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  • National Guard members shot in DC identified; shooting investigated as terrorism

    An Afghan national has been accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence at a time when the presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a Thursday news briefing that the guard members shot were Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. The guard members were hospitalized in critical condition after Wednesday afternoon’s shooting.Pirro said that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, drove across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. The suspect currently faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro said that “it’s too soon to say” what the suspect’s motives were.The charges could be upgraded, Pirro said, adding, “We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge.”The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil, on the day before Thanksgiving, comes amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington.Video below: Trump condemned National Guard shooting as ‘heinous assault’The suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.Attack being investigated as terrorist actFBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Agents have served a series of search warrants, with Patel calling it a “coast-to-coast investigation.”Pirro said: “We have been in constant contact with their families and have provided them with every resource needed during this difficult time.”Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser interpreted the shooting as a direct assault on America itself, rather than specifically on Trump’s policies.“Somebody drove across the country and came to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” Bower said. “That person will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”Suspect worked with CIA during Afghanistan WarThe 29-year-old suspect, an Afghan national, entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said.The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the U.S., many of whom had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over allegations of gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say it offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.Lakamal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.Prior to his 2021 arrival in the United States, the suspect worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director, said in a statement. He did not specify what work Lakamal did, but said the relationship “ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation” of U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan.Kandahar in southern Afghanistan is in the Taliban heartland of the country. It saw fierce fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 following the al-Qaida attacks on Sept. 11. The CIA relied on Afghan staff for translation, administrative and front-line fighting with their own paramilitary officers in the war.Wednesday night, in a video message released on social media, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.“If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said, adding that the shooting was “a crime against our entire nation.”Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant D.C. police chief, said on Wednesday that investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators.Troops held down the shooterThe shooting happened roughly two blocks northwest of the White House near a metro station. Hearing gunfire, other troops in the area ran over and held down the gunman after he was shot, Carroll said. “It appears to be a lone gunman that raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard,” Carroll said, adding that it was not clear whether one of the guard members or a law enforcement officer shot the suspect.“At this point, we have no other suspects,” Carroll said at a news conference.At least one of the guard members exchanged gunfire with the shooter, said another law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.Social media video shared in the immediate aftermath showed first responders performing CPR on one of the troops and treating the other on a sidewalk covered in broken glass.

    WASHINGTON —

    An Afghan national has been accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House in a brazen act of violence at a time when the presence of troops in the nation’s capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint.

    Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a Thursday news briefing that the guard members shot were Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24. The guard members were hospitalized in critical condition after Wednesday afternoon’s shooting.

    Pirro said that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, drove across the country to launch an “ambush-style” attack with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver. The suspect currently faces charges of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Pirro said that “it’s too soon to say” what the suspect’s motives were.

    The charges could be upgraded, Pirro said, adding, “We are praying that they survive and that the highest charge will not have to be murder in the first degree. But make no mistake, if they do not, that will certainly be the charge.”

    The rare shooting of National Guard members on American soil, on the day before Thanksgiving, comes amid court fights and a broader public policy debate about the Trump administration’s use of the military to combat what officials cast as an out-of-control crime problem.

    The Trump administration quickly ordered 500 more National Guard members to Washington.

    Video below: Trump condemned National Guard shooting as ‘heinous assault’

    The suspect who was in custody also was shot and had wounds that were not believed to be life-threatening, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

    Attack being investigated as terrorist act

    FBI Director Kash Patel said the shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism. Agents have served a series of search warrants, with Patel calling it a “coast-to-coast investigation.”

    Pirro said: “We have been in constant contact with their families and have provided them with every resource needed during this difficult time.”

    Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser interpreted the shooting as a direct assault on America itself, rather than specifically on Trump’s policies.

    “Somebody drove across the country and came to Washington, D.C., to attack America,” Bower said. “That person will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

    Suspect worked with CIA during Afghanistan War

    The 29-year-old suspect, an Afghan national, entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said.

    The initiative brought roughly 76,000 people to the U.S., many of whom had worked alongside U.S. troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. It has since faced intense scrutiny from Trump and his allies, congressional Republicans and some government watchdogs over allegations of gaps in the vetting process and the speed of admissions, even as advocates say it offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

    Lakamal has been living in Bellingham, Washington, about 79 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.

    Prior to his 2021 arrival in the United States, the suspect worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” John Ratcliffe, the spy agency’s director, said in a statement. He did not specify what work Lakamal did, but said the relationship “ended shortly following the chaotic evacuation” of U.S. servicemembers from Afghanistan.

    Kandahar in southern Afghanistan is in the Taliban heartland of the country. It saw fierce fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 following the al-Qaida attacks on Sept. 11. The CIA relied on Afghan staff for translation, administrative and front-line fighting with their own paramilitary officers in the war.

    Wednesday night, in a video message released on social media, President Donald Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who entered under the Biden administration.

    “If they can’t love our country, we don’t want them,” he said, adding that the shooting was “a crime against our entire nation.”

    Jeffery Carroll, an executive assistant D.C. police chief, said on Wednesday that investigators had no information on a motive. He said the assailant “came around the corner” and immediately started firing at the troops, citing video reviewed by investigators.

    Troops held down the shooter

    The shooting happened roughly two blocks northwest of the White House near a metro station. Hearing gunfire, other troops in the area ran over and held down the gunman after he was shot, Carroll said.

    “It appears to be a lone gunman that raised a firearm and ambushed these members of the National Guard,” Carroll said, adding that it was not clear whether one of the guard members or a law enforcement officer shot the suspect.

    “At this point, we have no other suspects,” Carroll said at a news conference.

    At least one of the guard members exchanged gunfire with the shooter, said another law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    Social media video shared in the immediate aftermath showed first responders performing CPR on one of the troops and treating the other on a sidewalk covered in broken glass.

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  • FBI investigates video urging US troops to defy illegal orders

    A video urging U.S. troops to defy “illegal orders” has led to the FBI requesting interviews with the Democratic lawmakers involved, indicating an investigation may be underway. The lawmakers did not mention specific reasons for their comments in the clip, but it comes after the Trump administration ordered the military to blow up boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, accusing them of smuggling drugs into the U.S., and the deployment of the National Guard to U.S. cities.All six of the Democratic lawmakers in the video have served in the military or intelligence community.In the video, lawmakers said they needed troops to “stand up for our laws … our Constitution.” The Pentagon said Monday it was reviewing Senator Mark Kelly, who is in the video, for violating military law. President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition and said it is “punishable by death.”Senator Elissa Slotkin, one of six Democrats in the video, told reporters Tuesday this is a scare tactic by the president. The FBI declined to comment, but Director Kash Patel described the situation in an interview as an “ongoing matter.”Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:

    WASHINGTON —

    A video urging U.S. troops to defy “illegal orders” has led to the FBI requesting interviews with the Democratic lawmakers involved, indicating an investigation may be underway.

    The lawmakers did not mention specific reasons for their comments in the clip, but it comes after the Trump administration ordered the military to blow up boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, accusing them of smuggling drugs into the U.S., and the deployment of the National Guard to U.S. cities.

    All six of the Democratic lawmakers in the video have served in the military or intelligence community.

    In the video, lawmakers said they needed troops to “stand up for our laws … our Constitution.”

    The Pentagon said Monday it was reviewing Senator Mark Kelly, who is in the video, for violating military law. President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition and said it is “punishable by death.”

    Senator Elissa Slotkin, one of six Democrats in the video, told reporters Tuesday this is a scare tactic by the president.

    The FBI declined to comment, but Director Kash Patel described the situation in an interview as an “ongoing matter.”

    Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:


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  • Is the U.S. invading Venezuela? Or trying to make a deal?

    CARACAS, Venezuela — On the face of it, the United States appears closer than ever to mounting a military campaign to remove President Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela.

    President Trump says he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside the Caribbean nation, and has massed troops, fighter jets and warships just off its coastline.

    U.S. service members in the region have been barred from taking Thanksgiving leave. Airlines have canceled flights to Venezuela after the Federal Aviation Administration warned of a “potentially hazardous situation” there. And on Monday the White House officially designated Maduro as a member of an international terrorist group.

    In Caracas, the nation’s capital, there is a palpable sense of anxiety, especially as each new bellicose pronouncement emerges from Washington.

    “People are very tense,” said Rosa María López, 47, a podiatrist and mother of two. “Although no one says anything because they are afraid.”

    Traffic is sparse at the Simon Bolivar Maiquetia International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on Sunday after several international airlines canceled flights following a warning from the Federal Aviation Administration about a hazardous situation in Venezuelan airspace.

    (Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press)

    Trump has been presented with a set of military options by the Pentagon, a source familiar with the matter told The Times, and is said to be weighing his options. Still, his plans for Venezuela remain opaque.

    Trump, even while warning of a possible military action, has also continually floated the possibility of negotiations, saying he “probably would talk” to Maduro at some point.

    “I don’t rule out anything,” Trump said last week.

    Now people in both the U.S. and Venezuela are wondering: is the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean the prelude to an invasion, or a bluff intended to pressure Maduro to make a deal?

    There are members of the White House — especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who are desperate to unseat Maduro, a leftist autocrat whom the U.S. does not recognize as Venezuela’s legitimately elected president.

    But other members of Trump’s team seem more intent on securing access to Venezuela’s oil riches, and keeping them from China and Russia, than pushing for regime change. Parties of that camp might be willing to accept a deal with Venezuela that does not call for Maduro’s exit and a plan for a democratic transition.

    Months of U.S. saber-rattling without any direct military action against the Maduro government may be weakening the Americans’ negotiating position, said Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela expert at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research group. “There is a psychological component to this operation, and it’s starting to lose its credibility,” he said. “I do fear that the regime thinks that it has weathered the worst of U.S. pressure.”

    Maduro, for his part, insists he is open to dialogue. “Whoever in the U.S. wants to talk with Venezuela can do so,” he said this week. “We cannot allow the bombing and massacre of a Christian people — the people of Venezuela.”

    Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaks at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.

    Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, speaking Friday at the presidential palace in Caracas, has insisted he is open to dialogue with the United States.

    (Cristian Hernandez / Associated Press)

    For years, he has refused efforts to force him from office, even in the face of punishing U.S. sanctions, domestic protests against his rule and various offensives during the first Trump administration that Caracas deemed as coup attempts. Experts say there is no evidence that Trump’s buildup of troops — or his attacks on alleged drug traffickers off of Venezuela’s coast — has weakened Maduro’s support amid the military or other hard-core backers.

    Venezuela, meanwhile, has sought to use the prospect of a U.S. invasion to bolster support at home.

    On Monday, top officials here took aim at the State Department’s designation of an alleged Venezuelan drug cartel as a foreign terrorist group. Rubio claims the Cartel de los Soles is “headed by Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking individuals of the illegitimate Maduro regime who have corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature and judiciary.”

    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth praised the declaration for introducing “a whole bunch of new options” to fight what he described as “narco-terrorists” and “illegitimate regimes.”

    The Venezuelan government says the Cartel de los Soles does not exist. Foreign Minister Yván Gil described Monday’s designation as a “ridiculous fabrication.” The U.S., he said, is using a “vile lie to justify an illegitimate and illegal intervention against Venezuela under the classic U.S. format of regime change.”

    The truth is somewhere in the middle.

    The Cartel de los Soles, experts say, is less a traditional cartel — with a centralized command structure directing various cells — than a shorthand term used in the media and elsewhere to describe a loose group of corrupt Venezuelan military officials implicated in the drug trade.

    The name, Cartel of the Suns, derives from the sun insignia found on the uniforms of Venezuelan soldiers, much like stars on U.S. military uniforms. It has been around since the early 1990s, when Venezuela was an important trans-shipment point for Colombian cocaine bound for the U.S. market. Today, only a small portion of cocaine trafficked to the U.S. moves through Venezuela.

    Venezuelan journalist Ronna Rísquez Sánchez said it is unclear whether Maduro actually directs illicit activities conducted by his military or simply allows it to transpire among his government. Either way, she said, it is “happening under his nose.”

    But she did not rule out that seizing on Maduro’s possible links to drug trafficking might be a convenient “pretext” for U.S. political machinations.

    For the people of Venezuela, recent weeks have seen a heightened sense of uncertainty and anguish as people ponder ever-conflicting reports about a possible U.S. strike.

    More than a decade of political, social and economic upheaval has left people exhausted and numbed, often unable to believe anything they hear about the future of Maduro’s government. There is a widespread sense of resignation and a feeling that things can only get worse.

    “Every week we hear they are going to get rid of Maduro, but he’s still here,” said Inés Rojas, 25, a street vendor in Caracas. “We all want a change, but a change that improves things, not makes them worse. We young people don’t have a future. The doors of immigration are closed, we are locked in here, not knowing what is going to happen.”

    Mostly, people seem to want an end to the overwhelming feeling of not knowing what comes next.

    “I pray every day that this uncertainty ends,” said Cristina López Castillo, 37, an unemployed office worker who favors Maduro’s removal from office. “We don’t have a future — or a present. We live every day wondering what will happen tomorrow. I have more fear of hunger than of Trump.”

    Still, Maduro retains many backers — and not only among the military and political elite who have seen their loyalty rewarded with additional wealth. Many people remain thankful for the social welfare legacy of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, and are wary of U.S. motivations in Venezuela.

    “We Venezuelans do not want to be anyone’s colony, nor do we want anyone to drop bombs on us to get rid of a president,” said José Gregorio Martínez Pina, 45, a construction worker in the capital.

    “Is Maduro a narco? I haven’t seen any proof,” he said. “And if they have it, they should present it, instead of having a country living under terror for weeks.”

