Trump builds out national security team with picks of Hegseth for Pentagon, Noem for DHS

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump moved to build out his national security team Tuesday, announcing he is nominating Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.

In a flurry of announcements, Trump said he had chosen former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel and his longtime friend Steven Witkoff to be a special envoy to the Middle East. Trump also said he would nominate South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to run the Department of Homeland Security and named Bill McGinley, his Cabinet secretary in his first administration, as his White House counsel.

Trump is rolling out a steady stream of appointees and nominees for his upcoming administration, working thus far at a faster pace and without as much drama as his first transition following his 2016 victory. His selection of Hegseth, who lacks senior military or national security experience, was sure to draw questions about his qualifications to lead the department.

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.

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.

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Certifying this year's presidential results begins quietly, in contrast to the 2020 election

ATLANTA (AP) — Local officials are beginning to certify the results of this year’s presidential election in a process that, so far, has been playing out quietly, in stark contrast to the tumultuous certification period four years ago that followed then-President Donald Trump’s loss.

Georgia was the first of the presidential battleground states to start certifying, with local election boards voting throughout the day Tuesday. As counties certified their results without controversy, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger hailed Georgia’s election as “free, fair and fast.”

Trump won Georgia and the six other presidential battleground states, after losing six of them to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. County certification meetings are scheduled later in the week in several other swing states — Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

The lack of certification drama so far this week is a return to how the typically routine process worked before Trump lost his bid for reelection four years ago. As he sought then to overturn the will of the voters, he and his allies pressured Republican members of certification boards in Michigan to delay or halt the process. They also sought to delay certifications in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

The boards ultimately voted to certify, but Trump’s focus on certification caught on among Republicans. Some local Republican officials have refused to certify results in elections since then, raising concerns of a wider movement to reject certification this year had Trump lost to Vice President Kamala Harris.

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Trump says Musk, Ramaswamy will form outside group to advise White House on government efficiency

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency" — which is not, despite the name, a government agency.

The acronym “DOGE” is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.” He added that the move would shock government systems.

It's not clear how the organization will operate. It could come under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which dictates how external groups that advise the government must operate and be accountable to the public.

Federal employees are generally required to disclose their assets and entanglements to ward off any potential conflicts of interest, and to divest significant holdings relating to their work. Because Musk and Ramaswamy would not be formal federal workers, they would not face those requirements or ethical limitations.

Musk posted on X: “Department of Government Efficiency. The merch will be (fire emojis).” Later he added: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”

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Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison by a federal judge

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge sentenced a Massachusetts Air National Guard member to 15 years in prison Tuesday for leaking classified military documents about the war in Ukraine, actions prosecutors said put the country's national security at risk, endangered other military members and damaged U.S. relationships with its allies.

Jack Teixeira had pleaded guilty in March to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act, nearly a year after his arrest in the most consequential national security breach in years. Wearing an orange jumpsuit in court, he showed no reaction as he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.

“Today, Mr. Teixeira has paid a very heavy price for laws he broke, for the incredible damage that he caused," Acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said afterward. “This significant sentence sends a powerful message to every individual who holds a top secret clearance. Anyone who willfully threatens our national security by illegally disseminating classified information will face very serious repercussions.”

Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston Division, told reporters the sentence held Teixeira accountable for “being one of the most prolific leakers of classified information in American history.”

“This former Air National Guardsman grossly betrayed our country and the oath he took to safeguard its secrets in order to boost his ego and impress his friends,” Cohen said. “This was not a victimless crime. The exceptionally grave damage he caused will impact our national security for decades to come.”

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Why is only limited aid getting to Palestinians inside Gaza?

JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States said Tuesday it would not punish Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. But it urged Israel to increase the flow of aid into the besieged territory.

The White House last month gave Israel 30 days to improve conditions or risk losing military support. As the deadline expired, leading international aid groups said the U.S. had fallen far short, with the humanitarian situation in Gaza the worst it has been since the war erupted.

Late Tuesday, the State Department said Israel has made limited progress and that it would not take any punitive action against its close ally. However, it called for more steps.

“We are not giving Israel a pass,” said Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman. “We want to see the totality of the humanitarian situation improve.”

After 13 months of war, aid groups accuse the Israeli military of hindering and even blocking shipments in Gaza. Almost the entire population of around 2.3 million Palestinians is relying on international aid for survival, and food security experts and rights groups caution that famine may already be underway in hard-hit north Gaza.

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Explosion at Kentucky business injures 11 workers, shatters windows in surrounding neighborhood

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals after an explosion on Tuesday at a Louisville, Kentucky, business that produces natural color for foods and drinks.

The explosion, which happened around 3 p.m. at Givaudan Sense Colour, knocked out windows and blew in doors in nearby homes and businesses. Responding firefighters rescued and evacuated many people from inside the building, including some with life-threatening injuries, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a statement Tuesday night.

