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Today: April 09, 2025
Today: April 09, 2025
The Los Angeles Post

The Los Angeles Post

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World

US aircraft carrier makes Da Nang port call as America looks to strengthen ties with Vietnam

A U.S. aircraft carrier and two guided missile cruisers were visiting Vietnam on Monday, a rare port call that comes as the United States and China increasingly vie for influence in Southeast Asia. The USS Ronald Reagan, along with the guided missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Robert Smalls, arrived in Da Nang on Sunday for the visit. Neighboring China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner but Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea have led to increasing friction with Vietnam, as well as with Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. The U.S., meantime, has been

US aircraft carrier makes Da Nang port call as America looks to strengthen ties with Vietnam
World

Closing arguments set in trial of Florida deputy accused of failing to stop school shooter

Closing arguments are scheduled Monday in the trial of a former Florida sheriff’s deputy accused of failing to confront the shooter who murdered 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland high school five years ago. Prosecutors and the attorney for Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson spent his trial contesting what he heard, saw and knew during the six-minute attack inside a three-story classroom building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. Peterson, 60, is charged with felony child neglect and other charges for his alleged failure to confront former student

Closing arguments set in trial of Florida deputy accused of failing to stop school shooter
World

Thousands of North Koreans march in anti-US rallies as country marks Korean War anniversary

Tens of thousands of North Koreans marched in anti-U.S. rallies in the nation’s capital over the weekend, pledging “merciless” revenge against “U.S. imperialists,” as the country marked the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War, state media said Monday. More than 120,000 people participated in Sunday’s mass rallies in Pyongyang, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said. While the 1950-53 conflict was triggered by a North Korean surprise attack, the demonstrators mobilized in Pyongyang promoted their government’s version of events and accused the United States of provoking the war and leaving Koreans

Thousands of North Koreans march in anti-US rallies as country marks Korean War anniversary
World

Russian defense minister makes first public appearance since mercenary revolt demanded his ouster

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made his first public appearance since a mercenary uprising demanded his ouster, inspecting troops in Ukraine Monday in a video released by his ministry. He’s the first of three powerful Russian leaders whose diverging interests led to the Wagner Group occupying a Russian city and marching on the capital to be seen since the revolt ended Saturday. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin have made no public statements since then. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced an end to the “counter-terrorism regime” imposed on the capital Saturday, during which troops with machine

Russian defense minister makes first public appearance since mercenary revolt demanded his ouster
World

Early vote count for Guatemala's presidential election indicates 2nd round ahead

Preliminary and partial results in Guatemala’s presidential election pointed early on Monday to the likelihood of a second round of voting but did not indicate who the two candidates would be in an Aug. 20 runoff. With about half of the votes counted just past midnight Sunday, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal reported that former first lady Sandra Torres for the conservative UNE party and Bernardo Arévalo for the leftist Seed Movement were in the lead, but both were below 20% of the votes. That is far from the 50% threshold needed to win in the first

Early vote count for Guatemala's presidential election indicates 2nd round ahead
World

Pro-reform Mitsotakis wins second term in Greek election that sees surge by small far-right parties

Greece’s center-right leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to be sworn in as prime minister on Monday, hours after easily winning a second term with a record-high margin over the leftwing opposition in an election that also ushered new far-right parties into Parliament. With 99.67% of the vote counted, Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party had 40.55% of the vote — more than twice the main opposition Syriza’s 17.84%. It was the largest margin of victory in half a century, and slightly expanded ND’s 20-percentage-point lead in previous election five weeks before. Held under a new electoral law that boosts

Pro-reform Mitsotakis wins second term in Greek election that sees surge by small far-right parties
Political

Supreme Court is not committed to a major innovation in transparency it started during the pandemic

After the Supreme Court began livestreaming its oral arguments in 2020, the public could listen in real time to the justices as they interact with attorneys. Robert Alexander/Getty Images When the Supreme Court began livestreaming audio of oral arguments in May 2020, it was because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the justices from convening in person. But since then, even as pandemic-era restrictions eased, the Supreme Court has continued livestreaming, uninterrupted. The Supreme Court initially approved the practice on a month-by-month basis, then three months at a time, and most recently for an entire term, stretching from October 2022 through April

