February 20 top stories
It is February 20. Here are today’s top stories.
Navalny’s widow steps up to lead fight against Putin
The widow of Russia's highest-profile opposition figure Alexei Navalny on Monday accused President Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his death.
Yulia Navalnaya posted an eight-minute video on her dead husband’s social media outlets Monday, saying Putin “killed the father of my children, Putin took away the most precious thing that was my closest and most beloved person. Putin not only killed the man named Alexei Navalny, he also wanted to kill our hopes, freedom and our future.”
She said Russian authorities were “hiding” Navalny’s body in an attempt to disguise the cause of his death – “lying pathetically” and waiting for “traces of another of Putin’s Novichoks to disappear.”
Navalny was poisoned with Novichok in August 2020. Novichok is the deadliest nerve agent developed by Russian scientists during the Soviet Union. Navalnaya didn’t provide any evidence to support her claim that a second poisoning was the cause of her husband’s unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony on Friday.
She said in her video, “I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. I am not afraid, and you do not need to be afraid of anything.” Speaking entirely in Russian, the message was directed towards the Russian people.
Omaha zoo extracts 70 coins from white alligator’s stomach
An alligator at Omaha zoo had to undergo surgery after veterinarians discovered 70 coins in the alligator’s stomach.
The coins were found in the stomach of a rare, 36-year-old leucistic alligator, which has translucent white skin and blue eyes.
When veterinarians identified “metal foreign objects in the stomach of an iconic resident” – Thibodaux, they acted fast and performed surgery removing the coins from Thibodaux “before they caused any problems.”
The Omaha zoo said patrons threw coins into the enclosure, which were eaten by the animal between cleanings.
The zoo said in a statement that X-ray imaging confirmed that the objects were successfully removed. Thibodaux has recovered well from the procedure and is back in his habitat.
The zoo urged visitors to avoid throwing “coins into any bodies of water at the zoo”, after the sizable amount of change was pulled from the alligator’s stomach. They said that people do not realize how coins can harm animals – not only could animals ingest the coins, but they could also contain dangerous chemicals.
Capital One to acquire Discover in $35 billion deal
Capital One Financial is set to buy Discover Financial Services in a $35.3 billion all-stock deal.
If concluded, Capital One shareholders would hold 60% and Discover shareholders would own 40% of the combined company. A shareholder means any person, company or institution that owns shares in a company’s stock.
The merger of the two companies, which are among the largest credit card issuers in the U.S., would expand Capital One’s credit card offerings and its deposit base.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Capital One, which already uses Visa and Mastercard networks, plans to keep the Discover brand.
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A 5000-pound dead satellite expected to fall to Earth
A European Space Agency satellite is expected to reenter and largely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday morning.
The agency’s Space Debris Office, along with an international surveillance network, is monitoring and tracking the Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite, which is predicted to make its reentry at 6:14 am ET Wednesday, with a 15-hour window of uncertainty.
The Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite first launched on April 21, 1995, and it was the most sophisticated satellite of its kind at the time to be developed and launched by Europe.
The ERS-2 satellite has an estimated mass of 5,057 pounds after depleting its fuel, making it similar in size to other space debris that reenters Earth’s atmosphere every week or so.
At around 50 miles above Earth’s surface, the satellite is expected to break apart and the majority of the fragments will burn up in the atmosphere. The agency said that some fragments could reach the planet’s surface, but they won’t contain any harmful substances and will most likely fall into the ocean.
According to the agency, the chances of an individual person being injured by space debris each year are less than 1 in 100 billion.
Alex has a news story to share about the incident at a Target store. Here it is.
Target store slides down hillside in West Virginia
Thanks, Callie.
A Target store in Barboursville, West Virginia was badly damaged by a slipping hillside. Images show the back of the store seems to have cracked off and is leaning towards a steep slope.
This store was closed on February 2 when the hill started slipping. There were structural engineers and utility workers at the scene to assess broken water and sewer lines. Then the store sustained even more damage last Wednesday due to further slipping.
There are three homes behind the Target store that received voluntary evacuation notices from Target. The company has made an offer to these residents to cover the costs of relocating.
The mayor, Chris Tatum, posted on social media that law enforcement is doing extra patrols to make sure that the store and affected homes are protected from criminals. Tatum also said many residents said they’re sick of extra visitors who want to gander at the store or pushy journalists who keep on asking questions.
Target said its current plan may be to remove the back portion of the building. The store is expected to be closed for a prolonged period of time.
Thanks for that story. That is all the news stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
Navalny’s widow steps up to lead fight against Putin:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/world/europe/navalny-death-investigation.html
Omaha zoo extracts 70 coins from white alligator’s stomach:
Capital One to acquire Discovery in $35 billion deal:
https://www.wsj.com/finance/capital-one-is-buying-discover-financial-sources-say-a7c43dd2
A 5000-pound dead satellite expected to fall to Earth:
Target store slides down hillside in West Virginia
https://www.kktv.com/2024/02/15/target-hillside-is-slipping-west-virginia/