Today: October 08, 2024
Today: October 08, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

World

Gabon's opposition candidate alleges the ousted president's family is behind a plot to retain power

Gabon’s opposition leader accused the family of the recently ousted president of engineering his removal from power in order to retain their control in the oil-rich Central African nation. Speaking to French media outlet TV5 Monde Thursday, Albert Ondo Ossa said the junta who ousted Gabon’s president on Wednesday did not engage in a coup but rather a “palace revolution” in order to continue their family’s reign. Soldiers toppled President Ali Bongo Ondimba and put him under house arrest, accusing him of irresponsible governance that risked leading the country into chaos. They then put Bongo’s cousin

Gabon's opposition candidate alleges the ousted president's family is behind a plot to retain power
World

Greece: Firefighters rescue 25 migrants trapped in forest as massive wildfire approached

Greek firefighters rescued a group of 25 migrants trapped in a forest in northeastern Greece Friday as flames from a massive wildfire burning for two weeks approached, authorities said. The fire department said the group became trapped in the forest between two villages in the Evros region, near the border with Turkey. No injuries were reported. There was no immediate information on their nationalities. The blaze, burning for the 14th day Friday, has already been blamed for the deaths of 20 people whose bodies were found last week. All are believed to have been migrants who

Greece: Firefighters rescue 25 migrants trapped in forest as massive wildfire approached
World

Rising tensions between employers and employees has put the labor back in this year's Labor Day

Labor Day is right around the corner, along with the big sales and barbecues that come with it. But the activist roots of the holiday are especially visible this year as unions challenge how workers are treated — from Hollywood to the auto production lines of Detroit. The early-September tribute to workers has been an official holiday for almost 130 years — but an emboldened labor movement has created an environment closer to the era from which Labor Day was born. Like the late 1800s, workers are facing rapid economic transformation — and a growing gap

Rising tensions between employers and employees has put the labor back in this year's Labor Day
World

Emergency services leave South Africa fire scene. Now comes the grisly task of identifying bodies

Emergency services teams have left the scene of one of South Africa’s deadliest inner-city fires and pathologists faced the grisly task Friday of identifying dozens of charred bodies and some body parts that have been transported to several mortuaries across the city of Johannesburg. That will establish whether the death toll of 74 rises following Thursday’s predawn blaze at a derelict downtown apartment building that was inhabited by mainly homeless people and others who found themselves marginalized in one of Africa’s biggest cities. Emergency services personnel conducted three searches through all five stories of the building and

Emergency services leave South Africa fire scene. Now comes the grisly task of identifying bodies
World

Residents return to find homes gone, towns devastated in path of Idalia

Hurricanes and tropical storms are nothing new in the South, but the sheer magnitude of damage from Idalia shocked Desmond Roberson as he toured what as left of his Georgia neighborhood. Roberson took a drive through Valdosta on Thursday with a friend to check out damage after the storm, which first hit Florida as a hurricane and then weakened into a tropical storm as it made its way north, ripped through the town of 55,000. On one street, he said, a tree had fallen on nearly every house. Roads remained blocked by tree trunks and

Residents return to find homes gone, towns devastated in path of Idalia
World

Stock market today: Asian shares trade mixed ahead of a key US jobs report

Asian shares were trading mixed Friday as investors looked toward a U.S. jobs report being released later in the day. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.3% to finish at 32,710.62. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 7,278.30. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.3% to 2,563.71. The Shanghai Composite added 0.4% to 3,133.25. Trading was halted in Hong Kong because of an approaching typhoon. Schools and businesses were shut as an official warning was issued about Super Typhoon Saola. Later Friday, the U.S. government will report employment data for August. The strong job market, along with consumer spending, has

Stock market today: Asian shares trade mixed ahead of a key US jobs report
World

Japan marks 100 years since the devastating Great Kanto Quake, with disaster drills nationwide

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida staged a televised disaster drill Friday based on a fictional earthquake in the capital region, as his country marked the centennial of the real-life 1923 Great Kanto Quake that killed more than 100,000 people. The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the Sagamihara area southwest of Tokyo on Sept. 1, 1923, just before noon triggered a widespread inferno in the region, causing most of the victims to perish in the fire. The blaze destroyed nearly 300,000 Japanese paper-and-wood homes as the country suffered major social and economic damage just as it was seeking to

Japan marks 100 years since the devastating Great Kanto Quake, with disaster drills nationwide
World

Video of police fatally shooting a pregnant Black woman set to be released, Ohio department says

Body camera footage showing the final moments of a pregnant Black woman who was shot and killed by police in an Ohio parking lot last week is expected to be released to the public on Friday. Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old from Columbus, was pronounced dead shortly after the Aug. 24 shooting outside a grocery store in the suburb of Blendon Township. Her unborn daughter did not survive. Suspected of shoplifting, police say Young was killed after she accelerated her car toward an officer. The family’s lawyer, Sean Walton, claims the police department has waited to release

Video of police fatally shooting a pregnant Black woman set to be released, Ohio department says
World

