Today: October 13, 2024
Today: October 13, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

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Japan’s nuclear plants are short of storage for spent fuel. A remote town could have the solution

A Japanese town said Friday it has agreed to a geological study to determine its suitability as an interim storage site for spent nuclear fuel. Kaminoseki, a small town in the southwestern prefecture of Yamaguchi, said it would accept the offer of a survey by Chugoku Electric Power Co., one of two major utility operators, along with Kansai Electric Power Co., whose spent fuel storage pools are almost full. The Japanese government is promoting the greater use of nuclear power as a low-carbon energy source, but the country’s nuclear plants are running out of storage capacity. The

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Broadway’s ‘Here Lies Love’ to show love for other Filipino stars with Lea Salonga’s departure

As Tony Award winner Lea Salonga prepares to depart the first ever all-Filipino Broadway cast this week, her role will become a revolving door to showcase other well-known talent from the Philippines. Actor and singer Vina Morales, also beloved in the Philippines, will take over as Aurora Aquino in “Here Lies Love” for a month-long engagement starting Sept. 22, the production exclusively told The Associated Press on Friday. Producers say they are committed to highlighting the country’s “abundance of talent,” allowing guest performers a Broadway debut. “To be able to perform on Broadway is a dream come true for any

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As BRICS cooperation accelerates, is it time for the US to develop a BRICS policy?

BRICS foreign ministers meet in Cape Town, South Africa, in June 2023. Jaco Marais/Die Burger/Gallo Images via Getty Images When leaders of the BRICS group of large emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – meet in Johannesburg for two days beginning on Aug. 22, 2023, foreign policymakers in Washington will no doubt be listening carefully. The BRICS group has been challenging some key tenets of U.S. global leadership in recent years. On the diplomatic front, it has undermined the White House’s strategy on Ukraine by countering the Western use of sanctions on Russia. Economically, it has

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Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a fierce Ron DeSantis critic, qualifies for GOP presidential debate

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Friday that he has qualified for next week’s Republican presidential debate, becoming the ninth White House hopeful to meet the fundraising and polling thresholds required to participate in the opening face-off of the 2024 campaign. Suarez, 45 and the only Hispanic in the field, will be perhaps the least-known Republican on the stage Wednesday in Milwaukee. But with an audience expected of more than 10 million viewers, he said the debate will give him equal footing to contrast his personality against his higher-profile opponents. He argued that he is uniquely positioned

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Rhiannon Giddens is as much scholar as musician. Now, she’s showing her saucy side in a new album

Most people familiar with singer Rhiannon Giddens know her scholarly side. She won a MacArthur “genius grant” for her work making sure the contributions of Black Americans aren’t ignored in the history of folk and country music. Earlier this year, she earned a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the opera “Omar,” about an enslaved Muslim man who lived in Charleston, South Carolina. She’s produced an online series on the history of the banjo — which she plays adeptly — and has lectured at Harvard, Stanford and Yale. Her saucy side, not so much. That will change for

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US readying plans to evacuate drone bases if necessary under Niger’s new junta, commander says

The U.S. is making precautionary plans to evacuate two key drone and counter-terror bases in Niger if that becomes necessary under the West African nation’s new ruling junta, the Air Force commander for Africa said Friday. That planning includes looking for U.S.-allied nations in the Saharan and Sahel regions, some of the world’s most active areas for al-Qaida- and Islamic State-allied extremist groups, “that we could maybe partner up with, and then move our assets there,” Air Force Gen. James Hecker told reporters in Washington. Hecker stressed that there had been no decision from the Biden administration

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Gun control unlikely in GOP-led special session following Tennessee school shooting

Tennessee’s GOP-dominant Legislature will return to the state Capitol on Monday months after a deadly school shooting, equipped with a long list of proposals about mental health, school resources, tougher penalties for violent criminals and more. Almost certainly missing from the special legislative session will be any serious consideration of tightening Tennessee’s relaxed gun laws. On March 27, a shooter opened fire at a Nashville Christian elementary school and killed six people, including three young students. The tragedy contributed to a record pace for mass killings in the U.S. this year and jumpstarted a statewide campaign

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Chess chiefs ask why it’s still mostly a man’s game. Culture, but hormones and endurance too?

