Trump names Wiles as White House chief of staff
US President-elect Donald Trump has named Susie Wiles, his campaign manager, as White House chief of staff.
Wiles has typically preferred to stay in the "shadows," even refusing to take the microphone to speak as Trump celebrated his victory early Wednesday morning.
“Suzie is fierce, smart, innovative and admired and respected around the world. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to make America a better place again,” Trump said in a statement.
Wiles is widely praised inside and outside Trump's circle for running what was, by far, his most disciplined and organized campaign.
Orban's proposal for a quick ceasefire in Ukraine, Zelensky: Nonsense!
Viktor Orbán and Volodymyr Zelenskyy sparred in Budapest on Thursday at separate press conferences, laying out their contrasting visions of how to end the war in Ukraine.
The Hungarian prime minister, who hosted world leaders at the European Political Community (EPC) summit, insisted that a quick "ceasefire" in Ukraine must be secured as a precondition for peace negotiations with Russia.
"The prerequisite for any peace is communication. The condition for communication is a ceasefire," Orbán said. "It takes time to negotiate. But first, a ceasefire is needed."
Viktor Orban's proposal for a quick ceasefire in Ukraine led to a sharp backlash from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called the plan "nonsense".
"The truce? We tried since 2014, we tried to achieve it and then we lost Crimea and we had full-scale war in 2022,” he added, warning that a ceasefire without security guarantees would allow Russia to destroy Ukrainian independence and sovereignty.
Israeli attack kills 14 civilians at school housing displaced Gazans
At least 14 people have been killed and dozens injured in an Israeli attack on a UN-run school that was being used as a shelter for displaced people.
The Israeli military said the building, in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, was being used by Hamas to plan and execute attacks on Israel.
The Israeli military added that it took measures to mitigate the risk of civilian harm, including the use of precision munitions, aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.
In recent months Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes on schools across the Strip, structures where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the fighting have sought refuge.
The United Nations said in September that about 85% of all schools in Gaza have been hit or damaged, with many requiring major reconstruction work to function again.
And the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that 70% of the schools it administers have been hit and that 95% of them have been used as shelters.
Floods in Spain, some businesses reopen
Some shops and businesses have started to reopen in the suburbs of Valencia, just over a week after catastrophic floods devastated eastern Spain.
The owner of the cafe, Pepa Juanes, says she was lucky as the flood waters did not reach most of her equipment.
The business has now reopened and will be able to begin serving the large number of volunteers helping with the cleanup.
"We have been lucky that many of the refrigerators are working. Someone just fixed the dishwasher. Volunteers will fix the other fridge, but everything else works. This is how we are ready to serve," she said.
At least 219 people died in Spain's worst natural disaster in decades after torrential rain flooded Valencia in late October.
Meteorologists say that the rain that usually falls in a year had fallen in the region in just eight hours.
