By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Japan’s outgoing prime minister and his South Korean counterpart underscored the need to strengthen cooperation between their nations, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s transactional approach to allies and trade wars are bringing the often-feuding Asian neighbors closer.

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Tuesday’s meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in South Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan is their third and likely final summit. Earlier this month, Ishiba offered to resign over his ruling coalition’s recent election defeat, triggering a contest to find his successor.

“I hope that (South) Korea and Japan can grow closer emotionally, economically, socioculturally, and in terms of security, just as they are in physical distance,” Lee said at the start of the meeting.

Ishiba said that it was “deeply meaningful” to conclude his diplomatic activities as prime minister with a summit with Lee. “By sharing each other’s wisdom and experience, we can strengthen relations between our two countries while addressing our common challenges,” Ishiba said through a translator.

The two leaders issued a joint statement vowing further bilateral consultations on shared issues like low birth rates, rural revitalization and enhanced disaster prevention steps. Lee’s office said the two also reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a reference to efforts to end North Korea’s nuclear program.

Relations hobbled by the past

South Korea and Japan are both key U.S. allies and major trading partners. But their ties have experienced constant shifts because of history disputes stemming from Japan’s past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Relations began improving under Lee and Ishiba’s predecessors. But the impending departure of Ishiba, who has acknowledged Japan’s wartime aggression and shown empathy toward the Asian victims, could pose a foreign policy challenge to Lee.

Speaking to reporters after the summit, Ishiba acknowledged enduring differences with South Korea over wartime history but stressed the need for Tokyo to maintain “sincerity and courage” in confronting the past. He expressed hope that his successor will continue strengthening bilateral ties, which would “not only benefit the two countries but also the entire world.”

Both governments said the summit was part of earlier agreements to maintain close communication and high-level exchanges between the countries.

When Lee traveled to Tokyo in August for his second summit with Ishiba, he became the first South Korean leader to pick Japan as their first destination for a bilateral summit since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1965. In Tokyo, Lee said he intended to pursue pragmatic diplomacy and build future-oriented relations with Japan.

South Korea and Japan have sought ways to tackle together challenges like North Korea’s expanding nuclear arsenal and supply chain vulnerabilities. They are now being pushed closer together by Trump’s push to reset global trade.

Trump’s tariffs rattle both nations

Lee’s national security director, Wi Sung-lac, earlier told reporters that Tuesday’s summit would provide a venue to expand discussions in the midst of “the rapidly changing geopolitical environment and trade order.” He said that the meeting would also discuss Ishiba’s possible active role in developing bilateral ties even after his departure.

South Korea and Japan have pledged hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. industrial investments in hopes of avoiding the Trump administration’s highest tariffs. But South Korean officials acknowledge they remain at odds with Washington over how Seoul’s proposed $350 billion package would be structured and operated.

South Korean officials have proposed delivering the investment through loans and loan guarantees and have balked at U.S. demands for upfront payments, which they say would put the country at risk of a financial crisis given the size of its foreign-currency reserves.

Unlike Seoul, Tokyo has already put its trade deal with Washington in writing. Trump earlier this month signed an order to lower tariffs on Japanese automobiles and other critical imports, from the initially proposed 25% to 15%, while the two governments also signed a joint statement in Washington confirming $550 billion in Japanese investment in U.S. projects.

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A two-year-old girl chosen as Nepal’s new living goddess was carried by family members from their home in a Kathmandu alley to a temple palace Tuesday during the country’s longest and most significant Hindu festival.

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Aryatara Shakya, at 2 years and 8 months, was chosen as the new Kumari or “virgin goddess,” replacing the incumbent who is considered by tradition to become a mere mortal upon reaching puberty.

Kumaris are chosen from the Shakya clans of the Newar community, indigenous to the Kathmandu valley, and revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in the predominantly Hindu nation.

The girls are selected between the ages of 2 and 4 and are required to have unblemished skin, hair, eyes and teeth. They should not be afraid of the dark.

