January 22 top stories
Alex: Hello, I want to announce that Callie Frye will be taking over as the main reporter for “Top Stories” going forward. I’ll still cover some “Top Stories” but she will do the majority of the stories. Congratulations to her and I’m looking forward to seeing her coverage. I’ll still be here with “The Daily Moth” and I will shift my focus on delivering Deaf News stories. So, here you go, Callie.
Callie: Thanks, Alex! I am excited to be here and work along with you. It is January 22. Here are today’s top stories.
Missing US Navy SEALs presumed dead
The US Navy said in a statement Sunday, “we regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, two missing US Navy SEALs have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased. Out of respect for the families, no further information will be released at this time.”
What happened? The SEALs were on a Navy expeditionary sea base vessel and recognized the boat as one with a history of transporting illegal weapons from Iran to Somalia off the coast of Somalia. It deployed its naval special warfare crew in a small special operations combat craft to get to the boat.
As they were boarding it in rough seas, around 8pm local time, one SEAL got knocked off by high waves and a teammate went in after him. Both are missing since January 11.
The Navy team boarding the craft were able to take the boat’s crew members in custody and confiscated the weapons.
Severe weather hits multiple parts of US
A constant of back-to-back winter storms this month has left at least 82 people dead in 13 states as severe conditions have left people crushed under fallen trees, trapped in tornadoes or tangled in snowy car accidents.
Now people from Dallas to Michigan in the central US could see accumulating ice and freezing rain through Monday. Weather officials have warned drivers to exercise caution as icy roads make driving hazardous.
Meanwhile, a wave of warm air brings warm temperatures to much of the eastern US. The heaviest rainfall is expected across the South throughout the week.
New study: Megalodons were skinnier than great white sharks
Megalodons, the huge prehistoric sharks depicted in movies such as “The Meg”, had more slender bodies than was previously thought, according to a new study led by a team of paleobiologists at DePaul University in Chicago.
Many mysteries remain about the biology of megalodons as they lived more than 23 million years ago and their fossils are hard to come by. While there are plenty of fossilized shark teeth, their bodies mainly consist of cartilage rather than bones, and are rarely preserved.
When the team conducted a new analysis of measurements from an incomplete set of megalodon fossil vertebrae found in Belgium, they discovered that it looked rather different and had many more vertebrae. That means they had a longer and more slender body and swam slower than great white sharks than previously thought as seen in the illustration:
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More than 25k now killed in Gaza
Gaza Health Ministry said there had been 178 deaths in the last 24 hours, making it one of the deadliest days in the war so far.
Thousands of displaced people are sharing toilets and shower areas as Hepatitis A infections have increased in Gaza due to overcrowding, lack of clean water and poor sanitation, the UN agency warned.
As fighting continued, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu again rejected creating a Palestinian state.
US intelligence agencies reportedly estimate that the Israeli military has killed 20-30% of Hamas fighters, which falls far short of Netanyahu’s stated aim of completely destroying the armed group.
Alex has an update on the presidential race. Here it is.
DeSantis drops out of presidential race
Alex: On Sunday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he is dropping out of the presidential race. It was a sudden end to his hopes for the White House, but it was always going to be tough for him to catch up to Donald Trump’s popularity, especially after Trump easily won Iowa.
DeSantis announced he is endorsing Trump. Now, there are only two major candidates in the Republican field — Trump and Nikki Haley.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), voters in the New Hampshire primary will have two main options: Trump or Haley.
DeSantis will now go back to Florida to serve out his second term as governor, which ends in 2027.
Callie: Thanks for that update. That is all the news stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
Navy SEALs:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/21/politics/navy-seals-dead-somalia/index.html
Ice storm:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/ice-storm-winter-thaw-weather-forecast/story?id=106558096
Megalodons:
https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2024/5079-megalodon-body-form
Gaza:
DeSantis:
https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-250c8ed4b49843350e258f0c2754c8ba