Around the World brief
By Associated Press
A robot will soon try to remove melted nuclear fuel from Japan’s destroyed Fukushima reactor
TOKYO | The operator of Japan’s destroyed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant demonstrated Tuesday how a remote-controlled robot would retrieve tiny bits of melted fuel debris from one of three damaged reactors later this year for the first time since the 2011 meltdown.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings plans to deploy a “telesco-style” extendable pipe robot into Fukushima Daiichi No. 2 reactor to test the removal of debris from its primary containment vessel by October.
That work is more than two years behind schedule. The removal of melted fuel was supposed to begin in late 2021 but has been plagued with delays, underscoring the difficulty of recovering from the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011.
During the demonstration at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Kobe, western Japan, where the robot has been developed, a device equipped with tongs slowly descended from the telescopic pipe to a heap of gravel and picked up a granule.
TEPCO plans to remove less than 3 grams (0.1 ounce) of debris in the test at the Fukushima plant.
“We believe the upcoming test removal of fuel debris from Unit 2 is an extremely important step to steadily carry out future decommissioning work,” said Yusuke Nakagawa, a TEPCO group manager for the fuel debris retrieval program. “It is important to proceed with the test removal safely and steadily.”
About 880 tons of highly radioactive melted nuclear fuel remain inside the three damaged reactors. Critics say the 30- to 40-year cleanup target set by the government and TEPCO for Fukushima Daiichi is overly optimistic. The damage in each reactor is different, and plans must accommodate their conditions.
Better understanding the melted fuel debris from inside the reactors is key to their decommissioning. TEPCO deployed four mini drones into the No. 1 reactor’s primary containment vessel earlier this year to capture images from the areas where robots had not reached.
Haiti’s new prime minister vows
to seek unity after he is selected
by transitional council
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico | Haiti’s newly chosen Prime Minister Garry Conille vowed to seek unity Wednesday in his first statement since a transitional council selected him to head the government in the troubled Caribbean country under siege by criminal gangs.
Conille thanked the civil society groups, political parties and members of the Haitian diaspora who proposed him as a candidate, saying he was “very honored” to have been chosen.
“Together, we will work for a better tomorrow for all the children of our nation,” he wrote on X, the social media platform, in Haitian Creole.
Conille submitted his resignation Tuesday as UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, a post he has held since January 2023. He previously served as prime minister of Haiti from October 2011 to May 2012 under then-President Michel Martelly and was former chief of staff to Bill Clinton in the ex-president’s role as U.N. special envoy to Haiti.
Conille studied medicine and public health and helped develop health care in impoverished communities in Haiti, where he helped coordinate reconstruction efforts after the devastating 2010 earthquake. He also served as a U.N. development specialist before becoming a regional director with UNICEF.
He now faces a monumental task, with Haiti under siege by gangs that control at least 80% of the Port-au-Prince capital as the country awaits the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya and other countries supporting the mission.
The prime minister shares executive power with the presidency, which has been vacant in Haiti since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. whose death left a power vacuum that criminal gangs began to take advantage of later that year.
In addition to choosing the prime minister, the transitional council is tasked with arranging presidential elections before early 2026.
Council members told The Associated Press late Tuesday that six of seven members with voting powers had selected Conille for the prime minister role. Laurent St. Cyr, the seventh member, is not in Haiti currently and as a result did not vote.
On Wednesday, they issued a statement noting that Conille was one of five prequalified candidates that they interviewed for one hour each on Tuesday, and that they are now working with him to choose a new Cabinet.
“The transitional presidential council renews its firm determination to do everything possible to stem the phenomenon of insecurity and lead the country on the path to free, fair, democratic and inclusive elections,” it said.
Conille will replace interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, who has been helping lead the country since former Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned via letter in April following a surge in gang violence. Gunmen launched coordinated attacks on Feb. 29, seizing control of police stations, opening fire on the main international airport that remained closed for nearly three months and storming Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. The wave of violence continues.
Boivert issued a statement Wednesday congratulating Conille, adding that he “hopes the new prime minister will be able to face the challenges and issues of the moment.”
Also congratulating Conille was Kenyan President William Ruto, who wrote on X Wednesday that “this significant step is not lost on the world.” He added that Kenya was looking forward to working with Conille and his government “to restore Haiti to a path of sustainable development.”
It was not immediately clear if there would be a formal swearing-in ceremony for Conille.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement that she wished Conille “every success in bringing much-needed peace, stability and hope to the children of Haiti.”
Conille was not the first choice for some council members.
In late April, a four-member coalition within the council made an unexpected announcement that they had chosen former sports minister Fritz Bélizaire as prime minister. The move threatened to fracture the council, with dissenting members insisting that proper procedure be followed.
As a result, the council announced it would accept nominations for prime minister, and it received dozens of names. However, none of them was made public, and the council has been criticized for its lack of transparency, including not sharing what criteria it was applying when choosing a leader.
The council also is tasked with choosing a new Cabinet and appointing a provisional electoral commission, a requirement before elections can take place. The council’s non-renewable mandate expires Feb. 7, 2026, when a new president is scheduled to be sworn in.
