F1 | Hamilton Commission makes 10 recommendations in first report on representation of black people in motorsport

Hamilton’s Mercedes team have been supportive of his endeavours to improve diversity in motorsport, including switching to a black livery in 2020.

“It is an important piece of research that shines a light on many of the barriers that have contributed to the under-representation of people from minority ethnic backgrounds in British motorsport, and it enriches our understanding of those barriers and how they can be addressed,” said Mercedes in a statement.

“Together with Lewis, we have begun working to build a more diverse and inclusive sport for the future, starting with the Mercedes Formula 1 team. We are at the beginning of a long journey together to make this happen and we look forward to building on a number of the Commission’s recommendations in the years ahead.”  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | Many homebuyers are dropping out of the market

Buying a home of her own became a priority for Kelly Robinson during the pandemic, as she began to feel cramped in her Indianapolis apartment.

“Last fall having to stay home so much, that really made me decide that it is time to buy a house,” she said. Among the top amenities she was looking for: outdoor space and more privacy.

Further motivated by record low interest rates, Robinson set her sights to buy in the spring when she expected more properties would be available. It would also give her time to get her finances in order.

“But by the time I got pre-approved and started seriously looking at homes, the market got crazy” she said.  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak: ‘It’s time to recognize the right to repair’

Hong Kong (CNN Business) – Woz is throwing his weight behind the “right to repair” movement.

Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak, known in the tech world by his nickname, spoke out on the issue during a recent appearance on Cameo, a website that lets fans pay celebrities for video messages.

In a post to Louis Rossmann, a YouTube personality and a right-to-repair advocate, Wozniak said that he was “totally supportive” of the cause — which gives consumers the right and information to fix their own devices — and somewhat “emotionally” affected by it.

“I do a lot of Cameos, but this one has really gotten to me,” he said in the nine-minute video. “We wouldn’t have had an Apple had I not grown up in a very open technology world.”  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | Why it’s so difficult to bring ransomware attackers to justice

San Francisco (CNN Business) – An incident takes place. Law enforcement investigates. A culprit is identified, apprehended and prosecuted.

That’s typically how we think of addressing a crime. But as some ransomware victims may now be discovering, that process is much more complicated when the criminal is on another continent and the crime takes place virtually.

A spate of ransomware attacks in recent months has compromised critical infrastructure and disrupted daily life across the United States and globally, with one massive attack last week on software vendor Kaseya potentially impacting more than 1,000 companies around the world. Cyber researchers say the attack was carried out by REvil, a group with suspected ties to Russia that also hit meat processing company JBS Foods last month, Apple (AAPL) supplier Quanta Computer in April and electronics maker Acer in March.  —read more— 

CNN | Why Al Sharpton and Ben Crump are taking up the case of a White teen killed by police

(CNN) – The Rev. Al Sharpton and Ben Crump are taking up their first case involving a White person who was killed after being shot during an encounter with a police officer.

The civil rights leader and the high-profile attorney, who Sharpton has dubbed “Black America’s Attorney general,” deemed the police shooting of 17-year-old Hunter Brittain “one of the most significant” cases in the fight to push Congress for landmark police reform legislation.

Attorneys Crump and Devon Jacob, along with Sharpton and representatives from the NAACP, were invited to attend Brittain’s memorial on Tuesday at Beebe High School in Beebe, Arkansas.

Brittain was fatally shot June 23 by a Lonoke County sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop around 3 a.m. outside of a local auto repair shop along Arkansas Highway 89 south of Cabot, a Little Rock suburb, according to Arkansas State Police.  —read more— 

CNN style Fashion | Cannes Film Festival 2021: Lavish looks from the red carpet

Canceled last year for the first time since World War II, the Cannes Film Festival is underway once more. Staged in the French Riviera’s most beguiling resort town, the annual festival is an unmissable date on the film industry calendar, premiering movies that have gone on to enjoy stratospheric success, from “Pulp Fiction” to “Taxi Driver.”  —read more— 

CNN travel | The world’s most powerful passports for 2021

(CNN) — If there was an Olympics of passports, Japan wouldn’t just be hosting it — it’d be winning the whole competition.

The Henley Passport Index, which has been regularly monitoring the world’s most travel-friendly passports since 2006, has released its latest rankings and analysis.

As the index doesn’t take temporary restrictions into account, Japan is once again top of the leaderboard, with its passport offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 193 destinations around the world.

However, the Henley & Partners report says, in the first quarter of 2021 international mobility was still only 12% of its pre-pandemic levels, meaning “the gulf between theoretical and actual travel access offered by even high-ranking passports remains significant.”  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | A woman was looking to adopt a new pet. Then she found the dog she lost two years ago

(CNN) – A woman was scrolling through a list of adoptable dogs at her local humane society when she came across a photo that made her heart skip a beat.

There he was — her former pup and best friend, Kovu, who Aisha Nieves had devastatingly lost two years prior when she lived in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

“He was my baby. He would go with me everywhere. He would sleep in my bed,” Nieves told CNN affiliate WFMZ. “Literally, the definition of a man’s best friend.”  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | United Airlines orders 270 jets, its biggest aircraft purchase ever

New York (CNN Business) – United Airlines on Tuesday announced orders to buy 270 jets, the largest aircraft purchase in the company’s history and the biggest order by any airline in about a decade.

The list price for the 270 jets totals about $35 billion. Airlines typically pay only a fraction of list prices — and because this is still not a good time for aircraft sales, United is paying far below half of the list price.

United is likely getting an especially significant discount, on the 200 Boeing (BA) 737 Max jets that makes up the bulk of the order. The rest of the order is for 70 Airbus (EADSF) A321neo aircraft.

The buy is another sign that airlines see a recovery from the pandemic on the horizon.  —read more—