Politics

Donald Trump started to nominate people for positions in his government, which will take office in January. In foreign and security policy Marco Rubio, a senator from Florida and hawk on China and Iran, will be secretary of state. Pete Hegseth will be defence secretary. An unconventional pick, Mr Hegseth is a presenter on Fox News. He served in the National Guard but has never held a government job. John Ratcliffe, a director of national intelligence in the previous Trump administration, was tapped to head the CIA. Mike Waltz, a congressman from Florida and colonel in the National Guard, is to be the national security adviser.

On the domestic front Mr Trump’s choice of Matt Gaetz for attorney-general stunned Washington. Mr Gaetz is a fiery congressman known for his partisan showmanship. Thomas Homan, who ran the immigration-enforcement service for 18 months in the first Trump administration, will oversee the border and a crackdown on illegal immigration. Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, will head the Department of Homeland Security. Susie Wiles will be White House chief of staff, the first woman to hold the White House job. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate, are to run a new Department of Government Efficiency.

Senators sing a new Thune

Senate Republicans elected John Thune, who hails from the establishment wing of the party, to be their majority leader when the new Congress convenes in January. The Republicans will probably hold a 53-47 majority in the new Senate and will retain a slim majority in the House.

Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s economy secretary, said his country would respond with its own tariffs if Donald Trump forces new levies on Mexico. “If he imposes tariffs, Mexico will respond with tariffs,” he told a Mexican radio station. Mr Trump has said he plans to introduce new tariffs on Mexican imports into the United States immediately if the Mexican government does not halt the flow of migrants and fentanyl across their countries’ shared border.

A long-running crisis in Haiti intensified after Garry Conille, the acting prime minister, was fired by the committee that had appointed him just 166 days earlier. Haiti has not had an elected president since July 2021, when Jovenel Moïse was assassinated. Every seat in its parliament has been empty since January 2023. A UN-authorised security mission has failed to restore order. Deaths due to gang violence increased after 400 Kenyan policemen arrived in June. The UN said recently it had recorded signs of famine in the country for the first time since 2022.

At least 25 people were killed by a suicide-bomb at a railway station in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province. The bomber targeted soldiers returning from a training course. The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility. Baloch separatists have stepped up their campaign of violence this year. Meanwhile, China reportedly wants to send its own security personnel to Pakistan to stop Chinese engineers being targeted by militants, who claim China is exploiting local resources.

Japan’s parliament voted for Ishiba Shigeru to continue as prime minister. Mr Ishiba’s Liberal Democrats lost their majority at a recent snap election and he now heads a fragile minority government.

A 62-year-old man ploughed his car into a crowd of people who were exercising at a stadium in the Chinese city of Zhuhai, killing at least 35. The man was said to be unhappy with his divorce settlement.

Qatar suspended its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas. Reports that under pressure from America Qatar was about to evict Hamas, which has its political headquarters in the Gulf state, were “inaccurate”, said officials.

A 30-day deadline set by America for Israel to increase access for humanitarian aid into Gaza expired. America said that Israel had not broken American laws on blocking aid supplies and will therefore not cut military support. The UN remarked that the amount of aid getting into Gaza was at its lowest point in a year.

Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and its de facto ruler, described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide”. The prince also condemned Israel’s attacks on Iran and Lebanon. His remarks are the harshest criticism of Israel from the kingdom since the war began.

America imposed sanctions against a commander in Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, accusing him of overseeing human-rights abuses in West Darfur. It said the RSF, which fights the Sudanese army in the country’s civil war, was responsible for violence against civilians. The UN called for a compliance mechanism to force the two parties to honour their obligations to protect civilians.

Mauritius became the latest country to chase an incumbent party from office. The opposition alliance won 60 of 62 directly elected seats in parliament in an election, as the ruling party had its seat count reduced from 42 to two. Navin Ramgoolam, the 77-year-old leader of the opposition, has been appointed prime minister.

Following the collapse of his coalition Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will seek a vote of confidence before Christmas, rather than on January 15th as previously planned. He is all but certain to lose the vote, paving the way for an election on February 23rd. The conservative Christian Democrats are currently far ahead in the polls.

America officially opened a new air base in northern Poland. Situated near the Baltic coast the base forms part of NATO’s “Aegis Ashore” missile-defence system that intercepts ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, Russia fired its first missiles on Kyiv since August. The Russians have relied on drones to attack the Ukrainian capital in recent months.

The Dutch prime minister, Dick Schoof, described a spate of violence against Israelis and Jews in Amsterdam as “antisemitic” and “shocking and reprehensible”. Police arrested dozens of young men who fanned out across the city on scooters to assault Israelis and Jews, reportedly first asking to see their passports. Before the attacks Israeli football hooligans, who were in Amsterdam for a match, had stirred up trouble by pulling down Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Arab slurs. Mr Schoof said he was aware of the hooligans’ behaviour, but that was “no excuse whatsoever” for the co-ordinated attack on Jews.

A wolf among the flock

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, resigned over his response to a child-abuse scandal. A recent report concluded that arguably “the most prolific serial abuser” to be associated with the Church of England escaped justice because of the church’s failures. It said that the archbishop held “a personal and moral responsibility” to pursue the allegations further. In his resignation letter, Archbishop Welby acknowledged a “long-maintained conspiracy of silence”.

The COP29 UN climate conference got under way in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The delegates were taken aback by the opening speech from Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s authoritarian leader, who lambasted the “political hypocrisy” and “fake news” of the West. Fossil fuels are “a gift of the God”, waxed Mr Aliyev, and countries like his should not be blamed for selling them on the market. Mr Aliyev’s answer to greens who had threatened to boycott the conference was “Welcome to Azerbaijan.”