ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Jake Paul beat boxing legend Mike Tyson by unanimous decision to win an intergenerational heavyweight battle in Texas on Friday that failed to live up to its enormous hype.

The bout between the 27-year-old social media influencer-turned-prizefighter Paul and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Tyson was streamed live on Netflix and played out in front of a sold-out crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Those fans were left largely disappointed as Tyson showed his age and was never able to generate any offense against his younger opponent, landing just 18 punches to Paul’s 78.

“First and foremost, Mike Tyson — it’s an honor to be able to fight him,” said Paul. “It was as tough and hard as I thought it would be.”

Tyson, who wore a knee brace, never mounted much of a challenge after being wobbled by some left hands in the third round but did enough defensively to avoid taking any serious damage.

He acknowledged after the contest to fighting through a leg injury.

“Yeah, but I can’t use that as an excuse. If I did, I wouldn’t be in here,” Tyson said. “I knew he was a good fighter. He was prepared, I came to fight. I didn’t prove nothing to anybody, only to myself. I’m not one of those guys that live to please the world. I’m just happy with what I can do.”

Tyson, one of the most fearsome heavyweight champions during his heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was in his first professional fight in nearly 20 years. He was noncommittal when asked if he would return to the ring again.

“I don’t know. It depends on the situation,” he said.

Paul (11-1) said he can now fight anyone he wants, possibly even Mexican Canelo Alvarez, after being the main attraction in the mega event that brought out a star-studded crowd and 72,300 fight fans.

“This is the biggest event, over 120 million people on Netflix,” he said. “We crashed the site, the biggest U.S. boxing gate, $20 million, in U.S. history, and everyone is next on the list.”

Taylor beats Serrano

In the co-main event earlier in the evening, Ireland’s Katie Taylor retained her super lightweight title by beating Puerto Rico’s Amanda Serrano in a controversial unanimous decision after a violent affair.

Serrano came forward throughout the fight, but their heads crashed together hard in the early stages, resulting in a deep cut over Serrano’s right eye. The referee later took a point off Taylor for head butts.

In the end all three judges scored it 95-94 for Taylor, who denied accusations from Serrano’s corner that she was fighting dirty.

Taylor won the pair’s previous meeting, at New York’s Madison Square Garden in April 2022, and said there would be a third meeting.
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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to run the Interior Department, as his new Cabinet continues to take shape.

The transition team officially announced the pick Friday, though Trump first announced the selection late Thursday during a dinner at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

Additionally, Trump announced Friday that Burgum also will lead a newly created National Energy Council that will be established to help the U.S. achieve “energy dominance” around the globe.

In this role, Burgum will direct a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a statement. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Burgum will have a seat on the National Security Council, the president-elect said.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump wrote.

His new policies will help drive down inflation and win an “arms race” with China over artificial intelligence, Trump said.

Burgum, 68, is the two-term governor of North Dakota. A billionaire former software company executive, he was first elected to the governorship in 2016 and was easily reelected in 2020.

Burgum briefly ran against Trump as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023 before dropping out and enthusiastically throwing his support behind the eventual president-elect. A staunch conservative, Burgum, in his new position, is expected to be a strong ally of Trump’s efforts to open public lands for oil, gas and mineral exploration.

Communications director

The Trump-Vance transition team announced Steven Cheung will return to the Trump White House as communications director. He held the same position for the Trump-Vance 2024 presidential campaign and served in the White House during Trump’s first term as director of strategic response.

Trump has swiftly named an array of political loyalists to key Cabinet positions. They remained vocal supporters during his four years out of office, and most of them are likely to win quick Senate approval after confirmation hearings.

Having won majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, Republicans are set to take full control of the U.S. government by the third week in January.

“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” newly reelected House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda” espoused by Trump.

Trump will be sworn in as the country’s 47th president on January 20, two weeks after the new Congress has been seated.

Trump, 78, campaigned on a sweeping agenda that Democrats will be largely powerless to stop unless joined by a handful of Republican defectors in Congress on any specific issue that would undercut the party’s slim majorities in both chambers.

Republicans will have a 53-47 edge in the Senate, and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President-elect JD Vance in the event of a 50-50 stalemate on any legislative proposal. Republicans have secured at least 218 seats in the 435-member House, pending the outcome of seven undecided elections for two-year terms.

