Thursday morning news: October 10, 2024

SOUND: [Hurricane]

Milton » Hurricane Milton was still lashing the Florida peninsula early this morning after roaring ashore over the state's Gulf Coast late last night. Milton made landfall near Sarasota  with winds well over 100 miles per hour. 

Search and rescue crews are already leaping into action. Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters on Wednesday …

DESANTIS:  We have hundreds of state search and rescue personnel on hand. 26 total teams. They are currently embedded in the potential impact sites along the West Coast to begin immediate rescue operations as soon as the storm passes.

Michael Brennan with the National Hurricane Center had this advice for potentially millions of Floridians now without power: 

BRENNAN:  You want to use flashlights and not candles. You want to practice portable generator safety. We lose a lot of people to carbon monoxide poisoning from improper generator use. And you want to be careful with any food and water left in your home without refrigeration. Again, make sure that it's safe to eat.

Milton was the second hurricane to hit Florida in as many weeks … on the heels of Hurricane Helene. 

The Pentagon says thousands of National Guard troops have been on standby, ready to assist in rescue and recovery efforts. 

Helene recovery » Gov. DeSantis also shot back on Wednesday at Vice President Kamala Harris who has criticized the governor for not taking her phone calls as Hurricane Milton closed in. 

The governor noted that five other hurricanes have hit the state since Harris took office. 

DESANTIS:  She has never been interested in any of the storms we've had in the state of Florida for entire time as vice president. Now she's out there attacking me because I'm not catering to her whims. All she's trying to do is inject herself to be a part of her political campaign. I don't have time for political games. We've got a job to do. We got people's lives on the line.

DeSantis said Harris, as vice president, had no official role to play in preparation for or recovery from the storm. He added that he’s been in regular contact with the White House and FEMA. 

North Korea » North Korea continues to ramp up hostility toward South Korea. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The Kim Jong Un regime says it will destroy roads and railways linking the two countries. 

It’s the latest move by Pyongyang, intended to signal that the North and South will never reunify. 

Cross-border travel and exchanges had already been halted for years.

The Kim regime cited what it called various war exercises in South Korea, the deployment of U.S. strategic assets. 

The South has deepened its military cooperation with the U.S. as the North ramped up nuclear testing and military threats. 

However, the North has not yet announced an expected constitutional revision designating South Korea its principal enemy. 

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin. 

Israel » President Biden spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday for the first time since August. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

JEAN-PIERRE: It lasted about 30 minutes. It was 30 minutes long. It was direct. It was productive. They discussed a range of issues.

One topic of discussion: Israel's potential retaliation against Iran for its missile attack against Israel last week. Jean-Pierre was tight-lipped about what Netanyahu shared during that conversation. But Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant pulled no punches.

GALLANT: [Speaking Hebrew]

Gallant says Israel's retaliation will be lethal, precise, and above all, surprising. He says Iran will not understand what happened or how it happened, but they will see the results.

Afghan terrorist arrest » The Justice Department has charged an Afghan that it says has ties to ISIS for allegedly planning an Election Day attack in the U.S. 

FBI agents in Oklahoma arrested 27-year-old Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi after the agency said he purchased rifles and ammunition from an undercover officer. 

Authorities also arrested his juvenile brother in law who is accused of being a co-conspirator. 

Death toll from gang attack in Haiti » In Haiti, the death toll from a brutal attack on a small town is now well over 100 people. WORLD’s Paul Butler has that story. 

PAUL BUTLER: A local official near the town of Pont-Sondé says at least 115 people are now confirmed dead, including infants and elderly residents.

The attack is one of the deadliest massacres that Haiti has seen in recent history. 

More than 6,000 survivors have fled the village and temporarily settled in the coastal city of Saint-Marc and surrounding areas.

A human rights group said the gang known as Gran Grif was angry that a local self-defense group was trying to limit gang activity in Pont-Sondé. The group was also preventing the gang from profiting off a makeshift road toll it had recently set up nearby.

For WORLD, I’m Paul Butler. 

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Christian baker Jack Phillips on this week’s Colorado Supreme Court decision. Plus, when Christian empathy becomes a weapon against the church.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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