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She writes novels about Vietnamese women. An audiobook narrator gives them a voice

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

When author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and actor Quyen Ngo reunite over a Zoom meeting, the love is palpable. As the call starts, they reach out toward their cameras, giving each other a virtual hug. “I’m wearing a shirt Quyen gave me right now,” Quế Mai says. “It’s made of velvet and it’s so soft; I feel like she’s hugging me every day.”The two became fast friends after Ngo narrated Quế Mai’s first novel in English, “The Mountains Sing.” The author was so impressed with the job Ngo did that she didn’t consider another narrator for her new novel, “Dust Child,” which spans decades and deals with the lives of Vietnamese and American people whose lives are affected by the Vietnam War, including two Amerasians — those born in Asia to American fathers and Asian mothers.Related: Sign up for our free newsletter about books, authors, reading and moreQuế Mai lives in Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam, and talked about her novel from New York, where she was doing an event for “Dust Child.” Ngo spoke from Los A...

‘Money, power, sex’: Idaho prosecutors ask jury to convict slain kids’ mom in alleged doomsday plot

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

By REBECCA BOONE (Associated Press)BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The woman charged in the slayings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival wanted their money so she used sex and power to manipulate her brother and a lover into carrying out the crimes, Idaho prosecutors told jurors Thursday. “ Money, power and sex,” Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said, urging the jury to convict Lori Vallow Daybell in the deaths of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, and her fifth husband’s previous wife Tammy Daybell. “What does justice for these victims require? It requires a conviction on each and every count,” Wood said. Defense attorney Jim Archibald countered that there was no evidence tying his client to the killings but plenty showing she was a loving, protective mother whose life took a sharp turn when she met her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, and fell for the “weird” apocalyptic religious claims of a cult lead...

Patriots to honor Tom Brady at 2023 home opener, Robert Kraft says

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

The New England Patriots plan to honor former quarterback Tom Brady at their 2023 home opener, team owner Robert Kraft announced Thursday.Brady won six Super Bowls during his 20 seasons with the Patriots. He left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 and played three seasons with them before retiring in February.“I invited him back to come here and be with us at the opening game and let the fans in New England thank him for the great service he gave us,” Kraft said on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.”“It will be the beginning of many celebrations to honor Tom Brady and say thank you for what he did for us.”The 2023 NFL schedule is set to be announced Thursday at 8 p.m. ET. Brady, 45, previously returned to Foxborough, Mass., when the Buccaneers played the Patriots in 2021 — a game Tampa Bay won 19-17.The Patriots selected Brady in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. He won three MVPs, five Super Bowl MVPs and threw 541 of his NF...

Debt limit fight: Trump tells GOP ‘do a default’ if needed, but talks with Biden in full swing

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

By LISA MASCARO (AP Congressional Correspondent)WASHINGTON (AP) — In the search for a budget deal to resolve the government’s debt limit crisis, billions of dollars of unspent COVID money is on the table. So are ideas as far-ranging as easing permits for energy projects and simply ordering broad spending caps — all still in the mix as negotiators from the White House and Congress hunkered down Thursday for the latest round of closed-door talks.The gears of Washington are beginning to move, not smoothly but determinedly, on resolving the crisis, a turn of events in itself after months of stalemate between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as the deadline looms to avert an economy-fracturing national default. Biden is to meet again with McCarthy and other congressional leaders Friday as talks intensify. Washington is staring down a June 1 deadline to raise the debt limit to allow continued borrowing to cover already accrued bills or risk the nation...

IRS trying to protect workers to deter personal threats

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an effort to deter threats aimed at IRS employees, the agency said Thursday it will start limiting workers’ personal identifying information on communications with taxpayers.The change begins next month.The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration said in a report this week that it was “concerned that taxpayers and anti-government or anti-tax groups with malevolent intent may use the Internet or social media to track down and identify IRS employees, their families, their homes, and personal information to threaten, intimidate, or locate them for physical violence.”The IRS said it will remove workers’ first names from communications, leaving their last names and respective Mr., Ms., or a gender-neutral title. Phone numbers will still be included in communications.The decision comes as the agency has received increased attention after the climate, health care and tax legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden last year included $80 bi...

