Wednesday, June 9 top stories
It is Wednesday, June 9. Here are today’s top stories.
In Ontario, police said a man on Sunday night intentionally drove his pickup truck into a Muslim family with children that was standing on a sidewalk waiting to cross a road.
The truck hit five people, killing four of them: a married couple named Salman Afzaal and Mariah Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna, and the father’s 74-year-old mother, Talat. The only survivor was a 9-year-old child who is hospitalized with serious injuries.
Police said the driver, a 20-year-old man named Nathaniel Veltman, sped away, ran several red lights, and was stopped and arrested in a shopping mall parking lot. He was wearing body armor at the time. He is now charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Police said he targeted the family because of their Muslim faith. He may get terrorism charges.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the site of the attack on Tuesday and tweeted that Canadians across the country are mourning.
French President Macron was visiting a small town in the southeastern part of the country on Tuesday when he greeted a group of people behind a barrier. A video shows one man slapping Macron in the face, which prompted Macron’s security detail to rush in to protect him and detain the slapper. News reports said the man shouted a political phrase that supported the monarchy and then said “Down with Macron.”
Macron said he didn’t have any concerns and that nothing will stop him.
Lawmakers in France from various sides of the political spectrum banded together to express support for Macron and for democracy.
Law enforcement authorities in the U.S. and over 10 countries around the world announced they arrested more than 800 people suspected of being a part of organized crime by tricking them to use phones with a messaging app called ANOM that they thought was encrypted.
Authorities were actually the ones who built the ANOM app and they could watch suspects message each other in real time for months as they talked about drug smuggling, money laundering, and planned executions.
Authorities explained that they used undercover officers to promote the special phones and give it to criminal leaders, who would then recommend it to others and request more phones.
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The image of the gray orb is Ganymede, the largest of Jupiter’s many moons. The photograph came from NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it flew by the moon. Ganymede is the ninth-largest object in our Solar System and has a lot of ice covering it.
Here is a neat illustration comparing the sizes of Earth, our moon, and Ganymede.
Of course, the planet Jupiter is huge — it is the largest planet — look at this comparison of the size of our Earth and Jupiter. It’s a big universe out there.
El Salvador will be the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender — meaning the country officially recognizes the currency. The country’s legislature approved it and President Nayib Bukele will sign it into law. All businesses in the country will be required to accept Bitcoin. The government said it would set up a system to instantly convert bitcoin to U.S. dollars.
In Sonoma County, California, a man was found alive and stuck in a large piece of farm equipment that he was in for two days. Police said they received a call about a suspicious vehicle parked on a private property. Officers said when they investigated, they found a man inside the shaft of a vineyard fan. The fire department was called and they were able to pull the man to safety. Officers said the man had possession of methamphetamine but decided not to arrest him, instead recommending charges of trespassing and drug possession.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
Muslim family: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/muslim-family-targeted-truck.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-truck-attack-victims-1.6057079
French president: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/emmanuel-macron-slapped-face-france/
Global crime busts: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/anom-app-fbi-criminals-trojan-shield/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-57394831
Jupiter moon: https://scitechdaily.com/see-the-dramatic-first-images-nasas-juno-spacecraft-captured-as-it-sailed-by-the-icy-orb-ganymede/