Yahoo Movies Putin claims power plant in Ukraine, children massacred in Thailand: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Putin claims power plant in Ukraine
The move comes as the Russian leader formally signed annexations of several Ukrainian regions. Plus, at least 30 are dead after a massacre targeting children in Thailand, wellness reporter Jenna Ryu looks at society's obsession with 'true crime' entertainment, a Russian launches to space from the U.S. for the first time in 20 years and reporter Jordan Mendoza talks about Alaska's Fat Bear Week.
Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.
Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 6th of October, 2022. Today, Putin's latest claims of ownership in Ukraine, plus updates on a massacre of children in Thailand, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
All four bodies of a missing California family have been found. A person of interest is in custody after police say a masked suspect kidnapped them earlier this week.
A former University of Arizona student has been arrested after a shooting at the school killed a professor. Campus police said the suspect is a former student of the professor.
And the Major League Baseball playoffs are set. The Atlanta Braves edged out the New York Mets for the NL East title, one of the last races to be decided, and the Wild Card round begins tomorrow.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree yesterday claiming ownership of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The announcement came hours after Putin signed laws annexing the Zaporizhzhia region. Earlier in the day, the head of Ukraine's state-run Energoatom Nuclear power company, Petro Kotin, said he would be running the Russian-held plant from Ukraine's Capital, Kyiv. The company called Putin's decree worthless and absurd. The plant's Ukrainian director was kidnapped on Friday and then released this week by Russian forces. The plan has been the focus of global concern, particularly across Europe, where the facility is the continent's largest. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said last month, after a fact-finding mission to the plant, that there needs to be a security protection zone around it.
Rafael Grossi:
The shelling around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant must stop, and a nuclear safety and security protection zone agreed immediately. A nuclear power plant can never be a pawn of war. Its fate must not be decided by military means.
Taylor Wilson:
He tweeted this week, "The need for a nuclear safety and security protection zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is now more urgent than ever." Along with the Zaporizhzhia region, Putin yesterday ratified the annexation of three other Ukrainian regions, despite international outrage.
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More than 30 people, including mostly children, were killed today when a gunman opened fire at a childcare center in Thailand. Police said the attack took place in the northeastern town of Nong Bua Lamphu. They said the attacker killed 30 people before taking his own life. One official said at least 23 children are dead. According to Thai media reports, the gunman also used knives in the attack. Several media outlets identified the attacker as a former police lieutenant colonel from the region, but there was no immediate official confirmation. Outlets also reported that after fleeing the scene, the assailant returned to his home and killed himself along with his wife and child. The massacre is one of the deadliest ever in the southeast Asian country's history. For more on this developing story, stay with USATODAY.com.
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Jeffrey Dahmer has been dead for nearly 30 years, but his gruesome story continues to grab viewers across the world with the number one show on Netflix, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
Niecy Nash-Betts in clip from Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story:
"What do you do in there? The smells, power tools going all hours of the night. I hear screaming coming from your apartment."
Taylor Wilson:
Wellness reporter, Jenna Ryu, and producer, PJ Elliott, have more on why society enjoys these types of true crime shows, and how damaging they can be for the victim's families.
Jenna Ryu:
Yeah, it's no surprise that people like to watch horror movies or try to understand the mind of a sociopath or a murderer. Part of that instinct or that impulse is natural just because it's so shocking and bizarre to the average person. But what's interesting about the new Netflix Dahmer series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, is it's number one on Netflix right now and it reenacts the murders, the sexual assault, even the cannibalism of the real-life serial killer.
Some experts fear that we've become desensitized or numb to the fact that this isn't a fictional story. This actually happened and there are real-life victims with real-life families who have suffered, but because it's marketed as true crime entertainment or because some people interpret it as fictional because the serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, is played by Evan Peters, that, in turn, makes people not as empathetic to the fact that these are real stories and real-life traumas and tragedies that we're talking about, and not just another horror movie or a fictional mystery movie.
PJ Elliott:
Jenna, you mentioned something very interesting there in your answer that I want to touch more on. Has true crime shows like the Dahmer series and even true crime podcasts, desensitized us to real-life tragedies?
Jenna Ryu:
Well, there are ways for true crime stories like documentaries, they do have the power to rally support, to bring awareness, even justice in some cases. But experts have said they fear that we've become desensitized to these real-life tragedies when the victim's families are being exploited. So for example, in the Dahmer case, one of the victims' families have spoken out against the series saying they don't approve of it, that it wasn't run by them, that it was retraumatizing to see the death of their brother or their cousin being reenacted on Netflix.
