Greensboro accepts new trash bins
Greensboro City Council just approved a contract to hand out tens of thousands of yard waste bins to people for leaf collection. People would then stick their leaves in the bin, rather than rake them out to the curb. The council debated the measure and leaders approved changes to the loose leaf program last summer. They say the current system is inefficient and expensive. These new waste bins are coming to Greensboro in spring.
Hamas leader Saleh Al Arouri killed in bombing attack
An explosion in Beirut on Tuesday killed Saleh al-Arouri, a top official within the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and several others, officials with Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah said. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the blast was carried out by an Israeli drone. Israeli officials declined to comment. Tuesday’s blast shook a residential building in the Beirut suburb of Musharrafieh. Reports differed on the death toll, but Hamas said six other members of the group were also killed, including two military commanders. If Israel is behind the attack it could mark a major escalation in the Middle East conflict. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who has previously vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon, said on local television, “We affirm that this crime will never pass without response and punishment.” Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati said many people were injured in the explosion, which he called “a crime” and said was meant “to drag Lebanon into a new phase of confrontation with Israel”. The United States government had previously offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on al-Arouri, saying he had “been linked to several terrorist attacks, hijackings, and kidnappings.” The explosion has shaken Musharrafieh, one of the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs that are a stronghold of the militant Hezbollah group, an Iran-backed ally of Hamas and one of the world’s most heavily armed non-state military forces.
Japan Airlines plane bursts into flames at Tokyo airport with 379 passengers on board
A Japan Airlines plane was engulfed in flames after landing at Haneda Airport on Tuesday. The flight, JL516, which was traveling from Chitose, Hokkaido, may have struck a Japan Coast Guard plane as it was landing, officials told Japanese broadcaster NHK, saying it was a preliminary assessment. The aircraft landed at about 5:47 p.m. local time. There were 367 passengers and 12 crew members on board when the flight landed, NHK reported. All 379 safely left the plane after it landed, the airline said, according to NHK. Five people were killed on board the Coast Guard aircraft, officials said. There were six people on board the Coast Guard aircraft, which was scheduled to fly to Niigata, Japan, for earthquake relief, officials told NHK. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office identified the Coast Guard aircraft as JA722A, saying on social media that five of the six on board had been killed.