    Times staff writers Linthicum and McDonnell reported in Mexico City. Mogollón, a special correspondent, reported in Caracas. Michael Wilner in the Times’ Washington bureau also contributed reporting.

    Kate Linthicum, Patrick J. McDonnell, Mery Mogollón

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  • This L.A. car wash depends on immigrant labor. Can it survive Trump?

    The car wash hadn’t yet opened for the day, but its owner was already on edge.

    He scanned the street for law enforcement vehicles and hit refresh on a crowdsourced map that showed recent immigration sweeps.

    “They were busy in our area yesterday,” he warned his employees. “Be careful.”

    But except for staying home, there were few precautions that the workers, mostly men from Mexico, could take.

    The business is located along one of L.A.’s busiest thoroughfares. Workers are exposed to the street as they scrub, wax and buff the parade of vehicles that streams in between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., seven days a week.

    Immigration agents descended on the business multiple times this summer as part of a broader campaign against L.A. car washes. Masked men hauled away around a dozen workers, most of whom were swiftly deported. The Times is not identifying the business, the owner or the workers.

    The raids had spooked remaining employees — and many had stopped showing up to work. The replacements the owner hired were mostly other immigrants who showed him Social Security cards that he hoped were legitimate.

    Still, it was an open secret that the car wash industry, which paid low wages for back-breaking labor, largely attracted people without legal status.

    “Americans don’t want to do this work,” the owner said.

    After the raids, he had been forced to close for stretches during the typically lucrative summer months. He was now operating normally again, but sales were down, he had maxed out his credit cards and he was unsure whether his business would survive. Clients — frightened by the raids — were staying away.

    “My target is to pay the rent, pay the insurance and pay the guys,” the owner told his manager as they sipped coffee in the early morning November chill and waited for their first customer. “That’s it.”

    The manager, also an immigrant from Mexico, nodded. He was juggling his boss’ concerns with personal ones. He and his team had all seen friends, relatives and co-workers vanish in immigration raids. He left home each morning wondering whether he would return in the evening.

    The mood at the car wash had once been lighthearted, with employees joking as they sprayed down cars and polished windows. Now everybody, the manager included, kept one eye on the street as they worked. “We say we’re OK,” he said. “But we’re all scared.”

    A few minutes before 7 a.m., a BMW sedan pulled in for a wash. The manager flipped on the vacuum and said a prayer.

    “Protect me. Protect my colleagues. And protect the place I work.”

    The owner was born abroad but moved to Los Angeles after winning the U.S. green card lottery.

    He used his life savings to buy the car wash, which at the time seemed like a sound investment. There are some 36 million vehicles in California. And in Los Angeles, at least for most of the year, people can’t rely on rainfall to keep them clean.

    His business already took a major financial hit this year during the L.A. wildfires, which filled the air with smoke and ash. Customers didn’t bother to clean cars that they knew would get dirty again.

    Then came President Trump, who promised to deport record numbers of migrants.

    I’m not brave. I need the work

    — Car wash employee

    Previous administrations had focused on expelling immigrants who had committed crimes. But federal agents, under pressure to meet arrest quotas, have vastly widened their net, targeting public-facing workplaces that pay low wages.

    Car wash employees — along with street vendors, day laborers, farmworkers and gardeners — have become low-hanging fruit. At least 340 people have been detained in raids on 100 car washes across Southern California since June, according to the CLEAN Car Wash Worker Center, which advocates for workers in the industry.

    The owner was shocked when agents toting rifles and dressed in bulletproof vests first stormed his business, blocking exits with their vehicles and handcuffing employees without ever showing a search warrant.

    “It was a kidnapping,” he said. “It felt like we were in Afghanistan or Iraq, not in the middle of Los Angeles.”

    Some of the men that the agents dragged away in that raid and subsequent ones had been living in the U.S. for decades. Many were fathers of American children.

    The manager was racked with survivor’s guilt. He was from the same small town in Mexico as one of the men who was detained and later deported. Another worker taken by agents had been hired the same morning as the raid.

    That’s when many employees stopped showing up. One stayed home for almost a month straight, surviving on groceries his friends and family brought to his apartment.

    But eventually that employee — and his brother — returned to the car wash. “I’m not brave,” the brother said. “I need the work.”

    The brother had been in the country for nearly 25 years and had three U.S.-born children, one of whom had served as a Marine.

    He had toiled at car washes the whole time — crouching to scrub tires, stretching to dry roofs and returning home each night with aching heels and knots in his neck. Less punishing industries weren’t an option for somebody without valid work documents, he said, especially in the Trump era.

    He had been at the car wash during one of the raids, and had avoided being detained only when the owner stepped in front of him and demanded agents speak to him first.

    The man said he had made peace with the idea that his time in the U.S. might come to an end. “At least my children are grown,” he said.

    The two brothers were working this brisk November day, hand-drying Audis, Mercedes and a classic Porsche. They earned a little over minimum wage, and got to keep most of their tips.

    Their bosses had told them that if immigration agents returned, the workers should consider locking themselves inside the cars that they were cleaning. “Don’t run,” the manager said. “They’ll only chase.”

    At the cash register, the cashier watched a website that tracked Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions around the region. So far, there was no activity nearby.

    She had been present during the immigration sweeps, and was still mad at herself for not doing more to stop agents from taking her co-workers. “You think you’re gonna stand up to them, but it’s different when it happens,” she said. “I was like a deer in the headlights.”

    As workers cleaned his Toyota Camry, a retired history professor waited on a bench, reading a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. The ICE raids had scared some clients away, but had prompted others to express their support. He said he had made a point to patronize the business because he was angry at the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

    “They’re not getting the worst of the worst, they’re getting the easiest,” he said.

    He noted that a friend of his — a Latino born in the U.S. — now carried a copy of his birth certificate. Just in case.

    “That’s not the America I grew up in,” the customer said.

    The owner of the car wash, too, was trying to square the promise of the United States with the reality that he was living.

    “I thought Trump was a businessman,” he said. “But he’s really terrorizing businesses.”

    The owner had paid taxes on his employee’s earnings, he said. So had they. “They were pushing the economy, paying rent, paying insurance, buying things.”

    “Fine, take the criminals, take the bad guys,” he continued. “But these are hard workers. Criminals aren’t working at a car wash or waiting in front of a Home Depot.”

    The owner had recently obtained American citizenship. But he was disillusioned — by the raids, L.A.’s homelessness crisis, high healthcare costs. He said his wife longed to leave the U.S. and return home.

    “This is not the American dream,” he said. “This is an American nightmare.”

    As the sun began to sink on the horizon, the last car of the day pulled out of the car wash — a sparkling clean Tesla.

    The manager turned off the vacuum, recoiled hoses and exhaled with relief. He and his staff had survived another day. Tonight — at least — they would be going home to their families.

    Kate Linthicum

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  • News Analysis: How the Saudi crown prince went from pariah to feted White House guest

    BEIRUT  — Seven years ago, he was virtually persona non grata, any link to him considered kryptonite among U.S. political and business elite for his alleged role in the killing of a Washington Post columnist and Saudi critic.

    But when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman came to Washington this week, he cemented a remarkable comeback, positioning himself as the linchpin of a new regional order in the Middle East, and his country as an essential partner in America’s AI-driven future.

    During what amounted to a state visit, the crown prince — Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader — was given the literal red carpet treatment: A Marine band, flag-bearing horsemen and a squadron of F-35s in the skies above; a black-tie dinner attended by a raft of business leaders in the prince’s honor; a U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center the next day.

    Throughout, Bin Salman (or MBS, as many call him) proved himself a keen practitioner of the brand of transactional politics favored by President Trump.

    President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman walk down the Colonnade on the way to the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday.

    (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

    He fulfilled Trump’s ask, first floated back in May during the Riyadh edition of the U.S.-Saudi Forum, to raise the kingdom’s U.S. investment commitments from $600 million to almost $1 trillion.

    And the prince managed to mollify Trump in his oft-repeated call for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, the normalization pacts with Israel brokered during the president’s first term, even while changing nothing of his long-stated position: That establishing ties with Israel be accompanied by steps toward Palestinian statehood — an outcome many in Israel’s political class reject.

    “We believe having a good relation with all Middle Eastern countries is a good thing, and we want to be part of the Abraham Accords. But we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path [to a] two-state solution,” Bin Salman said.

    “We want peace with the Israelis. We want peace with the Palestinians, we want them to coexist peacefully,” he added.

    President Trump greets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, at the White House.

    President Trump greets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, at the White House on Tuesday.

    (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

    At home in Saudi Arabia, the trip was touted as an unequivocal triumph for the prince. Saudi state media boasted the country’s emergence as a major non-NATO ally for the U.S., and the signing of a so-called Strategic Defense Agreement as demonstrating Riyadh’s centrality to American strategic thinking.

    This touting came despite little clarity on what that agreement actually entails: Its text wasn’t published, and it was mentioned only in passing in a White House “fact sheet,” which emphasized Saudi Arabia would “buy American” with significant purchases of tanks, missiles and F-35s; the latter would be the first time the U.S.’ most advanced jet is sold to an Arab country.

    Saudi Arabia will also be given access to top-line AI chips, enabling it to leverage plentiful land and energy resources to build data centers while “protecting U.S. technology from foreign influence,” according to the White House.

    Talks over Riyadh’s civilian nuclear program, stalled for a decade over concerns from previous administrations, yielded a framework that in theory allows Saudi Arabia to build a nuclear plant. Uranium enrichment, which in theory would allow weaponization, isn’t part of the agreement, U.S. officials say.

    Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and President Trump watch a flyover.

    Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump watch a flyover of F-15 and F-35 fighters before meeting at the White House.

    (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

    On the regional politics front, Bin Salman got a pledge from Trump to help broker an end to the war in Sudan.

    The visit capped Bin Salman’s stunning redemption arc from the nadir of his reputation seven years ago.

    Back then, his image as a dauntless reformer — reversing bans on women driving, neutering the country’s notorious religious police — was already crumbling after he sought to silence not only foreign opponents, but anyone domestically who questioned Vision 2030, his far-reaching (and hugely expensive) plan for transforming Saudi Arabia.

    Then came the 2018 strangulation and dismemberment in Turkey of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi insider-turned-mild-critic and Washington Post columnist.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen inside a vehicle.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen inside a vehicle while leaving the White House after a meeting in the Oval Office with President Trump.

    (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

    Trump appeared more inclined to side with the prince, who denied any involvement in the killing, but the CIA said in a leaked report it had high confidence the prince ordered Khashoggi’s assassination.

    Association with Bin Salman, once Washington’s Middle East darling, became toxic. International companies rushed to pull out of the kingdom. Politicians made it clear he was unwelcome. Then-candidate Joe Biden vowed to make the Saudi government “a pariah.”

    In time, the prince stepped back from his more pugilistic policies, while geopolitics, energy concerns and a turbulent Middle East forced Biden to moderate his rejectionist stance.

    In 2022, Biden visited the prince — giving him a tepid fist bump — to coax him into lowering energy prices.

    That same year, Riyadh helped broker a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. Later, a China-brokered agreement saw the prince calm his country’s stormy diplomatic relations with Iran. Just last month, he reportedly worked behind the scenes to push through a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

    His White House visit seemed to cement his comeback, but little of what was promised is a done deal.

    For one, whether Saudi Arabia can pony up $1 trillion — a figure amounting to 80% of its annual GDP and more than twice its foreign exchange reserves — is an open question.

    Crucially, the prince didn’t specify when the money would be invested.

    Though the investment pledge is big, “how much and over what period of time is completely unclear,” said Tim Callen, an economist and former International Monetary Fund mission chief to Saudi Arabia.

    Saudi Arabia is also pulling back on its government spending, with deflated oil prices forcing it to downsize many of its gigaprojects, Callen added.

    “The pot of money available to push out all these projects and investments has shrunk, relative to 2022 and 2023,” he said.

    “My take on it is that things are going to advance both on the investment and trade side [between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia] because there are mutual economic interests between the two countries,” he said. But in the short term, he added, $1 trillion “is too big a number for the economy of Saudi Arabia.”

    As for F-35s, seeing them on Saudi runways is likely to take years. Congress has to approve F-35 sales, and some opposition could arise if they’re seen to jeopardize Israel’s qualitative military edge.

    Israel, the only nation in the F-35 program allowed to use certain specialized technology, would expect Saudi Arabia to receive “planes of reduced caliber,” Trump said on Tuesday, with the prince on his side.

    “I don’t think that makes you too happy,” he said to the prince.

    “As far as I’m concerned,” Trump added, “I think [Israel and Saudi Arabia] are both at a level where they should get top of the line.”

    But the bigger obstacle may be Saudi Arabia’s links to China, said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory and an aviation analyst.

    Saudi security forces stand at attention beneath a portrait of Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

    Saudi security forces stand at attention beneath a portrait of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, during a military parade as pilgrims arrive for the annual pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca on May 31.

    (AFP via Getty Images)

    In recent years, Saudi Arabia has run military exercises with the Chinese navy and fielded Chinese-made weapons in its armed forces. Ensuring it doesn’t get a look at the aircraft’s capabilities presents “a different set of challenges,” Aboulafia said. Similar concerns scuttled the United Arab Emirates’ attempts to acquire the jet, he added.

    Another issue is that a backlog in aircraft delivery means another recipient would need to give up their production slots in Saudi Arabia’s favor.

    Also key to Bin Salman’s return to the U.S.’ full embrace was his treatment by Trump at the White House.

    When a reporter asked the prince about the Khashoggi killing, it was Trump who put up a vociferous defense, and called Khashoggi “extremely controversial.”

    “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it,” Trump said, pointing to the crown prince.

    President Trump, right, and Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince, shake hands.

