U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday he has picked as his secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator and veteran who has expressed disdain for the so-called "woke" policies of Pentagon leaders including its top military officer. Hegseth, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate, could make good on Trump's campaign promises to rid the U.S. military of generals who he accuses of pursuing progressive policies on diversity in the ranks that conservatives have rallied against.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that Tesla founder Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, a White House office given the task of cutting the federal budget. In a statement, Mr. Trump said the two business leaders will work to “dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.” The Department of...

Former Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years for stealing classified information from the Defense Department and sharing it online, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts announced. Attorneys for Teixeira didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Teixeira apologized, according to coverage of the hearing in U.S. District Court by NBC affiliate WJAR of Providence, Rhode Island.

These American women couldn't be further apart in their viewpoints: Mia Akins is a student involved in the anti-abortion movement in Florida. Molly, a mother from California who prefers not to publish her full name, flew across the country to Washington to express her frustration after the election. Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election has triggered strong emotions among women in the US.  "I'm definitely happy that Trump won, but even...

Donald Trump is nominating former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel, the president-elect said Tuesday, tapping a staunchly pro-Israel conservative whose choice could signal future U.S. policy toward conflicts in the Middle East. An evangelical Christian, Huckabee has been a vocal supporter of Israel throughout his political career and a long-time defender of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. A former Republican presidential hopeful,...

Embattled Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday expressed hope that the incoming Trump administration would work with him on the influx of illegal immigrants that have flocked to his city, but said he was not in favor of mass deportations.  Adams has pushed President Joe Biden's administration to provide more funding for sanctuary cities who are dealing with the influx of illegal immigrants who entered the country over the past four years. He has also pushed for...

Russia is expected to lay off at least 40,000 government officials next year, according to a report by the Russian Kommersant newspaper. Russian President Vladimir Putin last month ordered regional branches of federal government agencies to cut staff by 10% by July, per the publication. The layoffs were believed to be planned for much earlier but were put on hold for several years due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Biden administration said on Tuesday that Israel made good but limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and that it therefore would not limit arms transfers to Israel as it threatened to do a month ago.  However, relief groups say conditions are worse than at any point in the 13-month-old war.  State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Tuesday the progress to date must be supplemented and sustained but that “we at this time have not made an...

After several cycles of remarkable electoral luck and timing, three-term Pennsylvania Democratic senator Bob Casey Jr. finally met his match and was defeated by Republican businessman Dave McCormick. Only Casey refuses to admit it, claiming that uncounted provisional ballots could erase what currently stands as a 0.5 percentage-point lead of 33,000 votes for McCormick. This is beyond mere statistical improbability to the point of impossibility, given where the outstanding...

Republican senators will gather behind closed doors Wednesday to decide who will replace longtime Senate leader Mitch McConnell and lead their new majority next year — a decision that could shape the future of the Senate, and the party, as Donald Trump reclaims the presidency. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Florida Sen. Rick Scott have been scrambling to win the most votes in the secret ballot election, promising a new direction in the ...