western Iran, Reuters reported in March, while a separate report said Israel was backing Iranian Kurdish plans to seize Iranian border areas, though such an operation would likely require U.S. and Israeli support.

But those expectations quickly faltered. In April, Kurdish fighters ultimately stayed out of the war because of mixed signals from Washington and Israel and Iranian threats and strikes against Kurdish positions in Iraq. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged President Donald Trump during the conflict to prevent Kurdish forces from launching a ground operation inside Iran, reflecting Ankara’s longstanding opposition to Kurdish armed movements gaining ground in the region, Reuters also reported. 

During the conflict, Trump told Reuters he would be “all for it” if the Kurds wanted to move against Iran and said their objective should be “to win,” but Kurdish commanders were frustrated by the lack of a clear U.S. or Israeli strategy.

Berenji said the PDKI does not seek chaos, but insisted Kurdish forces have the right to defend themselves.

“We seek a democratic, pluralistic, secular and federal Iran where all nations and communities can live with dignity and rights,” he said. “But the Kurdish people also have the right to defend themselves against repression, intimidation, and attacks by the IRGC.”

News Media has reached out to Iran’s mission to the United Nations for comment.

While Amy Schumer has insisted that there’s no bad blood between her and Taylor Swift, the sharp-tongued comedian couldn’t resist poking fun at the pop icon’s extravagant wedding affair.

The Trainwreck star, 45, posted a photo to her Instagram Stories on Thursday that seemed targeted at Swift and Travis Kelce, both 36, and seemed to purposefully use bad grammar to sharpen the sting.

“The rehearsal dinner was epic. Can’t wait to see what she’s got in store for us tonight,” quipped the creator of Inside Amy Schumer.

The post included an image of Schumer sporting a wide grin and an unusual outfit featuring a black crew-neck sweater paired with vibrant red shorts, complemented by a pink fanny pack wrapped snugly around her waist.

She completed her quirky look with an orange polka dot scarf draped neatly around her neck, a straw sunhat topping her head, and a cell phone clutched in her hand.

Meanwhile, New York City has been abuzz as a team hired by the singer works tirelessly to transform Madison Square Garden into an enchanting castle appropriate for a fairytale princess.

New Yorkers are outraged at how the wedding hoopla has shut down Penn Station and Midtown in the middle of a sweltering heatwave with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees F.

Approximately 130 NYPD officers and more than 50 detectives are working the wedding events with security on the scale of a presidential visit. Cops will likely arrest anyone crossing the barricades or entering the designated ‘frozen zones’ around the massive celebration.

Schumer, being a New York native who was born on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, might have a bone to pick with Swift as well, hence the tone of her of her latest social media share.

It won’t be the first time Schumer has made Swift the butt of a joke.

Back in 2016, the stand-up comic appeared to diss the outfit worn by the Shake it Off hitmaker at the Grammys – an orange and pink Atelier Versace dress that showed off her abs and most of her legs.

‘Taylor that’s not a thigh gap. This is a thigh gap,’ Schumer cheekily captioned a photo of her in a bikini and jumping into the air with arms raised high, while in the foreground a friend who appeared to be fellow comedian Bridget Everett playfully mugged for the camera.

That post upset some fans who defended Swift as they pounced on Schumer for passing judgments on body image, per refinery29.

‘[A]n exfan. you should be able to celebrate yourselves and your bodies without putting down those with different body shapes,’ one fan snapped.

‘[T]hat’s rude. Can’t we get rid of body shaming? You saying that is like a person calling you fat, and I’m sure you wouldn’t like it. It’s people like you and Hollywood standards that keep girls from feeling comfortable in their own skin,’ another chimed in.

A third jokingly put forth: ‘You’re gonna get a song written about you now.’

Schumer responded to the furor by sharing another tongue-in-cheek picture of her in costume and wearing a faux beard.

‘That’s not a beard this is a beard. So sorry to anyone with a beard this may offend,’ the funny gal wrote. ‘I am a comic and should never make fun of myself at the expense of anyone else that I wasn’t making fun of in the first place. #relax #beard.’