    President Trump, right, and Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, shake hands during their meeting in the Oval Office.

    (Nathan Howard / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    Trump also took a swing at Biden’s fist bump, engaging in an awkward hand-grabbing game with Bin Salman.

    “I grabbed that hand,” Trump said. “I don’t give a hell where that hand’s been.”

    Nabih Bulos

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  • Trump ally in talks for biggest-ever US military drone deal

    Saudi Arabia is in talks with General Atomics on a potentially record-setting package of up to 130 MQ‑9Bs and 200 collaborative combat aircraft (CCA).

    “The deal is still in [the] works and there’s been a lot of effort since last time we talked,” David Alexander, the president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, told the outlet Breaking Defense this week on the sidelines of the Dubai Airshow.

    On Tuesday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Washington, D.C., securing multibillion-dollar deals with President Donald Trump, who rolled out the red carpet and dismissed criticism of the kingdom’s human rights record.

    Newsweek has contacted the Saudi Foreign Ministry for comment.

    Why It Matters

    The scale of the deal underscores growing U.S.-Gulf defense ties. In May, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia signed a $142 billion defense sales deal that the White House called the largest in history.

    The Saudi ruler secured a non-NATO ally designation from Trump, a security agreement between their countries, and the U.S. president plans to approve sales of F-35 jets to the kingdom. Trump called Salman a “great ally,” downplayed Israeli concerns over its qualitative military edge and defended the crown prince over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence linked to Salman.

    What To Know

    Drones have been defining modern air warfare, and CCAs—semi-autonomous, unmanned combat aircraft designed to operate alongside manned fighters, also known as “loyal wingmen”—represent a low-cost advantage in air combat capacity.

    The MQ‑9B is a next-generation, remotely piloted aircraft designed to fly safely in civilian airspace, controlled through satellite links. Its SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian variants descend from the RQ‑1 Predator and MQ‑9 Reaper. It features eight wing hardpoints and one centerline hardpoint, which can accommodate weapons, intelligence-gathering equipment or specialized sensors.

    The May agreement, signed following Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, covers air force and space capabilities, missile defense, naval and coastal security, border and ground force modernization, and upgrades to information and communication systems. According to Dubai-based The National, the deal was expected to include MQ‑9B drones, though the White House did not confirm their inclusion.

    Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest arms importers and has been investing heavily in expanding its domestic defense capabilities. China is emerging as a global competitor in niche sectors of the Middle Eastern arms market.

    In March, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of eight MQ‑9B drones to Qatar for almost $2 billion, marking the first time this type of military equipment was sold to the region. Alexander said there could be talks with the United Arab Emirates over acquiring MQ‑9B drones, which it has long expressed interest in.

    What People Are Saying

    David Alexander, the president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, told Breaking Defense on Monday: “The deal is still in [the] works and there’s been a lot of effort since last time we talked, and it includes MQ-9 Bravo short takeoff and landing, and it includes a collaborative combat Gambit series.”

    Ali Awadh Asseri, a former Saudi ambassador to Pakistan and Lebanon, wrote in Arab News on Wednesday: “The U.S. has now approved the first transfer of F-35 stealth fighters to an Arab country, along with advanced missile defense systems and nearly 300 modern tanks. These capabilities dramatically enhance the Kingdom’s capacity to neutralize missile and drone threats, safeguard its airspace and protect its territory—long-standing Saudi priorities now finally addressed.”

    What Happens Next

    Alexander said that if the final deal includes CCAs, the program could also feature local manufacturing in Saudi Arabia.

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  • As Elon Musk plans a robot army, China’s humanoid bots are already on the market

    As Elon Musk touted plans to eventually manufacture an army of Tesla bots in Silicon Valley this month, humanoid robots were already being produced and sold to consumers in China.

    Chinese and U.S. companies have begun a battle to build the world’s best bots. While it’s early days, experts say China is leading in the quantity of robots delivered to consumers, while America is ahead in the quality of robots demonstrated.

    Musk danced with Tesla’s Optimus bots at his company’s shareholder meeting and outlined plans for a factory in Fremont that he said will someday have the capacity to build a million bots a year, which would sell for around $20,000 in today’s dollars. One of China’s leading robotics companies, Unitree Robotics, already has a humanoid robot on the market that can walk, dance and perform basic tasks. Its least expensive version costs around $6,000.

    Tesla robot Optimus serves popcorn to guests at the Tesla Diner on the restaurant’s opening day on July 21.

    (Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

    While the inexpensive Unitree bot is far less sophisticated than Optimus, its early entrance into the real-world market at an affordable price demonstrates China’s edge. The country has the parts, the production facilities and the pool of labor required to bring the rapidly evolving robots to market quickly and cheaply, said P.K. Tseng, an analyst at the tech consulting firm TrendForce.

    “The U.S. leads in technological innovation, while China excels in speed of implementation,” he said. “The real turning point will arrive when humanoid robots move beyond R&D prototypes to large-scale deployment.”

    The International Federation of Robotics, IFR, estimates that there are at least 80 humanoid robot companies in China, five times that of the U.S. A Morgan Stanley report on humanoid robots earlier this year estimated that Chinese companies had more than twice the number of robots unveiled than U.S. companies since 2022, while Chinese organizations have applied for more than three times the number of patents using the word “humanoid” in the last five years.

    At the forefront is Unitree, which went viral in January after its humanoid robots performed a Chinese folk dance live, marching rhythmically while tossing and twirling handkerchiefs. That model, which costs about $90,000, won the opening race at the inaugural Beijing Humanoid Robot Games in August, taking 6½ minutes to run about one mile.

    Students interact with a humanoid robot in China.

    Students from the Primary School Affiliated to Hefei Normal School interact with the humanoid robot “Xiao An” after a science class on Oct. 27 in Hefei, Anhui province, in China.

    (China News Service via Getty Images)

    The company has become a Chinese tech darling and is preparing for an initial public offering with a reported valuation as high as $7 billion.

    The ultimate goal of a general-purpose robot, one that can package goods, do household chores and assist in surgical procedures, is still years away. Humanoid robots are not yet fully autonomous and are mostly purchased by hobbyists, research institutions or manufacturers. Hyundai Motor Group is deploying robots made by Boston Dynamics in its car factories. In China, humanoid robots are also bought and rented as entertainment, to dance and perform at events.

    According to TrendForce, the latest generation of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot greatly surpasses the products of China’s top manufacturers, including Unitree, in body and hand versatility, load capacity and battery life. Another advantage U.S. robotics companies have is advanced artificial intelligence capabilities, which will be crucial in developing robots that can learn to carry out basic human tasks on their own.

    Musk says Tesla’s edge is that it has the engineering capability to build limbs, AI to run the brains, and the manufacturing know-how to mass-produce the bots. He projects that the movements of the next generation of Optimus will be indistinguishable from those of humans.

    “It will seem as though there’s someone like a person in a robot outfit,” he told shareholders this month. “Really, it’s going to be something special.”

    His prediction recently came true — in China. EV maker XPeng demonstrated its latest bot this month and its casual gait was so human-like that the company had to convince some skeptics it was a robot by bringing heavy scissors on stage to cut away its synthetic skin and reveal its mechanical insides.

    By prioritizing commercialization, Chinese manufacturers are leaning on government support and manufacturing prowess for an upper hand in the latest frontier of a tech rivalry with the U.S., similar to how it came to dominate other industries like solar panels and electric cars.

    “They’re not first mover in anything. But they’re building a lot of robots, selling them really, really cheap, and just trying to get them out in the world,” said Erik Walenza-Slabe, a managing partner of Asia Growth Partners, a Shanghai-based consultancy that helps businesses expand in Asia. “That might be a better strategy in the long term.”

    Morgan Stanley estimates that the humanoid robot market will be worth $5 trillion by 2050, at which point China would probably have nearly four times as many humanoid robots in use as the U.S. Even as U.S. robot makers like Tesla expand production, their efforts could be hampered by a reliance on components that need to be sourced from China, such as screws, motors and batteries, the bank’s analysts said.

    A robot rehearses the 100-meter race before the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing in August.

    A robot rehearses the 100-meter race before the opening ceremony of the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing in August.

    (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press)

    While China’s mass deployment may help its companies beat the U.S. to real-world training, public mishaps have highlighted the limitations of Chinese technology and the potential risks to human safety.

    During the first robot half marathon in Beijing this year, many mechanical competitors fell down and overheated and only six out of 21 completed the course. Last December, a Unitree bot fell over and started convulsing at a demonstration, drawing online mockery.

    Meanwhile, the trade war between China and the U.S. could impede the development of better bots by both sides.

    Both countries have sought to build and leverage their strengths in high-tech fields. The U.S. has restricted exports of semiconductors to China, in an effort to stymie its rival’s technological development. Meanwhile, China has a near monopoly on rare earth metals, a critical component in batteries and computer chips, and has stepped up export controls to squeeze the U.S. and other nations.

    To achieve self-sufficiency, China has made advanced robotics a key tenet of its national strategy for technological and economic development. Earlier this year, China announced a state-backed venture fund to raise and invest $138 billion in robotics and artificial intelligence.

    “What China has wanted to do ever since they entered the robotics game is to circumvent the dominance of traditional technology by foreign vendors,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst for AI and robotics in Asia at Omdia, a research firm. “The only reason why China can do that is because they have policy support.”

    The lack of similar government policies in the U.S. could hamper efforts to compete with China, said Susanne Bieller, general secretary of the IFR, particularly as deployment and data become central to training robots with artificial intelligence.

    “In China, the government is encouraging companies to test out the new technology and that’s a critical advantage. That’s something American startups investing in humanoids will have to work much harder for,” she said.

    Stephanie Yang

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  • After Gen Z march in Mexico, government and critics spar as Trump cites ‘big problems’ south of border

    MEXICO CITY — A weekend protest march convened to highlight the concerns of Mexico’s Generation Z has instead dramatized deep political divisions extending well beyond the needs of young Mexicans.

    The mostly peaceful demonstration in downtown Mexico City on Saturday culminated in several hours of clashes when small groups of protesters battled with phalanxes of riot police deployed to protect the National Palace in Mexico City’s central square, or zócalo.

    In the aftermath of the protests, Mexico’s leftist President Claudia Sheinbaum accused right-wing opponents of hijacking the demonstration to provoke unrest and smear her government.

    “A march that was supposedly called against violence utilized violence,” Sheinbaum told reporters Monday.

    But opposition leaders and other critics said the march reflected deep concern about alleged cartel infiltration in the government and charged that police brutalized young protesters.

    Among those who noticed the chaotic scenes from Mexico was President Trump, who, in Oval Office comments to the press on Monday, again raised the provocative specter of U.S. strikes on cartel targets in Mexico. The country is a major production site for fentanyl, amphetamines and other synthetic drugs bound for the U.S. market, and a transport corridor for South American cocaine.

    “I looked at Mexico City over the weekend. There’s some big problems there,” Trump said. “Let me just put it this way: I am not happy with Mexico.”

    Asked if he would contemplate U.S. attacks on cartel targets in Mexico, Trump responded: “Would I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? It’s OK with me. Whatever we have to do to stop drugs.”

    Trump has charged that Mexico is “run by the cartels,” though he has praised Sheinbaum as a “very brave woman.”

    Sheinbaum has denied that cartels control Mexico. She has maintained a cooperative attitude with Trump on two contentious binational issues — drug trafficking and tariffs — but has said Mexico would not yield its sovereignty and agree to U.S. strikes.

    Saturday’s march — one of many similar protests across Mexico on that day — was originally called in support of Generation Z, after related demonstrations in Nepal and Morocco. Young people worldwide have decried a lack of economic and educational opportunities.

    But the rally in Mexico City became mostly a march against what many participants labeled the leftist “narco-government” of Sheinbaum and her ruling Morena party

    Many protesters hoisted banners declaring: “I am Carlos Manzo,” after the mayor of the western city of Uruapan, who was assassinated this monthin a shooting that authorities have blamed on organized crime.

    Manzo had accused Sheinbaum’s government of coddling criminals. Supporters of his so-called “White Hat” movement — after the popular mayor’s signature sombrero — took to the streets of Uruapan and other cities in Michoacán state this month by the tens of thousands to demand a crackdown on organized crime. Backers of the growing movement were also major participants in Saturday’s march in Mexico City.

    In the aftermath of the march, Sheinbaum’s opponents accused her government of repressing dissent.

    “They brutalized young people who only want a better Mexico,” Alejandro Moreno, president of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, charged on X. “They beat them because they are scared. They know that the power of an organized people is stronger than a cowardly narco-regime.”

    Mexican authorities denied allegations of brutality and said that at least 60 police officers were injured.

    A small minority of protesters, many wearing ski masks, tossed stones, bottles, fireworks and other improvised weapons at police. Police used both physical force and volleys of tear gas to push them back. Each side blamed the other for igniting the melees.

    “They wanted to generate this idea: ‘Chaos in Mexico!’ “ charged Sheinbaum, noting how the images of the clashes received widespread domestic and international attention in the press and social media.

    The president called for an investigation of the violence, which, she said, was funded by her opponents. She vowed that authorities would also investigate any allegations of police brutality. The great majority of protesters, she said, were nonviolent.

    Authorities said 17,000 marchers took place in Saturday’s demonstration. The opposition said the number was much higher.

    Opponents of Sheinbaum’s government have vowed additional protests. But many experts doubt that a deeply fractured opposition could do much to loosen Morena’s stranglehold on power.

    Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor, ex-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, faced much larger street demonstrations during his time in office, along with allegations of ties of drug traffickers. But neither seemed to dent his widespread popularity.

