The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth because the nation's defense secretary on Friday in a dramatic late-night vote, deferring questions on his qualifications to guide the Pentagon amid Allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior towards women.

Rarely does a Cabinet nominee have such broad concerns about his experience and behavior as Hegseth, particularly for such a high-profile role within the U.S. military. But the Republican-led Senate was determined to verify Hegseth, a former Fox News host and combat veteran who has vowed to bring a “warrior culture” to the Pentagon and round out the president Donald Trump's Top national security cabinet officials.

Vice President JD Vance was readily available to solid a tiebreaker vote, which was unusual within the Senate for Cabinet nominees who typically win broader support. Hegseth himself was within the Capitol along with his family.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune Hegseth said, as an Army National Guard veteran who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, “bringing a warrior's perspective” to the very best military job.

“Gone will be the days of woke distractions,” Thune said, referring to the range, equity and inclusion initiatives which were cut across the federal government. “The Pentagon's focus will be on warfighting.”

The Senate's ability to verify Hegseth despite a serious series of allegations against him Get what he wants from the GOP-led Congressand the effectiveness of the culture wars to fuel his agenda within the White House.

Next week, the senators will face Trump's others Selecting the outdoor cabinet particularly Kash Patel, a Trump ally who published an enemies list as FBI director. Tulsi Gabbard as Director of the Office of National Intelligence; and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the anti-Avaccine attorney at Health and Human Services.

“Is Pete Hegseth really the best we have to offer?” said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the highest Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, urging his colleagues to significantly consider their vote.

Hegseth himself was working the phones late Friday to shore up his support, his endorsement on the road.

“He's a good man,” Trump said of Hegseth as he leaves the White House to go to disaster-ridden North Carolina and Los Angeles. “I hope he does.”

Trump criticized Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who said they might vote against Hegseth. And Tump raised recent questions on Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying: “And of course Mitch is always a no-vote, I think. Is Mitch a no-vote?”

In the top, all three voted against Hegseth as tensions rose on the Capitol late Friday.

McConnell, the previous Senate GOP leader, had not explained his vote but signaled skepticism in an earlier speech when he said he would confirm nominees for senior national security roles “whose record and experience will make them immediate assets, not one.” Liabilities.” He voted against.

It takes a simple majority to confirm Hegseth, and Republicans, with a 53-47 majority in the Senate, could only lose one more objection.

One Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, dispatched the Senate as he asked questions and received information and answers, a person familiar with the situation said Thursday, granting anonymity to discuss it.

But Tillis ultimately voted to confirm Hegseth, who he said had “a novel perspective” and is passionate about modernizing the military. He said he spoke with Hegseth for “almost two hours” about his concerns.

The Democrats, as the minority party, helped confirm Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe In bipartisan votes, Trump's national security team votes within days of his return to the White House.

But Democrats who are heavily opposed to Hegseth have little power to stop him and have instead singled out the trial.

Hours before the vote, the Democrat went to the Senate floor to object.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Hegseth shows himself Allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman At a Republican conference in California, he denied the claims and said the encounter was consensual. He later paid the woman $50,000.

More recently, Hegseth's former sister-in-law said in an affidavit that he was abusive to his second wife to the point that she feared for her safety. Hegseth has denied the claim, and in the divorce proceedings neither Hegseth nor the woman claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse.

While a fiery confirmation Hegseth dismissed allegations of misconduct one after another and vowed to bring “warrior culture” to the top Pentagon post.

Hegseth has promised not to drink at work if confirmed.

But Republican senators, facing Trump allies with an intense pressure campaign to support Hegseth, have stood by his nomination and repeated his claims of a “smear” campaign against him.

Hegseth, a graduate of Princeton and Harvard, represents a newer generation of veterans who grew older after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He made a career at Fox News as a weekend show host and was unknown to many on Capitol Hill until Trump tapped him for the top defense job.

Hegseth's comments that women should have no role in military combat showed particular concern on Capitol Hill, including from lawmakers who served themselves. He has since tempered those views as he met with senators during the confirmation process.

Murkowski said in lengthy testimony before a test vote on Hegseth that his behavior was “strongly contrary” to what is expected of the military.

“I remain concerned concerning the message that Mr. Hegseth's confirmation sends to women currently serving and those that wish to affix,” Murkowski wrote on social media.

