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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 … “US Senate Democrats rush to confirm judges before Trump takes office” →

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday hosted Israel’s president while President-elect Donald Trump has separately held multiple phone calls recently with Israel’s head of government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These parallel talks have focused on the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and hopes for the release of hostages held by Hamas. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington. …

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 … “Hezbollah, Hamas down but not out, US says” →

President Joe Biden and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto met Tuesday at the White House to strengthen U.S.–Indonesia ties. The meeting came days after Jakarta signed a maritime agreement with Beijing that critics say could lend credibility to China’s “nine-dash line” that reflects its expansive claims in the South China Sea. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report …

boston — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Massachusetts Air National Guard member to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine.  Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act following his arrest in the most consequential national security case in years. Brought into court wearing an orange jumpsuit, he showed no visible reaction as he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.  Before being sentenced, he apologized for his actions.  “I wanted to say I’m sorry for all the harm that I brought and caused,” Texeira said, referencing the “maelstrom” he caused to friends, family, and anyone affected overseas. “I understand all the responsibility and consequences fall upon my shoulders alone and accept whatever that will bring,” he said, standing as he addressed the judge.  Afterward, Teixeira hugged one of his attorneys and looked toward his family and smiled before he was led out of court.  The security breach raised alarm over America’s ability to protect its most closely guarded secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to try to contain the diplomatic and military fallout. The leaks embarrassed the Pentagon, which tightened controls to safeguard classified information and disciplined members found to have intentionally failed to take required action about Teixeira’s suspicious behavior.  Earlier in Tuesday’s hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan argued that 200 months — or a little more than 16 1/2 years — was appropriate given the “historic” damage caused by Teixeira’s conduct that aided adversaries of the United States and hurt the country’s allies. He also said that the recommendation by prosecutors would send a message to anyone in the military who might consider similar conduct.   “It will be a cautionary tale for the men and women in the U.S. military,” Dolan said. “They are going to be told this is what happens if you break your promise, if you betray your country. … They will know the defendant’s name. They will know the sentence the court imposes.”  But Teixeira’s attorney Michael Bachrach told the judge in court Tuesday that 11 years was sufficient.  “It is a significant, harsh and difficult sentence, one that will not be easy to serve,” Bachrach said. “It will serve as an extreme deterrent to anyone, particularly young servicemen. That … “Jack Teixeira, who leaked Pentagon documents, sentenced to 15 years in prison” →

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 about the kind of policies Trump will implement, the degree to which he will pursue them is an open question. “The problem that all economists are dealing with is they don’t know how much of what Trump said on the campaign trail to take seriously,” Steven B. Kamin, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told VOA. “They don’t know if he’s going to do a lot of these things, or if he is, how far he’ll take it.” When it comes to tariffs, Trump has promised across-the-board 10%-20% levies on all imports, and charges of up to 60% on goods coming from China, which experts warn would be economically ruinous. His rhetoric about fossil fuel extraction suggests he will drive up oil and gas production, even though the U.S. is currently producing more energy than it ever has. On immigration, he and his advisers have vacillated between suggesting that all undocumented people will be forcibly removed and describing a much more targeted operation. Tax policy One thing that appears certain is that Trump will work with Congress — which seems likely to be fully controlled by the Republican Party — to extend the tax cuts that became law as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which he signed into law in 2017. Those tax cuts reduced the income taxes paid by many American workers and reduced taxable income by increasing the standard deduction. They also sharply cut the top business income tax bracket from 39% to 21%. Those provisions are all scheduled to expire over the next several years, some as soon as 2025, and Trump has proposed making them permanent. Trump has also floated the idea of other tax cuts, including further reducing the business income tax to a maximum of 15%, and making income … “Economists wonder whether Trump will follow through on campaign vows” →

Although Donald Trump has won the presidential election, nearly 11 weeks will pass before he can assume office, giving him 76 days to prepare a new government. …

