Transcript

Hello, everyone! Welcome to ‘Just a Moment News.’ I’m your host, Erika, and today, on May 2, 2024, we’ve got a roundup of some intriguing stories to share with you.

Starting off, let’s head over to South Africa, where there’s been a significant report released by Stats SA on the mortality rates in the country for the year 2020. It appears that South Africa saw a substantial rise in deaths, totaling 489,744, with the majority being attributed to natural causes. This increase is mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which also seemingly contributed to a decrease in deaths from non-natural causes, likely due to reduced mobility during the lockdown. Interestingly, the leading natural causes of death were Covid-19, diabetes, and strokes, while unnatural deaths were primarily due to accidental injuries and assaults.

Switching gears to the tech world, Dropbox recently experienced a major security breach specifically in its digital-signature product, Dropbox Sign. This incident, which occurred on April 24, exposed user data like emails and phone numbers. Fortunately, no user accounts or payment details were compromised. Despite this setback, Dropbox, which is a major player in the cloud storage sector, continues its operations and it seems this breach might not significantly impact its financial health.

Now, let’s talk about a huge financial transaction in the tech industry. Google has paid Apple a whopping twenty billion dollars to keep Google as the default search engine on Safari for one year. This deal is part of a larger antitrust lawsuit against Google by the U.S. Justice Department, which accuses Google of trying to monopolize the online search and advertising markets. It’s interesting to note that this payment made up a significant portion of Apple’s operating income in 2020.

Moving on, Airbnb has just added a whimsical new listing to their platform. They’ve introduced a real-life replica of the house from the animated movie “Up,” located in New Mexico. This house not only captures the charm of the beloved film but also features a unique capability to hover up to fifty feet in the air, thanks to over eight thousand balloons and a supporting crane. This listing is part of Airbnb’s new “Icons” category, which includes other unique properties like Prince’s residence from “Purple Rain.”

In the world of sports, or more specifically, autonomous motor racing, there was quite an event in Abu Dhabi. The Autonomous Racing League showcased advanced autonomous driving technology in their racing cars. However, the event didn’t go as smoothly as hoped, with numerous technical issues and difficulties in navigating unexpected obstacles on the track. This certainly puts a spotlight on the current limitations of AI in motorsports.

Lastly, let’s touch upon a bit of entertainment news. The long-awaited live-action “Masters of the Universe” movie finally has a release date. Scheduled for June 5, 2026, the film will follow the journey of Prince Adam, who transforms into He-Man to battle the evil Skeletor. It’s been a project many years in the making, involving various studios and filmmakers, and now it’s set to compete with major releases like “Toy Story 5.”

That wraps up our stories for today on ‘Just a Moment News.’ I hope you found these snippets from around the globe as interesting as I did. Thanks for tuning in, I’m Erika, and I’ll catch you next time on ‘Just a Moment News.’ Stay informed and take care!

Keywords - moment, daily, news