Papua New Guinea landslide survivors slow to move to safer ground after hundreds buried
MELBOURNE, Australia | Traumatized survivors of the massive landslide estimated to have buried hundreds in Papua New Guinea have been slow to move to safer ground as the South Pacific island nation’s authorities prepare to use heavy machinery to clear debris and risk triggering another landslide, officials said Thursday.
Government and army geotechnical experts on Thursday were examining the stability of the massive swath of rubble that crushed Yambali village when a mountainside collapsed last week, Enga provincial administrator Sandis Tsaka said. Australian and New Zealand experts were expected to arrive on Friday.
Two excavators and a bulldozer were ready to start digging on one side of the mass of debris more than 500 feet wide while another excavator and a bulldozer were also ready on the other side, Tsaka said. Villagers have been digging with spades, farming tools and their bare hands since the disaster in search of survivors or bodies.
“It’s still very active. We’re getting rocks and debris still moving so it’s been unsafe for our first responders and our emergency team,” Tsaka told The Associated Press.
The United Nations estimated 670 villagers died in the disaster that immediately displaced 1,650 survivors. Papua New Guinea’s government has told the United Nations it thinks more than 2,000 people were buried. Only six bodies have been retrieved.
A hospital in the provincial capital Wabag on Thursday reported 17 patients had been injured by the disaster, that struck at 3 a.m. while the village slept.
Authorities say that up to 8,000 people might need to be evacuated as the mass of boulders, earth and splintered trees that crushed Yambali becomes increasingly unstable and threatens to tumble further downhill. There is also a growing disease risk for those downhill from water streams buried beneath rubble and decomposing corpses that continue to seep from the debris.
Tsaka said only 700 people had agreed to evacuate on Wednesday.
“They’re emotionally scarred and it’s their home and they’re reluctant to move, but we’re encouraging them to move,” Tsaka said. “The villages at risk have been put on alert to move as and when required.”
There were also cultural sensitivities surrounding displaced people intruding upon someone else’s land in a volatile province that is almost always dealing with tribal warfare, officials said.
“That’s a challenge, but with a tragedy the communities and the surrounding villages have come in to help and they’re taking care of the villagers who have been impacted,” Tsaka said.
Chris Jensen, country director for the children-focused charity World Vision, said moving vulnerable villagers onto neighbors’ land was likely a short-term option.
“There’s a concern that if you move people onto land that’s not their land — it’s other people’s land — maybe in the short-term it could be OK, but in the long run, it’s the sort of thing that could trigger challenges. It’s a very sensitive issue,” Jensen said.
But many from Yambali’s surrounds are keen to relocate to somewhere safer, including Frida Yeahkal.
“The stones from the mountain still keep falling. The land, food gardens and houses have been destroyed, and we appeal to the government to help us relocate to a safe place, where we can settle,” Yeahkal told U.N. Development Program officials when they visited the village on Wednesday.
“There is little food and water. We are hungry and asking for your help. We are not even sleeping at night. We are afraid that more of the mountain will slide down and it will kill us all,” she said.
Authorities acknowledge there were many more people in the village than the almost 4,000 that official records suggest. But no one knows how many were present when the mountainside collapsed.
Tsaka said two of the six bodies recovered so far were visitors, which he said suggested many outsiders could be buried among locals.
The nearby Porgera Gold Mine has offered additional earth-moving equipment to the emergency response.
The mine’s manager Karo Lelai confirmed the offer had been made, but could not say what equipment would be provided or when it would arrive.
Colombia’s congress votes to
ban bullfights, dealing a blow
to the centuries-old tradition
BOGOTA, Colombia | Colombia’s congress voted Tuesday to ban bullfights in the South American nation, delivering a serious blow to a centuries-old tradition that has inspired famous songs and novels but has become increasingly controversial in the countries where it is still practiced.
The bill calls for the banning of bullfights in a three-year span, making the tradition illegal by the start of 2028. The new law now needs to be signed by President Gustavo Petro, who has been a longtime opponent of these events.
Bullfighting originated in the Iberian Peninsula and is still legal in a handful of countries, including Spain, France, Portugal, Peru, Ecuador and Mexico.
It was once a popular event, broadcast live by multiple television networks. But the tradition has come under increased scrutiny as views change about animal welfare, and many find it unacceptable to see an animal suffer for entertainment’s sake.
“This ban is a huge victory for organizations that have worked to transform society and reject violence against animals,” said Terry Hurtado, an animal rights activist and city council member in Cali, who has been leading protests against bullfights since the 1990s. “I feel relieved that bulls and horses (which also participate in some bullfights) in Colombia will no longer be tortured, and that children will no longer be exposed to this spectacle.”
In bullfights, a matador faces bulls that are bred to be aggressive. The matador taunts the bull with a red cape and kills the animal with the blow of a sword after it has been injured with lances and daggers, and is tired of charging at the matador in a circular arena.
In Colombia, where bullfights have been held since colonial times, less than two dozen municipalities continue to hold these events, although the annual bullfights in the city of Manizales still draw tens of thousands of spectators.
Bullfighting aficionados described the ban as an assault on the freedoms of minorities as well as a problem for cities where these events draw thousands of visitors.
—From AP reports