Supreme Court is not committed to a major innovation in transparency it started during the pandemic
Political

Supreme Court has not committed to a major innovation in transparency it started during the pandemic

After the Supreme Court began livestreaming its oral arguments in 2020, the public could listen in real time to the justices as they interact with attorneys. Robert Alexander/Getty Images When the Supreme Court began livestreaming audio of oral arguments in May 2020, it was because the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the justices from convening in person. But since then, even as pandemic-era restrictions eased, the Supreme Court has continued livestreaming, uninterrupted. The Supreme Court initially approved the practice on a month-by-month basis, then three months at a time, and most recently for an entire term, stretching from October 2022 through April

Supreme Court has not committed to a major innovation in transparency it started during the pandemic
Education

Asian folktales offer moral lessons that help reduce racial prejudice in children

A teacher tells a story to a group of students. Getty Images In a Cambodian children’s folktale, one man is afraid of lawyers and another is afraid of filth. As the story goes, both are constantly bombarded by their fears despite their efforts to avoid them. The moral of the tale is revealing and contains a powerful anti-racism message: What you hate becomes your fate. As an educational linguist and a psychologist who specialize in children’s literacy development, we know that reading such folktales about people from different ethnic groups reduces prejudice in young children. By age 4, children learn

Asian folktales offer moral lessons that help reduce racial prejudice in children
Education

Taking students to the range to learn about gun culture firsthand

‘Sociology of Guns’ students during a gun range field trip. Sandra Stroud Yamane, Author provided Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Title of course: “Sociology of Guns” What prompted the idea for the course? I grew up in the liberal culture of the San Francisco Bay Area and never touched a firearm until I was 42 years old, living in North Carolina and teaching sociology at Wake Forest University. For the past 10-plus years I have been deeply immersed in American gun culture both professionally and personally. I have both studied

Taking students to the range to learn about gun culture firsthand
Health

BMI alone will no longer be treated as the go-to measure for weight management – an obesity medicine physician explains the seismic shift taking place

Body mass index has been the standard measure to classify obesity and overweight for decades. kaipong/iStock via Getty Images Amid the buzz around weight loss drugs and rising rates of obesity worldwide, many health care professionals are questioning one of the key measures that has long been used to define obesity. On June 14, 2023, the American Medical Association adopted a new policy, calling on doctors to deemphasize the role of body mass index, or BMI, in clinical practice. The statement by the AMA, the nation’s largest association representing physicians, signals a significant shift in how clinicians regard BMI as

BMI alone will no longer be treated as the go-to measure for weight management – an obesity medicine physician explains the seismic shift taking place
Economy

States are weakening their child labor restrictions nearly 8 decades after the US government took kids out of the workforce

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law in 2023 that lets children under 16 work without official permission from their parents. AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo A movement to weaken American child labor protections at the state level began in 2022. By June 2023, Arkansas, Iowa, New Jersey and New Hampshire had enacted this kind of legislation, and lawmakers in at least another eight states had introduced similar measures. The laws generally make it easier for kids from 14 to 17 years old to work longer and later – and in occupations that were previously off-limits for minors. When Iowa Gov.

States are weakening their child labor restrictions nearly 8 decades after the US government took kids out of the workforce
World

Here's how to prepare to start paying back your student loans when the pandemic payment freeze ends

An estimated 43 million borrowers who could have seen their student loan balances decreased or erased will now resume their original payments in the fall, following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Biden administration’s debt forgiveness plan. Student loan interest will start accruing on September 1 and payments will re-start in October, when a three-year pandemic pause on federal student loan payments will end. The conservative-leaning court ruled that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loan debt. The White House plan would have forgiven $10,000 in federal

Here's how to prepare to start paying back your student loans when the pandemic payment freeze ends
Education

