Abdul “Duke” Fakir, last surviving member of the Four Tops, dies at 88
The Four Tops' Abdul “Duke” Fakir passed away Monday from heart failure at his home in Detroit. Fakir, the last surviving founding member of the legendary Motown group, was 88.
"Our hearts are heavy as we mourn the loss of a trailblazer, icon, and music legend who, through his 70-year music career, touched the lives of so many as he continued to tour until the end of 2023, and officially retired this year," the Fakir family said in a statement to ABC Audio.
"As the last living founding member of the iconic Four Tops music group, we find solace in Duke’s legacy living on through his music for generations to come.”
The Four Tops was founded in 1953 as the Four Aims by Duke, Levi Stubbs, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton. They had a string of now-classic hits with songs written primarily by the iconic songwriting trio of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. Those included two number ones -- “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” -- as well as “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love" and “It’s the Same Old Song."
The Four Tops' original lineup stayed intact until Payton died in 1997. Benson died in 2005 and Stubbs passed away in 2008, but Fakir kept the group going with new singers.
As a member of the Four Tops, Fakir was in inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. The group also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Fakir is survived by his wife and six children, 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Details for a public celebration of his life and legacy will be announced at a later date. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Motown Museum.
Source-ABC
Scam warning as fake emails and websites target users after IT outage
Cyber-security experts and agencies around the world are warning people about a wave of opportunistic hacking attempts linked to the IT outage.
Although there is no evidence that the CrowdStrike outage was caused by malicious activity, some bad actors are attempting to take advantage.
Cyber agencies in the UK and Australia are warning people to be vigilant to fake emails, calls and websites that pretend to be official.
And CrowdStrike head George Kurtz encouraged users to make sure they were speaking to official representatives from the company before downloading fixes.
"We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this," he said in a blog post.
"Our blog and technical support will continue to be the official channels for the latest updates."
His words were echoed by cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt, who runs the well-known Have I Been Pwned security website.
“An incident like this that has commanded so many headlines and has people worried is a gift to scammers," he said.
Mr Hunt was responding to a warning from the Australian Signals Directorate (known as the ASD, the equivalent of the UK's GCHQ or the US's National Security Agency) which issued an alert about hackers sending out bogus software fixes claiming to be from CrowdStrike.
"Alert! We understand a number of malicious websites and unofficial code are being released claiming to help entities recover," the notice reads.
The agency is urging IT responders to only use CrowdStrike's website to source information and help.
The ASD warning follows calls from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on Friday for people to be hyper vigilante of suspicious emails or calls that pretend to be CrowdStrike or Microsoft help.
"An increase in phishing referencing this outage has already been observed, as opportunistic malicious actors seek to take advantage of the situation," the agency said.
Source-BBC
'Significant number' of devices back up after IT outage -CrowdStrike
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike says "a significant number" of devices that were impacted by a global IT outage on Friday are now back online.
In a social media post, the company - whose faulty security update caused Microsoft Windows computers to crash around the world - added it "continues to focus on restoring all systems".
Microsoft has estimated that the incident, which is being described as one of the worst IT outages in history, impacted 8.5m computers around the world.
Businesses, banks, hospitals and airlines were among the worst-hit, with some still struggling to fully restore their systems.
"We understand the profound impact this has had on everyone. We know our customers, partners and their IT teams are working tirelessly and we’re profoundly grateful," CrowdStrike said.
"We apologise for the disruption this has created."
The firm also said it is deploying a new fix that it hoped would speed up the recovery of computer systems.
However, CrowdStrike did not say how many devices were still being impacted.
More than 1,400 flights, into or out of the US, were cancelled on Sunday, according to aviation tracking and data platform FlightAware.
Delta and United Airlines were the worst affected US airlines.
Health services in Britain, Israel and Germany were also impacted on Friday, with some services cancelled.
The massive outage has put a spotlight on the vulnerability of global computer networks, showing how a single glitch can cause global chaos.
"All too often these days, a single glitch results in a system-wide outage, affecting industries from healthcare and airlines to banks and auto dealers" said the Chair of the US Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, in a social media post.
"These incidents reveal how concentration can create fragile systems."
Until this incident the company had been one most trusted brands in the cybersecurity industry.
According to CrowdStrike's website, it has 29,000 customers around the world, including some of the biggest companies in the US.
One major economy largely unscathed by the outage was China, as CrowdStrike is not widely used in the country.
China is also not as reliant on Microsoft as the rest of the world.
Source-BBC
SWA Sharks will compete in CFU Club Shield
Twenty teams from across the Caribbean, including defending champions SV Robinhood from Suriname, are gearing up for the 2024 CFU Club Shield slated for July 25 to August 4 in Willemstad, Curaçao.