    Polls have shown Sheinbaum, who just completed the first year of a six-year term, with 70%-plus approval ratings. Her Morena party, with strong backing from poor and working-class Mexicans who have benefited from minimum-wage increases and social welfare programs, retains firm control of congress, the courts and most statehouses across Mexico.

    Security remains the major concern of most Mexicans, polls show, even as the president has touted decreases in homicides and other violent crimes. Sheinbaum has launched a crackdown on organized crime that has seen thousands of suspects arrested — including dozens expelled to face justice in U.S. courts.

    Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City contributed to this report.

    Patrick J. McDonnell, Kate Linthicum

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  • Winning ticket for $980 million jackpot sold in Georgia, Mega Millions says

    A Mega Millions player in Georgia won the $980 million jackpot on Friday, overcoming abysmal odds to win the huge prize.The single winning ticket was purchased at a Publix supermarket in Newnan, which is roughly 40 miles from Atlanta, a news release from the lottery says. “We are thrilled to congratulate the largest winner in our state’s history,” Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin said in the news release.Georgia state law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous if they win a prize of $250,000 or more and provides a written statement asking for confidentiality. The win also earned the store a $50,000 retailer bonus from the Georgia Lottery. The numbers selected were 1, 8, 11, 12 and 57 with the gold Mega Ball 7.The winner overcame Mega Millions’ astronomical odds of 1 in 290.5 million by matching all six numbers. The next drawing will be on Tuesday.A winner can choose an annuity or the cash option — a one-time, lump-sum payment of $452.2 million before taxes. If there are multiple jackpot winners, the prize is shared. There were four Mega Millions jackpot wins earlier this year, but Friday’s drawing was the 40th since the last win on June 27, a game record, officials said.In September, two Powerball players in Missouri and Texas won a nearly $1.8 billion jackpot, one of the largest in the U.S. The current Mega Millions jackpot isn’t among the top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots but would be the eighth-largest for Mega Millions since the game began in 2002. Mega Millions offers lesser prizes in addition to the jackpot. The odds of winning any of these is 1 in 23. There were more than 800,000 winners of non-jackpot prizes from the Nov. 11 drawing. Tickets are $5 each and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Half the proceeds from each Mega Millions ticket remains in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold. Local lottery agencies run the game in each jurisdiction and how profits are spent is dictated by law. Sometimes gambling can become addictive. The National Council on Problem Gambling defines problem gambling as “gambling behavior that is damaging to a person or their family, often disrupting their daily life and career.” It is sometimes called gambling addiction or gambling disorder, a recognized mental health diagnosis. The group says anyone who gambles can be at risk. Its National Problem Gambling Helpline, 1-800-522-4700, connects anyone seeking assistance with a gambling problem to local resources.

    A Mega Millions player in Georgia won the $980 million jackpot on Friday, overcoming abysmal odds to win the huge prize.

    The single winning ticket was purchased at a Publix supermarket in Newnan, which is roughly 40 miles from Atlanta, a news release from the lottery says.

    “We are thrilled to congratulate the largest winner in our state’s history,” Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin said in the news release.

    Georgia state law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous if they win a prize of $250,000 or more and provides a written statement asking for confidentiality.

    The win also earned the store a $50,000 retailer bonus from the Georgia Lottery.

    The numbers selected were 1, 8, 11, 12 and 57 with the gold Mega Ball 7.

    The winner overcame Mega Millions’ astronomical odds of 1 in 290.5 million by matching all six numbers. The next drawing will be on Tuesday.

    A winner can choose an annuity or the cash option — a one-time, lump-sum payment of $452.2 million before taxes. If there are multiple jackpot winners, the prize is shared.

    There were four Mega Millions jackpot wins earlier this year, but Friday’s drawing was the 40th since the last win on June 27, a game record, officials said.

    In September, two Powerball players in Missouri and Texas won a nearly $1.8 billion jackpot, one of the largest in the U.S. The current Mega Millions jackpot isn’t among the top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots but would be the eighth-largest for Mega Millions since the game began in 2002.

    Mega Millions offers lesser prizes in addition to the jackpot. The odds of winning any of these is 1 in 23.

    There were more than 800,000 winners of non-jackpot prizes from the Nov. 11 drawing.

    Tickets are $5 each and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Half the proceeds from each Mega Millions ticket remains in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold. Local lottery agencies run the game in each jurisdiction and how profits are spent is dictated by law.

    Sometimes gambling can become addictive.

    The National Council on Problem Gambling defines problem gambling as “gambling behavior that is damaging to a person or their family, often disrupting their daily life and career.”

    It is sometimes called gambling addiction or gambling disorder, a recognized mental health diagnosis. The group says anyone who gambles can be at risk.

    Its National Problem Gambling Helpline, 1-800-522-4700, connects anyone seeking assistance with a gambling problem to local resources.

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  • New Text to 911 service allows you to reach help without cell reception. Here’s how it works

    Have you ever been in or traveling through an area where there is no or low traditional cell service and thought, “What if I had an emergency and needed to call 911?”Now, because of a well-known cell service provider’s connection to a popular network of satellites, there’s a solution when you have an emergency and are off the grid and out of reach of a terrestrial cell tower’s signal.Related video above: A different new piece of technology helps guide rescuers to woman stuck in swampThe service is called Text to 911, and its availability is all thanks to T-Mobile’s new T-Satellite with Starlink, a service that, according to a recent release from the mobile carrier, was rolled out in July and connects compatible phones to an array of Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth.But if you’re not a T-Mobile customer, don’t fret. You don’t need to be a subscriber of the provider to use Text to 911. The service is available to anyone in the U.S. who has a compatible, satellite-capable iPhone or Android phone, and is designed to work anywhere in the 500,000 square miles of the U.S. not reached by traditional cell towers.That means even customers of providers like AT&T and Verizon can sign up for Text to 911.How to sign up for and use Text to 911While the service is free to use, non-T-Mobile customers are required to sign up in advance to use Text to 911. That can be done on the company’s website. The company said T-Mobile customers can add the service under “Manage Data & Add-Ons’” in their account or in T-Life. You don’t need to take any special action to use Text to 911. The mobile provider says that all you need is a view of the sky, and that using the service is just like sending a normal text message. All you need to do is enter a message on your phone’s native messaging app and enter 911 in the number field. From there, all you’ll need to do is hit “send.”While some areas around the U.S. already have the ability to text 911, this new service allows users to do so even when they can’t get reception from a traditional cell tower. If that’s the case, Text to 911 finds you a signal from a satellite up in space.The company said it “was a no-brainer” to make Text to 911 available and free for any person who enrolls and has a compatible phone.“There’s a good chance you’ve had that moment in your life at some point. Badly rolled ankle deep into a backcountry hike. Stuck in a tree well while skiing. Flat tire on a backcountry road. Or a million other situations that require access to emergency services in a place without cell service. It’s an absolutely terrifying feeling that we don’t want anyone to have ever again,” Mike Katz, president of marketing, strategy and products for T-Mobile, said in announcing the availability of Text to 911 on Nov. 5.

    Have you ever been in or traveling through an area where there is no or low traditional cell service and thought, “What if I had an emergency and needed to call 911?”

    Now, because of a well-known cell service provider’s connection to a popular network of satellites, there’s a solution when you have an emergency and are off the grid and out of reach of a terrestrial cell tower’s signal.

    Related video above: A different new piece of technology helps guide rescuers to woman stuck in swamp

    The service is called Text to 911, and its availability is all thanks to T-Mobile’s new T-Satellite with Starlink, a service that, according to a recent release from the mobile carrier, was rolled out in July and connects compatible phones to an array of Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth.

    But if you’re not a T-Mobile customer, don’t fret. You don’t need to be a subscriber of the provider to use Text to 911.

    The service is available to anyone in the U.S. who has a compatible, satellite-capable iPhone or Android phone, and is designed to work anywhere in the 500,000 square miles of the U.S. not reached by traditional cell towers.

    That means even customers of providers like AT&T and Verizon can sign up for Text to 911.

    How to sign up for and use Text to 911

    While the service is free to use, non-T-Mobile customers are required to sign up in advance to use Text to 911. That can be done on the company’s website. The company said T-Mobile customers can add the service under “Manage Data & Add-Ons’” in their account or in T-Life.

    You don’t need to take any special action to use Text to 911. The mobile provider says that all you need is a view of the sky, and that using the service is just like sending a normal text message. All you need to do is enter a message on your phone’s native messaging app and enter 911 in the number field. From there, all you’ll need to do is hit “send.”

    While some areas around the U.S. already have the ability to text 911, this new service allows users to do so even when they can’t get reception from a traditional cell tower. If that’s the case, Text to 911 finds you a signal from a satellite up in space.

    The company said it “was a no-brainer” to make Text to 911 available and free for any person who enrolls and has a compatible phone.

    “There’s a good chance you’ve had that moment in your life at some point. Badly rolled ankle deep into a backcountry hike. Stuck in a tree well while skiing. Flat tire on a backcountry road. Or a million other situations that require access to emergency services in a place without cell service. It’s an absolutely terrifying feeling that we don’t want anyone to have ever again,” Mike Katz, president of marketing, strategy and products for T-Mobile, said in announcing the availability of Text to 911 on Nov. 5.

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  • Hollywood piano teacher who fled country before sex abuse verdict arrested in Australia

    A piano teacher to the stars who fled the country last month just before a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing a student was arrested in Australia, authorities said.

    John Kaleel, 69, was taken into custody by Australian Federal Police on Oct. 31, according to Nicole Nishida, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the agency investigating him in the United States.

    It was not clear where Kaleel was arrested, and Australian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Kaleel, an Australian national, was facing a retrial on multiple counts of sexually abusing a student last month when he fled the country on Oct. 8, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

    Kaleel disappeared while jurors were deliberating at the Airport Courthouse. His attorney, Kate Hardie, said she last saw Kaleel after driving him home from court on Oct. 7. She declined to comment on his arrest.

    It is expected that Kaleel will be returned to the U.S., where he faces a lengthy prison sentence after he was convicted of multiple counts of committing lewd acts with a child.

    Kaleel taught private piano lessons in the U.S. for more than 25 years, and his clients included the children of the creators of beloved television series such as “Mad Men” and “Orange Is the New Black.” But he became the subject of a Sheriff’s Department investigation in 2015 when a student told detectives Kaleel had been acting inappropriately toward him for years.

    The boy said he was 12 when Kaleel asked “to take measurements of [the victim’s] body parts, including his penis,” according to court records. Kaleel later convinced the boy that they should masturbate together while on a FaceTime call because that’s “what friends do,” records show.

    When the victim was 15, prosecutors allege, Kaleel invited him over in September 2013 and they smoked marijuana together before having oral sex.

    Kaleel initially pleaded no contest to one count of committing lewd acts with a child in 2016, but later appealed the deal on the grounds that he didn’t know how it would affect his immigration status. Kaleel has been a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. since the 1980s, according to Hardie, but found himself in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the plea.

    Kaleel successfully appealed a deportation order and convinced an L.A. County judge to throw out the plea deal, but the L.A. County district attorney’s office decided to retry him.

    “Mr. Kaleel has always maintained his innocence and that he took his initial plea bargain on the advice of counsel to avoid a harsher sentence should he lose at trial,” Hardie previously told The Times.

    The district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment and has not discussed what, if any, efforts it has taken to return Kaleel to the U.S. since his arrest.

    Court records show prosecutors filed an application for an extradition warrant last month.

    James Queally

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  • McDonald’s is rapidly losing a vital group of customers

    McDonald’s remains in a rough patch as it struggles to shake a concerning pattern of customer behavior at its restaurants.

    In McDonald’s third-quarter earnings report for 2025, it revealed that its U.S. comparable sales increased 2.4% year over year, which was “primarily driven by positive check growth.”

    However, according to recent data from Placer.ai, customer visits to McDonald’s same-store locations dropped by 4% during the quarter, compared to the same time period last year.

    The decrease in consumer demand follows the launch of McDonald’s “McValue” menu in January, which includes its $5 Meal Deal and “Buy One, Add One for $1” offer, aimed at attracting price-conscious consumers.

    The fast-food chain also extended its restaurant location hours nationwide in May. Many McDonald’s restaurants are now open 24/7, while others will remain open past midnight.

    In September, McDonald’s also relaunched Extra Value Meals, which include a $5 Sausage McMuffin and an $8 Big Mac Meal. The following month, it reintroduced its Monopoly game in the U.S. after almost a decade, which went viral on social media.

    McDonald’s recently suffered a dip in foot traffic at its U.S. restaurants.Bloomberg/Getty Images

    During an earnings call on Nov. 5, McDonald’s CEO Christopher Kempczinski said low-income consumers are continuing to avoid restaurants despite recent meal deals, a trend the company expects to persist into next year.

    “In the U.S., we continue to see a bifurcated consumer base, with QSR traffic from lower-income consumers declining nearly double digits in the third quarter, a trend that’s persisted for nearly two years,” said Kempczinski. “In contrast, traffic growth among higher-income consumers remained strong, increasing nearly double digits in the quarter. We continue to remain cautious about the health of the consumer in the U.S. and our top international markets and believe the pressures will continue well into 2026.”

    It is no surprise that McDonald’s is seeing fewer low-income consumers enter its stores, given that fast-food prices have skyrocketed over the past decade. Between 2014 and 2024, the average prices of fast-food items increased by 39% to 100%, outpacing the 31% inflation rate during that time period, according to a recent study by FinanceBuzz.

    The study also found that McDonald’s menu prices for popular items have increased by 100% since 2014.

    As prices go up, more consumers have opted to cook their meals at home, according to a recent survey from KPMG.

    • KPMG found that 69% of U.S. consumers are eating at home more often rather than eating out.

    • Also, 85% said that saving money was the primary reason for eating at home.

