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Fukushima nuclear plant will start releasing treated radioactive water to sea as early as Thursday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan will start releasing treated and diluted radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean as early as Thursday — a controversial but essential early step in the decades of work to shut down the facility 12 years after its meltdown disaster.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave the final go-ahead Tuesday at a meeting of Cabinet ministers involved in the plan and instructed the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, to be ready to start the coastal release Thursday if weather and sea conditions permit.Kishida said at the meeting that the release of the water is essential for the progress of the plant decommissioning and Fukushima prefecture’s recovery from the March 11, 2011, disaster.He said the government has done everything for now to ensure the plan’s safety, protect the reputation of Japan’s fishing industry and clearly explain the scientific basis to gain understanding in and outside the country. He pledg...

Ex-Prime Minister Thaksin enters prison in Thailand, facing 8-year sentence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra entered prison to begin serving an 8-year sentence Tuesday, hours after returning to the country after years of self-imposed exile.The divisive former leader returned the same day that a party affiliated with him faces a key vote on its path to form a new government. Thaksin has said his decision to return has nothing to do with the Pheu Thai party’s bid for power, but many believe the party made deals with pro-military parties to facilitate the 74-year-old billionaire’s return.Pheu Thai is the latest in a string of parties formed by Thaksin or his allies, two of which were removed from power by military coups, resulting in years of upheaval and division that pitted a mostly poor, rural pro-Thaksin majority in the north against royalists, the military and their urban backers.Thaksin’s private jet landed around 9 a.m. local time in Bangkok, where he was welcomed by family and supporters. After walking out of t...

2023 World Humanitarian Day: Statement High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell and Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

Around the world, more and more people are being pushed deeper into humanitarian crises due to new and ongoing conflicts and the consequences of the climate and ecological emergency. If those in need of humanitarian assistance formed a country, it would be the third largest globally. And this suffering non-country is growing at an exponential rate – up 30% since early 2022. Now more than ever before, people in crises are in need of humanitarian support.That is why, on World Humanitarian Day, we pay tribute to aid workers on the frontlines risking their lives to save others and reduce human suffering – and honour the memory of those who perished in the service of others.This summer marks 20 years since the devastating bomb attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people, mostly humanitarian aid workers. Sadly, the risk landscape has only worsened since then. Today, aid workers around the world are in greater danger than ever before. This year so far, attacks against aid ...

Macao: EU report highlights growing emphasis on national security that risks undermining fundamental freedoms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

The European Commission and the High Representative have adopted their 23rd annual report to the European Parliament and the Council on political and economic developments in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR). This report covers developments in 2022.The report shows a growing focus on national security that bears the risk of undermining fundamental freedoms in Macao and eroding the ‘one country, two systems' principle and Macao's high degree of autonomy.On 15 December, the Legislative Assembly passed a bill to amend the 2009 national security law. The expressed aim of the bill is to enable the law to safeguard national security to the same extent as the laws of mainland China and of Hong Kong. The amended law expands the scope of the existing offences to include non-violent actions under subversion, and further widens the definition of sedition. The scope of the charge of collusion has been broadened to include any organisation, association, and individual outside of Mac...

A’s slugger hits walk-off homer, making sure he could attend Zach Bryan’s concert. Then he went on stage.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

OAKLAND — Brent Rooker hit a two-run home run off Dylan Coleman in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Oakland Athletics a 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals at the Coliseum.And it might have only been the second coolest thing Rooker did Monday night.After the A’s victory, Rooker made the short walk over to the Oakland Arena to see Zach Bryan perform in concert. But not only did the Rooker see the show, he joined Bryan on stage — wearing his Kelly green A’s jersey — and began to sing alongside the 2022 Grammy Award nominee.“I don’t even know what happened,” Bryan wrote in an Instagram story late Monday night. “@zachlanebryan is the absolute man. Burned the house down as always.”Bryan also acknowledged Rooker’s dual talents on Instagram, saying, “Man belted a homer then came and BELTED WITH US.”Great night for Brent Rooker. Slugs his second walk-off homer of the season and gets to go on stage for Za...