This year’s edition marks the first time that the CFU is organizing and managing the competition hitherto run by Concacaf and called the Caribbean Club Shield. As in previous editions, the 2024 competition will still qualify two teams to the Concacaf Caribbean Cup.
The number of teams in the hunt for top honors is up by five from 2023 when 15 clubs participated. This has necessitated a change in format to a straight knockout competition, raising the stakes on the teams and bringing intensity to the contest from the first whistle.
In addition to the defending champs SV Robinhood, the contenders are: America FC (Haiti); Arnett Gardens FC (Jamaica); AS Étoile De Matoury (French Guiana); AS Junior Stars (Sint Martin); B.A.Y.S FC (St. Lucia); CCCUL Dublanc FC (Dominica); Club Atlético Pantoja (Dominican Republic); CRKSV Jong Holland (Curaçao); Defence Force FC (Trinidad and Tobago); Grenades FC (Antigua and Barbuda);Guyana Defence Force FC (Guyana); Metropolitan FC (Puerto Rico); Paradise FC International (Grenada); RAMS Village Superstars FC (St. Kitts and Nevis); Scholars International SC (Cayman
Islands); SCSA Eagles (St. Maarten); SV Racing Club Aruba (Aruba); SV Real Rincon (Bonaire); and SWA Sharks FC (Turks and Caicos Islands).
The competition, which was established in 2018, has a primary objective of advancing professional football throughout the Caribbean. Participation is open to semi-professional clubs and amateur teams holding current championship titles in their respective domestic leagues.
CFU General Secretary Camara David said all systems are go for an exciting completion.“From an organizing perspective, we have worked between both organizations to ensure a seamless
transition of the competition from Concacaf to the CFU. We have enjoyed that same level of collegiality with the Curaçao Football Federation, and I can assure regional football fans that the teams are ready to battle for Caribbean supremacy,” David said.
CFU President Randolph Harris noted the importance of the CFU Club Shield to the developmental agenda for regional football. “The competition aims to help professionalize football in the Caribbean. I am on the record many times noting the need for us to keep developing and advancing football in the region for many reasons, not least amongst them opening up pathways for our footballers.
The CFU is pleased to collaborate with Concacaf on this competition and look forward to working closely with the confederation to advance football in the Caribbean,” Harris said.
Defending champions SV Robinhood won both the Club Shield and the Caribbean Cup in 2023, making them a definite team to watch.
Fans may watch livestreams of the matches on the CFU’s YouTube page, CFU Official, and follow the CFU’s social media platforms for updates.
Twisters spins up $80.5 million debut with #1 opening weekend
Twisters twisted through the competition to grab the #1 spot at the box office in its opening weekend.
The disaster flick, a standalone sequel to 1996's Twister, brought it a total of $80.5 million during its debut frame, Variety reports. That's good enough for the third-biggest premiere weekend of 2024, following Inside Out 2 and Dune: Part 2, which opened with $154 million and $82 million, respectively.
Twisters stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos, and is accompanied by a soundtrack filled with some of the biggest names in country music, including Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Shania Twain and Jelly Roll.
Coming in at #2 in the box office was two-week champ Despicable Me 4, which brought its domestic total to $259 million with an extra $29 million. Inside Out 2, already the highest-grossing movie of 2024 and Pixar's highest-grossing worldwide film of all time, added $12.7 million to its now $596.4 million total.
A pair of horror movies rounded out the top five: Longlegs grabbed #4 with $11.7 million in its second week, followed by A Quiet Place: Day One, with $6.1 million in its fourth week.
Source-ABC
Kamala Harris "honored" by Joe Biden's endorsement
Following President Joe Biden's surprise announcement Sunday that he would be dropping out of the 2024 presidential race and that he was endorsing Kamala Harris, the vice president shared her thanks for her 2020 running-mate's support.
"On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country," Harris wrote on Instagram. "I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination."
Political world reacts to Biden's announcement
The Biden news sent shockwaves throughout Washington, D.C. and beyond, with various political figures offering their reactions.
"Sixteen years ago, when I began my search for a vice president, I knew about Joe's remarkable career in public service," said former President Barack Obama. "But what I came to admire even more was his character -- his deep empathy and hard-earned resilience; his fundamental decency and belief that everyone counts."
Several other figures of the Democratic Party followed Biden in also giving their endorsement to Harris, including Bill and Hillary Clinton.
On the other side, former president and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, "Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve - And never was!" His running-mate, JD Vance, added, "Joe Biden has been the worst President in my lifetime and Kamala Harris has been right there with him every step of the way."
