Rick Froberg, the vocalist and guitarist for Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu and Obits, died on June 30 at the age of 55

Four astronauts from four countries are rocketing toward the International Space Station

Jell-O customers will soon see a bigger logo displayed on more colorful packaging and a stronger emphasis on its "zero sugar" appeal for some its treats.

A YouTuber who advises Nigerians on coming to the UK says some students are motivated by work not study.

The rise is far short of the demands of trade unions angered by the sharp rise in cost of living.

US Rep. Tom Emmer, the House majority whip who withdrew his bid for the speakership after it was thrown into immediate jeopardy Tuesday afternoon, has tried to balance an at-times moderate voting record while trying to appeal to the Donald Trump-aligned base of the Republican Party.

Before heading off to face Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry, Texas had to get through a Kansas Jayhawks team without their starting quarterback.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will open the season without injured star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, but much of the core of a team two years removed from winning back-to-back Stanley Cup titles remains intact and motivated to remain among the NHL's elite

Prosecutor Jack Smith requested data and records linked to the ex-president, unsealed files reveal.

A world without Google would almost be akin to a world without water or air. Indeed, the internet behemoth’s power is so great that it’s even become its own verb. And sure, there are other search engines, but when have you ever heard someone say: “Let me just Bing that”? Yet, it turns out the iconic tech company could have had a very different fate had it stuck to its original name. That’s right, Google hasn’t always been Google. And at its inception back in 1996, it had a somewhat more risqué title. It was called… BackRub. Yep, BackRub. According to Standford University computer scientist David Koller, who wrote about the brand’s genesis back in 2004, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin came up with the search engine's first name as a nod to its analysis of the web’s “back links”. However, a year after BackRub was born, Page and his officemates – including fellow graduate students Sean Anderson, Tamara Munzner, and Lucas Pereira – discussed a number of possible alternatives to the massage-evoking moniker. According to Koller, the final, fateful brainstorming session occurred one day in September of that year. “Sean and Larry were in their office, using the whiteboard, trying to think up a good name - something that related to the indexing of an immense amount of data,” he recalled. “Sean verbally suggested the word ‘googolplex,’, and Larry responded verbally with the shortened form, ‘googol’ (both words refer to specific large numbers). “ Anderson then searched the Internet domain name registry database to see if the newly suggested name was still available to use. But, since “Sean is not an infallible speller”, “he made the mistake of searching for the name spelt as ‘google.com,’ which he found to be available,” Koller continued. “Larry liked the name, and within hours he took the step of registering the name ‘google.com’ for himself and Sergey.” And the rest, as they say, is history. Sill, 25 years on from that simple domain name registration that would go on to change the world, people have shared their bewilderment that “BackRub” could have become a household name. “I could die without knowing that this was Google's old name,” one X/Twitter user commented. “What were they smoking back in 90s??” asked another. Meanwhile, a third responded with what we’re all now thinking: “Tbh I need a backrub.” At least the tech titans can now give themselves a pat on the back for a job well done with “Google”. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Emmanuel Macron has sparked anger by attending an Elton John concert in Paris as riots raged in France over the police killing of a teenage delivery driver. Hundreds have been arrested so far over three nights of furious protests since the boy identified only as Nahel M, a 17-year-old of North African heritage, was fatally shot in the chest by police in the suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday after driving away from officers trying to pull him over. The following night, as more than 130 people were arrested and fires raged on French streets for a second evening, the president and his wife Brigitte attended the British singer’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour at the Accor Arena in Paris. Follow live coverage of the Paris riots in our live blog here. Footage showed him tapping his foot along to the 76-year-old pianist as he performed hits such as “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” and “Burn Down the Mission”. Elton and his husband David Furnish also posted a photo on Instagram on Thursday showing them meeting with the Macrons. Thierry Mariani, an MEP with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, described Mr Macron as “totally irresponsible” and quoted Ecclesiastes as he said: “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child”, adding: “While France was on fire, Macron preferred to applaud Elton John.” “Wrong timing,” one Instagram user wrote beneath Mr Furnish’s photograph, while another remarked: “Macron is below everything.” Another added: “At the same time a child was killed by police under his government, he's enjoying a show. Disgrace on Macron.” Following an EU summit at Brussels, Mr Macron was set to return to hold a fresh emergency meeting on Friday, after what interior minister Gerald Darminin called a night of “rare violence”, in which 40,000 police officers were deployed 667 people arrested as part of government efforts to be “extremely firm” with protesters. While Mr Macron initially struck a conciliatory tone, calling Nahel’s death “inexplicable and unforgivable”, his response has hardened as violence intensified, denouncing attacks on public buildings as “totally unjustifiable” and voicing his gratitude for riot police battling with protesters. On Thursday night, protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police, while armoured police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in Nanterre. On the other side of Paris, protesters lit a fire at the city hall of the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and set a bus depot ablaze in Aubervilliers, while some shops were looted. Schools and police stations also were targeted by people setting fires, and police used tear gas, water cannons and dispersion grenades against rioters, a police spokesperson said. It followed a peaceful vigil on Thursday organised by Nahel’s mother Mounia, who led the procession from a flatbed lorry, holding a poster saying, “Police kill”, and raising a red flare as the march reached the local courthouse, while the crowds chanted her son’s name. The officer accused of pulling the trigger at 9am on Tuesday has been charged preliminarily with voluntary homicide, after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigations indicated “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.” Mr Prache said officers tried to stop Nahel because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish number plates in a bus lane. He allegedly drove through a red light to avoid being stopped before getting stuck in traffic, and the officer who fired the shot said he feared he, his colleague or a bystander could be hit by the car, Mr Prache said. While the teenager’s family and their lawyers are reported not to have said the police shooting was race-related, his death has intensified anger among activists about police misconduct. “We have to go beyond saying that things need to calm down,” said Dominique Sopo, head of the campaign group SOS Racisme. “The issue here is how do we make it so that we have a police force that when they see Blacks and Arabs, don’t tend to shout at them, use racist terms against them and in some cases, shoot them in the head.” Speaking to the news site Blast, Mounia said her only child had been “a respectful, kind boy”, adding: “My life, my heart was taken away from me. I miss him. It’s painful.” The Independent has approached the Elysee Palace for comment. Additional reporting by AP Read More Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening? Violence rocks Paris for third night over teen’s killing as police arrest nearly 700 people Who is Nahel M? The teen shot dead by police in France ‘This is war’: France burns amid angry protests after teenager shot dead by police in Paris suburb

Wallabies centre Len Ikitau faces a race against the clock to be fit for the World Cup after scans Sunday revealed he suffered a fractured...