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.
Palestinians in the sealed-off Gaza Strip are scrambling to find safety, as Israeli strikes demolish entire neighborhoods, hospitals run low on supplies and a power blackout is expected within hours.
Claudia Goldin, a Harvard University professor, was awarded the Nobel economics prize on Monday for research that helps explain why women around the world are less likely than men to work and to earn less money when they do.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday he has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel after the attack by Hamas that has left more than 1,000 dead on both sides. Americans were reported to be among those killed and missing.
Men dug through rubble with their bare hands and shovels in western Afghanistan on Sunday in desperate attempts to pull victims from the wreckage of earthquakes that killed at least 2,000 people.
