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We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
CHICAGO (AP) — Police announced Tuesday that they have a suspect in custody as part of their ongoing investigation into a significant incident involving a cross being set on fire in one of Chicago’s most recognized parks.
The alarming sight of the burning cross emerged on June 9 in Grant Park. This location holds historical importance as the venue where Barack Obama, the first Black president of the United States, delivered his acceptance speech after winning the 2008 election.
A 21-year-old college student came forward to WMAQ-TV, claiming to be the shirtless individual featured in a photo circulated by the police during their search for the suspect. However, it remains unconfirmed by police whether this individual is the person currently detained.
The student explained his actions as a protest against President Donald Trump, clarifying that his intent was not to make a racist statement. “I was aware of the historical significance but didn’t fully grasp the racial implications it might convey,” he told the TV station. “My protest was unrelated to race or gender.”
“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand. But I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” the man told the TV station. “Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.”
Cross burnings in the U.S. have historically been seen as symbols of hate and intimidation against Black people and have often been connected to the Ku Klux Klan.
The Chicago Police Department’s communications office confirmed that a person was in custody in connection with the case, but no other details were released.
The man interviewed on WMAQ said he was protesting the “ruling class” and Christian nationalists who support Trump. He said he put a red MAGA hat on the cross.
Former NHL player Kyle Calder, who spent a decade gracing the ice, has passed away at the age of 47 following a brief illness, as reported by The Associated Press.
Details surrounding the cause of his death have not been disclosed at this time.
In a touching Instagram post, Calder’s daughter, Madison, paid tribute to her father with a series of cherished childhood photos. Her message spoke volumes about their close bond.
“Dad, words can’t capture how fortunate I was to have you as my father,” Madison expressed. “I never imagined this day would arrive. Although there will always be a void in my heart, there will always be a place just for you.”
“Dad, there will never ever be enough words in the world to describe how incredibly lucky I was to have you as my dad,” Madison wrote. “Never in a million years would I have thought this day would come. There will forever be a void in my heart, but forever a spot just for you.
“The father, husband, son, man, friend, coach, hockey player, and everything in between that you were is truly indescribable. The lessons you taught me, the strength you showed me, and the person you pushed me to become every single day- I carry all of it with me.
“Thank you for being my biggest fan through every stage of my life. Thank you for loving me unconditionally. I would give anything for one more conversation, one more hug, one more ‘I love you,” or to hear your voice one more time.
“I love you more than anything in the world to the moon and back infinitely. Save me a spot on the ice, Dad. I know you’re skating around in heaven cheering all of us on from above. Fly high ♥️🕊️🏒 6/15/26. Love, your Annie.”
Calder was selected by the Blackhawks in the fifth round (No. 130) of the 1997 NHL Draft and played in 590 career games, including 18 Stanley Cup playoff games, with the Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks.
His best season was 2005-06 with the Blackhawks when when the forward set NHL career highs in goals (26) and points (59) in 79 games.
“The Chicago Blackhawks mourn the loss of Kyle Calder and extend our deepest condolences to Kyle’s family during this extremely difficult and tragic time,” Blackhawks owner Danny Wirtz said in a statement.
“Kyle approached life with the same passion, intensity and incredible dedication that defined his play. His commitment to the game remained strong long after his professional career ended, sharing his love for hockey with all generations of players through his work with Little Blackhawks, local youth teams and the Chicago Blackhawks Alumni Association. While Kyle’s time with us was far too short, I’m comforted in knowing his legacy will live on for many years to come.”
Calder last played with the Ducks in the 2009-10 season.
He retired after playing 27 games for Bakersfield of the ECHL in 2011-12.
After that, Calder remained involved in youth hockey and coached teams in Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston since 2018.
In a tragic turn of events, a well-regarded Estée Lauder executive passed away suddenly in his New York City residence. The cause of death was determined to be a pulmonary embolism linked to cosmetic filler injections.
Fifty-six-year-old Kendal Ascher was found lifeless in the Chelsea apartment he shared with his husband, 63-year-old William Howe, on the morning of February 25. The property is valued at $2.8 million.
