United News of Bangladesh

Donald Trump’s return to the White House has made many countries anxious and recalculating where they stand with the U.S., but India appears to be welcoming the change that may embolden nationalist leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I know today a lot of countries are nervous about the U.S., let’s be honest about that,” India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said over the weekend. India was “not one of them.” A call from Modi “was among the first three calls, I think, that President (elect) Trump took," he added. A second Trump presidency is likely to play out in New Delhi’s favor, experts say, especially as Modi seeks to reset India’s relationship with the West after recent frictions over his refusal to join sanctions against Russia or condemn its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Modi has also been criticized over India's democratic backsliding. “Trump’s victory means that the Indian policies that have put New Delhi at odds with the West … will no longer be a cause of concern for Washington,” said Michael Kugelman, South Asia director at the Wilson Center. There could be ruptures on trade, immigration and climate change goals — but on balance, “the return of Trump means that India’s relations with the West – and specifically its most powerful country — will get a boost,” he added. Modi has sought to cast India as a rising global player with a fast-growing economy that can counter China. But critics say his authoritarian politics and right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party have deeply polarized the country with minorities increasingly marginalized and the right to free speech and press under attack. When President Joe Biden honored Modi with a state visit last year, he walked a tightrope as activists and groups pressured him to confront Modi over his human rights record. Still, the two leaders rolled out new business deals on defense and technology. Such concerns won't be an issue with Trump, said Uday Chandra, an expert on South Asia and foreign policy. “He is a refreshing reset from the Indian perspective … he is much more transactional.” Trump, long an open admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is also likely to be more understanding of India’s strategic partnership with Moscow, which dates back to the Cold War, its record purchases of Russian crude, and its refusal to pick a side in the war in Ukraine. “This was the real sort of thorn in India-U.S. relations over the past two years … but with Trump, I don’t see this being an issue,” Chandra said. Read: Modi, Trump commit to strengthening India-US ties during phone call: MEA One hot-button issue is trade. In his first term, trade differences between the two countries came to the fore with Trump calling India the “tariff king” over disagreements on farm goods, Harley Davidson motorcycles and medical devices. In 2019, he canceled the country's special trade privileges and India responded by slapping tariffs on more than two dozen U.S. goods. This time, Trump wants to impose a “universal” tax of 10% or 20% on all imports and raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 60%. India, which counts the U.S. as its second-largest trading partner, won't be an exception. “New Delhi will have to do more than just tinkering with its policies to deal with Trump’s emphasis on fair trade,” said C Rajamohan, a professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore. Immigration could turn into a sore point if Trump attempts to also curb skilled migration. Indians have often been the largest group applying for the H1-B work visa but Trump had called the visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. Progress on climate change and clean energy could also be hit. “India and the U.S. have done quite a lot on this front over the past four years — but this is something that could unravel because a Trump administration is more aligned with the fossil fuel industry than with green technology,” said Milan Vaishnav, South Asia Program director at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Both Trump and Modi embody strongmen tactics, count on an impassioned support base and have ramped up polarization to consolidate votes. And unlike liberal leaders in the West, Trump doesn’t view Modi’s policies at home problematic – or even relevant, said Kugelman. “They’re both ardent nationalists committed to making their nations stronger at home and abroad,” he added. Analysts also point to the personal bond between the two. When Trump visited India in 2020, Modi threw him an event in the world's largest cricket stadium. Read more: BRICS Summit: Putin hosts Xi, Modi, other Global South leaders in move to counter western influence The year before that, Trump held a massive rally for Modi in Texas and likened him to Elvis Presley for his crowd-pulling power. In his congratulatory post to Trump on X last week, Modi shared photos of the two leaders hugging, smiling and holding hands. “There’s a bromance between the two,” said Chandra. "But they're also united by a shared worldview — that we are in a post- liberal world and that liberalism as an ideology for conducting global politics is no longer viable. That’s as true in India as it is in America.”

