Tuesday morning news: October 15, 2024

Israel » Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing back against claims that Israel's military has been targeting members of a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

NETANYAHU: The charge that Israel deliberately attacked UNIFIL personnel is completely false. It's exactly the opposite. Israel repeatedly asked UNIFIL to get out of harm’s way. It repeatedly asked them to temporarily leave the combat zone, which is right next to Israel’s border with Lebanon.

Five peacekeepers with UNIFEL -- the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon -- have been wounded in attacks. Most of those incidents have been blamed on Israel.

The prime minister again reiterated Israel's right to defend itself against the ongoing attacks from the Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah.

SOUND: [IDF soldier funeral]

And in a somber reminder of those attacks, hundreds of mourners gathered in Israel yesterday for the funeral of Sergeant Alon Amitai. The 19-year-old was one of four Israeli soldiers killed in a drone attack against an I-D-F military base near the city of Binyamina Sunday.

That attack was the deadliest launched by Hezbollah...since Israel started its ground invasion of Lebanon two weeks ago.

MOTHER: [Speaking Hebrew]

Speaking there, Amitai's mother says she feels as though her heart has been ripped out.

Milton aftermath » The state of Florida is working to stem a fuel shortage in the wake of Hurricane Milton. Governor Ron DeSantis heard here in Palmetto, just south of Tampa.

DESANTIS: We have fuel for the public. We’re not even charging you. Free gas, imagine that.

Florida is offering residents ten free gallons of gas.

Many have been using that fuel to run generators with hundreds of thousands still without power. DeSantis says crews are working around the clock.

DESANTIS: There have been over 3.8 million accounts restored for power. So right now, about 97% of the state is electrified and operational.

Infrastructure has been leveled in some of the hardest hit areas. But for residents in the rest of the state, those who lost power should have the lights back on within the next few days.

Hurricane Milton is blamed for at least 22 deaths.

Florida Milton insurance » In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton some insurance carriers are setting up shop in Florida at so-called insurance villages in the Tampa Bay area.

At four separate locations, policyholders whose homes were damaged can meet in person with insurance company representatives and get their claims started.

Jimmy Petronas is Chief Financial Officer for the state of Florida.

PETRONAS: Depending on what type of policy you have, you might get you know, up to like 10, 000 as living expense money if your house is not habitable right now.

Insurance carriers are bracing for upwards of 50 billion in losses with Florida already suffering from a property insurance crisis.

SpaceX ANNCR: 3,2,1 ignition and liftoff, liftoff … a Falcon Heavy with Europa Clipper.

NASA Jupiter mission » SpaceX launching the Europa Clipper on Monday from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. It’s embarking on a quest to explore Jupiter's moon Europa.

Laurie Leshin is the director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

LESHIN: Even though it’s a robot we’re sending out into space, it’s a very human endeavor to want to explore the unknown.

It will take 5 1/2 years for Clipper to reach Jupiter. Once there, the spacecraft will orbit the giant gas planet, sneaking close to Europa during dozens of flybys.

Scientists are almost certain a vast, deep ocean exists beneath Europa's icy crust.

Nobel economics » The Nobel committee in Sweden handed out the last Nobel prize of the year this week honoring three professors in the United States for their work in economic science.

The trio worked to understand why some countries grow rich and others poor. They theorize that a country's social institutions strongly influence its wealth patterns.

Co-laureate MIT professor Daron Acemoglu says modern democracies have hit a rough patch.

ACEMOGLU: It is in some sense quite crucial that they reclaim the high ground of better governance, cleaner governance, and delivering sort of the promise of democracy to a broad range of people.

The three professors will be formally honored alongside other 2024 laureates at a formal ceremony in December.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: storm damage recovery assistance is in high demand. Plus, following the trail of Lewis and Clark.

This is The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.