New York — Netflix is officially winding down the business that helped make it a household name. This fall, the streaming giant will officially say goodbye to its DVD rental service and all of the red envelopes that made it possible. “On September 29th, 2023, we will send out the last red envelope,” the company tweeted Tuesday. “It has been a true pleasure and honor to deliver movie nights to our wonderful members for 25 years.” “Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the DVD business continues to shrink, that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “Making 2023 our Final Season allows us to maintain our quality of service through the last day and go out on a high note.” The company reported a miss for its second-quarter earnings after market close on Tuesday. Shares fell by around 6%.

The top US Navy admiral ardently defended a non-binary sailor on Tuesday amid some criticism from Republican lawmakers, saying he is “particularly proud of this sailor.” The sailor, LTJG Audrey Knutson, had their story shared on the Navy’s Instagram page last week. In a short video, Knutson said they are proud to serve as non-binary, especially because their grandfather served in the Navy as a gay man in World War II. During a deployment last fall aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, Knutson said their highlight was reading a poem to the whole ship at an LGBTQ spoken word night. The Instagram video garnered nearly 17,000 likes. Subsequently, Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, tweeted a portion of the clip with the caption, “While China prepares for war, this is what they have our US Navy focused on.” On Tuesday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, continued attacking the video, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee he had “a lot of problems with the video.” But Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday defended the sailor, emphasizing that it’s the job of a commanding officer to build a warfighting team. “I’ll tell you why I’m particularly proud of this sailor,” Gilday told the hearing. “So, her grandfather served during World War II, and he was gay and he was ostracized in the very institution that she not only joined and is proud to be a part of, but she volunteered to deploy on Ford and she’ll likely deploy again next month when Ford goes back to sea.” Gilday used female pronouns to refer to Knutson but the Navy told CNN Knutson’s pronouns of choice are non-binary. “We ask people from all over the country, from all walks of life, from all different backgrounds to join us,” Gilday said, “and then it’s the job of a commanding officer to build a cohesive warfighting team that’s going to follow the law, and the law requires that we be able to conduct prompt, sustained operations at sea. That level of trust that a commandin...

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Live long and prosper, Michelle Yeoh. After winning a best actress Oscar for her role in “Everything Everywhere All At Once” last month, Yeoh is preparing to step back into the Star Trek universe to reprise her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou in the new “Star Trek: Section 31” movie. Yeoh was first introduced as the character in 2017, when the Emmy-winning “Star Trek: Discovery” TV series debuted on Paramount+. Paramount+ and CBS Studios announced the news on Tuesday. Yeoh will also serve as an executive producer on the project. Yeoh said in a press release that she is “beyond thrilled” to reprise her role in the “Section 31” movie, which she says “has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of ‘Star Trek’ launched.” “To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that’s shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams. We can’t wait to share what’s in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise),” she continued. It truly has been a year of dreams coming true for Yeoh, who made history as the first woman of Asian descent to win an Oscar in the best actress category in March. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” took home seven Oscars that night, including Yeoh’s big win and the top prize for best picture. “Section 31” will showcase Yeoh’s character as she joins a secret division of Starfleet and is “tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past,” according to an official synopsis. “Star Trek: Section 31” will begin production later this year.

Two Russian men who claim to be former Wagner Group commanders have told a human rights activist that they killed children and civilians during their time in Ukraine. The claims were made in video interviews with Gulagu.net, a human rights organization targeting corruption and torture in Russia. In the video interviews posted online, former Russian convicts Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev – who were both pardoned by Russian presidential decrees last year, according to Gulagu.net – described their actions in Ukraine, during Russia’s invasion. CNN cannot independently verify their claims or identities in the videos but has obtained Russian penal documents showing they were released on presidential pardon in September and August of 2022. Uldarov, who appears to have been drinking, details how he shot and killed a five- or six-year-old girl. “(It was) a management decision. I wasn’t allowed to let anyone out alive, because my command was to kill anything in my way,” he said. According to Gulagu.net, the testimonies were given to founder and Russian dissident Vladimir Osechkin over the span of a week. It said Uldarov and Savichev were in Russia when they spoke. “I want Russia and other nations to know the truth. I don’t want war and bloodshed. You see I’m holding a cigarette in this hand. I followed orders with this hand and killed children,” Uldarov said, describing his motivation for the interview. The Wagner Group is a Russian private mercenary organization fighting in Ukraine, headed by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. It has recruited tens of thousands of fighters from Russian jails, offering freedom and cash after a six-month tour. It’s estimated by Western intelligence officials and prison advocacy groups that between 40,000 and 50,000 men were recruited. Uldarov said in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Soledar and Bakhmut – which have seen some of the fiercest fighting – Wagner mercenaries “were given the command to annihilate everyone.” “There is a superior...