During his bid to win a second, nonconsecutive four-year term, Trump called for the massive deportation of millions of undocumented migrants living in the U.S. to their home countries; an extension and expansion of 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of 2025; further deregulation of businesses; a curb on climate controls; and prosecution of his political opponents, people he calls “the enemy within.”

Senator John Thune of South Dakota, newly elected by his fellow Republicans as the Senate majority leader, said, “This Republican team is united. We are on one team. We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda.”

Trump also has called on Senate Republican leaders to allow him to make “recess appointments,” which could occur when the chamber is not in session and would erase the need for time-consuming and often contentious confirmation hearings.

Controversial picks

Despite the likelihood that most of his nominees will be approved, Trump this week named four who immediately drew disparaging assessments from several Democrats and some Republicans for their perceived lack of credentials.

They are former Representative Matt Gaetz as attorney general; former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat turned Republican, as director of national intelligence; former junior military officer and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary; and former presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

The blowback presages tough confirmation fights for the four in the Senate, which reviews the appointments of top-level officials and then votes to confirm them or, on occasion, reject them, forcing the White House to make another choice.

The appointment of Gaetz, 42, could prove particularly problematic, with some senators openly questioning whether he can win a 51-vote majority to assume the government’s top law enforcement position.

Gaetz announced his resignation from the House late Wednesday, when a House ethics committee probe was in the final stages of investigating whether he’d engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. His resignation ended the probe.

The Justice Department Gaetz hopes to lead already had decided not to pursue criminal charges. Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing.

Gabbard, 43, has been attacked for her lack of direct experience in intelligence and accused of disseminating pro-Russian disinformation. If confirmed, she would be tasked with overseeing 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. She won over Trump with her switch from being a Democratic House member from Hawaii to changing parties and staunchly advocating for his election.

Critics have assailed Hegseth, 44, a decorated former military officer, as someone who lacks managerial experience in the military or business world. A weekend anchor on Fox News, he has voiced his opinions on military operations, including his opposition to women serving in combat roles. He has lobbied Trump to pardon military service members accused of war crimes.

A descendant of the Kennedy family political dynasty, Kennedy, 70, for years has been one of the country’s most prominent proponents of anti-vaccine views. He has also opposed water fluoridation and suggested the coronavirus could have been deliberately designed to affect some ethnic groups more than others.

On Thursday, Trump also selected former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to be Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor; and former Representative Doug Collins to be secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He named one of his personal criminal defense attorneys, Todd Blanche, to be deputy attorney general, and another of his attorneys, D. John Sauer, to be solicitor general.

Ken Bredemeier and Liam Scott contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press.
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US President-elect Donald Trump is turning to an old ally to lead the CIA and an outsider some see as a potential disruptor to oversee American intelligence agencies when his second term begins in January. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin has more.
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MADISON, Wisconsin — Enbridge’s contentious plan to reroute an aging pipeline around a northern Wisconsin tribal reservation moved closer to reality Thursday after the company won its first permits from state regulators.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials announced they have issued construction permits for the Line 5 reroute around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation. The energy company still needs discharge permits from the DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The project has generated fierce opposition. The tribe wants the pipeline off its land, but tribal members and environmentalists maintain rerouting construction will damage the region’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels.

Permits issued with conditions

The DNR issued the construction permits with more than 200 conditions attached. The company must complete the project by November 14, 2027, hire DNR-approved environmental monitors and allow DNR employees to access the site during reasonable hours.

The company also must notify the agency within 24 hours of any permit violations or hazardous material spills affecting wetlands or waterways; can’t discharge any drilling mud into wetlands, waterways or sensitive areas; keep spill response equipment at workspace entry and exit points; and monitor for the introduction and spread in invasive plant species.

Enbridge officials issued a statement praising the approval, calling it a “major step” toward construction that will keep reliable energy flowing to Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region.

Bad River tribal officials warned in their own statement Thursday that the project calls for blasting, drilling and digging trenches that would devastate area wetlands and streams and endanger the tribe’s wild rice beds. The tribe noted that investigations identified water quality violations and three aquifer breaches related to the Line 3 pipeline’s construction in northern Minnesota.

“I’m angry that the DNR has signed off on a half-baked plan that spells disaster for our homeland and our way of life,” Bad River Chairman Robert Blanchard said in the statement. “We will continue sounding the alarm to prevent yet another Enbridge pipeline from endangering our watershed.”

