Musk asks ‘high-IQ revolutionaries’ to work for no pay on new Trump project

World’s richest man solicits applications for ‘tedious work’ in newly formed Department of Government Efficiency

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are asking Americans who are “high-IQ small-government revolutionaries” and willing to work over 80 hours a week to join their new Department of Government Efficiency – at zero pay.

In a new X post on Thursday that doubled as a job announcement and another one of Musk’s trolling attempts, the account for the newly formed Doge wrote: “We don’t need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.”

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Fears mount over Trump’s second term amid flurry of shock selections

Dismay as president-elect picks Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth for key roles

Fears that Donald Trump’s second presidency will be more extreme than his first have intensified amid a flurry of senior nominations that opponents have criticised as going from bad to worse.

Dismay over some of the president-elect’s early picks escalated to outrage after the far-right Florida congressman Matt Gaetz was unveiled as his selection to be attorney general – a position Trump has previously said he views as the most important in his administration.

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Trump announces RFK Jr as his pick to lead US health department

A scion of Democratic dynasty, RFK Jr is known for embrace of anti-vaccine beliefs and other conspiracy theories

Donald Trump announced on Thursday he will nominate former independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr as the US secretary of health and human services (HHS) in his administration.

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, will be a contentious pick to lead the US health department, and the role will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

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NSO – not government clients – operates its spyware, legal documents reveal

Details of emerge in sworn depositions by employees of Israeli company as part of lawsuit brought by WhatsApp

Legal documents released in ongoing US litigation between NSO Group and WhatsApp have revealed for the first time that the Israeli cyberweapons maker – and not its government customers – is the party that “installs and extracts” information from mobile phones targeted by the company’s hacking software.

The new details were contained in sworn depositions from NSO Group employees, portions of which were published for the first time on Thursday.

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Elizabeth Warren denounces Biden administration over Gaza humanitarian situation

Massachusetts senator now joins Bernie Sanders in endorsing joint resolution of disapproval against Joe Biden

Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive voice in the US Senate, has denounced the Biden administration’s failure to punish Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and endorsed a joint resolution of disapproval in Congress.

The amount of aid reaching the territory has dropped to the lowest level in 11 months, official Israeli figures show. The White House last month gave Israel an ultimatum of 30 days to improve conditions or risk losing military support. As the deadline expired on Tuesday, international aid groups said Israel had fallen far short.

But the US state department announced it would not take any punitive action, insisting that Israel was making limited progress and was not blocking aid and therefore not violating US law. Warren condemned the Biden administration’s decision to continue supplying arms to its ally.

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Donald Trump announces vaccine skeptic RFK Jr to lead US health department – live updates

Pick needs Senate confirmation and could spark controversy among Trump’s Republican allies, given Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance and conspiracy theories

An independent central bank is “fundamental” to getting good economic outcomes, a senior Federal Reserve official said on Thursday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The Fed has a dual mandate from Congress to act independently to tackle both inflation and unemployment – primarily by raising and lowering interest rates. Anything that undermines the Fed’s independence could spook traders in the financial markets, who might come to question if it could effectively tackle inflation over the longer term.

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Dick Van Dyke glad he ‘won’t be around’ for Trump’s second term as president

The 98-year-old Mary Poppins star had previously endorsed Kamala Harris and Joe Biden

Mary Poppins star Dick Van Dyke has said he is glad he “won’t be around” to experience the full duration of Donald Trump’s second term as president.

In a video published by the Daily Mail, Van Dyke, 98, was stopped in a car park and asked: “Does the future look bright for America?” The actor replied: “I hope you’re right.”

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New Orleans priest accused of child abuse competent to proceed with trial

Lawrence Hecker, 93, self-admitted serial child molester, grapples with Alzheimer’s dementia and had trial delayed

With less than a month to go before his latest scheduled trial date, a self-admitted serial child molester and retired Roman Catholic priest from New Orleans remains competent to proceed with his oft-delayed rape and kidnapping case – albeit marginally as the 93-year-old grapples with Alzheimer’s dementia, according to his most recent medical evaluation.

A pair of doctors who evaluated Lawrence Hecker on 6 November made it a point to note that his illness is “a chronic and progressive disease”, suggesting additional delays beyond several already seen in the case create a risk that the clergyman declines into a state of legal incompetence preventing him from ever standing trial given his advanced age.

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First Thing: Israel accused of crimes against humanity over forced displacement in Gaza

Human Rights Watch says its evidence suggests Israel has committed a war crime against civilians. Plus, Mark Zuckerberg drops a cover of Get Low with T-Pain

Good morning.

Israel has been accused of crimes against humanity over its use of evacuation orders to pursue the “deliberate and massive forced displacement” of civilians in Gaza, in a report by Human Rights Watch.

How much of Gaza’s population has been displaced? More than 90%, with many civilians forced to move multiple times.

What do the Geneva conventions say about displacement? That in occupied territories, civilians must be displaced only in exceptional circumstances – but Israel has used evacuation orders repeatedly.

What’s Gaetz’s background? As a member of the Maga-aligned Freedom Caucus in the House, he led the successful charge to oust the former Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy from his role.

