Speech

MEXICO CITY - After President Obama 's upbeat speech in Mexico on Friday, many in attendance said they were flattered by the description of their country, but others said they hardly recognized the place he had just described. “[That was] a really good speech by President Obama, but what Mexico was he talking about?” said Jose Carlos Cruz, 24, a graduate student in international relations. “Unfortunately in our country, the situation is terrible: There's poverty, unemployment, and even worse, the future is anything but promising.

MEXICO CITY - President Obama on Friday painted a sunny picture of a modern Mexico emerging from its past troubles, an attempt at rebranding that serves the political aims of both governments but clashes with the realities of a country beset by violence and poverty. On his second day of a swing through Latin America, Obama emphasized optimism about Mexico's economic future and offered a broad endorsement of President Enrique Peña Nieto's reform agenda. Speaking to a crowd largely made up of high school and college students, Obama pushed the next generation of Mexicans to continue to demand change.

In the sort of appearance destined to fan speculation about her presidential aspirations in 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton will speak in Beverly Hills next week at a gala hosted by the Pacific Council on International Policy. The nonpartisan group, which focuses on international affairs, plans to honor Clinton on Wednesday night with its inaugural Warren Christopher Public Service Award. Christopher, who served as secretary of State under President Clinton, was involved in the council for many years and chaired its board of directors.

China employs an army of censors. As many as 50,000 well-trained monitors police the Internet, and 12 government departments are empowered to search and seize information and shut down users and sites. They work fast: A recent study conducted by two American computer scientists found that 30% of banned posts are removed within half an hour of posting, and 90% within 24 hours. International corporations must abide by the censors or forgo doing business in China. Paramount Pictures, for example, agreed in April to cut scenes from a new Brad Pitt movie to remove an unflattering reference to China.

Re "Going for a spin of Cal State," April 24 Cal State University Chancellor Timothy P. White should augment his visits to all 23 campuses with a review and revision of their unconstitutional discrimination and harassment policies that violate the rights of students and faculty members. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, 14 Cal State campuses have harassment policies that ban substantial amounts of speech that do not constitute true harassment and are in fact protected by the 1st Amendment.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Bagpipes wailed, law enforcement badges were striped in black, and a squadron of state police helicopters flew by as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and hundreds of officers from around the country paid their respects Wednesday to Sean Collier, one of their own. At an outdoor memorial service for the 27-year-old campus police officer, Vice President Joe Biden called the brothers accused of killing Collier and detonating the...

Santa Monica police smelled alcohol and heard “slurred speech” when they pulled over legendary sportscaster Al Michaels late Friday, and later arrested him on suspicion of drunk driving, authorities told The Times. Michaels, who broadcasts Sunday Night Football on NBC, was driving east in the 700 block of Pico Boulevard around 9:30 p.m. Friday when two officers on motorcycles saw him make an illegal U-turn, Sgt. Richard Lewis said. Lewis said the officers were at a gas station when they observed the illegal U-turn, moving from eastbound Pico Boulevard to westbound Pico Boulevard . A DUI checkpoint had been set up nearby in the 1800 block of Lincoln Boulevard.  “They pulled him over, detected the smell of alcoholic beverage, slurred speech, they did [field sobriety tests]

Justin Timberlake says that Jimmy Fallon heckled him during his wedding speech. The "Suit & Tie" crooner, who married actress Jessica Biel in October 2012, put the late-night host on blast in his essay about Fallon for Time's 100 most influential people . "Picture this: I'm in the heart of an impromptu speech at my wedding reception in front of 150 guests, pouring it out to my lovely new bride," Timberlake wrote ...

In one of his last major speeches as mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday took credit for creating a safer, greener and more livable city, while also scolding the candidates running to replace him for not saying enough about how they will improve schools. "The old Los Angeles is fading in the rear view mirror," Villaraigosa said during his eighth and final State of the City address. He will be termed-out June 30. "The old Los Angeles was a city of smog and gridlock, a city that was under-policed and insecure, a city that had let its schools deteriorate into factories of failure.

Are monkeys talking behind our backs? That creepy "Planet of the Apes" sensation struck University of Michigan researcher Thore Bergman when he heard the lip-smacking sounds of wild geladas, a baboon-like primate found in the Ethiopian highlands. Bergman analyzed the sounds, and suggests they may represent an evolutionary link between primate communication and human speech. His report is published in the journal Current Biology. "I would find myself frequently looking over my shoulder to see who was talking to me, but it was just the geladas," said Bergman.