Post Reports

Today, what Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit could mean for the balance of global power.

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This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for the first time since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine. Reporter Mary Ilyushina says, while the two leaders have met many times before, this meeting showed the two countries' commitment to creating a new world order, one where the U.S. is no longer the arbiter of everything that happens on the global stage.

A conservative Catholic group spent millions of dollars on app data that identified gay priests. A Washington Post investigation dives into how this secretive group got data from Grindr and other apps, and what this story can tell us about data privacy in the U.S.

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In the summer of 2021, a prominent priest, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, was mysteriously outed for being a regular on Grindr, the gay dating and hookup app. The scandal sent shock waves through the Catholic church.

Religion reporter Michelle Boorstein spent the past year-and-a-half investigating this story and figuring out who was behind this effort, and how they got access to this data. She stumbled upon a secretive group of conservative Catholic philanthropists that poured millions of dollars into obtaining data that identified priests who were using dating and hookup apps.

As Michelle and tech reporter Heather Kelly explain, this story goes well beyond the Catholic church and raises red flags for all of us about the lack of data privacy laws and protection for people using mobile apps. 

Are we in the middle of a financial crisis? Today’s show breaks down the latest bank crises — from Credit Suisse to First Republic.

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Another week, another banking calamity. 

On Sunday, Swiss banking giant UBS came to the rescue of its rival, Credit Suisse. It was the first near-collapse of a European bank on the heels of three regional bank implosions in the United States.

Economics reporter Abha Bhattarai helps us decipher all the bank failures over the past couple of weeks. And as the Federal Reserve meets this week, Abha explains how its interest rate hikes have contributed to the instability of the financial sector.

As the U.S. continues to grow racially and ethnically diverse, that shift is reflected in how our names are changing. Still, culture wars persist. And that can mean Americans are forced to consider what makes us American, and what makes a name American.

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Two years ago this week, a 21-year-old gunman in Atlanta massacred eight people in three  spas. Six of those victims were women of Asian descent.  It prompted a wave of reporting about racist attacks and violence, and for Marian Chia-Ming Liu, it began a deeply introspective journey – one that prompted thousands of Washington Post readers to reach out with stories about their own experiences with their names.

Marian talks with Elahe Izadi about what she discovered on her name journey, and what other people from across the country have shared with her along the way. 

Join Post Reports LIVE on April 13th! Martine Powers will host a live conversation in D.C. with best-selling author Curtis Sittenfeld at Sixth and I, in partnership with Politics & Prose. Sittenfeld is the author of books like “Eligible” and “American Wife.” Her latest novel is “Romantic Comedy,” about a late-night comedy writer’s search for love. Listeners can purchase tickets here, and if you can’t make it to D.C., you can always join via a livestream.

Today on Post Reports, we take you to an abortion hearing in Amarillo, Tex., that the judge didn’t want you to know was coming. 

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In a four-hour hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk heard arguments in a lawsuit that could restrict access nationwide to the abortion medication mifepristone. The lawsuit alleges that the medication is unsafe, despite being approved and highly regulated by the FDA for decades. However, many antiabortion activists are hopeful that Kacsmaryk will rule against the FDA, because of his strong religious beliefs and previous support of antiabortion organizations. 

National political reporter Caroline Kitchener was inside the courtroom for the hearing and explains what she heard and what the implications of the ruling could be.

The AI behind ChatGPT just got an upgrade. But it might not have all of the bells and whistles that some were expecting.

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GPT-4 might sound like gibberish, but it could change what you expect from your apps (not to mention what happens when you try out ChatGPT). If you need a recipe and are low on groceries, you could soon take a picture of your open fridge for the system to “look” at, identify your ingredients, and whip up a recipe for the night. 

That being said, there are limits to what this new AI language model can do. For instance, even though GPT-4 is better at logic than its predecessor, it can still give answers containing false information. 

Tech reporter Drew Harwell breaks down the other ethics issues GPT-4 has raised.

Teachers across the nation are changing how they teach in response to state laws, administrative decrees and parental pressure. Today on “Post Reports,” we explore three examples of things teachers are cutting from their lesson plans. 

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School districts and teachers are grappling with how to teach race, racism, U.S. history, sexual orientation and gender. 

These fights are happening in school board meetings, local town halls and on the campaign trail. A growing parental rights movement is fighting for greater control over what schools teach and the books available to students in school libraries and classrooms. At least 64 state laws have already reshaped what students can learn and do at school, and this fight is likely to be a main talking point ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Education reporter Hannah Natanson talked to teachers across the country to hear how and why their lesson plans were changing. Here’s what she found. 

Silicon Valley Bank is dead. The institution that was a major financier for venture capitalists, tech start-ups and other Silicon Valley outfits has collapsed. Enter: the federal government.

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When depositors who belonged to Silicon Valley Bank started quickly withdrawing their money recently, it caused a “bank run.” This led to the ruin of the tech-focused bank, the largest bank failure since the Great Recession. Now the federal government is stepping in to ensure customers are still able to access their money and company payrolls are distributed.

Silicon Valley Bank catered to start-ups, venture capitalist groups, and even companies like Pinterest and Airbnb. Reporter Jeff Stein talks about why the government is taking such drastic measures to make sure all deposits will be available this week.

It’s not just on movie sets like the infamous “Rust.” Beyond Hollywood’s glitz and glamor, and the spectacle of the upcoming 95th Academy Awards, there are hidden dangers on many of the sets for the tv shows and movies we love.

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Back in October 2021, two major events happened in Hollywood. First, 60,000 union members overwhelmingly voted to go on strike because of rough working conditions on television and movie sets. The strike was narrowly averted, but it left union members wanting more. Later that month, actor Alec Baldwin allegedly shot and killed a crew member on the set of his movie “Rust.” Many blamed poor set conditions, with crew members walking off-set the day of the shooting.

Washington Post filmmakers Lindsey Sitz and Ross Godwin made a documentary called “Quiet on Set” about the people behind the Hollywood cameras and sets. They say 18-hour days have led to dangerous accidents, and sexism and racism can run rampant behind the scenes. But speaking out can get you blacklisted.

Sitz and Godwin spoke with five union crew members about the things they’ve seen, heard, and experienced while on set. “Quiet on Set” paints a picture of exploitation, cost-cutting, and turning a blind eye, all in the name of Hollywood.

Today on Post Reports, as we near the three-year mark of the pandemic, health reporter Lena Sun digs into the science of grief and what she learned through her own loss. Her mother was one of more than 1 million Americans who died of covid.

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This week, we’re marking three years since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 was a pandemic. Since March of 2020, more than a million people have died in the United States alone and we’ve lost more than 6 million people worldwide to covid. 

We’ve turned to health reporter Lena Sun often over the last few years for advice on masking and social distancing, to explain how the virus spreads and how vaccines work, and for accountability reporting on the way politics and policies have interfered with science. But while she was one of the lead reporters covering the pandemic, Lena was also coping with her own loss. She lost her mother to covid in April of 2020, a famed writer on the Chinese immigrant experience, and then her sister died last year of pancreatic cancer. 

Today on the show, Lena shares what she’s learned about the science of grief - and how we can all process so much tragedy from the last three years.