Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that Turkey barred Israeli President Isaac Herzog from using its airspace earlier this week, forcing him to cancel a planned visit to the United Nations COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. Herzog’s office announced that the cancellation was due to “security considerations.” However, during a press conference at the G20 Leaders Summit in Brazil, Erdogan said that the decision was actually tied to Turkey’s opposition to Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. “With regard to the Israeli president going to Azerbaijan for the COP summit, we did not allow him to use our airspace,” Erdogan said, according to Turkish media.

In what could generously be described as a trainwreck, a debate on Piers Morgan Uncensored between progressive commentator Cenk Uygur and historian Allan Lichtman turned into a spectacle of juvenile insults and theatrical outrage on Tuesday. Lichtman, a self-proclaimed authority on election predictions, accused Uygur of committing “blasphemy” against him—because, apparently, that’s a thing now. The chaos kicked off when Uygur criticized Lichtman’s failed prediction for the 2024 election, which Lichtman naturally blamed on voters being duped by “disinformation” from Fox News and Elon Musk. Uygur wasted no time pouncing on the excuse: “Don’t blame the voters. Look, I told you before, your theories about ‘The Keys’ were absurd. I was right, you were wrong.

A congressional panel has recommended that the U.S. toughen its trade relationship with Beijing, pushing to roll back a nearly 25-year-old decision that helped bring about China’s rapid economic growth but that many in Washington now see as hurting U.S. interests. In its annual report to Congress released Tuesday, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission called for the first time for ending permanent normal trade relations with Beijing. It echoes moves by prominent Republican lawmakers — including Sen. Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state — as the trade war with China is expected to intensify under the incoming administration. The change would mean the U.S.

Distant, ancient galaxies are giving scientists more hints that a mysterious force called dark energy may not be what they thought. Astronomers know that the universe is being pushed apart at an accelerating rate and they have puzzled for decades over what could possibly be speeding everything up. They theorize that a powerful, constant force is at play, one that fits nicely with the main mathematical model that describes how the universe behaves. But they can’t see it and they don’t know where it comes from, so they call it dark energy. It is so vast it is thought to make up nearly 70% of the universe — while ordinary matter like all the stars and planets and people make up just 5%.

Voters in California have rejected a ballot measure that would have raised the state minimum wage to $18 per hour by 2026, the highest in the country. Opponents, including the California Chamber of Commerce, said it would have increased costs, led to higher taxes and pushed businesses to cut jobs. “With the economy and costs top of mind for many voters this election, that message appears to have resonated,” said Jennifer Barrera, the chamber’s president and CEO. Proponents estimated that the measure would have benefited 2 million workers, including hotel and grocery employees.

Terry Thompson had an election to run for voters in Cascade County, Montana. Why then, she thought, was her office in Great Falls being sent mailed ballots completed by voters in places such as Wasilla, Alaska; Vancouver, Washington; and Tampa, Florida? It was only about a dozen ballots total from voters in other states. But she said it still raised concerns about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to deliver election mail and whether the errant ballots would ever be counted. “I mean, I would have had to been doing FedEx overnight envelopes to all these states to try to get them where they needed to go,” said Thompson, the county’s election administrator. She received about a half dozen others that should have gone to county election offices in other parts of Montana.

A video of US Senate Majority Leader-elect Senator John Thune (R-SD) promising Israel and Jews around the world that “reinforcements are on the way” was widely shared in Israel on Wednesday. In statements that can only be called “a breath of fresh air” after four years of the Biden administration’s constant inane posturing about Israel and lack of action on the soaring antisemitism on US soil, Thune speaks the truth – clearly and forcefully. “It’s been over 13 months since Hamas terrorists waged war against Israel and for the past year plus, Democrats have struggled to support our ally Israel and has literally fractured the Democratic party. For example, we are expecting tomorrow Sen.

Mehmet Oz, a celebrity heart surgeon turned talk show host and lifestyle guru, is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the massive federal health care bureaucracy that covers more than a third of Americans. Here’s a look at a television doctor who became a politician and is now designated to lead an agency that touches nearly all Americans in some way. Who is Dr. Oz? Trained as a heart surgeon, Oz rose to prominence on Oprah Winfrey’s leading daytime television show before spinning off his own series, “The Dr. Oz Show,” in 2009. The program aired for 13 seasons and made Oz a household name.

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary. The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial. Lutnick, a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, once appeared on Trump’s NBC reality show, “The Apprentice.” He has become a part of the president-elect’s inner circle.

Linda McMahon has been a constant presence in Donald Trump’s tumultuous orbit, serving in his first administration and supporting his presidential campaigns. Now he’s chosen her to serve as Education secretary. Here’s a look at McMahon’s background, from business to politics. McMahon went from wrestling to politics McMahon is married to Vince McMahon, whose father was a prominent professional wrestling promoter. They followed him into the business, founding their own company that’s now known as World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. It became a juggernaut in the industry and American culture. When Trump was the star of the reality show “The Apprentice,” he made an appearance at Wrestlemania in 2007.