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President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will nominate retired Army Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.  Kellogg was chief of staff on Trump’s National Security Council during his first administration and was the national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence. “Together, we will secure peace through strength, and make America, and the world, safe again,” Trump said in a statement naming Kellogg as envoy. Kellogg spoke exclusively with VOA’s Ukrainian service in July about his vision for ending the war in Ukraine, published as part of the book, “An America First Approach to U.S. National Security.” At the time he said he had not presented the plan to Trump nor was he a formal adviser but said the plan would be one option to consider. He recommended then that the U.S. begin a formal policy “to seek a ceasefire and negotiated settlement of the Ukraine conflict.” The U.S. would continue to arm Ukraine to deter Russia from attacking during or after a deal is reached, under the condition that Kyiv agrees to enter into peace talks with Russia. To persuade Russia to participate in the negotiations, Kellogg wrote that the U.S. and other NATO partners would delay Ukraine’s membership in the alliance for an extended period in exchange for a “comprehensive and verifiable deal with security guarantees.” Under the imagined deal, Ukraine would not be asked to give up its ambition to regain all land seized by Russia, but Kyiv should agree to use diplomatic means only and realize that it might take a long time to regain all of the territories. The strategy proposes partial lifting of sanctions on Russia to encourage the Kremlin to take steps toward peace and establish levies on Russian energy imports to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction. …

WASHINGTON — Several of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and appointees were targeted with “violent threats,” including bomb threats and “swatting,” a spokesperson for the U.S. president-elect said Wednesday. The threats were made Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and law enforcement and authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those targeted, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Leavitt did not say who was targeted, and she did not elaborate on the nature of the apparent threats. Spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Leavitt said the attacks “ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting’” — when a false crime is reported to induce a heavy, armed police response at someone’s home. …

Washington — When U.S. President-elect Donald Trump nominated former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Trump described him as a “True fighter for America First policies.”  Zeldin, the statement added, spent eight years in Congress as a vocal advocate on foreign policy, border security, military affairs, combating antisemitism, environmental issues and energy policy.  Shortly after the announcement was made, Zeldin, a native from Long Island, New York who is married with twin daughters, took to the X social media platform, leaving no doubt about his priorities for his new role. He promised to “restore US energy dominance, revitalize the auto industry, bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.” Environmental record  Zeldin, who has a law degree from Albany Law School, has vowed to protect access to clean air and clean water. While in Congress, he voted in favor of limiting the presence of toxic substances known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” in drinking water.  He stood against offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to protect coastal communities and marine wildlife from oil spills. Environmental organizations have also highlighted Zeldin’s support for the Great American Outdoors Act, which increased funding for maintenance of public lands and waters.  The League of Conservation Voters, or LCV, however, noted in reaction to Zeldin’s nomination that during his four terms in Congress, he voted in favor of environmental legislation just 14% of the time.  The LCV’s voting tracker shows Zeldin rejected most of the legislative proposals related to climate change. The Republican never served on committees with oversight of environmental policy, but he was part of the House Climate Solutions Caucus, a short-lived bipartisan effort tasked with building a constructive dialogue on climate change.  WATCH: US climate changes regulations to be scaled back under Trump’s EPA pick Change of priorities  At this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres renewed his call for countries to move away from burning fossil fuels, the primary cause of global warming.  “The sound you hear is the ticking clock. We are in the final countdown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and time is not on our side,” Guterres said.  Under Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, the EPA has set limits on the production of oil and gas and prioritized the production of clean and renewable power in a bid to … “Trump’s EPA pick vows to restore US energy dominance” →

WASHINGTON — The United States imposed sanctions on 21 senior Venezuelan officials for their role in suppressing protests after a presidential election in July, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. Washington says President Nicolas Maduro falsely claimed victory in the vote in what U.S. officials have described as a subversion of democratic norms. The United States says opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez won and refers to him as the president-elect. “[This] is not merely about holding Nicolas Maduro accountable,” an administration official told reporters. “Officials who are acting unlawfully to uphold his regime based on repressive tactics will also find themselves in the cross hairs of these sanctions.” In September, Venezuela’s government rejected a United Nations human rights report criticizing repression of political opponents and children in the wake of the elections, saying it was a sign of coercion against the state. The United States would also be imposing visa restrictions on several officials associated with Maduro, the administration official said. …