Donald Trump made a victor’s return to Washington on Wednesday, visiting the White House for a nearly two-hour meeting with President Joe Biden and committing to a straightforward transition of power as the president-elect moves quickly to build out his new administration. Sitting in front of a crackling fire in the Oval Office, the former rivals shook hands as reporters looked on. Biden called Trump "Mr. President-elect and former president” before settling on “Donald.” “Congratulations,” the Democrat told the Republican. “I look forward to having, like they said, a smooth transition,” Biden said. “Welcome. Welcome back.” Trump replied, “Thank you very much," saying that “politics is tough. And it’s, in many cases, not a very nice world. But it is a nice world today, and I appreciate it very much.” He said the transition between the outgoing and incoming administrations "will be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Joe.” Trump, who has long disputed his 2020 election loss to Biden, did not invite Biden to the White House during the transition four years ago. The scene put in stark relief the remarkable political rebound for Trump, who departed Washington in January 2021 as a diminished, politically defeated leader after helping incite a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol. Today, he is preparing to come back to power with what he and his GOP allies see as a mandate for governance. Neither he nor Biden answered questions shouted by the media after their brief remarks. At one point, Biden looked at Trump, who moved his head to the side and gave a small shrug but did not respond. After his election win in 2016, Trump met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office and called it “a great honor.” But he soon was back to heaping insults on his predecessor. While refraining Wednesday from the bombast seen as a candidate, Trump looked at ease in the Oval Office, unlike in 2016, when he appeared nervous and subdued when meeting with Obama eight years ago. Trump left the White House after his session with Biden without addressing the large contingent of reporters on the White House driveway waiting outside the West Wing in case he did make an appearance. Each was joined by his chief of staff for the private meeting that is a traditional part of the peaceful handoff of power, but a ritual that Trump declined to participate in four years ago after losing to Biden. First lady Jill Biden greeted Trump upon his arrival at the White House and gave him a handwritten letter of congratulations for his wife, Melania Trump, who did not make the trip to Washington. The letter also expressed the first lady's team’s readiness to assist with the transition. As Trump met with Biden, Trump sent out a fundraising email to supporters saying that he "is inside the White House right now conducting a very important meeting.” Trump had flown from Florida in the morning, joining up with billionaire Elon Musk for a morning session with House Republicans. That discussion came as Trump prepares for a potentially unified Republican government and sweep of power. Back in Washington for the first time since his election victory, Trump told the GOP lawmakers, “It’s nice to win.” He received a standing ovation from House GOP members, many of whom took cellphone videos of Trump as ran through their party's victories up and down the ballot, in what would be, under the constitutional limits, his final presidential election. “I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say he’s good we got to figure something else,” Trump said to laughter from the lawmakers. The Constitution's 22nd Amendment prevents presidents from running for a third term. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said of Trump's arrival, “He is the comeback king.” “We owe him a great debt of gratitude," Johnson said. Trump's reemergence comes amid Republican congressional leadership elections — with the potential for the president-elect to place his imprint on the outcome. He endorsed Johnson's return to the speaker's office with the president-elect saying he is with Johnson all the way, according to a person familiar with the remarks but not authorized to publicly discuss the private meeting. Musk joining Trump on the return to Washington comes after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been spending much of his time at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida estate, and participating in discussions as the incoming Trump administration prepares to transition from Biden's. Trump has named Musk to a government efficiency advisory role in his incoming administration. Some close to Trump and his team now see Musk as the second most influential figure in Trump’s immediate orbit, after Susie Wiles, the campaign manager who is Trump's incoming chief of staff. Trump has continued to lie about widespread voter fraud that did not occur. In addition to not inviting then-president-elect Biden to the White House, Trump left Washington without attending the inauguration. It was the first time that had happened since Andrew Johnson skipped Ulysses S. Grant's swearing-in 155 years ago. Biden insists that he'll do everything he can to make the transition to the next Trump administration go smoothly. That's despite having spent more than a year campaigning for reelection and decrying Trump as a threat to democracy and the nation’s core values. Biden then bowed out of the race in July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to succeed him. Traditionally, as the outgoing and incoming presidents meet in the West Wing, the first lady hosts her successor upstairs in the residence, But her office said Melania Trump wasn't attending, saying in a statement that “her husband’s return to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging, and she wishes him great success.” When Trump left Washington in 2021, even some top Republicans had begun to decry his role in helping incite the mob that stormed the Capitol mere weeks earlier. But his win in last week's election completes a political comeback that has seen Trump once again become the unchallenged head of the GOP. Wednesday's trip was not the first time Trump has returned to the Capitol area since the end of his first term, though. Congressional Republicans hosted Trump over the summer, as Trump was again solidifying his dominance over the party. In last week's election, Republicans wrested the Senate majority from Democrats and are on the cusp of keeping control of the House, are in the midst of their own leadership elections happening behind closed doors Wednesday. Johnson has pulled ever-closer to Trump as he worked to keep his majority — and his own job with the gavel. Trump didn't meet in the morning with the Senate, where Republicans chose Sen. John Thune of South Dakota in a three-way race to replace outgoing GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Trump's allies were pushing GOP senators to vote for Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.

