Politics

WASHINGTON —  In a world beset by wars in Gaza and Ukraine, it’s good news when two superpowers step back from frictions that increased the danger of another war in Asia.That’s what happened last week when President Biden met with China’s Xi Jinping at a country estate in the ridges west of Silicon Valley.The two presidents met after a year of frosty noncommunication, touched off by China’s suspected espionage balloon that wandered across U.S. airspace last winter, by aggressive Chinese military actions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, and by U.S. restrictions on advanced technology.The presidents agreed to bury a few of their differences for the simple reason that neither needs another crisis right now.Beijing’s stock has been falling literally and figuratively. Its economy, ...

A fan died at Taylor Swift’s Rio de Janeiro concert Friday night, during a record-breaking heat wave. Ana Clara Benevides, a 23-year old psychology student, fainted in the front row of the concert and was given 40 minutes of CPR on-site before being taken to the hospital, where she died, her friend Thiago Fernandes told the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.According to Folha, the heat index at the Estàdio Nilton Santos reached 140 degrees, causing a thousand fans to faint, per an unofficial firefighter count. Videos from the concert showed Swift stopping the show twice to get more water bottles into the crowd, and she herself threw bottles from the stage to distressed fans. Taylor Swift helps fans chant “Water” in order to get security & staff to bring water to fans who were suff...

Sean “Diddy” Combs and R&B singer Cassie reached a settlement Friday in an incendiary lawsuit she filed the day before accusing the music mogul and entrepreneur of rape and a “cycle of abuse” during their decade-plus relationship.No details of the settlement were released, though Combs’ attorney previously accused Cassie of seeking an eight-figure payout in recent months. Combs had denied the allegations through his attorney.Cassie dated the famed hip-hop producer for about 11 years before they split in 2018. She filed her sex trafficking and sexual assault lawsuit against him in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York just days before the expiration of a “look-back window” that allowed adults who alleged they were sexually abused to sue despite the statute of lim...

HIALEAH, Fla. —  Alejandro Rodriguez, a Nicaraguan supporter of former President Trump, wanted to make clear that he opposes open borders.“The way I see it, if I have my door open, anybody can come in and out. Same thing with the borders,” Rodriguez said as he sold hats reading “Latina for Trump” outside a political rally in this 96% Latino south Florida city last week.Rodriguez, who is not a U.S. citizen, cannot vote in next year’s election. As a Nicaraguan, Alejandro Rodriguez can’t vote in the U.S. But like many Latinos in Florida, he supports former President Trump and closed borders. (Faith E. Pinho / Los Angeles Times) But his support for the front-runner in polls for the Republican presidential nomination highlights a challenge for President Biden and other Dem...

WASHINGTON —  The California population of immigrants lacking lawful status decreased by 150,000 between 2017 and 2021, but the state continues to have the highest number — 1.9 million — of unauthorized residents among the states.According to a report published Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, only two states saw an increase in such residents during the same period: Florida, which increased by 80,000 people, and Washington, which increased by 60,000. Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois follow California as states with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations. Such immigrants have become less geographically concentrated, however, with those six states being home to 56% of that population in the U.S., down from 80% in 1990. The Pew Research Center ana...

WOODSIDE, Calif. —  Breaking a yearlong silence between them, President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Wednesday in Silicon Valley and vowed to reduce tensions in the world’s most important bilateral relationship.Among other things, they agreed to resume military communications and impede the flow of deadly fentanyl from China.“For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option,” Xi told Biden at the beginning of their talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides.”Biden told Xi it was “paramount” the two leaders, who have known each other for decades, understand each ot...

SALINAS, Calif. —  Neri Ortiz se llevó las manos al regazo mientras relataba con seriedad su último episodio de salud a la doctora Eva Perusquia.Recientemente, en el trabajo, donde Ortiz empaqueta verduras por la noche, le sobrevino una oleada de náuseas y lágrimas. Consiguió reponerse lo suficiente como para continuar su turno, le dijo a la doctora. Pero hacía años que no experimentaba un desbalance tan abrumador.Perusquia la escuchó atentamente. Ortiz, de 42 años, era su paciente desde el año pasado, cuando buscó un médico hispanohablante en la Clínica de Salud del Valle de Salinas. Perusquia fue la primera doctora que le explicó su hipotiroidismo y la necesidad de tomar un medicamento para regularlo. Ortiz sabía que la doctora entendería cómo se sentía.Perusquia dijo que los desbalances...

WASHINGTON —  Kevin McCarthy’s 269-day tenure as House speaker was spoiled by his frequent reliance on bipartisanship. At least that’s how some of his fellow Republicans saw it. The eight rogue GOP lawmakers who voted on Oct. 3 to remove the Californian from the speakership repeatedly complained that he too often turned to Democrats for help passing key legislation. The Bakersfield Republican relied on Democratic votes to suspend the nation’s debt limit in May and to stave off a government shutdown in September. Replacing McCarthy with Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson was supposed to solve that problem — and result in more conservative governance. But on Tuesday afternoon, Johnson became the latest GOP House speaker to require Democratic help to keep Washington running. In a 336-95 vote, the Ho...

WASHINGTON —  The Supreme Court on Monday issued a code of conduct for itself for the first time, but it acknowledged the rules are “not new” and simply restate the principles it says its justices have long followed.The announcement said the justices hoped the code would “dispel this misunderstanding” that they “regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules.”But this modest effort is unlikely to end the controversy created by Justice Clarence Thomas and his free luxury vacations, paid for by Texas real estate billionaire Harlan Crow.That’s because there is still no enforcement mechanism behind the court’s code of conduct, and each of the justices remains free to decide for themselves whether particular gifts or travels cross a line and are prohibited. All federal judges already fol...

House Speaker Mike Johnson, the obscure former backbencher vaulted out of the far-right field to Congress’ highest-ranking job just over two weeks ago, told Sean Hannity that the many Americans wondering about his worldview should simply “pick up a Bible” and read it.It’s funny, though — my copy doesn’t say anything about funding the U.S. government (or foreign policy, climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, gun policies and much more, for that matter). And MAGA Mike, as he’s affectionately dubbed on the right, must also be having a hard time locating the pertinent passage. He adjourned the House on Thursday for a long weekend, still without a funding plan that would avert the government’s shutdown Friday at midnight. Opinion Columnist Jackie Calmes Jackie Calmes brings a ...