October 24 top stories
It is October 24. Here are today’s top stories.
“Super fog” causes deadly crashes
On Monday morning on an interstate near New Orleans, Louisiana, there was a “super fog” that reduced visibility and tragically led to a multi-car pileup involving at least 158 vehicles. At least seven people were killed and 25 people were injured. A portion of the crash scene caught on fire.
ABC News said the super fog was caused by smoke from marsh fires combined with dense fog. In some areas, visibility was near zero.
Another pro-Trump lawyer pleads guilty
Jenna Ellis, an attorney who was an adviser to former president Donald Trump and traveled with Rudy Giuliani to try and “prove” that the 2020 election was rigged, pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case.
Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. She is the third pro-Trump attorney to plead guilty in a matter of few days.
Ellis said, “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges.”
Prosecutors recommended Ellis serve five years of probation and testify at future hearings involving co-defendants.
Off-duty pilot charged with 83 counts of attempted murder
The off-duty pilot who allegedly tried to turn off a passenger plane’s engines mid-flight has been identified as Joseph D. Emerson. He is charged with 83 counts of attempted murder.
Emerson was riding in the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines flight when he allegedly tried to pull the fire extinguisher handles, which could have caused the engines to shut down. He was stopped by the flight crew and handcuffed to a seat.
ABC News reported that Emerson said, “I’m not right” before the incident.
The FAA said the incident is not connected to any current world events.
There were 80 passengers and four crew members on the plane.
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Hamas releases 2 Israeli hostages
Hamas released two more hostages on Monday night: an 85-year-old Israeli woman named Yocheved Lifshitz and a 79-year-old woman named Nurit Cooper, who is also Israeli.
AP News said Hamas “apparently received nothing in exchange for the release of the two hostages.”
Lifshitz’s daughter, Sharone, said she was taken to Hamas’s spiderweb-like network of tunnels. She slept on mattresses on the floor in the tunnels and had food and medical attention.
The Biden administration is advising Israel to delay a potential invasion into Gaza so there would be time to negotiate the release of more hostages.
Israeli government shows videos of Hamas horrors
The Israeli government recently invited many journalists to watch a private screening of 43 minutes worth of videos that showed the horrors of Hamas’s attacks on October 7.
The Israeli government said it wanted to confront a “holocaust denial-like phenomenon” about what happened on that morning in which 1,400 people, mostly Israelis, were killed.
The videos included Hamas gunmen killing a young girl hiding under a table, a Hamas attacker throwing a grenade into a room where an Israeli father and his two sons were hiding in, an Israeli man being beheaded, and a Hamas fighter calling his mother to boast of killing “10 Jews with his own hands.”
After the screening, an Israeli Defense Forces official said he “cannot understand anyone who compares” what Israel is doing and what Hamas did.
More than 700 killed in Gaza in 24-hour period
Palestinian officials said 704 people in Gaza had been killed in a 24-hour period. Palestinians said the dead included 305 children.
The Israel military said it struck more than 400 targets in Gaza in that same time period.
International organizations said they are very concerned about the 2 million civilians in Gaza, especially hospitals that depend on generators. Fuel is running out and the hospitals may stop functioning. Israel controls electricity access in Gaza and it has been cut off.
Several Arab countries said in a U.N. meeting that there needs to be an immediate cease-fire and end to the blockade of Gaza.
Israel’s foreign minister said the international community must stand with Israel in its war with Hamas. Israel's military said it is still making preparations for a possible ground invasion of Gaza.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/alaska-airlines-flight-diverted-after-credible-security-threat/story
https://abcnews.go.com/US/super-fog-causes-deadly-multi-car-pileup-louisiana/story?id=104227648
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/24/jenna-ellis-trump-georgia-2020-election-plea-deal
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67198270.amp
https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/freed-hamas-hostage-describes-spider-105246896.html
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-10-24-23/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/24/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news