Ben Sherwood

Samir Aponte/ReutersThe record-setting early season hurricane which has already claimed six lives in the Caribbean could hit the U.S. by Saturday, forecasters warned Wednesday.Hurricane Beryl is currently a Category 4 storm pummeling Jamaica after causing extensive damage in the southeast Caribbean.Devastating winds, life-threatening storm surge, and damaging waves were expected to pummel Jamaica and spread into the Cayman Islands late Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides from heavy rainfall are expected over much of the area and southern Haiti through today.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Stephen J. Cohen/Getty ImagesDarius Rucker, the Hootie & the Blowfish frontman-turned-country music star, has always believed in second chances.During a candid interview on the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, the conversation turned to Morgan Wallen and an infamous video of him saying the N-word.“I’ve known Morgan a long time,” Rucker began. “Since that incident, I’ve seen him really try to better himself. He’s become a better person and is seeing the world in a much better way.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Tony Marshall/EMPICS via Getty ImagesThe body of South African high jump superstar Jacques Freitag was found this week riddled with bullets near a cemetery in his home country, bringing a weeks-long saga to a conclusion following his June 17 disappearance.The former world champion was found blood-soaked on a patch of grass in Pretoria West, and police say they are treating the case as murder. He was last seen leaving his mother’s house with an unknown man, and was declared missing soon after. Local reports suggested that the star athlete may have been down on his luck and even struggling with drug addiction at the time of his disappearance, according to The South African, a local English-language news site.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Writers Guild of America, West“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”Those words, immortalized in film history, were penned by Robert Towne, the Oscar-winning screenwriter and director who passed away at age of 89 on Monday at his home in Los Angeles, his publicist confirmed to The New York Times. A cause of death was not given.Towne’s talent for unforgettable dialogue and narratives left an indelible mark on Hollywood. During his heyday in the 1970s, Towne was nominated three years in a row for an Academy Award for best screenplay, winning once for Chinatown in 1974. Although uncredited, he also contributed to The Godfather (1972) and Bonnie and Clyde (1967).Read more at The Daily Beast.

Erin O'Flynn/Daily BeastIn a shocking first round of voting for the French National Assembly, the anti-immigration National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen, secured a decisive victory in exit polls with 34% of the vote.The result brings the nationalist party with an anti-Semitic history closer to power than ever before, and could set the stage for Le Pen’s protege, a 28-year-old right wing leader, Jordan Bardella, to become prime minister after a second round of voting on July 7.France's prime minister is currently Gabriel Attal, who made history when he was appointed by Macron in January, becoming the first openly gay holder of the office. Attal, now 35, is currently the youngest head of government in the world.Read more at The Daily Beast.