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UN nuclear agency chief says he’s satisfied with Japan’s plans to release Fukushima wastewater

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

By MARI YAMAGUCHI (Associated Press)FUTABA, Japan (AP) — The head of the U.N. atomic agency toured Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Wednesday and said he is satisfied with still-contentious plans to release treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi observed where the treated water will be sent through a pipeline to a coastal facility, where it will be highly diluted with seawater and receive a final test sampling. It will then be released 1 kilometer (1,000 yards) offshore through an undersea tunnel.“I was satisfied with what I saw,” Grossi said after his tour of equipment at the plant for the planned discharge, which Japan hopes to begin this summer. “I don’t see any pending issues.”The wastewater release still faces opposition in and outside Japan.Earlier Wednesday, Grossi met with local mayors and fishing association leaders and stressed th...

Here's how to celebrate Pride this month in San Diego

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- While Pride Month has wrapped up, San Diego's celebrations are just getting started.Pride Month, which is traditionally held every June, commemorates the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising -- a series of protests following police raid at New York City's Stonewall Inn that's considered the beginning of the movement to overturn discriminatory laws against the LGBTQ+ community.San Diego's celebrations, however, have been taking place in the month of July for nearly three decades, ever since the 1990 Pride Parade was nearly rained out amid "June Gloom."This month, the county's biggest Pride celebrations will be taking place, along with numerous other events. This Hillcrest bar is one of the last of its kind Here's a round-up of some of the Pride events happening this month:Black Pride 2023: The San Diego Black LGBTQ Coalition will be hosting their annual Black Pride, a jampacked weekend of intersectional celebrations. The theme this year is "Black Joy Renaissance"...

Free food distributions available throughout summer in San Diego

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Rock Church will host weekly food distributions throughout San Diego County during the summer months, the organization announced Wednesday.The free offerings will be open to the community and will include food, diapers and other necessary day-to-day supplies.Rock Church says, "summer months often see an increase in need as students are not receiving free meals at school that are provided during the school year." Big Bay Boom: Rewatch fireworks over San Diego Bay The food distributions are set to occur weekly at the different Rock Church campuses.Food distribution schedule:–Rock Church San Marcos, located at 1370 West San Marcos Boulevard, will host every first Thursday of the month.–Rock Church City Heights, located at 4001 El Cajon Boulevard, will host every second Thursday of the month.–Rock Church Point Loma, located at 2277 Rosecrans Street, will host every third Thursday of the month.–Rock Church Chula Vista, located at 2015 Birch Road, will host every ...

Rain and environmental activists affect play on Day 3 at Wimbledon. Iga Swiatek eases into 3rd round

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Rain was again affecting play at Wimbledon on Day 3 of the grass-court tournament, and environmental activists halted two matches as well.Intermittent showers Wednesday forced matches on the outside courts to be suspended twice, while play in the main stadiums was also stopped for a short time because of the weather.Two Just Stop Oil protestors were arrested after disrupting one match by running onto Court 18 and throwing orange confetti onto the grass, before being led off by security. That stopped the first-round encounter between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro early in the second set, and the rain then came before the confetti could be cleared. The match resumed with the others after the rain delay. The two protestors were arrested “on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage,” the All England Club said in a statement. A few hours later during the next match on the same court, another man representing the same organization also threw ora...

Elie Saab captivates Paris couture with a fusion of past and present

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

PARIS (AP) — In the stone cloisters of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs adjoining the palatial Louvre, Elie Saab unveiled his latest collection to a rapt audience of VIPs, including Alicia Silverstone, on Wednesday.Amid the historic venue, Saab presented a couture show that astounded attendees with its intricate detailing and magnificent silhouettes — and lived up to the venue’s grandeur.Here are some highlights of Wednesday’s fall-winter 2023 couture collections:SAAB’S CINEMATIC SIRENS STRUT IN SILKStaying true to his glamour-focused ethos, the fall collection saw Saab recraft history’s contours through a modern lens. Drawing inspiration from heroines of period pieces — Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth,” Charlize Theron in “Snow White and the Huntsman,” and more — Saab reinterpreted these timeless figures.Complex embellishments, intricate textures, and sparkling jewel tones of ruby, amethyst and emerald danced across gowns, paying homage to the regal, cinematic muses. Medieval symbo...