As Donald Trump’s victory became apparent in last week's U.S. elections, Jewish West Bank settlement advocates popped bottles of champagne and danced to the Bee Gees at a winery in the heart of the occupied territory, according to a post on Instagram. The winery said it was rolling out a special edition red named for the president-elect. Settlement supporters believe they have plenty of reasons to celebrate. Not only did the expansion of housing for Jews in the West Bank soar past previous records during Trump's first term, but his administration took unprecedented steps to support Israel’s territorial claims, including recognizing Jerusalem as its capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there, and recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights. This time around, as Israel is embroiled in a multifront war, settlement advocates believe Trump’s history of fervent support could translate into their supreme goal: Israeli annexation of the West Bank — a move that critics say would smother any remaining hopes for Palestinian statehood. Some are even gunning for resettling Gaza under a Trump administration. “God willing, the year 2025 will be the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” Israeli Finance Minister and settlement firebrand Bezalel Smotrich said Monday, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name, in comments that sparked international uproar. He said he would make sure the government lobbies the Trump administration on the idea. Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those territories for their hoped-for future state. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move most of the international community does not recognize and in 2005 it withdrew its settlers and troops from the Gaza Strip, where it has been fighting a war against Hamas. Settlement expansion in the West Bank has ballooned during Israel’s open-ended occupation, with more than half a million Israelis living in about 130 settlements and dozens of unauthorized outposts. The Western-backed Palestinian Authority administers semiautonomous parts of the West Bank that are home to most of the Palestinian population. During his first term as president, Trump abandoned decades-long U.S. opposition to the settlements. He proposed a Mideast plan that would have allowed Israel to keep them all. His ambassador to Israel was a staunch settlement advocate and opponent of Palestinian statehood. But Trump also took steps that are keeping some settler proponents cautious. His Mideast plan did leave room for a Palestinian state, even if critics say it was an unrealistic vision for one. And the Trump-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries held the country back from annexing the West Bank. While he has not explicitly stated his policy for his second term, his initial administration picks, including ambassadors to Israel and the U.N., are deeply pro-Israel, indicating he likely will not stand in the way of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government advancing settlement building. “There has never been an American president that has been more helpful in securing an understanding of the sovereignty of Israel,” Mike Huckabee, Trump's nominee for ambassador to Israel, told Israel Army Radio, when asked about the possibility of West Bank annexation. “I fully expect that to continue.” A spokesperson for Netanyahu declined to say whether the Israeli leader would pursue annexation during Trump's presidency. But Netanyahu has named an American-born, hard-line settlement activist, Yechiel Leiter, to serve as ambassador to Washington. Rights groups already claim Israel is enforcing an apartheid system in the West Bank, and annexation would open Israel up to similar charges if it doesn’t grant Palestinians there equal rights. Israel opposes giving West Bank Palestinians citizenship, saying it would destroy Israel’s Jewish character. Regardless of whether annexation comes, settler advocates envision unbridled expansion under Trump and under an Israeli government where settler leaders and supporters hold key positions. They see a presidential term where they will be able to more deeply entrench their presence in the West Bank with a proliferation of housing, roads and industrial zones. “I’m sure that with President Trump it will be much easier because he supports the state of Israel,” said Israel Ganz, the chairman of the Yesha Council, a settler lobbying group. Israeli settlement expansion has carried on to varying degrees under multiple American administrations. During Trump's term, Israel advanced nearly 33,000 housing units, according to Peace Now, an antisettlement watchdog group, almost three times as much as during President Barack Obama's second term. The numbers fell significantly during the first two years of the Biden administration, but shot up again in 2023, shortly after Israel's current far-right, prosettlement government was formed, and have surged throughout the war. The Biden administration has slapped sanctions on Jewish settlers suspected of fomenting violence against Palestinians, an approach that is likely to end under Trump. In the West Bank, billboards advertise new settlement housing, beckoning passersby to make their home there. In Beit El, next to the Palestinian administrative center of Ramallah, a new neighborhood boasts not the red-roofed, single-family homes that became icons of the settler movement, but rather six towering multistory apartment buildings that can house hundreds, and look like any Israeli suburb. Palestinians view the settlements as a violation of international law and an obstacle to peace, a position with wide international support. Israel considers the West Bank to be the historical and biblical heartland of the Jewish people and says any partition should be agreed on in negotiations. Peace talks have been moribund for more than a decade, and support for a Palestinian state among Israelis fell after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that sparked the war. Wasel Abu Yusuf, a Palestinian official, said Trump hadn’t yet made his positions clear and it was unknown if he would support Israeli annexation. Dror Etkes, an antisettlement researcher and activist, said that during the first Trump administration, West Bank