Schumer also took to X, still known as Twitter then, to suggest: ‘How about everyone takes a deep breath.’

‘[Amy] loves Taylor and was making a joke because [she] doesn’t have a thigh gap,’ Schumer’s spokesperson clarified, per Time.

Schumer, meanwhile, filed for divorce from husband, chef Chris Fischer, in January of this year after seven years of marriage. They have a seven-year-old son named Gene David.

The comedian previously stated that her weight loss had nothing to do with the state of her relationship, insisting she shed the pounds ‘to survive’ rather than simply ‘to look hot.’

 ‘I didn’t lose 30lbs I lost 50. Not to look hot which does feel fun and temporary,’ she wrote on Instagram.

‘I did it to survive. I had a disease that makes your face extremely puffy that can kill you but the Internet caught it and that disease has cleared.

‘Sorry for whatever feeling it’s giving you that I lost that weight. I’ve had plastic surgery over the years and I use Mounjaro.

‘Sorry to anyone that lets down. I’m pain free. I can [play] tag with my son.’

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A spacecraft equipped with three robotic arms ascended into space on Friday, undertaking a mission to save a NASA telescope in peril of descending uncontrollably back to Earth.

Katalyst Space Technologies’ Link spacecraft commenced its journey from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, courtesy of Northrop Grumman’s launch.

Riding beneath a specially modified aircraft, the Pegasus rocket propelled Link into space, setting it on a trajectory to rendezvous with and secure NASA’s Swift Observatory in approximately a month’s time.

Swift, which first entered service in 2004, has been descending at an accelerated rate due to recent solar activity.

For a contract of $30 million, NASA has enlisted Katalyst to intercept and elevate the telescope’s orbit, thereby enabling it to persist in observing cosmic phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae.

If all goes well, Swift could be back scanning the cosmos by September.

Observations are currently on hold to preserve the telescope’s orbit as long as possible.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope could be a candidate for a similar salvage operation in a few years.

It’s also slipping in altitude because of increased atmospheric drag caused by the sun’s outbursts.

The 1.6-ton (1.4-metric ton) Swift is currently circling 224 miles (360 kilometers) above Earth. Katalyst aims to raise the telescope’s altitude by 150 miles (240 kilometers), back to where it all began.

Link’s thrusters will fire to boost Swift slowly, so there’s no heavy jostling.

Katalyst threw the mission together in just nine months.

NASA insisted on a rush job because the telescope will be too low to recover by the fall.

Without a boost, it’s predicted to plunge to its demise in October.

Bad weather and technical issues caused a series of last-minute launch delays.

“This is a high-risk, high-reward mission,” Katalyst Space CEO Ghonhee Lee said ahead of liftoff. “The biggest danger was always we don’t launch anything and we let Swift burn up in the atmosphere. So we were always trying to avoid that risk, and our team has done that.”

In Indonesia, a young couple faced public caning on Thursday, allegedly as a consequence of sharing a kiss during a live TikTok session.

According to The Associated Press, the incident resulted in the couple—comprising a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman—receiving 21 lashes each.

The couple was found guilty under local morality laws governed by an Islamic Sharia court in Indonesia’s conservative province of Aceh.

After being detained since March and serving four months in prison, their punishment was reduced from the planned 25 lashes to 21, according to the Associated Press.

SOUTH CAROLINA FITNESS TRAINER TOLD FRIENDS SHE WANTED TO LEAVE HER NOW-HUSBAND YEARS BEFORE BODY WAS FOUND

According to local authorities, the couple filmed a TikTok video inside a car one night in March.

As the video went viral, they were subsequently apprehended for what officials described as an “immoral act.” 

“Their actions were uncovered thanks to reports from residents who were disturbed by their immoral livestream content,” Sharia police said in April. 

“The trigger was their livestream on TikTok while engaging in immoral acts in the car,” Head of the Sharia Police Muhammad Rizal added in his statement. “This sparked criticism from netizens and local residents, who then reported them to the authorities.”

The court also confiscated a cellphone and a USB flash drive containing the TikTok video, which authorities promised to destroy, according to the AP.