The city’s medical examiner confirmed to the Daily Mail that Ascher succumbed to “acute respiratory failure due to pulmonary embolism of foreign material following cosmetic filler injections.”
A pulmonary embolism is a serious condition where an artery in the lungs becomes blocked. In Ascher’s unfortunate case, the obstruction was caused by the cosmetic fillers.
The medical examiner’s report, finalized last week and shared with Ascher’s family over the weekend, classified the death as accidental.
Howe spoke with the Daily Mail on Monday after waiting for months to find out what caused the death of Ascher, a Vice President at the cosmetics giant.
A grieving Howe, who said that Ascher had used Botox in the past, said: ‘It’s just profoundly sad. I witnessed it, it was immediate. The cause was secondary.’
According to Howe, he wasn’t aware of his husband using cosmetic fillers in the lead up to his death, although they did a round of Botox, which is not a filler, together five months before he died.
Howe had previously described to the Daily Mail how his partner of 12 years had complained of feeling lightheaded the night he passed away and went for a shower.
Howe, left, and Ascher, right, are seen here together in an undated photo
Ascher is seen here actress Dianna Agron, left, Erin Foster, center, and Sara Foster, right, at an event in New York City in 2019
Afterwards, Ascher sat down and after a few minutes Howe helped him back to his feet.
To his horror, they managed only four steps together before Kendal told him ‘wait’, before going limp in Howe’s arms.
‘There was no pulse, he was immediately unresponsive, he died in my arms. It happened all within eight seconds,’ a distraught Howe previously said.
Dr Stuart Fischer, an emergency medicine doctor in the city, told the Daily Mail that in all his years he had never heard of such a death.
In explaining Ascher’s passing he said: ‘This is not a natural death, the person becomes hypoxic.’
Dr Fischer said that typically, a pulmonary embolism involves a blood clot that blocks an artery in the lung.
He added: ‘The blood clot would plug a major vein or artery and not allow oxygen through. In this case, a different type of material caused the clot, not blood.
‘If it’s large enough, it could be fatal. I’ve never heard of this before, but blood vessels in your face do travel through your lungs.’
According to Howe, Ascher was preparing to have hip surgery and was taking pain medication at the time. The exterior of their apartment is seen here
The city’s medical examiner told the Daily Mail that Ascher, right, died due to ‘acute respiratory failure due to pulmonary embolism of foreign material following cosmetic filler injections’
Ascher is seen here alongside supermodel Karlie Kloss at a Jo Malone event in April of 2013 in New York City
Emergency teams raced to the iconic Lantern House condo building designed by famed architect Thomas Heatherwick, who also created the Vessel in Hudson Yards and the nearby Little Island public park, but Ascher was pronounced dead at the scene, city officials previously confirmed to the Daily Mail.
According to Howe, Ascher was preparing to have hip surgery and was taking pain medication at the time. Howe said his late spouse had no underlying health issues.
The couple only recently tied the knot after hosting their wedding in Provincetown, Massachusetts, last October.
Remembering his late husband, Howe said: ‘He was a little boy in a big man’s body. He loved to laugh, and he loved to play.
‘He was selfless, he worried about everyone and put himself second.’
Ascher originally joined Estée Lauder as an account executive in 1995 before moving to L’Oreal in the early 2000s as AVP of marketing for the Kiehl’s brand.
His employer remembered him as an ‘incredible leader’, he is seen here at a party in the Hamptons in 2007
The City’s Chief Medical Examiner said in a statement to the Daily Mail that the cause and manner of his death was still under investigation
Howe and Ascher only recently tied the knot after hosting their wedding in Provincetown, Massachusetts, last October
In 2007 he returned to the company and worked his way up to become the North American SVP General Manager of La Mer, Jo Malone, and Darphin brands.
He remained in the position until his death, and was pictured alongside the likes of model Karlie Kloss and actress Dianna Agron at star-studded events.
Jane Hertzmark Hudis, Vice President and Chief Brand Officer of the firm, remembered him as a ‘full of energy, kind and funny’ in a previous statement.
She said: ‘Kendal was one of a kind, full of passion and life. When Kendal walked into a room, he lit it up. He was full of energy, kind and funny, and he had a heart of gold.
