By Madeline Holcombe, CNN

(CNN) — If you want to live a long and healthy life, you’d be better off in South Korea than the United States.

In the 1980s, our country was about average in terms of life expectancy for developed nations. But since then much of the world has improved, and the United States has dropped toward the bottom of that list.

On the other side of the world, life expectancy has been growing fast in South Korea, with a massive leap of 7.94 years from 2000 to 2021, according to the World Health Organization.

What South Koreans are doing right and what Americans can learn when it comes to longevity boils down to actions you can incorporate now.

More vegetables at all ages

When journalist Kara Swisher visited a South Korean school at lunchtime, she said she was surprised by what she saw on students’ trays: lettuce wraps, radish-chive salad, kimchi and seasonal fruit. Those are not necessarily what her own young children would reach for, she said.

But throughout their time in school, Korean children are provided a free school lunch, which is tailored for both nutrition and education by a school nutritionist, Yeonju Kim, a school nutritionist, told Swisher.

In 2023, a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly half of kids ages 1 to 5 don’t eat a vegetable every day, and a third don’t eat a daily fruit, citing a survey of parents.

And the problem isn’t just picky kids –– it persists into adulthood. Nearly half of American adults eat a poor-quality diet, according to a 2025 study. The quality of their diet was evaluated against the American Heart Association’s primary diet score, which favors diets that are high in fruits and vegetables, made with whole grains, healthy proteins and fats with minimally processed foods.

Diets high in these areas, including MIND and Mediterranean eating, have been associated with both living longer and lowering the risk for cognitive decline in later years. (The MIND diet stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.)

It can be hard to feel the impacts of healthy eating in the moment, but over time the results are apparent.

Activity of all kinds

When it comes to studying South Korean “SuperAgers” — older adults with cognitive abilities expected in people decades younger — some of the most influential lifestyle factors have been physical exercise, social interaction and new, challenging activities, said Dr. Geon-Ha Kim, a neuroscientist at Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Seoul.

For lessons on activity, Swisher spoke with the social media star known as “Korea Grandma,” Park Mak-rye. The 79-year-old shares her healthy cooking recipes, skin care regime and exercise routines online. Those elements, in addition to her close group of friends, are keys to her health, she told Swisher.

The data on activity of all kinds is clear.

Regular exercise that increases your heart and breathing rate has been associated with an up to 40% decreased risk of early death. Those who experience loneliness and social isolation had a 32% increased risk of dying early from any cause, according to a 2023 study. And engaging with a

By Madeline Holcombe, CNN

(CNN) — If you want to live a long and healthy life, you’d be better off in South Korea than the United States.

In the 1980s, our country was about average in terms of life expectancy for developed nations. But since then much of the world has improved, and the United States has dropped toward the bottom of that list.

On the other side of the world, life expectancy has been growing fast in South Korea, with a massive leap of 7.94 years from 2000 to 2021, according to the World Health Organization.

What South Koreans are doing right and what Americans can learn when it comes to longevity boils down to actions you can incorporate now.

More vegetables at all ages

When journalist Kara Swisher visited a South Korean school at lunchtime, she said she was surprised by what she saw on students’ trays: lettuce wraps, radish-chive salad, kimchi and seasonal fruit. Those are not necessarily what her own young children would reach for, she said.

But throughout their time in school, Korean children are provided a free school lunch, which is tailored for both nutrition and education by a school nutritionist, Yeonju Kim, a school nutritionist, told Swisher.

In 2023, a report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly half of kids ages 1 to 5 don’t eat a vegetable every day, and a third don’t eat a daily fruit, citing a survey of parents.

And the problem isn’t just picky kids –– it persists into adulthood. Nearly half of American adults eat a poor-quality diet, according to a 2025 study. The quality of their diet was evaluated against the American Heart Association’s primary diet score, which favors diets that are high in fruits and vegetables, made with whole grains, healthy proteins and fats with minimally processed foods.

Diets high in these areas, including MIND and Mediterranean eating, have been associated with both living longer and lowering the risk for cognitive decline in later years. (The MIND diet stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.)

It can be hard to feel the impacts of healthy eating in the moment, but over time the results are apparent.

Activity of all kinds

When it comes to studying South Korean “SuperAgers” — older adults with cognitive abilities expected in people decades younger — some of the most influential lifestyle factors have been physical exercise, social interaction and new, challenging activities, said Dr. Geon-Ha Kim, a neuroscientist at Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Seoul.

For lessons on activity, Swisher spoke with the social media star known as “Korea Grandma,” Park Mak-rye. The 79-year-old shares her healthy cooking recipes, skin care regime and exercise routines online. Those elements, in addition to her close group of friends, are keys to her health, she told Swisher.

The data on activity of all kinds is clear.