outpost farms, which have forced entire Palestinian communities off huge swaths of land, saw a “meteoric rise,” as did infrastructure projects that allow settlements to expand, like roads and water systems. Over the next four years, “we can assume that we will see more significant steps of de facto annexation or maybe even official annexation," Etkes said. Some settler advocates, like Daniella Weiss, believe Trump will not pressure Netanyahu to withdraw troops swiftly from Gaza, creating an opening for resettlement. That notion would be a nonstarter with other American administrations, and much of the international community would oppose it. A similar strategy in the early years of Israel's West Bank occupation led to the proliferation of settlements there. Two of Netanyahu's key governing partners also support resettling Gaza, although the Israeli leader has said it is not “realistic.” Yair Sheleg, a research fellow at Jerusalem's Shalom Hartman Institute who studies the settler movement, said Trump was “fickle” and that in his expected push to normalize ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, he could end up being less favorable to the settlement enterprise than many hope. But nonetheless, he said, the overarching feeling among settler advocates is that "Trump understands ... the needs of the settlement enterprise.”

More than two dozen world leaders are delivering remarks at the United Nations' annual climate conference Wednesday, with many hard-hit nations detailing their nations' firsthand experience with the catastrophic weather that has come with climate change. Leader after leader recounted climate disasters, with each one seeming to top the other. Grenada's prime minister Dickon Mitchell detailed a 15-month drought at the beginning of the year giving way to a Category 5 Hurricane Beryl. “At this very moment, as I stand here yet again, my island has been devastated by flash flooding, landslides and the deluge of excessive rainfall, all in the space of a matter of a couple hours,” Mitchell said. “It may be small island developing states today. It will be Spain tomorrow. It will be Florida the day after. It’s one planet.” Small island nations call for stronger climate action Grenada's premier wasn't the only small island nation leader who came with fighting words. Prime minister Philip Edward Davis warned that “it will be our children and grandchildren who bear the burden, their dreams reduced to memories of what could have been.” “We do not — cannot — accept that our survival is merely an option,” Davis said. Davis said too often progress in the fight against climate change gets hurt when governments change, as is happening in the United States and Germany. “If we leave climate action to the whims of political cycles, our planet’s future becomes precarious, very precarious,” Davis said. “The climate crisis does not pause for elections or to accommodate the way of changing political ideas or ties. It demands continuity, commitment and most of all, solidarity.” Leaders on a panel with members of the High Ambition Coalition, a group of nations that want to see strong climate action, highlighted the “inverted morality” of big emitters who aren’t taking responsibility for their impacts on countries who have the most to lose. Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said high-polluting nations are “deliberately burning the planet." Past promises of financial aid went unfulfilled for too long, so small island nations will have to seek justice and compensation in international courts, he said. Marshall Islands president Hilda Heine called the climate crisis “the most pressing security threat” her country faces, but said she thinks the Paris Agreement process — where countries agreed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times — is resilient. Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev took the opportunity to align his country with the predicament of small island developing states in a speech where he called out developed countries, in particular France and the Netherlands, for their colonial histories. He described the harms of colonialism that continue today. Biodiversity loss, rising seas and extreme weather hit communities that are often “ruthlessly suppressed,” he said. The United States also tried to show sympathy to hard-hit places. “Do we secure prosperity for our countries or do we condemn our most vulnerable to unimaginable climate disasters?” United States chief climate envoy John Podesta said. “Vulnerable communities do not just need ambition. They need action.” European leaders recount a year of extreme weather European nations also warned of climate catastrophe on their continent. “Over the past year, catastrophic floods in Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in southern Croatia have shown the devastating impact of rising temperatures,” said Croatia's prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic. “The Mediterranean, one of the most vulnerable regions, calls for urgent action.” Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama said he was dismayed by the lack of political action and political will and leaders of many nations not showing up at climate talks as extreme weather strikes harder and more frequently. Frustrated with other leaders mere talk, Rama decried that “life goes on with old habits" and all these speeches filled with good intent change nothing. “What is happening in Europe and around the world today doesn’t leave much room for optimism, though optimism is the only way of survival,” Rama said. Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Europe and the world needs to be “more honest” about the trade-offs needed to keep global temperatures down. “We need to ask hard questions about a path that goes very fast, at the expense of our competitiveness, and a path that goes some much slower, but allows our industry to adapt and to thrive,” he said. His nation this summer was hammered by successive heat waves after three years of below-average rainfall. The misery included water shortages, dried-up lakes and the death of wild horses. Ireland environment minister Eamon Ryan channeled some hope, saying that the 2015 Paris climate treaty “still lives” and that countries who drop out will realize they are falling behind as other countries move forward and see benefits to their economies. Negotiators labor on for elusive deal on money Negotiators at the summit are looking to hammer out a deal on how much money, and in what form, developed countries will pledge for adapting to climate change and transitioning to clean energy for developing nations. On Wednesday morning, an early draft of what that final deal will look like was released, but it still contained multiple options that negotiators will wrestle over to reach a consensus by the end of the climate talks. David Waskow, director of international climate action at the World Resources Institute said the latest 34-page draft reflects “all of the options on the table.” “Negotiators now need to work to boil it down to some key decisions” that can be worked on at the second half of the summit. The latest draft “does incorporate some new demands” including an ask for one of the largest negotiating blocs — the G77 plus China — for $1.3 trillion in climate finance, said Avantika Goswami, a climate policy analyst with the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment. “Developing countries have been clear that a provisional goal must be carved out to hold developed country governments to account,” she said.

President Joe Biden intends to bolster U.S. military support to Ukraine in the final months of his administration, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday, after Russia launched a sophisticated missile and drone attack on Kyiv. The U.S. will “continue to shore up everything we’re doing for Ukraine to make sure that it can effectively defend itself against this Russian aggression,” Blinken told reporters at NATO headquarters, before planned meetings with allied envoys and Ukrainian officials. Blinken warned that North Korea’s decision to send its troops into combat operations alongside Russian forces “demands and will get a firm response.” He didn't elaborate. U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments say up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops are being sent to the war. The bulk of those troops were expected to be deployed in Russia’s Kursk region where Ukrainian troops have seized a swathe of territory. Russia’s early morning missile and drone attack was the first on Kyiv in 73 days. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia is intensifying its strikes, apparently in an effort to discourage Ukrainians from continuing the war, which is approaching its 1,000-day milestone. Russia appears to be pressing its advantage as doubt swirls about how Washington might change policy on the war after Donald Trump takes office as U.S. president in January. The U.S. is the biggest provider of military help to Ukraine. Trump has slammed the Biden administration for giving Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in aid and has promised to quickly end the conflict. Ukraine’s international backers fear that any rushed settlement would mostly benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Japan's nuclear watchdog on Wednesday formally disqualified a reactor in the country's north-central region for a restart, the first rejection under safety standards that were reinforced after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The decision is a setback for Japan as it seeks to accelerate reactor restarts to maximize nuclear power. The Nuclear Regulation Authority at a regular meeting Wednesday announced the Tsuruga No. 2 reactor is “unfit” as its operator failed to address safety risks stemming from possible active faults underneath it. Tsuruga No. 2, operated by the Japan Atomic Power Co., is the first reactor to be rejected under the safety standards adopted in 2013 based on lessons from the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi meltdown disaster following a massive earthquake and tsunami. “We reached our conclusion based on a very strict examination,” NRA chairperson Shinsuke Yamanaka told reporters. The verdict comes after more than eight years of safety reviews that were repeatedly disrupted by data coverups and mistakes by the operator, Yamanaka said. He called the case “abnormal” and urged the utility to take the result seriously. The decision is a blow to Japan Atomic Power because it virtually ends its hopes for a restart. The operator, which is decommissioning its other reactor, Tsuruga No. 1, had hoped to put No. 2 back online, but it would require an examination of dozens of faults around the reactor to prove their safety. An NRA safety panel concluded three months ago there's no evidence denying the possibility of active faults about 300 meters (330 yards) north of the No. 2 reactor stretching to right underneath the facility, meaning the reactor cannot be operated. Japan’s government in 2022 adopted a plan to maximize the use of nuclear energy, pushing to accelerate reactor restarts to secure a stable energy supply and meet its pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Concern about the government’s revived push for nuclear energy grew after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit Japan’s Noto Peninsula on Jan. 1, 2024, killing more than 400 people and damaging more than 100,000 structures. The quake caused minor damage to two nearby nuclear facilities, and evacuation plans for the region were found to be inadequate. Building key nuclear facilities, such as reactors, directly above active faults is prohibited in earthquake-prone Japan. Yamanaka said the NRA is not immediately ordering a decommissioning because the reactor, which is offline and its spent fuel safely cooled, will not pose a major threat if active faults move. If the utility decides to reapply, it must address not only the faults issue but it also must implement adequate safety measures for the entire plant, Yamanaka said. Providing scientific proof of the status of faults underneath key nuclear facilities is difficult, but other operators that obtained restart permits all cleared the requirement, he noted. The Tsuruga No. 2 reactor first started commercial operation in February 1987 and has been offline since May 2011. The operator denied the NRA panel's 2013 on-site inspection results, which concluded that the faults under the No. 2 reactor were active, and it applied for a restart in 2015.