COVID-19 hurt kids' math learning more than reading and writing – with the biggest setbacks in fall 2020

The pandemic’s effect on student learning could exacerbate racial and economic achievement gaps. Laura Olivas/Moment Collection/Getty Images The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea The COVID-19 pandemic had a stark negative impact on students’ math scores, new data from Michigan shows. Math achievement growth over the three-year period from spring 2019 through spring 2022 was substantially lower – approximately 7 national percentiles – than among comparable students the three years prior. There were even larger decreases among students who are Black or Latino, low income or who attended the majority of schools that

COVID-19 hurt kids' math learning more than reading and writing – with the biggest setbacks in fall 2020
Political

South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world – and that doesn't bode well for its economy

An aging population, a tired economy. Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images Around the world, nations are looking at the prospect of shrinking, aging populations – but none more so than South Korea. Over the last 60 years, South Korea has undergone the most rapid fertility decline in recorded human history. In 1960, the nation’s total fertility rate – the number of children, on average, that a woman has during her reproductive years – stood at just under six children per woman. In 2022, that figure was 0.78. South Korea is the only country in the world to register a fertility

South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world – and that doesn't bode well for its economy
Environment

Right-to-charge laws bring the promise of EVs to apartments, condos and rentals

Charging at home is more convenient for apartment dwellers, too. Westend61 via Getty Images More than 3.6 million electric cars are driving around the U.S., but if you live in an apartment, finding an available charger isn’t always easy. Grocery stores and shopping centers might have a few, but charging takes time and the spaces may be taken or inconvenient. Several states and cities, aiming to expand EV use, are now trying to lift that barrier to ownership with “right to charge” laws. Illinois’ governor signed the latest right-to-charge law in June 2023, requiring that all parking spots at new

Right-to-charge laws bring the promise of EVs to apartments, condos and rentals
Health

A trauma-focused therapy is helping Ukrainian children besieged by war – a clinical psychologist explains how it could bring resilience to kids around the world

In Lviv, Ukraine, a 15-year-old girl recovers from injuries sustained in the war. Scott Peterson via Getty Images Childhood trauma is a global health problem. Every year, up to 1 billion children worldwide experience some form of emotional, physical or sexual abuse. More than two-thirds of children report at least one traumatic event by age 16. Without early intervention, these experiences may deeply infiltrate the minds of children, who may reenact their original trauma by entering toxic relationships that repeat the dynamics of parental abuse. Or they might engage in high-risk behaviors, including unsafe sexual relationships, delinquency or substance abuse.

A trauma-focused therapy is helping Ukrainian children besieged by war – a clinical psychologist explains how it could bring resilience to kids around the world
Environment

Lab-grown meat techniques aren't new – cell cultures are common tools in science, but bringing them up to scale to meet society's demand for meat will require further development

Cell cultures are often grown in petri dishes. Wladimir Bulgar/Science Photo Library via Getty Images You might be old enough to remember the famous “Where’s the Beef?” Wendy’s commercials. This question may be asked in a different context since U.S. regulators approved the sale of lab-grown chicken meat made from cultivated cells in June 2023. Growing animal cells in the lab isn’t new. Scientists have been culturing animal cells in artificial environments since the 1950s, initially focusing on studying developmental biology and cancer. This technique remains one of the major tools in life science research, especially for drug development. The

Lab-grown meat techniques aren't new – cell cultures are common tools in science, but bringing them up to scale to meet society's demand for meat will require further development
Political

Putin's Ukraine war keeps yielding dividends -- but not for him

Members of the Wagner Group sit atop a tank in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don, on June 24, 2023. Roman Romokhov/AFP via Getty Images On June 23, 2023, 16 months into Russia’s war with Ukraine, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s now disbanded potent mercenary fighting force and a protégé of Russian President Vladimir, turned his troops on the Russian military and, ostensibly, the Kremlin itself. Within 24 hours, though, Prigozhin had aborted his march to Moscow and turned his troops around. But the damage to Putin’s strongman image and possibly his plans to subjugate Ukraine by force had

Putin's Ukraine war keeps yielding dividends -- but not for him
Political

Supreme Court says state lawmakers can't just ignore state law when drawing voting districts or choosing presidential electors

North Carolina’s election districts have been under debate and review for years. AP Photo/Gerry Broome For months, legislators, legal scholars and people simply interested in democracy and elections were fixated on a case before the Supreme Court, Moore v. Harper. Those following the case, which asked the justices to rule on the “independent state legislature doctrine,” have held their collective breath awaiting the outcome, which could have changed fundamental aspects of U.S. elections and politics. Henry L. Chambers Jr., a law professor at the University of Richmond, wrote earlier for The Conversation about the case, saying “Adoption of a strong

Supreme Court says state lawmakers can't just ignore state law when drawing voting districts or choosing presidential electors
Science

Regulators begin final safety inspection before treated Fukushima wastewater is released into sea

Japanese regulators began a final inspection on Wednesday before treated radioactive wastewater is released from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. The inspection began a day after plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings installed the last piece of equipment needed for the release — the outlet of the undersea tunnel dug to discharge the wastewater 1 kilometer (a thousand yards) offshore. TEPCO said the Nuclear Regulation Authority inspectors will examine the equipment related to the treated water discharge and its safety systems during three days of inspections through Friday. The permit for releasing

Regulators begin final safety inspection before treated Fukushima wastewater is released into sea
Science

Smoke from Canada wildfires is increasing health risks in Black and poorer US communities

Smoky air from Canada’s wildfires shrouded broad swaths of the U.S. from Minnesota to New York and Kentucky on Wednesday, prompting warnings to stay inside and exacerbating health risks for people already suffering from industrial pollution. The impacts are particularly hard on poor and minority communities that are more likely to live near polluting plants and have higher rates of asthma. Detroit, a mostly Black city with a poverty rate of about 30%, had some of the worst air quality in the U.S. on Wednesday, prompting the Environmental Protection Agency to warn that “everyone should stay indoors.”

Smoke from Canada wildfires is increasing health risks in Black and poorer US communities
Arts

Overtime Elite – a private school, basketball league and media conglomerate – just sent two players to the NBA

Amen Thompson, left, and his twin brother, Ausar, were selected fourth and fifth in the 2023 NBA draft. John Lamparski/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust When Overtime Elite held its first pro day in October 2022, its arena in Atlanta was charged with anticipation. Families, scouts and fans gathered to witness the unveiling of the next generation of prodigious basketball talent. I watched the event on a YouTube livestream, which broadcast the players shooting, running sprints and leaping for slam dunks. Amid the sea of prospects, it was impossible to ignore the magnetic presence of Amen and Ausar Thompson,

Overtime Elite – a private school, basketball league and media conglomerate – just sent two players to the NBA
Political

What is the difference between nationalism and patriotism?

Donald Trump, left, and Harry Truman: Two former presidents who had different ideas about nationalism and patriotism. The Conversation, with images from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC During his presidency, Donald Trump said, “We’re putting America first … we’re taking care of ourselves for a change,” and then declared, “I’m a nationalist.” In another speech, he stated that under his watch, the U.S. had “embrace[d] the doctrine of patriotism.” Trump is now running for president again. When he announced his candidacy, he stated that he “need[s] every patriot on board because this is not just a campaign, this is a quest

What is the difference between nationalism and patriotism?
Political

Americans in former Confederate states more likely to say violent protest against government is justified, 160 years after Gettysburg

Dead soldiers lie on the battlefield at Gettysburg in July of 1863. Corbis via Getty Images Over the July Fourth long weekend, people will pour into the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to commemorate the 160th anniversary of one of the deadliest battles in U.S. history. The three-day battle left over 50,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead, wounded or missing and cemented Gettysburg’s place in American history as the turning point of the Civil War. A few months after the battle, President Abraham Lincoln visited the town for the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery. There, he delivered his famed Gettysburg

Americans in former Confederate states more likely to say violent protest against government is justified, 160 years after Gettysburg

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