Regular exercise that increases your heart and breathing rate has been associated with an up to 40% decreased risk of early death. Those who experience loneliness and social isolation had a 32% increased risk of dying early from any cause, according to a 2023 study. And engaging with a

By Dana O’Neil, CNN

Newtown Square, Pennsylvania (CNN) — Doug Siberski grew up on Boulder Creek Lane, in a house his father designed and had built back in 1961. Stanley Siberski was a dentist – for some time the only one in Newtown Square – who loved to serenade his patients with country songs. He was especially partial to Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty.

Like Stanley, his house is decidedly quirky, and as the decades have passed and Newtown Square has risen in its socioeconomic status, it stands out even more among the traditional homes along the street. Doug moved into the house after Stanley and Doug’s mom Regina passed away, determined to keep it in the family. He’s even kept some neighbors at bay, who have promised him a song if he wants to sell the property.

Because like any good piece of real estate, Doug’s house is all about location, location, location: The backyard shares a border with the fairway on the first hole of Aronomink Golf Club.

Especially this week, there is no sweeter place to live than the club, which hosts the PGA Championship.

Siberski and his fellow enterprising folks along Boulder Creek have turned their backyards into private viewing parties. At the suggestion of Jai Biljani, they went in and rented platforms and scaffolding that rise above the eight-foot fence erected by the PGA, giving them an unimpeded view of the entirety of the first hole and clear across the course.

“The last time this event was here, it was 1962,” Siberski said. “My sister was one. And now we’ll all be here today, watching it again.”

Doug’s yard stretches long enough that he’s got a double-vantage point. At one end, he put actual construction scaffolding – think yellow paint, straight out of Home Depot – and built some makeshift steps, laying a piece of plywood to access them. “I have to keep it a little redneck,’’ he said with a laugh.

He plopped an American flag at the end, so people could find it, nestled among the trees. That offers a nice shaded view of the tee and fairway.

But ever ingenious, the family also made it possible to get eyeballs on the green as well. Doug’s nephew, Pat Corcoran, stood atop a ladder and watched the golf.

“It probably came with the house,” Corcoran said when asked about the ladder’s age.

Next to him, his buddy Joe Spence and two of Siberski’s business partners, Theresa Supe and Dietmar Freyhammer, hopped in the bed of a Dodge Ram 2500 truck, perfectly backed up to the fence. Supe, from Germany, and Freyhammer, from Austria, purposely picked this week for “business,’’ knowing they’d get to watch some golf.

“I’m more of a golf addict than him,” Freyhammer said.

Doug hilariously isn’t even a member at Aronomink and says he’s a golfer in the sense that “I beat a ball around the course. I have a 12 handicap, which means I bring 12 balls and lose them all.”

But he loves a good party, and happily joined in. “I thought, ‘Why not?’’ he said. “Sounded like fun.”

His neighbors, Jim and Eileen Hageney, are longtime Aronomink members (their daughter, Claire, is getting married there in August), but only just bought their house on Boulder Creek Lane in the past year and aren’t even living in it. Upon purchase, they took upon a full renovation. There’s still no running water and workers were crawling about the place on Friday morning. Some, who are working on rebuilding the chimney, used the actual work scaffolding to pause and catch some golf, too.

As members, they’ll actually go onto the course and watch from areas reserved for Aronomink members but even that exclusive perch doesn’t beat the privacy of their own backyard. They were all too happy to go in on the platforms, joining with three other families for the rentals that ran about $2,000.

Theirs is slightly fancier than Doug’s, with handrails up the sides and stairs. They

By Patrick Svitek, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s drive for political revenge faces a key test Saturday in Louisiana, where he is looking to defeat Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy five years after Cassidy voted to convict him in his second impeachment.

Trump has backed Rep. Julia Letlow against Cassidy, though a second challenger — Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming — has run a spirited race and made it likely that no candidate receives a majority of the vote, which would trigger a June 27 runoff.

It is a crucial time for Trump’s ability to show he can unseat fellow Republicans who cross him. The Louisiana election comes three days before Trump hopes to beat Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in his primary, a race that has drawn more attention.

Trump reiterated his endorsement of Letlow in a social media post Friday, saying he has “seen her tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and she is a TOTAL WINNER!”

Cassidy is one of the few Republicans left in Congress who voted to convict Trump over his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. He represents a solidly red state that backed Trump by 22 percentage points in 2024.

More recently, Cassidy – a physician – has had tension with Trump as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. While Cassidy voted to confirm Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he has split with the administration on other parts of its “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

Last month, after Trump had to pull his nominee for surgeon general, Casey Means, the president blamed Cassidy and called him “very disloyal.”

On the campaign trail, Cassidy has sought to portray the race as about “the present and the future” and has boasted about having a good working relationship with Trump despite the impeachment vote.

