NASCAR driver in serious condition after Daytona 500 crash
Ryan Newman is in serious condition after he was involved in a crash Monday that caused his car to go airborne and flip several times.
Newman was leading in his final lap of NASCAR’s Daytona 500 when the crash occurred, according to CNN.
He was immediately taken to the hospital, according to Fox television commentators.
Doctors announced that the racer’s injuries are not life-threatening.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 18, 2020
Shortly after Newman’s update, Mark Rushbrook, the global director of Ford Performance Motorsports said that the team was “grateful.”
“We had been waiting for information just like everyone else, so to hear some positive news tonight is a relief,” Rushbrook said.
The crash marks almost 19 years since seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt crashed on the final lap of that race, according to CNN.
Coronavirus continues to cause economic suffering
The impact of the coronavirus on China has driven the country’s economy to a standstill.
As of Tuesday, new evidence of an economic fallout has surfaced in manufacturing, banking, financial markets and other sectors of the economy, according to the New York Times.
HSBC, a bank based in London which relies on China for growth, said it plans to cut 35,000 jobs and $4.5 billion in costs as it faces struggles from the epidemic.
U.S. stocks declined Tuesday, and the demand for oil was down resulting in a price drop in Texas.
Jaguar Land Rover said that the epidemic could soon create production problems at its assembly plants in Britain.
14 dead, hundreds sick from toxic gas leak in Pakistan
A gas leak in southern Pakistan Sunday affected over 500 people, killing 14 and leaving hundreds sick.
Officials still have been unable to identify the origin of the leak, and concerns are growing in the city of Karachi as the toxic gas could still be present, according to CNN.
Autopsies were carried out on the dead, and results are expected within 72 hours, said Dr. Zafar Mehdi of Sindh Province’s Health Department.
Protests have broken out against the government as the citizens are demanding answers, according to CNN.
Evidence of a leak has not been found, according to Karachi officials.
“All terminals and berths have been checked. Even private terminals, the oil piers, oil installation areas have been checked. No gas or chemical leakage,” said Jamil Akhtar, Karachi Port Trust Chairman.
Akhtar said the Pakistani navy had taken samples from the sea near the port and they are awaiting results.
Trump commutes sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
President Trump issued high-profile clemency decisions on Tuesday, beginning with a sentence reduction for the former democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Blagojevich was convicted in 2010 on corruption charges and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for seeking to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat after he was elected president.
After calling his sentence “ridiculous,” Trump said the former governor will be released after eight years in prison, according to Fox News.
The family was “overjoyed” after they heard the news and will not speak to reporters until the former governor returns home, said Deb Mell, Blagojevich’s sister-in-law.
Blagojevich was one of the 10 people who Trump has pardoned during his presidency, according to Fox News.
Trump also pardoned financier Michael Milken, former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik.