Editor’s Note: A version of this story first published in 2019. It’s a surprising fact that’s often overlooked in the immigration debate. Undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in federal taxes annually, between tax returns filed and taxes deducted from paychecks, experts estimate. Here’s a look at why – and how – this is happening. Why some undocumented immigrants choose to pay taxes The National Immigration Law Center breaks down a number of reasons why undocumented immigrants pay taxes, including: • It shows they’re complying with federal tax laws. • It can help them demonstrate “good moral character” if they later have an opportunity to legalize their immigration status. • Tax return records could be used to document work history and presence in the US, steps that may help them be eligible for legal immigration status in the future if lawmakers pass immigration reform. How some pay taxes despite not having Social Security numbers Critics of illegal immigration have long argued that undocumented immigrants who pay taxes are able to do so because they’re using stolen Social Security numbers. But millions of federal tax dollars are paid every year by people who don’t have Social Security numbers at all. Instead, they file using what’s known as an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). The Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based think tank, notes that “most experts believe the vast majority of tax returns filed with ITINs today are filed by undocumented immigrants.” Some noncitizens who legally immigrated to the United States also pay taxes using this method. In 2019, according to the IRS, more than 2.5 million tax returns were filed using ITINs, accounting for nearly $6 billion in taxes. In addition to tax return filings, officials estimate that undocumented immigrants also contribute billions to Social Security annually through payroll tax deductions. In 2010, for example, the Social Security Administration estimated that payments from una...

Washington — Artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT could lead to a “turbocharging” of consumer harms including fraud and scams, and the US government has substantial authority to crack down on AI-driven consumer harms under existing law, members of the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday. Addressing House lawmakers, FTC chair Lina Khan said the “turbocharging of fraud and scams that could be enabled by these tools are a serious concern.” In recent months, a new crop of AI tools have gained attention for their ability to generate convincing emails, stories and essays as well as images, audio and videos. While these tools have potential to change the way people work and create, some have also raised concerns about how they could be use to deceive by impersonating individuals. Even as policymakers across the federal government debate how to promote specific AI rules, citing concerns about possible algorithmic discrimination and privacy issues, companies could still face FTC investigations today under a range of statutes that have been on the books for years, Khan and her fellow commissioners said. “Throughout the FTC’s history we have had to adapt our enforcement to changing technology,” said FTC Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter. “Our obligation is to do what we’ve always done, which is to apply the tools we have to these changing technologies … [and] not be scared off by this idea that this is a new, revolutionary technology.” FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said companies cannot escape liability simply by claiming that their algorithms are a black box. “Our staff has been consistently saying our unfair and deceptive practices authority applies, our civil rights laws, fair credit, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, those apply,” said Bedoya. “There is law, and companies will need to abide by it.” The FTC has previously issued extensive public guidance to AI companies, and the agency last month received a request to investigate OpenAI over claims that the company be...

