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South Korea throws huge K-Pop concert for Scouts after storm Khanun disrupted their Jamboree

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A day after a powerful tropical storm flooded dozens of homes and turned streets into muddy rivers, South Korea threw a huge K-Pop concert in Seoul for 40,000 Scouts whose global Jamboree was disrupted by the weather. Friday’s concert at a wet soccer stadium featured various performers, including girl groups NewJeans and Ive. The show was quickly put together by government officials as the closing event of the World Scout Jamboree. It came as the country began to clean up and make repairs in the aftermath of the storm, Khanun, which pounded the country’s southern and eastern regions with intense rains and winds that forced thousands to evacuate and left at least one person dead after making landfall early Thursday. Khanun had weakened by the time it arrived in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area Thursday night, and it blew into North Korea early Friday as a tropical depression.The Jamboree was held at a coastal campsite before Khanun forced ...

Highway 400 reopens following repairs to 11-foot-deep sinkhole near Bradford

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

Some good news for drivers on Highway 400 after an 11-foot-deep sinkhole led to road closures and traffic delays near Bradford West Gwillimbury since Monday.In an update on Thursday, Ontario Provincial Police said repairs to the sinkhole have been completed, and all affected southbound and northbound lanes of the highway at Line 5 have reopened to motorists.The left southbound lane was shut down in the area since Monday, when the sinkhole opened up along the median strip. OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the sinkhole was located in the left southbound lane approaching Line 5.The closure was then expanded on Tuesday to include the left northbound lane of the highway.On Wednesday, Sgt. Schmidt shared a new video on social media showing crews tending to the sinkhole, noting that repairs are ongoing.“The hole itself is relatively small, but underneath that hole, there is a significant cavity,” Sgt. Schmidt said.“[Crews] are going to try and get asphalt pulled away so they can get a better lo...

Summer camp in California gives Jewish children of color a haven to be different together

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

PETALUMA, California (AP) — One camper, from Oakland, California, has a white Jewish mother and a father who is Black and Muslim. Another was adopted in Uganda by a white Jewish woman; they now live in Montana. Like many of the young people who shared challenges and adventures with them this summer, they grew up often feeling like outliers — and then found a near-magical comfort zone at Camp Be’chol Lashon in the rolling hills of California’s Marin County. Its founders say it’s the only sleepaway summer camp specifically serving Jewish children of color, creating a safe space for candid conversations on race and identity. Isaac Harrison, the 10-year-old from Oakland, went to a traditional Jewish summer camp last year and said he was bullied by some campers for being Black. “There were no kids of color there,” he said, “Some kids kept saying that you can’t be both Black and Jewish. They said that you can’t be two things. They were just being really mean, but here no one’s mean like t...

Jakarta is the world’s most polluted city. Blame the dry season and vehicles for the gray skies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The dry season and and motorized vehicles are the main causes of the air pollution in Jakarta, Indonesian authorities said Friday, after a Swiss air quality technology company named the city as the most polluted in the world. Thick smoke and gray skies have appeared every morning for the past few months in Jakarta, the capital city of the world’s fourth most populous country.Jakarta routinely tops listings of the world’s most polluted cities, most recently in a ranking by IQAir, which is based in Switzerland. “In fact, the condition of Jakarta’s air quality throughout 2023 has fluctuated quite a bit,” Asep Kuswanto, head of Jakarta Environment Agency said at a conference on Friday.Indonesia is now in the dry season, which runs from July to September, when air pollution will peak. Air quality in the greater Jakarta area deteriorates as it is impacted by dry air from the eastern side of the country.The use of motorized vehicles is also a major fac...

Scuffles break out outside Athens court as arrested Croatian soccer fans testify over deadly attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Clashes broke out in front of court buildings in Athens where scores of arrested Croatian soccer supporters were giving evidence Friday following deadly fan violence this week.Some 200 fans of AEK Athens gathered outside the court complex, some hurling bottles of water and other objects at police and television crews.No arrests or injuries were reported.A Champions League qualifier between AEK and Dinamo Zagreb was called off Tuesday after scores of Croatian supporters wielding wooden clubs and metal bats attacked bystanders outside AEK’s Opap Arena.One AEK fan, 29 year-old Michalis Katsouris, died at the scene from a stab wound, while 10 others were injured.More than 100 people were arrested — mostly Dinamo fans — and have been charged with murder, membership of a criminal gang and other offenses.A funeral service for Katsouris was due to be held later Friday at his hometown of Elefsina, 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Athens. Local authorities suspended seve...

