Friday, October 11, 2024
It is Friday, October 11, 2024. Here are today’s top stories.
———
Hurricane Milton aftermath updates
ABC News said the death toll from Hurricane Milton has risen to 16. A 60-year-old man died yesterday when he stepped on a power line on the ground while he was cleaning debris.
Six deaths are attributed to several tornadoes that hit southeastern Florida.
Four people died in Volusia County (Daytona Beach area). Two died due to fallen trees. The third died from a heart attack while boarding up property. The fourth died due to experiencing a cardiac arrest during the storm and not being able to get immediate help from first responders.
About 1,600 people have been rescued from floodwaters and damaged areas in the storm so far.
In North Fort Myers, a sanitation company worker was driving down a flooded street when a large alligator surfaced and bit his van’s tire.
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man who was wearing a lifejacket and clinging to a cooler about 30 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. He was a boater and is said to have gone through 75-90 mph winds and 20-25 foot seas.
President Biden said Congress needs to return to Washington immediately to pass additional funding for disaster aid.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/milton-forecast-hurricane-tracker/
———
Musk showcases robotaxi, robovan, humanoid robots
Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed three different, futuristic things that his company is working on.
The first is a robotaxi called a Cybercab. It is a self-driving vehicle that uses AI. Musk said he hopes to build many of these vehicles and enable people to pay 30 cents to 40 cents per mile to ride to destinations and said they can sleep in the vehicles as it drives.
Musk also showed a “robovan,” which is a self-driving van that can carry up to 20 passengers or be used for cargo purposes.
The third project is the Optimus humanoid robot. Musk said they are still a work in progress and when it’s completed, these things can do anything you want, like mow the lawn, buy groceries, or walk the dog. Musk predicted each robot would cost $20,000 to $30,000. Axios said for the robotaxi/robovans, a big challenge is getting the approval of government regulators to allow these vehicles to operate on public roads.
https://www.axios.com/2024/10/11/tesla-robotaxi-tesla-cybercab-we-robot-musk
———
TD Bank fined $3B over drug cartel money laundering
TD Bank will pay about $3 billion in fines and penalties after the U.S. government said it failed to properly monitor money laundering by drug cartels.
The Department of Justice said more than 90% of transactions went unmonitored between January 2018 to April 2024 and it allowed three money laundering networks to transfer over $670 million through TD Bank accounts.
The government investigation found that TD Bank employees collected more than $57,000 worth of gift cards to process hundreds of millions in cash deposits and not declare them in required reports.
TD Bank’s CEO said he apologizes for the bank’s failures.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/10/investing/td-bank-settlement-money-laundering/index.html
———
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
———
Japanese anti-nuclear weapons group awarded Nobel Peace Prize
A Japanese organization that advocates for global nuclear disarmament, Nihon Hidankyo, won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work. The organization was founded by those who survived atomic bombs during World War II. The survivors are called “the Hibakusha” and their testimony has been used to educate the public and political leaders about the dangers of using nuclear weapons.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee warned that global nuclear powers are modernizing and upgrading their arsenals while new countries are trying to acquire nuclear weapons. The committee said it is worth reminding ourselves that nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-nihon-hidankyo-groups-work/story
———
Northern lights across the U.S.
Many people in the U.S. saw northern lights in the sky last night. The lights came from a powerful solar storm. Many around the world also saw purplish, greenish, and pink hues in the night sky.
The federal agency NOAA said “extreme G5 geomagnetic conditions were observed reaching the Earth for the first time in 21 years on Thursday and remained at G4 levels overnight.”
The NOAA said “the source has mostly been a large, complex sunspot cluster that is 17 times the diameter of Earth.”
So, the sun, 93 million miles away, continues to give us Earthlings amazing shows.
https://www.axios.com/2024/10/11/northern-lights-aurora-borealis-solar-flare-photos
———
That is all the top stories for this week. Have a nice weekend and stay with the light.