Latest News Headlines for Saturday January 20, 2024 – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed concern over the possibility of Donald Trump returning to the U.S. presidency, labeling Trump’s assertion that he could halt the war between Ukraine and Russia in one day as “very dangerous.”
During an interview with Channel 4 News in the U.K., Zelenskyy extended an invitation to Trump, the leading Republican presidential candidate, to visit Kyiv on the condition that he fulfills his bold claim. Trump’s campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, did not provide a comment on the matter.
—
An Israeli assault on Damascus this Saturday resulted in the destruction of a facility utilized by the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, leaving at least five Iranians dead, as reported by Syrian and Iranian authorities.
According to the Syrian military, the building in Mazzeh, a heavily fortified district in western Damascus, was completely obliterated. The Israeli air force reportedly launched the missiles from above the Golan Heights, an area under Israeli control. The Israeli military has not issued a statement regarding this incident.
—
Recent winter weather conditions have been linked to 83 confirmed fatalities over the past week, as per a tally by CBS News, with the nation still grappling with severe cold.
The Tennessee Department of Health reported 19 weather-related deaths, and Oregon authorities confirmed 16 fatalities, which included three adults who perished when a tree toppled onto their car. Remarkably, a baby in the vehicle survived, as previously covered by CBS News.
—
President Biden announced student loan relief for an additional 74,000 Americans, encompassing professions such as teaching, nursing, and firefighting. This initiative introduces a further $5 billion in debt forgiveness.
This recent announcement follows a series of debt cancellations after the Supreme Court halted Mr. Biden’s student loan forgiveness program last summer. To date, $136.6 billion has been forgiven for over 3.7 million Americans.
—
Sports Illustrated’s workforce received notice on Friday about the impending elimination of a “significant number, if not all,” of their positions, as disclosed by the publication’s union.
The Sports Illustrated union conveyed through X: “This marks yet another challenging day in the turbulent four-year tenure of Sports Illustrated under Arena Group (formerly The Maven) management. We urge ABG to guarantee the continued publication of SI, maintaining its tradition of serving readers for nearly seven decades.”
—
Astrobotic Technology confirmed that its lunar lander met a fiery end over the South Pacific after a failed moon mission.
The company lost contact and subsequently tracking of the lander as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, 10 days post-launch from Florida. John Thornton, the CEO, confirmed on Friday that U.S. Space Command verified the spacecraft’s disintegration in its final moments.
—
A small aircraft made an emergency landing on Loudoun County Parkway in Virginia on Friday afternoon. Miraculously, all seven passengers aboard emerged unscathed, as reported by the Virginia State Police and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA detailed that the single-engine Cessna two-oh-eight Caravan executed a “hard landing” on the road around 12:50 p.m., shortly after its 12:15 p.m. departure from Virginia’s Dulles International Airport. The aircraft was originally bound for Lancaster Airport in Pennsylvania.
—
Microsoft disclosed on Friday that a Russian-affiliated group infiltrated some of its corporate email accounts.
In a blog post, the tech giant reported that its security team detected the breach on January 12th and swiftly pinpointed the perpetrators: Midnight Blizzard, also known as Nobelium, a group with ties to the Russian state. According to Microsoft, Nobelium orchestrated a “password spray attack,” using a single widely-used password to attempt access to numerous accounts on the same platform.
—
A woman from Hagerstown, Maryland, made a spontaneous decision to buy a scratch-off lottery ticket instead of her usual drawing game entries, leading her to a $50,000 windfall.
Normally a patron of games like Powerball and Mega Millions, the woman recounted to Maryland Lottery officials her last-minute change of heart. “I typically go for Mega Millions and Powerball tickets, but on a whim, I decided otherwise,” she shared.
Her attention was drawn to a $1 Million Royale scratch-off ticket. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, stating, “There was just something compelling about that particular ticket.” At first glance, the ticket didn’t seem to be a winner. “It was a letdown initially; there were no matching numbers,” she explained. However, a unique symbol on the ticket, rather than a number, signified her substantial $50,000 prize.
She described her reaction as a mix of astonishment and disbelief, questioning, “Could it actually be $50,000?”