‘He truly loved our company, and we were all blessed to be inspired by Kendal.’
Tara Simon, the company’s president of the Americas, added: ‘We are heartbroken by the loss of Kendal.
‘Kendal was an incredible leader. He showed up to work the same way he lived his life – full of heart and conviction, levity and wisdom.
‘He helped his teams believe they could accomplish things they hadn’t imagined and created success for all along the way.
‘The outpouring from within the company and across the industry has been extraordinary and shows his immeasurable impact.’
In a chilling incident, a Russian artist renowned for his critical caricatures of President Vladimir Putin was fatally shot in a manner resembling an execution in Poland. Local prosecutors confirmed the tragic news on Tuesday.
The artist, Robert Kuzovkov, who was widely recognized by his artistic pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, became a target on Monday morning. The attack took place in Biala Podlaska, a town situated near Poland’s eastern border with Belarus. According to reports from officials and local media, the assailant approached Kuzovkov and shot him twice initially.
Marcin Kozak, a spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin, provided further details about the brutal attack. “When the victim fell to the ground, the perpetrator approached, fired three more shots, and then quickly fled the scene,” Kozak stated. It was noted that at least one of the five shots was directed at Kuzovkov’s head.
Sadly, Robert Kuzovkov succumbed to his injuries at the scene, Kozak confirmed. In the aftermath of the shooting, two Belarusian individuals were taken into custody. However, they have not been formally charged, and their potential involvement in the incident remains uncertain.
Two Belarusians were detained, but have not been charged. It’s unclear what role they might have had in the shooting.
The 44-year-old artist was murdered three days after he joined a protest in Berlin on Russia Day, which celebrates the country declaring sovereignty before the Soviet Union collapsed, the news outlet Meduza reported.
He hoisted a painting that caricatured Putin and Soviet strongman Joseph Stalin, and also wore a Russian flag tied to his pants that dragged along the road outside the Russian embassy, the BCC reported.
“The victim engaged in public artistic activities and used among other things, the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky, under which he expressed criticism of the current policies of the Russian Federation authorities,” said Kozak, the prosecutor’s office spokesperson.
Poland has been a central point for military and other supplies for Ukraine as Kyiv’s war with Moscow drags on.
That role has made the nation a target for Russian spies, according to Polish officials.
The Russian embassy was not immediately available for comment.
A spokesperson for Poland’s special services minister said the Internal Security Agency is cooperating with police and prosecutors involved in the investigation.
NEW YORK — In celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, McDonald’s is bringing back a beloved classic: fried apple pies.
The fast-food giant announced on Tuesday that these nostalgic treats will return to most U.S. locations for a limited period, starting June 23. This marks the first time in over 30 years that fried apple pies have been available on the menu.
McDonald’s isn’t the only chain joining the semiquincentennial festivities. Burger King has introduced its Firecracker Cookie Pie, featuring a sugar cookie crust adorned with red, white, and blue star-shaped sprinkles. Meanwhile, Sonic is offering a patriotic red, white, and blue slush float priced at $2.50, and Hardee’s is serving an iced Star-Spangled Biscuit topped with red and blue sprinkles.
Let’s take a closer look at McDonald’s fried apple pies by the numbers:
1968: The year McDonald’s introduced both its fried apple pie and the Big Mac hamburger. Litton Cochran, a McDonald’s franchisee in Tennessee, developed the rectangle-shaped pie, whch was served in a cardboard sleeve. 1968 was a momentous year that included the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis and Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, protests against the Vietnam War, and the signing of a federal law prohibiting housing discrimination.
1992: The year McDonald’s replaced the fried apple pie with a baked version in most of the U.S., responding to growing consumer awareness of fat and cholesterol consumption. The U.S. Department of Agriculture first published its food guide pyramid the same year. Fried apple pie remains on McDonald’s menus in some other countries, including Mexico, Australia and China.
230: Number of calories in McDonald’s baked apple pie. That’s 10 more calories than the fried version, according to the company’s website. A cup of boiled lentils, a single almond Snickers bar and a grande coffee Frappucino from Starbucks have the same calorie count, according to publicly available nutrition information.