A top global chess official on Friday called for more research into whether factors such as hormone levels and physical endurance might have an impact on players’ abilities at the game, which has traditionally been and remains dominated by men. The world chess federation FIDE stirred controversy with its decision, announced this week and set to take effect Monday, to prohibit transgender women from its official events for women until the federation makes an assessment of the issue. Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the deputy chair of the federation’s management board, insisted that the goal of the new regulations was

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Biden administration sharply expands temporary status for Ukrainians already in US

The Biden administration on Friday announced a major expansion of temporary legal status for Ukrainians already living in the United States, granting a reprieve for those who fled Russia’s invasion. The move is expected to make 166,700 Ukrainians eligible for Temporary Protected Status, up from about 26,000 currently, the Homeland Security Department said. To qualify, Ukrainians must have been in the United States by Aug. 16, two days before the announcement. They are eligible for work authorization. The temporary status was originally scheduled to expire on Oct. 19, 2023 but is being extended 18 months to

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Identifying fire victims through DNA analysis can be challenging − a geneticist explains what forensics is learning from archaeology

Identifying victims after a disaster can offer closure to loved ones. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong Fire devastates communities and families, and it makes identification of victims challenging. In the aftermath of the wildfire that swept through Lahaina, Hawaii, officials are collecting DNA samples from relatives of missing persons in the hope that this can aid in identifying those who died in the fire. But how well does DNA hold up under such extreme conditions, and what is the best way to recover DNA from fire victims? I am an anthropological geneticist who studies degraded DNA in archaeological and forensic contexts.

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Tipping etiquette and norms are in flux − here’s how you can avoid feeling flustered or ripped off

Digital payment methods may automatically prompt you to leave a gratuity. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh Tipping has gotten more complicated – and awkward – in North America. The ever-growing list of situations in which you might be invited to tip includes buying a smoothie, paying an electrician, getting a beer from a flight attendant and making a political donation. Should you always tip when someone suggests it? If yes, how do you calculate the right amount? And if you don’t, are you being stingy? As marketing professors who specialize in customer interactions, we’re researching how digital payment technologies have changed

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Broadway’s ‘Here Lies Love’ to show love for other Filipino stars with Lea Salonga’s departure

As Tony Award winner Lea Salonga prepares to depart the first ever all-Filipino Broadway cast this week, her role will become a revolving door to showcase other well-known talent from the Philippines. Actor and singer Vina Morales, also beloved in the Philippines, will take over as Aurora Aquino in “Here Lies Love” for a month-long engagement starting Sept. 22, the production exclusively told The Associated Press on Friday. Producers say they are committed to highlighting the country’s “abundance of talent,” allowing guest performers a Broadway debut. “To be able to perform on Broadway is a dream come true for any

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As BRICS cooperation accelerates, is it time for the US to develop a BRICS policy?

BRICS foreign ministers meet in Cape Town, South Africa, in June 2023. Jaco Marais/Die Burger/Gallo Images via Getty Images When leaders of the BRICS group of large emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – meet in Johannesburg for two days beginning on Aug. 22, 2023, foreign policymakers in Washington will no doubt be listening carefully. The BRICS group has been challenging some key tenets of U.S. global leadership in recent years. On the diplomatic front, it has undermined the White House’s strategy on Ukraine by countering the Western use of sanctions on Russia. Economically, it has

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ChatGPT and other language AIs are nothing without humans – a sociologist explains how countless hidden people make the magic

Do you know who helped ChatGPT give you that clever answer? Eric Smalley, The Conversation US (composite derived from Library of Congress image), CC BY-ND The media frenzy surrounding ChatGPT and other large language model artificial intelligence systems spans a range of themes, from the prosaic – large language models could replace conventional web search – to the concerning – AI will eliminate many jobs – and the overwrought – AI poses an extinction-level threat to humanity. All of these themes have a common denominator: large language models herald artificial intelligence that will supersede humanity. But large language models, for

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Memes about animal resistance are everywhere — here’s why you shouldn’t laugh off rebellious orcas and sea otters too quickly

It’s tempting to envision orcas attacking yachts as the forward troops in an animal uprising. Jackson Roberts/iStock via Getty Images Plus Memes galore centered on the “orca revolution” have inundated the online realm. They gleefully depict orcas launching attacks on boats in the Strait of Gibraltar and off the Shetland coast. One particularly ingenious image showcases an orca posed as a sickle crossed with a hammer. The cheeky caption reads, “Eat the rich,” a nod to the orcas’ penchant for sinking lavish yachts. A surfboard-snatching sea otter in Santa Cruz, California has also claimed the media spotlight. Headlines dub her

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Identifying fire victims through DNA analysis can be challenging − a geneticist explains what forensics is learning from archaeology

Identifying victims after a disaster can offer closure to loved ones. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong Fire devastates communities and families, and it makes identification of victims challenging. In the aftermath of the wildfire that swept through Lahaina, Hawaii, officials are collecting DNA samples from relatives of missing persons in the hope that this can aid in identifying those who died in the fire. But how well does DNA hold up under such extreme conditions, and what is the best way to recover DNA from fire victims? I am an anthropological geneticist who studies degraded DNA in archaeological and forensic contexts.

