How America hands power from one president to the next

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WASHINGTON — In July, Keir Starmer became British prime minister just one day after his party swept parliamentary elections. Donald Trump, who won the November 5 U.S. election, must wait 76 days to become president again. What gives? Britain’s opposition party, like its counterparts in some parliamentary democracies, runs a “shadow government” that is ready to seize power after winning an election. The United States has no such system. America’s president-to-be starts from scratch, tasked with filling posts for a sprawling government bureaucracy with a nearly $7 trillion budget and 3.5 million civilian and military personnel, including thousands of presidential appointees.more

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Australia’s plan to ban children from social media proves popular, problematic

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MELBOURNE, Australia — How do you remove children from the harms of social media? Politically the answer appears simple in Australia, but practically the solution could be far more difficult. The Australian government’s plan to ban children from social media platforms including X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram until their 16th birthdays is politically popular. The opposition party says it would have done the same after winning elections due within months if the government hadn’t moved first. The leaders of all eight Australian states and mainland territories have unanimously backed the plan, although Tasmania, the smallest state, would have preferred the thresholdmore

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Trump taps old ally, campaign stalwart for top intelligence posts 

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washington — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is turning to an old ally and to an outsider seen by some as a disruptor to oversee American intelligence agencies when he begins his second term in office in January. Trump late Tuesday announced he planned to appoint his former director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, as director of the CIA, the country’s premier spy agency. In a second announcement late Wednesday, Trump said he would nominate former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard to be director of national intelligence and oversee all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. Both nominees must be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.more

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Republicans to control White House, Congress in early 2025

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Republicans are set to take full control of the U.S. government by the third week in January, with President-elect Donald Trump in the White House and the party holding majorities in the Senate and now the House of Representatives, where late vote counting put it over the top on Wednesday. “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 weeksmore

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Trump taps senator, former rival Marco Rubio as his top diplomat

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WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to serve as the next U.S. secretary of state is Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who has been in the Senate since 2011 and serves on the chamber’s foreign relations and intelligence committees. Trump, in a statement Wednesday, called Rubio a highly respected leader and a very powerful voice for freedom who “will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.” Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a senior member of the Committeemore

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EU fines Meta $840 million over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace

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Brussels — The European Commission on Thursday fined Meta Platforms $840.24 million over abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace, it said in a statement, confirming an earlier report by Reuters. “The European Commission has fined Meta … for breaching EU antitrust rules by tying its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and by imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers,” the European Commission said. Meta said it will appeal the decision, but in the meantime, it will comply and will work quickly and constructively to launch a solution which addresses the pointsmore

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Trump picks former rival Marco Rubio for secretary of state

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washington — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he is nominating Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a senior member of both the foreign relations and intelligence committees and former political rival, to be secretary of state.  “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said in a statement.  Rubio, 53, is known as a China hawk, an outspoken critic of Cuba’s Communist government and a strong backer of Israel. In the past, he has advocated for a more assertive U.S. foreignmore

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Republicans win 218 US House seats, giving Trump’s party control of government

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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,more

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Trump taps Senator Marco Rubio, his former rival, for top US diplomat

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washington — There are expressions of relief among Democrats and Republicans after President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he intended to nominate an experienced U.S. senator for secretary of state. Trump’s choice, Marco Rubio, is a Florida Republican who has been in the Senate since 2011. In a statement, Trump called him a highly respected leader and a very powerful voice for freedom who “will be a strong advocate for our nation, a true friend to our allies, and a fearless warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.” Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence andmore

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Trump’s unexpected pick for Pentagon chief is decorated veteran, Fox News host

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Pentagon — President-elect Donald Trump has made a largely unexpected pick to run the world’s largest military, nominating Fox News host and decorated veteran Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary.  Trump has picked someone who has no previous experience in government or in running a large business. But the Army National Guard officer and “Fox and Friends” weekend host has raised his profile through hinting at several changes to the Defense Department. Hegseth has said he opposes diversity, equity and inclusion programs, or DEI, which he has called “woke.” He has questioned the role of women in combat positions, all ofmore

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US Senate Republicans choose Senator John Thune as majority leader

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U.S. Senate Republicans on Wednesday chose Senator John Thune to serve as majority leader when they retake control of the chamber next year.   In a secret ballot, the South Dakota senator beat Senators John Cornyn and Rick Scott to assume the mantle of Republican leadership that Mitch McConnell has held for the past 18 years. Thune told reporters the November 5 election was a mandate from the American people “to work with this president on an agenda that unwinds a lot of the damage of the Biden Harris Schumer agenda and puts in place new policies that will movemore

