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Hurricane Otis exploded onto the southwest coast of Mexico early Wednesday, shocking forecasters as it emerged as one of the more powerful Category 5 storms to batter the region and create what one expert called a “nightmare scenario” for a popular tourist coastline. Few meteorologists initially thought the tropical storm would make landfall as a catastrophic hurricane. Most models failed to predict that the storm would intensify over the Pacific Ocean, leading forecasters to believe it would be at most a weak hurricane. But it strengthened with remarkable speed, and by Tuesday evening forecasters and Mexican officials were rushing to warn residents of its potential for destruction. The storm slammed ashore with sustained winds of 165 miles per hour; just a day earlier, Otis brought winds of 65 miles per hour.

Persons: Otis Organizations: Otis Locations: Mexico, Guerrero, Oaxaca

On Tuesday morning, few meteorologists were talking about Tropical Storm Otis. At that time, forecast computer models didn’t show much to be concerned about. By Sunday evening, the computer forecast models were still not showing much. This is why meteorologists often preach that a computer model isn’t a forecast — forecasters create forecasts, they like to say. On Monday evening, with Otis still a tropical storm, satellite images revealed a little feature that could mean that the storm was about to intensify very quickly.

Persons: Tropical Storm Otis, Otis, Zach Levitt, Tomer, we’re, Eric Blake, Hurricane Otis Organizations: Tropical Storm, National, U.S, National Hurricane Center, Otis, Hurricane Locations: Mexico, Tomer Burg, Florida, @burgwx, Acapulco

An armed group ambushed and killed more than a dozen law enforcement officers in southwestern Mexico on Monday, including a local security secretary and a police chief, adding to a soaring number of deadly attacks against the police in the region. Guerrero is now the second most dangerous state in Mexico for law enforcement officers, with more than 34 killed so far in 2023, according to Common Cause, a Mexico-based organization tracking the killings of police officers in the country. The group said more than 340 police officers had been killed so far this year in the nation, and more than 400 killed last year. Mr. López Obrador has said much of the violence in the nation is because of the United States’ inability to prevent guns from being trafficked south into Mexico. Leaders from both countries discussed the roots of such violence during high-profile meetings in Mexico City this month.

Persons: Coyuca de Benítez, Alfredo Alonso López, Honorio Salinas, Guerrero, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, López Obrador Organizations: United Locations: Mexico, Coyuca de, Mexican, Guerrero, Honorio Salinas Garay, United States, Mexico City

The woman had learned that Ms. Menchaca could send her abortion pills from Mexico, where the procedure has been decriminalized in several states. But the growing U.S. demand for abortion care is not limited to deliveries of medication, according to advocates like Ms. Menchaca, who lives in Coahuila state in northeastern Mexico. Clinics in Tijuana and Mexico City, as well as activists in the northwestern city of Hermosillo, say they have seen women crossing the border from Texas, Louisiana and Arizona seeking access to abortion. “Before, the women from Sonora would go to the United States to access abortions in clinics,” said Andrea Sanchez, an abortion-rights activist, referring to the Mexican state that borders Arizona. “And now the women from the United States come to Mexico.”

Persons: Cynthia Menchaca, Menchaca, ”, Andrea Sanchez Organizations: Clinics, Mexico City Locations: Texas, Mexico, Coahuila, Tijuana, Hermosillo, Texas , Louisiana, Arizona, Sonora, United States

As the Biden administration struggles to tackle a humanitarian and political crisis at America’s doorstep, it is focusing increasingly on keeping migrants far from the U.S.-Mexico border by establishing migration processing centers in Central and South America. But the program is off to a rocky start, with demand for appointments far outstripping supply, leading to periodic shutdowns of the online portal and some countries’ limiting applicants over concerns that the centers will cause migrants to overwhelm their own borders. The centers, in Colombia, Costa Rica and others planned in Guatemala, have become a primary focus of the president’s migration strategy, U.S. officials said, and the administration is already exploring expanding the program to other nations in the region, including opening a similar office in Mexico. The program, known as the safe mobility initiative, is “the most ambitious plan I’ve seen,” said Sean Garcia, the deputy refugee coordinator for the U.S. Embassy in Colombia, who has worked on migration for over a decade.