Washington — A tiny intruder infiltrated White House grounds Tuesday, prompting a swift response from the US Secret Service. Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, said a toddler crawled through the fence on the north side of the White House, setting off security alerts. “The Secret Service Uniformed Division today encountered a curious young visitor along the White House north fence line who briefly entered White House ground,” Gugliemli said. “The White House security systems instantly triggered Secret Service officers and the toddler and parents were quickly reunited.” It’s not the first time a toddler has crawled through the White House fence. There was a similar incident in 2014 when a toddler squeezed through the White House fence just before then-President Barack Obama was about to address the nation on Iraq. The breach prompted a temporary lockdown and delayed the briefing. “We were going to wait until he learned to talk to question him, but in lieu of that, he got a timeout and was sent on way with parents,” Edwin Donovan, then a spokesman for the United States Secret Service, said.

Hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights were delayed after technical issues that prompted the airline to temporarily halt its operations on Tuesday morning. Southwest said the flight delays were the result of “data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure,” a problem that led to a brief ground stop. The Federal Aviation Administration initiated the ground stop at the airline’s request, citing “equipment issues.” The ground stop was soon lifted, and in a tweet at 11:35 a.m. ET Southwest said it had resumed operations. “Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost,” spokesman Dan Landson said in a statement. Southwest had delayed 1,820 flights or 43% of its schedule as of just after noon Tuesday, according to FlightAware. The airline has canceled only nine flights on Tuesday, according to FlightAware. Southwest says its workers “worked quickly to minimize disruptions.” Southwest reported technology issues Tuesday morning and said it would “hopefully be resuming our operation as soon as possible.” The FAA in a statement told CNN that Southwest “requested the FAA pause the airline’s departures.” The problems come months after the airline was forced to cancel more than 16,700 flights between December 20 and 29, roughly half its schedule during that period. The airline attributed the meltdown in part to changes to its staff scheduling computer systems. Southwest last month unveiled an “action plan” to prevent another operational meltdown. Southwest called the latest problem “intermittent technology issues” in a social media post to customers. Several took to social media to complain about delayed flights. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we’re hoping to get everyone going ASAP,” the airline wrote in another social media post. A massive winter storm started the service problems during the holiday season, but Southwest had a much tougher time recovering because of an a...

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A German artist has rejected an award from a prestigious international photography competition after revealing that his submission was generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Berlin-based Boris Eldagsen won the creative open category at this year’s Sony World Photography Award with his entry “Pseudomnesia: The Electrician.” The eerie black and white image shows two women from different generations – the older woman appearing to hang on to the younger woman from behind. Organizers said they were made aware of some AI involvement, but said there had been “deliberate” attempts to mislead them. Eldagsen said he hoped his actions would open up the conversation around the issue and lead to “separate competitions for AI-generated images.” Eldagsen said in a statement shared on his website that he had been a “cheeky monkey” in a bid to open up the conversation around artificially generated images. “Thank you for selecting my image and making this a historic moment, as it is the first AI generated image to win in a prestigous (sic) international PHOTOGRAPHY competition. How many of you knew or suspected that it was AI generated? Something about this doesn’t feel right, does it?” He continued: “AI images and photography should not compete with eachother in an award like this. They are different entities. AI is not photography. Therefore I will not accept the award.” He said he applied “as a cheeky monkey” to find out if competitions “are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not.” ‘Not about winning’ Eldagsen told CNN Tuesday: “It shows that at the moment the photographic world has been taken by surprise after this development that subtly you can create images that look like photography but you don’t need to have the skills and expertise of photographers.” He said that AI had left many photographers feeling “threatened and afraid that they are going to lose their jobs which will happen.” Eldagsen said his intention was not to create trouble, but to open up an important...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended the terms of its emergency use authorizations for the Pfizer and Moderna bivalent vaccines on Tuesday, allowing people ages 65 and older and certain people with weakened immunity to get additional doses before this fall’s vaccination campaigns. The bivalent vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna carry instructions for fighting both the original strain of the Covid-19 virus as well as Omicron and its spinoffs. They have been available in the United States since September under emergency use authorizations, or EUAs, which tightly restrict how the vaccines may be given. On Tuesday, the FDA changed the terms of the authorizations for those vaccines so that certain individuals could get an additional dose ahead of most others. Namely, adults ages 65 and older who have received a single dose of a bivalent vaccine may receive an additional dose at least four months following their first dose. Most individuals with certain degrees of immunocompromise who have received a first dose of a bivalent vaccine can get a second at least 2 months later. Additional doses may be administered at the discretion of their healthcare provider. Dr. Peter Hotez, who co-directs the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital, has been calling on the FDA to increase access to the bivalent boosters for those who want them. He says for the most part, today’s guidance from the agency makes sense. “My only question is why the 65 year age cutoff? What was that based on? Ordinarily I would have preferred that it be brought down to 60 or even 50,” Hotez said in an email to CNN. “For those Americans who understand its importance, we should make second bivalent boosters available. Finally, we’ll soon need guidance about another annual fall booster. Presumably that information comes sometime this summer,” he added. For immunocompromised children ages 6 months through 4 years, eligibility for additional bivalent doses will depend on the vaccine pr...