“I’m not claiming the president loves me — no — but you can work with people even if you don’t love each other if you’ve got a common goal,” Cassidy said Friday on CNN’s “Situation Room.” “And my goal is to make my country and my state — and everybody who lives here — better off.”

Cassidy has long had a large financial advantage in the primary and used it to almost exclusively attack Letlow, saying the race is hers to lose. He has focused on her background in higher education and past efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that are now toxic in the GOP.

Yet in the final days of the primary, his two challengers have been battling one another.

Fleming, a former congressman who has been involved in Louisiana politics for decades, has sought to portray himself as more aligned with Trump than Letlow, especially after working in the White House during Trump’s first term.

Letlow’s campaign has labeled Fleming a “Never Trumper” and, along with an outside group, targeted him on a range of other issues, including his work as a lobbyist before he became state treasurer.

Cassidy has been endorsed by Senate GOP leaders, as is custom for incumbents, though national Republicans have otherwise kept their distance from the primary. Not only is Trump backing Letlow, but so is the state’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry.

The election is occurring under new and unusual circumstances. Landry recently postponed House primaries – but kept the Senate primary scheduled for Saturday – in response to a Supreme Court ruling on redistricting. The election also is the first under a new closed primary system where unaffiliated voters – a key bloc f

Por René Marsh y Audrey Ash, CNN

Una propuesta abandonada hacía mucho tiempo en el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional —tan ambiciosa que la agencia nunca la había llevado a cabo— fue reactivada bajo el liderazgo de la entonces secretaria Kristi Noem.

Los funcionarios invirtieron decenas de millones de dólares de los contribuyentes para que el departamento adquiriera su propia flota de aeronaves y comenzaron a sentar las bases para dejar de depender de las compañías chárter para los vuelos de deportación, como lo habían hecho durante décadas.

En última instancia, planeaban crear su propia mini aerolínea para ayudar a cumplir el objetivo del presidente Donald Trump de deportar a un millón de inmigrantes indocumentados al año.

Ahora, el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS) ha comunicado en exclusiva a CNN que planea comenzar a utilizar los aviones para vuelos de deportación próximamente, contratando a empresas externas para su operación, luego de que el nuevo secretario de Seguridad Nacional, Markwayne Mullin, reevaluara el plan.

Mullin, quien reemplazó a Noem en marzo, había llevado a cabo una revisión exhaustiva de los contratos firmados durante su mandato.

“Prevemos que podremos integrar estos aviones en nuestros esfuerzos de deportación en las próximas semanas”, declaró un portavoz del DHS en un comunicado.

Bajo la dirección de Noem, los funcionarios del DHS argumentaron que la medida ahorraría a los contribuyentes US$ 280 millones, en parte al permitir que el departamento utilizara rutas más eficientes, aunque no especificaron un plazo para esos ahorros.

Sin embargo, algunos funcionarios actuales y anteriores del DHS, así como fuentes de la industria aeronáutica, cuestionan la viabilidad a largo plazo de esta iniciativa sin precedentes y la consecución de los ahorros prometidos.

Algunos críticos señalan datos del sector que sugieren que el departamento podría haber pagado más del valor de mercado por al menos algunos de los aviones.

“Es difícil ver esto como otra cosa que un despilfarro de dinero público”, declaró a CNN un ejecutivo de la industria de la aviación.

Según los registros, el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS) adquirió 10 aviones entre enero y marzo de este año.

Desde entonces, la flota ha permanecido prácticamente inactiva —en algunos casos, durante meses— en un centro de mantenimiento en Louisiana, según una fuente con conocimiento del asunto y datos públicos de seguimiento de vuelos.

Si bien algunos de los aviones se utilizaron para vuelos de evacuación en los primeros días de la guerra de Irán, ninguno se ha utilizado para deportaciones.

William Walters, CEO de Daedalus Aviation, la empresa que proveyó los aviones al DHS, declaró a CNN que se vendieron a precio de coste más gastos generales, incluido el importe de adaptar los aviones de pasajeros para fines de inmigración.

Walters y el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional se negaron a proporcionar un desglose de los costos de los aviones.

El portavoz del DHS afirmó que los aviones proporcionarán un “apoyo vital” a la aplicación de las leyes de inmigración, pero que “cualquier decisión relacionada con la compra de estos aviones se tomó antes del cambio en la dirección del DHS”.

El departamento añadió que, si bien Mullin y su equipo trabajaron con el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas para “evaluar el plan operativo para la utilización de estas aeronaves”, los aviones han estado “sometidos a mantenimiento y controles de seguridad, así como a cualquier modificación necesaria para satisfacer las necesidades de la misión de deportación”.

“El secretario Mullin está totalmente centrado en garantizar que se satisfagan las necesidades de nuestro Departamento, al tiempo que administra de la mejor manera posible el dinero de los contribuyentes”, declaró el DHS en otro comunicado a CNN.