TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Cabinet has given formal approval to easing sanctions on North Korea.
The decision came at a meeting Friday morning. It endorsed what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had announced the previous day.
The move is in return for North Korea's agreement to reinvestigate the fate of Japanese who were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s.
Just two years after leaving the presidency, former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy turned himself in to police this morning as part of an inquiry into a cover-up of suspected illegal campaign fundraising. Sarkozy, 59, is reportedly France's first former president to be taken into formal custody.
From Paris, NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports:
"Sarkozy is being questioned over his behavior during a probe of possible illegal financing for his 2007 campaign from France's richest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
"The case centers around whether Sarkozy and his lawyer were kept informed of insider information on the investigation by a friendly magistrate — who was in return promised a prominent position in Monaco.
"Sarkozy has made strong hints of a comeback bid in the 2017 presidential election, but his hopes would be dealt a heavy blow if he's charged in this case.
"He can be held for questioning for a first period of up to 24 hours, with a possible extension of another day before being charged or be released."
The campaign finance allegations against Sarkozy also include the suspicion that he accepted millions of dollars from late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi – and that he and his attorney, Thierry Herzog, were warned about the allegations.
"Sarkozy has denied the claims that he received up to €50 million ($70 million at the time) from Gadhafi," France 24 reports.
The news agency adds that last year, a judge approved a request to tap Sarkozy's phones – an operation that helped reveal "Sarkozy had a secret phone registered under an assumed name. It was conversations with Herzog recorded on that device that triggered the investigation."
LONDON (AP) — It may not destroy your soul, but it turns out heavy metal music can be hazardous to your brain. At least in some rare cases.
German doctors say they have treated a Motorhead fan whose headbanging habit ultimately led to a brain injury, but that the risk to metal fans in general is so small they don't need to give up the shaking.
Last January, doctors at Hannover Medical School saw a 50-year-old man who complained of constant, worsening headaches. The patient, who was not identified, had no history of head injuries or substance abuse problems but said he had been headbanging regularly for years — most recently at a Motorhead concert he attended with his son.
After a scan, doctors discovered their patient had a brain bleed and needed a hole drilled into his brain to drain the blood. The patient's headaches soon disappeared. In a follow-up scan, the doctors saw he had a benign cyst which might have made the metal aficionado more vulnerable to a brain injury.
"We are not against headbanging," said Dr. Ariyan Pirayesh Islamian, one of the doctors who treated the man. "The risk of injury is very, very low. But I think if (our patient) had (gone) to a classical concert, this would not have happened."
Islamian said the violent shaking of the head in headbanging can sometimes be enough to cause damage as the brain bumps up against the skull and noted a handful of previous injuries, also in heavy metal fans. The latest case was described in a report published online Friday in the journal Lancet.
Motorhead is a British metal band known for helping create the "speed metal" genre, which inspires extremely fast headbanging. Islamian described the band as "one of the most hard-core rock 'n' roll acts on earth."
Doctors said headbangers shouldn't be discouraged from enjoying their favorite bands.
"There are probably other higher risk events going on at rock concerts than headbanging," noted Dr. Colin Shieff, a neurosurgeon and trustee of the British brain injury advocacy group Headway. "Most people who go to music festivals and jump up and down while shaking their heads don't end up in the hands of a neurosurgeon."
Islamian agreed heavy metal fans shouldn't necessarily skip the headbanging.
"Rock 'n' roll will never die," he said. "Heavy metal fans should rock on."
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Online:
www.lancet.com
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A propane tank on a food truck in Philadelphia exploded into a fireball, critically injuring a mother and daughter and sending at least nine others to the hospital, police said.
The truck exploded Tuesday evening outside an auto body shop in the city's Feltonville neighborhood.
Authorities said a 42-year-old woman and her 17-year-old daughter, who were working on the food truck, were in critical condition Wednesday with burns across a substantial portion of their bodies. Also hospitalized were a 27-year-old woman, a 23-year-old man and a 13-year-old girl. Chief Inspector Scott Small said about seven more people were treated and released.
Surveillance video from two businesses near the La Parrillada Chapina food truck captured the explosion, followed by a huge fireball that engulfed the truck and crossed to the other side of the street, Small said.
He said the four-foot propane tank that exploded, one of two that fuels the food truck, was found about 150 feet away in a residential backyard.
A utility pole on the other side of the street caught fire, but the fireball did not reach the homes across the street or businesses next to the truck.
Two cars driving by the explosion were briefly engulfed by flames, Small said, and five people inside were treated at area hospitals.
The city's fire department, along with police detectives and the bomb squad were investigating.
"We want to ensure that this was an accidental explosion. We want to ensure this wasn't anything criminal," Small said. "The bomb squad is investigating to see if there is any foul play. That will be the result of a completed investigation."
Jane Kim, the owner of a store next to the auto body shop, said that the food truck is parked outside daily. She said that she heard the explosion and was shaken by the incident.
"We thought something fell over. Then all of a sudden we heard screams," neighbor Nicole Ellis told WCAU-TV. "We walked outside and the truck was billowing fire."
Neighbor Luis Rivera told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his home across the street shook from the blast.
"I thought it was a car accident — there are usually a lot on this street," he said. "Then I came outside and saw the lunch truck in flames."