During the Indra Jatra festival earlier this month, the former Kumari was wheeled around on a chariot pulled by devotees. The Kumari always wears red, pins up her hair in topknots and has a “third eye” painted on their forehead.

The weeklong Indra Jatra festival was the first of a series of celebrations including Dashain, the main festival, and Tihar or Diwali, the festival of lights, in October.

Tuesday marked the eighth day of Dashain, a 15-day celebration of the victory of good over evil. Offices and schools were closed as people celebrated with their families.

Nepal’s newly appointed living goddess, Kumari Aryatara Shakya, is carried by her family member as they get ready to walk towards Kumari Ghar, the temple palace where she will be residing in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Family, friends and devotees paraded the new Kumari through the streets of Kathmandu before entering the temple palace which will be her home for several years.

Devotees lined up to touch the girls’ feet with their foreheads, the highest sign of respect among Hindus in the Himalayan nation, and offered her flowers and money. The new Kumari will bless devotees including the president on Thursday.

“She was just my daughter yesterday, but today she is a goddess,” said her father Ananta Shakya.

Nepal’s newly appointed living goddess, Kumari Aryatara Shakya, is carried toward Kumari Ghar, the temple palace where she will be residing in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

He said there were already signs she would be the goddess before her birth.

“My wife during pregnancy dreamed that she was a goddess and we knew she was going to be someone very special,” he said.

The former Kumari Trishna Shakya, now aged 11 years old, left from a rear entrance on a palanquin carried by her family and supporters. She became the living goddess in 2017.

Families of the Shakya clan who qualify for this prestigious seat compete to have their daughters selected. The family of the Kumari gains an elevated position in society and within their own clan.

But Kumaris live a sequestered life. They have few selected playmates and are allowed outside only a few times a year for festivals.

Tourists watch as Nepal’s newly appointed living goddess, Kumari Aryatara Shakya, is carried toward Kumari Ghar, the temple palace where she will be residing in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Former Kumaris face difficulties adjusting to normal life, learning to do chores and attending regular schools. According to Nepalese folklore, men who marry a former Kumari will die young, and so many girls remain unmarried.

Over the past few years, there have been many changes in tradition and the Kumari is now allowed to receive an education from private tutors inside the temple palace and even have a television set.

The government also now offers retired Kumaris a small monthly pension of about $110 which is slightly above the minimum wage fixed by the government.

Nepal’s newly appointed living goddess, Kumari Aryatara Shakya, is carried by her father and mother as they pose for photographs at their personal residence in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration’s efforts to deport noncitizens who protested the war in Gaza was unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston agreed with several university associations that the policy they described as ideological deportation violates the First Amendment.

“This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court –- squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally ‘yes, they do,’” Young, a nominee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, wrote.

An email to the Homeland Security department for comment was not immediately returned.

The ruling came after a trial during which lawyers for the associations presented witnesses who testified that the Trump administration had launched a coordinated effort to target students and scholars who had criticized Israel or showed sympathy for Palestinians.

“Not since the McCarthy era have immigrants been the target of such intense repression for lawful political speech,” Ramya Krishnan, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, told the court. “The policy creates a cloud of fear over university communities, and it is at war with the First Amendment.”

Lawyers for the Trump administration put up witnesses who testified there was no ideological deportation policy as the plaintiffs contended.

“There is no policy to revoke visas on the basis of protected speech,” Victoria Santora told the court. “The evidence presented at this trial will show that plaintiffs are challenging nothing more than government enforcement of immigration laws.”

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John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, testified that visa revocations were based on longstanding immigration law. Armstrong acknowledged he played a role in the visa revocation of several high-profile activists, including Rumeysa Ozturk and Mahmoud Khalil, and was shown memos endorsing their removal.

Armstrong also insisted that visa revocations were not based on protected speech and rejected accusations that there was a policy of targeting someone for their ideology.

