As Donald Trump staffs up for second term, only MAGA loyalists need apply
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — As advisers and allies of Republican President-elect Donald Trump search for personnel to staff his coming administration, one quality is absolutely paramount: unquestioning loyalty.
Nation and world news in brief for November 12
Mattel mistakenly lists porn site on packaging for ‘Wicked’ dolls
Army private is identified almost 80 years after death in World War II
Seven months after the pivotal D-Day invasion of the French coast, a baby-faced Army private from Chicago and his anti-tank company were resupplying and reinforcing Allied forces for weeks along a 40-mile-wide front on the France-Germany border in early January 1945.
Spirit Airlines plane hit by gunfire in Haiti and forced to divert
A Spirit Airlines flight attempting to land in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was shot at Monday and forced to divert, marking a sharp escalation in the violence that has gripped the nation.
LAX security popped open student’s suitcase, found her clothes soaked in meth, officials say
LOS ANGELES — A student was arrested at LAX after security found her pink suitcase was filled with what federal authorities allege was more than a dozen white T-shirts that had been soaked in liquid methamphetamine.
Trump names Lee Zeldin, Stephen Miller to key posts in new administration
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is moving quickly to install loyalists into prominent posts in his new administration, underscoring his intention to move quickly to implement sweeping new immigration and regulatory policies in the first days of his new term.
Israeli strikes kill 37 as attacks intensify in central and southern Gaza, medics say
CAIRO — An Israeli airstrike killed seven people late Monday at a café near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Palestinian medics said, bringing the death toll from Israeli strikes since Sunday night to at least 37.
Biden, Harris honor veterans in first event after US election loss
ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris honored U.S. military veterans on Monday in their first joint appearance since Harris lost Democrats’ presidential bid to Republican Donald Trump in last week’s election.
At the pandemic’s start, Americans began drinking more. They still are
Americans started drinking more as the COVID-19 pandemic got underway. They were stressed, isolated, uncertain — the world as they had known it had changed overnight.
At least 40 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, medics say
CAIRO — At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday, including two dozen when a residential building in the northern town of Jabalia was hit, Palestinian health officials and a human rights group said.
25 escaped monkeys of 43 are captured in South Carolina
Twenty-five of the 43 monkeys that escaped an enclosure at a South Carolina research center were captured Saturday and Sunday while the rest remain at large, officials said.
After a 2,000-mile trip, a penguin finds itself on an Australian beach
It was a day as Australian as you can get: Sun, waves and surfing at the beach.
Japan PM battles for survival in parliament vote as Trump looms large
TOKYO — Japanese lawmakers decide today whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba remains the country’s leader after his scandal-tarnished coalition lost its parliamentary majority in a lower house election late last month. Ishiba, who called the snap poll after coming into office on Oct. 1, is expected to prevail as his Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner Komeito won the biggest block of seats in the election, while losing the majority held since 2012.
Judge to decide whether Trump’s hush money conviction can stand
NEW YORK — A New York judge is set to decide this week whether President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal conviction on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star should be overturned in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity. Justice Juan Merchan has said he will make his decision by Tuesday. It is the first of two pivotal choices that the judge must make after Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory. Merchan also must decide whether to go ahead with sentencing Trump on Nov. 26 as currently scheduled. Legal experts have said sentencing now is unlikely to happen ahead of Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. A favorable ruling by Merchan for Trump on the immunity question or a sentencing delay would pave the way for him to return to the White House largely unencumbered by any of the four criminal cases that once appeared to threaten his ambitions to win back the White House. Officials at the U.S. Justice Department are assessing how to wind down the two federal criminal cases brought against Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith due to its longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president. A separate case in Georgia involving state criminal charges concerning Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss remains in limbo. Trump, 78, pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing in all four cases, which he portrayed as political persecutions by allies of Democratic President Joe Biden designed to thwart his campaign.
Ukraine attacks Moscow with 34 drones, biggest strike on the Russian capital
MOSCOW — Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 34 drones, the biggest drone strike on the Russian capital since the start of the war in 2022, forcing flights to be diverted from three of the city’s major airports and injuring at least five people.
Elon Musk endorses Republican Rick Scott for US Senate majority leader
Businessman Elon Musk, an ally of President-elect Donald Trump, endorsed Republican Senator Rick Scott for U.S. Senate majority leader on Sunday as the race to fill the influential post heats up after the party won control of the chamber.
Nation and world news in brief for November 11
Strong quake rocks eastern Cuba, damaging buildings, infrastructure
Trump offers Elise Stefanik job as US ambassador to UN, CNN reports
(Reuters) — President-elect Donald Trump has offered Republican Representative Elise Stefanik the job as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, CNN reported on Sunday, citing two unnamed sources.
How a Trump presidency could lead to a purge at the Pentagon
WASHINGTON — During his campaign for re-election, Donald Trump vowed to purge the military of so-called “woke” generals. Now that he is president-elect, the question in the halls of the Pentagon is whether he would go much further.
Qatar stalls its Gaza ceasefire mediation
Qatar has told Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel it will stall its efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until they show “willingness and seriousness” to resume talks, its foreign ministry said on Saturday.