Trump loyalists picked for national security and Mideast posts

Today’s agenda: Russian oil merger plot; advertisers and X; Mali detentions; Brazilian diplomacy; and ‘planet’s most badass airline’

Good morning. We begin with the appointment of more Trump loyalists to key jobs in the incoming administration, including national security roles and top Middle East posts.

Who was picked: President-elect Donald Trump announced yesterday that he would nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be his secretary of defence and former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe to be director of the CIA.

He also said he would nominate former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel and that his longtime friend, donor and fellow real estate mogul Steve Witkoff would be his special envoy for the Middle East.

What the selections mean: The president-elect had a fraught relationship with civilian and military leaders at the Pentagon during his first term in office, churning through five secretaries of defence in four years. The selection of Hegseth suggests he will have a close ally willing to enact his policy decisions.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Middle East appointments are a sign that the US will take an even friendlier approach than Joe Biden’s administration towards the Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, potentially allowing it to continue its military campaigns against Hamas and Hizbollah. Read more on the policy implications.

• More appointments: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were picked to lead a newly created “department of government efficiency”, giving the entrepreneurs a hand in promised efforts to slash bureaucracy.

• Congress: Even in a Republican-controlled legislature, Trump’s radical agenda will need to clear hurdles​ in the House and Senate.

Sign up for our White House Watch newsletter for more updates from Washington as it braces itself for Trump’s second term.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: Russia releases third-quarter GDP figures while the US publishes October inflation data.

• High-level meetings: The COP29 climate summit continues. EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen receives French Prime Minister Michel Barnier. Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte hosts US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Brussels.

• Somaliland: The breakaway region of Somalia holds a presidential election.

• Results: ABN Amro, Allianz, Alstom, Bertelsmann, Cisco Systems, Experian, Fuller, Smith & Turner, RTL, RWE and SSE report.

This week’s FT Sessions at COP29 will feature key discussions that reflect on the negotiations, announcements and agreements happening during the event. Stay informed and join the conversation. Register for free: ftcop.live.ft.com.

Five more top stories

1. Russia’s energy minister Sergei Tsivilev has attempted to combine the country’s oil majors in a sign of the power struggle at play over the Kremlin’s key wartime revenue source, according to four senior Russian energy industry figures. The pitch by Tsivilev involved nationalising Lukoil and tightening control over state-run Rosneft and Gazprom Neft. Read the full report.

2. Elon Musk’s support for Donald Trump is set to boost X’s flagging business, with some marketers poised for a return to the social media platform in order to seek favour with the incoming administration and get in the “good graces of Elon”.

3. The US has said it will not withhold military aid to Israel because it has taken steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, even as human rights groups say Palestinians in the shattered enclave are being “starved”. The move comes as a US deadline for Israel to take “urgent and sustained actions” to improve the conditions expired yesterday.

4. The detention in Mali of an international mining boss and two colleagues has raised alarm across the industry about growing personal risks for executives in the gold-rich west African nation. The three British citizens are among seven western mining executives to have been held in the past two months as tensions rise between the industry and the military junta.

5. Underperforming NHS hospitals will be publicly shamed in league tables and failing health bosses will be sacked, UK health secretary Wes Streeting will warn in a speech to sector leaders today. Individual trusts will be ranked and judged by the quality of services offered to patients, financial management and senior leadership. Read more on the plans.

• More NHS: As the government sets out reforms, a think-tank reports hospital productivity has started to rebound over the past year.

The Big Read

Brazil’s return to the global stage reflects today’s shifting geopolitics, which has opened a space for middle-ranking powers. Governments such as Brazil’s are trying to expand their international influence in part by playing off the US, China and even Russia. But even before Donald Trump’s re-election, that diplomatic space was shrinking.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

Investors have poured record sums into exchange traded funds this year, even before a buying spree that was ignited by the election of Donald Trump. As of October 31, global net flows into the ETF industry had hit $1.4tn, according to data from BlackRock.

Take a break from the news

Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for fiction for her novel Orbital, a sharp, lyrical meditation on the state of the Earth and humanity as viewed from space. Read more about how the book won over the judges and critics.