It’s sourdough bread and handstands for Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Lee Curtis. The two stars are talking about the time they spent together during the Covid-19 pandemic, telling People that the actor, who is Lee’s godson, and his girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu, lived in the house next door that Curtis owns. Curtis, who won best supporting actress Oscar at lthe 2023 Academy Awards, is friends with Gyllenhaal’s parents, director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner. “We’ve just gotten to know each other,” Lee said while at the premiere of Gyllenhaal’s new thriller “The Covenant.” “He also lived with me during Covid for almost a year. He and Jeanne lived in the house next door that I have. And so there was also that. For a minute.” Lee revealed that Gyllenhaal, like a lot of people, turned to bread baking during the time, and would act and sing and do handstands for the small group. “He made a lot of sourdough bread, a lot,” Lee said. “So singing, acting, sourdough. And he did that test where you do a handstand against the wall and take your shirt off and put it back on.” Gyllenhaal added the bread baking has stuck. “I am still eating sourdough,” he said. “Yes. I haven’t stopped. Even though we’re out of the pandemic, I am still making sourdough.” Gyllenhaal’s new film is a military thriller directed by Guy Ritchie. It also stars Alexander Ludwig, Antony Starr, Bobby Schofield and Jonny Lee Miller.

Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of a story that originally ran on April 14, 2023. New York — It’s April 18, the official deadline to file your federal and state income tax returns for 2022. (It is also, apparently, National Animal Crackers Day for those who celebrate.) Whether you have already filed your tax return or still need to, the good news is this tax filing season has gone much more smoothly than the past three, which were hurt by the pandemic. “This is the first tax season since 2019 where the IRS and the nation were on normal footing,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a call with reporters. For instance, Werfel noted that since January, thanks to an infusion of some new funding after years of budget cuts, IRS employees have been able to answer 87% of calls from filers with questions. Last year, they answered fewer than 15%. And the wait times on those phone calls dropped to just 4 minutes this filing season from 27 minutes last filing season. The agency also added a roster of new online tools for filers, he added. Still haven’t filed? Those online tools may be especially helpful today if you are scrambling to get your return in before midnight. Or, if you’ve come to the realization that you need to file for an extension. Either way, here are some key things to know: Not everyone has to file on April 18: If you live in a federally declared disaster area, have a business there — or have relevant tax documents stored by businesses in that area — it’s likely the IRS has already extended the filing and payment deadlines for you. Here is where you can find the specific extension dates for each disaster area. Thanks to many rounds of extreme weather in recent months, for instance, tax filers in most of California — which accounts for 10% to 15% of all federal filers — have already been granted an extension until Oct. 16 to file and to pay, according to an IRS spokesperson. If you’re in the armed forces and are currently or were recently stationed i...

Newly released body camera footage shows firefighters and sheriff's deputies rushing to help actor Jeremy Renner after a near-fatal snowplow accident in January. The "Avengers" actor broke more than 30 bones and suffered other severe injuries. CNN's Chloe Melas has more.