News video footage showed an industrial building with the middle section burned and partially collapsed. The cause remained unknown.

The University of Louisville Hospital treated seven of the people injured and two of them were in critical condition, said Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer for University of Louisville Health. Hospital officials activated decontamination procedures for the victims, a process that involves removing their clothing and all the chemicals on them and then taking them for evaluation and treatment, Smith said. Other patients were taken to Baptist East Hospital, Greenberg said.

A Givaudan spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday night. No one answered the phone at the company’s Louisville office, and a man who answered at the Port Washington, Wisconsin, office declined to comment.

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Women suing over Idaho's abortion ban describe dangerous pregnancies, becoming 'medical refugees'

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Four women suing over Idaho's strict abortion bans told a judge Tuesday how excitement over their pregnancies turned to grief and fear after they learned their fetuses were not likely to survive to birth — and how they had to leave the state to get abortions amid fears that pregnancy complications would put their own health in danger.

“We felt like we were being made refugees, medical refugees,” said Jennifer Adkins, one of the plaintiffs in the case.

The women, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, aren't asking for the state's abortion ban to be overturned. Instead, they want the judge to clarify and expand the exceptions to the strict ban so that people facing serious pregnancy complications can receive abortions before they are at death's door.

Currently, the state's near-total ban makes performing an abortion a felony at any stage of pregnancy unless it is “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.”

Adkins' fetus had a severe medical condition that meant it would not survive the pregnancy. The illness also put Adkins at risk of developing “mirror syndrome,” a dangerous syndrome that can cause fatally high blood pressure and other issues, she said.

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Amid Earth's heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Even as Earth sets new heat records, humanity this year is pumping 330 million tons (300 million metric tons) more carbon dioxide into the air by burning fossil fuels than it did last year.

This year the world is on track to put 41.2 billion tons (37.4 billion metric tons) of the main heat-trapping gas into the atmosphere. It’s a 0.8% increase from 2023, according to Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists who track emissions. Several United Nations reports say the globe must cut emissions by 42% by 2030 to possibly limit warming to an internationally agreed-upon threshold.

This year's pollution increase isn't quite as large as last year's 1.4% jump, scientists said while presenting the data at the United Nations climate talks in Azerbaijan.

If the world continues burning fossil fuels at today's level, it has six years before passing 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the limit agreed to at the 2015 climate talks in Paris, said study co-author Stephen Sitch. The Earth is already at 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit), according to the United Nations.

“We clearly are not doing enough on a global scale to reduce emissions. It’s as simple as that,” said study co-author Mike O'Sullivan, a University of Exeter climate scientist. "We need to massively increase ambition and actually just think outside the box of how we can change things, not be so tied to fossil fuel interests.''

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US prohibits airlines from flying to Haiti and UN suspends flights after planes were shot by gangs

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration prohibited U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot three planes and the United Nations also Tuesday temporarily suspended flights to Port-au-Prince, limiting humanitarian aid coming into the country.

Bullets hit a Spirit Airlines plane when it was about to land in the capital Monday, injuring a flight attendant and forcing the airport to shut down. Photos and videos obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes dotting the interior of a plane.

On Tuesday, JetBlue and American Airlines announced that postflight inspections found their planes also had been shot Monday while departing Port-au-Prince. American suspended flights to the capital until Feb. 12.

The shootings were part of a wave of violence that erupted as the country plagued by gang violence swore in its new prime minister after a politically tumultuous process.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the agency documented 20 armed clashes and more roadblocks affecting humanitarian operation during the violence Monday. The Port-au-Prince airport will remain closed until Nov. 18, and Dujarric said the U.N. will divert flights to the country's second airport in the northern, more peaceful, city of Cap Haïtien.

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After Baltimore mass shooting, neighborhood goes full year with no homicides

BALTIMORE (AP) — As Baltimore gun violence continues trending downward after years of rampant bloodshed, a historically troubled neighborhood in the city’s southwest corner is celebrating a long-awaited victory: zero homicides in over a year.

The numbers are especially meaningful for the Brooklyn community, where a mass shooting in July 2023 tore through an annual summer block party, leaving two people dead and 28 others injured in the courtyard of an aging public housing development. Most of the victims were teens and young adults.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, the city’s flagship anti-violence program Safe Streets ramped up its work in the area, and officials say the efforts have paid off. On Tuesday afternoon, residents and city leaders gathered near the scene of the mass shooting to mark a year’s worth of progress.

“This isn’t just a Safe Streets accomplishment. It’s a testament to Brooklyn’s resilience and the power of community,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said. “This is a community that has been disinvested, neglected and ignored for a long, long time. But together, collectively, we are saying enough is enough.”

Across the city, homicides are down about 24% compared to this time last year. That’s on top of a roughly 20% decline in 2023, when Baltimore recorded less than 300 homicides for the first time in nearly a decade, ending a surge that began in 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray and widespread civil unrest.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024