chron briefs

U.S. Marshals operation finds 25 missing Michigan kids

Twenty-five endangered missing children were recovered in Southeast Michigan in a 10-week federal investigation, officials said Wednesday.

The kids who were found included runaways and those who’d been abducted. Authorities with the U.S. Marshals Service said the effort, called “Operation We Will Find You,” was the first nationwide missing child operation focusing on geographical areas with high numbers of critically missing children.

“The U.S. Marshals Service has many important missions, but I cannot think of any that is more critical than finding children who are missing and getting them to safety,” Owen Cypher, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a statement.

Marshals worked with state and local agencies in 16 communities across the country under the operation and recovered a total of 225 endangered missing children. The youngest child recovered is six months old.

Some of the recovered children were considered to be challenging cases in southeast Michigan because of high-risk factors such as child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and medical or mental health conditions. Others were sought due to requests from law enforcement agencies to ensure they were safe and confirm the child’s location, according to officials.

Super Typhoon Mawar is 2023’s strongest storm

After blasting Guam on Wednesday with gusts over 100 mph and more than 2 feet of rain, Typhoon Mawar has rapidly gained strength and become 2023’s most intense storm. It’s also stronger than any storm that formed in 2022.

Now a Category 5 super typhoon, Mawar’s peak winds have jumped to 175 mph with gusts near 210 mph, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

That makes it one of the five most powerful typhoons on record in May.

Called typhoons in the northwest Pacific Ocean, these storms are no different from hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean with respect to how they form and their effects.

When typhoons attain peak winds of at least 150 mph, they are called super typhoons.

Mawar struck Guam as a typhoon, but was a super typhoon before striking the island and has since regained that intensity.

Despite significant wind damage and flooding, early reports by Guam’s local government indicate that no fatalities or major injuries occurred.

Zelenskyy makes surprise commencement address

The Johns Hopkins University celebrated its commencement ceremony Thursday morning with a surprise speech from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy via livestream, the university said.

University President Ron Daniels gave Zelenskyy an honorary doctorate degree. The Class of 2023 offered him a standing ovation after the address, which lasted about 10 minutes.

Zelenskyy became president of Ukraine in 2019, and his country’s war with Russia has made him even more of a prominent global figure.

Zelenskyy spoke to the graduates with a message on time, which he called “the most valuable resource on the planet.”

Researchers: 5,000 species threatened by deep sea mining

Researchers have released the first tally of deep ocean animals that inhabit the seabed targeted for strip mining, finding more than 5,000 species – nearly all of them unknown to science.

The peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Current Biology on Thursday highlights the lack of scientific knowledge about the biodiversity of the deep ocean, and arrives as the United Nations-affiliated International Seabed Authority, or ISA, prepares to allow mining to commence as soon as next year.

The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea established the ISA in 1994 with a mandate to manage the exploration and exploitation of the seabed in international waters while at the same time ensuring the effective protection of the marine environment.

The scientists estimated there may be more than 8,000 species living in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a region of the Pacific Ocean that stretches from Hawaii to Mexico.

Of the 5,580 species detected, only 438 have been identified, according to the study.

Hurricane center eye on potential system off Florida

The National Hurricane Center continues to track a system expected to form off the coast of northeast Florida and threaten the southeast U.S.

In its 2 a.m. tropical outlook Thursday, the NHC forecast expects a nontropical area of low pressure to form along a frontal boundary within the next two days in the Atlantic Ocean.

“The system appears unlikely to become a subtropical or tropical cyclone since it is forecast to remain frontal while moving generally northward and inland over the Carolinas this weekend,” NHC hurricane specialist Philippe Papin said.

The NHC gives the system only a 10% chance of forming into a tropical or subtropical depression or storm.

Whether it forms into anything with circulation, the system is expected to produce gusty winds and dangerous surf and rip conditions along the coast, which could bode dangerous for the busy Memorial Day weekend.