130: Number of members of the Facebook group “Bring Back the Original McDonald’s Fried Apple Pie”
170 million: Number of American-grown apples that McDonald’s says it serves every year at its U.S. stores.
35: Height, in feet, of a giant fried apple pie that McDonald’s is installing on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, near McDonald’s Chicago headquarters. That’s about the height of a three-story house and some species of palm trees. The giant apple pie will stay in place until July 4, the company said.
A Tropical Storm Watch is currently in place for millions around the Gulf of America, as hazardous weather conditions are anticipated within the next two days.
On Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) classified the weather system as Potential Tropical Cyclone One, signifying a heightened threat as it advances towards the Gulf Coast.
The NHC stated, “Potential Tropical Cyclone One is expected to intensify into a tropical storm while it progresses along or just off the northwestern Gulf coast through Wednesday.”
Should the system develop into a tropical storm, it would be the inaugural named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season to pose a threat to the US Gulf Coast.
The tropical storm watch extends from Sargent, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana. Residents in these areas are being advised to brace for substantial flooding, potential evacuations, and possible water rescues.
The system could dump four to eight inches of rain across parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle through Thursday, with isolated totals reaching 12 inches.
Forecasters warned the resulting flash flooding could become life-threatening in some areas. A tornado or two is also possible from the upper Texas coast into Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
AccuWeather meteorologists said in a statement: ‘The potential for life-threatening flooding should have the attention of tens of millions near the Gulf Coast and across the Southeast US as heavy rain will continue throughout the week, enhanced by what could be the first tropical storm of the year.’
If the weather front reaches tropical storm strength, it would become Arthur, the first named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. Above, a satellite image of the system in the Gulf
The weather system currently has a wind force of up to 30mph.
The National Weather Service (NWS) the storm is not expected to produce sustained tropical-storm-force winds, with speeds likely remaining below 39 mph.
While the threat to life and property from wind remains low at this time, residents could still experience gusty conditions and are being urged to stay prepared should the forecast change.
‘Strongly consider protective actions, especially if you are in an area vulnerable to flooding,’ the NWS stated.
‘Heed any flood watches and warnings. Failure to take action will likely result in serious injury or loss of life.’
AccuWeather forecasts eight to 12 inches of rain to fall around Houston and an area stretching from the eastern Texas coastline, across Louisiana and into central Mississippi.
New Orleans is on the edge of the heaviest rain but can still experience torrential rain rates of two to four inches per hour, which can quickly lead to life-threatening flooding.
AccuWeather vice president of forecasting operations, Dan DePodwin, said in a statement: ‘The additional downpours from the tropical rainstorm will pose a serious risk for major flooding that could quickly turn life-threatening.’
‘Potential Tropical Cyclone One is forecast to become a tropical storm as it moves along or just off the northwestern Gulf coast through Wednesday,’ the NHC said
In addition to the flooding threat from rain, coastal flooding and inundation can occur, especially as the storm moves inland Wednesday night. There could be minor storm surge along the immediate Texas and Louisiana coast.
‘Although the storm is forecast to make landfall Wednesday night near the Texas/Louisiana border, a high risk to lives and property exists through at least Thursday from Texas to Mississippi,’ DePodwin added.
‘The flooding risk will continue well past landfall as the moisture from the storm slowly moves east across the Southeast US.’
Feeling less stable after turning 60? A seasoned trainer suggests four daily leg exercises to help you regain your balance.
As a personal trainer with over 35 years of experience, I’ve spent the last two decades guiding the upcoming wave of fitness experts through TRAINFITNESS, the UK’s premier provider of personal training education. My focus often lies on balance and leg strength, particularly for older adults. Time and again, I’ve observed that individuals over 60 unknowingly start to shy away from activities that test their balance. Descending stairs becomes a cautious task, and navigating uneven terrain grows increasingly daunting, leading to a gradual decline in confidence.
Fortunately, by incorporating four simple exercises into your daily routine, you can effectively counteract this trend.