Source-ABC
Joe Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race
President Joe Biden is leaving the 2024 race after a halting debate performance against Donald Trump led to questions from Democrats about his age, ability to carry out his campaign and whether he could serve a second term.
Biden said in a statement posted Sunday that he will "stand down."
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President," he wrote, in part. "And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term."
"I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision," he added.
The stunning move upends what has been a long general election rematch between Biden and Trump, both of whom handily won their party's primaries, with less than four months until the November contest.
In a follow-up post, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
"My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term," Biden wrote. "My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it's been the best decision I've made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump. Let's do this."
Source-ABC
Global IT chaos persists as Crowdstrike boss admits outage
A worldwide outage shocked the world today to epic proportions after the world experienced blackness due to a software outage. While we are still uncertain if this was a hack or not, this impacted systems from the Caribbean to the world. It begs to question if this was a test or if was it just a glitch!
The glitch affected key sectors including hospitals, airports, banks, and other sectors.
The number of flights canceled across the world after the major IT disruption has risen to 5,078 – 4.6% of those scheduled – according to the latest update from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
In the UK, 167 departures have been canceled – 5.4% of those scheduled – and 171 arrivals were canceled, the firm says.
Several US airlines, including American, United, and Delta, issued ground stops – an air traffic control measure that slows or grounds aircraft at a given airport – earlier as IT outages disrupted across the globe.
This timelapse from the flight-tracking website Flightradar24 below shows just how many flights were impacted.
Payment systems have been among the IT systems impacted by today's disruption.
Morrisons said this morning it was experiencing “some issues” with payments in some stores, but around 40 minutes after it issued an update saying the problems had been fully resolved.
Posts on social media suggested some Waitrose stores were only taking cash payments for a time this morning.
The supermarket said it was briefly impacted earlier in the day, but it said this was limited to stores being unable to process contactless card payments, with chip and pin and cash payments still possible.
Asda, M&S, Tesco, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Iceland and Lidl all said their stores operated as normal.
Co-op said it didn't experience any significant impact, and that cash and card payments were running as normal.
Billboards from New York City's Times Square, where some billboards went blank during today's IT outage show black screens and "the blue screen of death" in place of the vibrant advertisements that typically light up the area.
Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, says a “handful” of the more than 100 billboards in the area remained offline earlier on Friday,
Crowdstrike is a cybersecurity company founded in 2011 to safeguard the world’s biggest companies and hardware from cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
It specializes in endpoint security protection and tries to prevent malicious software or files from hitting corporate networks from devices that connect to them, such as phones and laptops.
It also aims to protect the data of companies that have shifted from guarding it under their roof, or on their servers, to so-called cloud providers.
The Texas-based firm was co-founded by entrepreneurs George Kurtz, who remains chief executive, and Dmitri Alperovitch. It listed its shares publicly on the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock exchange in 2019.
Since it first launched, the company has seemingly played a key role in helping firms investigate cyber-attacks.
In 2016 Crowdstrike was called in by the US Democratic National Committee, the strategy arm of the Democrat Party, to investigate a breach into its computer network.
Ambulance services have recorded higher than normal demand amid the IT outages today.
Some trusts pointed to the disruption suffered by other healthcare services during the IT disruption – GPs and pharmacies have been affected by outages, and some hospital appointments were also postponed.
The North East, South East Coast, South Central, and London ambulance services have all recorded increased demand. The surge in London has been described as "huge".
Patients with the most serious or life-threatening conditions have been prioritized, with others being warned wait times could be impacted.
Gatwick airport says its IT systems are now operating as normal and it expects the "majority" of flights to operate as usual tomorrow.
“Some delays and cancellations will however continue this evening and over the weekend. We strongly advise passengers to check with their airline for the latest updates," a spokesperson says.
They add that there will be additional staff in the terminals this evening and some of the shops and eateries will remain open later than normal.
3-DAY PUBLIC WEATHER FORECAST
GENERAL SITUATION: The ridging pattern continues to dominate the weather across the Turks and Caicos Islands supporting moderate to fresh breezes. A thick plume of Saharan Dust has moved into the area and will reduce air quality across the islands today.
SPECIAL WARNINGS: THE HEAT INDEX IS VERY HIGH, POSING A SIGNIFICANT RISK OF HEAT-RELATED ILLNESSES SUCH AS HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. TAKE IMMEDIATE PRECAUTIONS TO STAY COOL, HYDRATED, AND AVOID PROLONGED OUTDOOR EXPOSURE… THE PRESENCE OF SAHARAN DUST WILL REDUCE THE AIR QUALITY, THOSE ESPECIALLY SENSITIVE TO AIRBORNE PARTICLES SHOULD TAKE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS.
