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Donald Trump has reportedly picked China critics Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz for the respective roles of secretary of state and national security adviser.
Rubio, who was arguably the most hawkish option on the president-elect’s list, advocating the adoption of a hardline foreign policy against the US’s geopolitical adversaries, has relaxed some of his positions over the years to align more closely with Trump’s. On the campaign trail, Trump accused past leaders of dragging the US into costly wars, and many Republicans have complained that American allies in Europe are not paying enough for their defense.
Sources told Reuters that Trump on Monday appeared settled on the Florida senator as his pick, though this could always change. Waltz, a Republican congressman in Florida, has criticized Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific and has called for the US to be ready for conflict in the region.
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Who has been confirmed for Trump’s cabinet? The immigration hardliner Stephen Miller (as deputy chief of staff for policy); Susie Wiles (chief of staff); Lee Zeldin (Environmental Protection Agency administrator); and Tom Homan (“border tsar”).
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What does his EPA pick mean for the environment? Trump said Zeldin’s appointment would “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions”. Zeldin said in 2018 that he did not support the Paris climate agreement.
Democrat Ruben Gallego beats far-right Republican Kari Lake to win Arizona senate seat
Arizona has elected its first Latino senator, Ruben Gallego, after the Democrat defeated the far-right figure Kari Lake who had called herself “Trump in a dress”.
The final Senate race to be announced leaves the Republicans with 53 seats in the upper chamber of Congress against the Democrats’ 47. Gallego, a progressive congressman, will replace the Democrat turned independent senator Kyrsten Sinema, who consistently blocked her party’s goals while it had a razor-thin majority.
As the Democratic party analyzes its defeat and recriminations mount, US progressives argued the path back to victory was to offer voters “popular and populist” economic policies.
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How much did Gallego win by? He took 50% of the vote to Lake’s 48%.
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Was it a surprise? Gallego polled consistently ahead of Lake by several points, despite Trump easily beating Harris in the state.
‘No ceasefire’ and ‘no respite’ in Lebanon, Israeli defense minister says
Israel’s new defense minister, Israel Katz, has said there will be “no ceasefire” and “no respite” in Lebanon, which Israel has repeatedly struck in recent weeks.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 3,000 people and displaced a further 1.2 million. In a social media post, Katz said: “We will continue to hit Hezbollah with full force until the goals of the war are achieved.”
Katz said the war’s aims were to disarm Hezbollah, force the group to withdraw beyond the Litani River, and return Israeli residents of the country’s north “safely to their homes”. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee in northern Israel by rockets launched from southern Lebanon.
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When and why was Katz appointed? Katz replaced Yoav Gallant last week after Benjamin Netanyahu fired him, citing disagreements over strategy. The international criminal court has requested arrest warrants for Gallant and Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
In other news …
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New Zealand has formally apologized to the more than 200,000 children and adults, disproportionately Māori, who were abused and neglected in state and faith-based institutions from the 1950s onwards.
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Haiti’s international airport shut down on Monday and several airlines suspended flights to the country after gangs opened fire on a commercial flight landing in Port-Au-Prince.
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The Philippines is preparing for its fifth big storm in three weeks, days after thousands were evacuated before Typhoon Toraji.
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Italian police have discovered a Europe-wide crime network forging works by world-famous artists including Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.
Stat of the day: Bluesky gains 700,000 new members as users flee X after US election
Users have fled X in droves after the US election, in which its owner, Elon Musk, backed Donald Trump, having previously allowed a series of far-right white nationalists and conspiracy theorists back on to the social media platform. A clear beneficiary of this exodus has been Bluesky, which gained more than 700,000 new users in the last week.
The violence in the Netherlands when the Israeli team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, played Ajax last week shocked people around the world. As questions continue to swirl, Jon Henley picks through what we know about how the trouble unfolded, from Wednesday night to the political reactions.
Climate check: Shell wins appeal against court ruling ordering cut in carbon emissions
As the UN secretary general told the Cop29 climate conference that 2024 has been a “masterclass in climate destruction”, news emerged that Shell had successfully appealed against a landmark climate ruling in the Netherlands. In 2021, the country ordered the oil and gas company to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030. Shell appealed – arguing that it was a political not judicial matter, and that another company would exploit any fossil fuels it did not extract – and won.
Last Thing: why are celebrity lookalike competitions everywhere?
It has been just two weeks since at a Timothée Chalamet lookalike competition in New York City, the actor himself rocked up. Since then, contests for celebrity doppelgangers have proliferated, with events held for those who look, even passably, like Paul Mescal, Dev Patel or Harry Styles. What’s behind it? Is it a marketing ploy by talent agencies, an avant-garde anti-AI protest, or, (whisper it) just a laugh?
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