Trump’s defense pick faced a divided Senate hearing
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, faced hours of questioning yesterday during his Senate confirmation hearing. A vote on whether he will lead the Pentagon – a department with three million employees and an $849 billion budget – could come as early as Monday. Read more.
Republicans have largely defended Hegseth. He was questioned by Democrats about allegations of sexual misconduct – Hegseth was accused of rape in 2017 — and his drinking habits. They also called him unfit to lead the Pentagon and criticized Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, for his long history of disparaging comments about women in the military.
A key Republican, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a veteran and sexual assault victim, seemed satisfied with his answers to her questions about the role of women in the military and sexual assault prevention. Ernst, who is seen as critical to Hegseth’s confirmation chances, has spent much time focusing on their agreement that the Pentagon should be audited.
Quoted: Hegseth described himself as a changed man and a story of redemption, and dismissed the allegations against him as a “smear campaign”.
“Have you overcome personal problems or are you the target of a smear campaign?” Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Democrat, asked. “You can’t be both.”
What is next: It was not clear whether Hegseth left the hearing with the votes to be confirmed. If all Democrats in the Senate oppose him, Hegseth will need to secure the support of at least 50 of the 53 Republicans in the chamber.
Related: A report was released yesterday detailing the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Here are four conclusions.
Strong winds threatened to spread new fires in LA
Officials urged Los Angeles County residents to prepare for potential power outages and be prepared to evacuate as expected wind gusts and dry vegetation could create conditions for new wildfires across Southern California. At least 24 people have been killed, twenty others are missing, and thousands have been displaced. Follow our live broadcast.
Firefighters had already battled and contained another brush fire yesterday, but officials were concerned it could flare up again in windy conditions. The largest fire, the Palisades Fire, is still far from being contained. The fire in Eaton, which killed several people, was also not stopped. Follow the fires here.
Cultural loss: The extent of the valuables destroyed in the fires is only beginning to take shape. One resident lost about 30 works by Andy Warhol — and dozens of other artists — when his home in Pacific Palisades was destroyed. “It’s dust at this point,” he said.
Seeking a safe haven: Tens of thousands of evacuees scrambled to find temporary shelter, exacerbating the housing shortage in one of the cheapest American cities.
Israel and Hamas appear to be close to agreeing to a ceasefire
Israel and Hamas are “on the verge” of a deal ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages held there, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday.
Neither Israeli nor Hamas officials have publicly confirmed their position on the proposal. On Monday, a Hamas official said a deal was possible in the coming days as long as Israel did not change its positions, and an Israeli official said yesterday that Israel was ready to make a deal and was waiting on Hamas. Mediators, including Qatar, Egypt and the US, have warned that the talks could break off at any moment, as they have many times in the past.
Toll in Gaza: Deaths from bombs and other traumatic injuries during the first nine months of the war may have been underestimated by more than 40 percent, according to analysis published in The Lancet.
India’s Maha Kumbh Mela festival begins this week and is expected to draw up to 400 million Hindu pilgrims to the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in the world’s largest gathering of people. The ceremony, which takes place every 12 years and centers around a series of sacred baths, has also become an important political event.
This is the first festival since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party came to power. It’s a chance for him to promote his right-wing party.
Lived lives: Oliviero Toscani broke advertising boundaries with his Benetton campaigns that dived into AIDS and activism for racial and sexual diversity. He died at 82.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
Mapping The Lord of the Rings
Karen Wynn Fonstad, a cartographer, connected so deeply with the world depicted in “The Fellowship of the Ring” that in 1977 she called publisher JRR Tolkien to propose a dream assignment. Much to her surprise, the editor agreed.
The result was “The Atlas of Middle-earth,” a 172-map book depicting Tolkien’s world in stunning detail, including the morphology of the bedrock of the Shire, settlement patterns in Gondor, and plate tectonics in Mordor. Staring at her work, you “you feel like you might get dirt under your nails exploring the place”, said one contemporary cartographer.
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