Japan, China meet to ease concerns over nuclear wastewater
TOKYO — Japan said Sunday that its experts have held talks with their Chinese counterparts to try to assuage Beijing’s concerns over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.
The discharges have been opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries, especially China, which banned all imports of Japanese seafood. China’s move has largely affected Japanese scallop growers and exporters to China.
During the talks Saturday in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, Japanese officials provided “science-based” explanation of how the discharges have been safely carried out as planned, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
A 2011 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant’s power supply and reactor cooling functions, triggering meltdowns of three reactors and causing large amounts of radioactive wastewater to accumulate. After more than a decade of storage in tanks taking up much space on the complex, the plant began discharging the water after treating it at least once and diluting it with seawater Aug. 24, starting a process that’s expected to take decades.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed at their summit meeting in November to hold scientific talks by experts, and the countries have since held a number of informal meetings. Sunday’s statement from the Japanese Foreign Ministry was its first public acknowledgment of the talks.
The experts exchanged views on “technical matters” involving the discharges, the ministry official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. While stressing the importance of transparency, the official declined to give any other details, including what the Chinese side said and whether their differences have been narrowed.
The meeting comes just after International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Rafael’s visit to the plant in mid-March, confirming that the ongoing discharges have been safely carried out as planned.
Armed gunmen attacked a group of people in Ecuador’s coastal city of Guayaquil, killing eight people and injuring eight, the Interior Ministry said, the latest in a string of violent incidents in the South American country.
Around 7 p.m. local time Saturday, armed men arrived in a vehicle in the southern neighborhood of Guasmo, witnesses said. They shot at a group of people, killing two of them. Six others later died in a health center from the “seriousness of the wounds,” the ministry told journalists.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
It was the second mass killing in as many days. On Friday, five people who had been kidnapped were killed execution-style in the coastal province of Manabi by an armed gang. Police said there were signs that the victims were tourists mistakenly caught up in a local drug-trafficking dispute.
In that incident, an armed group had kidnapped 11 people. Police said the other six, including five minors, were rescued and handed over to their families. Two suspects were arrested Saturday morning.
The killings in Manabi
Violence in Ecuador:
“remind us that the battle continues,” President Daniel Noboa said Saturday on the social media network X, formerly Twitter.
King at Easter services:
King Charles III shook hands and chatted with onlookers after attending an Easter service Sunday at Windsor Castle in his most significant public outing since being diagnosed with cancer last month.
The king, dressed in a dark overcoat and shiny blue tie, smiled as he made his way along a rope line for about five minutes outside St. George’s Chapel, reaching into the crowd to greet supporters who waved get-well cards and snapped photos on a chilly early spring day.
“You’re very brave to stand out here in the cold,” Charles told them.
“Keep going strong,” one member of the crowd shouted as Charles and Queen Camilla walked by.
The 75-year-old monarch’s appearance was
seen as an effort to reassure the public after Charles stepped back from public duties in early February following an announcement by Buckingham Palace that he was undergoing treatment for an unspecified type of cancer.
British media reported last week that Charles would slowly increase his public appearances after the Easter holidays.
The service itself was smaller than usual as Kate, the Princess of Wales, is also being treated for cancer and has paused public duties. The princess, her husband Prince William and their children did not attend.
Longtime Mass. pol dies:
U.S. Rep. William D. Delahunt of Massachusetts, a Democratic stalwart who postponed his retirement from Washington to help pass then-President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda, has died of a long-term illness, his family announced.
Delahunt died Saturday
at his home in Quincy at the age of 82, news reports said.
Delahunt served 14 years in the House, from 1997 to 2011, for Massachusetts’ 10th congressional district. He also was the Norfolk County district attorney from 1975 to 1996 after serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1973 to 1975.
The family issued a statement Saturday saying he passed away “peacefully” but did not disclose his specific cause of death.
Kia recalls SUVs: Kia is recalling more than 427,000 of its Telluride SUVs because of a defect that may cause the cars to roll away while they’re parked.
According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the intermediate shaft and rightfront driveshaft of certain 2020-24 Tellurides may not be fully engaged. Over time, this can lead to “unintended vehicle movement” while the cars are in park —
increasing potential crash risks.
Kia America decided to recall all 2020-23 model year and select 2024 model year Tellurides this month, NHTSA documents show. At the time, no injuries or crashes were reported.
Improper assembly is suspected to be the cause of the shaft-engagement problem — with the recall covering 2020-24 Tellurides that were manufactured between Jan. 9, 2019, and Oct. 19, 2023. Kia America estimates that 1% have the defect.
Dealers will update the affected cars’ electronic parking brake software and replace any damaged intermediate shafts for free. Owners who already incurred repair expenses will be reimbursed.
In the meantime, drivers of the affected Tellurides are instructed to manually engage the emergency break before exiting the vehicle.
Owner notification letters are scheduled to be mailed out May 15.