Tribe sues in 2019

Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons (about 87 million liters) of oil and natural gas daily from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. About 19 kilometers (12 miles) of the pipeline run across the Bad River reservation.

The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the pipeline from the reservation, arguing that the 71-year-old line is prone to a catastrophic spill and that land easements allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013.

Enbridge has proposed a 66-kilometer (41-mile) reroute around the reservation’s southern border.

The company has only about two years to complete the project. U.S. District Judge William Conley last year ordered Enbridge to shut down the portion of pipeline crossing the reservation within three years and pay the tribe more than $5 million for trespassing. An Enbridge appeal is pending in a federal appellate court in Chicago.

Michigan’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, filed a lawsuit in 2019 seeking to shut down twin portions of Line 5 that run beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the narrow waterways that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel argued that anchor strikes could rupture the line, resulting in a devastating spill. That lawsuit is still pending in a federal appellate court.

Michigan regulators in December approved the company’s $500 million plan to encase the portion of the pipeline beneath the straits in a tunnel to mitigate risk. The plan is awaiting approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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Before the U.S. presidential election, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump opposed a Japanese company’s planned $14 billion purchase of U.S. Steel, a once-iconic pillar of America’s industrial age. With the election over, there are indications that the deal may go through. VOA Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman went to Braddock, Pennsylvania, to gauge local sentiment to the acquisition. Videographer: Adam Greenbaum
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Seoul, South Korea — Following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s electoral victory, world leaders have scrambled to secure calls and send delegations to strengthen ties with his team.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is taking a different approach: golf practice.

South Korean presidential officials confirmed to VOA that Yoon recently took up golf for the first time in eight years, specifically to prepare for diplomacy with Trump, who is known for bonding with world leaders over the sport.

It’s part of a broader response to the return of Trump, whose unpredictable “America First” approach poses unique economic and security challenges to South Korea.

The task may be especially difficult for Yoon, a conservative who leaned hard into a values-based alliance with the United States under President Joe Biden, pressing North Korea on human rights and projecting military strength.

Now, Yoon must contend with Trump, a famously transactional leader who has advocated for friendlier ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and dismissed U.S.-South Korea military drills as costly “war games.”

Trump has also consistently questioned the value of the seven-decade alliance, even hinting at a U.S. troop withdrawal if South Korea does not pay more.

Economic concerns add to South Korea’s unease, as officials worry Trump’s talk of imposing tariffs, and a renewed U.S.-China trade war could destabilize its export-driven economy.

Trump’s win has prompted soul-searching in South Korea, with many left-leaning commentators lamenting what they see as an over-reliance on an increasingly unreliable ally.

“Trump’s reelection heralds a tectonic shift in the U.S.-led international order, which South Korea has been largely dependent on for the past 70 years,” read a recent opinion piece in the prominent Hankyoreh newspaper.

It warned that the Yoon administration, after having “placed all its eggs in the South Korea-U.S. alliance basket,” will now “witness the devastating consequences of such blind belief.”

Many conservative South Korean commentators also expressed concerns about the future of alliance, even while noting that Trump presents unique opportunities.

An editorial in the Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s largest newspaper, said if Trump demands an excessive increase in defense cost-sharing, South Korea “could negotiate for independent nuclear armament in return.”

Cost-sharing woes

Defense burden-sharing could become the first major alliance test once Trump returns – just as it was throughout his first term.

Just one day before Trump’s reelection, the United States and South Korea finalized a new agreement for Seoul to pay $1.19 billion in 2026 to support U.S. troops – an 8.3% increase from the previous year.

The six-year deal was widely seen as an attempt to “Trump-proof” the alliance. However, some analysts worry it may have the opposite effect, possibly prompting Trump to overturn the agreement unilaterally or impose new financial demands.

For example, Trump could require that South Korea cover costs for joint military exercises or the visits of “strategic assets,” such as bombers and aircraft carriers, said Park Won-gon, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha University.

Such exercises and deployments were recently expanded – a key reassurance for South Korea, which relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for protection against nuclear-armed North Korea.

If Trump demanded payment for these activities, Park said, it would “inevitably weaken the overall framework of extended deterrence.”

