February 9 top stories
It is February 9. Here are today’s top stories.
20,000 dead in Turkey & Syria
The death toll in the Turkey and Syria earthquakes just keeps on climbing and has exceeded 20,000 victims.
To get an idea of the devastation, here is a video clip from a reporter with “The Guardian.”
[Video clip] Credit: Twitter/Lorenzo Tondo]
There are inspiring stories of rescues amid the destruction. Two brothers named Mehmet and Azize Ince were rescued after being under rubble for 83 hours in the city of Antakya. In the same city, a young girl was pulled alive by a South Korean crew. His father was also rescued two hours later.
In the city of Kahramanmaras, a mother and her six-year-old daughter were found alive underneath a collapsed house 68 hours after the earthquake.
Rescue crews said they are finding survivors who happen to be in voids in buildings that collapsed. These people are usually dehydrated and suffered from cold weather.
Turkey said it’s received offers of aid from 95 countries and 16 international organizations.
Syria is in a more difficult situation because of the ongoing civil war between the Syrian government and rebels. Roads and bridges at the border between Turkey and Syria have been severely damaged, which makes things even more complicated. The UN has managed to send in an aid convoy, but some Syrians say it’s not enough.
The World Health Organization warned that there is now a serious humanitarian crisis for those who survived the earthquake because many are now homeless and struggling in the cold weather.
Updates on Chinese spy balloons
The U.S. Navy released images of crews in the Atlantic Ocean recovering the remains of the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the weekend.
News reports said according to senior U.S. government officials, the balloon had multiple antennas capable of collecting communication signals and intelligence.
The balloon’s equipment was advanced and is unlikely a weather balloon, which is what China is claiming.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the U.S. believes China has a fleet of spy balloons that have spied on five continents and have shared what they know with other countries.
The FBI is evaluating pieces of the balloon and said the evidence could be used for future criminal charges.
Mother charged with killing her three children
A 32-year-old mother named Lindsay Clancy is charged with murdering her three children at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts last month. The children were a 5-year-old girl named Cora, a 3-year-old boy named Dawson, and an 8-month-old baby boy named Callan. They died by strangulation.
Lindsay’s husband and the father of the children, Patrick, said her wife had some kind of condition but did not specify what it was. He said he forgives his wife.
Lindsay is in the hospital and paralyzed due to a suicide attempt. She is under police custody and was arraigned by video conference from her hospital bed.
Prosecutors said Lindsay planned the murders in advance and was of sound mind.
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CTE found in 91% of former NFL players
Researchers at Boston University who studied the brains of 376 former NFL players found that 91.7% had CTE. This brain disease occurs from repetitive head impacts. Researchers said to compare, they studied 164 brain samples of non-NFL players and only found one case of CTE — and that brain belonged to a former college football player.
CTE is short for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It can cause a progressive decline of memory and cause changes in behavior such as making a person feel depressed, aggressive, or suicidal.
The study highlights the dangers of playing football for an extended length of time, over a career.
Georgia prison warden is jailed on corruption charges
A prison warden in southeast Georgia was arrested and put in jail on charges of corruption. His name is Brian Dennis Adams and he was the warden of the Smith State Prison, which is about 60 miles from Savannah.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Adams is charged with bribery, making false statements, and violating his oath of office. A news report said the GBI began investigating the prison in May after an inmate was charged with smuggling contraband and conspiring in a murder outside the prison. There is no information on what Adams is suspected of doing.
Adams was jailed at a county jail. A state prison official said he was terminated from his job.
House Republicans request Hunter Biden’s records
House Republicans have officially started their investigation of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and the president’s younger brother, James.
The House Oversight Committee’s chair requested Hunter and James to provide business records of any schemes in which the president was involved.
The chair of the committee, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky) said the American people deserve transparency. He said in his request to Hunter that he has evidence that shows he was engaged in foreign business deals and received significant amounts of money without providing any known legitimate services.
The committee set a deadline on February 22 and warned they would consider a subpoena if they didn’t get what they requested.
Hunter’s attorney said in a response that the committee lacks a legitimate legislative purpose in seeking his documents and that he is a private citizen.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/turkey-syria-earthquake-updates-2-9-23-intl/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64562100
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-university-cte-center-study-former-nfl-players/
https://www.wral.com/georgia-prison-warden-charged-with-bribery-other-counts/20712005/
https://www.axios.com/2023/02/09/james-comer-hunter-biden-records