Editor’s Note: Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine and former vice president at ESPN, has been a producer, reporter and editor at the New York Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Jones is co-author of “Say it Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete.” She talks politics, sports and culture weekly on Philadelphia’s 900AM WURD. The views expressed here are solely hers. Read more opinion on CNN. The ruling earlier this month by a Texas federal judge to suspend the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a drug that is used frequently for medication abortions, is very personal for me. Roxanne Jones CNN That’s because I took mifepristone years ago during a miscarriage, and it saved my life. When I was prescribed mifepristone, it had not yet taken center stage in America’s abortion wars. I did not have to make a rushed road trip across state lines to get my medicine, unlike many women who need the drug but live in one of the many states that have restricted access to medication abortion or passed near-total bans on abortion. I was not forced to set up a secret meet-up with a stranger in order to buy my medicine on the black market, as several women I spoke to recently said they planned to do. Nor did I have to order mifepristone online and find myself navigating the many scammers taking advantage of the current patchwork of state abortion laws in the US. Mifepristone is one of two drugs used in a medication abortion and the other, misoprostol, was not subject to the ruling by the Texas judge. The two drugs can be administered to someone having a miscarriage, allowing them to terminate the pregnancy when the fetus is not viable. It happened some years ago: After experiencing more than a day of hemorrhaging during the first trimester of my pregnancy, I visited my ob-gyn, who explained after examining me that my blood pressure was dropping rapidly and the heavy bleeding I was experiencing was an unmistakable sign of a miscarriage. For m...

Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments. There are many ways to explore the seven mountains that surround the picturesque UNESCO World Heritage city of Bergen on Norway’s fjord-studded west coast. The newest, however, might well be record-breaking. A three-kilometer-long (1.8-mile) cycling and pedestrian tunnel has been blasted through the base of Løvstakken mountain and its makers say it’s the longest purpose-built tunnel of its kind. Fyllingsdalstunnelen, as it’s known, opened on April 15 with a family day of sporting activities, following four years of construction that began in February 2019. The state-funded mega-project cost close to $29 million, or 300 million Norwegian kroner. “We Norwegians are usually modest people,” Camilla Einarsen Heggernes, a spokesperson for rail company Bybanen Utbygging, tells CNN, “But in this instance we would say that the tunnel is 100% state of the art.” When you see this sundial, you'll know you're halfway through. Ronny Turøy/Bybanen Utbygging It takes a little under 10 minutes to whizz through the tunnel by bike and around 40 if strolling by foot. To break up the monotony of the windowless tunnel, there are a variety of art installations throughout, as well as different colors and lighting to help users place where they are on the journey and offer a sense of direction. At the center point is a “sundial” installation – where the sun definitely will never shine – which shows the time of day, again helping to orientate visitors and also to break up the otherwise long line of sight. The tunnel is otherwise perfectly straight, apart from slight curvatures at entrance and exit. If you’re wondering how cyclists and pedestrians can use the same space, there are two lanes in the tunnel: a 3.5-meter wide bike lane and a 2.5-meter-wide la...

Atiq Ahmed, a former lawmaker in India's parliament, convicted of kidnapping, was shot dead along with his brother while police were escorting them for a medical check-up in a slaying caught on live television on Saturday. CNN's Vedika Sud reports.

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Hong Kong — China’s economy got off to a solid start in 2023, as consumers went on a spending spree after three years of strict pandemic restrictions ended. Gross domestic product grew by 4.5% in the first quarter from a year ago, according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. That beat the estimate of 4% growth from a Reuters poll of economists. But private investment barely budged and youth unemployment surged to the second highest level on record, indicating the country’s private sector employers are still wary about longer term prospects. Consumption posted the strongest rebound. Retail sales jumped 10.6% in March from a year earlier, the highest level of growth since June 2021. In the January to March months, retail sales grew 5.8%, mainly lifted by a surge in revenue from the catering service industry. “The combination of a steady uptick in consumer confidence as well as the still-incomplete release of pent-up demand suggest to us that the consumer-led recovery still has room to run,” said Louise Loo, China lead economist for Oxford Economics. Industrial production also showed a steady increase. It was up 3.9% in March, compared with 2.4% in the January-to-February period. (China usually combines its economic data for January and February to account for the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday.) Commuters during Beijing's morning rush hour in April 2023 Mark Schiefelbein/AP Last year, GDP expanded by just 3%, badly missing the official growth target of “around 5.5%,” as Beijing’s approach to stamping out the coronavirus wreaked havoc on supply chains and hammered consumer spending. After mass street protests gripped the country and local governments ran out of cash to pay huge Covid bills, authorities finally scrapped the zero-Covid policy in December. Following a brief period of disruption due to a Covid surge, the economy has started showing signs of recovery. Last month, an official gauge of non-manufacturing activity jumped to its highest level...

