Thursday, December 29 top stories
It is Thursday, December 29. Here are today’s top stories.
Soccer legend Pelé dies at 82
Pelé, the Brazilian soccer legend who is considered by many as the greatest soccer player ever, passed away at the age of 82 after a years-long battle with cancer and other health complications.
Pelé is the only player to win three FIFA World Cups, winning for Brazil in 1958, 1962, and 1970.
He played for a Brazilian club named Santos for most of his professional career. He played for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League in his final three seasons.
Pelé was one of the most famous and influential people in the world during that era and he was one of the first black global stars.
Southwest expects to resume normal operations by Friday
AP News said Southwest Airlines expects to resume its normal operations on Friday after several days of mass flight cancellations. Southwest canceled over 2,300 flights today. A major cause of the cancellations is complications with crew scheduling, but the airline said they’ve fixed that problem.
Over 1 million passengers were affected by the cancellations. Southwest has canceled over 13,000 flights since December 22. There are a lot of angry, frustrated and disappointed customers on social media and some have vowed to never fly Southwest again.
Southwest has a page on its website for travelers who are stuck outside of their home cities. Customers can submit receipts for unexpected expenses. Southwest said they may reimburse “reasonable” expenses, but the definition of “reasonable” is unclear.
The federal government is investigating the Southwest chaos.
Buffalo residents may face flooding
ABC News said residents in the Buffalo, New York area are now facing another potential disaster after the deadly blizzard — flooding. The reason is that temperatures will go up into the 50s on Friday, which will melt much of the snow that accumulated during Christmas weekend. ABC said residents and businesses are filling sandbags to protect their properties.
The death toll in Erie County, where Buffalo is in, from the blizzard is at least 37. 17 died from the extreme cold and bad weather while being outdoors, three died from an EMS delay, nine died due to having no heat in their homes, and three died from heart attacks while shoveling or blowing snow.
There was a driving ban in Buffalo but that has been lifted at midnight today as roads were cleared by snow-removal crews.
Images show that there is a convoy of trucks carrying snow to a central location, where it is dumped on a massive snow pile.
There are still searches going on for other victims of the storm.
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11-year-old North Carolina girl missing
In North Carolina, police are searching for a missing 11-year-old girl named Madalina Cojocari.
News reports explained that her mother and stepfather were arrested on December 17 for failure to report her missing. Both are still behind bars on bonds of $250,000 and $200,000.
Madalina was last seen on November 23 getting off her school bus in Cornelius. She was first reported missing her school on December 15.
A police official said they have followed about 250 leads spanning across state lines and across the globe but that it is very difficult because they found out that the girl was missing about three weeks after the fact.
Police said this is a case of parents clearly not sharing everything they know.
120 Russian missiles fired towards Ukraine
Ukrainian officials said there were over 120 Russian missiles that were recently launched toward Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, including critical energy infrastructure. There were blasts in different cities across Ukraine. The mayor of Lviv said 90% of his city was without power. The mayor of Kyiv said 40% of the city is without power.
The missiles were launched from the air and the sea. Ukraine’s military said they intercepted many of the missiles.
An image shows an unexploded missile inside a house in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said “They dream that Ukrainians will celebrate the New Year in darkness and cold. But they cannot defeat the Ukrainian people.”
Benjamin Netanyahu returns as Israeli PM
In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to the prime minister’s position 18 months after he was ousted.
Axios said Israel has sworn in a new government that is the “most right-wing and religious government Israel has had since its establishment.”
There are concerns about what policies the government will put in place against Palestinians and Arabs who live in occupied lands.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://nypost.com/2022/12/29/soccer-icon-pele-dead-at-82-after-health-battles/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/29/us/madalina-cojocari-missing-north-carolina-girl-search/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64114784
https://www.axios.com/2022/12/29/russia-massive-missile-attack-ukraine-cities
https://www.axios.com/2022/12/29/israel-netanyahu-far-right-government-ben-gvir-smotrich
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/29/middleeast/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-swearing-in-intl/index.html