Peter Hegseth, pick for defense department, says encounter was consensual but woman was paid undisclosed sum
Peter Hegseth, the military veteran, Fox & Friends chat host and Donald Trump’s pick to head the department of defense, reportedly paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault – an encounter that he insists was consensual.
According to the Washington Post, the unnamed woman was paid an unknown sum after signing a nondisclosure agreement.
Continue reading...Incoming first lady is planning to split her time between New York and Florida during her husband’s presidency
Melania Trump will probably not be returning to the White House for the next four years with her husband, multiple sources told CNN this week, but rather will be splitting her time between Palm Beach, Florida, and New York City, where Barron is going to college.
For many observers it is unclear who might be more relieved by that decision: Melania, who famously did not love her life in DC the first time around, or the White House itself, where Trump’s wife once expressed her discontent by filling the halls with blood-red Christmas trees and destroying the historically beloved Rose Garden.
Continue reading...Attorneys and lawmakers who oppose pardons for Capitol rioters would not be able to stop him, legal analysts warn
lf Donald Trump follows through on his promise to pardon people who participated in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, attorneys and lawmakers who oppose such moves would not be able to stop him, according to legal experts.
If Trump does issue the pardons, it could indicate to many of his supporters that there was nothing illegal about the riot to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, and would undermine the US constitution, the experts said.
Continue reading...Americans who elected a leftist Democrat and a Republican president say the pair share an anti-establishment spirit
Politics makes for strange bedfellows. US political minds will be reminding themselves of this fact as the dust settles on America’s election, with some results showing that a few voters were able to simultaneously support Donald Trump and progressive-leaning Democratic candidates.
In the Bronx in New York, a strongly Black, Asian and Latino community, Trump’s support jumped 11 points to 33% over 2020, one of the largest margins citywide. At the same time, the leftwing firebrand Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez secured 68.9% of the vote, returning her to Congress for a fourth consecutive term.
Continue reading...Jochen Flasbarth called on Cop29 delegates to press on as world faces increasing crises and drop in solidarity
Governments meeting to forge a global settlement on climate finance must get over their differences this week and come to a deal – because if talks carry on until next year they stand little chance with Donald Trump in the White House, the German development minister has said.
Jochen Flasbarth, one of the most influential ministers at the UN Cop29 summit, said that if the final days of the summit did not produce a breakthrough countries would face a much tougher prospect.
Continue reading...‘Make America pro-life again’ legislation includes banning abortion pills entirely and outlawing telehealth abortions
The anti-abortion movement is ready for its comeback in 2025.
With the return of Donald Trump to the White House, complete with a Republican-dominated Congress, anti-abortion groups are unfurling ambitious lists of policies they hope to see enacted under a sympathetic administration.
Continue reading...Focus on A-list talent such as Swift and Beyoncé may have reinforced an out-of-touch vision, or maybe celebrity support holds no political power
The names read like a who’s who of A-list talent about to walk a red carpet or attend Vanity Fair’s famous post-Oscar party. Oprah Winfrey, Megan Thee Stallion, George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Springsteen and many, many more.
These are just some of the bold-face name celebrities who backed Kamala Harris’s failed run for the White House, making it one of the most star-studded political campaigns in US history. Even the world’s biggest current star – singer Taylor Swift – got behind Harris.
Continue reading...Palestinian groups shocked by US president-elect’s favouring of outspoken supporters of far-right activists in the region
Rightwing settlers and extremist nationalist Zionists in Israel have described top officials in Donald Trump’s new administration as a “dream team” which will offer a “unique and special opportunity” to expand Israel’s hold on occupied territory and permanently end any prospect of a Palestinian state.
Palestinian groups and leftwing NGOs in Israel have been shocked by Trump’s appointment of outspoken supporters of the projects of far-right Israeli activists and say the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has been emboldened by Trump’s victory.
Continue reading...Person acquired clade Ib while traveling to east Africa and treated in California for mild illness, said health officials
US health officials reported Saturday the first known case of a person infected with the new mpox strain in the country.
The person acquired mpox while traveling to east Africa and was treated for a mild illness in San Mateo, California, according to health officials. The person is isolating at home and is recovering, and there is no evidence that mpox is spreading in the United States.
Continue reading...Leaders at Apec summit in Peru, with Biden intending to urge ‘stability, clarity and predictability’ through transition
Joe Biden will meet with Xi Jinping Saturday afternoon in what is expected to be the last time the two leaders meet before Donald Trump assumes the US presidency in January.
The two leaders are attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Peru and are expected to have a meeting on the sidelines of the summit.
Continue reading...Laura Helmuth, who had led the magazine since 2020, wrote an expletive-filled social media post on election night
The editor in chief of Scientific American, the US’s oldest magazine, has announced her resignation after a series of online posts in which she called some Donald Trump supporters “fascists” and “bigoted”.
In a post on Bluesky on Thursday, Laura Helmuth, who was originally appointed as the magazine’s editor in chief in 2020, said: “I’ve decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief. I’m going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching).”
Continue reading...A man surrendered his rodents recently, and now the shelter is grappling with a rapidly multiplying mouse problem
A New Hampshire animal shelter is grappling with how to handle nearly 1,000 mice that have been turned over in recent days, many of which are pregnant.
Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, called the situation “crippling” and said the organization is scrambling to care for an overwhelming influx of rapidly reproducing rodents.
Continue reading...Some of his other nominees – Matt Gaetz for AG and Peter Hegseth for defense head – were also condemned
Democratic lawmakers are slamming Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, saying their former House colleague is a vocal supporter of Russia who poses a threat to US national intelligence.