What does intimacy look like for seniors? There’s no end to sex scenes and other steamy content featuring the young and unwrinkled, but past a certain age, popular culture largely draws a blank — or treats sex as a punchline. Last year, the artist Marilyn Minter set out to change that, gathering a group of men and women aged 70 and older in her New York studio to showcase a lesser-seen side of sex and relationships. In erotic and colorful images, the seniors are stripped down to lingerie or briefs; they hug, kiss and caress each other in the heat of the moment. The photographs beckon our attention to challenge something still seen as taboo, showing playful, loving moments of pleasure. “There’s so much contempt for elder sex. Even one of the models that I worked with said, ‘Who wants to see all these?’” Minter recalled in a video call with CNN. “My whole thought process going into it was that we’re pioneers,” she continued of the unabashedly sexualized context. “Nobody’s ever shot elder people affectionately, and with any kind of elegance. And that was my goal — to make to make them look very desirable.” "Elder Sex" is Marilyn Minter's full set of images originally shot for a New York Times Magazine story on senior sex and intimacy. Marilyn Minter/Courtesy Marilyn Minter & LGDR A handful of the ensuing images were originally published in the New York Times Magazine, accompanying a candid editorial feature about seniors’ sex lives. Minter is now publishing the series in full in the forthcoming book “Elder Sex,” and exhibiting them at New York gallery LGDR. The exhibition, which opened in April, is her first solo show in the city since the Brooklyn Museum mounted her retrospective “Pretty/Dirty” in 2016, and features highlights from her five-decade-long career, as well as other new bodies of work. Seeking partners In “Elder Sex,” Minter utilized one of her signature aesthetics, which she has explored in both hyperrealistic paintings and photographs: jewel-toned, close-...

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Jamie Foxx remains hospitalized in Georgia nearly a week after his daughter revealed the actor experienced a “medical complication,” a source with knowledge of the matter told CNN on Monday. His daughter Corinne Foxx shared on Instagram last week that her father had experienced a health-related incident last Tuesday, though she did not specify what occurred. She added in her post that due to “quick action and great care,” her father is “on his way to recovery.” CNN reported Friday that Foxx was hospitalized and undergoing medical tests. Foxx has been in Atlanta filming the Netflix movie “Back in Action” with Cameron Diaz. The source previously told CNN that the medical incident did not happen on set and Foxx was not transported by emergency vehicle to the hospital. A separate source close to production on the film told CNN on Friday that filming is “currently underway” and is expected to wrap up this week. This source did not elaborate as to whether Foxx still has scenes to film or whether he would be back on set. CNN has reached out to representatives for Foxx for comment.

Editor’s Note: Justin Lynch is a researcher and analyst in Washington, DC. He is co-author of the book “Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy.” The views expressed here are his own. Read more opinion at CNN. Four years ago, almost to the day, the people of Sudan were celebrating a revolution after overthrowing longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir. Now the East African country faces the possibility of a complete collapse similar to the chaos we see today in Yemen or Libya. Justin Lynch Courtesy Justin Lynch On Saturday, rival military factions began fighting each other in the capital of Khartoum. The two sides battled for control of the nation’s airports, bases and military compounds. Violence quickly spilled into the streets and across the country. Some 45 million Sudanese effectively are held hostage and are unable to venture out of their homes for fear of being killed in the crossfire. At least 180 people have perished in the fighting, including three World Food Programme humanitarian workers. The conflict pits two bitter rivals and their powerful armed forces against each other. On one side are the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. On the other side are the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti. There is no good side in this conflict. Both have been accused of a long litany of human rights violations. How did Sudan go from casting off despotic rule and creating a fledgling democracy a few years ago to teetering on the brink of state collapse? Revolution lost On April 11, 2019, Sudan’s longtime dictator, Bashir, was overthrown. The cause of Bashir’s removal was months of protests led by Sudan’s unions, which spurred a military coup from the SAF and RSF. Both Burhan and Hemeti joined forces to remove their former boss. It was a moment of promise because there was hope for democracy. I remember walking around the “sit-in” — a giant carnival of freedom in the middle of Khartoum that protesters...