Persons: Biden, ”, Sean Garcia Organizations: U.S, Embassy Locations: U.S, Mexico, Central, South America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala

The Dominican Republic said it would seal its border with Haiti on Friday morning amid a conflict over access to a river shared between the two historically contentious neighbors. The move would further isolate Haiti, a nation that has descended into gang violence and growing hunger. Tensions have grown in recent days over construction in the Massacre River, which straddles both nations. President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic, who claimed that the excavation of a canal on the river in Haiti would harm Dominican farmers, froze Haitian visas this week and threatened to close the more than 220 miles of border if the two sides did not reach a resolution. A Haitian delegation met with the Dominicans in Santo Domingo, the capital, on Wednesday for 11th-hour negotiations, but there was no apparent resolution, and on Thursday, Mr. Abinader announced his decision to shut the boundary between the two Caribbean island nations starting at 6 a.m. local time Friday.

Persons: Luis Abinader, Abinader Organizations: Haitian, Dominicans Locations: Dominican Republic, Haiti, Dominican, Santo Domingo

Federal agents arrested a record number of migrant families who crossed the southern border illegally in August, two officials with preliminary data said, highlighting the Biden administration’s most prominent immigration challenge after rolling out new border policies this spring. The roughly 91,000 migrants who crossed together as families exceeded the 84,486 such crossings recorded in May 2019, the height of the border crisis during the Trump administration. The Biden administration ended the practice of detaining migrant families in 2021 for humanitarian reasons. The number of migrant families crossing between official ports of entry started to rise in July, and illegal crossings overall in August increased from the previous month to about 177,000. Illegal crossings increased by 33 percent between June and July and went up another 33 percent in August.

Persons: Trump, Biden Organizations: Biden, Washington Post

Ian killed 75 people in Lee County, nearly half of the statewide death toll of 149, officials said. At that point, the National Hurricane Center flagged the possibility of a storm surge covering much of Cape Coral and Fort Myers. Parts of Fort Myers Beach had a 40 percent chance of a six-foot-high storm surge, according to the surge forecasts. In Lee County officials said they were waiting to make an assessment the next morning. Officials expanded their evacuation order later in the morning, and by the middle of the afternoon, Lee County officials were more urgent in their recommendation.

Persons: Ian, Lee County, Ron DeSantis, Lee, Fort Myers, ” Organizations: National Hurricane Service, National Hurricane Center, Fort Myers, Facebook Locations: Florida, Tampa, Fort Myers, Lee County, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, State, Coral, Fort, Cape Coral, Neighboring Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Charlotte, Sarasota County, Lee

☆ Biden to Discuss Migration With the President of Costa Rica
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden will host President Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica at the White House on Tuesday as their countries try to rein in a surge of migration in the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Biden and Mr. Chaves, who was elected last year, will also discuss economic ties and job creation, administration officials said. The Biden administration’s plan to stem illegal migration in the United States involves cracking down on asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border while working with Central American nations, like Costa Rica, to develop ways for migrants to apply for protection closer to their home countries. Costa Rica recently agreed to build two centers where migrants can be processed for such legal protections without crossing the border. About 38,000 migrants from Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala have registered for legal protection through the program.

Persons: Biden, Rodrigo Chaves, Chaves Organizations: White, Central, . Locations: Costa Rica, United States, U.S, Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala

☆ Biden Visits Hawaii Biden Heads to Maui to See Wildfire Devastation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Peter Baker | Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

Terri Thomas’s family has been waiting for days. “It’s tragic — this hopeless feeling,” said Ms. Thomas’s niece, Terra Thomas, who lives in North Carolina. Spotty-to-nonexistent phone reception, especially in the immediate aftermath, made it hard for survivors to contact loved ones. Chief John Pelletier of the Maui Police Department urged people searching for loved ones to take a DNA test that could help identify their remains. Once the couple was able to inform loved ones they were safe, the social media attention proved helpful.

Persons: Terri Thomas’s, Thomas, Thomas’s, “, ”, Terra Thomas, Jill Tokuda, “ It’s, Noelle Manriquez, John Pelletier of, Pelletier, ” Terra Thomas, Terri Thomas, Harry, Toni Troupe, Toni, Max Whittaker, ” Emily Cochrane Organizations: Democrat, Maui Police Department, ”, The New York Times, huskies, Credit, Facebook Locations: Lahaina, Hawaii, North Carolina, Maui, Congress, West Maui, State, Napili, Honokowai, Ohio, Midwest, Bali

When President Biden meets with the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David on Friday, the allies will have another nation in mind: China. Japan, South Korea and the United States share the common interest of competing with an increasingly assertive China and ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Just last week, Mr. Biden banned new American investment in key technological industries that could be used to enhance Beijing’s military capabilities. Washington has also kept a large military presence in both South Korea and Japan in part to counterbalance China’s influence in the region. But China’s economic growth also puts South Korea and Japan in an awkward position.