President-elect Donald Trump is starting to fill key posts in his second administration, putting an emphasis so far on aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign. Here's a look at whom he has selected so far. Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show. Hegseth lacks senior military or national security experience. If confirmed by the Senate, he would inherit the top job during a series of global crises — ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies to the push for a cease-fire between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea. Hegseth is also the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” published earlier this year. Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security Trump picked a well-known conservative who faced sharp criticism for telling a story in her memoir about shooting a rambunctious dog to lead an agency crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda. Noem used her two terms leading a tiny state to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics. South Dakota is usually a political afterthought. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions that other states had issued and instead declared her state “open for business.” Trump held a fireworks rally at Mount Rushmore in July 2020 in one of the first large gatherings of the pandemic. She takes over a department with a sprawling mission. In addition to key immigration agencies, the Department of Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service, and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports. William McGinley, White House counsel Trump says William McGinley, a lawyer who has served in Trump's White House and in a key political role this year, will be his White House counsel. McGinley was White House Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration, and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign. In a statement, Trump called McGinley “a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda, while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement.” John Ratcliffe, CIA director Trump has picked John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as director of national intelligence during his first administration, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in his next. Ratcliffe was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump's first term, leading the U.S. government's spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation's highest Intelligence positions,” Trump said in a statement, calling him a “fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans” who would ensure “the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Steven Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East Trump on Tuesday named real estate investor Steven Witkoff to be special envoy to the Middle East. The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and was golfing with him at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Witkoff “is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy,” Trump said of Witkoff in a statement. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud." Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee. Mike Huckabee, ambassador to Israel Trump will nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be ambassador to Israel, the president-elect announced Tuesday. Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests as it wages wars against the Iran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah. “He loves Israel, and likewise the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East.” Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland. Trump has been praised by some in this important Republican voting bloc for moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Mike Waltz, national security adviser Trump asked Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, Trump announced in a statement Tuesday. The move puts Waltz in the middle of national security crises, ranging from efforts to provide weapons to Ukraine and worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea to the persistent attacks in the Middle East by Iran proxies and the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah. “Mike has been a strong champion of my America First Foreign Policy agenda,” Trump's statement said, "and will be a tremendous champion of our pursuit of Peace through Strength!” Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida. He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population. Susie Wiles, chief of staff Wiles, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. Wiles has a background in Florida politics. She helped Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump's defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary. Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with the president-elect. Wiles is said to have earned Trump's trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump's three presidential campaigns. Wiles was able to help keep Trump on track as few others have, not by criticizing his impulses, but by winning his respect by demonstrating his success after taking her advice. Tom Homan, ‘border czar’ Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration leading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border, an issue Trump made central to his campaign. Though Homan has insisted such a massive undertaking would be humane, he has long been a loyal supporter of Trump's policy proposals, suggesting at a July conference in Washington that he would be willing to "run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump's “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings during his first administration, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border. Elise Stefanik, United Nations ambassador Stefanik is a representative from New York and one of Trump's staunchest defenders going back to his first impeachment. Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, when former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after publicly criticizing Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik, 40, has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership. Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile. If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine that began in 2022. He has also called for peace as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon to target Hezbollah. Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy Miller, an immigration hardliner, was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump's priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump's first administration. Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump's policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation's economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people who are in the United States illegally. Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as free speech and national security. Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Trump has chosen former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve as his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X, “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.” “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” he added. During his campaign, Trump often attacked the Biden administration's promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often told his audiences during the campaign that his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration. In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.”

