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Paris Conference Renews Call to Hold Tehran Accountable for Killing of Democracy Activists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

A number of international jurists and political figures including scholars who have led or advised judicial institutions in the United Nations and the European Union, addressed an international conference on Iran’s 1988 massacre of political prisoners.The conference served to reiterate longstanding calls for a comprehensive, impartial, and independent investigation into what some have described as one of the most egregious cases of crime against humanity since the Second World War that is yet to be investigated.The participants, including former President of the International Criminal Court Dr. Chile Eboe-Osuji, former special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity to the ICC Prosecutor, Prof. Leila Nadya Sadat, and former Judge of UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and judge of UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Prof Wolfgang Schomburg, reiterated longstanding calls for the international community to launch a comprehensive investigation of t...

Fire involving multiple vehicles erupts in Pacoima auto yard

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

A massive fire engulfing multiple cars ignited inside an auto yard in Pacoima early Tuesday. The greater alarm fire was reported shortly after 4 a.m. in the 12400 block of West Branford Street, the Los Angeles Fire Department stated in a news alert. Crews arrived to find multiple fires burning inside a fenced auto yard where multiple vehicles were stacked on top of each other. Firefighters were facing a water supply challenge at hydrants and were working to find alternate supplies, the news alert stated. The blaze prompted firefighters to go into a defensive mode with ladder pipes and large diameter hand lines in place. No injuries have been reported in the fire.

A third of adults believe COVID-19 vaccines caused deaths, poll says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

(The Hill) -- Belief in misinformation about key health issues persists among a good chunk of adults, with false claims about COVID-19, vaccines and reproductive health garnering a substantial amount of support, a new poll from KFF has found.Whether or not they believed the claims, nearly all participants in the survey were aware of the misinformation, with 96 percent saying they had heard at least one of the 10 claims presented to them. The most widespread misinformation claims had to do with COVID-19 and vaccines.Pfizer, left, and Moderna bivalent COVID-19 vaccines are readied for use at a clinic, Nov. 17, 2022, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)The new polling data found that a third of adults believed the COVID-19 vaccines "caused thousands of sudden deaths in otherwise healthy people," with 10 percent believing that claim to be "definitely true" and 23 percent saying it was "probably true." Another 34 percent said it was "probably false" and 31 percent said that cla...

Opinion: End unconstitutional government spying on Americans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

Intelligence agencies and the Justice Department have gone to Congress this summer, hats in hand, promising it will all be different this time if lawmakers just reauthorize their massive power to spy on Americans without warrants.“We are committed to addressing mistakes, being transparent with you and the American people, and continually reinforcing a system and culture that protects Americans’ privacy and civil liberties,” read a joint statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice.India McKinney is director of federal affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital civil liberties organization headquartered in San Francisco. That would be quite a turnaround after cycles of abuses, warnings and further abuses of Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, which authorizes spying on foreign actors in ways that sweep...

Bill to prevent California school textbook bans is in limbo

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

An Inland Assemblymember’s bill, intended to prevent school boards from banning textbooks that teach California’s ethnic diversity and cultural history, is in a holding pattern after a state Senate committee vote Monday, Aug. 21.With no discussion, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to place AB 1078 in the “suspense file,” a procedural limbo for bills that commit the state to spending money. At a later date, the committee could either release the bill from the file and allow it to move forward or keep it in that status, effectively killing it.Sponsored by Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Perris, AB 1078 would require school boards, when adopting learning materials, “to ensure the accurate portrayal of the cultural and racial diversity of our society.”It also would requires a two-thirds supermajority vote by school boards seeking to remove a book or curriculum. Schools could lose funding if their educational materials don’t meet California Department of Education content standa...