Collins said that after a lengthy discussion with Hegseth, “I’m not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has modified.”

But one prominent Republican, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, herself a seasoned and sexual survivor, faced harsh criticism for her skepticism of Hegseth and eventually announced she would support him.

Hegseth would lead an organization with nearly 2.1 million service members, approximately 780,000 civilians and a budget of $850 billion.

In exercising its advisory and consent role over Trump's nominees, the Senate is also trying to block his proposal that GOP leaders can weigh in on the confirmation process overall and allow him to name his Cabinet picks when Congress is in recess.

Trump raised the idea of ​​so-called “pause dates” during a non-public White House meeting with Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, a step many senators wish to avoid.

After months of turmoil, the Welsh Labour Party has elected a brand new leader, its second in only five months and third this yr. The election was triggered by the resignation by Vaughan Gething, who was forced to resign after 4 senior politicians in his government resigned.

Eluned Morgan is the primary woman to steer the Welsh Labour Party and is about to turn out to be the primary female First Minister of Wales. The current Cabinet Secretary for Health, Social Care and the Welsh Language, Baroness Morgan of Ely, will even be the primary peer to steer a UK government since Alec Douglas-Home in 1963.

While they’re working for his or her Management of the NHS in WalesMorgan has significant political experiencewas a Member of the European Parliament and Shadow Minister within the House of Lords from 1994 to 2009. She has promised “Strength, stability and unity,” and her supporters unanimously declared that she had the power to unite the fragmented party.

Labour’s electoral success should put the party in an optimistic and proactive mood in Wales. But while the brand new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is busy formulating a Program for the federal governmentIn Wales, Labour is currently in a recovery phase, having announced a series of policies since its election on 4 July.

The Failure of the cooperation agreement between Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru in May has left Welsh politics in a stalemate. It is now harder for the federal government to operate because Morgan's party doesn’t have an absolute majority within the Senedd.

With lower than two years until the following Senedd election in May 2026, Welsh Labour hopes Morgan might help it put recent events behind it, regain lost support and restore its status.

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But the people of Wales could also be wondering what they get out of it. Public service are fighting, Educational standards are in decline, and Poverty in Wales is at an appalling level. The recent leader may bring stability and unity to the Welsh Labour Party, but there may be currently little or no evidence that this may improve the lives of the people of Wales.

Throughout the 2024 British election campaign, Welsh voters were told that two Labour governments work together would bring advantages to Wales. But the primary test of this has already failed.

In support of the Welsh Government Child poverty strategy (last updated earlier this month) would abolish the cap on the two-child allowance 65,000 children in Wales out of poverty. But the brand new Chancellor, Rachel Reeveshas insisted that the British government is not going to achieve this, and this week voted against an amendment to remove the two-child limit. While some argue that this shall be removed in some unspecified time in the future in the longer term, it can bring little relief to the hundreds now living in poverty.

There are also questions on how Labour governments in Cardiff and London will improve public services in Wales. While Morgan fought to “Modernise our NHS” During the recent general election, people in Wales could also be wondering why the Welsh Government, which is liable for the Welsh NHS, has not done so already. Unless recent money comes from the UK Government, it’s difficult to see what recent mechanisms the Welsh Government will adopt to handle the issues facing the NHS.

Dominance and renewal

What is evident is that renewal is crucial for a celebration that has been in power because the starting of decentralisation in 1999. The political scientist Maurice Duverger warned that dominance reduces “the need for innovation” and “takes the joy out of political life.” While defeat often leads a celebration to reflect and reorient itself, if it stays in power for therefore long, it has less incentive to achieve this.

There are several signs that the Welsh Labour Party is looking for such a Dominance crisisThe falling support for Labour in Wales, the rise of the Reform movement and the increased support for Plaid Cymru within the recent general election should give Welsh Labour politicians food for thought.

Because Morgan was elected unopposed, there was no leadership contest. This deprived Welsh Labour of the chance to reflect at a time when recent ideas are needed to resolve Wales' problems. However, a leadership contest alone wouldn’t necessarily have generated sufficient debate. We saw within the previous leadership election between Gething and Jeremy Miles that there was not many differences between the 2 candidates.

