A close call at JFK airport; California braces for more flooding and landslides; a Mafia boss is caught after 30 years; and Starbucks plans to expand in China. These stories and more highlight your daily rundown for Monday afternoon, Jan. 16, 2023.
Near collision at JFK airport
New audio from air traffic control reveals the moments before a near collision on the tarmac at the JFK airport in New York.
A Delta airplane was cleared for takeoff, going 115 mph, and was told to stop as an American Airlines plane was about to cross its path. The planes missed each other by 1,000 feet.
Now the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
California storm update
There has been little relief in California after long stretches of rain flooded the state, killing 19 people last week.
Monday, more bad weather is expected, but the end is finally in sight.
Rain and snow started falling late Sunday night across Central and Southern California. Residents are preparing for heavy rainfall and snow, with the potential for more flooding and mudslides. The region is already saturated after three weeks of storms, and motorists were battling white-out conditions in the Sierra region due to a storm there.
According to the National Weather Service, the worst of the weather is behind California, but there is still a weather threat Monday into Tuesday.
Poverty, hunger endangering children
While parts of the country are receiving record rainfall, a region in South Africa is facing a life-threatening drought. Specifically putting children’s lives at risk due to lack of nutrition and necessities.
The U.N. General Assembly has put out a dire warning, urging the world to do more. It said, every minute of every day, a child in Somalia is admitted to a hospital suffering from malnutrition.
The U.N. estimates 500,000 children could die by this summer. Not only is Somalia suffering from a devastating drought, but their government is unstable. It is in a constant battle with an al-Qaida militant group.
The U.N. said children are the ones caught in the middle of the conflict.
Starbucks expands in China
Starbucks may be a common sight in cities across the U.S., but a city in China actually has more locations than any other place in the world. Shanghai takes the top spot with more stores than any other city. And the country as a whole is on track to overtake America as the coffee retailer’s biggest market.
It’s estimated a new Starbucks cafe opens in China every nine hours. And a new report from Fast Company spells out the level of involvement the company has in growing its business there.
Starbucks isn’t just hiring workers, the company is developing farmland, and it is training more than 30,000 farmers to help develop a domestic supply chain in China.
CEO Howard Shultz has acknowledged that Starbucks is working closely with China’s Communist Party to grow its brand in the country. The company has invested $18 million in social welfare programs in China since 2006.
Top Mafia boss arrested in Italy
One of the world’s most wanted criminals has been captured. Italian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was arrested after being on the run for 30 years.
Denaro is accused of being responsible for dozens of murders. He is the last “Godfather” of the Sicilian Mafia.
SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy
A successful launch took place this weekend of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Elon Musk’s rocket is part of a classified U.S. Space Force mission. It’s the first national security space mission of the year. This rocket has taken five flights since debuting in 2018.
Elon Musk tweeted after the mission’s success, and said “that’s how we will land on mars.”
In just three days, SpaceX is expected to launch 51 Starlink satellites into orbit. They will join Musks’ other 3,000 satellites. The satellites are largely used to cast a wider net of internet service, specifically in remote off-grid locations.
