Scores of people are dead after a series of earthquakes struck western Japan. Four years after COVID-19 hit, researchers are working to prevent the next pandemic. Heavy fighting is reported in southern Gaza Tuesday while Russian missiles have hit the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv. |
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Now, here's Tuesday's news. |
Dozens dead in powerful Japan earthquakes |
A series of earthquakes in western Japan has left at least 48 people dead and damaged thousands of buildings. "Rescue efforts are a battle against time," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday. "We must rescue them as quickly as possible, especially those who are trapped under collapsed structures." |
| • | Forty-eight people were confirmed dead in Ishikawa, officials said. Sixteen others were seriously injured, they said. Japanese media reports said tens of thousands of homes were destroyed. | | • | Officials are warning people in some areas on Tuesday to stay away from their homes because of a risk of more strong quakes. | | • | 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. | | This aerial photo provided by Jiji Press shows smoke rising from a house fire along with other damage along the coast in the town of Noto, Ishikawa prefecture on January 2, 2024, a day after a major 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the region. STR, JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images |
It's been 4 years since COVID hit. What's being done to prevent the next pandemic? |
On Jan. 1, 2020, public health officials in the United States woke up to the news of a strange new virus in China. At Columbia University in Manhattan, Dr. Ian Lipkin was already nervous. Four years later, Lipkin and his team are among those working to prevent the next pandemic. They have developed a system for quickly analyzing viruses, bacteria and fungi found in patients. The eight countries that have adopted this surveillance system, called GAPP, for the Global Alliance for Preventing Pandemics, have agreed to make their information rapidly public, which should allow another outbreak to be stopped before it spreads across the world. Read more |
Fighting in southern Gaza after Israel says it is pulling thousands of troops |
Heavy fighting was reported in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Tuesday, a day after Israel said it was withdrawing thousands of troops from other areas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the war until Hamas is crushed and the more than 100 hostages still held by the militant group in Gaza are freed. But ahead of a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israel is under growing international pressure to scale back the offensive that has killed nearly 22,000 Palestinians. Read more | Palestinians inspect the damage of a destroyed house following Israeli airstrikes on Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. Mohammed Dahman, AP |
Russian ballistic missiles strike Ukraine's largest cities, killing at least 4 people |
Ukraine's two largest cities came under attack from Russian hypersonic ballistic missiles on Tuesday morning, killing at least four people and injuring almost 100, officials said, 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 on his Telegram channel that 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. Read more | Ukrainian rescuers evacuate a wounded woman from a damaged residential building in the centre of Kharkiv after a missile strike on January 2, 2024, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. SERGEY BOBOK, AFP via Getty Images |
Social Security benefits increasing this month. Here's the payment calendar |
Social Security recipients are getting a raise. More than 71 million Americans will see a 3.2 percent increase in their Social Security checks in 2024. That increase, which adds more than $50 per month on average, hit some checks Friday and will continue this month and throughout the year. The raise is due to a cost-of-living adjustment that the Social Security Administration said will help recipients keep up with expenses. It's the third year in a row inflation has prompted an increase in benefit payments. Read more |
Photo of the day: Wolverines down Alabama in Rose Bowl OT thriller |
Who has it better than Michigan? Nobody. |
The top-ranked team in the country was able to claw back from a fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide in overtime, 27-20, in the 2024 Rose Bowl to send the Wolverines to their first national championship game this century. Read more | Michigan Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy holds the Rose Bowl trophy after the wolverines defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2024 Rose Bowl college football playoff semifinal game at Rose Bowl. Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Sports |
Associated Press contributed reporting. | | All of the headlines, none of the chaos. | Learn daily with The Excerpt,
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