Smugglers are steering migrants into the remote Arizona desert, posing new Border Patrol challenges

Border Patrol agents ordered the young Senegalese men to wait in the scant shade of desert scrub brush while they loaded a more vulnerable group of migrants — a family with three young children from India — into a white van for the short trip in triple-degree heat to a canopied field intake center. The migrants were among hundreds who have been trudging this summer in the scorching sun and through open storm gates in the border wall to U.S. soil, following a remote corridor in the sprawling Organ Pipe Cactus National

Smugglers are steering migrants into the remote Arizona desert, posing new Border Patrol challenges
World

Hawaii investigates unsolicited land offers as the state tries to keep Lahaina in local hands

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Thursday his administration has opened several investigations into people who have allegedly made unsolicited offers for property in the fire-stricken Maui town of Lahaina in violation of a new emergency order. Green prohibited such offers by signing an emergency proclamation earlier this week aimed at preventing land in the historic coastal community from flowing into the hands of outside buyers. The order aims to give residents some “breathing room” as they decide what to do next, Green said in an interview with The Associated Press. Even before the Aug. 8 fire, Lahaina

Hawaii investigates unsolicited land offers as the state tries to keep Lahaina in local hands
World

Texas wanted armed officers at every school after Uvalde. Many can't meet that standard

A vision of armed officers at every school in Texas is crashing into the reality of not enough money or police as a new mandate took effect Friday, showing how a goal more states are embracing in response to America’s cycle of mass killings is proving unworkable in many communities. Dozens of Texas’ largest school districts, which educate many of the state’s 5 million students, are reopening classrooms without meeting the state’s new requirements of armed officers on every campus. The mandate is a pillar of a safety bill signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who

Texas wanted armed officers at every school after Uvalde. Many can't meet that standard
World

Mom who gave parenting advice on '8 Passengers' YouTube channel arrested on suspicion of child abuse

A Utah woman who gave online parenting advice via a once popular YouTube channel has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated child abuse after her malnourished son escaped out a window and ran to a nearby house for help, authorities said. Ruby Franke, whose now defunct channel “8 Passengers” followed her family, was arrested Wednesday night in the southern Utah city of Ivins. She was taken into custody at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt, who owns a counseling business that she says teaches people to improve their lives by being honest, responsible and humble. Franke has recently appeared in YouTube

Mom who gave parenting advice on '8 Passengers' YouTube channel arrested on suspicion of child abuse
World

Three found dead at remote Rocky Mountain campsite were trying to escape society, stepsister says

The stepsister of a Colorado woman who was found dead along with her sister and teenage son at a remote Rocky Mountain campsite says the women fled into the wilderness after struggling to cope with societal changes in recent years, but they were unequipped to survive off the grid. Exposed to several feet of snow, chills below zero and with no food found at their camp, Christine Vance, Rebecca Vance and Rebecca’s son likely died of malnutrition and hypothermia, according to the autopsies released this week. Authorities haven’t released the boy’s name. Those reports contained another chilling

Three found dead at remote Rocky Mountain campsite were trying to escape society, stepsister says
World

Opening statements begin in website founder's 2nd trial over ads promoting prostitution

A founder of the classified site Backpage.com and four employees carefully strategized how to bring in ads for prostitution to maintain their top-earning platform, a prosecutor said Thursday at a federal trial in Phoenix. Attorneys for Michael Lacey and the other four defendants countered that their clients had nothing to do with the daily operations of classified ads. The clash over culpability was at the center of opening statements in the second trial of all five on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money in what authorities say was a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex

Opening statements begin in website founder's 2nd trial over ads promoting prostitution
World

Hong Kong and parts of southern China grind to near standstill as Super Typhoon Saola edges closer

Most of Hong Kong and some other areas in southern China ground to a near standstill Friday with classes and flights canceled as Super Typhoon Saola edged closer to the region. The typhoon could make a landfall in parts of southern China and many workers were forced to stay at home. Pupils in various cities had the start of their school year postponed to next week. Hong Kong’s stock market trading was suspended and nearly 200 outbound flights for Friday were canceled in the key center for regional business and travel. China Railway Guangzhou Group said

Hong Kong and parts of southern China grind to near standstill as Super Typhoon Saola edges closer
World

Judge blocks Arkansas law requiring parental OK for minors to create social media accounts

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Arkansas from enforcing a new law that would have required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts, preventing the state from becoming the first to impose such a restriction. U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks granted a preliminary injunction that NetChoice — a tech industry trade group whose members include TikTok, Facebook parent Meta, and X, formerly known as Twitter — had requested against the law. The measure, which Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law in April, was set to take effect Friday.