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. — Drumming made the floor vibrate and singing filled the conference room of the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, on the Oregon coast, as hundreds in tribal regalia danced in a circle. For the last 47 years, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians have held an annual powwow to celebrate regaining federal recognition. This month’s event, however, was especially significant: It came just two weeks after a federal court lifted restrictions on the tribe’s rights to hunt, fish and gather — restrictions tribal leaders had opposed for decades. “We’re back to the way we were before,” Siletz Chairman Delores Pigsley said. “It feels really good.” The Siletz is a confederation of over two dozen bands and tribes whose traditional homelands spanned western Oregon, as well as parts of northern California and southwestern Washington state. The federal government in the 1850s forced them onto a reservation on the Oregon coast, where they were confederated together as a single, federally recognized tribe despite their different backgrounds and languages. In the 1950s and ‘60s, Congress revoked recognition of over 100 tribes, including the Siletz, under a policy known as “termination.” Affected tribes lost millions of acres of land as well as federal funding and services. “The goal was to try and assimilate Native people, get them moved into cities,” said Matthew Campbell, deputy director of the Native American Rights Fund. “But also I think there was certainly a financial aspect to it. I think the United States was trying to see how it could limit its costs in terms of providing for tribal nations.” Losing their lands and self-governance was painful, and the tribes fought for decades to regain federal recognition. In 1977, the Siletz became the second tribe to succeed, following the restoration of the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin in 1973. But to get a fraction of its land back — roughly 1,457 hectares of the 445,000-hectare reservation established for the tribe in 1855 — the Siletz tribe had to agree to a federal court order that restricted their hunting, fishing and gathering rights. It was only one of two tribes in the country, along with Oregon’s Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, compelled to do so to regain tribal land. The settlement limited where tribal members could fish, hunt and gather for ceremonial and subsistence purposes, and it imposed caps on how many salmon, elk and deer could … “Long-sought court ruling restores Oregon tribe’s hunting, fishing rights” →

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced a set of economic advisers he wants to appoint for his administration, including international trade attorney Jamieson Greer as his pick to be the U.S. trade representative. Greer served in Trump’s first administration as the chief of staff to the trade representative, and Trump said Tuesday that Greer played a key role in both imposing tariffs on China and in the creation of a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico. Trump said Kevin Hassett is his choice to lead the White House National Economic Council. Hassett led the Council of Economic Advisers during Trump’s previous term. Trump said in the new role, Hassett would work to “renew and improve” a set of tax cuts implemented in 2017 and “will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration.” Trump also announced Tuesday several health-related nominees, including his choice of health economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health. Bhattacharya was a sharp critic of lockdowns and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump said Bhattacharya will work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives.” “Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease,” Trump said. Another nomination announced Tuesday was Trump’s pick of former HHS official Jim O’Neill to serve as the agency’s deputy secretary. Trump also said he was nominating private investor John Phelan to serve as secretary of the Navy. Earlier Tuesday, Trump’s transition team announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Biden administration about the process of starting to work with federal agencies. A statement from Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, said, “This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power.” Wiles’ announcement said the transition will use only private funding, and the donors will be disclosed to the public. The Trump-Vance transition team will not use government offices or technology, Wiles said. She added that the … “ Trump announces picks for economic, health posts” →