Johannesburg  — President-elect Donald Trump talked tough on China during his campaign, vowing to impose higher and sweeping tariffs on imports from the Asian giant. Beijing will now also be closely watching the incoming administration’s movements further afield, in Africa, where U.S.-China rivalry is high. Experts disagree on what a second Trump term will mean for Beijing’s ambitions on the continent, with some saying it could be a boon for China – Africa’s biggest trade partner – if the U.S. pursues an isolationist, “America First” agenda that mostly ignores the region. But Tibor Nagy, who served as Trump’s Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2018 to 2021 has a different perspective. He said Trump grasped how powerful a player China had become on the continent. “It was the Trump administration that was the first to kind of recognize the existential threat that China poses,” Nagy told VOA. “We were on the front lines of that in Africa, and we saw what the Chinese were doing,” said Nagy, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to Guinea and Ethiopia during the administrations of presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Nagy told VOA he does not think the incoming Republican administration will neglect Africa because it sees China as a threat to U.S interests there. He also said the continent is a major source of critical minerals attractive to both superpowers. Nagy credits the first Trump administration with introducing policies on the continent intended to counter China’s influence. “We had … the right focus because we made it about the youth. You know, our premise was that Africa is going to be undergoing a youth tsunami with the population doubling by 2050. And that more than anything, what the youth really wanted was jobs,” he said. To this end, Nagy says, the first Trump administration set up Prosper Africa in 2018, an initiative designed to assist American companies doing business in Africa, and he expects the incoming administration will remain engaged there. “Africa remains very much the front lines,” he said. “The United States is extremely concerned about our strategic minerals, and when a hostile power has a lock on strategic minerals, that’s really not very good when you need the strategic minerals for your top-end technology and for weapon systems.” But Christian-Geraud Neema, Africa editor for the China-Global South Project, is skeptical and said a second term for Trump … “How could US-China rivalry in Africa play out under Trump 2.0?” →

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 … “Jury awards Abu Ghraib detainees $42 million, holds contractor responsible” →

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — A new Louisiana law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public classroom by Jan. 1 has been temporarily blocked after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction on Tuesday.  The judge said the law is “unconstitutional on its face” and plaintiffs are likely to win their case with claims that the law violates the First Amendment.  The ruling marks a win for opponents of the law, who argue that it is a violation of the separation of church and state and that the poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments would isolate students, especially those who are not Christian. Proponents say that the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance to the foundation of U.S. law.  U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles in Baton Rouge issued the order in an ongoing lawsuit filed by a group of parents of Louisiana public school children. They say that the legislation violates First Amendment language forbidding government establishment of religion and guaranteeing religious liberty.  The new law in Louisiana, a reliably Republican state that is ensconced in the Bible Belt, was passed by the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature earlier this year.  The legislation, which has been touted by Republicans including President-elect Donald Trump, is one of the latest pushes by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms — from Florida legislation allowing school districts to have volunteer chaplains to counsel students to Oklahoma’s top education official ordering public schools to incorporate the Bible into lessons.  In recent years, similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah. However, with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, none have gone into effect.  In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can “make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but rather served a plainly religious purpose.  Louisiana’s legislation, which applies to all public K-12 school and state-funded university classrooms, requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed on a poster or framed document at least 28 by 36 centimeters where the text is the central focus and “printed in a large, easily readable font.”  Each poster must be paired with the four-paragraph “context … “Federal judge blocks Louisiana law that requires classrooms to display Ten Commandments” →

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to let former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows move the election interference case against him in Georgia to federal court.  Meadows was one of 19 people indicted in Georgia and accused of participating in an illegal scheme to keep then-president Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election. Trump was also charged, though after he won reelection last week to a second term any trial appears unlikely, at least while he holds office. Both men have denied wrongdoing.  It’s unclear what effect the election results could have on others charged in the case, which is largely on hold after an appeals court agreed to review whether to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she had hired to lead the case.  Meadows had gone to the Supreme Court in an effort to move the charges out of Georgia courts. He argues the case belongs in federal court because it relates to his duties as a federal official, and he pointed to the Supreme Court ruling giving Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution to support his argument.  “A White House chief of staff facing criminal charges based on actions relating to his work for the president of the United States should not be a close call — especially now that this court has recognized that federal immunity impacts what evidence can be considered, not just what conduct can form the basis for liability,” his attorneys wrote.  But prosecutors said that Meadows failed to show he was carrying out official duties during the alleged scheme, including participating in a phone call where Trump suggested Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger could help “find” votes he needed to win the state.  They argued the case should stay with Georgia courts, and Meadows can raise immunity defenses there. Prosecutors also pushed back against the contention that the charges could have ripple effects on other federal officials.  “His references to the overheated words of opinion editorials cannot suffice to demonstrate that a new era of ubiquitous prosecution of former federal officials is at hand,” government attorneys wrote.  A U.S. district judge and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals both ruled that the case against Meadows and some of his co-defendants should remain in state court. A federal judge has also refused to move an Arizona … “Supreme Court rejects push to move Georgia case against ex-Trump chief of staff Meadows” →