A Banda Aceh resident who attended the caning, 22-year-old Aini Nadhirah, said she believed the punishment was “entirely justified.”

“In my opinion, this caning is entirely justified because it serves as a warning to other Aceh residents to be more careful when using social media,” Nadhirah said, according to the AP.

“It also raises awareness that such actions are unacceptable, thereby educating the public.”

STUNNING PHOTOS CAPTURE MOMENT ONE OF INDONESIA’S MOST ACTIVE VOLCANOES ERUPTS

Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that enforces its own Islamic Criminal Code governing moral conduct. 

The province’s right to implement Islamic law was granted by Indonesia’s secular central government around 2005 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist insurgency. The policy was later expanded to apply to non-Muslims. 

Under the law, moral offenses — including adultery and same-sex relations — can carry penalties of up to 100 lashes. Caning is also used for individuals accused of gambling, drinking, adultery and premarital intimacy. 

Public caning in Aceh has long drawn criticism from human rights groups, including Amnesty International Indonesia, which has called the practice cruel and degrading.

Despite Indonesia having ratified international conventions prohibiting cruel punishment, authorities in Aceh defend the practice, arguing it does not fall under such a definition. 

According to industry insiders, the lavish wedding festivities of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden tallied up to a whopping $15 million.

Following an intimate ‘rehearsal dinner’ with a gathering of 100 close friends on Thursday, the couple is set to return to the legendary venue for another night of celebrations.

Experts estimate that the monumental event, celebrating the union of the pop sensation and the Chiefs’ tight end, both aged 36, has surpassed costs of $15 million. Public funds contributed over $1 million to support these expenses.

An insider revealed to The New York Times that reserving Madison Square Garden for this two-day affair would range from $1.2 million to $1.6 million.

According to Erica Maurer, a partner at EMRG Media, insurance for the event alone would exceed $10,000, as reported to the newspaper.

Lighting, sound, catering, flowers, decorations and labor could cost between $10 million and $12 million, The Times suggested, while adding that their estimate was a very conservative one. 

Permit fees for the two-day affair would likely cost at least $132,000 based on the city’s permitting office rates.

It would also cost taxpayers over $1 million to have hundreds of police officers providing security and patrolling MSG.

Ahead of their celebration, Swift and Kelce donated $26 million to 20 charities. The unusually specific number has sparked speculation that it matches the actual cost of their wedding celebrations. 

The bride arrived at Thursday’s event two hours before its start time in a blacked-out silver Chevrolet Suburban with an extended roof and communication antennas.

She was later seen returning home well after midnight, having spent more than eight hours partying at what was said to be her first-night bash.

There are unconfirmed reports that Swift and Kelce are already legally married, but will have a second celebration with all of their guests today.

Famous guests including Selena Gomez, Jack Antonoff, Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper, as well as the singer’s childhood friend Abigail Anderson, were seen heading inside on Thursday, while Taylor was spotted being swept into the back.

As we previously reported, the dress code for Thursday’s event was ‘cocktail attire’, a source said, with only family members and close friends invited.

Outsiders were given a few rare glimpses of how the pop singer and the Chiefs tight end transformed the venue into the wedding celebration of their wildest dreams.

Pink, orange and yellow roses were photographed woven into foliage at the top of an escalator on Thursday night.

The venue was lit up with lights and adorned with dusty pink curtains.

It’s been said that Swift built a custom ‘castle’ inside MSG and has supposedly bought every available calla lily in the city.

Guests descended upon the theatre to the most exclusive invite in town in stunning ensembles.

Sports commentator Erin Andrews, former football player Ross Travis and NFL WAG Claire Kittle were all among the famous faces to flaunt their fashion credentials.

The stars brought traffic to a halt with police banning the press from assembling near the venue and even threatening to arrest those who don’t comply.

They hung curtains on the arena’s large windows and erected an arrivals tent which blocked the public’s view of who was there.

A sign at a security checkpoint outside the venue instructed guests to ‘have identification out, have devices ready’, suggesting attendees were forced to give up their phones before entering.