Why else might he be controversial? Though charges were never brought, he was investigated by the justice department in a sex-trafficking case involving children, and by the House ethics committee over allegations including sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. He denies wrongdoing.

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Florida liberal arts college reinstates ‘wokeness’ course amid furore

Course set to be taught by controversial British ‘anti-woke’ media commentator Andrew Doyle

New College of Florida reinstated a course on “wokeness” taught by controversial British media personality and culture warrior Andrew Doyle to its catalog, after appearing to remove it from an earlier version, amid an ongoing furore over the university’s transformation into a more conservative institution.

The course was also restored to an internal enrollment system but without Doyle’s name attached, according to students with access to the system. The moves followed criticism of the course online and local media reports on Tuesday night.

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Bill Clinton book describes ‘frustration’ over Monica Lewinsky affair questions

In new memoir Citizen, Clinton acknowledges he has not directly apologized to Lewinsky over White House affair

Bill Clinton, the former US president, has written of his “frustration” at being questioned about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky while acknowledging that he has never apologized to her directly.

Clinton became embroiled in one of the biggest political scandals in history when it emerged in 1998 that he had a sexual relationship with the then 22-year-old Lewinsky. The president, who initially lied before apologizing, was impeached by the House of Representatives but acquitted by the Senate.

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Efune insists his Daily and Sunday Telegraph bid is still on track

Asset manager Oaktree out of running as backer but businessman has ‘high confidence’ he will get finance

The British owner of the New York Sun has said his £550m offer to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph is still on track, despite a big potential backer not joining the bid.

Dovid Efune entered exclusive talks to buy the Telegraph titles last month after submitting the highest bid in the second round of the auction for the titles.

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Loyalty the key as impulsive Trump picks team for America First agenda

President-elect’s team has China hawks, an alleged Assad defender and a Fox News host – all have been vocally loyal

As Donald Trump rushes to fill out his cabinet and enact his America First agenda in the United States and abroad, a clear throughline for his foreign policy and national security team has been a vocal loyalty to the president-elect – at least in this election cycle.

The rapidly expanding roster includes established – and some Maga supporters would say establishment – foreign policy hawks, and a neophyte defense secretary who until this week was still a conservative commentator on Fox News.

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Trump announces Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Tulsi Gabbard for top intelligence post – US politics live

Far-right Florida congressman to get top justice job; former Democrat Gabbard frequently appeared with Trump on the campaign trail

Mehdi Hasan writes for the Guardian today, asking “Is Donald Trump a foreign policy dove?”

You can read it here

Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse.

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Trump’s early second-term choices fuel fears of extremist agenda

Trump has chosen loyalists and hardliners to lead departments that will shape US policy on immigration, defense and more

Donald Trump may have won a second term in the White House just last week, but his recent administration appointments have already heightened fears among some who believe his return to the White House will lead to an extremist agenda.

On immigration, Trump has chosen loyalists and hardliners: Stephen Miller will serve as deputy chief of staff for policy and Department of Homeland Security adviser; Tom Homan as “border czar”, and Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor, will lead the Department of Homeland Security.

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Trump chooses Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence

Ex-Hawaii congresswoman ran for president as Democratic candidate before quitting party to support Trump

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to serve as his director of national intelligence.

Gabbard, who served in the US military in Iraq, served four terms as a Democratic congresswoman representing Hawaii, and ran for president in the Democratic primary in 2020, before quitting the party in 2022, and becoming a supporter of Trump.

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Trump meets with Biden and promises ‘smooth as it can get’ transfer of power

Trump also suggests to House Republicans he might seek a third term in office, which is prohibited by US constitution

Donald Trump met with Joe Biden on Wednesday and promised a transfer of power that is “as smooth as it can get”, as the outgoing US president pledged his administration’s every possible resource to pave the way for his successor.

The two men, longtime political rivals who must now work together again to pass the reins of power, shook hands as they met in the Oval Office. Introducing Trump as both a former president and now president-elect, Biden congratulated him on his victory.

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Trump picks far-right congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general

Controversial Florida congressman is latest in slew of nominations by president-elect

Donald Trump has named the controversial Florida congressman Matt Gaetz to be attorney general for his second administration.

The shock appointment aims to fill a post that had been eagerly awaited as Trump and his allies pick names for a raft of top jobs to serve under the victor of November’s US presidential election.

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New York City ends broker fees for new tenants in cost-cutting move

Move can significantly lower upfront expenses for renters in city with one of the world’s highest costs of living

The New York City council passed a bill on Wednesday that will prevent tenants from having to pay fees to brokers hired by landlords.

The move can significantly lower upfront expenses for renters in a city with one of the highest costs of living in the world. The median asking rent in New York City was $3,500 in 2023.

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Fayed accuser files US court claim to make his younger brother give evidence

Claim will be first legal action taken related to alleged crimes of former Harrods owner, who died last year

A woman who claims to have been raped and trafficked while working for Mohamed Al Fayed has filed a legal claim in a US court to oblige his surviving younger brother to give evidence about his alleged knowledge of the crimes.

The application filed at the US district court for Connecticut claims Ali Fayed, 80, has “unique and critical evidence” to give about a “more than two-decade-long trafficking scheme that ensnared and irrevocably injured what is reported to be more than 100 women”.

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