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It’s a miracle, say family of Japanese soldier killed in WWII, as flag he carried returns from US

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Toshihiro Mutsuda was only 5 years old when he last saw his father, who was drafted by Japan’s Imperial Army in 1943 and killed in action. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an old family photo standing by a signed good-luck flag that he carried to war. On Saturday, when the flag was returned to him from a U.S. war museum where it had been on display for 29 years, Mutsuda, now 83, said: “It’s a miracle.”The flag, known as “Yosegaki Hinomaru,” or Good Luck Flag, carries the soldier’s name, Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, and the signatures of his relatives, friends and neighbors wishing him luck. It was given to him before he was drafted by the Army. His family was later told he died in Saipan, but his remains were never returned.The flag was donated in 1994 and displayed at the museum aboard the USS Lexington, a WWII aircraft carrier, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Its meaning was not known until it was identified by the family earlier this year, said ...

Russian investigators call children as witnesses against their mother accused of discrediting army

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A 9-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother have been called as witnesses in a criminal case against their mother after she was accused of repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian army.Lidia Prudovskaya and her two children were summoned by investigators in the northern Russian region of Arkhangelsk on Friday to give testimony in the case, Russian news outlet Sota reported.Prudovskaya previously faced administrative charges on similar allegations after sharing anti-war posts on Russian social media platform VKontakte in September 2022.Discrediting the Russian military is a criminal offense under a law adopted after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. The law is regularly used against Kremlin critics.In April, Russian authorities petitioned to restrict the parental rights of a single father convicted of discrediting the army following an anti-war sketch drawn by his daughter at school.Alexei Moskalyov, 54, was sentenced to two years in prison for ...

Metro stores in Greater Toronto Area close as workers go on strike

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

Metro locations across the Greater Toronto Area are closed today after thousands of employees at the grocery chain formally went on strike.Unifor, the largest private-sector union, says some 3,700 frontline store employees walked off the job just after midnight. It says members of Local 414  rejected a tentative labour deal reached last week, but provided few other details. Picket lines at some of the 27 affected locations formed at 8 a.m., and Unifor is set to hold a news conference at one east-Toronto store later this morning.Unifor says stores affected by the strike will include those in Toronto and its suburbs, Brantford, Orangeville, Milton, Oakville, Brampton and Mississauga.Metro Ontario Inc. a subsidiary of Metro Inc., issued a statement saying it is “extremely disappointed” that employees at the 27 locations rejected the agreement even though the union bargaining committee unanimously recommended its members accept the deal. “The company has been negotiati...

Fireworks warehouse explosion in Thailand kills at least 10 people and wounds scores

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

A large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand on Saturday killed at least 10 people and wounded scores, officials said.The Narathiwat province’s Public Relations Department also said that also at least 118 people were hurt, and that residents of more than 200 households were affected. It said that officials believe there are still a number of people trapped under the debris waiting to be rescued.Videos posted on social media from the site show a huge plume of smoke over the area and many damaged structures, cars and motorbikes, as well as streets covered with debris. Many of the houses and other buildings have collapsed roofs and walls.The local public relations agency reported that the explosion cased damages in a radius of about 500 meters (1,640 feet). About 100 residences in the area were damaged, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.Sanan Pongaksorn, the provincial governor, told public broadcaster Thai PBS that the blast was...

Son of Colombia’s president arrested as part of money laundering probe

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian police arrested the president’s son Saturday as part of a high-profile money laundering probe into funds he allegedly collected during last year’s presidential campaign.President Gustavo Petro said he wouldn’t interfere with the probe.“As an individual and father, it pains me to see so much self destruction and one of my sons going to jail,” Petro said in an early morning message on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “As president of the republic, I’ve assured the chief prosecutor’s office that it will have all of the guarantees so it can proceed according to the law.”The shocking arrest of Nicolas Petro is a major blow to the government, which has been buffeted by conservative attacks from day one at the same time it has struggled to maintain bipartisan support for Colombia in the U.S., a longtime ally.The chief prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Nicolas Petro and his ex-wife were taken into custody on orders of...

