America and the bald eagle have made it national-bird-official. Bad weather is in the forecast for holiday travel. And it's been 20 years since the Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the deadliest disasters in modern history. |
👋 Hey! Laura Davis here. Hope you had a nice holiday! Now, let's get you caught up on Thursday's news. |
🐾 But first: What's better than a Christmas gift? A Christmas gift that barks! See the emotional reactions when these kids get puppies as presents. |
From near extinction to official US bird |
Generations of Americans have seen the bald eagle on the backs of the quarters they put in vending machines and the rugs fictional presidents step on in political dramas. But until this week, it wasn't officially the national bird. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that made it so, and the once-endangered species can now fly alongside other national symbols including the national tree (the oak), the national floral emblem (the rose) and the national mammal (the bison). | A bald eagle takes to the air in Indian River County, Florida, on Tuesday, a day after it was officially designated the national bird of the United States. CRYSTAL VANDER WEIT, TCPalm |
Azerbaijan plane downed by Russian fire, reports say |
Russian air defenses downed an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday. Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 crashed Wednesday near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia in which Moscow has used air defense systems against Ukrainian drone strikes in recent days. The passenger jet had flown from Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, to Grozny in Russia's southern Chechnya region before veering off hundreds of miles across the Caspian Sea. 👉 What we know. | Emergency specialists work at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday. Kazakhstan Emergencies Ministry, via REUTERS |
Gnarly weather snarling holiday travel |
Rounds of storms battered the south-central U.S. and Pacific Northwest with heavy rain and snow on Thursday, causing problems for people traveling the day after Christmas as several airports temporarily grounded flights and reported delays. |
What to know: Starting Thursday afternoon, widespread thunderstorms spread from southeastern Oklahoma through eastern Texas and parts of Arkansas and Louisiana, the National Weather Service said. Meanwhile, in the West, a dayslong stretch of poor weather shows no signs of slowing. ☔️ See the full forecast. | A precipitation outlook from the Weather Prediction Center shows heavy rain and snow are expected across the Northwest and south-central U.S. between Thursday and Saturday. Weather Prediction Center |
20 years later, a disaster's lasting impact |
Two decades ago, a mighty force rattled the depths of the Indian Ocean floor off the coast of Indonesia just before 8 a.m. The resulting tsunami unleashed waves more than 100 feet high and as fast as an airliner. Within hours, the tsunami had claimed nearly 230,000 human lives and displaced millions of people in 12 countries. Thursday marks the 20th anniversary of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history. 👉 Lessons learned from tragedy. | A woman enjoys the Lampuuk beach in Aceh Besar, Indonesia, on Tuesday, ahead of the 20-year anniversary of the devastating tsunami that struck the city on Dec. 26, 2004. Ulet Ifansasti, Getty Images | | | | Wanda Tucker first visited Angola to mark 400 years since Africans arrived in what is now America. This time she was invited by Biden. | | | | Plenty of questions still remain two days after authorities discovered a dead body in the wheel well of a United Airlines aircraft in Hawaii. | | | | Breaking down the "provocative" sex scenes in "Babygirl" with Nicole Kidman, and why the Christmas movie is the "female answer" to "Eyes Wide Shut." | | | | U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agents found 30 brick-like packages containing a white powdery substance in the backpacks. | | | | The Adams County Sheriff's Office said the baby was discovered on Christmas morning in Denver by a passerby who stopped to help. | | | | "A Complete Unknown" director James Mangold and Edward Norton (as Pete Seeger) weigh in on what's fact and what's fiction in the Bob Dylan movie. | | | | Taylor Swift celebrated Travis Kelce's Chiefs record for most receiving touchdowns — and celebrated Christmas by giving presents to his teammate! | | | | Andrew Lansing, a corrections officer at a prison in Chillicothe, Ohio, was killed Christmas Day in what state officials say was an "inmate assault." | | | | RFK Jr. hasn't been so keen on Ozempic but Elon Musk praised the drug in a Christmas post. | | | | Britney Spears recently reunited with her youngest son, Jayden. The pop star shared how they spent Christmas together. | | | | | | | Brighten your day with one of our games. | | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment