Trump set to choose Marco Rubio as US secretary of state after picking Elise Stefanik as UN envoy


Thomas Watkins
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US president-elect Donald Trump is reportedly set to name Senator Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, putting the Florida-born politician on track to be the first Latino to serve as America's top diplomat from January.

Mr Rubio, who was in the running to be vice president, has deep foreign policy experience, sitting on both the Senate intelligence committee and the foreign relations committee. He is staunchly pro-Israel and known for his hawkish views on China, Iran and Cuba.

Latino voters switching from the Democrats played a critical role in Mr Trump's victory in the presidential election. Several US media outlets including The New York Times reported on Monday that Mr Trump was planning on selecting Mr Rubio.

Mr Trump has begun naming top officials for his new administration, rewarding loyalists who stuck with him during his campaign and reviving some names from his first administration.

His pick for the US ambassador to the UN, Elise Stefanik, underlines how the second Trump administration will bring a tough, pro-Israel line to the world body.

“The work ahead is immense as we see anti-Semitism skyrocketing, coupled with four years of catastrophically weak US leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries,” Ms Stefanik said.

“I stand ready to advance President Donald J Trump's restoration of America First peace through strength leadership on the world stage on Day One at the United Nations.”

Mr Trump said his nominee, whose approval by the Senate is virtually assured now Republicans have regained control of the upper chamber, is an “incredibly strong, tough and smart America First fighter”.

Ms Stefanik, 40, a Republican congresswoman and fierce ally of Mr Trump, would replace President Joe Biden's UN ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who drew criticism for vetoes of humanitarian resolutions for Gaza.

The UN is bracing for Mr Trump's return and likely cuts to US funding and engagement with the world body.

US media on Monday reported that Mr Trump is expected to name Marco Rubio as secretary of state, granting a top job in his second administration to a previous rival who went on to become a fierce supporter.

Mr Rubio, who would replace Antony Blinken, campaigned extensively for Mr Trump and was on the shortlist to serve as his running mate.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik speaks at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27. Reuters
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik speaks at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 27. Reuters

Mr Trump also appears poised to make another critical US foreign policy staffing announcement, with his reported pick for national security adviser. According to several US outlets, Mike Waltz, a congressman from Florida is due to be tapped for the role.

Mr Waltz would succeed Jake Sullivan and would immediately confront a slew of national security crises including the war in the Middle East, America's support to Ukraine as it fights Russia's invasion and countering Beijing. Mr Waltz is considered a China hawk, in part because of its treatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population.

Among the names resurrected from his first administration is Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, who will be the deputy chief of policy in the new administration.

Mr Miller has played a key role in some of Mr Trump's policy decisions, including his move to separate thousands of immigrant families.

Mr Trump argued throughout the campaign that America's economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people who are in the US illegally.

On Monday, he also announced Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Mr Zeldin, 44, does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a long-time supporter of Mr Trump.

“We will restore US energy dominance, revitalise our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI,” Mr Zeldin wrote on X.

Tom Homan, 62, meanwhile been named as “border tsar”, whose first order of business will be overseeing the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history.

Mr Homan served under Mr Trump in his first administration leading US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also served under former president Barack Obama, heading Ice's deportation branch.

Emphasising that only Trump loyalists need apply for positions in his new administration, the president-elect at the weekend said neither his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, nor his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, would be invited back.

Mr Pompeo flirted with the idea of a presidential run and Ms Haley criticised Mr Trump when she ran against him this year.

Mr Trump last week appointed Susie Wiles, one of his two campaign managers, to be his White House chief of staff.

Trump nominations


England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Final scores

18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)

- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)

-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)

-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)

-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)

-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)

Innotech Profile

Date started: 2013

Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari

Based: Muscat, Oman

Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies

Size: 15 full-time employees

Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing 

Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now. 

How has net migration to UK changed?

The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.

It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.

The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.

The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.

Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species

Camelpox

Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.

Falconpox

Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.

Houbarapox

Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.

Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

Moonfall

Director: Rolan Emmerich

Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry

Rating: 3/5

Top tips

Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
 

UAE SQUAD

UAE team
1. Chris Jones-Griffiths 2. Gio Fourie 3. Craig Nutt 4. Daniel Perry 5. Isaac Porter 6. Matt Mills 7. Hamish Anderson 8. Jaen Botes 9. Barry Dwyer 10. Luke Stevenson (captain) 11. Sean Carey 12. Andrew Powell 13. Saki Naisau 14. Thinus Steyn 15. Matt Richards

Replacements
16. Lukas Waddington 17. Murray Reason 18. Ahmed Moosa 19. Stephen Ferguson 20. Sean Stevens 21. Ed Armitage 22. Kini Natuna 23. Majid Al Balooshi

The biog

Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents

Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University

As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families

Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too

Coming soon

Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura

When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Akira Back Dubai

Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as,  “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems. 

The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final:

First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2

Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome

TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)

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Updated: November 13, 2024, 8:57 AM