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Japan, South Korea eye visit by team of experts as Fukushima nuclear plant prepares water release

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

Officials from Japan and South Korea eyed a potential visit by South Korean experts to the Fukushima nuclear plant before it begins the controversial release of treated but radioactive water to sea. It’s one of their major sticking points between the two sides that are quickly thawing long-strained ties. Discussions were to take place later Friday, and the Japanese government was expected to give updates on the status of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which is preparing for a release of the water, saying it’s an unavoidable step to move its decommissioning process forward.The government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, say the release will begin between spring and summer and take decades to finish.A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation. Water used to cool the three damaged reactor core...

Philippine court acquits former justice secretary of drug charges after key witnesses said they lied

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A former Philippine opposition senator and justice secretary was acquitted of drug charges Friday after key witnesses recanted and said they had lied about her involvement in narcotics trafficking.Leila de Lima, 63, remained jailed, however, as she has one outstanding charge against her. De Lima has been detained since 2017 on drug charges she says were fabricated by former President Rodrigo Duterte and his officials in an attempt to muzzle her criticism of his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs. His campaign left thousands of mostly petty suspects dead and sparked an International Criminal Court investigation as a possible crime against humanity.Duterte, who has insisted on de Lima’s guilt, left office last June at the end of his turbulent six-year term.Trial court judge Abraham Alcantara said in his ruling that a former senior police official’s recantation led to his decision to acquit de Lima.“Without his testimony, the crucial link to establish co...

Memphis ‘snake factory’ transplants slither into their new home in Louisiana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

BENTLEY, La. (AP) — They were born and raised in captivity, but as they slowly slithered away from their handlers and disappeared into gopher holes in the Kisatchie National Forest, the group of Louisiana pine snakes appeared to be right at home.The five pine snakes bred at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee were released into the Kisatchie in early May as part of an ongoing conservation effort involving zoos in Memphis, New Orleans and two Texas cities, Fort Worth and Lufkin. This year, more than 100 pine snakes — a species the federal government lists as threatened — will be released into the central Louisiana forest.“We provide the snakes in our snake factories, which are funded by the U.S. Forest Service, into habitat that the Fish and Wildlife Service and Forest Service have developed,” said Steve Reichling, the Memphis Zoo’s Director of Conservation and Research. “It’s just a perfect marriage, really.”Reichling said the characteristics of the area where the snakes were r...

For Buffalo shooting victims’ kin, Mother’s Day is a reminder of loss, a lesson in navigating grief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Tirzah Patterson will dedicate this Mother’s Day to the hardest part of a mother’s job, trying to help her child make sense of tragedy.Patterson and her husband had divorced but remained close for the sake of their son. Then Heyward Patterson was gunned down along with nine people in a racist attack at a Buffalo supermarket a year ago Sunday.Tirzah and 13-year-old Jaques “Jake” Patterson recently opened up about coping with immense grief after a mass shooting, an unceasing story across the nation.Jake’s compass through grief, his mother has told him, should be his faith and prayer. That guidance would serve so many mothers and fathers as the death toll from gun violence in America climbs and spreads, she said.A beloved church deacon known for offering rides home from the supermarket for people without cars, Heyward Patterson made a heartfelt call to his ex-wife last Mother’s Day, telling his ex-wife what a great mother she was and how happy he was about how she ...

Money-hungry, or spiritually misguided? Jury weighs fate of slain kids’ mom in triple murder trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho jury is weighing two theories in the strange triple murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell: Is she a power-hungry manipulator who would kill her two youngest children for money, as prosecutors allege, or a normally protective mother who fell under the romantic sway of a wannabe cult leader, as the defense team claims?Jurors heard both stories Thursday during final arguments in the seven-week long trial, and deliberated for about four hours before breaking for the evening. They will continue the work of deciding Vallow Daybell’s fate on Friday morning, a court bailiff said. Vallow Daybell and her fifth husband Chad Daybell are both charged with murder, conspiracy and grand theft in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and Daybell’s previous wife Tammy Daybell. Prosecutors say the two worked with Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, to carry out the crimes. Cox died in December 2019 and was never charged. Both defend...