AREA: ALL AREAS
WEATHER: Partly sunny with a very slight chance of isolated showers or an isolated thunderstorm today. The chance of rain is 10 percent—partly cloudy with isolated showers possible tonight.
ADVISORY: A Heat Advisory is in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands …A Small Craft Advisory is in effect….
WINDS: East to southeast at 10 to 20 knots
SEAS: 2 to 4 feet nearshore, building up to 5 to 8 feet over open waters
DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURE 91°F 33°C HEAT INDEX 109°F 43°C
OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURE 82°F 28°C
SUNSET: 07:33 PM
NEXT LOW TIDE: 01:18 PM (0.7 FT)
NEXT HIGH TIDE: 07:55 PM (3.0 FT)
EXTENDED FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS: The Saharan dust will quickly move out of the area by tomorrow ahead of an approaching tropical wave. Expect showers and thunderstorm activity late Saturday into Sunday as the tropical wave moves through the islands. Another plume of Saharan dust is expected to move in on Monday.
FORECAST FOR SATURDAY
WEATHER: A slight chance of showers in the morning, then a chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Partly to mostly sunny and hazy, becoming partly cloudy with a high near 92. The chance of rain is 30 percent. A slight chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms in the evening. Partly cloudy, with a low around 81. The chance of rain is 20 percent.
ADVISORY: Expect gusty winds and higher seas in or near showers and thunderstorms. Some showers or thunderstorms may be strong to severe at times… A Small Craft Advisory will remain in effect…
WINDS: East to southeast at 20 to 25 knots
SEAS: 6 to 8 feet, building up to 7 to 10 feet in easterly swell at night.
SUNRISE: 06:16 AM
SUNSET: 07:33 PM
LOW TIDE: 02:24 AM (1.0 FT) 02:06 PM (0.3 FT)
HIGH TIDE: 08:00 AM (2.3 FT) 08:41 PM (3.0 FT)
FORECAST FOR SUNDAY
WEATHER: Isolated showers are possible in the morning, then a very slight chance of isolated showers or thunderstorms in the afternoon. Partly cloudy, with a high near 91. The chance of rain is 10 percent. Mostly fair at night, with a low near 79.
ADVISORY: Expect gusty winds and higher seas in or near showers and thunderstorms. Some showers or thunderstorms may be strong to severe at times… A Small Craft Advisory will remain in effect…
WINDS: East to southeast at 15 to 25 knots
SEAS: 6 to 8 feet over the ocean
SUNRISE: 06:17 AM
SUNSET: 07:33 PM
LOW TIDE: 03:08 AM (0.7 FT) 02:54 PM (0.3 FT)
HIGH TIDE: 08:46 AM (2.3 FT) 09:25 PM (3.0 FT)
TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK: Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next seven days.
Leeds in the UK is left to burn for HOURS
Terrified residents have taken to the streets of Leeds to defend their homes after 'violent' thugs drove riot police out after setting the city ablaze.
Chaos erupted in Harehills, east Leeds early yesterday evening following an outbreak of 'serious disorder' that saw bonfires lit across the city, a cop car overturned and a double decker bus torched, reducing it to a charred and twisted wreck.
Community members were forced to plead with the rabble as police, despite having first responded to the disturbance around 5pm last night, remained relatively absent from the mayhem until 1am today.
Green Party councillor Mothin Ali, who after being elected to Leeds Council in May declared his victory a 'win for the people of Gaza', begged the rioters to stop, saying 'there's children in there', as fires burned in the streets.
Police and local officials urged residents to stay home as rioters flooded the streets around Harehills and roads were closed off. But hooligans continued to turn up to the area, with many livestreaming footage of the havoc on social media.
The Home Secretary has condemned the 'shocking scenes and attacks' in the northern city and West Yorkshire police, which has been accused of intentionally avoiding the riot, vowed that the 'full weight of the law will be brought against those responsible'
Officers were called to an incident at an address in Luxor Street at 5pm on Thursday where they found an 'ongoing disturbance' involving agency workers and children, West Yorkshire Police said.
Locals allege the chaos was linked to local children being taken into care, adding that some people in the community responded by setting fires and 'throwing stones'.
A large crowd began to gather at the location, prompting the agency workers and children to be taken to a safe place and more officers were requested to attend the area where 'pockets of disorder' were emerging.
Livestream footage on social media showed angry rioters setting fire to vehicles, including a public bus.
Other footage showed how the thugs overturned and smashed up a police car with scooters, prams and bikes.
The vehicle was left in the road with its blue lights flashing, sirens blaring, and car alarms going off as crowds of people shouted in the streets.
Locals were also seen running towards a fire started in the middle of the road with a large fridge, which they hurled onto the blaze whilst onlookers cheered.
Source-MailOnline