Jason Crow, a House Democrat from Colorado and a member of the House intelligence committee, told NBC News that he has “deep questions about where her loyalties lie”.
Continue reading...Allan Lichtman’s forecast model was meant to be foolproof. He explains to David Smith what was different this time
Surely not even Nostradamus could get it right all of the time.
Allan Lichtman had correctly forecast the result of nine of the past 10 US presidential elections (and even the one he didn’t, in 2000, he insists was stolen from Al Gore). His predictive model of “13 keys” to the White House was emulated around the world and seemed all but indestructible.
Continue reading...Democrats from California to Illinois prepare to ‘Trump-proof’ and ‘fight to death’ against his extreme proposals
After the November elections ushered in a new era of unified Republican governance in Washington, Democratic leaders across the country are once again preparing to lead the resistance to Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said he would convene a special legislative session next month to “safeguard California values and fundamental rights”.
Continue reading...US president-elect says the war has ‘got to stop’ as German chancellor urges Putin to start talks with Kyiv in rare phone call. What we know on day 997
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia’s war against his country will “end sooner” than it otherwise would have once Donald Trump becomes US president next year.
In a radio interview aired on Saturday, the Ukrainian president conceded that the battlefield situation in eastern Ukraine was difficult and Russia was making advances. He said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was not interested in agreeing to a peace deal.
Zelenskyy criticised a phone call between the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Putin, saying it opened a “Pandora’s box” by undermining efforts to isolate the Russian leader. “Now there may be other conversations, other calls. Just a lot of words,” Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Friday. “And this is exactly what Putin has long wanted: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation and to conduct ordinary negotiations.” According to Reuters, Zelenskyy and other European officials had cautioned Scholz against the move.
Scholz said Donald Trump privately held “a more nuanced position than is often assumed” on Ukraine. Trump’s re-election in last week’s US presidential vote has raised concerns he could withdraw Washington’s significant support for Ukraine once back in the White House. Scholz, who spoke to Trump by phone on Sunday, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Friday his call with the president-elect was “perhaps surprisingly, a very detailed and good conversation”. Asked by the paper whether Trump would make a deal over the head of the Ukrainians, Scholz said Trump gave “no indication” that he would. Germany, for its part, would not accept a “peace by diktat”, Scholz said.
Scholz urged Putin to pull Russian forces out of Ukraine and begin talks with Kyiv that would open the way for a “just and lasting peace”, in the first phone conversation between the two leaders in nearly two years. The Kremlin said the conversation on Friday had come at Berlin’s request, and that Putin had told Scholz any agreement to end the war in Ukraine must take Russian security interests into account and reflect “new territorial realities”. A German government spokesperson said Scholz “stressed Germany’s unbroken determination to back Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression for as long as necessary”.
Russian air defence units intercepted a series of Ukrainian drones in several Russian regions, officials said, many of them in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops launched a major incursion in August. Russia’s defence ministry said air defences downed 15 drones in Kursk region on the Ukrainian border. It said units downed one drone each in Bryansk region, also on the border, and in Lipetsk region, farther north. The ministry said one drone was downed in central Oryol region. And the governor of Belgorod region, a frequent target on the Ukrainian border, said a series of attacks had smashed windows in a block of flats and caused other damage, but no casualties were reported.
Russia will suspend gas deliveries to Austria via Ukraine on Saturday. Russia’s gas export route to Europe via Ukraine is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it will not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom, in order to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. The Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, said Gazprom’s notice of ending supplies was long expected and Austria has made preparations, but the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Russia’s action showed it “once again uses energy as a weapon”.
Russia’s leading tanker group, Sovcomflot, said on Friday that western sanctions on Russian oil tankers were limiting its financial performance, as it reported falling revenues and core earnings. The US imposed sanctions on Sovcomflot in February, part of Washington’s efforts to reduce Russia’s revenues from oil sales that it can use to finance its war in Ukraine. Sovcomflot reported a 22.2% year-on-year drop in nine-month revenue to $1.22bn and said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation slumped by 31.5% to $861m.
Continue reading...Samuel Woodward, 27, sentenced to life without parole over stabbing of Blaze Bernstein, who was gay and Jewish
A California man convicted of stabbing to death a gay University of Pennsylvania student in an act of hate was sentenced Friday to life without parole in prison.
Samuel Woodward, 27, was sentenced in a southern California courtroom at the end of an all-day hearing for the murder of Blaze Bernstein nearly seven years ago.
Continue reading...Local clerks say they received threatening emails last week, amid a series of hostile election-related incidents
The FBI confirmed it is “aware” of bomb threats that targeted election offices in several Oregon counties. Local clerks in Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson reported receiving threatening emails last week, just days after election day.
The FBI said that none of the threats were deemed credible.
Continue reading...Palm Springs approves settlement for displaced Black and Latino families after decades-long fight for compensation
The Palm Springs city council on Thursday unanimously approved a $5.9m reparations settlement with former residents of a largely Black neighborhood that was leveled in the 1960s for commercial development.
The city council was also set to approve another $21m for housing and small business support aimed at the former residents and their descendants.
Continue reading...Leavitt served as the national press secretary on Trump’s campaign and assistant press secretary during his first administration
Donald Trump named his White House press secretary on Friday, placing Karoline Leavitt, a 27-year-old firebrand from his inner circle, in position to aggressively defend him.
The job of the White House press secretary typically is to help inform the American people about presidential activities without betraying the confidence of the boss.
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