Robot begins removing Fukushima nuclear plant’s melted fuel

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tokyo — A long robot entered a damaged reactor at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant on Tuesday, beginning a two-week, high-stakes mission to retrieve for the first time a tiny amount of melted fuel debris from the bottom. The robot’s trip into the Unit 2 reactor is a crucial initial step for what comes next — a daunting, decades-long process to decommission the plant and deal with large amounts of highly radioactive melted fuel inside three reactors that were damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Specialists hope the robot will help them learn more about the status ofmore

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Ohio city reshaped by Haitian immigrants lands in unwelcome spotlight

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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Many cities have been reshaped by immigrants in the last few years without attracting much notice. Not Springfield, Ohio. Its story of economic renewal and related growing pains has been thrust into the national conversation in a presidential election year — and maliciously distorted by false rumors that Haitian immigrants are eating their neighbors’ pets. Donald Trump amplified those lies during Tuesday’s nationally televised debate, exacerbating some residents’ fears about growing divisiveness in the predominantly white, blue-collar city of about 60,000. At the city’s Haitian Community Help and Support Center on Wednesday, Rose-Thamar Joseph said many of themore

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Mounting North Korean threats await next US president

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washington — Recent moves by Pyongyang have focused attention on what will be one of the first major foreign policy challenges facing the next U.S. president: how to deal with North Korea’s rapidly developing nuclear threat. In a set of rapid-fire developments on Friday: — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an “exponential increase” in the size of his nation’s nuclear arsenal, according to the state-run news agency KCNA. He made the same call in speeches on Tuesday and on the last day of 2022. — State media released photos for the first time of the Nuclear Weapons Institutemore

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Trump refuses to criticize Loomer, alarming Republican allies

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RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California — Donald Trump refused on Friday to weigh in on recent racist and conspiratorial comments from right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer, who traveled with him earlier this week to the debate and several 9/11 memorial events. “Laura’s been a supporter of mine,” Trump told reporters at a press conference near Los Angeles, where he was pressed on concerns from Republican allies about his ongoing association with Loomer. “I don’t control Laura,” Trump said. “I can’t tell Laura what to do. She’s a supporter.” Trump said Loomer has “strong opinions” but said he was unaware of her recent comments,more

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Trump pledges to deport Haitians in Ohio city; Biden calls for attacks to stop

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RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California / WASHINGTON — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump promised mass deportations of Haitian immigrants in an Ohio city on Friday, shortly after U.S. President Joe Biden called for attacks on that community to stop.  “We will do large deportations in Springfield, Ohio,” Trump said at a news conference at his Los Angeles-area golf resort.   While Trump, 78, continued his attacks on immigrants, he did not revisit false and derogatory remarks he made during his debate on Tuesday night with his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.  Those comments, including that the Haitian community was eating householdmore

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How propaganda outlets cover — or ignore — aspects of US election

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Washington — When Kamala Harris and Donald Trump met in a presidential debate on Tuesday, they spoke about a range of foreign policy issues, including China and Russia’s war in Ukraine. But while the debate attracted large audiences and coverage in the United States and Europe, Beijing and Moscow’s state-run media were relatively quiet on the event. The minimal coverage is a contrast to the presidential debate between Joe Biden and Trump in June. Chinese media After that debate, Beijing-run outlets — like media around the world — were flooded with coverage of Biden’s poor performance. But Harris-Trump coverage was noticeablymore

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Apple faces challenges in Chinese market against Huawei’s tri-fold phone

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Taipei, Taiwan — The U.S.-China technology war is playing out in the smartphone market in China, where global rivals Apple and Huawei released new phones this week. Industry experts say Apple, which lacks home-field advantage, faces many challenges in defending its market share in the country. The biggest highlight of the iPhone 16 is its artificial intelligence system, dubbed Apple Intelligence, while the Huawei Mate XT features innovative tri-fold screen technology.  But at a starting price of RMB 19,999, about $2,810, the Mate XT will cost about three times as much as the iPhone 16. According to data from VMall, Huawei’smore

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Judge tosses some counts in Georgia election case against Trump, others

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ATLANTA — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others on Thursday tossed out three counts in the indictment — including two counts brought against the former president — saying that they lie beyond the state’s jurisdiction.  The case against Trump and others who are appealing an order allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the case is on hold while that appeal is pending. But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued orders Thursday based on motions filed by two defendants, Shawn Still and John Eastman, who are not part ofmore

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Haitian Americans fear for their safety after Trump repeats false claims about immigrants

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WASHINGTON — Haitian Americans said they fear for their safety after Donald Trump repeated a false and derogatory claim during this week’s presidential debate about immigrants in Ohio. Haitian community leaders across the U.S. said the Republican candidate’s remarks about immigrants eating household pets during his debate with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris could put lives at risk and further inflame tensions in the small city of Springfield, Ohio, where thousands of recent Haitian arrivals have boosted the local economy but also strained the safety net. “We have to be careful where we go,” said Viles Dorsainvil, 38, who says themore

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Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting, eating pets

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday amplified false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets, repeating during a televised debate the type of inflammatory and anti-immigrant rhetoric he has promoted throughout his campaigns. There is no evidence that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio community are doing that, officials say. But during the debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump specifically mentioned Springfield, Ohio, the town at the center of the claims, saying that immigrants were taking over the city. “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the peoplemore

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Widespread problems with US mail could disrupt voting, election officials say

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TOPEKA, Kansas — State and local election officials from across the country on Wednesday warned that problems with the nation’s mail delivery system threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election, telling the head of the U.S. Postal Service that it hasn’t fixed persistent deficiencies.  In an alarming letter, the officials said that in the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, a problem thatmore

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