By EDNA TARIGAN

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia detected traces of radioactive cesium 137 at a clove plantation as it searches for the source of radioactive contamination that forced recalls of shrimp and spices exported to the U.S., a task force investigating the issue said Wednesday.

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U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials blocked the import of all spices processed by PT Natural Java Spice of Indonesia in September after federal inspectors detected cesium 137 in a shipment of cloves sent to California.

That was the second food product from Indonesia to be recalled from sale due to radioactive contamination this year, following a recall of shrimp from another Indonesian company in August.

The task force found cesium 137 at a clove plantation in Lampung province. It also inspected clove processing facilities in Surabaya city in East Java province and another plantation in Central Java province, working with Indonesia’s Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency.

“We can confirm that contamination has been found on plantations in Lampung. The contamination was found in limited quantities and has not spread to other areas or commodities,” said Bara Hasibuan, the task force’s spokesperson in a written statement.

The nuclear regulatory agency recommended a temporary halt to sales of contaminated clove products pending further laboratory testing, while investigators continue to track the source of the contamination.

“The government is moving quickly to localize this contamination so that it does not spread to other areas. The public and businesses are advised to remain calm and wait for the official laboratory test results,” Hasibuan said.

The task force traced the earlier contamination of shrimp to a steel factory in the Cikande industrial estate, around 2 miles from the PT Bahari Makmuri Sejati shrimp processing facility, which sends millions of pounds of shrimp to the U.S. each year.

Experts in nuclear radiation agree that health risks are low since only very low level of radioactivity were identified, but they say it’s important to determine the contamination’s source and share that information with the public.

By SEAN MURPHY

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s new public schools superintendent announced Wednesday he is rescinding a mandate from his predecessor that forced schools to place Bibles in classrooms and incorporate the book into lesson plans for students.

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Superintendent Lindel Fields said in a statement he has “no plans to distribute Bibles or a Biblical character education curriculum in classrooms.” The directive last year from former Superintendent Ryan Walters drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and prompted a lawsuit from a group of parents, teachers and religious leaders that is pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. It was to have applied to students in grades 5 through 12.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Fields to the superintendent’s post after Walters resigned last month to take a job in the private sector.

Jacki Phelps, an attorney for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, said she intends to notify the court of the agency’s plan to rescind the mandate and seek a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they were encouraged by Fields’ decision and plan to discuss next steps with their clients.

“The attempts to promote religion in the classroom and the abuses of power that the Oklahoma State Department of Education engaged in under Walters’ tenure should never happen in Oklahoma or anywhere in the United States again,” the attorneys said in a statement.

Many schools districts across the state had decided not to comply with the Bible mandate.

FILE – Copies of the Bible are displayed Aug. 12, 2024, at the Bixby High School library in Bixby, Okla. (AP Photo/Joey Johnson, File)

A spokeswoman for the state education department, Tara Thompson, said Fields believes the decision on whether the Bible should be incorporated into classroom instruction is one best left up to individual districts and that spending money on Bibles is not the best use of taxpayer resources.

Walters in March had announced plans to team up with country music singer Lee Greenwood seeking donations to get Bibles into classrooms after a legislative panel rejected his $3 million request to fund the effort.

Walters, a far-right Republican, made fighting “woke ideology”, banning certain books from school libraries and getting rid of “radical leftists” who he claims were indoctrinating children in classrooms a focal point of his administration. Since his election in 2020, he imposed a number of mandates on public schools and worked to develop new social studies standards for K-12 public school students that included teaching about conspiracy theories related to the 2020 presidential election. Those standards have been put on hold while a lawsuit challenging them moves forward.

Thompson said the agency plans to review all of Walters’ edicts, including a requirement that applicants from teacher jobs coming from California and New York take an ideology exam, to determine if those may also be rescinded.

“We need to review all of those mandates and provide clarity to schools moving forward,” she said.

By CHAN HO-HIM

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s biggest state-owned air carriers have hit back at a U.S. proposal to bar them from flying over Russia when traveling to or from the U.S.

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The U.S. side has said such flights give Chinese airlines an unfair cost advantage over American carriers, which cannot cross through Russian airspace. Moscow closed Russian airspace to U.S. air carriers and most European airlines in 2022 in response to Western sanctions for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Air China, China Eastern and China Southern are among six Chinese airlines filing complaints over the order proposed last week to prohibit such flights by Chinese carriers.

China Eastern said in its filing this week to the U.S. Department of Transport that the proposed ban would “harm the public interest” and “inconvenience travelers” from both China and the U.S. The additional flight time would result in higher costs and elevated air fares, which increases the burden on all travelers, it said.

China Southern warned that a Russian airspace ban would adversely affect thousands of travelers. Air China said it estimates at least 4,400 passengers would be affected if the ban takes effect during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

Last week, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun also hit back at the proposed ban, saying the move would be “punishing” passengers around the world.

David Yu, an aviation industry expert at New York University Shanghai, said that U.S. carriers’ inability to fly over Russian airspace has increased flight paths for some U.S.-China routes by roughly two to three hours. Longer journeys require more fuel and pressure U.S. carriers’ profitability.

“The U.S.-China route historically has been a money-maker for airlines on both sides,” Yu said. “From the Chinese carriers’ perspective, if you can go through Russia, your costs go down.”

Despite that, Chinese carriers have struggled with losses, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said in its proposed order that Chinese carriers’ ability to cross Russian airspace has caused “competitive imbalances” between American and Chinese airlines.

“Being able to use the most efficient route provides a competitive advantage because it usually results in the shortest flight time duration, thereby offering a more appealing option to travelers,” the department said last week.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it would consider public comments before finalizing the plan.

European airlines including Air France-KLM have also complained.

In a filing to the Department of Transportation, United Airlines urged that Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific, which is not included in the list of Chinese airlines, also be subject to the ban.

The chancellor for the troubled University of Minnesota-Morris will step down from her role by the end of December. The news comes from a letter by President Rebecca Cunningham of the University of Minnesota.

According to the office of the president, Chancellor Janet Schrunk Ericksen will be stepping down from her role by Dec. 31. In her letter, Cunningham wrote, “Chancellor Ericksen has laid a strong foundation that will allow us to build on the successes she fostered and lead the University of Minnesota Morris to its next chapter.”

The Morris campus, with its focus on liberal arts education, has been beset by declining enrollment and related financial and sustainability challenges, many of them related to its location in rural western Minnesota.

Michael Rodriguez, dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus, has been selected to be the new chancellor beginning on Jan. 1, pending approval from the Board of Regents, according to Cunningham.

Rodriguez is a University of Minnesota-Morris alumnus. Rodriguez’s biography with the University of Minnesota describes him as a fifth-generation Minnesotan and a first-generation college graduate.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota-Morris before going on to earn his master’s degree in public affairs at the Twin Cities campus. He also earned a doctorate in measurement and quantitative methods from Michigan State University.

Rodriguez became a university faculty member in 1999 and was previously named the Campbell Leadership Chair in Education and Human Development in 2013. He is also a member of the UMN Academy of Distinguished Teachers and chairs the Technical Advisory Group of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.

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