Uncategorized

Tipping etiquette and norms are in flux − here’s how you can avoid feeling flustered or ripped off

Digital payment methods may automatically prompt you to leave a gratuity. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh Tipping has gotten more complicated – and awkward – in North America. The ever-growing list of situations in which you might be invited to tip includes buying a smoothie, paying an electrician, getting a beer from a flight attendant and making a political donation. Should you always tip when someone suggests it? If yes, how do you calculate the right amount? And if you don’t, are you being stingy? As marketing professors who specialize in customer interactions, we’re researching how digital payment technologies have changed

Uncategorized

Broadway’s ‘Here Lies Love’ to show love for other Filipino stars with Lea Salonga’s departure

As Tony Award winner Lea Salonga prepares to depart the first ever all-Filipino Broadway cast this week, her role will become a revolving door to showcase other well-known talent from the Philippines. Actor and singer Vina Morales, also beloved in the Philippines, will take over as Aurora Aquino in “Here Lies Love” for a month-long engagement starting Sept. 22, the production exclusively told The Associated Press on Friday. Producers say they are committed to highlighting the country’s “abundance of talent,” allowing guest performers a Broadway debut. “To be able to perform on Broadway is a dream come true for any

Uncategorized

As BRICS cooperation accelerates, is it time for the US to develop a BRICS policy?

BRICS foreign ministers meet in Cape Town, South Africa, in June 2023. Jaco Marais/Die Burger/Gallo Images via Getty Images When leaders of the BRICS group of large emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – meet in Johannesburg for two days beginning on Aug. 22, 2023, foreign policymakers in Washington will no doubt be listening carefully. The BRICS group has been challenging some key tenets of U.S. global leadership in recent years. On the diplomatic front, it has undermined the White House’s strategy on Ukraine by countering the Western use of sanctions on Russia. Economically, it has

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Iran’s foreign minister visits Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince as tensions between rivals ease

Iran’s foreign minister met Friday with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of his visit to the kingdom, a sign of how the two countries are trying to ease tensions after years of turmoil. Images of Iran’s top diplomat, Hossein Amirabdollahian, sitting with Prince Mohammed would have been unthinkable only months earlier, as the longtime rivals have been engaged in what officials in both Tehran and Riyadh have viewed as a proxy conflict across the wider Middle East. The prince even went as far as to compare Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah

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A neonatal nurse in a British hospital has been found guilty of killing 7 babies

A neonatal nurse in a British hospital was found guilty Friday of killing seven babies and trying to kill six others Lucy Letby, 33, was charged with murder in the deaths of five baby boys and two girls, and the attempted murder of five boys and five girls, when she worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwest England between 2015 and 2016. She was accused of deliberately harming the newborn infants in various ways, including by injecting air into their bloodstreams and administering air or milk into their stomachs via nasogastric tubes. She was also

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How Ukraine’s savvy official social media rallied the world and raised the bar for national propaganda

A Ukrainian flag is displayed in front of a destroyed house in eastern Ukraine in October 2022. Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images Just days after the Russian military launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, stories of Ukrainian resistance were already circulating with a ferocity all their own. Part of this was due to the Ukrainian government’s savvy use of social media. On March 7, 2022, for example, the government posted a video on Twitter, the platform now known as X, showing clips of Ukrainian farmers using John Deere tractors to tow away disabled Russian tanks and equipment.

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Nagorno-Karabakh blockade crisis: Choking of disputed region is a consequence of war and geopolitics

A Russian peacekeeper guards the Lachin corridor. TOFIK BABAYEV/AFP via Getty Images Wars have consequences – and they are drastically different for the winners and losers. In the South Caucasus, a region far from most Americans’ attention, the democratic republic of Armenia lost a short but devastating war three years ago to Azerbaijan, its larger, richer neighbor. That defeat is being felt hardest today by the increasingly desperate people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Known by Armenians as Artsakh, or “Black Garden,” the enclave – Armenian in population but within Azerbaijan territory – has been subjected to a devastating monthslong blockade that has

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Georgia indictment and post-Civil War history make it clear: Trump’s actions have already disqualified him from the presidency

Donald Trump may be barred from holding public office due to a constitutional amendment disqualifying those who have taken part in ‘insurrection or rebellion.’ Mike Stobe/Getty Images After three indictments of former President Donald Trump, the fourth one in Georgia came not as a surprise but as a powerful exposition of the scope of Trump’s efforts to remain in power despite losing the 2020 presidential election. New conservative legal scholarship spells out how and why those actions – which were observed by the public over many months – disqualify Trump from serving in the presidency ever again. And our read

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Risk of death related to pregnancy and childbirth more than doubled between 1999 and 2019 in the US, new study finds

Maternal death rates are higher in the U.S. than in other high-income countries. Tetra Images/Getty Images Black women were more likely to die during pregnancy or soon after in every year from 1999 through 2019, compared with Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and white women. That is a key finding of our recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The risk of maternal death increased the most for American Indian and Alaska Native women during that time frame. Maternal deaths refers to death from any cause except for

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