News Trade Washington eyes ‘very productive’ Trump-Xi meeting this week Trump is on a five-day Asian tour that is expected to include a bilateral meeting with the Chinese leader in South Korea. Copy Link Free article usually reserved for subscribers G20 summit in Osaka Xi Jinping, President of China, and Donald Trump, President of the United States chat as they pose for the group photo at the beginning of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019. | Bernd von Jutrczenka/picture alliance via Getty Images October 26, 2025 11:19 am CET By Gregorio Sorgi Trade talks between the U.S. and China are setting the foundations for a "very productive meeting" between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week, American officials said on Sunday. Beijing and Washington are seeking to calm a trade war after Trump threatened new tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation for China's expanding export controls on rare earth magnets and minerals. "I believe that we have the framework for the two leaders to have a very productive meeting for both sides," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Advertisement Advertisement His comments echoed remarks by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer earlier in the day. After meeting his Chinese counterparts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Greer told reporters that negotiators are "getting to a spot where the leaders will have a very productive meeting." Trump expressed confidence in the ability of the U.S. and Chinese negotiators to fashion an agreement that stops the cycle of tit-for-tat tariffs and export-control reprisals that have characterized U.S.-China trade relations since April. “I think we're going to have a good deal with China. I think if we make a deal, it's going to be great for China, great for us,” Trump told reporters in Malaysia on Sunday. On his first visit to Asia during his second term, Trump landed in Malaysia Sunday morning to attend the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which groups together Southeastern Asian countries. This is his first stop in a five-day Asian tour that is expected to include to a bilateral meeting with Xi in South Korea. Bessent said American and Chinese officials reached a “very successful” framework in talks this weekend. The two sides discussed agricultural purchases, TikTok, fentanyl, trade, rare earths and the overall bilateral relationship, he said. The U.S. Treasury chief described the talks as “constructive, far-reaching and in-depth, and giving us the ability to move forward to set the stage for the leaders meeting in a very positive framework,” according to Bloomberg. Advertisement Advertisement "We discussed a wide variety of issues, from the rare earth, from the rare earth magnets to trade, to substantial purchases of American agricultural products, to the Chinese helping us in this fentanyl crisis that we have in the U.S., Bessent said later Sunday in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation" program. "I believe that the Chinese will be making substantial purchases again" of American soybeans, he added. Beijing described the two days of talks by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and chief international trade negotiator Li Chenggang with Bessent and Greer as “candid, in-depth and constructive,” according to a Chinese Commerce Ministry statement on Sunday. The talks focused on issues including the Trump administration’s imposition earlier this month of new port fees targeting Chinese cargo ships, an extension of the Nov. 10 deadline suspending a return to triple-digit reciprocal tariffs, export controls and Washington’s fentanyl tariffs imposed in February, the statement said. “The current turbulences and twists and turns are the ones that we do not wish to see,” Li told reporters, adding that a stable China-U.S. trade and economic relationship is good for both countries and the rest of the world, Bloomberg reported. The Commerce Ministry readout indicated that the two days of talks created a foundation for a successful meeting between Trump and Xi later this week in South Korea. “They reached a basic consensus on arrangements to address their respective concerns,” the statement said. “Both sides agreed to further refine specific details and complete their respective domestic approval procedures.” Phelim Kine and Sophia Cai contributed reporting.
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Any interesting things in berkeley talk concerning free speech Thought for 9s The most recent flashpoint is a virtual talk UC Berkeley’s Students for Justice in Palestine hosted on the evening of October 7, 2026, titled “Al-Aqsa Flood Anniversary Talks.” Speaker Mohamed Abdou (author of Islam and Anarchism, formerly at Columbia, and on a virtual “Death to the Akademy” tour) spoke to roughly 25 people.Abdou described the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack—which the group itself calls Operation Al-Aqsa Flood—as “one of the most glorious days.” He linked U.S. settlement and Indigenous history to the Palestinian cause, argued students are complicit by attending universities built on “stolen land,” and said: “There is no free Palestine until a free Turtle Island. That means destroying it.” He has previously written that he was “with the muqawamah (the resistance) be it Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad but up to a point.” Coverage and criticism also cite earlier remarks attributed to him telling students to “be proud of your hate for America.”Jewish student groups and organizations including the Jewish Student Union, AMCHA Initiative, and Combat Antisemitism Movement called the framing of the attack immoral or dangerous and asked the campus to deny him a platform. AMCHA explicitly said the event involved free speech, which it supports, while still flagging the rhetoric. UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof replied that the First Amendment protects the expression, while speech that constitutes harassment or discrimination on a protected category is not protected.That same day, Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky gave his annual Supreme Court talk at the Berkeley City Club. It included discussion of his recent book with UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman, Campus Speech and Academic Freedom: A Guide for Difficult Times, which addresses protest rules, disruption, and government pressure on faculty speech after the Gaza war. In an August 2026 message to the law school, Chemerinsky restated an all-comers policy for student groups, time-place-manner limits, and the view that even protected speech can trigger institutional duties if it creates a hostile environment, while disruption of events will not be tolerated.