Phoenix faces Los Angeles, seeks to end 3-game slide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

Phoenix Mercury (9-23, 2-13 Western Conference) at Los Angeles Sparks (13-18, 7-10 Western Conference)Los Angeles; Wednesday, 10 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Phoenix is looking to break its three-game skid with a win against Los Angeles.The Sparks’ record in Western Conference play is 7-10. Los Angeles ranks second in the Western Conference at limiting opponent scoring, allowing 81.0 points while holding opponents to 45.6% shooting.The Mercury have gone 2-13 against Western Conference opponents. Phoenix ranks third in the Western Conference with 19.3 assists per game led by Sug Sutton averaging 4.4.The teams square off for the fourth time this season. The Mercury won the last matchup 78-72 on July 9. Brittney Griner scored 29 points to help lead the Mercury to the win.TOP PERFORMERS: Dearica Hamby is averaging 8.9 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Sparks. Nneka Ogwumike is averaging 19.5 points over the last 10 games for Los Angeles.Griner is averaging 17.9 points, seven rebounds and 1....

Brutal beating caught on camera: Navy veteran describes attack in Miami Beach

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

Newly released body camera footage captured the moments a veteran became the victim of a brutal beach beating. Now, he is describing exactly what happened to him. The police were at the scene at a CVS minutes after the vicious, unprovoked, sudden attack of a 70-year-old Navy veteran in Miami Beach.“You tell us what happened,” an officer said.The body camera footage obtained exclusively by 7News showed the moments after the victim was beaten and bloodied at a Lincoln Road bus stop in late June.His face was soaked in blood while waiting inside the CVS where he was first taken as he waited for help.He told officers about the attack. “This is what happened, I’m waiting over here at the bus stop,” the victim said. “I go to the VA. I volunteer there. I am also a veteran.”The veteran was on his way to help fellow vets at the VA Hospital until his brutal encounter.“He comes by, and he’s on his bike, he gets off his bike, walks around,...

Pakistan mounts efforts to rescue 6 children and 2 men trapped in a chairlift

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani emergency workers launched a rescue operation to try and save six children and two men trapped in a chairlift after one of its cables snapped off on Tuesday, leaving it dangling high above ground in the country’s northwest. The chairlift was installed across a river canyon, connecting villages in Battagram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It was used by local villagers to cross the river and shorten the distance to nearby schools, government offices and other businesses. Taimoor Khan, a spokesman for the disaster management authority, said the chairlift had been dangling 350 meters (1,150 feet) above ground for six hours before a helicopter was dispatched to the site to try and pluck the eight out of the chairlift. Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar ordered the helicopter rescue, Khan said. Many villagers in Pakistan’s mountainous regions use such chairlifts to shorten distances and travel and an unspecifie...

Ex-Prime Minister Thaksin enters prison in Thailand, as his allies attempt to form a government

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Parliament on Tuesday began voting in a second attempt to choose a prime minister, hours after ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand after years of self-imposed exile and entered prison to begin serving an eight-year sentence.The Thaksin-linked Pheu Thai Party proposed former property developer Srettha Thavisin as the head of an 11-party coalition that includes two parties allied with its former military adversaries, holding 314 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives.Srettha also needs support from the non-elected Senate, appointed by a previous military government. Both houses of Parliament vote together for prime minister under a military-implemented constitution, and senators, like the army, see themselves as guardians of traditional conservative royalist values. Srettha is not a member of parliament and does not appear to be present for the vote.Pheu Thai is the latest in a string of parties formed by Thaksin or his allies,...

Russia’s Putin stays away over arrest warrant as leaders of emerging economies meet in South Africa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:36:21 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will be notably absent when Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders from the BRICS group of emerging economie s start a three-day summit in South Africa on Tuesday.The bloc, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is holding its first in-person meeting since before the COVID-19 pandemic, but Putin will participate via video call after his travel to South Africa was complicated by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued for him in March over the abduction of children from Ukraine.Xi, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will attend in person as the bloc — home to 40% of the world’s population and responsible for more than 30% of global economic output — mulls a possible expansion.That will top the agenda at Wednesday’s main summit meeting in Johannesburg’s financial distri...