Monday Afternoon Update: Death Toll Rises After Turkey And Syria Earthquakes, NYC Ends COVID Mandate For Public Workers, And More | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Tim Meads.

    Earthquakes Rock Syria And Turkey, Thousands Dead

    Turkey and Syria were rocked by two earthquakes within the past 24 hours which reached a 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude. Untold numbers are trapped in the wreckage with more than 3,000 killed so far - a number that is expected to rise.

    China Accuses U.S. Of "Indiscriminate Use Of Force"

    In an update to this morning's episode of Morning Wire, China is now accusing the United States of using "indiscriminate use of force" after the U.S. military shot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon that traveled across the country over the past week. China insists that the aircraft was a civilian weather device.

    Record Amount Of Americans Say They're Worse Off Today Than When Biden Took Office

    A new ABC News/Washington Post poll has found that a whopping four in 10 Americans say they are now financially worse off since President Biden took office. That is the highest percentage responding negatively in that poll since ABC/The Post began asking the question 37 years ago. The poll came just a few days before Biden is set to give his State of the Union speech.

    Alleged Power Substation Attackers Arrested

    The FBI arrested a Florida man and a Maryland woman for allegedly planning an attack on power substations around Baltimore. The FBI believes they were "racially or ethnically motivated," intending to inflict quote "maximum harm" on the city's power grid.

    NYC Ends Covid Mandate For City Workers

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that he will be ending the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for city workers starting February 10.

    Kidnapped Missouri Children Found In Florida

    Two children abducted in March 2022 from a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, were recently found in a Florida grocery store with their alleged kidnapper. Police in High Springs say they happened to run a routine tags check on a vehicle parked outside the Winn Dixie store, traced the info to a fugitive, and then found the woman inside the store with the 12-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl. The brother and sister will soon be returned to their family.

    New Jersey Man Hired Hitman To Kill Teenager He Was Accused Of Sexually Assaulting, Police Say

    Police say that a New Jersey man hired a hitman for twenty thousand dollars in bitcoin to kill a 14-year-old whom the alleged suspect was accused of sexually molesting. Authorities say that the man wanted to kill the minor so that he could not testify in an upcoming trial.

    Twitch Suspends AI-Generated "Seinfeld" Knock-Off

    Twitch has suspended the artificial intelligence generated 24/7 streaming show modeled after 'Seinfeld' after the character meant to be Jerry Seinfeld made a transphobic joke during a stand-up bit. The show, titled "Nothing, Forever" is programmed to watch the entirety of Seinfeld and then create a never-ending stream using the same style and plot devices, but with modern-day themes.

    "I'm thinking about doing a bit about how being transgender is actually a mental illness," the character said. "Or how all liberals are secretly gay and want to impose their will on everyone."

    Britain's Nurses, Ambulance Workers Strike

    Employees of Britain's National Health Service started their largest strike in history on Monday. Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance workers are demanding higher pay, but critics say their work stoppage is straining an already beleaguered health system and putting U.K. subjects at risk.