Abandonment concerns

Trump has long been a critic of U.S.-South Korea military exercises, even scaling them back unexpectedly after his first summit with Kim in 2018. Many in South Korea now worry he could pursue renewed diplomacy with Pyongyang that sidelines Seoul’s security interests.

During his first term, Trump reserved his strongest criticism for North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile launches, which threaten the U.S. mainland, while downplaying short-range tests that pose a more immediate risk to South Korea.

Analysts also fear that Trump and Kim could resume talks that highlight their warm relations and project diplomatic progress, without advancing denuclearization in any meaningful way.

“In that case, North Korea will be recognized as a de facto nuclear state, which is a development that South Korea will find difficult to accept,” wrote Lee Sang-hyun, a senior research fellow at Seoul’s Sejong Institute, in an analysis of Trump’s reelection.

Louder nuclear calls

These concerns have emboldened voices within South Korea calling for an independent nuclear arsenal – a proposal that has moved into the mainstream under Yoon’s administration.

The latest high-profile figure to embrace the idea is Park Jin, who served as Yoon’s foreign minister until earlier this year. In an interview this week with a South Korean news outlet, Park stated that South Korea must “seriously consider all possible security options, including potentially acquiring nuclear capabilities,” if Trump resumes threats to withdraw U.S. troops.

South Korea’s nuclear armament also has gained traction in U.S. policy circles, particularly with a growing number of former Trump officials. Trump himself even proposed the idea during his first presidential campaign, though not as president.

But significant barriers remain. Such a move would likely provoke a strong reaction from North Korea and China, potentially endangering South Korea’s security during any “breakout” period. Additionally, South Korea could face severe economic sanctions if it decided to go nuclear.

Golf diplomacy

Together, these challenges present a major diplomatic test for Yoon, who hopes that spending time on the golf course with Trump will offer a chance to address them one on one.

Such an approach would emulate that of Japan’s late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who formed a close bond with Trump and tried to smooth bilateral frictions, in part by playing golf.

It’s a strategy that makes sense, according to Park, the Seoul-based professor, who stressed the importance of personal relationships and proactive engagement when dealing with Trump.

“For Trump, it’s all about who he listens to,” Park said. “He tends to repeat what those close to him feed him, so we need to leverage close relationships to convey our stance.”
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WASHINGTON — Republicans have won enough seats to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump.

A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. Republicans earlier gained control of the Senate from Democrats.

With hard-fought yet thin majorities, Republican leaders are envisioning a mandate to upend the federal government and swiftly implement Trump’s vision for the country.

The incoming president has promised to carry out the country’s largest-ever deportation operation, extend tax breaks, punish his political enemies, seize control of the federal government’s most powerful tools and reshape the U.S. economy. The GOP election victories ensure that Congress will be onboard for that agenda, and Democrats will be almost powerless to check it.

When Trump was elected president in 2016, Republicans also swept Congress, but he still encountered Republican leaders resistant to his policy ideas, as well as a Supreme Court with a liberal majority. Not this time.

When he returns to the White House, Trump will be working with a Republican Party that has been completely transformed by his “Make America Great Again” movement and a Supreme Court dominated by conservative justices, including three that he appointed.

Trump rallied House Republicans at a Capitol Hill hotel Wednesday morning, marking his first return to Washington since the election.

“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s good, we got to figure something else,'” Trump said to the room full of lawmakers who laughed in response.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who with Trump’s endorsement won the Republican Conference’s nomination to stay on as speaker next year, has talked of taking a “blowtorch” to the federal government and its programs, eyeing ways to overhaul even popular programs championed by Democrats in recent years. The Louisiana Republican, an ardent conservative, has pulled the House Republican Conference closer to Trump during the campaign season as they prepare an “ambitious” 100-day agenda.

“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda.”

Trump’s allies in the House are already signaling they will seek retribution for the legal troubles Trump faced while out of office. The incoming president on Wednesday said he would nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz, a fierce loyalist, for attorney general.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan, the chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, has said Republican lawmakers are “not taking anything off the table” in their plans to investigate special counsel Jack Smith, even as Smith is winding down two federal investigations into Trump for plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Still, with a few races still uncalled the Republicans may hold the majority by just a few seats as the new Congress begins. Trump’s decision to pull from the House for posts in his administration — Reps. Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik so far — could complicate Johnson’s ability to maintain a majority in the early days of the new Congress.