The prospect of punishing new U.S. tariffs will hang over the deliberations at China’s highest-level economic meeting when the Central Economic Work Conference of the Chinese Communist Party convenes for its annual session next month. A key function of the meeting will be to set the nation’s growth target for 2025, a task made more challenging by the prospect of tariffs that could stunt the crucial export sector. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened repeatedly during his election campaign to swiftly impose a 60% tariff on Chinese-made goods. He wrote on his Truth Social account late Monday that he will impose “an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of [China’s] many products coming into the United States of America.” Most of the Chinese government advisers interviewed for a Reuters report this month recommended that Beijing maintain an economic growth target of 5.0% for next year, the same target as 2024. Some said the country would have to launch stronger fiscal stimulus measures to offset the impact of new U.S. tariffs after Trump takes office in January. Cai Shenkun, an independent commentator in the United States, told VOA Mandarin that Beijing’s “5% target” is clearly based on political necessity, rather than a market perspective. After securing an extraordinary third term as president last year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping “will have to give the CCP an explanation and a vision,” Cai said. “He must make a good gesture. If he does not maintain the 5% target, his ruling position will be greatly threatened.” Si Ling, a financial scholar in Australia, said in a phone interview with VOA Mandarin that if China wants to achieve its goal of doubling the size of its economy from 2020 to 2035, the annual economic growth rate must reach 4%. “China has taken into account the uncertainty factors, like external shocks when Trump pledged to impose high tariffs. China must face the sudden decline in GDP growth,” said Si. Reuters reported last month that China’s economy is likely to expand 4.8% in 2024, missing the government’s 5% growth target, and could slow to 4.5% in 2025.  Si said the growth of China’s current GDP is dependent on exports and investments. If Trump fulfills his promise to impose high tariffs on Chinese goods, the impact on China’s economy will be profound, he said. “China’s advantages in industrial products exports, brought by high state subsidies, will be … “Can China hit its 5% growth target under Trump’s tariffs?” →

BEIJING — China’s state media shrugged off U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to slap additional tariffs on Chinese goods in editorials late on Tuesday, accusing the former president of blaming China for the country’s failure to address the fentanyl crisis. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, said on Monday he would impose “an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs” on imports from China. He previously said he would introduce tariffs in excess of 60% on Chinese goods. The tariff threat is rattling China’s industrial complex, which sells goods worth more than $400 billion annually to the U.S. and hundreds of billions more in components for products Americans buy from elsewhere. Economists have begun downgrading their growth targets for the $19 trillion economy for 2025 and 2026. Editorials in Chinese communist party mouthpieces China Daily and the Global Times focused squarely on the reason Trump gave for imposing the tariffs: fentanyl. “Scapegoating others can’t end U.S.’ drug crisis,” read the headline of a China Daily editorial on Tuesday, while the Global Times urged the “U.S. not to take China’s goodwill for granted regarding anti-drug cooperation after Trump’s remarks.” “The excuse the president-elect has given to justify his threat of additional tariffs on imports from China is farfetched,” China Daily said. “The world sees clearly that the root cause of the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. lies with the U.S. itself,” it added. “There are no winners in tariff wars. If the U.S. continues to politicize economic and trade issues by weaponizing tariffs, it will leave no party unscathed.” Trump’s team maintains China is “attacking” the U.S. with fentanyl. China is the dominant source of chemical precursors used by Mexican cartels to produce the deadly drug. Trump on Monday also pledged 25% tariffs on goods coming from Mexico and Canada until they clamp down on drugs and migrants crossing the border. Trump is threatening Beijing with far higher tariffs than the 7.5%-25% levied on Chinese goods during his first term. S&P Global on Sunday lowered its growth forecast for China for 2025 and 2026 by 0.2 and 0.7 percentage point, respectively, to 4.1% and 3.8%, citing the impact Trump’s tariffs could have. “What we assumed in our baseline is an across-the-board increase from around 14% now to 25%. Thus, what we assumed is a bit more than the 10% on all imports from China,” said Louis Kuijs, Chief Asia Economist at … “China state media dismiss Trump’s tariff vow, focus on fentanyl” →

