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

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 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 Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 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...

Overlooked ceiling fan switch could make you cooler this summer

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – With heat records already falling this summer, you may be running your ceiling fan nearly non-stop, but did you know you may not be as cool as you could be?If you've ever taken a close look at the fan, you may have noticed a small switch located on the side of the fan base. The switch, which is found on nearly every fan, can change the direction the fan spins.Using that switch according to the season will not only keep you more comfortable, but it can also help you save money. In the summer, make sure that your fan is going in a counterclockwise direction, which forces cool air directly downward and creates a "wind chill effect," according to Home Depot. In the winter, you can switch it up so the fan rotates clockwise at a low speed, circulating the warm air that gets trapped near the ceiling. Time running out to file for $725M Facebook settlement: How to claim your payment If you have ceiling fans as well as air conditioning, using the fan correctly will allow you to ...

What does 'tump' mean and why do Texans say it?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Pretend you accidentally knock your drink over. What would you say happened to it? If you're from Texas, or just from the south overall, you might say it "tumped" over.In general, the word is used when something falls over, spills over, or is knocked over. You can tump someone over or be tumped over by someone else. It's a useful word — but is it even a word?And moreover, why do Texans say this? 12 photos that only make sense if you grew up in Texas While "tump" isn't only found in Texas, you'll definitely hear it here. Several Texas news outlets have attempted to trace the word's origin, including Texas Monthly, which pointed to a now-26-year-old post on a message board called Word Wizard (the website is now gone, sadly). According to Texas Monthly's John Nova Lomax, that lost-to-time post explained that "tump" was a word meant to mimic the "thump" of something falling and hitting the ground.A common etymological theory is that the word is a combination of the words "...

Missouri and Illinois among states with the most single-parent households

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:54 GMT

The U.S. has the highest percentage of single-parent households in the world, with millions of solo guardians struggling to make ends meet on one income, while performing all the labor of parenting day in and day out. The coronavirus hit some households much harder than others, specifically single-parent residences run by women. Choosing between paying bills or rent, facing eviction and food insecurity, and deciding between making money and taking care of a child is the harsh reality of the history-making pandemic and lack of government support for struggling families.  To determine the states with the most single-parent households, Stacker used data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey 2018 five-year estimates. All 50 states and Washington D.C. are ranked here according to the share of households that have single parents, classified as either “Male householder, no wife present, children of the householder under 18 years” or “Female ...