New York — A judge is postponing a decision on whether to undo President-elect Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money case because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. New York Judge Juan M. Merchan had been set to rule Tuesday. Instead, he told Trump’s lawyers Tuesday he’d delay the ruling until Nov. 19. According to emails filed in court, Trump lawyer Emil Bove asked for the delay over the weekend, arguing that putting the case on hold — and then ending it altogether — is “necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern.” Prosecutors agreed to the delay. Trump won back the White House a week ago but the legal question concerns the Republican’s status as a past president, not an impending one. A jury convicted Trump in May of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in 2016. The payout was to buy her silence about claims that she had sex with Trump. He says they didn’t, denies any wrongdoing and maintains the prosecution was a political tactic meant to harm his latest campaign. Just over a month after the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents can’t be prosecuted for actions they took in the course of running the country, and prosecutors can’t cite those actions even to bolster a case centered on purely personal conduct. Trump’s lawyers cited the ruling to argue that the hush money jury got some evidence it shouldn’t have, such as Trump’s presidential financial disclosure form and testimony from some White House aides. Prosecutors disagreed and said the evidence in question was only “a sliver” of their case. Trump’s criminal conviction was a first for any ex-president. It left the 78-year-old facing the possibility of punishment ranging from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison. The case centered on how Trump accounted for reimbursing his personal attorney for the Daniels payment. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, fronted the money. He later recouped it through a series of payments that Trump’s company logged as legal expenses. Trump, by then in the White House, signed most of the checks himself. Prosecutors said the designation was meant to cloak the true purpose of the payments and help cover up a broader effort to keep voters from hearing unflattering claims about the Republican during his first campaign. Trump said that Cohen was … “Judge delays ruling on whether to scrap Trump’s conviction in hush money case” →

MOSCOW — The key task for Russia and China is to counter any attempt by the United States to contain their countries, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin told China’s foreign minister on Tuesday. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose steep tariffs on China and other countries, raising fears of a trade war and the United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat. China’s Xi Jinping and Putin in May pledged a “new era” of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world. Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing that the strong relations between Moscow and Beijing were a stabilizing influence on the world. “I see the most important task as countering the policy of ‘dual containment’ of Russia and China pursued by the United States and its satellites,” Shoigu was quoted as saying by Russian state news agencies. Xi and Putin believe the post-Cold War era of extraordinary U.S. dominance is crumbling after the perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China. …

State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday as Washington looks for ways to “surge” military aid to Ukraine in the final days of President Joe Biden’s term.   After Brussels, Blinken will proceed to Lima, Peru, for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings, followed by stops in Manaus and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for a summit of the 20 largest economies, the G20. He will join Biden in Peru and Brazil. President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to hold face-to-face talks on Saturday on the sidelines of the APEC summit, a meeting anticipated to last about one-and-a-half hours, according to sources familiar with the plans who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity. On Wednesday, Blinken will engage in discussions with his NATO and European Union counterparts to coordinate continued support for Ukraine, while President Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump at the White House. Officials said Biden will ask Trump not to “walk away” from Ukraine.   North Korea’s direct support for Russia’s war in Ukraine is expected to be a focal point during Blinken’s discussions with European counterparts and will likely feature on the agenda in talks between U.S. officials and their counterparts at APEC. Ukraine has reported that North Korean troops are actively engaged in combat operations in Russia’s Kursk region, prompting condemnation from several European nations over the increasing military collaboration between Russia and North Korea. Meanwhile, Ukraine remained on high alert for air attacks on Monday, with the country’s top military commander reporting that tens of thousands of Russian troops were prepared to advance on Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine seized territory in August this year. Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA that Trump might attempt to “broker a cease-fire in Ukraine,” a prominent foreign policy pledge he made during his campaign. Kupchan, however, noted, “It will not be as easy as he promised…  It will take a long time to bring [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to common ground,” as the conflict has stretched on for more than two-and-a-half years. Trump’s political allies have indicated that the incoming administration will prioritize achieving peace in Ukraine over enabling the country to reclaim Crimea and other territories occupied by Russia. After the U.S. presidential election, the State Department said that Blinken spoke with his European counterparts. They … “Blinken heads to Brussels to push for Ukraine aid ” →

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. …