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A veteran is a person who served in the active military, naval, air, or space service and was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable.Military DefinitionService: Full-time duty in a branch of the Armed Forces (such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard).Discharge: Separation from service under honorable conditions, meaning it was not a dishonorable discharge.Combat: Combat experience is not required to be a veteran; anyone who completed their required service time is included.Reserves and National Guard: Members of these branches qualify if they were called to federal active duty by presidential order.General DefinitionThe word also means a person who has long experience or a lot of skill in a specific job, field, or activity (such as a "political veteran").
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Gov. Gavin Newsom targets antisemitism in California schools with new law In signing the law, Newsom rebuffed objections from the state's main teachers union and others. Gavin Newsom sits with students in elementary school classroom. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a measure aiming to clamp down on antisemitism in schools on Tuesday. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP By Eric He 10/07/2025 04:06 PM EDT Updated: 10/07/2025 08:08 PM EDT Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday signed into law a controversial bill that aims to clamp down on antisemitism in schools, shrugging off objections by a powerful teachers union and others that it will restrict what teachers can say about Israel’s war in Gaza and other hot button topics. The bill, AB 715, cleared both chambers of the Legislature unanimously in votes that belied the tensions leading up to its passage in the final hours of legislative session earlier this month. During a last-minute hearing to debate the bill, the chair of an Assembly committee vented he was being forced to “choose between fighting antisemitism and supporting a bad policy bill that is opposed by every single education advocacy organization.” 00:00 02:00 Read More Newsom rejected such concerns and was unswayed by opposition from the California Teachers Association, a major force in state politics. He sided instead with the Jewish Legislative Caucus and leading Jewish organizations such as Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, which had made the measure their only legislative priority for the year. In pushing for the bill, the groups cited a surge in antisemitic incidents in California and members recounted their own experiences, particularly amid the turmoil in the Middle East following Hamas’ attack on Israel two years ago. Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the attack. “At a time when antisemitism and bigotry are rising nationwide and globally, these laws make clear: our schools must be places of learning, not hate,” Newsom said in a statement. Much of the requirements in the law, which takes effect on January 1, are open to interpretation. Teachers must be “factually accurate” in lessons and adhere to unspecified “standards of professional responsibility,” while avoiding “advocacy, personal opinion, bias or partisanship.” It also creates an Office of Civil Rights within a state agency, which will include an “antisemitism prevention coordinator” to consult with school districts and advise lawmakers on preventing antisemitism in schools. Newsom on Tuesday also signed SB 48, a companion bill that creates four additional coordinator positions meant to guard against discrimination based on someone’s religious beliefs, race and ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. The coordinator positions were part of a late deal the Jewish caucus made with other diversity caucuses, whose members objected to a bill focusing only on antisemitism. The two measures were contingent on the other passing. Despite that agreement, education groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other groups still urged Newsom to veto the bill. The ACLU, in a letter to the governor, claimed the measure contains “vague and overbroad provisions” that will restrict curriculum that is inclusive and historically relevant, create a chilling effect on students and teachers and invite lawsuits. The Council on American-Islamic Relations blasted the bill in a letter to Newsom as “especially harmful to the mental and emotional well-being of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim youth,” saying AB 715 rendered their stories “invisible and even punishable, deepening feelings of isolation and alienation at a time when they most need affirmation and inclusion.” In a public message to the legislature explaining his decision to sign the law, Newsom called for follow-up legislation next year to address those concerns, noting that “representatives from the entire education ecosystem ... expressed deep commitment to the goals of the bill, along with urgent concerns about unintended consequences.” “Public schools play a foundational role in our democracy, and we must continue to make our schools safe learning environments for all students while fostering critical thinking skills in the context of challenging conversations,” Newsom said. David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association, highlighted Newsom’s comments on unintended consequences, calling them “significant.” “At a time when too many are seeking to attack academic freedom and weaponize public education, AB 715 would unfortunately arm ill-intentioned people with the ability to do so,” Goldberg said. Democratic Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur and Dawn Addis, introduced the antisemitism measure in July after an earlier piece of legislation, which would have placed tight guardrails on curriculum for ethnic studies classes, was knocked down by the teachers union and other education groups. To drum up needed support for AB 715, Zbur and Addis agreed to major amendments during the last week of the legislative session, including the removal of language on what constitutes an “antisemitic learning environment.” David Bocarsly, executive director of JPAC, called the signing a “historic day for California’s Jewish community and for every child who has ever felt unsafe, unseen, or unwelcome at school.” “By signing AB 715, Governor Newsom has sent a clear and powerful message: antisemitism, like all forms of hate, has no place in our public schools, period,” Bocarsly said. “This law is more than policy – it is a promise that Jewish children, their families, and all students, deserve a great public education and classrooms free from hate and discrimination.” Watch: The Conversation Play Video1:40 Kevin O'Leary: US stake in Intel is 'waste of taxpayer dollars' Filed Under: California
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