Gaetz submitted his resignation Wednesday, effective immediately. Johnson said he hoped the seat could be filled by the time the new Congress convenes January 3. Replacements for members of the House require special elections, and the congressional districts held by the three departing members have been held by Republicans for years.

With the thin majority, a highly functioning House is also far from guaranteed. The past two years of Republican House control were defined by infighting as hardline conservative factions sought to gain influence and power by openly defying their party leadership. While Johnson — at times with Trump’s help — largely tamed open rebellions against his leadership, the right wing of the party is ascendant and ambitious on the heels of Trump’s election victory.

The Republican majority also depends on a small group of lawmakers who won tough elections by running as moderates. It remains to be seen whether they will stay onboard for some of the most extreme proposals championed by Trump and his allies.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, is trying to keep Democrats relevant to any legislation that passes Congress, an effort that will depend on Democratic leaders unifying over 200 members, even as the party undergoes a postmortem of its election losses.

In the Senate, GOP leaders, fresh off winning a convincing majority, are already working with Trump to confirm his Cabinet picks. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota won an internal election Wednesday to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest serving party leader in Senate history.

Thune in the past has been critical of Trump but praised the incoming president during his leadership election bid.

“This Republican team is united. We are on one team,” Thune said. “We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda.”

The GOP’s Senate majority of 53 seats also ensures that Republicans will have breathing room when it comes to confirming Cabinet posts, or Supreme Court justices if there is a vacancy. Not all those confirmations are guaranteed. Republicans were incredulous Wednesday when the news hit Capitol Hill that Trump would nominate Gaetz as his attorney general. Even close Trump allies in the Senate distanced themselves from supporting Gaetz, who had been facing a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

Still, Trump on Sunday demanded that any Republican leader must allow him to make administration appointments without a vote while the Senate is in recess. Such a move would be a notable shift in power away from the Senate, yet all the leadership contenders quickly agreed to the idea. Democrats could potentially fight such a maneuver.

Meanwhile, Trump’s social media supporters, including Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, clamored against picking a traditional Republican to lead the Senate chamber. Thune worked as a top lieutenant to McConnell, who once called the former president a “despicable human being” in his private notes.

However, McConnell made it clear that on Capitol Hill the days of Republican resistance to Trump are over. 
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President-elect Donald Trump returned to the seat of American power Wednesday, visiting both Congress and the White House and laying out his vision as he readies for his second term. President Joe Biden hosted Trump in the Oval Office, where he promised a smooth transfer of power. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House. Kim Lewis contributed.
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The U.S. Senate’s Democratic majority began a crusade on Tuesday to confirm as many new federal judges nominated by President Joe Biden as possible to avoid leaving vacancies that Republican Donald Trump could fill after taking office on Jan. 20.

With Republicans set to take control of the chamber on Jan. 3, the Senate on Tuesday held a confirmation vote on one of Biden’s judicial nominees – former prosecutor April Perry – for the first time since Trump won the Nov. 5 presidential election. The Senate voted 51-44 in favor of her becoming a U.S. district court judge in Illinois.

All told, Biden has announced another 30 judicial nominees who are awaiting Senate confirmation votes. Sixteen have already have been reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and are awaiting a final confirmation vote by the full Senate. Another 14 nominees are awaiting committee review.

The U.S. Constitution assigns to the Senate the power to confirm a president’s nominees for life-tenured seats on the federal judiciary.

“We are going to get as many done as we can,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

Trump made 234 judicial appointments during his first four years in office, the second most of any president in a single term, and succeeded in moving the judiciary rightward – including building a 6-3 conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court with three appointees.

Biden has appointed a host of liberal judges. Since the beginning of his presidency in 2021, the Senate has confirmed 214 Biden judicial nominees, including liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. About two-thirds were women, and the same share were racial minorities.

Senate Democrats are under pressure to swiftly confirm the remaining nominees, along with any new picks Biden may name in the waning weeks of his presidency.

How many nominees Senate Democrats will be able to confirm remains to be seen. Trump in a social media post on Sunday called on the Senate to halt approving Biden’s nominees, saying, “Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges.”

Billionaire Trump backer Elon Musk on Tuesday wrote on social media that “activist” judicial nominees are “bad for the country.” Mike Davis, a Trump ally at the conservative judicial advocacy group Article III Project, in another post urged Senate Republicans to vote down all judicial appointments until January.