Two supermoons in August mean double the stargazing fun

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The cosmos is offering up a double feature in August: a pair of supermoons culminating in a rare blue moon.Catch the first show Tuesday evening as the full moon rises in the southeast, appearing slightly brighter and bigger than normal. That’s because it will be closer than usual, just 222,159 miles (357,530 kilometers) away, thus the supermoon label.The moon will be even closer the night of Aug. 30 — a scant 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) distant. Because it’s the second full moon in the same month, it will be what’s called a blue moon.“Warm summer nights are the ideal time to watch the full moon rise in the eastern sky within minutes of sunset. And it happens twice in August,” said retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak, dubbed Mr. Eclipse for his eclipse-chasing expertise.The last time two full supermoons graced the sky in the same month was in 2018. It won’t happen again until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of...

Atlanta ‘Cop City’ activists say they’re confident of getting 70K signatures. But big hurdles remain

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — “Excuse me, are you a city of Atlanta voter? Do you know about ‘Cop City?’”Clipboards in hand, canvassers Sienna Giraldi and Gabriel Sanchez approached shopper after shopper at a Kroger supermarket lot on a recent evening collecting signatures for a referendum over whether to cancel the city’s lease of a proposed police and firefighter training center that’s become a national rallying cry for environmentalists and anti-police protesters. Most people kept on walking. Others said they weren’t registered to vote or didn’t live within the city limits, both of which are required. Many seemed to have no idea what “Cop City” was and weren’t interested in finding out. The fact that it began raining certainly didn’t help. By the end of a 90-minute shift, 21 people had signed.“We definitely need to come back here,” Sanchez said. “I was on a roll before the rain started.”Over the past month, hundreds of people like them — many volunteers, some paid — have spread out ...

Weekend Break: The Tempel Lipizzans

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

Check out this morning's Weekend Break with Glenn Marshall at the Tempel Lipizzans.Love the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

Mega Millions jackpot exceeds $1 billion, now 4th-largest in game's history

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – The current Mega Millions jackpot is now tied for the fourth-largest in the game’s history after yet another drawing produced no grand-prize winners.Friday’s winning numbers — 5, 10, 28, 52, 63, and Mega Ball 18 — went unmatched, continuing a 29-drawing trend that began after the last jackpot-winner was announced on April 18. The current jackpot now stands at an estimated $1.05 billion, with a cash option of $527.9 million. That amount officially qualifies as the fourth-largest grand prize in Mega Millions history, tied with a jackpot awarded in Jan. 2021.Largest Mega Millions jackpotsDate$1.537 billion10/23/2018$1.348 billion1/13/2023$1.337 billion7/29/2022$1.050 billion1/22/2021$1.050 billion (estimated)8/1/2023$656 million                 3/30/2012                 $648 million12/17/2013$543 milli...

The Taylor Swift Official State Sandwich: Politicians understand Swifties are a key demographic

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:50 GMT

(The Conversation) - Like any millennial pop music fan active on social media, I’ve been following Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour – the surprise songs, the scramble to get tickets, her brief romance with that guy from The 1975 with a history of racist comments.But as a political scientist, I was intrigued by something else: reaction to the tour by government officials. New Jersey renamed the state’s famed Taylor ham, egg and cheese in her honor – it’s now the “Taylor Swift Ham, Egg, and Cheese” official state sandwich.Pittsburgh’s mayor briefly renamed the city “Swiftsburgh” when her tour hit town.And in my neck of the woods, Swift Street in North Kansas City was temporarily rebranded “Swift Street (Taylor’s Version).”Local or state governments have lauded Swift in some way at virtually every stop on her tour. While these honors make for great photo opportunities for Swifties, the politics of these moves is worth examining. Do politic...