Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty in Washington, DC, Superior Court Thursday to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, prompting a raucous scene at the courthouse where supporters chanted his name and accused the Trump administration of abusing the justice system. Hearn, 67, was indicted on July 2 on one count of destruction of property of more than $1,000 for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The felony charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/09/politics/david-hearn-olympic-not-guilty-reflecting-pool
Russia has fully banned exports of diesel after Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries triggered widespread fuel shortages and as the global energy market braces for more disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced the ban in a televised meeting alongside President Vladimir Putin, saying the decision was intended to “increase supplies to the domestic market.” Russia had already imposed a partial ban that prevents non-producers, like fuel traders, from selling diesel abroad. Wednesday’s ban extends that restriction to producers, encompassing the entirety of the market, Natalia Losada, senior oil products analyst at Energy Aspects, explained to CNN.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/09/business/russia-diesel-ban-ukrainian-strikes-intl
For anyone who has ever wondered whether they could handle life on another planet, NASA is offering a chance to find out – well, sort of. The US space agency is looking to recruit four participants for its Moon and Mars Exploration Analog (MMEA), a yearlong simulation program that is designed to replicate traveling and living on the Moon and Mars, it said in a press release earlier this month. While it may not be quite the real deal, volunteers will be in spacelike conditions, living inside confined habitats and carrying out tasks just as astronauts would, such as growing crops, looking after their health and replicating spacewalks.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/09/science/nasa-moon-mars-simulation-scli-intl
Lesley Groff, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime assistant, told members of Congress last month that she never met any of the girls and young women who provided massages to Epstein and that she didn’t know anything about their backgrounds – including how old they were. Some Epstein survivors say that Groff was not telling the truth. In interviews with CNN, multiple Epstein victims, including four women who spoke on record and two who shared their accounts anonymously, took issue with various aspects of Groff’s recent testimony to lawmakers. They described meeting Groff in person, discussing with Groff how old they were and being directly paid by Epstein’s assistant of 18 years — all contrary to what Groff told lawmakers.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/09/politics/lesley-groff-jeffrey-epstein-survivors
It sounds like the script of a low-budget horror movie – a community besieged by hundreds of snakes. But in Hengzhou, a southern Chinese city of some one million residents, floodwaters have brought that terrifying reality to their doorsteps. Around 900 snakes – many of them venomous – are on the loose after Typhoon Maysak swept through the region, causing flooding that has so far killed 39 people, according to state media. One woman died after being bitten by a snake – possibly a cobra – suspected to have escaped one of the flooded reptile farms in the area, though state media reports at least several other people have been bitten.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/09/china/china-flood-snakes-hengzhou-intl-hnk