News Headlines - 09 February 2020
▽29 dead after 'unprecedented' mass shooting: Thai PM - CNA
A Thai soldier who killed at least 29 people before being shot dead in a mall by commandos went on the rampage because of a debt dispute, the kingdom's prime minister said on Sunday (Feb 9), offering the first official motive for the "unprecedented" shooting spree.
Sharp-shooters brought an end to a 17-hour-ordeal when they killed the gunman on Sunday morning after a night which seesawed between heavy exchanges of gunfire and terrifying dashes for mall exits by shoppers trapped in the Terminal 21 mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Korat.
▽Two American Soldiers Killed in Shootout With Afghan Forces - The New York Times
A shootout between Afghan and American soldiers during joint operations in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday resulted in deaths on both sides, with two Americans killed, officials said... Six other American service members were wounded, Colonel Leggett said in a statement early Sunday. He said an investigation was underway and that the motive for the attack was unclear.
▽Bernie Sanders holds lead in second release of CNN's New Hampshire tracking poll - CNNPolitics
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' lead in New Hampshire continues to hold, according to the second release from a tracking poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire for CNN.
The poll, conducted from Wednesday through Saturday, finds Sanders with 28% support to former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's 21%, both holding even with their performance in the previous day's release. Former Vice President Joe Biden lands at 12%, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 9%, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 6%, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard at 5% and entrepreneur Andrew Yang at 4%.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, apologised on Saturday for dismissive comments about youth climate activists during a television interview, in an about-turn a few months into his role as top EU diplomat.
Borrell recently said on Spanish television that he doubted “the idea that young people are seriously committed to stopping climate change - we could call it the ‘Greta syndrome’”.
Named by the U.K. Met Office weather agency, the storm brought massive gusts that hit 93 mph at the northern Welsh village of Aberdaron and 86 mph at the Welsh town of Capel Curig. A British Airways plane is thought to have made the fastest ever flight by a conventional airliner from New York to London.
The fierce winds propelled a Boeing 747-436 to make the 3,500-mile transatlantic journey from New York to London in just 4 hours and 56 minutes, landing 102 minutes early and reaching a top speed of 825 mph, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24. Two Virgin Airlines flights also roared across the Atlantic, with all three smashing the previous subsonic New York-to-London record of 5 hours and 13 minutes, Flightradar24 reported.
