The Daily Moth 10-14-19

Turkey’s military operation in Syria: all the latest updates; Police shooting of Atatiana Jefferson: what we know, what we don’t know; Man finds spider in his ear after waking with earache and vertigo

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[Transcript] Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! I’m Callie Frye and I will be covering today’s top news. It’s Monday, October 14. Ready for news?

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Turkey's military operation in Syria: all the latest updates

Here are several updates on Syria.

Turkish military forces advanced into northern Syria and fought against Kurdish fighters. Remember that the Kurdish fighters had been allies with U.S. soldiers to fight against ISIS, but after President Trump’s announcement for U.S. forces to pull out, Turkey moved in because they consider the Kurdish fighters to be their enemy.

A Kurdish official said 950 ISIS supporters escaped from a Kurdish-run camp after an attack on the guards and gates. There are reports of Turkish warplanes attacking villages near the camp.

Turkey said at least four of their soldiers were killed.

A Kurdish militia group, the SDF, said at least 56 of their fighters died. The SDF may be forced to become allies with the Syrian regime and Russia to protect themselves.

The United Nations said in the past several days, there are more than 130,000 Syrians have fled from northern Syria.

There are about 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Syria. Many of them were ordered to move south and out of the way of the battle between Turkey and Kuridsh fighters. It is possible that all of them will leave Syria entirely.

President Trump tweeted that it was very smart to not be involved in the war because the “Kurds and Turkey” have been fighting for many years. Trump said let them fight!

There is still strong criticism against Trump’s decision from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

Many are concerned that Turkish soldiers or allies will carry out an ethnic cleansing campaign against Kurdish civilians. Ethnic cleansing is targeting a specific unwanted group of people with the goal of eradicating each of them. There are several reports of Turkish soldiers or mercenaries (independent, paid soldiers) seeking out and stopping Kurdish civilians on roadways, pulling them out of their vehicles, and executing them.

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Police shooting of Atatiana Jefferson: what we know, what we don’t know

In Fort Worth, Texas, there is outrage after a 28-year-old black woman, Atatiana Jefferson, was shot and killed by a police officer in her home on Saturday early morning. She was with her nephew, who was 8 years old.

What happened? A neighbor called police to request a welfare check because Jefferson’s house’s door was open for over four hours from 10 pm to just past 2 a.m.

Police body camera footage shows that two police officers showed up and did a search from outside of the house, circling around the home. One of them shouted for someone inside to put her hands up, then fired a shot through a window. Atatiana was killed on the scene. News reports say the police officer never identified himself as police.

Fort Worth police said the officers felt threatened. There was a picture of a gun inside of the house, but it is not yet known if Atatiana was holding it or if it was someplace away from her.

Police said the officer is a white man who was with the department for 18 months.

The attorney for Jefferson’s family is S. Lee Merritt, who represented Botham Jean’s family during the Amber Guyger trial. He said Jefferson was playing video games with her nephew before she was shot. She was a pre-med graduate of Xavier University and worked in pharmaceutical sales.

The neighbor who called the police said he is mad and upset because there was nothing violent going on. He said he feels it is partly his fault for calling the police.

[Image of Jefferson with text] UPDATE: The white Fort Worth police officer who fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson is identified as Aaron Dean. Aaron Dean has resigned and may face criminal charges, police said today.

UPDATE #2: The officer has been arrested and charged with murder.

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Man finds spider in his ear after waking with earache and vertigo

A British man, Liam Gomez, said a spider went into his ear canal when he was sleeping.

He said he woke up with an earache and vertigo so he decided to call in sick from work. He put some olive oil in his ear and felt some tickling, but went for a two-hour nap.

When he woke up, he said he could still feel the ticking and also could hear scratching. He then got a q-tip and when he cleaned his ear out, he found out that it was a spider. He saw that the spider was missing one leg, so he continued to clean his ear until he was sure everything was out.

He said he hopes the spider was a male and that he will sleep with headphones on. He explained that the night before he found a spider’s nest in his doorway and swept it out.

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That is all for today. I will see you later. Stay with the light!

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