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Railyard explosion, inspections raise safety questions about Union Pacific’s hazmat shipping

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal inspectors have twice found hundreds of defects in the locomotives and railcars Union Pacific uses at the world’s largest railyard in Nebraska, but none of those seem to explain why a shipping container filled with toxic acid exploded there this fall.Investigators haven’t confirmed the cause of the Sept. 14 blast in a remote corner of the railroad’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska, about 250 miles west of Omaha. The explosion didn’t spread far, but investigators appear to be delving into the questionable decision to load dozens of plastic barrels of perchloric acid inside a shipping container with a wood floor and possibly atop wooden pallets, even though that acid is known to react with wood or any other organic material.“I don’t know if you’ve ever read about perchloric acid, but when it comes in contact with organic material, it becomes highly volatile. So that car was doomed from the day it was loaded,” said Andy Foust, a Nebraska lea...

South Africa, Colombia and others are fighting drugmakers over access to TB and HIV drugs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa, Colombia and other countries that lost out in the global race for coronavirus vaccines are taking a more combative approach towards drugmakers and pushing back on policies that deny cheap treatment to millions of people with tuberculosis and HIV. Experts see it as a shift in how such countries deal with pharmaceutical behemoths and say it could trigger more efforts to make lifesaving medicines more widely available.In the COVID-19 pandemic, rich countries bought most of the world’s vaccines early, leaving few shots for poor countries and creating a disparity the World Health Organization called “a catastrophic moral failure.”Now, poorer countries are trying to become more self-reliant “because they’ve realized after COVID they can’t count on anyone else,” said Brook Baker, who studies treatment-access issues at Northeastern University.One of the targets is a drug, bedaquiline, that is used for treating people with drug-resistant versions ...

Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed, as Hong Kong retreats on selling of property shares

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed in Asia on Friday, with Hong Kong retreating on selling of property shares following recent gains. U.S. futures edged higher after markets on Wall Street were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Oil prices slipped. Japan reported its consumer inflation rose for the first time in four months, with big gains in food prices and hotel rates as tourism has soared. The consumer price index rose 3.3% in October from a year earlier, up from 3% in September in a trend contrary to the Bank of Japan’s forecasts for price pressures to abate toward the year’s end. “Both the government and the BOJ will be concerned about higher-than-expected inflation,” Robert Carnell and Min Joo Kang of ING Economics said in a commentary. That will likely lead the central bank to adjust its extremely lax monetary policy in the new year, they said. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.7% to 33,690.11. Chinese shares fell back after recent gains driven by expec...

Maui residents wonder if their burned town can be made safe. The answer? No one knows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

When Daniel Skousen scrubs at the ash and soot covering his Maui home, he worries about the smell.What chemicals created the burning-trash-barrel scent that has lingered since a deadly wildfire tore through Lahaina in August? Should he believe government agencies’ assessment of when the air, land and water will be safe enough for his family to return?Or will political and economic pressures to rebuild and restore Maui’s robust tourism industry — where visitors normally spend $14 million per day — lead officials to look at any testing results through rose-colored glasses?“It appears very important to them to get that tourism tax revenue back,” said Skousen. “It makes you wonder if the testing will be biased.”The fire blew out Skousen’s windows and filled his home with ash, but the building is still standing, and he hopes someday to move back in. The home next door burned to the ground.Skousen wants a second opinion on any government environmental assessments, preferably from an...

Ohio voters just passed abortion protections. Whether they take effect is now up to the courts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s new constitutional projections for abortion access and other reproductive rights are supposed to take effect Dec. 7, a month after voters resoundingly passed them. That prospect seems increasingly uncertain.Existing abortion-related lawsuits are moving again through the courts now that voters have decided the issue, raising questions about how and when the amendment will be implemented.The amendment declared an individual’s right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” and passed with a strong 57% majority. It was the seventh straight victory in statewide votes for supporters of abortion access nationally since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned constitutional protections.But the amendment did not repeal any existing Ohio laws, providing an opening for Republican elected officials and anti-abortion groups to renew their efforts to halt, delay or significantly water it down. “A lot of that hard work of figuring out what state laws are inco...