4 books about Hollywood that explore its sometimes darker side

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

From hellhole to benign workplace, there’s a Tinseltown for everyone in new books about making movies.Movie fans seem to think Hollywood is falling short this summer. “Barbenheimer” has helped turn around what was becoming a grim season, with other blockbusters such as the “Mission Impossible” and “Indiana Jones” sequels and “Elemental” not busting as many blocks as expected/hoped.Maybe those fans are filling in the gaps with Hollywood-themed books? For whatever reason, a lot of current and upcoming fiction tackles moviemaking, ranging from Kathleen Rooney’s “From Dust to Stardust,” due Sept. 5 and mostly set in the silent film era, to Tom Hanks’ “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” which takes place on the present-day set of a Marvel-like movie. There’s also Lindsay Lynch’s new “Do Tell,” whose main character is a gossip columnist in the era when “Gone With the Wind” was sweeping the Oscars, and James Ellroy’s 1960s-set “The Enchanters,” which hits stores Sept....

Sha’Carri Richardson caps comeback with 100-meter win at world championships

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

By EDDIE PELLS | AP National WriterBUDAPEST, Hungary — Track, and fame, can be brutal games. Nobody felt that more over the past two years than American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson.On a sultry Monday night a half-world away from where her problems began, the 23-year-old earned a gold medal at the world championships in the biggest 100-meter race this side of the Olympics.Her victory, in 10.65 seconds over Jamaicans Shericka Jackson and five-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, capped a comeback two years in the making and made good on the mantra she’s been reciting all year – and repeated yet again after her latest victory: “I’m not back. I’m better.”Two summers ago after Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, Richardson’s road to the Tokyo Games was roadblocked by a positive test for marijuana. Her name turned into a litmus test in a wide-ranging debate about race, fairness, the often-impenetrable anti-doping rulebook and, ultimately, about the sometimes razor-thin line betwee...

Opinion: How California could save water while generating clean energy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

In 2021, our team at UC Merced found that covering California’s extensive network of irrigation canals with solar panels could make significant contributions to both clean energy and water conservation, serving two of the state’s most pressing needs at once.In addition to the added solar power, we found that shading all 4,000 miles of the state’s canals and aqueducts could save as much as 63 billion gallons of water annually by reducing evaporation — enough to irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland or provide water to the homes of more than 2 million people.Now we have a chance to put those projections to the test. Last year, we joined the California Department of Water Resources, the San Joaquin Valley’s Turlock Irrigation District and the firm Solar AquaGrid to build the nation’s first such project and assess the feasibility of covering canals across the state. The pilot, known as Project Nexus, is being funded by the state and is expected to be up and running over two canal sections s...

Walters: Newsom channels Jerry Brown with constitutional amendment proposal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

When Proposition 13, California’s iconic property tax limit measure, went before voters in June 1978, the state’s governor, Jerry Brown, denounced it.“It’s a ripoff,” Brown declared. “It’s a long-term tax increase.”Two months later, after voters overwhelming endorsed the measure, Brown did a 180-degree pirouette, declaring himself a “born-again tax cutter.”“No new taxes,” Brown promised. “Voters have told us they want a tax cut. They don’t want a shell game.”Facing re-election to a second term later that year, Brown sponsored a state tax cut to obey, he said, the popular mandate.Two months after winning re-election, Brown delivered his inaugural address and proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring the federal government’s budget to be balanced.“A constitutional convention to propose an amendment to balance the budget is unprecedented, but so is the political paralysis that prevents necessary action,” Brown said, blaming deficit spending for a sharp increase in inflat...

Did Dodger Stadium flood? Was a shark on the 405? Hurricane Hilary images debunked

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:35:40 GMT

On Sunday, Tropical Storm Hilary made its way through Southern California. Many took to social media to share updates as heavy rainfall hit parts of Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire.As the afternoon progressed, memes began to mix their way into social feeds, blending on-the-scene reporting with jokes about the aftermath of the hurriquake.Many Twitter users quickly began to share a video that left many debating if Dodger Stadium had flooded.Dodger stadium this morning #Dodgerstadium #dodgerblue #copterpilot #dodgerlife #dodgers #dodgertown #doyers #blueheaven #LA #LADodgers #playball #losangelesaerial #dodgeraerial pic.twitter.com/FFZ7OMZ8Ti— Los Angeles Dodgers Aerial Photography (@DodgerAerial) August 21, 2023Dodger Stadium is an island. pic.twitter.com/g2mQrKzgS3— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) August 21, 2023Many were convinced that Dodger Stadium had become an island, but it was an optical illusion of the water and light hitting the concrete parking lot...