Today is Friday, June 13, 2025.
It is the 164th day of the year.
201 days remain.
WHAT’S ON TAP
NOTABLE & NOTEWORTHY: A man’s six-year airline scam ends with a jury conviction.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN gets a mistrial and another celeb gets name dropped in the “It Ends With Us” legal drama. More in SHOWBIZ.
The video gamers’ strike ends and news about some upcoming movie projects. Details in CASTING CALL.
The people have spoken and they’re over MEGHAN SUSSEX. Details in ROYALS.
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An Indian-born British national is believed to be the only person to survive Thursday’s Air India plane crash just moments after taking off in Ahmedabad, India.
The survivor, identified as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, was able to walk away on his own to legs, if a few viral videos making the rounds are to be believed.
The doctor attending to Ramesh said he was disoriented with various injuries across his body, but is likely to survive.
At some point in the chaos, Ramesh told local media, “Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened os quickly.” [via CBS News]
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Even ancient parents tried every trick in the book to quiet a screaming baby – including rattles.
Researchers from the National Museum of Denmark say they found 19, 4,500-year-old baby rattles at a dig site in Syria. They believe the rattles were made professionally and sold commercially.
“They were probably sold at the market to parents who wanted to entertain – or distract – their children,” the researchers say.
Based on the low tone of the rattling and small handle, the researchers are confident the device is a baby toy and not some other kind of instrument. [via New York Post]
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A Florida man faces decades in prison for a scheme that scammed airlines for free flights over the course of six years.
BACKGROUND: Airlines use a special system for pilots and flight attendants to book free flights when seats are available, even if they don’t work for that airline. Access typically requires employee ID numbers and other identifiers.
The man, 35-year-old Tiron Alexander, managed to create multiple accounts on this system to fly for free 120 times between 2018 and 2024. He used 30 different ID numbers throughout the con – and Alexander himself has never worked as a pilot or flight attendant.
While he scammed the airlines, at no point did he do anything else suspicious or criminal. TSA records even show he complied with screening procedures and safety compliance – but he has been convicted on wire fraud charges and for entering a secure airport area under false pretenses. The maximum sentences for such crimes would lead to decades in prison, but it’s expected he’ll get something lighter when he’s sentenced in August. [via NBC News]
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A North Korean watchdog reports that diplomats for the Hermit Kingdom working at the United Nations have rebuffed multiple attempts to deliver a letter from PRESIDENT TRUMP to KIM JONG JUNIOR.
During Trump’s first term, Trump and Junior openly exchanged several public letters that led to two historic summits between the leaders. Trump also became the first American president to set foot in North Korea.
NK News reports that the diplomats “bluntly” refused to accept the letter and no official reason has been conveyed. [via NK News]
WORTH NOTING: Since Trump’s first term, North Korea has strengthened its relationship with Russia and has provided material support for the war in Ukraine. Given the tensions between Trump and VLADIMIR PUTIN in negotiating a peace settlement, this could be the North Korean regime taking foreign policy direction from Russia.
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A 30-year-old massive great white shark recently pinged off the coast of North Carolina, alerting researchers that the late spring/early summer migration has begun.
Weighing in at 1,653 pounds, and measuring nearly 14-feet in length, Contender is the biggest great white shark ever recorded by researchers in the Atlantic.
Biologists from OCEARCH say the marine beast likely made a pitstop off the Pamlico Sound for a critical feeding session to build up energy reserves ahead of his over 1,000-mile journey north.
His journey can be tracked on the nonprofit’s global shark tracker site. [via OCEARCH]
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