Instead, the Welsh Labour Party must create some form of Revaluation that is characteristic of the British Labour Party within the face of successive electoral defeats. Whether this is finished through a policy review or a more informal debate about ideas, it should involve all parts of the party and include different ideas. It is critical that since Carwyn Jones' (who became First Minister in 2009) pamphlet The way forward for Welsh work In 2004 there was little sign of the same form of reflection.

A serious debate about values ​​and concepts wouldn’t only be good for Welsh Labour – it will be good for the people of Wales. As Welsh politics stumbles into 2026, business as usual shall be enough for all those that desperately need a government that might help them.

PARIS — A coalition of France's left that quickly got here together to defeat the resurgent far right in parliamentary elections has won essentially the most seats in parliament but not a majority, in accordance with polls forecast on Sunday, a surprise result that threatens to plunge the country into political and economic turmoil.

According to forecasts, President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance is in second place, not having a majority in parliament, and the battered extreme right is in third place.

With no bloc capable of secure a transparent majority, France faces uncertainties that would shake the markets and economy of the country, the European Union's second-largest, and solid a shadow of political instability over the Paris Olympics, which begin in lower than three weeks.

Final results of the highly explosive early elections are usually not expected until late Sunday or early Monday. Even before the vote, the political map of France was redrawn. The left-wing parties put aside their differences and joined forces after Macron announced the dissolution of parliament and the decision for brand spanking new elections just 4 weeks earlier. The president hoped to make use of this gamble to consolidate his centrist alliance.

This strategy doesn’t appear to have paid off for the deeply unpopular president. Forecasts suggest that his alliance will not be the biggest party in parliament, maybe even by far. Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National did increase its variety of seats significantly, but fell far wanting its hopes of an absolute majority that might have given France its first far-right government since World War II.

In Paris's Stalingrad Square, left-wing supporters cheered and applauded as projections of the alliance flashed on a large screen. In the Place de la République in eastern Paris, there have been also cries of joy, people spontaneously hugged strangers and minutes of uninterrupted applause after the projections appeared.

Jordan Bardella, Le Pen's 28-year-old protégé who had hoped to grow to be prime minister, lamented that the election result “drives France into the arms of the extreme left”.

The left-wing coalition's most distinguished leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, called on Macron to ask the New Popular Front coalition to form a government. The alliance, he said, was “ready to govern.”

If the forecasts are confirmed by official figures, it should mean great uncertainty for a pillar of the European Union. There isn’t any clarity about who might grow to be prime minister – and the prospect that Macron can be forced to manipulate with someone who opposes most of his domestic policy goals. The results will affect the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe's economic stability.

The poll forecasts are based on the actual vote count in chosen constituencies.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his resignation, but in addition said he would stay in office temporarily through the Olympics or so long as needed, as selecting a brand new prime minister could involve weeks of negotiations.

In an announcement from his office, Macron said he wouldn’t be pressured into asking a possible prime minister to form a government. He said he was monitoring the outcomes and would wait for the brand new National Assembly to take shape before taking “the necessary decisions,” while respecting “the sovereign decision of the French.”

A parliament with out a clear majority, through which no single bloc could come anywhere near winning the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority within the National Assembly, the more powerful of France's two legislative chambers, could be uncharted territory for contemporary France.

Unlike in other European countries, where coalition governments are more common, there isn’t any tradition in France of MPs from rival political camps joining forces to form a majority.

Macron shocked France and lots of in his own government by dissolving parliament after the far right gained popularity in France's European elections in June.

Macron argued that returning voters to the ballot box would bring “clarity” to France. The president hoped that with France's fate of their hands, voters might shift away from the far right and left and return to established parties closer to the middle – where Macron found much of the support that won him the presidency in 2017 and 2022. This, he hoped, would strengthen his presidency for the remaining three years of his term.

But as a substitute of standing behind him, hundreds of thousands of voters used his surprising decision as a chance to vent their anger.

In the primary round of voting last weekend, voters gave much more support to Rassemblement National candidates than within the European elections. The coalition of left-wing parties got here in second place, along with his centrist alliance a distant third.

Any cobbled-together majority runs the danger of being fragile and being brought down by votes of no confidence.

Prolonged instability could reinforce suggestions from his opponents that Macron should end his second and final term in office. The French structure prohibits him from dissolving parliament again in the following 12 months, making him unwilling to potentially provide France with more clarity.

