CNN

Joe Dalesandro didn’t expect to keep his mortgage rate at 6.99% for very long when he purchased a new home with his girlfriend last summer in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He’d refinance soon, he reasoned. He was wrong. “We always thought they would go down, and fairly quickly,” Dalesandro said of interest rates. “It has caught us by surprise that it hasn’t come down.” Homeownership is often seen as a cornerstone of the American Dream. But for some who bought in recent years, it's become a costly source of stress.

In May, over a dozen solar CEOs gathered at the Capitol Hill Club, the watering hole of choice for Republican lawmakers and lobbyists just steps from the Hill. Gulping coffee to fuel up for another long day of meetings, they sported pins that said “support energy dominance” in front of a gleaming solar panel – borrowing the macho phrasing President Donald Trump uses to talk about oil and gas. They were there to cajole Republicans to protect clean energy tax credits from Trump, who had spent his 2024 campaign vowing to kill them. The first draft of the president’s sweeping tax and spending bill had just been released, and it made steep cuts to the subsidies.

Connie Francis, a pop singer and actress whose hits such as “Lipstick on Your Collar” and “Who’s Sorry Now?” became a soundtrack for a generation of teens in the 1960s, has died, according to a post from her publicist and friend, Ron Roberts. She was 87. https://cnn.it/40lRi4m

The British government said it planned to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all UK elections in a major overhaul of the country’s democratic system. The government said the proposed changes, which are subject to parliament approvals, would align voting rights across the UK with Scotland and Wales, where younger voters already participate in devolved elections. “We are taking action to break down barriers to participation that will ensure more people have the opportunity to engage in UK democracy,” Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said in a statement. https://cnn.it/40QPQac

Following in his mother's footsteps, Prince Harry visited Angola's minefields just as Princess Diana did 28 years ago. The Duke of Sussex was in Angola with The Halo Trust as part of the group's efforts to clear landmines. https://cnn.it/4m2v8MU

“Cancer changed my life but it didn’t take it,” Katie Schumacher-Cawley said. While fighting a battle on the volleyball court, the Penn State women’s volleyball head coach also grappled with another battle – cancer. Half a year later, now in remission after six rounds of chemotherapy, Schumacher-Cawley received the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the event honoring the top athletes and sport performances of the year in Los Angeles. Read more: https://cnn.it/4nS6IHt

President Donald Trump announced what could be refreshing news to some Americans: thanks to him, Coke is changing its American recipe. “I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola,” Trump said in a post to social media. “This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!” A spokesperson for The Coca-Cola Company did not confirm the change, but told CNN in a statement, “We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand. More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon.”

The deadly Air India crash last month has renewed a decades-old debate in the aviation industry over installing video cameras monitoring airline pilot actions to complement the cockpit voice and flight data recorders already used by accident investigators. One of the industry's most influential voices, International Air Transport Association head Willie Walsh, a former airline pilot, said in Singapore there was a strong argument for video cameras to be installed in airliner cockpits to monitor pilot actions to complement voice and flight data recorders already used by accident investigators. Read more: https://cnn.it/3GPMGN2

Video shows a lightning strike nearly hitting a delivery man in Wayne, New Jersey, as storms took place across the Mid-Atlantic. Read more about the storms at the link: https://cnn.it/3GORuSU

Tomorrowland's main stage went up in flames just days ahead of the music festival's opening in Boom, Belgium. Read more at the link: https://cnn.it/3GMZ9Bf