Persons: Biden, Camp David, Xi, ”, ” Jake Sullivan Organizations: Beijing, Huawei, United States, United, South, U.S Locations: Japan, South Korea, Camp, China, Beijing, United States, Taiwan Strait, U.S, Washington, United, Ukraine, Taiwan, Korea’s belligerence . Washington, Seoul, Pacific

The new three-way security pact sealed by President Biden and the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David on Friday was forged with threats by China and North Korea in mind. But there was one other possible factor driving the diplomatic breakthrough: Donald J. Trump. Both Japan and South Korea struggled for four years as Mr. Trump threatened to scale back longstanding U.S. security and economic commitments while wooing China, North Korea and Russia. In formalizing a three-way alliance that had long eluded the United States, Mr. Biden and his counterparts hoped to lock in a strategic architecture that will endure regardless of who is in the White House next. “This is not about a day, a week or month,” Mr. Biden said at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea.

Persons: Biden, Camp David, Donald J, David, ”, Trump, Mr, Fumio Kishida, Yoon Suk Organizations: Trump, South Korea Locations: Japan, South Korea, Camp, China, North Korea, South, U.S, Russia, United States

Native tribes and environmental groups have long lobbied for the government to permanently protect the area around the Grand Canyon from uranium mining, which they say would damage the Colorado River watershed as well as areas with great cultural meaning for Native Americans. Under the proposed designation, all new uranium mining will be blocked. Uranium mining has already been restricted in the area in question since 2012, but that Obama-era moratorium was set to expire in 2032. Mr. Biden’s designation would make the conditions permanent. Surveys show young voters, who turned out in force during the 2020 election, are particularly concerned about global warming.

Persons: Obama, Biden’s, Biden Organizations: Washington Post, University of Maryland Locations: Colorado, Arizona

☆ Kamala Harris Takes on a Forceful New Role in the 2024 Campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In recent weeks, Vice President Kamala Harris has dashed off to Florida on short notice. She sparred with the state’s conservative governor, Ron DeSantis, over how to teach slavery in schools. And she flew into Iowa to defend abortion rights while 13 Republican presidential candidates were having dinner a few miles away. Once a rising star as a senator in California, Ms. Harris has for years been saddled by criticism of her performance as vice president. Concerns about her future spread as Democrats pondered whether she would be a political liability for the ticket.

Persons: Kamala Harris, Ron DeSantis, Harris, Joseph R, Biden, “, ”, Cedric Richmond, Republican Party — assertively Organizations: Republican, Republicans, White House, Democratic National Committee, Republican Party Locations: Florida, Iowa, California

☆ Bidens’ Dog Has Bitten Several Secret Service Agents, Emails Show
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One of President Biden’s dogs has bitten several Secret Service agents, and even sent one to the hospital, part of a series of at least 10 incidents of “aggressive behavior,” according to internal emails recently obtained by a conservative watchdog group. The correspondence shows that Commander, the nearly 2-year-old German shepherd, has struggled to adjust to life at the White House, where he arrived in 2021, and Delaware, where the Bidens own two homes. Early in November 2022, for instance, officials on the White House medical team chose to send an officer whom Commander had bitten on the arm and thigh to the hospital, according to the emails obtained by Judicial Watch, a Washington-based conservative group. Just a week later, while walking with Jill Biden, the first lady, Commander bit an agent on the left thigh. That same month, another agent was left “shaken,” according to the emails, when he felt the need to hoist up the chair he was sitting on to use as a shield when Commander began barking at him from the top of a White House staircase.

Persons: Biden’s, Jill Biden, “ Organizations: Service, White, White House, Judicial Watch Locations: Delaware, Washington

☆ Biden Pledges Long-Term Backing for Ukraine, but a U.S. Election Looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | More About Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Moments after President Biden assured Volodymyr Zelensky that he could count on United States support for as long as it took, the Ukrainian leader used the opportunity to speak not only to NATO allies but also to an audience thousands of miles away. “I understand that it’s all your money,” Mr. Zelensky said, addressing Americans directly. “You spend this money for our lives.”Despite Mr. Biden’s repeated promises of staying by Ukraine’s side in its war against Russia, questions about the shelf life of support among American people and lawmakers hung over the summit of Western allies. The two G.O.P. candidates leading in polls, Donald J. Trump and Ron DeSantis, have also expressed reservations about maintaining the war as a priority for the United States, fueling concern among some Western allies and injecting the American electoral cycle as a major element in Ukraine’s prospects for victory.