BANGKOK — Southeast Asia could see a new wave of factories moving in from China to evade the soaring tariffs U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has proposed to impose on the world’s second-largest economy, trade experts tell VOA. But the trade surpluses the region has built up with the United States and its heavy use of Chinese inputs for its own exports may blunt the benefits, they add. A number of firms with factories in China, both Chinese and foreign owned, moved their plants to Southeast Asia to skirt the tariffs Trump imposed on the country — as high as 25% on some goods — during his first term from 2017 to 2021. For his second term, which starts in January, Trump has threatened to push tariffs on all imports from China up to 60%. If that happens, “the speed of relocation will increase, and we will almost certainly now be looking at a world of bifurcated supply chains,” said Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. “What that means is a world where most important manufactured goods are produced not once but twice using two sets of supply chains,” he added, one for the U.S. and possibly European markets and another for everyone else. And whereas the first wave of relocations mostly brought Southeast Asia factories hungry for lots of cheap labor, he said the second could bring in factories that rely more on equipment, technology and other capital for making machines, electronics, cars and the like. “Countries that can closely replicate the costs and conditions in China will benefit, and at the moment a lot of those countries are in Southeast Asia,” Menon said. “Other countries can benefit if they respond to this opportunity, but at the moment Southeast Asia is the closest competitor.” Aat Pisanwanich, an associate professor at Thailand’s Center for International Trade Studies, agreed. Facing even higher U.S. tariffs than before, factories in China will “come to Thailand and other ASEAN countries more than [during] Trump 1,” he said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and to Trump’s first term. Memon said most of the factories that left China for Southeast Asia after Trump’s first round of tariffs settled in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and that those fleeing a second would follow suit. He added that Cambodia and Laos — both very close with China — as well as Indonesia could start … “Promise and peril for Southeast Asia in Trump’s tariff talk” →

Denver, Colorado — It hasn’t been a typical fall for the northeastern United States.  Fires have burned in parks and forests around New York City. Towns and cities in a stretch from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to south of Philadelphia had their driest three months on record, according to the Applied Climate Information System. Some reservoirs in the region are near historic lows.  Major changes need to happen to avoid critical shortages of water in the future, even if that future isn’t immediate. As the climate warms, droughts will continue to intensify and communities should use this one as motivation to put in place long-term solutions, experts say.  “This is the canary in the coal mine for the future,” said Tim Eustance, executive director of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission. “People should stop watering their lawns yesterday.”  Eustance wants New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to issue a drought emergency to increase people’s sense of urgency.  Here are some ways to stretch water experts said could become necessary in the Northeast.  Replenishing more water underground  One important place water is stored is under our feet. Groundwater has dropped significantly over the years in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.  Groundwater makes up about half of New Jersey’s drinking water. Sprawl and concrete can make it tough for rain to replenish the water underground.  “New Jersey is ‘mall-landia.’ We have these giant parking lots that could be ways to reclaim water instead of having runoff,” Eustance said.  In some other parts of the country, there is increasing use of permeable asphalt, concrete and pavers that allow water to percolate into the ground and back into the aquifer. It would be up to municipalities to require that, he said.  A faster way to replenish the aquifer is by injecting highly treated wastewater into it, something Los Angeles has been doing for years. It is dramatically adding to the city’s available water.  Virginia Beach, Virginia, is also pumping highly treated water back into its aquifer, and Anne Arundel County in Maryland is trying to pass legislation that would allow the same.  Paying people to conserve  In some places in the western U.S., getting paid to save water has long been an option. Some cities and counties pay dollars for every square foot of lawn torn out and replaced with native landscaping.  Those policies are not nearly as widespread in the Northeast, … “Record dryness in US Northeast should change water behavior, experts say” →

Countries around the world are bracing for economic upheaval as incoming U.S. President Donald Trump threatens massive tariffs, especially on China. The uncertainty has left governments and businesses struggling with how to respond, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports from Seoul, South Korea. (Contributors: : Paul Ndiho and Supakit Pattaratearanon) …

