Pageantry for Trump-Xi summit will mask feud over AI race

President Donald Trump welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington for a state visit focused more on pageantry than policy, with low expectations for breakthroughs on long-standing feuds between the world’s biggest economies.

Xi and his wife, former military singer Peng Liyuan, will be greeted by Trump on Wednesday evening, marking the first time in recent memory that a U.S. president has received his Chinese counterpart on an American airport tarmac. Meetings spanning thorny issues including trade and Taiwan will follow, along with a state dinner — the second of Trump’s current term — before farewells on Friday.

The trip is Xi’s first state visit to the U.S. capital since 2015. Both sides have lowered expectations for either breakthroughs or bust-ups. Preliminary bilateral talks in New York on Sunday were hailed as positive, but failed to reach an agreement on extending a tariff truce expiring in November.

“The visit is the message,” said Edgard Kagan, a former U.S. diplomat in Asia now at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “There’s been a surprising lack of signaling by either the White House or China on major goals for the visit. I think the way they are framing it is very much — this is about managing the relationship.”

—Bloomberg News

Death of Presley Gerber, Cindy Crawford's son, sparks questions over drug supplier, LA luxury rehab center

LOS ANGELES — Detectives are trying to trace back the supplier of the drugs that Cindy Crawford's son, Persley Gerber, fatally overdosed on in Santa Monica rehab last weekend, according to law enforcement sources.

Gerber, 27, died at a luxury rehab center in Santa Monica on Sunday. The Santa Monica Police Department said there is no indication of foul play at this time and that it is also investigating Gerber's apparent overdose. The sources told the L.A. Times the investigation is in its early stages.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner's office conducted an autopsy Monday but deferred a cause and manner of death pending toxicology results for substances in Gerber's system and that is expected to take several weeks, if not months, according to the office.

Gerber had entered the Resolution Living facility in Santa Monica just hours before his death, police said. According to Resolution Living's website, the house is a "Mental Health Recovery Residence." The website describes it as part of a program that includes partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatment for a myriad of mental health issues, including depression, trauma and addiction, and offers dual diagnosis treatment for co-occurring disorders.

—Los Angeles Times

Beavers threaten to drown one Minnesota town’s Swedish history

MINNEAPOLIS — Mature trees are dying. A bridge is swamped. Historic buildings are at risk. The source of all the mayhem? A colony of industrious beavers.

Their persistent dam-building is soaking the small town of Scandia northeast of the Twin Cities, causing floodwater to creep up behind City Hall and encroach on the Swedish immigrant heritage museum.

The workaholic rodents have engineered a battle between the city and a private property owner, led officials to consider litigation and stirred a debate over who is responsible for solving the soggy issue.

“It’s unnerving how close the water has gotten to the historic buildings, because if those are affected then we can’t replace them,” said Ann Rinkenberger, executive director of the Gammelgården Museum.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

Trump administration has invited Putin to G20 summit in US, Rubio says

The United States has invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit, a gathering of global powers that will be held in Florida in December, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New York.

Asked whether President Donald Trump would meet Putin for talks about the war in Ukraine, Rubio said the president is willing to engage with anyone, including people he disagrees with.

“We’ve invited President Putin to the G20,” he said. “We think it’s an opportunity for him to engage not just with the president, but with other world leaders. We hope that’s an invitation he’ll accept. There’s an opportunity in December if that happens.” Rubio said Trump has spoken dozens of times with Putin on the phone.

“We remain open to engaging,” he said. “Obviously, the ideal would be a meeting in which there will be a result, an outcome, and a lot of that means there has to be a lot of work that goes into it beforehand. But if not, maybe if President Putin attends the G20 in December that will certainly be an opportunity for them to interact and talk.”

—Miami Herald