Persons: Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, “, ” Mr, Zelensky, ”, Biden’s, Donald J, Trump, Ron DeSantis Organizations: United, NATO, Republican Party Locations: United States, Russia, Washington, Ukraine

News analysisPresident Biden and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, with G7 leaders at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Wednesday. Mr. Zelensky has never pushed for Ukrainian NATO membership while the war is raging, nor has anyone else. Mr. Zelensky has never pushed for Ukrainian NATO membership while the war is raging. “I think the win here for Ukraine is the sort of cultural acceptance that Ukraine belongs in NATO,” he said. Image French President Emmanuel Macron has moved from opposition to Ukrainian membership in NATO to strong support for it.

Persons: Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky, ”, Zelensky, Mauricio Lima, John Kornblum, Mr, Kornblum, “, Emmanuel Macron, Michal Baranowski, François Heisbourg, ” Ben Wallace, Macron, Ludovic Marin, Jens Stoltenberg, Russia —, Olaf Scholz, Germany, Doug Mills, Camille Grand, Heisbourg, Ukraine can’t, ” Lara Jakes Organizations: NATO, Lithuania — NATO, Kyiv, Ukraine, Central, Ukrainian NATO, Grad, The New York Times, Ukraine Council, German Marshall Fund, “, ”, Washington, Agence France, Russia, New York Times, Ukraine —, European Council, Foreign Relations Locations: Vilnius, Lithuania, VILNIUS, Turkey, Ukraine, NATO, Ukrainian, American, Germany, France, Warsaw, “ Ukraine, Bucharest, French, United States, Bratislava, Central Europe, Russia

And France pledged a shipment of the same missiles, which it calls SCALPs, as NATO leaders gathered in Lithuania on Tuesday. Like the United States, France had previously ruled out providing Ukraine with longer-range missiles, over concerns they could be used to attack targets in Russia, escalating the conflict. The ATACMS are among the last major weapons systems that Kyiv wants and the United States is reluctant to give. France’s announcement on Tuesday could either fuel the pressure campaign or, conversely, ease it now that Ukraine is receiving long-range missiles from other countries. Mr. Reznikov made clear that he would not stop asking for ATACMs or long-range missiles from any ally.

Persons: Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Mr, Macron, Abrams, America’s, Lockheed Martin, ATACMS, what’s, ”, Franklin D, Kramer, Oleksii Reznikov, Reznikov, “, Eric Schmitt, Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Zolan Kanno, Youngs Organizations: NATO, Tactical Missile Systems, Pentagon, Russian, United, Kyiv, Lockheed, Republicans, Taurus Locations: Ukraine, France, Lithuania, United States, Russia, Britain, Crimea, Vilnius, Lithuanian, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Romania, Korean, “, Washington, London

President Biden concluded a meeting of NATO allies on Wednesday in Vilnius, Lithuania, with an address to that country, and the world, comparing the battle to expel Russia from Ukraine with the Cold War struggle for freedom in Europe, and promising “we will not waver” no matter how long the war continues. His speech seemed to be preparing Americans and NATO countries for a confrontation that could go on for years, putting it in the context of momentous conflicts in Europe’s war-torn past. “Putin still wrongly believes that he can outlast Ukraine,” Mr. Biden said, describing the Russian leader as a man who made a huge strategic mistake in invading a neighboring country and now is doubling down. “After all this time Putin still doubts our staying power. He is making a bad bet.”The speech, at Vilnius University, came after a series of important victories for Mr. Biden as NATO’s de facto leader, at a time of rapid change for the alliance.

Persons: Biden, Vladimir V, Putin, “ Putin, ” Mr, Mr Organizations: NATO, Vilnius University Locations: Vilnius, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Europe

Mr. Putin invited 35 people to the three-hour meeting on June 29, including Mr. Prigozhin and all of Wagner’s top commanders, the Kremlin spokesman said. “The only thing we can say is that the president gave his assessment of the company’s actions” during both the war in Ukraine and the uprising, Mr. Peskov said. Mr. Putin promised the harshest punishment for those who had “consciously chosen the path of betrayal.”But the harsh punishments didn’t come. The following week, on July 6, Mr. Peskov said the Kremlin had neither the “ability nor the desire” to track Mr. Prigozhin’s movements. The Kremlin spokesman added, “The details of it are unknown.”