    • Specifically, 34% of Americans are opting to dine less often at fast-food restaurants.

    • Breakfast is the top meal that consumers cook at home (75%).
      Source: KPMG

    “Consumers aren’t just belt-tightening — they’re rethinking value altogether,” said Duleep Rodrigo, KPMG’s consumer and retail sector leader, in a press release. “It’s not only about cutting back; it’s about being intentional with every dollar spent. In this environment, trust, transparency, and tangible impact matter more than ever.”

    During the call, Kempczinski said that McDonald’s breakfast items continue “to be under pressure.”

    Related: BJ’s Wholesale announces free offer for customers amid struggles

    “Breakfast tends to be one of the most economically sensitive daypart,” said Kempczinski. “It’s an easy daypart to either skip the meal or to eat the meal at home.”

    Despite challenged breakfast sales, McDonald’s saw increased consumer momentum surrounding its chicken category during the third quarter, thanks to the re-release of its Snack Wraps, which launched in July, priced at $2.99.

    “​​Snack Wraps were the most popular new chicken product launch in the U.S. in recent history, with nearly 1 in 5 McDonald’s customers purchasing a Snack Wrap during that period,” said McDonald’s Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden during the call. “Although easing somewhat after the exceptional initial launch period, Snack Wraps continued to deliver strong unit performance throughout the quarter, helping us gain share in the U.S. chicken category and drive high levels of customer satisfaction.”

    More Food + Dining:

    The return of McDonald’s Monopoly game, which ran from Oct. 6 to Nov. 2, also contributed to increased consumer engagement on its app. The game allowed customers to receive game pieces with purchases of eligible menu items, which could be scanned through the app for a chance to win prizes such as free food, cash, or vacations.

    “Monopoly is one of the biggest digital customer acquisition events we’ve ever had, driving downloads and registrations and reinforcing the role of digital in our broader strategy,” said Borden. “With about 45 million 90-day active users in the U.S., we’re excited about how Monopoly is helping more customers discover our strong value offerings available through our app.”

    Borden warned that McDonald’s will face challenges next year, especially since beef prices are expected to skyrocket due to inflation.

    “It’s still a difficult environment and inflation proving to be sticky,” said Borden. “I mean, we’re expecting to see there’s going to be above average inflation next year. You’ve heard about others referencing what’s going on with beef prices. Certainly, we’re seeing very, very high inflation around beef prices versus what we’re used to historically. And so I think all of that just, you know, keeps putting pressure on the industry.”

    According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, beef prices have increased by 51% since February 2020 due to high demand.

    • Since August 2024, beef priceshave increased by roughly 13% for American consumers.

    • The price of beef roasts has increased by 18.4% since September 2024.

    • Steak prices rose by about 16% year over year due to low cattle inventory and strong demand.

    • American beef production is expected to decline 4% this year and another 2% in 2026.
      Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, NerdWallet

    To attract and retain customers amid current headwinds, McDonald’s plans to further expand its Extra Value Meals (EVMs), which account for approximately 30% of its total transactions in the U.S.

    Before the re-launch of EVMs, the average discount level at McDonald’s U.S. locations was about 11%. With EVMs, McDonald’s is targeting a minimum discount level of 15%.

    The fast-food chain hopes that EVMs will help it attract more lower-income consumers and improve value and affordability in its stores.

    “I’m pleased with how our EVM program is performing since re-launch,” said Kempczinski. “We’re still in the early stages of the program and expect that the associated comp sales lift and traffic improvements will continue to build as awareness of the program increases over the coming quarters.”

    In a statement to TheStreet, retail analyst Bruce Winder said that while using EVMs to boost sales isn’t a new tactic for McDonald’s, it is crucial for the fast-food chain to “design the value offerings correctly.”

    “McDonald’s has used extra value meals in the past (i.e., following the 2008 financial crisis) to drive business with lower-income customers who have cut back due to economic headwinds,” said Winder. “It is a very popular tactic used by other QSR companies. The company needs to be careful to ensure there is a difference between its core offerings and its value offerings from a size perspective or [it risks] cannibalization from a sales perspective.”

    Related: Home Depot raises alarm bells with unexpected closure, layoffs

    This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Nov 8, 2025, where it first appeared in the Restaurant section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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  • News Analysis: Trump channels past Latin American aggressions in new crusade: ‘We’re just gonna kill people’

    MEXICO CITY — They’re blowing up boats in the high seas, threatening tariffs from Brazil to Mexico and punishing anyone deemed hostile — while lavishing aid and praise on allies all aboard with the White House program.

    Welcome to the Monroe Doctrine 2.0, the Trump administration’s bellicose, you’re-with-us-or-against-us approach to Latin America.

    Not yet a year into his term, President Trump seems intent on putting his footprint in “America’s backyard” more than any recent predecessor. He came to office threatening to take back the Panama Canal, and now seems poised to launch a military attack on Venezuela and perhaps even drone strikes on cartel targets in Mexico. He vowed to withhold aid from Argentina if this week’s legislative elections didn’t go the way he wanted. They did.

    The Navy’s USS Stockdale docks at the Frigate Captain Noel Antonio Rodriguez Justavino Naval Base, near entrance to the Panama Canal in Panama City, Panama, on Sept. 21.

    (Enea Lebrun/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    “Every president comes in promising a new focus on Latin America, but the Trump administration is actually doing it,” said James Bosworth, whose firm provides regional risk analysis. “There is no country in the region that is not questioning how the U.S. is playing Latin America right now.”

    Fearing a return to an era when U.S. intervention was the norm — from outright invasions to covert CIA operations to economic meddling — many Latin American leaders are trying to craft please-Trump strategies, with mixed success. But Trump’s transactional proclivities, mercurial outbursts and bullying nature make him a volatile negotiating partner.

    “It’s all put Latin America on edge,” said Michael Shifter, past president of Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based research group. “It’s bewildering and dizzying and, I think, disorienting for everyone. People don’t know what’s coming next.”

    In this super-charged update of U.S. gunboat diplomacy, critics say laws are being ignored, norms sidestepped and protocol set aside. The combative approach draws from some old standards: War on Drugs tactics, War on Terrorism rationales and Cold War saber-rattling.

    Facilitating it all is the Trump administration’s formal designation of cartels as terrorist groups, a first. The shift has provided oratorical firepower, along with a questionable legal rationale, for the deadly “narco-terrorist” boat strikes, now numbering 14, in both the Caribbean and Pacific.

    “The Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere,” is how Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary, has labeled cartels, as he posts video game-esque footage of boats and their crews being blown to bits.

    Lost is an essential distinction: Cartels, while homicidal, are driven by profits. Al Qaeda and other terror groups typically proclaim ideological motives.

    Another aberration: Trump doesn’t see the need to seek congressional approval for military action in Venezuela.

    “I don’t think we’re necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war,” Trump said. “I think we’re just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We’re going to kill them. They’re going to be, like, dead.”

    A supporter of Venezuela wearing a t-shirt depicting US President Donald Trump and the slogan "Yankee go home"

    A supporter of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro wearing a T-shirt depicting President Trump and the slogan “Yankee go home” takes part in a rally on Thursday in Caracas against U.S. military activity in the Caribbean.

    (Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)

    Trump’s unpredictability has cowed many in the region. One of the few leaders pushing back is Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who, like Trump, has a habit of incendiary, off-the-cuff comments and social media posts.

    The former leftist guerrilla — who already accused Trump of abetting genocide in Gaza — said Washington’s boat-bombing spree killed at least one Colombian fisherman. Petro called the operation part of a scheme to topple the leftist government in neighboring Venezuela.

    Trump quickly sought to make an example of Petro, labeling him “an illegal drug leader” and threatening to slash aid to Colombia, while his administration imposed sanctions on Petro, his wife, son and a top deputy. Like the recent deployment of thousands of U.S. troops, battleships and fighter jets in the Caribbean, Trump’s response was a calculated display of power — a show of force designed to brow-beat doubters into submission.

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks at a rally

    At a rally in support of Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Bogota on Oct. 24, a demonstrator carries a sign that demands respect for Colombia and declares that, contrary to Trump’s claims, Petro is not a drug trafficker.

    (Juancho Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    Amid the whirlwind turns in U.S.-Latin American relations, the rapid unraveling of U.S.-Colombia relations has been especially startling. For decades Colombia has been the linchpin of Washington’s anti-drug efforts in South America as well as a major trade partner.

    Unlike Colombia and Mexico, Venezuela is a relatively minor player in the U.S.-bound narcotics trade, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. And yet the White House has cast Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, as an all-powerful kingpin “poisoning” American streets with crime and drugs. It put a $50-million bounty on Maduro’s head and massed an armada off the coast of Venezuela, home to the world’s largest petroleum reserves.

    U.S. President Donald Trump talks during a cabinet meeting

    President Trump talks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Oct. 9. Others, from left to right are, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

    (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

    An exuberant cheerleader for the shoot-first-and-ask-no-questions-later posture is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has for years advocated for the ouster of left-wing governments in Havana and Caracas. In a recent swing through the region, Rubio argued for a more muscular interdiction strategy.

    “What will stop them is when you blow them up,” Rubio told reporters in Mexico City. “You get rid of them.”

    That mindset is “chillingly familiar for many people in Latin America,” said David Adler, of the think tank Progressive International. “Again, you’re doing extrajudicial killings in the name of a war on drugs.”

    U.S. intervention in Latin America dates back more than 200 years, when President James Monroe declared that the United States would reign as the hemispheric hegemon.

    In ensuing centuries, the U.S. invaded Mexico and annexed half its territory, dispatched Marines to Nicaragua and Haiti and abetted coups from Chile to Brazil to Guatemala. It enforced a decades-long embargo against communist Cuba — while also launching a botched invasion of the island and trying to assassinate its leader —and imposed economic sanctions on left-wing adversaries in Nicaragua and Venezuela.

    Motivations for these interventions varied from fighting communism to protecting U.S. business interests to waging a war on drugs. The most recent full-on U.S. assault against a Latin American nation — the 1989 invasion of Panama — also was framed as an anti-drug crusade. President George H.W. Bush described the country’s authoritarian leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega, as a “drug-running dictator,” language that is nearly identical to current White House descriptions of Maduro.

    American Army troops arrive in Panama to depose former ally Manuel Noriega in 1989.

    American Army troops arrive in Panama to depose former ally Manuel Noriega in 1989.

    (Jason Bleibtreu/Sygma via Getty Images)

    But a U.S. military invasion of Venezuela presents a challenge of a different magnitude.

    Venezuela is 10 times larger than Panama, and its population of 28 million is also more than tenfold that of Panama’s in 1989. Many predict that a potential U.S. attack would face stiff resistance.

    And if curtailing drug use is really the aim of Trump’s policy, leaders from Venezuela to Colombia to Mexico say, perhaps Trump should focus on curtailing addiction in the U.S., which is the world’s largest consumer of drugs.

    To many, the buildup to a potential intervention in Venezuela mirrors the era preceding the 2003 Iraq war, when the White House touted not drug trafficking but weapons of mass destruction — which turned out to be nonexistent — as a casus belli.

    Arrival Of The Us Troops In Safwan, First Iraqi Village After The Koweiti Border. On March 21, 2003

    Iraqi officers surrender to U.S. troops on a road near Safwan, Iraq, in March, 2003.

    (Gilles Bassignac/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

    “Somehow, the United States of America has found a way to combine two of its greatest foreign policy failures — the Iraq War and the War on Drugs — into a single regime change narrative,” Adler said.

    Further confounding U.S.-Latin American relations is Trump’s personality-driven style: his unabashed affection for certain leaders and disdain for others.

    While Venezuela’s Maduro and Colombia’s Petro sit atop the bad-hombre list, Argentine President Javier Milei and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele — the latter the self-described “world’s coolest dictator” — are the darlings of the moment.

    US President Donald Trump greets Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president

    President Trump greets Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele as he arrives at the White House on April 14.

    (Al Drago/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

    Trump has given billions of dollars in aid to bail out the right-wing Milei, a die-hard Trump loyalist and free-market ideologue. The administration has paid Bukele’s administration millions to house deportees, while maintaining the protected status of more than 170,000 Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S.

    “It’s a carrot-and-stick approach,” said Sergio Berensztein, an Argentina political analyst. “It’s fortunate for Argentina that it gets the carrot. But Venezuela and Colombia get the stick.”

    Trump has given mixed signals on Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The two leftists lead the region’s largest nations.

    Trump has wielded the tariff cudgel against both countries: Mexico ostensibly because of drug trafficking; Brazil because of what Trump calls a “witch hunt” against former president Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing Trump favorite convicted of attempting a coup after he, like Trump, lost a bid for reelection.

    Paradoxically, Trump has expressed affection for both Lula and Sheinbaum, calling Lula on his 80th birthday “a very vigorous guy” (Trump is 79) and hailing Sheinbaum as a “lovely woman,” but adding: “She’s so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight.”

    Sheinbaum, caught in the crosswinds of shifting policy dictates from Washington, has so far been able to fight off Trump’s most drastic tariff threats. Mexico’s reliance on the U.S. market highlights a fundamental truth: Even with China expanding its influence, the U.S. still reigns as the region’s economic and military superpower.

    Sheinbaum has avoided the kind of barbed ripostes that tend to trigger Trump’s rage, even as U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats creep closer to Mexico’s shores. Publicly at least, she seldom shows frustration or exasperation, once musing: “President Trump has his own, very special way of communicating.”

    Special correspondents Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City and Andrés D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires contributed to this report.

    Patrick J. McDonnell, Kate Linthicum

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  • For this undocumented activist, returning to Mexico wasn’t exile. It was liberation

    On an overcast morning in September, Hector Alessandro Negrete left his beloved Los Angeles — the city he was brought to at 3 months old — and headed down Interstate 5 to Mexico, the only country where he held a passport.

