President Barack Obama is visiting India for talks that could lead to a deal to develop nuclear power. The NCAA says it is investigating allegations of academic misconduct at 20 universities. And, what we know about a mountain-sized asteroid that is set to fly close to Earth.
US companies to play role in developing India's nuclear power
President Barack Obama is on a three-day visit to India to talk trade, military ties and climate change.
The White House on Monday touted progress on a deal between the U.S. and India to develop nuclear power in the South Asian country.
That deal, first signed by U.S. and India during the Bush Administration, hit roadblocks when U.S. companies balked at liability in the event of an accident and Indian authorities were critical of measures to monitor nuclear material, said Akhil Gupta, director of UCLA's Center for India and South Asia.
Those issues appear to have been resolved, according to a White House memo, which said that India's Department of Atomic Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy would collaborate on projects to "enable discovery science cooperation in particle accelerator and high energy physics."
Lethal injections, Alaskan wilderness and the 2016 Presidential election
Looking at the Supreme Court and their decision to hear arguments on the lethal injection, President Obama's announcement about parts of the Alaskan wilderness and the newest crop of Republicans vying for the GOP Presidential nomination.
These are all stories we're featuring in a new segment designed to give you a peek into the upcoming news of the week.
We talk to Elahe Izadi, reporter for the Washington Post and Robin Abcarian, columnist for the LA Times.
NCAA steps up investigations into academic fraud
Amid growing concerns over academic fraud among college athletes, the NCAA says it's investigating allegations of academic misconduct at 20 universities.
According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the cases include allegations that student athletes received "impermissable assistance" from professors, academic advisers, or athletic trainers.
The Chronicle of Higher Education's Brad Wolverton joins Take Two to discuss the NCAA's stepped up scrutiny of possible academic violations.
Dame Edna says farewell to LA
Possums, you are in for a treat. Starting this week, Dame Edna is in town at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles.
Dame Edna Everage started off as a humble housewife living in suburban Melbourne, Australia, but she has gone on to star in film, on stage, and even on TV hosting her own talk show.
But while she is an over-the-top self-proclaimed giga-star known for outrageous outfits, cat eye glasses and purple hair, her alter-ego is vastly different.
Mild-mannered Barry Humphries is the person behind Dame Edna, and at 80 years old, he's hanging up the lavender wig.
Alex Cohen chatted with Dame Edna about her Glorious Goodbye tour now in Los Angeles.
"I sing, I dance!" she says. "People compare me with Debbie Reynolds, they compare me with Danny Kaye. But I am myself."
But Dame Edna's rise to fame in America was a surprise to her.
"Americans will not understand me," she once told her friend Joan Rivers decades ago. "She said, 'I think they will, Edna.'"
After booking a stint at a San Francisco for a few weeks, it suddenly morphed into a four month engagement, then a move to Broadway and national acclaim.
However, as Dame Edna ages she can't keep up with her stardom.
"I love standing on a stage and giving of myself, but I can't keep on doing this," she says. "I'm still at the height of my powers -- according to my last exploratory -- and I want to leave it at that."
"I spend a lot of my time, as people of my age do with their address book, crossing people out. So I come here now and, really, the best friends I've got are sitting in my audience."
US sex trafficking on the rise
Sex trafficking is often seen as an overseas issue, but a new PBS documentary highlights the thousands of young children falling prey to this modern day form of slavery in the United States.
"A Path Appears" is based on a book of the same name by New York Times Columnist Nick Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. The first of the three part series airs on Monday night.
For a look at how the issue is being dealt with in Southern California, Take Two's Alex Cohen sat down with Michelle Guymon, director of the L.A. County Probation Department's Child Trafficking Unit
You might get bigger paychecks, and other economy predictions of 2015
When you take stock of what you earned in 2014, here's some news that might please you: your wage might climb in 2015 after stagnating for so long because of the improving economy.
And if you're bringing in more money, what could that get you? A new home? Closer to retirement?
Take Two's roundtable of economy experts have some advice for you on the smart money moves to make for 2015.
Falling gas prices made some people feel optimistic, says financial planner Delia Fernandez.
"They can all tell me how much they've been saving on gasoline," she says, "However, they're still facing a lack of wage increases over the last 25 years."
"The good news is that you're going to start to see wage increases," says economist Chris Thornberg. "This is the year a vast majority of economists think that wages will start to rise."
The question is whether people who are living paycheck-to-paycheck will use that extra cushion to save instead of increasing what they spend.
"We're hoping that they can find some slack in their budget to avoid debt and get a little bit ahead," says Fernandez.
However, what that money can get you in Southern California is a dilemma says housing expert Raphael Bostic.
"We don't have enough units, here. It's on the order of tens of thousands of units," said Bostic.
Without the supply to meet the high demand, home prices will continue to climb.
"We're not building at the scale to make a dent on this," he says, "and each city [in LA County] is doing their best to minimize the amount of housing that goes in their place."
Thornberg adds that it's a vicious circle.
"Because of the lack of supply, a lot of those wage increases will just end up bringing up the cost of renting apartments. And a lot of these workers are going to end up where they were in the first place," Thornberg says.
Hear more of the interview by clicking the player on the left.
Guests:
- Raphael Bostic is a professor of public policy at USC and former assistant secretary at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- Delia Fernandez is a certified financial planner and president of Fernandez Financial Advisory in Los Alamitos.
- Chris Thornberg is a principal at Beacon Economics.
What’s known about the mountain-sized asteroid flying by Earth
An asteroid about the size of a mountain whizzed by Earth Monday, getting the closest to our planet around 8:20 a.m.
For those who missed it, Asteroid 2004 BL86 will still be visible in the night sky Monday.
JPL has also released a GIF of the asteroid's flyby with Earth. JPL radar scientist Marina Brozovic tells more about what is known about this latest asteroid.
Stolen grapes, lost labels in Napa's high-end wine country
Recently, the wine industry has been hit by a fair amount of crime.
Last summer, a Southern California man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for defrauding wealthy clients by selling bottles of purportedly rare wines that were actually a home brew of much lesser vintages.
Late last week, 76 bottles stolen from the famous wine country restaurant French Laundry mysteriously turned up thousands of miles away at a cellar in Greensboro, North Carolina.
And now, another case in California's Napa County, involving a man accused of stealing grapes from other wineries for his own vintages.
Reporter Vindu Goel, reporter for the New York Times' San Francisco bureau, wrote about this for the Times.
A broader look at crime in the wine industry
Looking at the wine industry as a whole, it would seem that fraud and theft are on the rise. But is this coincidental, or has this market indeed become a more crime-ridden industry?
To help answer this and more, Mike Steinberg, wine columnist for Slate and the author of Wine Savant, joins Take Two.