WINDSOR, CALIFORNIA — Forecasters throughout the U.S. issued warnings that another round of winter weather could complicate travel leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, while California and Washington state continue to recover from storm damage and power outages.  In California, where a person was found dead in a vehicle submerged in floodwaters on Saturday, authorities braced for more precipitation while grappling with flooding and small landslides from a previous storm. Thousands in the Pacific Northwest remained without power after multiple days in the dark.  The National Weather Service office in Sacramento, California, issued a winter storm warning for the state’s Sierra Nevada for Saturday through Tuesday, with heavy snow expected at higher elevations and wind gusts potentially reaching 88 kph. Total snowfall of roughly 1.2 meters was forecast, with the heaviest accumulations expected Monday and Tuesday.  The Midwest and Great Lakes regions will see rain and snow Monday and the East Coast will be the most impacted on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, forecasters said.  A low pressure system is forecast to bring rain to the Southeast early Thursday before heading to the Northeast. Areas from Boston to New York could see rain and strong winds, with snowfall possible in parts of northern New Hampshire, northern Maine and the Adirondacks. If the system tracks further inland, there could be less snow and more rain in the mountains, forecasters said.  Deadly ‘bomb cyclone’ on West Coast  Earlier this week, two people died when the storm arrived in the Pacific Northwest. Hundreds of thousands lost power, mostly in the Seattle area, before strong winds moved through northern California. A rapidly intensifying “bomb cyclone” that hit the West Coast on Tuesday brought fierce winds that resulted in home and vehicle damage.  Rescue crews in Guerneville, California recovered a body inside a vehicle bobbing in floodwaters around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Rob Dillion said, noting the deceased was presumed to be a victim of the storm but an autopsy had not yet been conducted.  Santa Rosa, California, saw its wettest three-day period on record with about 32 centimeters of rain by Friday evening, the National Weather Service in the Bay Area reported. Vineyards in nearby Windsor, California were flooded on Saturday.  Tens of thousands without power in Seattle area  Some 80,000 people in the Seattle area were still without electricity after this season’s strongest atmospheric river, a long plume of moisture that forms … “Forecasts warn of possible winter storms across US during Thanksgiving week “ →

NEW YORK — Walk into any supermarket and you can generally buy a banana for less than $1. But a banana duct-taped to a wall? That sold for $6.2 million at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York. The yellow banana fixed to the white wall with silver duct tape is a work entitled “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. It first debuted in 2019 as an edition of three fruits at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, where it became a much-discussed sensation. Was it a prank? A commentary on the state of the art world? Another artist took the banana off the wall and ate it. A backup banana was brought in. Selfie-seeking crowds became so thick, “Comedian” was withdrawn from view, but three editions of it sold for between $120,000 and $150,000, according to Perrotin gallery. Five years later, someone has now paid more than 40 times that higher price point at the Sotheby’s auction. Or, more accurately, they have purchased a certificate of authenticity that gives them the authority to duct-tape a banana to a wall and call it “Comedian.” Bidding started at $800,000 and within minutes shot up to $2 million, then $3 million, then $4 million, as the auctioneer joked, “It’s slipping through the auction room.” The final hammer price announced in the room Wednesday was $5.2 million, which didn’t include the about $1 million in auction house fees, paid by the buyer. Sotheby’s calls Cattelan “among Contemporary Art’s most brilliant provocateurs.” “He has persistently disrupted the art world’s status quo in meaningful, irreverent, and often controversial ways,” the auction house said in a description of “Comedian.” “What Cattelan is really doing is turning a mirror to the contemporary art world and asking questions, provoking thought about how we ascribe value to artworks, what we define as an artwork,” Galperin said. The banana that was on display in Miami is long gone. Sotheby’s says the fruit always was meant to be replaced regularly, along with the tape. “What you buy when you buy Cattelan’s ‘Comedian’ is not the banana itself, but a certificate of authenticity that grants the owner the permission and authority to reproduce this banana and duct tape on their wall as an original artwork by Maurizio Cattelan,” Galperin said. The very title of the piece suggests Cattelan himself likely didn’t intend for it to be taken seriously. But Chloé Cooper Jones, an … “How a viral, duct-taped banana came to be worth $6.2 million” →