Rip currents prompted 200 rescues in Virginia and North Carolina over the July Fourth weekend

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Strong rip currents prompted lifeguards to pull about 200 swimmers from the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia and North Carolina over the holiday weekend. Tom Gill, chief of the Virginia Beach Lifesaving Service, told The Virginian-Pilot that the city’s more than 180 rescues were high even for a holiday weekend. Gill said that three of the rescued swimmers were taken to hospitals for treatment after appearing to have inhaled water. Virginia Beach lifeguards had been flying red flags to warn of dangerous rip currents. But it was difficult to keep people out of the water given the hot weather, Gill said.“It’s hot and people want to get in the water and need to get in the water,” he said. “And we understand that.”On North Carolina’s Hatteras Island, authorities reported 21 rescues over the weekend, the Pilot reported. The rescues in Virginia and North Carolina follow at least 10 deaths last month that authorities attributed to rip currents along the Gulf...

Wisconsin’s Democratic governor scales back Republican tax cut, signs state budget

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed off on a two-year spending plan Wednesday after dramatically scaling back the size of a Republican income tax cut that would have moved the state closer to a flat rate.Evers, a Democrat, called the Republican-authored budget “imperfect and incomplete” but stopped short of vetoing the entire plan, which would have required the Legislature to start over. He called on Republicans to do more to address key areas, including higher education and child care support.Republicans proposed tapping nearly half of the state’s projected $7 billion budget surplus to cut income taxes across the board by $3.5 billion. Evers reduced the size of the cut to $800 million by doing away with rate reductions for the two highest brackets.Evers was unable to undo the $32 million cut to the University of Wisconsin, which was funding that Republicans said would have gone toward diversity, equity and inclusion — or DEI — programming and staff. Th...

Mitigation efforts continue at Suncor in wake of cyberattack

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

CALGARY — Canada’s top technical authority on cybersecurity says it is working closely with Suncor Energy Inc. in the aftermath of a high-profile systems breach at the energy giant.The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security says it can’t disclose details of the cybersecurity incident that caused payment systems at many of Suncor’s Petro-Canada locations across the country to go down last week. Sami Khoury, head of the centre — which leads Canada’s federal response to cybersecurity incidents — says mitigation efforts at Suncor are still ongoing, and sharing information too soon may compromise those efforts.Suncor has not provided details about the type of cyberattack that occurred or whether any of its other operations were affected.Some experts have said the Suncor systems breach will likely cost the company millions of dollars before it is resolved.Khoury says the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security recently briefed high-level oil and gas executives about how to ...

Exonerated member of ‘Central Park Five’ wins primary, nearly assuring seat on NYC Council

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” has won the Democratic primary, all but assuring him a seat on the New York City Council. It’s an improbable feat for a political novice who was wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned as a teenager for the rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park.Salaam’s primary win is for the seat representing Central Harlem on the City Council. The Associated Press refrained from calling the race on election night but additional votes released Wednesday showed him to be the clear winner.“I am here because, Harlem, you believed in me,” Salaam said in his victory speech Tuesday night.Salaam and the four other Black and Latino teens from Harlem became known as the “Central Park Five” after their arrest in 1985 in the headline-grabbing rape, one of the city’s most notorious and racially fraught crimes. He served nearly seven years in prison before the group was exonerated through DNA evidence.His outsider camp...

Media outlets pull back from Facebook, Instagram as Meta plans to block news

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:16:48 GMT

Media companies began pulling advertising from some social media platforms and telling readers and viewers how to access news directly as Google and Metamoved toward blocking Canadian news from their services.News and telecommunications company Quebecor Inc. announced Wednesday it would immediately withdraw advertising from Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms, a move that comes after the tech giant’s decision to remove Canadian news from its sites.“Any move by Meta to circumvent Canadian law, block news for its users or discriminate against Canadian media content on its platforms, through its algorithms or otherwise, cannot be tolerated,” Quebecor said in a press release.Meta has chosen to block Canadian news from its social media services in response to the federal Online News Act, which will require Google and Meta to pay news publishers for content that appears on their sites if it helps them generate money. The act known as Bill C-18 is due to come in...