January 2, 2024 8:20 am
TOKYO (AP) — A passenger plane and a Japanese coast guard aircraft have collided on the runway at Tokyo’s Haneda airport and burst into flames. TV footage showed a large burst of fire erupt from the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it taxied after landing. The area around the wing then caught fire. Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito said all 379 occupants of the passenger plane got out safely. He said the pilot of the coast guard plane evacuated safely but the other five crewmembers were found dead. Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.
January 2, 2024 5:22 am
JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — Someone in Michigan has won an $842.4 million Powerball jackpot on the first day of 2024, the first time it has been won on New Year’s Day since the game’s start in 1992. The winning numbers drawn were: 12, 21, 42, 44, 49 and red Powerball: 1. Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot beyond its earlier estimate of $810 million to $842.4 million at the time of the drawing, making it the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot and 10th-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever won. Before the big win on New Year’s, the jackpot had been growing since mid-October. The chance of winning the Powerball jackpot is 1 in 292.2 million.
January 2, 2024 5:19 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s two largest cities have come under Russian hypersonic ballistic missile attacks. Officials said the Tuesday morning assaults killed at least four people and injured almost 100, as the war approached its two-year milestone and the Kremlin’s forces stepped up their winter bombardment of urban areas. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said four civilians were killed and 92 injured in the capital, Kyiv, and in northeastern Kharkiv as hypersonic Kinzhal missiles that can fly at 10 times the speed of sound slammed into city blocks. The barrage extended Russia’s escalated attacks on Ukraine in recent days that began on Friday with its largest single assault on Ukraine since the war started, in which at least 41 civilians were killed.
January 2, 2024 5:18 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung has been stabbed in the neck by an unidentified man during a visit to the southeastern city of Busan. Emergency officials say Lee was attacked Tuesday as he visited the proposed site of a new airport in the city. They say Lee is conscious and isn’t in critical condition. Lee slumped to the ground, where a person pressed a handkerchief to his neck to stop the bleeding. Lee, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, lost the 2022 presidential election to President Yoon Suk Yeol by a very narrow margin.
January 2, 2024 5:16 am
WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — A series of powerful earthquakes has hit western Japan, leaving at least 48 people dead and damaging thousands of buildings, vehicles and boats. Officials are warning people in some areas on Tuesday to stay away from their homes because of a risk of more strong quakes. Aftershocks continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas a day after a magnitude 7.6 temblor slammed the area on Monday afternoon. Officials say at least 48 people are confirmed dead and 16 seriously injured in Ishikawa. Japan is frequently hit by earthquakes because of its location along the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
January 2, 2024 5:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The hacking of a municipal water authority in a small Pennsylvania town is prompting new warnings from U.S. security officials as states and the federal government are wrestling with how to harden water utilities against hackers. Officials say the danger is hackers gaining control of automated equipment to shut down pumps that supply drinking water or contaminate drinking water by reprogramming automated chemical treatments. The efforts took on new urgency in 2021 when the federal government’s leading cybersecurity agency reported five attacks on water authorities over two years, four of them by ransomware and a fifth by a former employee. Potentially hostile geopolitical rivals such as Iran and China are viewed by U.S. officials as a threat.
January 2, 2024 5:10 am
UNIONTOWN, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Uniontown man who police say is the prime suspect in his wife’s murder has been arrested at a resort in Las Vegas. According to Uniontown police, Franyerlys Nicold “Nicole” Zambrano Briceno was found dead from a single gunshot wound in a house on Bierer Avenue at 1:31 p.m. Monday. Police said she was believed to have been dead for at least a couple of days. The victim’s husband, Arthur Guty Jr., 55, is considered a suspect in her murder, police said. Guty is facing charges of criminal homicide and aggravated assault. According to police, officers were first notified by her coworkers on Dec. 29 after she didn’t show up or call out for work. Zambrano Briceno was a housekeeper at Nemacolin resort. Lieutenant Tom Kolencik with the Uniontown Police Department said not showing up for her shift was unusual for the Venezuelan native.
January 2, 2024 5:00 am
BEIRUT (AP) — An apparent Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut has killed Hamas’ No. 2 political leader, marking a potentially significant escalation of Israel’s war against the militant group and heightening the risk of a wider Middle East conflict. Saleh Arouri was the most senior figure in the group killed since the Israel-Hamas war began nearly three months ago. His killing risks provoking major retaliation from Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militia. Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire almost daily over the Israeli-Lebanese border since Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began. So far, the Lebanese group has appeared reluctant to dramatically escalate the fighting.
January 2, 2024 3:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John Fetterman acknowledges having “dark conversations” about harming himself before he hit “the emergency brake” and sought treatment for depression. In an interview with NBC’s `”Meet the Press,” the Pennsylvania Democrat described his thoughts at that time as, “I can’t be a blueprint for my children. I can’t let them be left alone or not to understand why he would have done that.” So he checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last February. Fetterman wondered whether he’d survive politically. He said that “when it got released where I was and where it was going, it was a big story. And so, I had assumed that that would be the end of my career.”
January 2, 2024 2:49 am
January 2nd brought new life to communities as far as local governments are concerned. In Washington County the judiciary had their opportunity to swear in five judges to maintain order in the county. In the only public ceremony held at the Washington County Courthouse, current magisterial justice Phillippe Melograne, whose jurisdiction covers Peters Twp., Union Twp., Finleyville and the surrounding areas, was sworn in to his first six year term after being appointed to fill the remaining term of Judge Jesse Pettit who was elected to the court of common pleas. Melograne spoke of being happy to be on the front lines of justice in an attempt to be one of the first people to help those who may have made a mistake. Other magisterial judges who were sworn in privately were Mark Wilson from the Monongahela area and Gary Havelka from the Burgettstown area. Common Pleas Court Judges Valarie Costanzo and Michael Lucas were also sworn in during private ceremonies. Both Costanzo and Lucas were retained for another 10 year term in last November’s general election.