One witness testified that the campaign targeted more than 5,000 pro-Palestinian protesters. Out of the 5,000 names reviewed, investigators wrote reports on about 200 who had potentially violated U.S. law, Peter Hatch of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations Unit testified. Until this year, Hatch said, he could not recall a student protester being referred for a visa revocation.

Among the report subjects was Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Khalil, who was released last month after 104 days in federal immigration detention. Khalil has become a symbol of Trump’s clampdown on the protests.

Another was the Tufts University student Ozturk, who was released in May from six weeks in detention after being arrested on a suburban Boston street. She said she was illegally detained following an op-ed she co-wrote last year criticizing her school’s response to the war in Gaza.

In the wake of the Evergreen High School shooting, extremism experts are raising the alarm about how teenagers are being radicalized online in spaces that glorify violence.

They, along with mental health experts, recommend parents monitor their kids’ online activity as well as learn the language that is often used in such spaces so that they know what children are being exposed to.

“What we see online happening with our children is desensitization of killing, of death, of what it means to take a life,” said Susan Payne, a national school safety expert and founder of Colorado’s Safe2Tell reporting system. “…We have to understand warning signs and indicators really are changing as we go more into a digital age.”

Here are five steps that experts said parents can take to help keep their kids safe:

Don’t rush to give a child a social media account

Mental health experts do not recommend that children have sole access to social media until they become adolescents because their brain development isn’t ready to navigate such content without the supervision of an adult.

There isn’t a set age that mental health experts recommend a child be given their own account, as each individual will be ready at a different time, said Jessica Hawks, a child and adolescent psychologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Monitor and limit a child’s social media activity

Parents should monitor their child’s social media activity once they are given their own accounts. This includes being able to log in and see who their kids are talking to and what’s showing up on their social feeds, Hawks said.

Parents should also set guidelines for overall screen use, such as not allowing phones to be used in bedrooms at night, she said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that families create a social media plan.

It’s not just parents who need to be aware of how kids are accessing dangerous content online.

Schools should also think about what websites they allow students to access on their computers and how to make it more difficult for them to come across violent content, said Oren Segal, the Anti-Defamation League’s senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence.

Talk with children about what they are seeing online

Parents should regularly check in with their kids to learn what they are being exposed to online, but these conversations are especially important after a traumatic event — such as the Evergreen High shooting — happens, Hawks said.

“It’s really important for parents to go to these kids and initiate these kinds of conversations,” she said.

In these conversations, parents should follow their kids’ lead and let them express whatever feelings they have without minimizing them. Help normalize whatever emotions the child has, whether it’s anger, sadness or fear, Hawks said.

Parents should also avoid trying to problem-solve during the conversation, as it’s important that kids have a space where they can just talk, she said.

Parents should answer any questions their child might have in an open, calm and age-appropriate way. They shouldn’t try to insert their own opinions or political views or use inflammatory language, as that will help perpetuate the divide in society, Hawks said.

Instead, parents should stick to the basics, such as telling a child that violence is never OK, she said.

Parents and educators need to learn language used online

Online teens often use slang, symbols and slogans that adults may not understand to refer to white supremacy, antisemitism and mass shootings.

For example, the Evergreen High shooter liked a comment online that asked if “bro gonna become a Hero.” The term “hero,” specifically the “er” in the word, is an incel term that references a past mass attack.

Incels are misogynists who believe the world is rigged against young men and that’s why they are unable to find romantic or sexual partners, experts say.

The Anti-Defamation League has an online database of hate symbols and codes that parents and educators can use to familiarize themselves with.

Make sure a child has a trusted adult

A trusted adult is one of the most protective factors for a child’s mental health and preventing violence, according to mental health experts.

A trusted adult can be a family member, a coach or a teacher. They are someone a child or teen can talk to and helps them feel like they belong in the community, which means an adolescent is less likely to be drawn into online spaces that encourage them to engage in violence, experts said.