Four more boys rescued from flooded Thai cave
MAE SAI, Thailand — The generals and other officials overseeing the desperate operation to rescue 12 young soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave labyrinth in Thailand’s sweltering far north were only half joking when they quipped Monday that success was in the hands of the rain god Phra Pirun.
They were celebrating a second day of stunning triumph after divers guided four more boys Monday through tight passages and dank flooded caverns to safety. “Two days, eight Boars,” read a Facebook post by the Thai Navy SEALS of the dramatic rescue that began Sunday, more than two weeks after the members of the Wild Boars soccer team were trapped. Another five still await rescue, including the team’s 25-year-old coach.
The eight rescued boys were recuperating in a hospital from their ordeal huddled together on a tiny patch of higher ground where they had sought refuge after a rainstorm flooded the massive Tham Luan Nang Non cave complex as they were exploring it after soccer practice on June 23. Their families were being kept at a distance because of fears of infection and the emaciated-looking boys were eating a rice-based porridge because they were still too weak to take regular food, authorities said.
Starbucks, citing ocean threat, is ditching plastic straws
NEW YORK — Starbucks will eliminate plastic straws from all of its locations within two years, the coffee chain announced Monday, becoming the largest food and beverage company to do so as calls for businesses and cities to cut waste grow louder.
While the straws account for a small percentage of the pollution that ends up in the ocean, they’ve become a flashpoint because they’re seen as an easy way to reduce waste.
“There are several of these single-use items the public is realizing, hey, we don’t actually need these,” said Denise Hardesty, a scientist with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation who studies plastic pollution.
U.S. will reunite and release over 50 immigrant children
SAN DIEGO — More than 50 immigrant children under age 5 will be reunited with their parents by Tuesday’s court-ordered deadline for action by Trump administration, and the families will then be released into the U.S., a government attorney said Monday.
That’s only about half of the 100 or so toddlers covered by the order.
At a court hearing, Justice Department lawyer Sarah Fabian acknowledged the government wouldn’t meet the deadline for all the children, citing a variety of reasons, including that the parents of some of the youngsters have already been deported.
Fabian said that 54 children will be joined with their parents by the end of Tuesday at locations across the country and that an additional five were undergoing final background checks.
It was the first time the government indicated whether the parents and children would be released or detained together. They will be set free in the U.S. pending the outcome of their immigration cases, which can take several years.
By wire sources