Author: Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump has said he might install his picks for top administration posts without first winning approval in the U.S. Senate. This would erode the power of Congress and remove a significant check on his authority as president. HOW IS A CABINET APPROVED? According to the U.S. Constitution, the Senate and the president share the power of appointing top administration officials. Typically, senators question nominees for Secretary of Defense and other top posts at public hearings before voting on their fitness for office. Roughly 1,000 government positions require Senate confirmation through a majority vote in the 100-seat chamber. Most…
New York prosecutors this week are expected to tell a judge how they think President-elect Donald Trump’s already decided criminal case should proceed in light of his election victory. Below is an explanation of the current status of the case, and the options prosecutors have. WHERE DOES THE CASE STAND NOW? Trump, 78, was convicted in May of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump, who denies it.…
Ukrainian air defences destroyed 102 missiles and 42 drones launched by Russia during its latest overnight air strike, Kyiv’s air force said on Sunday. It said that Russian forces had launched a total of 120 missiles of various types, including hypersonic ones, and 90 drones across Ukraine.
The Israeli military issued call-up notices to more members of the ultra-Orthodox community on Sunday to bolster its forces as it fights on its southern and northern borders, a move that may further inflame tensions between religious and secular Israelis. The Supreme Court ruled in June that the defence ministry could no longer grant blanket exemptions to Jewish seminary students from the conscript military, an arrangement in place since around the time of Israel’s establishment in 1948 when the number of ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, was tiny. As Israel fights wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel’s defense…
Jayson Tatum made a 3-pointer as time expired in overtime to give the Boston Celtics a 126-123 victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Saturday night. Tatum had 24 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in the win. Jaylen Brown led Boston with 27 points. Jakob Poeltl tossed in a career-high 35 points for Toronto, which fell to 0-8 in road games this season. Poeltl, who was 16 of 19 from the floor, also had 12 rebounds. RJ Barrett added 25 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists for the Raptors, who have lost seven games in a row and 11…
Anthony Davis had 31 points and 14 rebounds and the visiting Los Angeles Lakers won their fifth straight game by defeating the New Orleans Pelicans 104-99 on Saturday night. LeBron James failed to extend his career-best streak of four consecutive triple-doubles, but he had 21 points, including consecutive clutch 3-pointers in the final two minutes. Rookie Dalton Knecht scored 27 and Austin Reaves added 10. Brandon Ingram scored 32, Jaylen Nowell had 16 off the bench, Brandon Boston Jr. had 12 and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl 10 for the Pelicans. With the Pelicans up 10 at intermission, Davis scored the Lakers’ first…
The world’s warming tropical wetlands are releasing more methane than ever before, research shows — an alarming sign that the world’s climate goals are slipping further out of reach. A massive surge in wetlands methane — unaccounted for by national emissions plans and undercounted in scientific models — could raise the pressure on governments to make deeper cuts from their fossil fuel and agriculture industries, according to researchers. Wetlands hold huge stores of carbon in the form of dead plant matter that is slowly broken down by soil microbes. Rising temperatures are like hitting the accelerator on that process, speeding…
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his conversation with Vladimir Putin on Friday had given no indication of a shift in the Russian President’s thinking on the war in Ukraine, but defended his much-criticised decision to phone the Kremlin. Scholz’s hour-long call with Putin, their first direct communication in almost two years, comes three months before snap elections in which the wildly unpopular chancellor faces a stiff challenge from populists of left and right who are demanding a resumption of diplomacy. Critics, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the call was a breach of Western solidarity for the sake of domestic…
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his conversation with Vladimir Putin on Friday had given no indication of a shift in the Russian President’s thinking on the war in Ukraine but defended his much-criticised decision to phone the Kremlin. Speaking from Berlin airport on Sunday, immediately before his departure for the G20 summit in Brazil, Scholz said it had been worth talking to Putin to dispel any illusions he might harbour that the West was about to abandon its support for Ukraine. He added, with reference to Donald Trump’s imminent return to the U.S. presidency, that it would also not be…
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his conversation with Vladimir Putin on Friday had given no indication of a shift in the Russian President’s thinking on the war in Ukraine but defended his much-criticised decision to phone the Kremlin. Speaking from Berlin airport on Sunday, immediately before his departure for the G20 summit in Brazil, Scholz said it had been worth talking to Putin to dispel any illusions he might harbour that the West was about to abandon its support for Ukraine. He added, with reference to Donald Trump’s imminent return to the U.S. presidency, that it would also not be…