    It was a place that, to him, had “always felt like both a wound and a possibility.”

    Negrete, 43, sat in the passenger seat as a friend steered the car south and two more friends in another car followed. He had condensed his life to three full suitcases and his dachshund mix, Lorca.

    They pulled over at the beach in San Clemente. Angel Martinez, his soon-to-be former roommate, is deeply spiritual, and his favorite prayer spot is the ocean, so he prayed that Negrete would be blessed and protected — and Lorca too — as they began a new stage in their lives.

    On the near-empty beach, the friends embraced and wiped away tears. Martinez handed Negrete a small watermelon.

    As instructed, Negrete walked to the edge of the water, said his own prayer and, as a gift of thanks to the cosmos, plopped it into a crashing wave.

    Negrete, holding a drink, embraces his friend Angel Martinez as they visit a drag club in Tijuana after leaving Los Angeles a day earlier.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Negrete doesn’t call it self-deportation.

    “Self-repatriation,” he said. “I refuse to use this administration’s language.”

    President Trump had been in office just over a month when Negrete decided he would return to Mexico. Methodical by nature, he approached the decision like any other — by researching, organizing and planning.

    Negrete secured three forms of Mexican identification: his voter credential, a renewed passport and a card akin to a Social Security ID.

    He registered Lorca as an emotional support animal, paid for a vaccine card and a certificate of good health, and crate-trained her in a TSA-approved carrier.

    He announced his decision to leave in June on his Substack newsletter: “If you’re thinking, ‘Alessandro’s giving up,’ look deeper. I am choosing freedom. For the first time, I feel unshackled from the expectations of waiting.”

    A man stands outside a bank, with colorful umbrellas providing shade near other pedestrians

    Negrete walks the streets of Boyle Heights while shopping for moving supplies after deciding he would leave the U.S. on his own terms.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Negrete had grown tired of wishing for immigration reform. He had built his career advocating for immigrants such as himself, including stints as statewide coordinator for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, and as executive director for the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance.

    He said his work had helped legalize street vending in Los Angeles and he assisted the office of then-California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris in securing the release of a young woman from immigration detention. He was the first openly undocumented and LGBTQ+ person on the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council.

    Under previous administrations, Negrete’s political work had felt like a shield against deportation. Even during Trump’s first term, Negrete had marched at rallies denouncing his immigration policies.

    But that was before the new Immigration and Customs Enforcement patrols that tore into Southern California during Trump’s second term. On June 6, as anti-ICE protesters took to the streets, Negrete rushed to downtown Los Angeles when fellow activists told him street medics were needed.

    “One of my homies said, ‘Hey fool, what are you doing here?’” he recalled. Seeing Los Angeles police officers advancing on the crowd, he realized that no amount of public support could protect him.

    He fled. “Thank God I left.”

    Four people wearing glasses, one holding a white tote bag, embrace in a group hug

    Negrete, in red, with his friends and colleagues at a farewell party and yard sale in August.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    In mid-August, Negrete hosted a yard sale and going away party. The flier was tongue-in-cheek: “Everything must go! Including me!”

    His red T-shirt stated plainly, “I AM UNDOCUMENTED,” and his aviator sunglasses hid the occasional tears. Tattoos dotted his extremities, including an anchor on his right leg with the words “I refuse to sink.”

    “I think it hit me when I started packing my stuff today,” he told a former colleague, Shruti Garg, who had arrived early.

    “But the way you’ve invited everyone to join you is so beautiful,” she replied.

    One table held American pop-culture knickknacks — sippy cups with Ghostface from the movie “Scream,” collectible Mickey Mouse ears, a Detective Batman purse shaped like a comic book, another purse shaped like the locker from the ‘90s cartoon “Daria.”

    • Share via

    Negrete said the items reminded him of his youth and represented the gothic, quirky aspects of his personality.

    “I was born in Mexico, but I don’t know Mexico,” he said. “So I’m leaving the American parts of me that are no longer going to serve me.”

    The back yard slowly filled with loved ones from Negrete’s various social circles. There was his mostly queer softball team — the Peacocks — his running group, his chosen family and his blood family.

    Negrete’s close friend Joel Menjivar looked solemn.

    “I’m scared it’s going to start a movement,” he said. “Undocumented or DACA friends who are talented and integral to the fabric of L.A. might get ideas to leave.”

    Another friend, Mario Mariscal, said he took Negrete’s decision the hardest, though at first he didn’t believe Negrete was serious. More than once he asked, “You really want to give up everything you’ve built here for a new start in Mexico?”

    Eventually, Negrete had to tell Mariscal that his questions weren’t helpful. During a deeper conversation about his decision, Negrete shared that he was tired of living with the constant fear of getting picked up, herded into an unmarked van and taken away.

    “I just kept telling him, ‘That’s not going to happen to you,’” Mariscal said. “But the more this administration keeps doing it, the more it’s in our face, the more we’re seeing every horror story about that, it became clear that, you know what, you do have a point. You do have to do what’s right for you.”

    A man holds a cinched white trash bag as another person sits at a desk in another room

    Negrete continues packing for his move to Mexico as roommate Martinez works at their Boyle Heights home.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Negrete is cognizant of the privilege that makes his departure different from that of many other immigrants. He is white-passing, fluent in Spanish and English, and moved with $10,000 in savings.

    In June, he was hired as executive director of a U.S.-based nonprofit, Old School Hub, that works to combat ageism around the world. The role allowed him to live wherever he wanted.

    He decided to settle in Guadalajara, a growing technology hub, with historic buildings featuring Gothic architecture that he found beautiful. It also helped that Guadalajara has one of the country’s most vibrant LGBTQ+ scenes and is a four-hour drive from Puerto Vallarta, a renowned queer resort destination.

    As Negrete began his new job while still in L.A., he picked a moving date — Sept. 4 — and booked a two-week Airbnb near the baseball stadium.

    That Guadalajara’s team, the Charros de Jalisco, wore Dodger blue felt like a good omen.

    Two people, one holding a small watermelon, embrace on a beach, with palm trees behind them

    On the day he left the United States, Negrete and Martinez hold a prayer at the beach in San Clemente in which Negrete offers thanks to the universe with an offering of a watermelon.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    On the drive toward the border, messages poured into Negrete’s phone.

    “I’m sending you all my love Alessandro,” one read. “Cuídate. [Take care.] Know that even though you’re far away from home, you carry us with you.”

    “Todo te va a salir bien,” read another. Everything will go well for you, it said. “Spread your wings and flyyyyy.”

    Afraid of being stopped and detained at the airport, as has happened to other immigrants attempting to leave the country, Negrete preferred to drive to Tijuana and then fly to Guadalajara.

    Negrete’s driver, his friend Jorge Leonardo, turned into a parking lot at the sign reading “LAST USA EXIT.”

    Negrete put on his black felt tejana hat and called Iris Rodriguez, who was in the companion car. He asked her to cross on foot with him.

    A man in a dark shirt and hat and a woman with brown hair walk toward turnstiles under a sign that reads MEXICO

    Negrete walks his last few steps on American soil as he enters Mexico en route to Guadalajara, his new home.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    “I don’t want to go alone,” he said.

    “We’re still on American soil,” Leonardo said. “You can still change your mind.”

    Negrete ignored him.

    “See y’all on the other side,” he said as he hopped out of the car.

    He and Rodriguez stopped for photos in front of a sign with an arrow pointing “To Mexico.” Around a corner, the border came into full view — a metal turnstile with layers of concertina wire above it.

    The line for Mexicanos was unceremoniously quick. The immigration agent barely glanced at Negrete’s passport before waving him through.

    On the other side, a busker sang “Piano Man” by Billy Joel in perfect English.

    “Welcome to the motherland,” Rodriguez told him. Negrete let out a deep breath.

    A man in dark clothes and a hat near an eatery with banners depicting various dishes

    Negrete tours downtown Guadalajara, where he now lives.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Negrete’s immediate family members, and almost all of his extended family, live in the U.S.

    He was born in Manzanillo, Colima, in 1982. Three months later, the family relocated to Los Angeles, where his parents had two more children.

    At 17, Negrete was one of two students in his graduating class at Roosevelt High School to get into UC Berkeley. That’s when he found out he didn’t have papers.

    His parents had divorced and his father married a U.S. citizen, obtaining a green card when Negrete was at Roosevelt. They began the legalization process for Negrete in 1999, he said, but two years later he came out to his family as gay.

    His father was unsupportive and refused to continue seeking to adjust his immigration status. By the time they mended their relationship, it was too late. Negrete had aged out of the pathway at 21.

    In 2008, Negrete said, he was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol. Four years later, President Obama established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program to protect immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. Negrete failed to qualify because of the DUI.

    He said he got his record expunged in 2016, but — again — it was too late.

    The following year, Trump began unwinding DACA, shutting out new generations of recipients, including Negrete.

    Negrete waited until his last night in the U.S. to tell his mother, who now lives in Colorado, that he was leaving. He had grown tired of friends and other family members begging him to change his mind.

    He had partially hinged his decision on the fact that his mom was in remission from her third bout with cancer and had just obtained legal residency. With life more stable for her, he could finally seek stability for himself.

    “You taught me to dream,” Negrete recalled telling her. “This is me dreaming. I want to see the world.”

    She cried and scolded him, promising to visit and repeating what she had said when he came out to her all those years before: “I wish you told me sooner.”

    At a hotel in Tijuana, Negrete’s emotions finally caught up with him.

    The day after Negrete and his three friends left L.A., three more friends surprised him by arriving in Tijuana for a final Friday night out together. One of them presented a gift he had put together with help from Negrete’s entire social circle — a video with loved ones sharing messages of encouragement.

    In Negrete’s hotel room, as he and his friends watched, the mood grew sentimental.

    “You’re basically the one that formed the family friend tree,” one friend said in her clip. “Friendships do not die out in distance.”

    Negrete sobbed. “Yes! Friendships don’t have borders,” he said.

    “Every single one of you has said this hasn’t hit y’all, like it’s a mini vacation,” he said. “I want to think of it as an extended vacation.”

    “This isn’t goodbye, this is we’ll see each other soon,” he continued.

    Off his soapbox, Negrete then chided his friends for making him cry before heading to a drag show.

    Negrete had a habit of leaving social gatherings abruptly. His friends joked that they would refer to him as “catch me on the 101” because every time he disappeared during a night out, they would open Apple’s Find My app and see him on the freeway heading home.

    “We’re not gonna catch him on the 101 no more,” Martinez said.

    A woman and a man, both carrying luggage, walk up a flight of stairs

    The last few flights of stairs lead Iris Rodriguez and Negrete to his Airbnb apartment in Guadalajara.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    On the flight to Guadalajara, Negrete’s heart raced and he began to hyperventilate. The anxiety attack caught him off guard.

    Negrete had worked hard to show his friends and family that he was happy, because he didn’t want them to think he had doubts — and he had none. But he began to worry about the unknown and to mourn his former dreams of gaining legal status and running for public office.

    “It hit me all at once,” he recounted. “I am three hours away from a whole new life that I don’t know. I left everything and I don’t know what’s next.”

    Many deep breaths by Negrete later, the plane descended through the clouds, revealing vibrant green fields and a cantaloupe-hued sunset.

    A man with a dark beard, in dark clothes, sits on a bed with blue and white linens

    Negrete tests the bed at his temporary home in Guadalajara.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Inside the Airbnb, he was surprised to find a clothesline instead of a dryer. Noticing the blue 5-gallon jug of water in the kitchen, he remarked that he would have to remember tap water wasn’t safe to cook with. But alongside the new was something familiar: The view from his 11–story apartment showed off a sprawling metropolis dotted with trees, some of them palms.

    The next day started off like any Sunday, with a trip to Walmart and drag brunch.

    Negrete marveled at the cost of a large carton of egg whites ($1) and was shocked to see eggs stored at room temperature, liquid laundry detergent in bags and only single-ply toilet paper. He treated himself to a Darth Vader coffee mug and a teapot featuring characters from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

    After brunch, it was time to play tourist. Negrete was accompanied by Rodriguez, who stayed with him for the first two weeks, and a new friend, Alejandro Preciado, whom he had met at Coachella in April and happened to be a Guadajalara local.

    A man, seen from behind, looks toward a majestic cathedral with two spires

    Negrete tours downtown Guadalajara. He was drawn to the city, in part, by its Gothic architecture.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Their first stop was the city’s Spanish Renaissance cathedral, where Negrete said a quick prayer to the Virgin Mary at his mother’s request. Negrete treated his friends to an electric carriage ride around the historic buildings, where he excitedly pointed out the Gothic architecture, then they bought aguas frescas and walked through an open-air market, chatting in an English-heavy Spanglish.

    “I’m trying to look at how people dress,” Negrete said, suddenly self-conscious about his short shorts. “I’m pretty sure I stand out.”

    After dinner, Negrete was booking an Uber back to his Airbnb when a message popped up: “We’ve detected unusual activity.”

    The app didn’t know he had moved.

    Before he arrived in Guadalajara, Negrete had already joined an intramural baseball team and a running club. Practices began days after his arrival.

    A blurry image of a man shown against a sprawling landscape of buildings and trees

    Negrete enjoys a view of the sprawling hills of Guadalajara.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    Within a month, he moved into an apartment, visited Mexico City and reconnected with aunts in Mexico City and Guadalajara he hadn’t seen in decades.

    He reflected on the small joys of greeting neighborhood señoras on morning dog walks, discovering the depths of Mexican cuisine and the peace of mind that came with no longer feeling like a target — though he’ll still freeze at the sight of police lights.