Judge blocks Arkansas law requiring parental OK for minors to create social media accounts
World

Judge blocks changes in teacher evaluations prompted by Texas' takeover of Houston school district

A judge on Thursday granted a request by a teachers union in Texas’ largest school district to temporarily block a new system to evaluate educators that’s being implemented following a state takeover. The order comes days after the Houston school district began its first school year under a contentious takeover that replaced its superintendent and board of trustees. It also follows rare public comments on the takeover by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath since he announced it in March. One of the changes being put in place by new superintendent Mike Miles is a new teacher evaluation

Judge blocks changes in teacher evaluations prompted by Texas' takeover of Houston school district
World

Auto workers leader slams companies for slow bargaining, files labor complaint with government

The United Auto Workers union says it has filed unfair labor practice complaints against Stellantis and General Motors for failing to make counteroffers to the union’s economic demands. Ford was the only company of the Detroit Three to make a counteroffer, but it rejected most of the union’s proposals, President Shawn Fain told workers Thursday in a Facebook Live meeting. Contracts between 146,000 auto workers and the Detroit companies expire at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14, and Fain is once again threatening to strike. He told members that the companies have been warned not to wait until the

Auto workers leader slams companies for slow bargaining, files labor complaint with government
World

ACLU sues Tennessee district attorney who promises to enforce the state's new anti-drag show ban

Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law placing strict limits on drag shows is once again facing a legal challenge after a local district attorney warned Pride organizers that he intends to enforce the new statute despite a federal judge ruling the ban was unconstitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee filed the lawsuit late Wednesday on behalf of a organization planning a Blount County Pride festival on Sept. 2. The ACLU is also representing drag performer Flamy Grant, who was hired to perform at the event. The plaintiffs are asking the federal court in eastern Tennessee to block

ACLU sues Tennessee district attorney who promises to enforce the state's new anti-drag show ban
World

Kansas officials are no longer required to change trans people’s birth certificates, judge says

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Kansas officials are no longer required to keep changing transgender people’s birth certificates so the documents reflect their gender identities. U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree approved Republican state Attorney General Kris Kobach’s request to block the changes because of a new state law rolling back trans rights. Kansas joins Montana, Oklahoma and Tennessee in barring such birth certificate changes. Kansas is for now also among a few states that don’t let trans people change their driver’s licenses to reflect their gender identities. That’s because of a separate state-court lawsuit Kobach

Kansas officials are no longer required to change trans people’s birth certificates, judge says
World

Rule allowing rail shipments of LNG will be put on hold to allow more study of safety concerns

A Trump-era rule allowing railroads to haul highly flammable liquefied natural gas will now be formally put on hold to allow more time to study the safety concerns related to transporting that fuel and other substances like hydrogen that must be kept at extremely low temperatures when they are shipped, regulators announced Thursday. Right after it was announced in the summer of 2020, the rule was challenged in court by a number of environmental groups and 14 states. The uncertainty about the rule on transporting the fuel known as LNG kept railroads from shipping it. The

Rule allowing rail shipments of LNG will be put on hold to allow more study of safety concerns
World

Audio reveals 911 caller in University of North Carolina shooting immediately identified a suspect

Police in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where a professor was fatally shot on a college campus this week, received information on the suspect’s identity within minutes of the gunfire, according to a recording of the 911 call. Some portions of the audio sound redacted, but what was released describes the first moments after Monday’s shooting of Associate Professor Zijie Yan inside a science building in the heart of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Police said they arrested Tailei Qi, 34, of Chapel Hill, without force off campus less than two hours after the

Audio reveals 911 caller in University of North Carolina shooting immediately identified a suspect
World

A judge has blocked, for now, a Texas law drag show performers fear will shut them down

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a new Texas law that drag show artists fear will be used to shut them down or put them in jail. The law, approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature, would expand the legal definition in the Texas criminal code of what is considered to be an illegal public performance of sexual conduct in front of children. It is part of a broader effort in Texas and other conservative states to crack down on drag shows and limit LGBTQ rights. Critics argued that the definition is so broad, it could include the

A judge has blocked, for now, a Texas law drag show performers fear will shut them down
World

Hyundai and LG will invest an additional $2B into making batteries at Georgia electric vehicle plant

Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution said Thursday they will spend an additional $2 billion and hire an extra 400 workers to make batteries at the automaker’s sprawling U.S. electrical vehicle plant that’s under construction in Georgia. The announcement by the South Korea-based companies — one a major automaker, the other a leading producer of lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles — expands on a partnership they launched three months ago to produce batteries at the same site west of Savannah, where Hyundai plans to start EV production in 2025. The news Thursday brings

Hyundai and LG will invest an additional $2B into making batteries at Georgia electric vehicle plant
World

Canada issues US travel advisory warning LGBTQ+ community about laws thay may affect them

Canada this week updated its travel advisory to the U.S., warning members of the LGBTQ+ community that some American states have enacted laws that may affect them. The country’s Global Affairs department did not specify which states, but is advising travelers to check the local laws for their destination before traveling. “Since the beginning of 2023, certain states in the U.S. have passed laws banning drag shows and restricting the transgender community from access to gender-affirming care and from participation in sporting events,” Global Affairs spokesman Jérémie Bérubé said Thursday in an emailed statement. “Outside Canada, laws

Canada issues US travel advisory warning LGBTQ+ community about laws thay may affect them

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