4-day truce begins in Israel-Hamas war, sets stage for release of dozens of Gaza-held hostages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war took effect early Friday, setting the stage for the exchange of dozens of hostages held by militants in Gaza in return for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.The halt in fighting promised some relief for Gaza’s 2.3 million people, who have endured weeks of Israeli bombardment, as well as families in Israel fearful for the fate of loved ones taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.The cease-fire kicked off at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and is to last at least four days. During this period, Gaza’s ruling Hamas group pledged to free at least 50 of the about 240 hostages it and other militants took on Oct. 7. Hamas said Israel would free 150 Palestinian prisoners. Both sides will release women and children first. Israel said the truce would be extended an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed.The truce-for-hostages deal was reached in weeks of intense indirect negotiation...

Retailers offer big deals for Black Friday but will shoppers spend?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Expect big discounts and other enticements to lure shoppers to stores for Black Friday. But retailers worry those may not be enough.Consumers are coming under pressure as their savings dwindle and their credit card debt grows. And although they have gotten some relief from easing inflation, many goods and services like meat and rent are still far higher than they were just three years ago.Barbara Lindquist, 85, from Hawthorne Woods, Illinois, said she and her husband plan to spend about $1,000 for holiday gifts for her three adult children, 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. That’s about the same as last year.But Lindquist, who continues to work as a pre-school teacher at a local church, said she’ll be more focused on deals given still high prices on meat and other staples. And she plans to buy more gift cards, which she believes will help her stick to her budget.“I go for value,” said Lindquist, who just picked up discounted sheets and towels at Kohl’s ...

The Afghan Embassy says it is permanently closing in New Delhi over challenges from India

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — The Afghan Embassy in New Delhi is permanently closed, it announced Friday, due to challenges from the Indian government and a lack of diplomatic support. In a press release, it said the decision was already effective from Thursday and follows the embassy’s earlier move to cease operations starting Oct. 1 due to the absence of a recognized government in Kabul. At the time, it had said it would continue to provide emergency consular services to Afghan nationals. The embassy said the earlier decision was made “in the hope that the Indian government’s stance would evolve favorably for the normal continuation of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in New Delhi.” But in the eight weeks since, the embassy faced a difficult choice due to “constant pressure from both the Taliban and the Indian government to relinquish control.”There was no immediate comment by India’s External Affairs Ministry. India has not recognized the Taliban gove...

Missouri governor granting pardons at pace not seen since WWII era

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

Distraught by a romantic breakup, 16-year-old Kenny Batson vented his hurt by stomping out the windshields of cars on a for-sale lot. He landed in juvenile detention, but that was only the beginning of his trouble. Over the ensuing years, Batson stole cigarettes, booze and cars for drunken joyrides while bouncing in and out of prison and substance abuse treatment programs. At age 20, he beat a man nearly to death, stopping only when friends pulled him away. Now 50, Batson is a Christian pastor, a reformed man who has been pardoned for his crimes. The governor who pardoned him knows a bit about transformations. For a dozen years as a rural sheriff, Mike Parson was the face of justice, the man ultimately responsible for catching and locking up local lawbreakers. Now governor, Parson also has become the face of mercy by pardoning more than 600 people in the past three years, more than any Missouri governor since the 1940s.“I still believe in law and order. I believe criminals need to b...

Sea turtle nests break records on US beaches, but global warming threatens their survival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:47 GMT

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Just as they have for millions of years, sea turtles by the thousands made their labored crawl from the ocean to U.S. beaches to lay their eggs over the past several months. This year, record nesting was found in Florida and elsewhere despite growing concern about threats from climate change.In Florida, preliminary state statistics show more than 133,840 loggerhead turtle nests, breaking a record set in 2016. Same for green turtles, where the estimate of at least 76,500 nests is well above the previous mark set in 2017.High sea turtle nest numbers also have been reported in South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia, although not all set records like Florida, where Justin Perrault, vice president of research at Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, said the number of nests is remarkable this year.“We had more nests than we had ever seen before on our local beaches,” said Perrault, whose organization monitors Palm Beach County and broke ...