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These days, it isn’t enough for Wolfgang Puck to have J. Lo and Ben as customers. He’d also better have an A from the county food inspector in the window. (Don’t worry, Spago fans. It’s there.) Four years after the L.A. County Department of Health Services initiated a much-publicized grading system for restaurant inspections, consumers are following the program to the letter. A new survey by the department shows that only one in four residents would eat at a restaurant with a B rating, and only three out of 100 would frequent a C eatery....

The Renaissance singer belatedly celebrated her 41st birthday on Saturday, and everyone from Kim Kardashian to Adele was photographed attending the event in Bel Air in Los Angeles. Paparazzi photos on TMZ and The Daily Mail showed that many huge stars from all across the entertainment industry were in attendance at the mansion. Drake, Lizzo, Adele, Rich Paul, Jaden Smith, Bella Hadid, Kris Jenner, Tristan Thompson, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Machine Gun Kelly, Megan Fox, Lily-Rose Depp, Offset, Vanessa Bryant and others were spotted at the event....

Just a few decades ago, Petropoulou and her friends might have been considered, well, odd. Greece was known as one of Europe’s most traditional societies, where the Orthodox Church’s strict commandment to marry and multiply held sway. Powerful social and religious taboos labeled childless women as barren spinsters, and cast suspicion on the sexual preferences of single, middle-aged men. No longer. In the space of a generation, that tight social corset has largely vanished, thanks to an array of factors, including better education and job options for women and Greece’s entry into the cultural mainstream of the European Union....

Perhaps Straw did not intend to wound. But it had been a bad week already. Conservative leader David Cameron was taking jabs at what he called “Muslim ghettos.” British tabloids railed about a Muslim cabby who allegedly refused to drive a blind woman because having her dog in the car offended his religious beliefs. Even Prime Minister Tony Blair couldn’t hold his peace and called the veil a “mark of separation....

The threat was allegedly used so that Belarusian authorities could arrest a passenger, Raman Pratasevich, 26, a journalist and prominent critic who ran a popular messaging app that played a key role in helping organize massing protests against the authoritarian leader. White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, told Associated Press, “It constitutes a brazen affront to international peace and security by the regime. We demand an immediate international, transparent and credible investigation of this incident....

Under the proposal, the trucking industry would have to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent for every truck by 2031, according to the Associated Press. In a statement, the EPA said the proposal’s goal is to “deliver significant and needed public health benefits,” as cleaner air could reduce cases of asthma as well as deaths and hospitalizations from breathing problems. This is the first step in the EPA’s Cleaner Trucks Initiative, which aims to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) and greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks through a series of rules released over several years....

The United States maintains broad or targeted economic, diplomatic and travel restrictions against at least 30 countries or territories, with vastly differing degrees of scope and effect. Some experts champion the implementation of sanctions against countries, organizations or individuals as a practical or at least symbolic act of enforcing U.S. foreign policy with more restraint than the more kinetic options available to the strongest military power on Earth. However, others, such as City University of New York Newman School of Journalism Professor Peter Beinart, fear that when this strategy is used in wholesale, not only does it consistently fail to advance U....

“This is going to happen. It will be more expensive this year than last year,” Granholm said on CNN’s State of the Union. “We are in a slightly beneficial position, we’ll certainly relative to Europe, because their chokehold of natural gas is very significant. But we have the same problem in fuels that the supply chains have, which is that the oil and gas companies are not flipping the switch as quickly as the demand requires,” she added....

The latest national polling from Morning Consult, which was conducted from October 28 to 31, shows Biden ahead of Trump by a margin of 8 percentage points. The Democratic nominee is supported by 52 percent of voters compared to 44 percent who back the incumbent Republican president. Notably, the poll shows Biden significantly better-positioned to beat Trump than Morning Consult’s final survey suggested of Clinton in 2016. Then, Clinton was backed by just 45 percent of voters, compared to 42 percent supporting Trump....

Figures from the Commerce Department released on Thursday showed U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by an annualized rate of 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2022. This follows negative growth of 1.6 percent at an annual rate during the first quarter. GDP is used to measure all the goods and services produced by a country, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth widely regarded as a recession....

According to data outlined in the Solar Futures Study, America could see solar energy production ramp up from 3 percent of the nation’s total energy supply in 2020 to 40 percent by 2035 and ultimately 45 percent by 2050. The Department of Energy writes that this investment would drive decarbonization in an effort that could employ as many as 1.5 million people, all while avoiding the need to raise electricity prices....

In the latest hearing on Thursday, the panel voted to subpoena Trump to testify before them, but stopped short of referring the former president to the DOJ for criminal conduct. Asked on Saturday what he had made of the hearing, Biden said: “I think the testimony in the video are actually devastating. And I’ve been going out of my way not to comment and see what happens. But it’s, I think it’s been devastating....

Delivering on a campaign promise, Biden issued a proclamation ordering that construction of President Donald Trump’s border wall be stopped, labeling the project a “waste of money” and a poor policy solution. The newly-inaugurated president also ordered officials to probe the legality of the funding for the border wall, and what would result if the administration were to end construction of the barrier altogether. “It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall,” Biden said....

Avid supporters of President Biden point to a dramatic change in tone from the previous four years. On this, they are certainly right. Biden has laced all of his foreign policy remarks with references to rebuilding U.S. alliances and partnerships. His advisers in the State Department, particularly Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have underscored just how strategically valuable traditional U.S. relationships in Europe and Asia can be as Washington pursues competition with China in multiple spheres....

This $18 billion figure breaks down to almost $60 million per day or roughly $2.5 million spent per hour in 2022. These figures are likely to increase as the Biden administration will undoubtedly announce more aid in coming weeks, months, and even years. In contrast, the United States provided a mere $1.1 billion to the war-torn country of Afghanistan following its withdrawal in August 2021. The unchecked flow of financial aid to Ukraine, while perhaps reflecting a noble desire to help, raises three bright red flags....

Biden is seeking to cut U.S. emissions associated with climate change in half by 2030. In support of this goal, he has suspended oil and gas leasing on federal lands, placed a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and hammered the last nail in the coffin of the Keystone XL pipeline. Then to top it all off, congressional Democrats aligned with the president are looking to push through a massive, partisan reconciliation package that targets the oil and gas industry with new punitive tax policies that will only further impede our ability to produce resources here at home....

“I indicated that I would refuse to sign the infrastructure bill if it was sent to me without my Families Plan and other priorities, including clean energy,” the president said. “That statement understandably upset some Republicans, who do not see the two plans as linked; they are hoping to defeat my Families Plan—and do not want their support for the infrastructure plan to be seen as aiding passage of the Families Plan....

“Your two Republican senators fully embraced what Texas was telling the Supreme Court,” Biden said while campaigning for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Atlanta on Tuesday. “They fully embraced nullifying nearly 5 million Georgia votes. You might want to remember that come January 5.” He added, “I’m trying to be generous here, in the spirit of the season. Maybe your senators were just confused. Maybe they think they represent Texas....

The poll, which was conducted by Monmouth University, surveyed 807 U.S. adults from May 28 to June 1. According to the poll, 52 percent said they lean toward Biden if the election was held today, while 41 percent sided with Trump, giving the former vice president an 11-point lead. This is the largest lead Biden has had over Trump in a number of different polls conducted by Monmouth University....

The Biden administration’s proposals would reduce the role that medical debt plays in determining whether people can access credit, making it easier for those with medical debt to get home or business loans, and helping more than half a million low-income American veterans get their medical debt forgiven. The administration proposals would also inform consumers of their rights and hold medical providers and debt collectors accountable for harmful practices....