President-elect Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world's largest and most powerful military. The news was met with bewilderment and wide-eyed worry among many in Washington, as Trump passed on a number of established national security heavy-hitters and chose an Army National Guard captain who is well-known in conservative circles as a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend.” While some Republican lawmakers had a muted response to the announcement, others called his combat experience an asset or said he was “tremendously capable.” Hegseth's choice could bring sweeping changes to the military, as he has made it clear on his show and in interviews that, like Trump, he is stridently opposed to “woke” programs that promote equity and inclusion. He's also questioned the role of women in combat and advocated pardoning service members charged with war crimes. In June, at a rally in Las Vegas, Trump encouraged his supporters to buy Hegseth’s book after vowing that if he won: “The woke stuff will be gone within a period of 24 hours. I can tell you.” A staunch conservative who embraces Trump's “America First” policies, the 44-year-old Hegseth has pushed for making the military more lethal. During an interview on “The Shawn Ryan Show” podcast, he said allowing women to serve in combat hurts that effort. “Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse,” Hegseth said. And while he said diversity in the military is a strength, he said it was because minority and white men “can perform similarly” but the same isn't true for women. While Trump lauded Hegseth as “tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” others were quick to point to the TV personality's lack of experience, with some suggesting he could be Pentagon chief in name only as the Trump White House runs the department. A number of other names floated as possible defense choices had included Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the GOP chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg; Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; and Robert Wilkie, a former Pentagon official who was head of Veterans Affairs in Trump's first term. “There is reason for concern that this is not a person who is a serious enough policymaker, serious enough policy implementer, to do a successful job,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Hegseth's lack of senior national security experience makes it more difficult to get Senate confirmation. “I think Trump was tired of fighting with his secretaries of defense and picked one who would be loyal to him,” Cancian said. Military officials said the choice came out of the blue. A senior military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said Hegseth's selection is raising concerns about whether he has the practical experience to manage a large department with an enormous budget. The Defense Department has a budget exceeding $800 billion, with about 1.3 million active-duty troops and another 1.4 million in the National Guard, Reserves and civilian employees based worldwide. If confirmed, Hegseth would face a daunting array of global crises, from the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine and the expanding alliance between Russia and North Korea to the growing competition with China. There is also the need to upgrade the complex U.S. missile and nuclear defense apparatus and ensure the defense industry can keep up with America's need for weapons systems. Smith said that while Hegseth's combat experience is a plus, running the Pentagon requires a lot of other skill sets, and his nomination will need some time for consideration. “What’s your plan? What are you going to do? ... How can you assure us that that lack of experience, you know, isn’t going to make it impossible for you to do the job?” Smith said. “I think those are questions that need to be answered over the next couple of months.” Even some Republicans in the Senate — who would vote on his nomination — had a subdued response. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis called the choice “interesting,” and Indiana Sen. Todd Young, who served in the Marine Corps, said, “I don’t know much about his background or his vision, so I look forward to learning more.” North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said he’s not surprised that Trump chose Hegseth because Trump is “close to him and likes him and trusts him.” “The guy’s obviously tremendously capable, a great communicator," Hoeven said. "I look forward to getting to know him better.” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Hegseth brings a lot to the table and will be "reform-minded in the areas that need reform.” Hegseth has been a contributor since 2014 for Fox News, developing a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on his show. He is the author of “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” Trump said in a statement. “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.”

