Tech giant Apple has launched a high-yield savings account with a 4.15 percent annual interest rate. The company said there are no fees, minimum deposits, or minimum balance requirements, and users can set up and manage their savings account directly using "Apple Card." The interest rate is higher than a standard savings account, but some online banks do offer higher rates. Goldman Sachs is partnering with Apple on the offering. .
GARBAGE LIFE
You've likely heard of the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," a giant heap of trash in the ocean between California and Hawaii. Now a new study has revealed that the patch has gotten so large that dozens of species are now living on it. Scientists said plastic pollution is creating a new floating ecosystem for organisms that don't normally live in the open ocean. Coastal invertebrate organisms are surviving — and reproducing — on the floating debris.
BAD BAT NEWS
In what is being called the inaugural "State of the Bats" report comes the news that 52 percent of bat species could be at risk of extinction. The report found climate change, disease and habitat loss are taking their toll. It also found wind turbines alone kill about half a million bats annually.
The planet's temperature spiked on Tuesday to its hottest day in at least 44 years and likely much longer, and Wednesday could become the third straight day Earth unofficially marks a record-breaking high, the latest in a series of climate-change extremes that alarm but don't surprise scientists.
Complete sexual assault case folios containing intimate details were among more than 300,000 files dumped online in March after the 36,000-student Minneapolis Public Schools refused to pay a $1 million ransom. Other exposed data included medical records and discrimination complaints.
A 40-year-old accused of killing a man in a house and then gunning down four others in Philadelphia before surrendering to police officers was arraigned on murder and other charges on Wednesday.
The television actor Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty for her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to the cult-like group NXIVM, has been released from a California prison, according to a government website.
