Justice Department announces criminal charges in Baltimore’s deadly Key Bridge collapse
(CNN) — Two years after a container ship rammed into and collapsed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, the Justice Department has announced criminal charges against two companies and the ship’s technical superintendent. The crash killed six highway workers and cut off traffic to one of the US’ largest shipping ports, officials said, adding it will cost billions to rebuild the bridge. Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, based in Singapore, and Synergy Maritime Pte Ltd, based in Chennai, India, along with Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, 47, who worked for both companies as the technical superintendent for the “Dali,” are charged with conspiracy, willfully failing to immediately inform the Coast Guard of a known hazardous condition, obstruction of an agency proceeding, and false statements. Following the crash, the FBI and US Coast Guard opened a criminal investigation. Several members of the crew, who were not US citizens, were told to remain in the country as the investigation continued. In December of last year, the National Transportation Safety Board issued its final report on the incident, which concluded that a wire label had slid over a covering keeping that wire from establishing a proper connection with the circuit breaker. This caused power outages on the ship, the Dali, as it was leaving the port of Baltimore. Despite the crew’s failed efforts to “recover propulsion from the loss of electrical power,” the report says, the Dali careened into the bridge minutes later.
US inflation rose to 3.8% in April, eroding Americans’ paychecks
(CNN) — For the first time in three years, Americans’ wages are no longer outpacing inflation. Prices rose 0.6% on a monthly basis, driving the annual rate to 3.8%, the highest since May 2023, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists had expected prices to rise 0.6% from March and for the annual rate to climb to 3.7%. Prior to the late-February US-Israeli strikes on Iran, inflation had eased to 2.4%. Now, the energy price shock from the Iran war is further compounding longstanding affordability concerns for Americans weighed down by years of fast-rising prices. However, at least in recent years, Americans’ pay growth has outpaced the rate of inflation. That changed last month: Annual inflation-adjusted average hourly wage growth went negative for the first time since April 2023. Paychecks grew 3.6% from April of last year, on average; prices rose 3.8%. This comes as Americans also have to contend with an energy price shock that’s rippling through the economy, making some of the most commonly purchased items even more expensive. While rising energy prices accounted for 40% of April’s monthly inflation gain, another contributing factor were higher housing-related price hikes (categorized by the BLS as “shelter”), which were boosted by a one-time adjustment related to last year’s historic government shutdown.
New report details ‘systematic’ rape during Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel
(CNN) — Hamas militants and their allies raped, assaulted and sexually tortured their victims during and after the October 7, 2023 terror attack on southern Israel “to maximize pain and suffering,” a landmark new report has concluded. Shared first with CNN, the report presents the most comprehensive body of evidence yet of sexual and gender-based violence against women, men and children, which it describes as “systematic, widespread, and integral to” the assault. “The most important finding is the fact that the sexual violence on October 7 and against hostages in captivity has been a calculated strategy by Hamas,” lead author and human rights expert Cochav Elkayam-Levy told CNN. The report includes firsthand testimonies from more than 10 survivors who endured extreme sexual violence and sexual abuse during the attack, their abduction or while held in captivity in Gaza. Some victims have only shared their experiences confidentially with experts, investigators and medical staff. But the report also includes previously unknown allegations, including a case of two minors who, while held hostage in Gaza, say they were sexually abused and forced by their captors to perform sexual acts on each other. Some of these details only emerged after some of the previous reports were published, including after the release of hostages from Gaza. Some came from testimonies provided directly to the researchers, while others were gathered in numerous meetings with medical experts, lawyers representing some of the victims, and others.
Editor’s note: Help is available. For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on RAINN.org.
Man gets 2 years after pleading guilty to stealing Beyoncé’s unreleased music
Data stolen in Canvas hack that hit thousands of schools has been returned, company says
(CNN) — Data stolen in a cyberattack that shut down an education platform used by universities and K-12 schools across the US last week has been returned to the platform’s parent company, Instructure, according to an update the company posted Monday. Canvas, a popular, cloud-based digital hub for classrooms, has more than 30 million active users globally, with more than 8,000 institutions as customers, according to Instructure. A ransom note signed by a hacking group appeared on the homepage of Canvas sites for large public school systems and top universities like Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and Georgetown last Thursday. The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed to have “breached” the platform’s parent company, according to a screenshot obtained by CNN. The group said impacted schools had until May 12 “to negotiate a settlement.” ShinyHunters previously claimed it had breached 275 million individuals’ data and had access to “several billions of private messages,” according to a ransom note shared by Ransomware.live on May 3, which tracks ransomware attacks and groups. Data accessed by the hacking group included information like usernames, email addresses, course names, enrollment information and messages, according to Instructure. Course content, submissions and credentials were not compromised, the company said. Instructure said it received digital confirmation of the data’s destruction, called “shred logs,” from the hacking group, the company said. “We have been informed that no Instructure customers will be extorted as a result of this incident, publicly or otherwise,” the update said. The agreement between the hackers and Instructure covers all impacted customers, the company said. “There is no need for individual customers to attempt to engage with the unauthorized actor,” the company said.
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