The most significant hurdle isn’t physical; it’s the subtle way that decline quietly creeps in. Our balance depends on a trio of systems working in harmony: the inner ear, vision, and proprioception, which is the body’s sense of its position in space. By the time we reach 60, these systems begin to lose their precision concurrently. The brain receives slightly conflicting signals and hesitates before committing to movement. This hesitation becomes noticeable when you quickly change direction or step off a curb without a second thought.
The Real Challenge After 60
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The biggest challenge isn’t physical. It’s the gradual, almost invisible way decline sneaks up on people. Our balance relies on three systems working together: the inner ear, our vision, and proprioception (the body’s ability to sense where it is in space). After 60, all three start to lose their sharpness at the same time. The brain gets slightly conflicting information and starts to hesitate before committing to a movement. You’ll notice it first when you turn quickly or step off a curb without thinking.
At the same time, we lose leg strength faster than most people expect. Muscle mass drops by around 1% per year from our mid-40s onwards, but power (the ability to generate force quickly) falls at roughly double that rate. So it’s not just that our legs are weaker. It’s that they’re slower to react when we start to wobble.
The real problem is that most people adapt around these changes rather than addressing them. They hold the banister more. They avoid uneven surfaces. They stop doing the very things that would keep these systems sharp. The less we challenge our balance, the faster it deteriorates.
Why Skip Lunges
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Lunges put a lot of shear force through the knee joint. For younger adults with good hip mobility and strong supporting muscles, that’s manageable. For people over 60, especially those with any degree of knee discomfort or reduced hip mobility (which is most people at that age), it becomes a different story. The movement is also quite demanding to perform well. Poor form in a lunge doesn’t just reduce the benefit; it creates a real injury risk.
The four exercises I use instead work the same muscle groups (glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves) but in ways that are kinder to the joints and more closely associated to the kinds of movement challenges older adults actually face. They involve controlled weight shifts, single-leg loading at manageable levels, and the kind of slow, deliberate muscle activation that rebuilds the neuromuscular connection between your brain and your legs. That connection is exactly what balance depends on.
Sit-to-Stand
This is essentially a squat using a chair as a guide, and it’s one of the most functional exercises we can do. Getting up from a chair is something most of us do dozens of times a day, and it requires quad strength, glute activation, and hip mobility. Practicing it as an exercise trains all of those things at once, in a movement your body already recognizes.
Muscles Trained: Quads, glutes, hip flexors
How to Do It:
Sit near the front edge of a sturdy chair with your feet hip-width apart and flat on the floor
Lean your chest forward slightly to shift your weight over your feet
Press through your heels and stand up slowly and with control
Pause for a second at the top, then lower yourself back down just as slowly
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t use momentum to drop quickly back into the seat. The lowering phase is where a lot of the strength work happens, so slow it right down.
Recommended Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Form Tip: Control the descent. The slower you lower, the more strength you build.
Step-Ups
Step-ups train each leg independently, which is important because most of us have a stronger side that compensates in bilateral exercises like squats. They also mimic stair climbing directly, which is one of the movements people over 60 frequently become more cautious about. Using a single step (a bottom stair works perfectly) keeps the range of motion manageable while still loading the glutes and quads effectively.
Muscles Trained: Glutes, quads
How to Do It:
Stand facing a step with your feet hip-width apart
Place your right foot fully on the step
Press through your right heel to lift your body up, bringing your left foot to the step
Step back down with the left foot first, then the right
Keep your torso upright throughout and avoid pushing off with the back foot
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t push off with the lower leg. Drive through the working leg instead, and keep the trailing foot doing as little as possible. If you find yourself relying on it, slow the movement down.
Recommended Sets and Reps: 3 sets of 10 repetitions on each leg
Form Tip: The trailing foot should be doing as little as possible. Let the working leg do the work.
Single-Leg Stand
This one looks deceptively simple. Standing on one leg for 30 seconds doesn’t sound like much until you try it, and then it becomes very clear how much work the stabilizing muscles around the ankle, knee, and hip have to do. For older adults, this exercise directly trains the balance systems that start to decline after 60. It’s not about strength in the traditional sense. It’s about your brain and muscles learning to communicate quickly and accurately again.
