House Republicans quash effort to impeach Defense Secretary Hegseth
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
By: KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, BEN FINLEY and JOEY CAPPELLETTI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Tuesday turned aside a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, halting an effort to remove the Pentagon chief for his conduct in office and his handling of the war in Iran.
The vote came as Republicans grapple with the fallout from sweeping midterm losses that some in the party have blamed on the war in Iran and the resulting surge in gas prices. But after President Donald Trump signaled strong support for Hegseth, GOP lawmakers largely stood by the secretary Tuesday, blocking the effort in a near party-line vote.
The effort was led by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and backed by Democrats. The vote Tuesday may only delay an impeachment push against Hegseth, with Democrats set to take control of the House and Senate in January.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become the next speaker when Democrats take charge in January, stood firmly behind the push, saying Hegseth has “abused his power” and “undermined America’s national security.”
Judge orders UC Berkeley student released from ICE custody
Students and community members gather on Berkeley campus to protest ICE detention of Paula Albornoz Hernandez, a student at the university, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, in Berkeley, Calif. (Felicia Mello/Berkeleyside via AP)
By: FELICIA MELLO/Berkeleyside
A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release a UC Berkeley student and asylum seeker detained at San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 30.
ICE agents arrested Paula Valentina Albornoz Hernandez, a 23-year-old business administration student from Colombia, while she was waiting to board a flight with her boyfriend for a vacation in Oregon.
Her attorneys argued that the detention of Albornoz Hernandez, who had a pending asylum case and current work permit, violated the U.S. Constitution because she was deprived of her liberty without an opportunity to challenge it in court.
The Department of Homeland Security told Berkeleyside last week that Albornoz Hernandez was deportable because she had overstayed a visa in 2023, that her work authorization and pending asylum application did not confer legal status, and that “being in detention is a choice” because immigrants have the opportunity to self-deport.
Russia and Ukraine hold nearly 4 hours of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi
Rustem Umerov, Head of Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, third from the right, speaks during the coordination meeting before the trilateral talks between Russia and Ukraine mediated by the US in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri,Pool)
By: BASSAM HATOUM
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday held their first U.S.-mediated talks in nine months on ending the 4 1/2-year-old war, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling the meeting “very productive” and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying the session was “constructive and quite substantive.”
Hopes of ending Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II are tempered, however, by the absence of any significant breakthroughs in three previous rounds of talks earlier this year.
There’s nothing to suggest a new posture that would lead to a breakthrough, but circumstances surrounding the talks have been changed by the outcome of the U.S. midterm elections as well as increased pressure on Russia’s wartime economy. Moscow also is seeking to break Ukrainians’ will as another winter sets in by ramping up its battering of the country’s power grid.
Neither Rubio nor Zelenskyy attended the talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The session lasted four hours and another is scheduled for a second day Wednesday.