    Still, Negrete remained glued to U.S. politics. In late September, the federal government detailed plans to begin processing initial DACA applications for the first time in four years. Had Negrete stayed in the U.S., he would have finally qualified for a reprieve.

    He isn’t regretful.

    A man in dark clothes and hat, shown from behind, standing with a dog next to him in a room with a TV and couch

    Lorca greets Negrete as he arrives home after touring Guadalajara.

    (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

    His new dreams are wide-ranging. He wants to buy a house in Rosarito, where friends and family from L.A. could visit him. He wants to travel the world, starting with a trip to Spain. And he wants to help U.S. organizations build resources for other immigrants who are considering repatriating.

    The goal isn’t to encourage people to leave, he said, but to show them they have agency.

    “I actually did it,” he said. “I did it, and I’m OK.”

    Now, he said, Mexico feels like an estranged relative that he’s getting to know again.

    Andrea Castillo

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  • How Trump pressures the world into burning more oil and gas

    The world was on the brink of a climate milestone: adopting a global carbon tax for the shipping industry. Countries had spent years crafting the plan, hoping to throttle planet-warming pollution from cargo vessels. They had every reason to think the measure would pass when the International Maritime Organization met in mid-October.

    Enter Donald Trump. After returning to the White House for a second term, the president and his top officials undertook a monthslong campaign to defeat the initiative. The U.S. threatened tariffs, levies and visa restrictions to get its way. A battery of American diplomats and Cabinet secretaries met with various nations to twist arms, according to a senior U.S. State Department official, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly. Nations were also warned of other potential consequences if they backed the tax on shipping emissions, including imposing sanctions on individuals and blocking ships from U.S. ports.

    Under that Trump-led pressure — or intimidation, as some describe it — some countries started to waver. Ultimately, a bloc including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Iran voted to adjourn the meeting for a year, killing any chance of the charge being adopted anytime soon.

    The U.S. “bullied otherwise supportive or neutral countries into turning against” the net-zero plan for shipping, says Faïg Abbasov, a director at the European advocacy group Transport & Environment. With its intense lobbying at the International Maritime Organization, the Trump administration was “waging war against multilateralism, UN diplomacy and climate diplomacy.”

    At first glance, it might look like the U.S. has exited the climate fight. The president is once again pulling the country out of the Paris Agreement, and he may not send an official U.S. delegation to next month’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil. But don’t be confused: America is still in the arena; it’s just fighting for the other side.

    Since his return to Washington, Trump has used trade talks, tariff threats and verbal dressing-downs to encourage countries to jettison their renewable energy commitments (and buy more U.S. oil and liquefied natural gas in the process). Just 10 months into his second term, the campaign is showing surprising success as key figures and countries increasingly buckle under the determined pressure.

    Trump was elected to implement a “common sense energy agenda,” says White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers. He “will not jeopardize our country’s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries.”

    Oil and gas supporters champion the president’s ambition. They say he’s helped reset the global conversation around climate change and given a welcome political opening to banks, corporations and other governments that wanted to back away from some sustainability targets in the face of growing electricity demand. “President Trump is sort of providing the banks, the European Union and others cover for tempering their climate ambitions,” says Tom Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, an advocacy group. “He gives these countries the ability to say, ‘Hey, I’m just trying to go along with the United States here. That’s why I’m buying all this LNG.’”

    But in the eyes of environmental advocates and leaders who depend on multilateralism as a means for global climate action, Trump is unfairly asserting his will on a world that’s running out of time to rein in emissions and avert the worst consequences of global warming. “They’re clearly casting a much wider net to the climate destruction than they did the first time,” says Jake Schmidt, a senior strategic director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “They have more people engaged in it, and they obviously had more time to plan for it.”

    The strong-arming is happening on multiple fronts. Among the biggest is trade, where Trump has already compelled Japan, South Korea and the EU to pledge to spend on American energy and energy infrastructure. Japan, for instance, agreed to invest $550 billion on U.S. projects, and talks are underway to steer some of that funding to a $44 billion Alaska gas pipeline and export site. South Korea has pledged roughly $100 billion in U.S. energy purchases.

    The EU, meanwhile, has vowed to spend some $750 billion buying American energy, including LNG, to secure lower tariffs on its exports to the U.S. Analysts have questioned whether those sales will fully materialize, since they’d require Europe to more than triple its annual energy imports from the U.S. But the public commitment by itself was a stunning move for a bloc that’s led the world in pushing policies to combat climate change — including by setting binding targets for slashing planet-warming pollution, establishing a “green deal” plan to shed fossil fuels and slapping a tariff on carbon-intensive imports.

    Trump administration officials have seized on the U.S.-EU trade deal to urge other changes. For instance, Energy Secretary Chris Wright is pressuring the bloc to relax curbs on the methane footprint of imported gas. The EU is already easing corporate sustainability requirements so fewer companies are compelled to limit their environmental harms, a retrenchment that came after pressure from Germany and other European stakeholders as well as the White House.

    Meanwhile the administration has been goading the International Energy Agency to shuffle its leadership and urged the agency to reinstate forecasts that show a rosier outlook for fossil fuel demand. It has pressed multilateral development banks to prioritize fossil fuels over climate adaptation and clean energy projects when their financing of those green initiatives has become critical given widespread foreign aid cuts.

    And Trump himself has berated countries that aren’t falling in line. In a September speech to the United Nations General Assembly, he chided nations for setting policies around what he called the “hoax” and “con job” of climate change, warning that they can’t be “great again” without “traditional energy sources.” He’s also told UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reject wind turbines and embrace the North Sea’s oil riches.

    It’s a marked acceleration from term-one Trump. During his first four years in the White House, Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda amounted to rally cries of “drill, baby, drill” and slow steps to encourage more domestic oil and gas production. This time around, the president’s approach has global reach — and far fewer limits. And when it comes to international agreements relating to energy and climate, “the U.S. has an interest in divide and rule, and thus breaking the potential for cooperation,” says Abby Innes, an associate professor in political economy at the London School of Economics.

    Whether or not U.S. officials attend COP30 in November, the U.S. president’s influence will loom large. “Countries like Saudi Arabia feel emboldened by Trump to promote fossil fuels,” says Linda Kalcher, founder of the Strategic Perspectives think tank and a veteran of the annual UN climate summits. One European diplomat said the main goal now at COP30 is just to avoid being bullied.

    To be sure, other countries haven’t followed the U.S. exodus from the Paris Agreement, and the deployment of clean energy is still soaring globally. Even tax incentive phaseouts and project cancellations in the U.S. are only slowing, not stopping, the country’s adoption of wind and solar power. And while multinational companies may be dialing down their green rhetoric, analysts say many are still quietly cleaning up their supply chains and operations to keep selling in California, Europe and other places demanding more sustainability.

    And in a perverse twist for a U.S. president who’s decried the world’s reliance on China, other nations are increasingly linking arms with Beijing as they bid for zero-emission energy tech. “When it comes to dealing with China, whether it’s countries or companies, politicians and executives tell me: ‘Better the devil that you know,’” says Ioannis Ioannou, an associate professor at the London Business School whose research focuses on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. “It offers more stability than the Trump administration.”

    Dlouhy and Rathi write for Bloomberg. Bloomberg’s Jack Wittels and John Ainger contributed to this report.

    Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Akshat Rathi

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  • Humanity is on path toward ‘climate chaos,’ scientists warn

    Industries and individuals around the world burned record amounts of oil, gas and coal last year, releasing more greenhouse gases than ever before, a group of leading scientists said in a new report, warning that humanity is hurtling toward “climate chaos.”

    The surge in global use of fossil fuels in 2024 contributed to extreme weather and devastating disasters including heat waves, storms, floods and wildfires.

    “The planet’s vital signs are flashing red,” the scientists wrote in their annual report on the state of the climate. “The window to prevent the worst outcomes is rapidly closing.”

    Some of the most alarming of Earth’s “vital signs,” the researchers said, include record heat in the oceans ravaging coral reefs, rapidly shrinking ice sheets and increasing losses of forests burned in fires around the world. They said the extreme intensity of Hurricane Melissa this week is another sign of how the altered climate is threatening lives and communities on an unprecedented scale.

    “The climate crisis has reached a really dangerous stage,” said William Ripple, the report’s co-lead author and a professor at Oregon State University. “It is vital that we limit future warming as rapidly as possible.”

    There is still time to limit the damage, Ripple said. It means switching to cleanly made electricity, clean transportation, fewer beef and dairy cows and other sources of harmful gases. These transitions are happening in some places, though not nearly fast enough.

    For example, fossil fuel use actually fell in China in the first half of this year, a remarkable change for a country that remains the world’s biggest climate polluter. Renewable energy is being built out at a furious pace there, dwarfing installation in rest of the world. And in California, clean energy provided two-thirds of electricity in 2023.

    Yet total use of fossil fuels rose 1.5% in 2024, the researchers said, citing data from the Energy Institute. Energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide and other planet-heating gases also reached an all-time high — exactly the opposite of what needs to be happening to address climate change.

    The report notes that hotter temperatures are contributing to growing electricity demand.

    “Avoiding every fraction of a degree of warming is critically important,” the scientists wrote. “We are entering a period where only bold, coordinated action can prevent catastrophic outcomes.”

    The report, published Wednesday in the journal BioScience, is the sixth annual assessment that Ripple and his colleagues have compiled since they wrote a 2020 paper declaring a climate emergency — a statement that more than 15,800 scientists have signed in support.

    The scientists said the current pace of warming greatly increases the risks of crossing dangerous climate tipping points, including vicious cycles such as the collapse of ice sheets, thawing of carbon-rich permafrost and widespread dieback of forests.

    Ripple and his colleagues stressed that adopting solutions now to reduce emissions can swiftly bring benefits and that these solutions will be far less expensive than dealing with the consequences of uncontrolled climate change.

    Efforts by President Trump and his administration to boost production of oil, gas and coal seriously threaten to slow the shift toward clean energy, said Michael Mann, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

    He and co-author Peter Hotez argue in the recent book “Science Under Siege” that other nations must take on greater leadership now that the U.S. and other oil-promoting governments are working to block action on climate change.

    Other scientists who helped write the report said the Trump administration is turning a blind eye to threats including sea-level rise, worsening droughts and wildfires, and diminished agricultural output.

    “It’s a scandal that the U.S. is pulling back from any efforts to address environmental challenges,” said Peter Gleick, co-founder and senior fellow of the Pacific Institute, a think tank in Oakland. “The rest of the world should ignore efforts by the U.S. to delay progress on these problems … and I’m hopeful that other countries will continue to step up.”

    The upcoming United Nations climate conference in Brazil in November could be a turning point if countries commit to bold and transformative changes, Ripple said.

    Solutions must involve not only phasing out fossil fuels, the scientists said, but also addressing the fact that people are using up resources faster than nature can replenish them. Researchers, they noted, have estimated that two-thirds of the warming since 1990 is attributable to the wealthiest 10% of the world’s people because of “high-consumption lifestyles, high per capita fossil fuel use, and investments.”

    The scientists called for changes including “reducing overconsumption” among the wealthy, protecting and restoring ecosystems, and shifting away from meat-heavy diets to more plant-based foods.

    “It’s not just about cutting emissions. Dealing with climate change requires more,” Ripple said. “It calls for deep, systemic change in how societies value nature, design economies, consume resources and define progress.”

    Ian James

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  • Mexican president condemns U.S. attack on alleged drug boats off Mexico’s coast

    MEXICO CITY — The Trump administration has widened its war on alleged drug boats, announcing on Tuesday that it had attacked four vessels off what Mexico said was its Pacific coast, a move condemned by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

    The Pentagon said 14 people were killed in several strikes carried out Monday in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. One survivor was rescued by Mexico’s navy, according to the Pentagon and Sheinbaum.

    At her daily news conference Tuesday morning, Sheinbaum denounced the attacks and said she had asked Mexico’s ambassador to the United States to address them with officials in Washington.

    “We do not agree with these attacks, with how they are carried out,” Sheinbaum said. “We want all international treaties to be complied with.”

    The Pentagon did not give exact geographic coordinates of the attacks. In a post on X, Mexico’s navy said that at the behest of the U.S. Coast Guard, it conducted a search-and-rescue operation 400 miles south of the Pacific resort city of Acapulco.

    The latest strikes mark a new theater in the U.S. military campaign against alleged drug traffickers. In recent months, the military has massed thousands of troops, war ships and fighter jets in the Caribbean ocean to combat drug traffickers, which White House officials have branded “narco terrorists.”

    At least 57 people have been killed in a series of U.S. strikes on supposed traffickers in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Many experts say the strikes violate U.S. and international law.

    The strikes have provoked outcry throughout Latin America. After Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized the U.S. for “murdering” Colombian civilians in strikes off the coast of his country, the U.S. Treasury Department responded by sanctioning him and several members of his family.

    U.S. officials have been warning for months that they may carry out strikes on drug trafficking targets in Mexico. Sheinbaum has repeatedly said that she opposes unilateral U.S. military action in her nation and that Mexico would treat such a strike as an act of war.

    But with her government currently locked in negotiations with the White House over President Trump’s aim to increase tariffs on Mexican imports, Sheinbaum has had to tread carefully. On Monday, she said that she spoke with Trump over the weekend and that the U.S. had agreed to give Mexico more time to make trade policy changes to avoid an increase in tariffs that had been set to go into effect this week.

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted footage of Monday’s strikes to social media in which two boats can be seen moving at speed through the water. One is visibly laden with a large amount of parcels or bundles. Both then suddenly explode and are seen aflame.

    The third strike appears to have been conducted on a pair of boats that were stationary in the water alongside each other. They appear to be largely empty with at least two people seen moving before an explosion engulfs both boats.