Associated Press journalists Barbara Surk in Nice, France, and Helena Alves and Alex Turnbull in Paris contributed to this report.

OAKLAND — There was already loads of cause for stress at City Hall before a series of FBI raids in Oakland last week forged a shadow over Mayor Sheng Thao and the flow of political money within the Bay Area.

Oakland has been grappling with one other crisis for months: a projected $155 million budget deficit, largely because of tax revenues which have fallen far wanting expectations. And the deadline to pass a balanced budget is fast approaching.

By the top of this week, the Oakland City Council must pass the mayor's proposal to shut the revenue gap while also addressing a structural deficit expected next 12 months.

But the FBI's mysterious raids on Thao's family home and three other addresses with ties to the politically influential Duong family – which has a recycling service contract with the town and donates generously to California politicians – were a significant distraction for City Hall.

Thao has made no public statements because the raids, aside from a vehement protestation of her innocence on Monday. Her absence from public life has led critics in the town to query who’s running City Hall, but observers say there’s little cause for concern.

“Everyone is in a state of panic, wondering, 'What's going to happen to the city? The mayor is missing!'” said Dan Lindheim, the previous city manager and now a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. “The reality is nothing is going to happen. The mayor is not involved in the day-to-day operations. That's the city manager's job.”

The City Council is answerable for reviewing and voting on Thao's budget proposal, which calls for freezing a lot of vacant city positions to fill this 12 months's gap and using revenue from the private sale of Oakland's share of the Coliseum complex to offset next 12 months's deficit. The council plans to fulfill Friday to finalize the budget.

Thao's proposal calls for freezing 18 more sworn police positions, along with the 16 already slated for freezing, bringing the entire variety of full-time sworn police positions from 712 to 678.

Those cuts wouldn’t be based on layoffs but on officers leaving or retiring – a possible consequence provided that 91 officers are eligible to retire this 12 months and about 80 others are currently on administrative or medical leave.

Still, next 12 months's budget will reduce Oakland's police force to the bare minimum required by a tax reform passed by voters in 2014 that requires Oakland to have at the very least 678 cops on duty at any given time. If the number falls below that, the town risks not receiving the funding related to the measure.

That baseline itself — and a variety of other staffing minimums — may very well be repealed if the City Council votes to repeal it and declares a “state of extreme financial necessity.”

The mayor's proposal also calls for freezing quite a few positions in the fireplace department, including 20 vacancies for paramedics and 10 positions on the Community Police Review Agency, which deals with police misconduct.

The sale of the town's share of the Coliseum complex – including the stadium, arena and land in between – is predicted to generate around $63 million for Oakland next 12 months and $40 million within the 2025/26 fiscal 12 months. However, the terms are still being finalized with the group's buyer of the property.

Thao's proposal has drawn criticism from financial analysts – not since it involved selling the Colosseum, which had long been the town's plan, but since the proceeds can be used for one-time salaries somewhat than longer-term needs.

“Unless they have another Coliseum to sell, they have nothing to close the budget with in the next few years,” Lindheim said in an interview.

“This time will help mitigate the immediate impacts so that the deeper work to correct the structural imbalance can be done in time for the upcoming biennial budget process,” city spokesman Sean Maher said, adding that officials “do not take this time for granted.”

The city can be preparing an emergency budget that may go into effect if the African-American Sports and Entertainment Group – led by Oakland native Ray Bobbitt and backed by investment fund Loop Capital – fails to fulfill its payment deadlines in September and January.

While these more drastic cuts would still not end in layoffs, they would come with the closure of two of Oakland's six police academies – something Thao says he desires to avoid in any respect costs – and the closure of one other 60 fire department positions.

Thao's critics urged the mayor to not make staff cuts and as an alternative pressure Oakland's unions to renegotiate the extensive cost-of-living adjustments that were approved at the peak of inflation in the course of the pandemic.

Despite the criticism, Thao has been adamant about avoiding layoffs in the course of the budget crisis that officials have in comparison with the Great Recession. It's just one among the crises plaguing Oakland in an election 12 months.

On the day of the FBI raids, City Councilwoman Carroll Fife vowed to give attention to passing the budget, calling it her “primary goal right now.”

“I don't want to get distracted by something sensational that none of us have control over. My goal is to provide the leadership the city needs and continue to move Oakland forward.”