“The American people voted for monumental change,” Davis wrote on social media last week. “Grind the Senate to a halt.”

Current Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s office declined comment. McConnell has consistently opposed Biden’s nominees and, as majority leader, was instrumental in getting Trump’s previous nominees confirmed.

Trump’s judicial appointees have been involved in major decisions welcomed by conservatives including Supreme Court rulings rolling back abortion rights, widening gun rights, rejecting race-conscious collegiate admissions and limiting the power of federal regulatory agencies.

Judicial nominees require a simple majority for confirmation. Democrats currently hold a slim 51-49 majority, meaning that they can ill afford any defections or absences if Republicans show up in force to oppose Biden’s nominees during the chamber’s post-election “lame duck” session.

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has said he would not vote for any nominee who does not garner at least one Republican vote. Must-pass legislation like a spending bill to avert a government shutdown also may consume precious time during the session.

‘Every possible nominee’

Biden’s allies have said a concerted push to confirm his remaining nominees would allow him to build on his legacy of helping to diversify a federal bench long dominated by white men.

He is not done nominating judges. On Friday, Biden announced his first post-election nominee, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, who after unsuccessfully running in the 2021 Democratic primary to be Manhattan district attorney was picked for a job as a federal district judge in New York.

A spokesperson for Senator Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat and chair of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that he “aims to confirm every possible nominee before the end of this Congress.”

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates on Monday noted that during Trump’s first term, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed 18 judges after Biden had won the 2020 election but before he took office.

Pending nominees include five to the influential federal appeals courts. Republicans said before the election that they had the votes to block two of them: Adeel Mangi, who would become the first Muslim federal appellate judge, and North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Park, who unsuccessfully defended the race-conscious admissions policies before the Supreme Court.

There are several others nominated to serve as trial court judges like Perry, a former prosecutor now working at Chicago-headquartered GE HealthCare who would join the bench in Illinois. Biden nominated her to a judgeship in April after her prior nomination to become Chicago’s top federal prosecutor was blocked by Republican Senator JD Vance.

Vance began placing a hold on Biden’s nominees to the U.S. Justice Department in 2023 after Special Counsel Jack Smith secured the first of two federal indictments against Trump, who subsequently picked the senator as his vice presidential running mate.
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WASHINGTON — Israel’s war against Hezbollah and Hamas, while inflicting considerable damage, has yet to strike a crippling blow to either of the Iran-backed terror groups, according to a top U.S. counterterrorism official.

The acting director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) said Tuesday that the impact of Israeli intelligence operations, along with repeated military airstrikes and ground offensives in Lebanon and Gaza, have severely diminished the ability of both groups to launch new attacks on Israel.

But he cautioned that both groups remain resilient, and in the case of Hezbollah, retain significant capabilities.

“Before the conflict, they [Hezbollah] had built up unprecedented numbers of rockets and missiles and other munitions,” the NCTC’s Brett Holmgren told an audience in Washington, adding that the Lebanese group was starting at a “very strong point.”

And he said while Israeli strikes have decimated Hezbollah leadership, the group’s ground forces in southern Lebanon “remain somewhat intact.”

Additionally, Israel’s actions have done little to damage Hezbollah’s reach beyond the Middle East.

“Their external capabilities have largely been untouched,” Holmgren said, noting the U.S. and its allies are on alert for any indication Hezbollah may seek to retaliate outside the region.

Hamas’ staying power

Hamas, which touched off the war in Gaza when it launched its October 7, 2023, terror attack that killed about 1,200 mostly Israeli civilians, has also suffered greatly, according to the latest U.S. assessments.

“Militarily, they have been significantly diminished,” Holmgren said. “They’re essentially morphing into an insurgent force on the ground.”

Yet despite being forced to keep a low profile and resort to hit-and-run-type tactics, U.S. intelligence sees few indications Hamas has lost its appeal.

“Hamas has been able to recruit new members to its ranks and will likely continue its ability to do so, so long as there is not another viable political option on the ground for these disaffected young men in Gaza to turn to,” Holmgren said. 

“There has to be a more viable political actor on the ground in Gaza to give these new recruits for Hamas, to give them a better option,” he added.

Hamas, Hezbollah numbers

Prior to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, U.S. intelligence estimated that the U.S.-designated terror group had between 20,000 and 25,000 fighters, though some estimates put the number at 30,000 or more, citing support from about a dozen other terror groups that had pledged to fight under the Hamas banner.