Muscles Trained: Stabilizing muscles of the ankle, knee, and hip
How to Do It:
Stand near a wall or sturdy surface you can touch for support when necessary
Shift your weight onto your right foot and lift your left foot just off the floor
Hold for up to 30 seconds, keeping your standing knee soft (not locked)
Focus your gaze on a fixed point ahead to help with stability
Repeat on the other side
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t grip the support surface the whole time. Use it only as a safety net, and touch it only if you start to lose balance. The wobble you feel when you’re not holding on is the exercise working.
Recommended Sets and Reps: 3 holds on each leg
Form Tip: Fix your gaze on a point ahead of you. A steady focal point makes a steady stance.
Heel-to-Toe Walk
This is one of the exercises used in clinical settings to assess fall risk, and it’s just as useful as a training tool. Walking heel-to-toe in a straight line forces your brain to process balance information dynamically (while you’re moving), which is much closer to what real-world balance demands. It trains the same systems as the single-leg stand but adds the element of forward movement and weight transfer.
Muscles Trained: Stabilizing muscles of the legs, ankles, and hips
How to Do It:
Stand beside a wall for reference if needed
Place your right foot directly in front of your left so the heel of your right foot touches the toes of your left
Take slow, deliberate steps, placing each heel directly in front of the toes of the back foot
Keep your arms out to the sides slightly if it helps
Walk 10-15 steps forward, then turn carefully and repeat
Avoid These Mistakes:
Don’t rush. People tend to speed up to get it over with, which defeats the purpose entirely. The slower and more controlled the steps, the more the stabilizing muscles have to work.
Recommended Sets and Reps: 2-3 lengths
Form Tip: Slow down. Deliberate steps force the stabilizing muscles to do their job.
Fitting It Into Your Day
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The good news is that none of these exercises require equipment, and the whole routine takes around 15-20 minutes. I’d recommend doing it five days a week, ideally at the same time each day, because consistency matters far more than any individual session. Morning works well for most people as it sets a good tone for the day and gets it out of the way before life intervenes.
A simple structure would be to do the sit-to-stand and step-ups first (the strength-based exercises), then finish with the single-leg stand and heel-to-toe walk (the balance-focused exercises). Take short rest periods of around 60 seconds between sets. On the days you don’t do the full routine, even just practising the single-leg stand while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil makes a difference.
If any exercise feels too challenging at first, that’s fine. Use a chair or wall for support and build from there. Progress at your own pace. The goal in the first two weeks is just building the habit and getting familiar with the movements.
What to Expect in 4 to 6 Weeks
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The first thing most people notice, usually within the first two weeks, isn’t strength. It’s confidence. They feel a little less hesitant stepping off a kerb or turning quickly. That’s the nervous system adapting, getting better at processing balance information and responding to it faster.
By weeks three and four, the strength changes start to show up in everyday life. Getting up from a low chair feels less effortful. Going down stairs feels more controlled. Carrying shopping on uneven ground feels less precarious. These aren’t dramatic transformations, but they are real, functional improvements that matter a great deal day to day.
By the six-week mark, if the routine has been done consistently, most people report feeling genuinely more sure-footed. The single-leg stand typically goes from wobbly and short to steady and controlled. The tandem walk becomes noticeably smoother. And that accumulation of small improvements adds up to something that people around you will start to notice too.
Realistic expectations matter here. This isn’t a program that will make a 65-year-old move like a 30-year-old. What it will do is recover a meaningful amount of the function that’s been lost to inactivity and gradually reduced movement. For most people, that’s enough to feel genuinely different about moving through the world.
In a tragic incident, three men are facing possible charges following the death of a 21-year-old woman during a rope-jumping event in Brazil. Authorities allege that the instructors involved launched her from a bridge without properly securing the safety ropes designed to prevent such a fall.
The victim, Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, was a student participating in the event at an abandoned bridge located approximately 90 miles northwest of São Paulo. The incident occurred on Saturday, casting a shadow over the adventurous outing.