So some experts fear that we don't have the empathy when we're so focused on entertainment, of seeing Evan Peters on TV. Some people do it because, as I said, the allure of horror and true crime is that it's mysterious and shocking, and unresolved. But at the same time, when you focus on someone else's trauma, sometimes it makes us feel better about where we are in our lives, about our own traumas. As a result, we treat other people's tragedies as gossip or just another trend that we can openly talk about without having that compassion for the fact that this did really impact real victims and families.
Taylor Wilson:
You can find a link to Jenna's full story in today's episode description.
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Four astronauts were on a SpaceX rocket yesterday heading for the International Space Station, and that includes the first Russian to launch from the US in 20 years alongside NASA and Japanese astronauts. Anna Kikina is also just the fifth Russian woman to rocket off the planet. NASA agreed to swap assignments with one of its crew, so astronaut, Frank Rubio launched to the ISS on a Russian rocket last month. Sergei Krikalev is the executive director of Russia's Roscosmos.
Sergei Krikalev:
We start to cooperate, as I said, many years ago, more than 40 years ago, and we will continue our cooperation as long as I can imagine. We are going to keep flying International Space Station as long as our new infrastructure will build. We don't know yet how it's going to be built and what kind of modules we will have, but I'm sure that we will stay in international partnership when we fly to ISS and the Future Station Fusion's infrastructure is also going to be with international partnership.
Taylor Wilson:
The trip, which arrives today, also includes Nicole Mann, the first Native American woman to orbit the world. The flight was previously delayed by Hurricane Ian.
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In Southwest Alaska, bears are bulking up and wandering around with bellies full of salmon. That can mean only one thing, Fat Bear Week is here. PJ Elliott spoke with reporter Jordan Mendoza to find out more about the yearly contest growing in popularity.
Jordan Mendoza:
Yeah, so really, it's just a celebration of bears getting fat. So over here, at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Southwest Alaska, they have one of the greatest runs of salmon at this one river. During this time period, bears are stocking up because it's almost winter and that means hibernation and that means they aren't eating for months at a time. So they're stocking up as much as they can. That mixture of all the salmon being available and these bears putting on as much weight as they can results in these bears getting absolutely massive. People just love seeing these bears. The National Park decided to make a contest out of it, and it's turned into a global phenomenon. It's like a March Madness, just with bears.
PJ Elliott:
So how many bears compete each year and how do the rangers choose which bears are going to be contestants in Fat Bear Week?
Jordan Mendoza:
It's changed over the years. The very first one they ever did, it was only just a couple of bears and they did it all in one day. Then the reception for it was so massive that they turned it into a whole week. So this year, there's 12 bears. How the bears are chosen, it's actually kind of fascinating. They're wild bears, first off, so they're not going to come at a certain time period and they're not going to say like, "Oh, I'll be right here," or anything like that. So really what it boils down to is that these park rangers, they have to find these bears. You can notice them based off tendencies, their habits, they have distinctive marks or distinctive looks or anything like that. So what they're doing is they're just observing them as time goes.
The trick is for one, find them before they put on all this weight so they can take pictures of them after they put on all this weight and spot the differences like, "Oh, they got this big." For the contest, there are some fan favorites and there are some bears that have won the competition before. There are some bears that haven't, but they were favorites because of their name or something that they did. So there's a mixture of that, but they also like to put in a mixture of new bears to see if there's going to be one bear that they find that just stands out above them all.
PJ Elliott:
So who was the winner last year and how big did he get?
Jordan Mendoza:
Yeah, so last year the winner was 480 Otis. Off the top of my head, I can't remember how big he was, but I remember he was a massive tank. He's won it four times and he's back at it again this year, going for a fifth. It's really funny when you think about it, these bears are winning this competition and they have absolutely zero idea what's going on. They probably can't even comprehend what a Fat Bear Week is. So even though they win it, they don't know what's going on. They probably don't know that this is all there, but in the end, they're all doing their best to get fat. They're all doing their best to get big, for a good reason, too.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven days a week right here, wherever you're listening right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Russia claims Ukraine power plant, Alaska's Fat Bear Week: 5 Things podcast
