House elections produced a stalemate. Can Republicans figure out how to work with a thin majority?
WASHINGTON (AP) — After one of the most chaotic and least productive U.S. House sessions in modern history, voters made a surprising choice in elections — they overwhelmingly stuck with the status quo. Republicans will hold onto a thin majority in the House. While the chamber’s exact partisan divide is still coming into focus as votes are tallied in a handful of remaining races, the results of 435 House races nationwide produced hardly any change to the makeup of the chamber. In fact, the election results so far have ended in a stalemate. Republicans and Democrats have each flipped seven seats. Just eight incumbents nationwide have lost their races.
Trump names Interior-designee Doug Burgum to head new White House council on energy
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Friday that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s choice to head the Interior Department, will also head a newly created National Energy Council that will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world. Trump said Burgum will oversee a panel that crosses all executive-branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation. Earlier Friday, Trump said Steven Cheung will serve as his White House communications director and Sergio Gor will run the personnel office. Both positions could be influential in the new administration.
Trump Pentagon pick had been flagged by fellow service member as possible ‘Insider Threat’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Pete Hegseth, the Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Defense, was flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that’s associated with white supremacist groups. Hegseth has said he was pulled by his National Guard unit from guarding Joe Biden’s January 2021 inauguration, saying he was unfairly identified as an extremist due to a cross tattoo on his chest. This week, however, a fellow Guard member shared with The Associated Press an email he sent to the unit’s leadership flagging a different tattoo reading “Deus Vult” that’s been used by white supremacists, concerned it was an indication of an “Insider Threat.”
In final talks, Biden to press China’s Xi on North Korea’s ties with Russia
LIMA, Peru (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to use his final meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping to urge him to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its backing of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Saturday’s talks on the sidelines of an international summit come with about two months to go before Biden leaves office. Biden met with the leaders of South Korea and Japan and expressed alarm with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s decision to send thousands of troops to help Moscow battle Ukrainian troops. Biden administration officials believe Beijing could be doing more to urge Pyongyang against involving itself in Russia’s war.
Operation False Target: How Russia plotted to mix a deadly new weapon among decoy drones in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — At a secretive factory in Russia’s central grasslands, engineers are manufacturing hundreds of decoy drones meant to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses as they try to protect against a horrific new weapon, an Associated Press investigation has found. The plant at Russia’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone recently started churning out thermobaric drones alongside the decoys, the investigation found. The thermobaric warheads create a vortex of high pressure and heat that can penetrate thick walls. They suck out all the oxygen in their path, and cause injuries even outside the initial blast site: Collapsed lungs, crushed eyeballs, brain damage. Russia came up with the plan in late 2022 and codenamed it Operation False Target, the investigation found.
Lebanon’s prime minister asks Iran to help secure a cease-fire in Israel-Hezbollah war
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, asked Iran to help secure a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah. He appeared to be urging it to press the militant group, a close ally of Iran, to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border. Mikati made the comments in talks with Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. According to Lebanese media, the U.S. gave Lebanese officials a draft of a proposed cease-fire deal based on a 2009 resolution that would, among other things, require Hezbollah to withdraw from a large border area.
In the polar bear capital of the world, a community lives with the predator next door and loves it
CHURCHILL, Manitoba (AP) — Churchill is a remote Canadian town that not only lives with the predator next door, but loves it. That’s because the predator — polar bears — attracts the tourists who saved the town on Hudson Bay when a military base closed. The bears bring millions of dollars into the economy by attracting visitors eager to see them. But they’re entering town more frequently in search of food because climate change is shrinking the sea ice they depend on to hunt. It’s been more than a decade since a bear last attacked people, mauling two people on a Halloween night. Townspeople look out for each other and for tourists with an alert system, paid guards and a polar bear jail specially made for troublesome animals.
The daughters of Malcolm X sue the CIA, FBI and NYPD over the civil rights leader’s assassination
NEW YORK (AP) — Three daughters of Malcolm X are accusing multiple law enforcement agencies in a $100 million lawsuit of playing roles in the 1965 assassination of the civil rights leader. The CIA, FBI, the New York Police Department and others were named in the lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan federal court. The daughters — along with the Malcolm X estate — claim in the lawsuit that the agencies were aware of and were involved in the assassination plot and failed to stop the killing. For decades, More questions than answers have arisen over who was to blame for the death. The FBI declined to comment and the other law enforcement agencies did not immediately respond to interview requests.
Hundreds of hospitality workers are on strike at a casino near the Las Vegas Strip
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Hundreds of Las Vegas hotel workers have gone on strike at a casino near the Strip. It’s the first open-ended strike in 22 years for the Culinary Workers Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers across Nevada. That includes the 700 who went on strike Friday morning at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The strike comes after a bitter and highly publicized fight for a new contract that started over a year ago. Housekeepers, cocktail waitresses, porters, bellmen and more were on the picket line Friday. The union says it’s trying to win the same pay raises and benefits that it has gotten for the rest of its Las Vegas members since last November.
Jake Paul, Mike Tyson set for fight between influencer-turned-boxer and retired giant of the sport
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mike Tyson is set for his first sanctioned fight since 2005 as the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion takes on much younger YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Texas. The eight-round bout Friday night at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys will be streamed on Netflix. Texas regulators sanctioned the bout with limited rounds at just two minutes per round and heavier gloves. Tyson retired with a 50-6 record and 44 knockouts after losing to Kevin McBride. The 27-year-old Paul debuted as a pro boxer about four years ago and is 10-1 fighting mostly mixed martial artists and journeymen boxers.