Outside the aircraft hangar-sized venue, the crowd of Gen Z office workers and teenagers is thickening. Event staff scan QR codes and fasten wristbands. Friends take selfies together as they wait in a queue. As night falls, the doors open and the nearly 5,000 attendees walk in. Inside the venue in India’s commercial hub Mumbai they remove their shoes and sit cross-legged on the floor. The lights dim. In the front row, a young mother rocks her baby on her shoulders, waiting for the music to begin. When it comes, it’s not thumping electro or pop lyrics that boom through the speakers, but centuries-old Hindu devotional songs more commonly heard in a temple or religious procession.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/03/india/india-gen-z-trend-spiritual-bhajan-clubbing-intl-hnk
Prehistoric human relatives, nicknamed “hobbits” due to their short stature, may have been scavengers, rather than skilled hunters capable of taking down big game or building cooking fires, according to new research. The study adds to growing evidence that Homo floresiensis, which had a brain only slightly bigger than that of a chimpanzee, wasn’t as advanced as scientists previously believed. Fossils unearthed by archaeologists in the Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 led to the discovery of the diminutive hominin. The creature had a skull the size of a grapefruit and likely stood about 3.3 feet (1 meter) tall.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/03/science/homo-floresiensis-scavenged-food
A swimmer was bitten on the foot in a suspected shark attack Friday at a New York City beach, prompting authorities to temporarily close the beach. The attack at Jones Beach comes a day after multiple shark sightings were reported at other New York City and Long Island beaches. The person was swimming at Jones Beach State Park Field 6 when they suffered lacerations on their foot, the New York City Parks Department said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/03/us/shark-attack-new-york-swimmer
Extreme climber Angelina Nikolau, in the trailer for the 2024 Netflix documentary, “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” said: “Love is like heights. The fear never goes away. You just get better at facing it.” On Wednesday, Nikolau, 33, who goes by Angela, and Ivan Kuznetsov, 32, who goes by Ivan Beerkus, elevated their romance to a height of about 1,450 feet above the sweltering city, ascending the needle of the Empire State Building, unfurling a black banner that read “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace,” and getting engaged. A day later, they were arraigned on felony charges and released under court supervision. Many New Yorkers and observers from afar are likely asking how the two trespassing daredevils managed to breach security at one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks – and how they did it amid a heightened NYPD presence for World Cup matches, the expected wedding celebration for pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden, and festivities commemorating America’s 250th birthday.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/03/us/empire-state-building-climbers-stunt
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/04/world/video/tehran-iran-funeral-khamenei