LOS ANGELES — Sacramento officials came to Southern California this week for the first public meeting since they issued new proposed rules on how people in fire-prone neighborhoods will be allowed to landscape their yards.

In contrast to prior proposals from the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, many who attended were ... OK ...Read more

U.S.-Iranian talks on ending the conflict that has closed the Strait of Hormuz seem unlikely to make major progress soon, a Republican lawmaker said.

“I don’t see any big breakthrough in the near term,” Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, a former chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security panels, said Saturday on Bloomberg This Weekend...Read more

Hungary’s outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he won’t take up his seat in parliament following his party’s landslide defeat in this month’s election but wants to stay on as Fidesz’s leader to lead a process of “renewal.”

The most dominant figure in Hungarian politics since the fall of Communism in 1989, Orban has sat in ...Read more

There are lots of things that can move the stock market, from economic data, to Federal Reserve pronouncements, to corporate developments. But for the past 15 months, traders’ fortunes have been largely tethered to the whims of a single person: President Donald Trump.

Since taking office last January, Trump’s comments to reporters in ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson remains uncertain about the possibility of an execution in Nevada, even after saying he wanted three convicted killers put to death.

“I am a gambler, but I’m not sure how much I bet on this one,” he said.

Wolfson said executions are more likely now than in previous years because ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As firefighter after firefighter testified about their actions during the Lachman fire, a clear theme emerged — the Los Angeles Fire Department’s culture of absolute obedience.

One told a boss about red hot coals and smoldering ash. Another warned that warm weather increased the risk of a flareup. After taking their concerns...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The Navy is rapidly expanding its efforts in San Diego to develop small, fast, unmanned sea drones to help the U.S. adapt to the swift and dynamic ways naval warfare is changing throughout the world.

The drones are designed to perform autonomously or via remote control while doing such things as stalking submarines, spotting mines...Read more

MIAMI — Weeks before the clash between Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump began, the pope called on all Catholics and people of good will to contact their political leaders to demand an end to the war in Iran. The plea came days after Trump threatened to destroy the entire Iranian civilization — an attack the pope described as “truly ...Read more

Elon Musk dropped his fraud claims against OpenAI and co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, narrowing the scope of his lawsuit against his business rivals on the eve of trial.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Friday agreed to Musk’s request to “streamline” the case, leaving just two claims to proceed to trial of the 26 ...Read more

A man accused of stabbing two neighbors and slashing his own father in a wild brawl after a couple’s dog peed on his front yard was released without bail on Friday.

Judge Anthony Battisti ordered Akeem Alexander, 34, released after he pleaded not guilty to assault, attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon at his arraignment in ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Delta tunnel project cleared a key regulatory step Thursday after the Delta Stewardship Council — a state body created in 2009 following the Legislature’s passage of the Delta Reform Act to oversee planning — voted to uphold the state’s finding that the project complies with the Delta Plan.

The approval came ...Read more

A judge questioned whether President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury can proceed with Trump effectively in control of both sides of the litigation.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams on Friday ordered the Justice Department, which represents the agencies, to explain in writing ...Read more

Ford Motor Co. denied a news report that it has held talks with Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. about bringing Chinese car technology to the U.S. market.

A Ford spokesperson told Bloomberg News that no such talks have happened or are happening with any Chinese carmaker about technology sharing or platform sharing in the U.S.

A Geely ...Read more

A family that rushed to Michael Jackson‘s defense amid allegations of sex abuse around the time of the pop star’s 2009 death now says they were covering for him.

Dominic and Connie Cascio and three of their five children interviewed with Oprah Winfrey in 2010. When asked if Jackson molested any Cascio family members in the time they spent ...Read more

A Los Angeles judge denied singer Cher’s efforts to put her son Elijah Blue Allman under a temporary conservatorship.

Allman reportedly attended the hearing by video from a psychiatric hospital. The 79-year-old performer’s case was denied without prejudice when she failed to show “sufficient urgency,” according to TMZ.

Cher is ...Read more

A senior Taiwanese official expressed concern that President Donald Trump might make concessions on the self-governed island in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and said that Taiwan was working hard to prevent such a scenario.

“What we are the most afraid is to put Taiwan on the menu of the talk between Xi Jinping and President ...Read more

A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump can’t use an executive proclamation to bar immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border from seeking asylum — a cornerstone policy of his aggressive agenda to limit all immigration to the United States.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed in a 2-...Read more