  Several international airlines canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali on Wednesday as an ongoing volcanic eruption left travelers stranded at airports. Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province spewed towering columns of hot ash high into the air since its initial huge eruption on Nov. 4, killed nine people and injured dozens of others. The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano shot up ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at 9 kilometers (5½ miles) high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said in a statement. Authorities on Tuesday expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again to 9 kilometers (5½ miles) as volcanic materials, including smoldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater on Friday. The activity at the volcano has disturbed flights at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai international airport since the eruption started, airport general manager Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said. Over the past three days, 46 flights, including 30 scheduled to depart and 16 due to arrive, were affected. Shahab said that at least 12 domestic flights and 22 overseas one were canceled on Tuesday alone. For these cancellations, the airlines were offering travelers a refund, or to reschedule or reroute, he said. Three Australian airlines have also canceled or delayed a number of flights. Jetstar has paused its flights to Bali until at least Thursday, it said on its website, saying it was “currently not safe” to operate the route. Virgin Australia’s website showed 10 services to and from Bali were canceled on Wednesday. Qantas said it has delayed three flights. Some airlines are offering fare refunds for upcoming Bali flights to passengers who don't want to travel. Air New Zealand canceled a flight to Denpasar scheduled for Wednesday and a return service to Auckland due to depart Bali on Thursday. Passengers would be rebooked and the airline would continue to monitor the movement of ash in the coming days, Chief Operating Officer Alex Marren said. Korean Air said two of its flights headed to Bali were forced to turn back because of volcanic ash caused by the eruption. The airline said Wednesday that the two flights — carrying about 400 passengers combined — that departed South Korea’s Incheon international airport on Tuesday turned back toward the origin departure a few hours later, following forecasts that said Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport could be affected by the volcanic ash. The two planes arrived in Incheon early Wednesday. Media reports said that thousands of people were stranded at airports in Indonesia and Australia. About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, spewing thick clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda Airport. No casualties or major damage were reported, but the airport has remained closed because of seismic activity. Three other airports in neighboring districts of Ende, Larantuka and Bajawa have been closed since Monday after Indonesia’s Air Navigation issued a safety warning because of volcanic ash. Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as the husband-and-wife mountains. “Laki laki” means man, while its mate is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman. It’s one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people. The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.  

British writer Samantha Harvey won the Booker Prize for fiction on Tuesday with “Orbital,” a short, wonder-filled novel set aboard the International Space Station that ponders the beauty and fragility of Earth. Harvey was awarded the 50,000-pound ($64,000) prize for what she has called a “space pastoral” about six orbiting astronauts, which she began writing during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The confined characters loop through 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets over the course of a day, trapped in one another’s company and transfixed by the globe’s ever-changing vistas. “To look at the Earth from space is like a child looking into a mirror and realizing for the first time that the person in the mirror is herself," said Harvey, who researched her novel by reading books by astronauts and watching the space station's live camera. "What we do to the Earth we do to ourselves.” She said the novel “is not exactly about climate change, but implied in the view of the Earth is the fact of human-made climate change." She dedicated the prize to everyone who speaks "for and not against the Earth, for and not against the dignity of other humans, other life." “All the people who speak for and call for and work for peace — this is for you,” she said. Writer and artist Edmund de Waal, who chaired the five-member judging panel, called “Orbital” a “miraculous novel” that “makes our world strange and new for us.” Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, noted that “in a year of geopolitical crisis, likely to be the warmest year in recorded history,” the winning book was “hopeful, timely and timeless.” Harvey, who has written four previous novels and a memoir about insomnia, is the first British writer since 2020 to win the Booker. The prize is open to English-language writers of any nationality and has a reputation for transforming writers’ careers. Previous winners include Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Hilary Mantel. De Waal praised the “crystalline” writing and “capaciousness” of Harvey’s succinct novel — at 136 pages in its U.K. paperback edition, one of the shortest-ever Booker winners. “This is a book that repays slow reading,” he said. He said the judges spent a full day picking their winner and came to a unanimous conclusion. Harvey beat five other finalists from Canada, the United States, Australia and the Netherlands, chosen from among 156 novels submitted by publishers. American writer Percival Everett had been the bookies’ favorite to win with “James,” which reimagines Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” from the point of view of its main Black character, the enslaved man Jim. The other finalists were American writer Rachel Kushner’s spy story “Creation Lake”; Canadian Anne Michaels’ poetic novel “Held”; Charlotte Wood’s Australian saga “Stone Yard Devotional”; and “The Safekeep” by Yael van der Wouden, the first Dutch author to be shortlisted for the Booker. Harvey is the first female Booker winner since 2019, though one of five women on this year’s shortlist, the largest number in the prize’s 55-year history. De Waal said issues such as the gender or nationality of the authors were “background noise” that did not influence the judges. “There was absolutely no question of box ticking or of agendas or of anything else. It was simply about the novel,” he said before the awards ceremony at Old Billingsgate, a grand former Victorian fish market in central London. Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize is open to novels originally written in English published in the U.K. or Ireland. Last year’s winner was Irish writer Paul Lynch for post-democratic dystopia “Prophet Song.” Lynch handed Harvey her Booker trophy at the ceremony, warning her that her life was about to change dramatically because of the Booker publicity boost. Harvey said she was “overwhelmed," but remained down-to-earth about spending her prize money. She said she'd disburse “some of it on tax. I want to buy a new bike. And then the rest — I want to go to Japan.”