U.S. and world news for Feb. 6

Earthquake hits Turkey, Syria: An earthquake that registered 7.8 on the Richter scale has hit Turkey and Syria. It is estimated that more than 1,500 people have been killed and hundreds more are trapped under rubble. Numerous buildings collapsed including a hospital in Turkey. The earthquake hit numerous cities, towns and villages in both countries and was felt in Cairo and Beirut.

Pomerantz shows evidence gathered against Trump: Mark Pomerantz, who resigned from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office when DA Alvin Bragg shut down the criminal investigation of Donald Trump that Pomerantz was leading, was on the CBS News program “60 Minutes” last night. He showed evidence that he said proved Trump committed financial fraud. Bragg recently restarted the financial fraud investigation of Trump. Among the documents shown by Pomerantz on “60 Minutes” were papers signed by Trump dealing with the Seven Springs Estate property in Westchester and Trump’s financial statements.

DOD says Chinese spy balloon not the first: The Department of Defense says that three Chinese spy balloons crossed the U.S. during the administration of Donald Trump and nothing was done about it. The department says Trump did not order the balloons shot down and did not criticize the Chinese or file a protest. A U.S. fighter jet on orders of President Biden on Saturday used a missile to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that was tracked over the U.S. last week. They waited until the balloon was over water off the South Carolina coast to avoid the possibility of falling debris hurting someone or damaging property.

New allegation against Santos: New York Republican Congressman George Santos has been accused of sexual harassment by his former aide Derek Myers. Myers wrote a letter to the House Ethics Committee alleging that Santos made unwanted physical contact with him. He also filed a complaint with the Capitol Police.

Dell announces layoffs: Dell Technologies is joining other computer and high-tech firms in laying off employees. Bloomberg news first reported this morning that Dell’s CEO Jeff Clarke issued a memo to employees saying the company is cutting 6,500 from its staff, about a 5% cut in the number of employees.

Grammy Awards: Beyoncé won the best R&B song award at last night’s Grammy Awards for the song “Cuff It.” Harry Styles won the award for album of the year.