Why are millions of kids missing weeks of school across US?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — When in-person school resumed after pandemic closures, Rousmery Negrón and her 11-year-old son both noticed a change: School seemed less welcoming.Parents were no longer allowed in the building without appointments, she said, and punishments were more severe. Everyone seemed less tolerant, more angry. Negrón's son told her he overheard a teacher mocking his learning disabilities, calling him an ugly name.Her son didn’t want to go to school anymore. And she didn’t feel he was safe there.He would end up missing more than five months of sixth grade.Across the country, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened during the pandemic. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year, making them chronically absent, according to the most recent data available. Before the pandemic, only 15% of students missed that much school.All told, an estimated 6.5 million additional students became chronically a...

Suicide rate hits all-time high in US last year

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II.“There's something wrong. The number should not be going up,” said Christina Wilbur, a 45-year-old Florida woman whose son shot himself to death last year.“My son should not have died,” she said. "I know it's complicated, I really do. But we have to be able to do something. Something that we're not doing. Because whatever we're doing right now is not helping."Experts caution that suicide is complicated and that recent increases might be driven by a range of factors, including higher rates of depression and limited availability of mental health services.But a main driver is the growing availab...

Popular kiwi brand recalled in 14 states, including Illinois, over listeria threat

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — A large fruit distributor has issued a voluntary recall for one-pound packages of kiwifruit.The fruit, sold under brand name Zespri, is being recalled by David Oppenheimer and Company I LLC due to possible contamination with listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious infection and illness. The recalled kiwi was grown in New Zealand and repacked for sale in North America by Zespri. The issue was detected after the Kentucky Department for Public Health conducted routine sampling on July 7. As of August 8, there had been no illnesses reported. (Courtesy of FDA)The recalled products were shipped between June 14 and July 7 and sold at retail locations in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.Affected packages are printed with the UPC number 8 18849 02009 3, and the individual kiwifruit bear stickers with the code 9400 9552, according to an FDA ...

'Nothing left': Future unclear for residents who lost it all in Maui fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — Retired mailman and Vietnam veteran Thomas Leonard lived in the historic former capital of Hawaii for 44 years until this week, when a rapidly moving wildfire burned down his apartment, melted his Jeep and forced him to spend four terrifying hours hiding from the flames behind a seawall.“I’ve got nothing left,” Leonard said Thursday as he sat on an inflatable mattress outside a shelter for those who fled the blaze that decimated the town of Lahaina. “I’m a disabled vet, so now I’m a homeless vet,” he added with a small laugh. Maui residents had little warning before flames hit town. At least 55 people died The fire that tore across the coastal Maui town and caught many by surprise has already claimed dozens of lives — a toll expected to climb — and burned more than 1,000 buildings. It has turned a centuries-old hamlet beloved by travelers and locals alike into a charred, desolate landscape.The devastation has resonated worldwide in part because tourists from...

'7 out of 10' homes have drought foundation problems

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:06:57 GMT

Editor's Note: The above video explains the best type of grass for the Central Texas climate.GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) -- Drought has already been a contributing factor in our recent increase in wildfires, but more problems may be developing under your feet. What are the best grasses for Central Texas homes? The lack of rain in Central Texas is creating a shift in the earth below. Soil is contracting, drying up and pulling away from homes, leaving the foundation with room to move.Grass and soil pulling away from the foundation during drought in August 2023Steps separating from the soil outside of a Georgetown homeThat movement could cause either plumbing issues or cracks in the foundation.Joshua Trevino with G.L. Hunt Foundation Repair said fixing a shifted foundation could range from $10K to $50K depending on the severity. KXAN asked Trevino about the scope of that problem right now in Central Texas."It's pretty huge," Trevino said.It's not just homes that are having issues becaus...