Loneliness has hit ‘crisis’ levels in the US. How do we get out of it?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

Paloma Chavez | The Charlotte ObserverThere is a growing epidemic the country needs to worry about, and it’s only going to get worse if we don’t take action, the U.S. surgeon general says.Loneliness and isolation are on the rise in the U.S., and it’s quickly turning into a crisis — with roughly half of adults saying they’ve recently experienced loneliness, according to Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy’s 2023 advisory.“When I first took office as Surgeon General in 2014, I didn’t view loneliness as a public health concern,” he said in his advisory.It wasn’t until he traveled across the country to hear Americans share their stories of feeling “isolated, invisible, and insignificant” that he realized “social disconnection was far more common than” he “had realized.”The loneliness ‘crisis’Though the COVID-19 pandemic brought out feelings of isolation and loneliness in many, they were already on the rise.The two make up this national issue of disconnectedness, and though they are rela...

A sense of desperation grows amid final hours of Title 42

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

SAN DEIGO -- The conditions are becoming more unbearable for many migrants are waiting for Title 42 to expire. There are still hundreds of people waiting behind the southern border wall and many of them are families.People are sitting in groups according to the color wristband that they were given by U.S. Border Patrol. The color is supposed to help to determine what day they arrived and the order that they will be processed. San Diego County addresses looming impacts as end of Title 42 nears A sense of desperation is growing as the conditions are becoming more difficult. Night after night, migrants are having to sleep wrapped in blankets on the dirt and in the cold.You can hear children constantly crying during the day. There is only one porta potty for the hundreds who are there waiting.“Have you ever seen anything like this?" asked migrant advocate Pedro Rios, the program director of the American Friends Service Committee. "I have not ever seen anything like...

New fighting kills 2 Palestinian militant commanders, elderly man in Israel as Egypt pushes truce

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed two militant commanders on Thursday, while a 70-year-old man was killed by Palestinian rocket fire in the first fatality inside Israel amid the current wave of fighting. The continuing bloodshed, which has left 29 Palestinians dead, came despite Egyptian efforts to broker a cease-fire.It has been the worst bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in months, with at least 10 civilians — mostly women and children — among the dead. The conflagration, now in its third day, comes at a time of soaring tensions and spiking violence over the past year in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian militants launched unrelenting rocket barrages into Israel throughout the day. One rocket struck an apartment block in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, killing a 70-year-old man, the MADA rescue service said. It said four others were moderately wounded.Earlier Thursday, Israeli military pressed ahead with...

What did Title 42 do, anyway? A look at US immigration policies and how they’re changing

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is putting new restrictions into place at its southern border to try to to stop migrants from crossing illegally and encourage them instead to apply for asylum online through a new process. The changes come with the end of coronavirus restrictions on asylum that have allowed the U.S. to quickly turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border for the last three years. Those restrictions are known as Title 42, because the authority comes from Title 42 of a 1944 public health law that allows curbs on migration in the name of protecting public health. Disinformation is swirling and confusion is setting in during the transition. A look at the new rules (and the old ones):WHAT IS TITLE 42 AND WHAT DID IT DO? Title 42 is the name of an emergency health authority. It’s a holdover from the Trump administration and it began in March 2020. The authority allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants who came to the U.S.-Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the sprea...

Review: ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ builds on beloved predecessor

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:17:50 GMT

Before Nintendo introduced its successful Switch gaming console in 2017, the video game company made a bold move by making huge changes to one of its most beloved franchises.“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,” released as a launch title for the Switch, eschewed the well-established conventions of the long-running series.Gone were the familiar massive dungeons series hero Link would explore in order to get the item or weapon needed to access the next part of the game world. “Breath of the Wild” introduced a sprawling open world that could be explored at the player’s pace.The resulting game was a smash hit. “Breath of the Wild” garnered lavish praise from reviewers, won several game-of-the-year awards and was a system-seller for the Switch. Nintendo says 29 million units of the game have been sold as of December 2022.Six years later, Nintendo is set to release the long-awaited next game in the Zelda series. “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” refines and expands o...