Hezbollah, according to U.S. estimates, had about 40,000 fighters with “state-like military capabilities.”

Holmgren on Tuesday did not elaborate on how many fighters from either group had been eliminated. 

Israeli officials, however, have said their forces have killed upward of 14,000 Hamas fighters and more than 2,550 Hezbollah fighters.

The Israel Defense Forces earlier this month said it estimates that about 80% of Hezbollah’s arsenal of medium- and short-range rockets has been destroyed.

Health officials in Gaza have said the Israeli offensive there has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children.  

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said more than 3,000 people have been killed during the conflict, though it does not differentiate between civilians and Hezbollah fighters.

Terror spreading

There are growing concerns, though, that the death tolls in Lebanon and Gaza are serving as a spark for other terror groups around the world.

Less than a month after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, U.S. counterterrorism officials warned that the event had begun to galvanize other terror groups, including Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Holmgren said it appears the Hamas attack, combined with growing political and economic turmoil, has in fact helped to reenergize other groups.

Islamic State 

“ISIS exploited reduced counterterrorism pressure last year to recover and to rebuild as governments shifted attention and resources to the conflict in Gaza,” Holmgren said, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group, also known as IS or Daesh.

Central Syria, he said, had become an epicenter for IS plotting against the U.S. and the West, at large.  

And although a series of recent operations by the U.S. and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have again weakened IS, the group continues to benefit from improved finances and resurgent media campaigns, Holmgren said.

The IS affiliate in Afghanistan known as IS-Khorasan has likewise shown resilience.

State Department officials, in a recent inspector general’s report, admitted that serious questions remain about whether Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban “have the will and capability to fully eliminate terrorist safe havens or control the flow of foreign terrorist fighters in and through Afghanistan.”

And although key elements of IS-Khorasan have fled Afghanistan for Pakistan, there are fears the group may be poised for a resurgence.

“Sustained pressure will be needed to prevent the group from expanding further,” Holmgren said.

Africa

Holmgren further warned that groups affiliating themselves with IS and al-Qaida are also seeing their fortunes rise in Africa.

IS and al-Qaida attacks in West Africa and the Sahel alone are set to surpass more than 3,000 by the end of the year, he said, doubling the total number of attacks from 2021.

And it could get worse.

Holmgren said IS and al-Qaida affiliates have capitalized on turmoil in countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic, where governments have turned to the Russian military and Russian paramilitary groups to boost security.

The situation in Africa, “if left unchecked, could become a much more acute long-term threat to U.S. interests,” he said. 

Younger terrorists

U.S. counterterrorism analysts have also picked up on several other trends that they say bear watching.

One is a propensity for younger people to join terror movements.

“The rising number of juveniles engaging in terrorism is a global phenomenon, and it may well worsen in the near term as the effects of the Israel-Hamas conflict take hold,” Holmgren said.

Vulnerable young people the world over, he said, are turning to groups like IS for a sense of belonging and accomplishment.

“A lot of the propaganda — it’s easily accessible on the social media platforms” he said. “A lot of it [is in] English.”

Iran and Trump

There is also concern about how Iran will respond to Israel’s degradation of Hezbollah and Hamas, and to the reelection of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. intelligence officials warned in the run-up to last week’s election that Iran was engaged in a series of influence operations aimed at hurting Trump’s chance of returning to power.

And late last week, the U.S. shed light on another in a series of efforts by Tehran to assassinate the once and future president.

In the short term, Holmgren said, Iran could try to leverage its proxy forces in Iraq and Syria to launch additional attacks against U.S. interests and against Israel.

But he also expressed concern that Iran continues to play host to al-Qaida’s de facto leader, Saif al-Adel.

“I won’t speculate on what the Iranian intentions are, but suffice to say, it is unhelpful with his presence there,” Holmgren said Tuesday in response to a question from VOA.

Trump transition 

Holmgren promised Tuesday to work with the incoming Trump administration to keep the U.S. and its allies safe.

“I look forward to engaging with the Trump administration’s national security team to conduct an orderly transition and to ensure that they are ready on Day One to address a dynamic threat environment,” Holmgren said.