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Trump meets with Biden at White House

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returned triumphantly to Washington on Wednesday and walked into the White House for the first time in four years to meet with outgoing President Joe Biden.  Biden invited Trump for the traditional visit — a show of the coming January 20 peaceful transfer of power in the American democracy between the current U.S. leader and the incoming chief executive.   The two men, sitting in front of a roaring fireplace in the Oval Office, traded niceties. “I’m looking forward to having a smooth transition and we’re looking forward to talking about some of that today,” Biden said.more

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Economists wonder whether Trump will follow through on campaign vows

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has left little question about the sort of economic policies he will pursue when he is sworn in for a second term as president in January. The once-and-future president has promised to extend existing tax cuts and implement new ones; to pursue a deregulation agenda, particularly when it comes to energy production; to reinstate a strong protectionist trade policy, including substantial tariffs on imports; and to undertake a “mass deportation” program that would remove a large number of the millions of undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States. While there may be little doubt aboutmore

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Trump picks key political loyalists for top jobs

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is moving quickly to fill his nascent administration with Republican officials who have been the most politically loyal to him in the four years he was out of office. Trump, according to various U.S. news accounts, has decided to name Florida Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state, the country’s top diplomat, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem as the Homeland Security chief. Both Rubio and Noem were on Trump’s short list of possible vice-presidential running mates several months ago. While Trump later picked first-term Ohio Senator JD Vance, now the vice president-elect, to join himmore

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Trump sets sights on Gaza, Ukraine as early foreign policy goals

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Beyond promising a return to the America First doctrine, President-elect Donald Trump has not provided details on what U.S. foreign policy will look like under his incoming administration. But his early conversations with leaders following his election victory indicate he aims to fulfill his promises to quickly end the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports. …

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China’s largest air show takes off with fighter jets, attack drones

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Zhuhai, China — Stealth fighter jets and attack drones took center stage as China’s largest air show officially opened on Tuesday, an opportunity for Beijing to showcase its growing military might to potential customers and rivals alike. China has poured resources into modernizing and expanding its aviation capabilities as it faces off against the United States and others around regional flashpoints like Taiwan. Record numbers of Chinese warplanes have been sent around the self-ruled democratic island, which Beijing claims as its territory, over the past few years. The star of Airshow China, which showcases Beijing’s civil and military aerospace sector everymore

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Voters in Oakland oust Mayor Sheng Thao just 2 years into her term

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OAKLAND, Calif. — Voters in Oakland, California, have ousted Mayor Sheng Thao just two years after she narrowly won office to lead the liberal San Francisco Bay Area city. The Associated Press called the race Monday. “Thank you for choosing me to serve as your Mayor. As the first Hmong American woman to become the mayor of a major American City, it has been the honor of my lifetime,” she said in a statement last week. She committed to ensuring a smooth transition. Thao must vacate the office as soon as election results are certified Dec. 5 and the Oakland Citymore

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Trump breaks Republican losing streak in nation’s largest majority-Arab city

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DEARBORN, Michigan — Faced with two choices she didn’t like, Suehaila Amen chose neither.  Instead, the longtime Democrat from the Arab American stronghold of Dearborn, Michigan, backed a third-party candidate for president, adding her voice to a remarkable turnaround that helped Donald Trump reclaim Michigan and the presidency.  In Dearborn, where nearly half of the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent, Vice President Kamala Harris received over 2,500 fewer votes than Trump, who became the first Republican presidential candidate since former President George W. Bush in 2000 to win the city. Harris also lost neighboring Dearborn Heights to Trump, who inmore

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Young Black, Latino men say they chose Trump because of economy, jobs

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WASHINGTON — Brian Leija, a 31-year-old small-business owner from Belton, Texas, was not surprised that a growing number of Latino men of his generation voted for Donald Trump for president this year. Leija had voted for the Republican in 2016 and 2020.  Leija’s rationale was simple: He said he has benefited from Trump’s economic policies, especially tax cuts.  “I am a blue-collar worker,” Leija said. “So, tax breaks for small businesses are ideal for what I do.”  For DaSean Gallishaw, a consultant in Fairfax, Virginia, a vote for Trump was rooted in what he saw as Democrats’ rhetoric not matching theirmore

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