    Hegseth said “the four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics.”

    Kate Linthicum

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  • International student arrivals take a dive under Trump

    The number of international student arrivals in the U.S. dropped by nearly a fifth at the onset of this academic year, according to federal data, the latest sign of a hit to colleges’ foreign student enrollment as the Trump administration has ratcheted up scrutiny of their visas.

    International visitors arriving in the U.S. on student visas declined 19% in August compared with the same month in 2024, according to the preliminary data released by the National Travel and Tourism Office. The numbers also declined in June and July, but August is the summer month that typically sees the most international student arrivals — 313,138 this year.

    As the federal government has clamped down on student visitors, industry groups have warned of international enrollment declines that threaten school budgets and American colleges’ standing in the world. Although the extent of the change remains to be seen, the new data suggest a turnaround in international enrollment that had been rebounding in the U.S. from a decline worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    About 1.1 million international students were in the United States last year — a source of key revenue for tuition-driven colleges. International students are not eligible for federal financial aid, and many pay full tuition.

    The picture in California

    Many California campuses, including the University of California system, have not yet released data on fall enrollment but prepared for potential hurdles in attracting internationals.

    For fall 2025 admissions — not enrollment — UC said its nine undergraduate campuses had offered seats to 3,263 more first-year international students, an increase of 17% over last year, according to data reported over the summer. UC also admitted 100,947 first-year California students, up more than 7% from last year,

    UC said it increased international admits because of “rising uncertainty of their likelihood of enrollment.” It noted that the share of accepted internationals who choose to enroll is generally “substantially lower” than that of California residents and that the cost of being a non-Californian at UC has gone up. Last year, the UC Board of Regents approved a 10% increase of the “nonresident” tuition fee from $34,200 to $37,602.

    At USC, the California campus that typically attracts the largest share of internationals in the state, there were also concerns over a potential dip in foreign student enrollment.

    The campus saw a small decline in overall international enrollment, from 12,374 last academic year to 11,959 this fall. Chinese and Indian students made up more than half of the total foreign population, matching trends statewide.

    But USC also grew its first-year international community, according to university data about this fall’s new undergraduate class.

    Of the 3,759 new first-year students enrolled this fall, about 21%, or 789, are internationals. Last year, about 17% of the 3,489 first-years — 593 — were in the U.S. on visas.

    California usually attracts the largest international college community of any state. In 2024, in addition to USC, the biggest draws were UC Berkeley, which enrolled 12,441 students; UC San Diego, 10,467 students; and UCLA, 10,446 students, according to data from the Institute of International Education. STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — were the most popular.

    Visa challenges and travel bans blocked some students

    Nationally, many students who had plans to study in the U.S. could not enter the country because of difficulty lining up visas. In late May, the State Department paused the scheduling of visa interviews for foreign students, which resumed three weeks later with new rules for vetting visa applicants’ social media accounts.

    The timing of the pause had “maximum possible impact” for visa issuances for the fall semester, said Clay Harmon, executive director of the Assn. of International Enrollment Management, a nonprofit membership association.

    A travel ban and other restrictions for 19 countries that the Trump administration announced in June created even more uncertainty for some students. Most of the countries included in the ban were located in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

    The federal data on international dips show those regions experienced the largest declines in international student arrivals this August, with drops of 33% from Africa, 17% from the Middle East and 24% from Asia — including a 45% decrease from India, the country that sends the most students to the U.S.

    The data include new as well as returning students, but some who were already in the U.S. avoided traveling outside the country this summer for fear of problems reentering.

    Students have concerns about the political climate, research funding and cost

    Some international students and their families have been wary of the Trump administration’s wider crackdown on immigration. In the spring, the federal government stripped thousands of international students of their legal status, causing panic before the Trump administration reversed course. Trump also has called for colleges to reduce their dependence on foreign students and cap international enrollment.

    Syed Tamim Ahmad, a senior at UCLA who grew up in Dubai, said he was considering applying to medical school in the U.S. before last spring, when sudden student visa cancellations and government suspensions of research funding to Harvard and other elite campuses began to intensify.

    “When I was a freshman, it seemed that out of every country the U.S. provided the most opportunities in terms of access to research funding and resources,” said Ahmad, whose major is physiological science. “But by my senior year, a lot of these pull factors became push factors. Funding was cut down, affecting labs, and there is fear among international students about what they put on social media and what they put online. That sense of having freedom of speech in the U.S. isn’t the same.”

    Ahmad is now planning to enroll at medical school in Australia.

    “There is a similar feeling among many students — that if they are going to graduate school or continuing their studies they should go outside the U.S.,” said Ahmad, who previously served in UCLA’s undergraduate student government as an international representative. “But it’s not everyone. There are also still many people who believe that there are good opportunities for them in the United States.”

    Zeynep Bowlus, a higher education consultant in Istanbul, said interest in U.S. universities among the families she works with had been declining over the last few years largely because of financial reasons and skepticism about the value of an American degree. Policy changes in the U.S. are adding to their concerns, she said.

    “I try not to make it too dramatic, but at the same time, I tell them the reality of what’s going on and the potential hurdles that they may face,” Bowlus said.

    Institutions in other countries have seized the opportunity to attract students who might be cooling on the U.S. Growing numbers of Chinese students have opted to stay in Asia, and international applications to universities in the United Kingdom have surged.

    Elisabeth Marksteiner, a higher education consultant in Cambridge, England, said she will encourage families looking at American universities to approach the admissions process with more caution. A student visa has never been guaranteed, but it is especially important now for families to have a backup plan, she said.

    “I think the presumption is that it’s all going to carry on as it was in the past,” Marksteiner said. “My presumption is, it isn’t.”

    Kaleem is a staff writer for The Times. Seminera and Keller write for the Associated Press.

    Jaweed Kaleem, Makiya Seminera, Christopher L. Keller

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  • ICE detains British Muslim political commentator at San Francisco airport

    Sami Hamdi, a British political commentator who was on a speaking tour in the U.S., was detained by immigration enforcement officers on Sunday at San Francisco International Airport after his visa was revoked.

    A Muslim civil rights group said his arrest was retaliation for his criticism of Israel.

    Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, announced on social media that Hamdi’s visa had been revoked, that he was being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement until he could be removed. In her post, she also made unsubstantiated claims that Hamdi supported terrorism.

    “Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country,” McLaughlin wrote in her Sunday social media post.

    Hamdi, who is based in London, had been on a speaking tour in the United States, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights advocacy group. His visitor visa was supposed to last for several months, a leader at the organization said.

    The group said in a statement that Hamdi had been detained “because he dared to criticize the Israeli government’s genocide” while on his tour, and called his detention “a blatant affront to free speech.”

    Hamdi had attended the organization’s annual gala on Friday night in Sacramento and was scheduled to speak at an event in Florida on Sunday night.

    Hamdi is a journalist and commentator who appears on British television networks to analyze developments in the Middle East, as well as domestic U.K. politics. According to his LinkedIn page, he is the managing director and editor in chief of International Interest, which “advises on political environments across the globe.”

    Hamdi appears to be the latest of several immigrants and international travelers to have a U.S. visa revoked over political speech. The Trump administration was rebuked in September by a federal judge, who ruled that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had unconstitutionally targeted noncitizens for their pro-Palestinian advocacy in order to suppress critiques of Israel and the war it has waged in Gaza for two years with backing from the U.S.

    Hussam Ayloush, chief executive of CAIR’s California chapter, said he attended the Sacramento gala with Hamdi and was shocked to receive a text from him Sunday around 7 a.m. informing him that Hamdi had been stopped by federal agents who told him he had to come with them.

    Ayloush visited Hamdi along with two attorneys on Monday afternoon at the Golden State Annex, an ICE detention center in McFarland, where he is being held.

    “When I went inside to meet him and check on him, I felt embarrassed that my country treated him that way,” Ayloush said. “He hasn’t caused or instigated any harm to our country.”

    Ayloush said Hamdi was only guilty of “being critical of what Israel is doing to Palestinians, and the complicit role the U.S. government has played.”

    CAIR said that its legal team as well as attorneys from the Muslim Legal Fund of America were working toward Hamdi’s release.

    The organization said Hamdi’s arrest came after pressure from right-wing activist Laura Loomer, who publicly took credit for his detention. She said on social media that ICE acted in response to her “relentless pressure.” Loomer had smeared Hamdi with anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, the organization said.

    Loomer has said she successfully lobbied the U.S. government to bar Palestinian children injured by American weapons in Israel’s war from seeking medical care in the U.S. In August, the Trump administration announced it had stopped approving visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza, including young children in need of serious medical care.

    In response to a question from The Times about whether Hamdi’s detention came in response to his critiques of the U.S. and Israel, the Department of Homeland Security linked to a statement the U.S. State Department made on its X account, in which it reposted McLaughlin’s announcement about Hamdi and added a comment: “We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans. We continue to revoke the visas of persons engaged in such activity.”

    Suhauna Hussain

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  • Commentary: As Trump blows up supposed narco boats, he uses an old, corrupt playbook on Latin America

    Consumer confidence is dropping. The national debt is $38 trillion and climbing like the yodeling mountain climber in that “The Price is Right” game. Donald Trump’s approval ratings are falling and the U.S. is getting more and more restless as 2025 comes to a close.

    What’s a wannabe strongman to do to prop up his regime?

    Attack Latin America, of course!

    U.S. war planes have bombed small ships in international waters off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia since September with extrajudicial zeal. The Trump administration has claimed those vessels were packed with drugs manned by “narco-terrorists” and have released videos for each of the 10 boats-and-counting it has incinerated to make the actions seem as normal as a mission in “Call of Duty.”

    “Narco-terrorists intending to bring poison to our shores, will find no safe harbor anywhere in our hemisphere,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media and who just ordered an aircraft carrier currently stationed in the Mediterranean to set up shop in the Caribbean. It’ll meet up with 10,000 troops stationed there as part of one of the area’s biggest U.S. deployments in decades, all in the name of stopping a drug epidemic that has ravaged red America for the past quarter century.

    This week, Trump authorized covert CIA actions in Venezuela and revealed he wants to launch strikes against land targets where his people say Latin American cartels operate. Who cares whether the host countries will give permission? Who cares about American laws that state only Congress — not the president — can declare war against our enemies?

    It’s Latin America, after all.

    The military buildup, bombing and threat of more in the name of liberty is one of the oldest moves in the American foreign policy playbook. For more than two centuries, the United States has treated Latin America as its personal piñata, bashing it silly for goods and not caring about the ugly aftermath.

    “It is known to all that we derive [our blessings] from the excellence of our institutions,” James Monroe concluded in the 1823 speech that set forth what became known as the Monroe Doctrine, which essentially told the rest of the world to leave the Western Hemisphere to us. “Ought we not, then, to adopt every measure which may be necessary to perpetuate them?”

    Our 19th century wars of expansion, official and not, won us territories where Latin Americans lived — Panamanians, Puerto Ricans, but especially Mexicans — that we ended up treating as little better than serfs. We have occupied nations for years and imposed sanctions on others. We have propped up puppets and despots and taken down democratically elected governments with the regularity of the seasons.

    The culmination of all these actions were the mass migrations from Latin America that forever altered the demographics of the United States. And when those people — like my parents — came here, they were immediately subjected to a racism hard-wired into the American psyche, which then justified a Latin American foreign policy bent on domination, not friendship.

    Nothing rallies this country historically like sticking it to Latinos, whether in their ancestral countries or here. We’re this country’s perpetual scapegoats and eternal invaders, with harming gringos — whether by stealing their jobs, moving into their neighborhoods, marrying their daughters or smuggling drugs — supposedly the only thing on our mind.

    That’s why when Trump ran on an isolationist platform last year, he never meant the region — of course not. The border between the U.S. and Latin America has never been the fence that divides the U.S. from Mexico or our shores. It’s wherever the hell we say it is.

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro Urrego addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23 at U.N. headquarters.

    (Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

    That’s why the Trump administration is banking on the idea that it can get away with its boat bombings and is salivating to escalate. To them, the 43 people American missile strikes have slaughtered on the open sea so far aren’t humans — and anyone who might have an iota of sympathy or doubt deserves aggression as well.

    That’s why when Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. of murder because one of the strikes killed a Colombian fisherman with no ties to cartels, Trump went on social media to lambaste Petro’s “fresh mouth,” accuse him of being a “drug leader” and warn the head of a longtime American ally he “better close up these killing fields [cartel bases] immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

    The only person who can turn down the proverbial temperature on this issue is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who should know all the bad that American imperialism has wrought on Latin America. The U.S. treated his parents’ homeland of Cuba like a playground for decades, propping up one dictator after another until Cubans revolted and Fidel Castro took power. A decades-long embargo that Trump tightened upon assuming office the second time has done nothing to free the Cuban people and instead made things worse.

    Instead, Rubio is the instigator. He’s pushing for regime change in Venezuela, chumming it up with self-proclaimed “world’s coolest dictator” Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and cheering on Trump’s missile attacks.

    “Bottom line, these are drug boats,” Rubio told reporters recently with Trump by his side. “If people want to stop seeing drug boats blow up, stop sending drugs to the United States.”

    You might ask: Who cares? Cartels are bad, drugs are bad, aren’t they? Of course. But every American should oppose every time a suspected drug boat launching from Latin America is destroyed with no questions asked and no proof offered. Because every time Trump violates yet another law or norm in the name of defending the U.S. and no one stops him, democracy erodes just a little bit more.

    This is a president, after all, who seems to dream of treating his enemies, including American cities, like drug boats.

    Few will care, alas. It’s Latin America, after all.

    Gustavo Arellano

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