“The U.S. counterterrorism community will be working diligently, as they do each and every day, to keep threats at bay so that our democracy may continue to shine as a beacon of freedom and hope in the world,” he added.
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ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — A U.S. jury on Tuesday awarded $42 million to three former detainees of Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding a Virginia-based military contractor responsible for contributing to their torture and mistreatment two decades ago. 

The decision from the eight-person jury came after a different jury earlier this year couldn’t agree on whether Reston, Virginia-based CACI should be held liable for the work of its civilian interrogators who worked alongside the U.S. Army at Abu Ghraib in 2003 and 2004. 

The jury awarded plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Salah Al-Ejaili and Asa’ad Al-Zubae $3 million each in compensatory damages and $11 million each in punitive damages. 

The three testified that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at the prison. 

They did not allege that CACI’s interrogators explicitly inflicted the abuse themselves, but argued CACI was complicit because its interrogators conspired with military police to “soften up” detainees for questioning with harsh treatment. 

CACI’s lawyer, John O’Connor, did not comment after Tuesday’s verdict on whether the company would appeal. 

Baher Azmy, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the lawsuit on the plaintiffs’ behalf, called the verdict “an important measure of Justice and accountability” and praised the three plaintiffs for their resilience, “especially in the face of all the obstacles CACI threw their way.” 

The $42 million fully matches the amount sought by the plaintiffs, Azmy said. 

“Today is a big day for me and for justice,” said Al-Ejaili, a journalist, in a written statement. “I’ve waited a long time for this day. This victory isn’t only for the three plaintiffs in this case against a corporation. This victory is a shining light for everyone who has been oppressed and a strong warning to any company or contractor practicing different forms of torture and abuse.” 

Al-Ejaili traveled to the U.S. for both trials to testify in person. The other two plaintiffs testified by video from Iraq. 

The trial and subsequent retrial were the first time a U.S. jury heard claims brought by Abu Ghraib survivors in the 20 years since photos of detainee mistreatment — accompanied by smiling U.S. soldiers inflicting the abuse — shocked the world during the U.S. occupation of Iraq. 

None of the three plaintiffs were in any of the notorious photos shown in news reports around the world, but they described treatment very similar to what was depicted. 

Al Shimari described sexual assaults and beatings during his two months at the prison. He also said he was electrically shocked and dragged around the prison by a rope tied around his neck. Al-Ejaili said he was subjected to stress positions that caused him to vomit black liquid. He was also deprived of sleep, forced to wear women’s underwear and threatened with dogs. 

CACI had argued it wasn’t complicit in the detainees’ abuse. It said its employees had minimal interaction with the three plaintiffs in the case, and CACI questioned parts of the plaintiffs’ stories, saying that military records contradict some of their claims and suggesting they shaded their stories to support a case against the contractor. Fundamentally, though, CACI argued that any liability for their mistreatment belonged to the government. 

As in the first trial, the jury struggled to decide whether CACI or the Army should be held responsible for any misconduct by CACI interrogators. The jury asked questions in its deliberations about whether the contractor or the Army bore liability. 

CACI, as one of its defenses, argued it shouldn’t be liable for any misdeeds by its employees if they were under the control and direction of the Army, under a legal principle known as the “borrowed servants” doctrine. 

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that CACI was responsible for its own employees’ misdeeds. They said provisions in CACI’s contract with the Army, as well as the Army Field Manual, make clear that CACI is responsible for overseeing its own workers. 

The lawsuit was first filed in 2008 but was delayed by 15 years of legal wrangling and multiple attempts by CACI to have the case dismissed. 

Lawyers for the three plaintiffs argued that CACI was liable for their mistreatment even if they couldn’t prove that CACI’s interrogators were the ones who directly inflicted the abuse. 

The evidence included reports from two retired Army generals, who documented the abuse and concluded that multiple CACI interrogators were complicit in the abuse. 

Those reports concluded that one of the interrogators, Steven Stefanowicz, lied to investigators about his conduct and that he likely instructed soldiers to mistreat detainees and used dogs to intimidate detainees during interrogations. 

Stefanowicz testified for CACI at trial through a recorded video deposition and denied mistreating detainees.
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Residents across a large part of the southeastern U.S. from Florida to Virginia are still dealing with the damage caused by Hurricane Helene in late September. North Carolina was especially hard hit. Rafael Saakov spoke with the people who are struggling most. Anna Rice narrates his story. Camera: Aleksandr Bergan.
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