Andrea Levy, the police investigator leading the case, informed the media on Monday that the instructors admitted to not having attached the safety ropes to Rodrigues de Freitas before she jumped. This oversight resulted in her tragic fall.
“The instructors are unclear about who was responsible for securing the ropes or who failed to conduct a safety check,” Levy explained. “However, it is confirmed that the ropes were not attached to her at the time of the jump.”
Related: A Colorado jury recently awarded a family $205 million after a six-year-old tragically fell to their death from a theme park ride.
The Ponte do Esqueleto, or “Skeleton Bridge,” is located in São Paulo, Brazil.(Google Maps)
The three instructors were arrested following the incident and could face criminal charges, The Associated Press reported.
Brazilian authorities said the three instructors were arrested on suspicion of homicide with “eventual intent,” a legal concept under Brazilian law that generally applies when a person is deemed to have accepted the risk that a death could occur. According to Brazilian outlet G1, citing investigators, the instructors were booked on the charge at the scene.
Investigators said Rodrigues de Freitas requested to be launched from the bridge “airplane style,” with two instructors lifting her above their shoulders while she stretched out her arms.
Video shared online appears to show two helmeted men tossing the young woman from the abandoned bridge moments before the fatal fall. The instructors appear to be wearing harnesses connected to safety lines.
Authorities said Rodrigues de Freitas fell approximately 130 feet.
Bungee jumping elastic is pictured here.(Giovanni Mereghetti/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Brazilian media reported that Rodrigues de Freitas had purchased a guided hiking excursion that included the rope jump from the abandoned bridge.
Rope jumping is an extreme sport that differs from traditional bungee jumping. Instead of elastic cords that create a vertical bounce, rope jumping uses low-stretch climbing ropes designed to transform a fall into a pendulum-like swing.
The City of Limeira identified Rodrigues de Freitas as a resident of Jandira and issued a statement expressing condolences to her family.
“At this moment of pain, the City of Limeira stands in solidarity with the young woman’s family, friends and loved ones,” municipal officials said in a statement Saturday.
The city said it would cooperate with authorities investigating the incident.
Rodrigues de Freitas was buried Sunday.
Local police are investigating the incident as a homicide.(Facebook/@Comsoc Limeira)
Levy told Brazilian television program “Jornal Nacional” that investigators were examining whether the group conducting the jump was authorized to operate at the site. According to G1, Levy said investigators believe a failure to verify the placement of the safety rope contributed to the fatality.
In a statement cited by G1, attorneys for the three instructors said their clients had experience conducting the activity and that the incident was the first fatality during their years of operation.
Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the apparent safety failure, including who was responsible for ensuring participants were properly secured before jumping.
A wildfire ignited in Riverside County on Monday, rapidly expanding to 2,600 acres and resulting in the closure of a major freeway, alongside urgent evacuation directives for local residents.
Dubbed the Shore Fire, the inferno erupted in the San Timoteo Canyon area, southwest of Calimesa, just before 3:30 p.m. on Monday. Cal Fire reported that it initially consumed 100 acres in a short span of time.
Due to the fire’s severity, evacuation orders were swiftly issued, and the 60 Freeway westbound at Interstate 10 was shut down to ensure public safety.
As midnight approached, the blaze had dramatically expanded, engulfing more than 2,000 acres.
To accommodate evacuees, a shelter was established at Valley View High School for people and their pets, while the San Jacinto Animal Campus provided refuge for larger animals.
The cause remains under investigation.
The fire broke out the same day a brush fire started near homes in the Stevenson Ranch area of the Santa Clarita Valley.
The blaze was reported in a hiking area within Pico Canyon Park near Magnolia Lane.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to taste freedom sooner than anticipated, as his release date has been moved forward. The renowned rapper, who is currently serving a 50-month prison sentence due to charges related to prostitution, is now expected to be released on February 23, 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Originally, Combs was slated to be released on June 4, 2028. However, adjustments were made in March, initially bringing the date forward from April 25, 2028, to April 15, 2028, before the latest change to February.
Combs was handed a four-year and two-month sentence in October after being found guilty of transporting individuals across state lines for the purpose of sexual encounters, a conviction that has led to his current incarceration.
