Friday, August 20 top stories
It is Friday, August 20. Here are today’s top stories.
Tesla announced that it is going to build a human-looking robot called Tesla Bot. Its height is 5’8 and weights 125 lbs.
CEO Elon Musk said he wants to use the technology in their cars to read environments and apply it to humanoid robots so they can achieve repetitive and boring or dangerous tasks.
Tropical Storm Henri is now forecast to turn into a hurricane and move in a path towards the New England area as a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday morning. The Weather Channel said residents of the Northeast U.S. should monitor Henri’s progress closely. There is a hurricane watch along the coast from Long Island to Cape Cod.
A family of three and their dog was found dead on a hiking trail in the Sierra National Forest on Tuesday, and law enforcement said they do not know the cause of death. The family was John Gerrish, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter Miju, and their golden retriever named Oski. There was no obvious signs of trauma or any kind of suicide note. Officials say it is possible that toxic algae blooms from nearby water caused the deaths.
Mike Richards was recently announced as the new host of “Jeopardy!” to replace Alex Trebek, who passed away from cancer. But now he is stepping down because it was revealed by “The Ringer” that he made sexist remarks towards female co-workers and made offensive comments about women and Jewish people on a podcast he did in 2013 and 2014. Richards is the executive producer for the show and will remain in that role.
OnlyFans, a popular online video service where creators can upload videos to generate revenue from viewers who pay a fee, announced it would prohibit sexually explicit content starting in October. OnlyFans was known for its adult content, and the company said it’s changing its policy because it was asked to do so by its banking partners and payout providers. Axios reported that OnlyFans had a problem with attracting investors because of its adult content, but now many on social media predict that OnlyFans’ business model will collapse if it doesn’t allow adult content.
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In sad news, one of the people spotted falling off a U.S. military plane last weekend in Kabul was identified as Zaki Anwari, a 19-year-old soccer player who played for Afghanistan’s national youth team.
There are several concerning reports of Taliban executing people in Afghanistan.
A retired Marine sergeant named Ryan Rogers told Fox News that an interpreter he worked with during the war in Afghanistan is trapped somewhere in Kabul and prevented from going to the airport. The interpreter told Rogers that the Taliban found three Afghan National Army commanders by going door-to-door and executed them by hanging.
German news channel Deutsche Welle (DW) said Taliban fighters who were looking for a DW journalist that is currently in Germany shot and killed a family member in Kabul and seriously injured another. The family is now on the run. DW said the Taliban’s promises that they would be peaceful and forgiving are worthless.
There are concerns about Christians in Afghanistan and for those who follow different religions other than Islam because they could be targeted by the Taliban. An article in the Washington Post explains that Afghan citizens are already not legally allowed to convert to Christianity, but now their situation may be worse.
President Joe Biden gave an address this afternoon from the White House about the situation in Afghanistan. He said he is focused on evacuating U.S. citizens and Afghan nationals from the Kabul airport. He said over 13,000 people have been evacuated since August 14. Biden admitted that he doesn’t know the exact number of Americans who are still in Afghanistan but vowed to get them out. Biden repeated his point that the withdrawal happened because it was time to end the war and put the blame for the country’s collapse on Afghan leaders not being willing to fight the Taliban. Biden said he is focused on preventing terror threats from around the world, not to maintain a presence in Afghanistan. Biden said he made the decision, that the buck stops with him.
That is all the top stories for today. Have a great weekend and stay with the light.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58272740
https://electrek.co/2021/08/19/tesla-bot-humanoid-robot/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/20/media/deutsche-welle-taliban-afghanistan/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58272740
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/family-found-dead-sierra-national-forest_n_611f4065e4b0c6968106d90a