Persons: Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Vladimir V, Putin, Yevgeny V, Prigozhin, Dmitri S, Peskov, Prigozhin hasn’t, “ Putin, Mr, “, —, Roman, Sergei K, Shoigu, Staff Valery V, Aleksandr G, Lukashenko, Libération, ” Organizations: Kremlin, Mr, Defense Ministry, Agence France, Defense, Staff Locations: Rostov, Don, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, Bakhmut, Moscow, Belarusian, Belarus

The two men — the American president and the British king — waited decades for their dream jobs, projecting a sense of normalcy and unity when they finally reached their thrones. They both prefer to ditch executive palaces for their respective retreats. The men, the 80-year-old President Biden and the 74-year-old King Charles III, are also united by their challenges. And they both battle skepticism over whether they are the right people to lead the increasingly diverse groups over which they preside. They are issues that Charles has been warning about since the 1970s and that Mr. Biden has made a central focus of his presidency.

Persons: —, Biden, King Charles III, ”, Arianne Chernock, Charles Organizations: Boston University, Windsor Locations: Britain, London

Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Not everyone with debt would have been covered under the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan. The Supreme Court has barred the Biden administration from carrying out its plan to extinguish up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt, and millions of borrowers will continue to struggle under the weight of their loans. Ms. Schmidt owes $64,000 in student debt, more than half of which is for her graduate work in nursing. But she’s already contemplating how she’ll finance her dream of becoming a civil rights lawyer, which typically requires an additional six figures in student debt. Yet her mother is still paying down student debt of her own.

Persons: Biden, Gina McDavitt, weren’t, Pell, “, ”, McDavitt, ” Ms, Ms, Monica Schmidt, Schmidt, Kevin Serna, Dorien Rogers, Rogers, Asha Anthony, she’s, —, Anthony, Mr, don’t, Joanna Leiserson, Brian Kaiser, “ I’m, Leiserson Organizations: Georgetown University, Biden, College of San, San Francisco State University, The New York Times, University of Phoenix, Northern Illinois University, Public, Schaun, Tax, Howard University, Salisbury University, The New York, Republicans Locations: Washington ,, College of San Mateo, Bay, Vallejo , Calif, Genoa, Ill, Germantown, Md, Credit, Montgomery County, Mesa, Maryland, Spokane, —, forbearance

☆ Biden Warns That Republicans Are Not Finished on Abortion
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Katie Rogers | Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Minutes after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade last summer, a group of West Wing aides raced to the Oval Office to brief President Biden on the decision. As they drafted a speech, Mr. Biden was the first person in the room to say what has been his administration’s rallying cry ever since. “He said at that time, ‘The only thing that will actually restore the rights that were just taken away are to pass federal legislation,’” Jen Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, recalled in an interview. But if the prospect of codifying Roe’s protections in Congress seemed like a long shot a year ago, it is all but impossible to imagine now, with an ascendant far-right bloc in the House and a slim Democratic majority in the Senate. Instead, with the battle over abortion rights turning squarely to individual states, officials in the Biden administration are working with a limited set of tools, including executive orders and the galvanizing power of the presidency, to argue that Republicans running in next year’s elections would impose even further restrictions on abortion.

Persons: Roe, Wade, Biden, “, ’ ” Jen Klein Organizations: West Wing, Gender Policy, Democratic

☆ State Dinners: Who Gets Them, Who Doesn’t and Why They Matter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Zolan Kanno-Youngs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As President Biden welcomes India’s prime minister to the White House, the two leaders will be looking for more than a fine vegetarian meal and a night of glitzy entertainment. Under the guise of pomp and pageantry, state visits are a chance for presidents to push foreign dignitaries to align with American interests. “These are not just dinners,” said Matthew Costello, a senior historian for the White House Historical Association. Before President Barack Obama hosted President Xi Jinping of China, the two countries negotiated for weeks over an arms control accord for cyberspace. President Ulysses S. Grant held the first state dinner for King David Kalakaua of Hawaii to strengthen trade.

Persons: Biden, ”, Matthew Costello, “, Dwight D, Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, Ulysses S, Grant, King David Kalakaua of Organizations: White, Historical Association, White House, Sputnik Locations: Washington, Soviet Union, China, King David Kalakaua of Hawaii

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