Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin gets OK to send him, 3 others to space

On Sunday, Virgin Galactic’s billionaire founder Richard Branson rode his own rocket plane to space, accompanied by five company employees. A specially designed aircraft carried the winged ship aloft over New Mexico. The space plane dropped away, fired its rocket motor and soared to 53.5 miles, before gliding to a runway touchdown.

Blue Origin’s flight — featuring an automated capsule launched atop a reusable booster — should reach a maximum altitude of roughly 66 miles before parachuting into the desert.

Ransomware gang offline but cause not clear

The Russia-based criminal syndicate behind a devastating series of recent ransomware attacks was offline on Tuesday, but cybersecurity experts said it was premature to speculate why and that there was no indication of a law enforcement takedown.

REvil’s dark web data-leak site and ransom-negotiating portals were unreachable, cybersecurity researchers said. The group was responsible for the Memorial Day ransomware attack on the meat processor JBS and the supply-chain attack this month targeting the software company Kaseya that crippled well over 1,000 businesses globally.

President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin on a call Friday that he needed to rein in attacks from Russia-based groups and warned that the U.S. had the right to defend its people and critical infrastructure from attacks.

Wildfires torch homes, land across 10 states; power supply in danger

Wildfires that torched homes and forced thousands to evacuate burned across 10 parched Western states on Tuesday, and the largest, in Oregon, threatened a portion of California’s power supply.

Nearly 60 wildfires tore through bone-dry timber and brush from Alaska to Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Arizona, Idaho and Montana accounted for more than half of the large active fires.

The fires erupted as the West was in the grip of the second bout of dangerously high temperatures in just a few weeks. A megadrought also is contributing to conditions that make fires even more dangerous, scientists say.

The National Weather Service said the heat wave had peaked in many areas, and remaining excessive heat warnings were expected to expire by Tuesday night.

“While we are eagerly anticipating a cooling trend over the next few days, we still have another hot day to get through,” the Medford, Oregon, weather office said.

Chicago banker convicted in $16 million in loan conspiracy

A Manhattan jury on Tuesday convicted a Chicago banker of criminal charges for enabling Paul Manafort to get $16 million in loans before the former campaign manager for ex-President Donald Trump helped him get an interview for a job in the administration.

The jury returned its verdict in federal court, convicting Stephen Calk of financial institution bribery and conspiracy charges. Calk’s lawyers had maintained their client did nothing illegal in the weeks after Trump won the presidential election in November 2016.

But prosecutors said Calk cleared the path for Manafort to receive loans he was not entitled to in the hopes that Calk could secure a high-level post with the Trump administration.

Rioting continues in South Africa; deaths up to 72

South Africa’s rioting continued Tuesday with the death toll rising to 72 as police and the military struggle to quell the looting and violence in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.

Many of the deaths occurred in chaotic stampedes as scores of people looted food, electric appliances, liquor and clothing from retail centers, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala told the press Tuesday morning.