Authorities capture 1 of 2 inmates who escaped from Philadelphia prison

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — One of two inmates who escaped from a Philadelphia prison was captured Thursday night while dressed as a woman, federal authorities said.Members of a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force were conducting surveillance in an area of North Philadelphia where they believed 24-year-old Nasir Grant was staying, said Robert Clark, a supervisory deputy with the Marshals Service Eastern District of Pennsylvania.Shortly before 10:30 p.m., a man resembling Grant “came out of a residence wearing full female Muslim garb and a head covering,” Clark told journalists.Grant got into a car and authorities followed it and stopped him nearby.“I believe he was thoroughly surprised,” Clark said, adding that Grant was taken into custody without any problem. “He submitted to our commands, and it was pretty much an uneventful arrest, which is the way we like it,” Clark said.The search continued for Ameen Hurst, 18, who escaped with Grant from the Philadelphia Industrial C...

A look at the parties and issues in Thailand’s election on Sunday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand votes Sunday in an election many see as an opportunity to break free from military-dominated governments that have held power for most of the nation’s modern history.THE BASICS:Some 52 million eligible voters will choose among candidates from 70 parties to serve a four-year term in the House of Representatives. It will have 400 members directly elected by constituencies and 100 chosen by proportional representation on a nationwide party preference ballot. Parties that win at least 25 seats are qualified to nominate a prime minister and can name up to three candidates.The prime minister is selected by a simple majority of a joint vote of the lower house and the Senate, whose 250 members were not elected but appointed by a military government. That means the winning candidate needs at least 376 votes.THE BACKSTORY:Political turmoil has persisted since the 2006 army coup ousting Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The billionaire populist was accused of cor...

Trump’s sexual assault verdict marks a rare moment of accountability. And women are noticing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Cassandra Nuñez and her grandmother cast their first ballots in a U.S. presidential election in 2016. She was a first-year college student; her grandmother, a newly minted citizen. They both hoped to elect the first woman president over a man who bragged about grabbing and kissing women at will.But Donald Trump became president, and it would be nearly seven years before a Trump accuser could press her claims at trial. This week, jurors in a New York civil case said they believed that Trump sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room in the 1990s — making him the first U.S. president found liable by a jury in a sexual battery case. The panel awarded her $5 million in damages. “It’s a victorious moment, but why did the people of the United States let this happen?” said Nuñez, now 25, of Los Angeles, noting the number of sexual misconduct accusations against Trump during the campaign and since his election. “It’s kind of late.”The verdict — a rare m...

Thailand’s election may deliver mandate for change, but opposition victory may not assure power

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Voters disaffected by nine years of plodding rule by a coup-making army general are expected to deliver a strong mandate for change in Thailand’s general election Sunday. But a predicted victory by the allies of Thaksin Shinawatra, whose ouster by coup 17 years ago plunged the country into prolonged instability, has caused concern for an unhindered democratic transition.Dissatisfaction with the incumbent prime minister running for reelection, Prayuth Chan-ocha, is high, due in part to a slumping economy and his government’s mismanaged response to the COVID-19 pandemic.But weariness and even anger at the military’s habitual interference in politics is a major factor. Thailand has had more than a dozen coups since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932, the last one in 2014 carried out by Prayuth when he was army commander. Prayuth’s governments slapped down democratic reforms and prosecuted activists.“The main factor could be that people are no longer willing...

Video: Smash-and-grab crew use car to plow into Corona store, steal $65K in merchandise

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:00 GMT

Surveillance video captured the moment more than a dozen thieves used an alleged stolen vehicle to crash into a camera and electronics store in Riverside County and make off with thousands of dollars in merchandise.  The incident occurred on April 17, just before 6 a.m., at Mac Star Cameras & Electronics in Corona, according to the store’s management.  In the video, the vehicle’s revving engine can be heard just as the front of the store comes crashing inward. The driver of the vehicle then pulls forward and reverses again, crashing farther into the store, causing the corrugated security door to hit shelving along the wall.  Moments later, thieves come streaming in and begin ransacking the store, several of them wearing flashlights on their heads. The smash-and-grab crew is undeterred when the store’s alarm system goes off and the lights come on. They continue to systematically steal as many things as possible and carry them out the front of the store.  ...