When Ukrainian children’s home director Liubov Rudyka took the minors in her care to Naples after Russia invaded, she thought she was bringing them to safety. It never occurred to her that Italy might not want to give them back. And yet, four years later, their return has become a legal battlefield. Ukrainian authorities have told CNN that several children who were evacuated to Italy with Rudyka are among dozens of Ukrainian minors whose return home has been prevented by the Italian courts. A dispute over their situation escalated in April, after Kyiv announced that one of the Ukrainian children, a 15-year-old boy named Sasha, had been legally adopted by an Italian family – despite having a mother who wants him to return to Ukraine. Kyiv argues that the evacuations were meant to be temporary and that while the war continues, the situation has stabilized in parts of the country and there are safe places for the children to return to. The Ukrainian government’s main worry is that the longer the children stay abroad, the less likely they are to return in the future – a worrying prospect for a country that faces a major demographic crisis.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/12/europe/ukraine-children-italy-dispute-adoption-intl-cmd
British painter David Hockney, whose vibrant portraits and sun-drenched depictions of the everyday made him one of contemporary art’s most beloved figures, has died at 88. The artist died “peacefully at home” on Thursday, one month short of his 89th birthday, according to a statement provided to CNN by his longtime publicist Erica Bolton. Born in Bradford, UK, in 1937, Hockney attended his local art school before studying at the prestigious Royal College of Art in London. Successful from the earliest stages of his career, he soon relocated to Los Angeles, where he would spend much of the 1960s and eventually settle.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/12/style/artist-david-hockney-death-intl
Cushing, Oklahoma, dubs itself the pipeline crossroads of the world. The tagline is emblazoned on a giant roadside sign fashioned out of pipes on the corner of Main Street and South Stiles Road. It has a valve and everything. In 1912, Tom Slick (his real name) was passing through what’s now Drumright, Oklahoma, when he smelled oil. He bought the land for $1 an acre and started digging, uncovering what was then Oklahoma’s biggest oil well. Today, neighboring Cushing is the hub of America’s energy market. It literally provides the oil plumbing for the United States. It’s where America’s benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil is priced and warehoused. From there, it’s piped to refineries around the country.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/12/business/cushing-oil-inventory
A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to 30 years in prison on Friday over charges linked to military drones sent over Pyongyang to help create a pretext for his failed December 2024 martial law declaration, Yonhap reported. The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon guilty of abuse of power and aiding the enemy, saying he had conspired in the October 2024 drone incursion from the outset, the news agency said. The phone notes that reveal an alleged plan to bait Kim Jong Un with drones
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/11/asia/south-korean-yoon-suk-yeol-drone-case-jail-intl-hnk
Elon Musk is poised to become the world’s first trillionaire. It’s a staggering amount of wealth never seen before in the history of human commerce. Musk already owns about $270 billion in stock and options thanks to his role as Tesla CEO. Once shares of SpaceX—his rocket and artificial intelligence company—start trading later on Friday he would be worth an additional $841 billion. (He would own nearly half the stock of SpaceX, which the IPO is on track to value at $1.77 trillion in total.) All told, that’s $1.11 trillion for Musk from just his two public companies. However, Musk’s wealth is paper wealth, not a pile of cash in a bank somewhere. All of it is subject to how investors continue to value his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, going forward.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/06/business/musk-trillionaire-how-much-is-one-trillion-dollars