Editor’s Note: Abigail Disney is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and member of the Patriotic Millionaires. Her latest film, “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,” co-directed with Kathleen Hughes, made its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Morris Pearl is the chair of Patriotic Millionaires, and former managing director of BlackRock. The opinions expressed in this commentary are their own. View more opinion on CNN. Tuesday is Tax Day in America, one of the most stressful days of the year, when many taxpayers will finally end their procrastination, file their federal returns, and hope for a refund from the IRS. But for many of the nation’s wealthiest, it’s just another Tuesday. Abigail Disney Grasstaken, Roo Castro and Rod Coplin Morris Pearl Beatrice Mortiz Tax Day isn’t just a filing deadline — it’s also an annual reminder that the ultra-rich exist in an entirely separate world when it comes to taxes. For us, the loopholes are bigger and the rates are sometimes lower. Meanwhile, the rich keep getting richer, with the wealth of billionaires in particular growing by more than $1.5 trillion over the last few years. This status quo is unfair, but even more importantly, it’s unsustainable. Such high levels of inequality are pushing our economy and our democracy to their breaking points. That’s why we should examine how we can set our country up for long-term stability and prosperity. And we should start by ensuring that the ultra-rich pay more of what they owe the country that made their success possible. There are three changes to the tax code that would help us do just that: Tax all types of income the same for high earners Right now, the US tax system values money over sweat. If you work hard for your money instead of earning it passively, you’re essentially penalized for it. People who earn a salary pay significantly higher tax rates on their income than wealthy investors who passively earn capital gains income. Inheriting mone...

New York — McDonald’s, which has been focusing on upgrading its core items to boost sales, is rolling out a series of changes designed to improve its signature burgers. Buns will be softer. Cheese, gooier. Onion will be added to patties right on the grill. And the Big Mac sauce? There will be more of it. “We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever,” said chef Chad Schafer, senior director of culinary innovation of McDonald’s USA, in a statement Monday. The upgrades apply to the Big Mac and the McDouble burger as well as the classic cheeseburger, double cheeseburger and hamburger. The Big Mac will come with more Big Mac sauce. McDonald's USA The improvements were first made to burgers in international markets, the company said, and have already arrived in some US cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas. They’ll be available nationally by early next year. The changes follow other improvements to key menu items. In 2018, McDonald’s announced that it was switching to fresh beef for its Quarter Pounders, a complicated move with a big sales payoff. In 2021, it launched a crispy chicken sandwich to replace previous iterations — a relatively late arrival in the chicken sandwich wars, but one that seems to have resonated with McDonald’s customers. . “We are gaining market share in both chicken and beef,” thanks to improved burgers and items like the chicken sandwich, said McDonald’s (MCD) CEO Chris Kempczinski during a January analyst call. “In an environment where our customers are looking for the simple and familiar, our core menu items have never been more relevant,” he said. In the US, sales at stores open at least 13 months jumped 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022, rising 10.3% for the whole year. Even the humble cheeseburger is getting an upgrade. McDonald's USA Focusing on promotin...

Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Eat, But Better: Mediterranean Style. Our eight-part guide shows you a delicious expert-backed eating lifestyle that will boost your health for life. Gobbling up too many refined wheat and rice products, along with eating too few whole grains, is fueling the growth of new cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide, according to a new study that models data through 2018. “Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes globally,” says senior author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a professor of nutrition at Tufts University and professor of medicine at Tufts School of Medicine in Boston, in a statement. Another key factor: People are eating far too much red and processed meats, such as bacon, sausage, salami and the like, the study said. Those three factors — eating too few whole grains and too many processed grains and meats — were the primary drivers of over 14 million new cases of type 2 diabetes in 2018, according to the study, which was published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. In fact, the study estimated 7 out of 10 cases of type 2 diabetes worldwide in 2018 were linked to poor food choices. Unhealthy carbs and processed meats are two leading contributing factors to global cases of diabetes, a new study said. djgunner/E+/Getty Images “These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes,” said Mozaffarian, who is also the editor in chief of the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter. Too many processed foods Mozaffarian and his team developed a research model of dietary intake between 1990 and 2018 and applied it to 184 countries. Compared with 1990, there were 8.6 million more cases of type 2 diabetes due to poor diet in 2018, the study found. Researchers found eating too many unhealthy foods was more of a driver of type 2 diabetes on a global level than a lack of eating wholesome foods, especially for men c...

For all the interest in big-name witnesses and eye-opening private text messages, at the core of the defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News are 20 specific broadcasts and tweets in which the voting company says Fox knowingly promoted lies, destroying its reputation. According to the lawsuit, all 20 statements took place between November 8, 2020, and January 26, 2021, and came in the form of on-air comments from Fox hosts Jeanine Pirro, Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo; interviews with prominent pro-Trump election deniers Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell; and several of Dobbs’ tweets. The wild allegations in the statements fell into four broad categories: that Dominion conducted election fraud, that it used algorithms to flip votes, that it had ties to Venezuela and that politicians received kickbacks to use the company. The judge overseeing the defamation trial has already ruled that these allegations were false, saying it is “CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.” At trial, it will be a jury’s job to determine if the statements were made with “actual malice” – a high bar based on knowing falseness or having a reckless disregard for the truth – and potentially award damages. Dominion has asked for $1.6 billion in damages and additional punitive damages, a number Fox says is wildly overblown. Fox has denied wrongdoing and said the case is a meritless assault on press freedoms. Lawyers for Fox have argued that Dominion hasn’t come close to clearing the high bar to prove defamation. Here’s a closer look at those 20 specific broadcasts and tweets of alleged defamation. Broadcast 1: Bartiromo interviews Powell Maria Bartiromo is involved in three broadcasts that Dominion says were defamatory. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images The broadcast: “Sunday Morning Futures” on November 8, 2020. What they alleged: Election fraud and algorithm flips. Key false quote: “Sidney, we talked about t...

Shares of Google-parent Alphabet fell more than 3% in early trading Monday after a report sparked concerns that its core search engine could lose market share to AI-powered rivals, including Microsoft’s Bing. Last month, Google employees learned that Samsung was weighing making Bing the default search engine on its devices instead of Google’s search engine, prompting a “panic” inside the company, according to a report from the New York Times, citing internal messages and documents. (CNN has not reviewed the material.) In an effort to address the heightened competition, Google is said to be developing a new AI-powered search engine called Project “Magi,” according to the Times. The company, which reportedly has about 160 people working on the project, aims to change the way results appear in Google Search and will include an AI chat tool available to answer questions. The project is expected to be unveiled to the public next month, according to the report. In a statement sent to CNN, Google spokesperson Lara Levin said the company has been using AI for years to “improve the quality of our results” and “offer entirely new ways to search,” including with a feature rolled out last year that lets users search by combining images and words. “We’ve done so in a responsible and helpful way that maintains the high bar we set for delivering quality information,” Levin said. “Not every brainstorm deck or product idea leads to a launch, but as we’ve said before, we’re excited about bringing new AI-powered features to Search, and will share more details soon.” Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google’s search engine has dominated the market for two decades. But the viral success of ChatGPT, which can generate compelling written responses to user prompts, appeared to put Google on defense for the first time in years. In March, Google began opening up access to Bard, its new AI chatbot tool that directly competes with ChatGPT and promises to help users ...