defeats

United States Vice President JD Vance has cast the tie-breaking vote to defeat a war powers resolution that would have forced President Donald Trump to seek Congress’s approval before taking any further military action in Venezuela.

The Senate’s session on Wednesday evening came to a nail-biting conclusion, as the fate of the resolution ended up resting on the shoulders of two Republican politicians.

Senators Todd Young of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri had voted last week, as part of a group of five breakaway Republicans, to put the resolution to a full Senate vote. With unanimous support from Democrats, the measure advanced with 52 votes in favour, 47 against.

But supporters of the resolution could only afford to lose one vote in order to secure the bill’s passage. By Wednesday, it had lost two: both Young and Hawley.

The final vote was evenly split, 50 to 50, allowing Vance to act as tie-breaker and defeat the resolution.

Hawley signalled early in the day that he had decided to withdraw his support. But Young was a wild card until shortly before the final vote took place

“After numerous conversations with senior national security officials, I have received assurances that there are no American troops in Venezuela,” Young wrote on social media.

“I’ve also received a commitment that if President Trump were to determine American forces are needed in major military operations in Venezuela, the Administration will come to Congress in advance to ask for an authorization of force.”

Young also shared a letter, dated Wednesday, from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, offering lukewarm assurances that Congress would be notified ahead of any future military action in Venezuela.

“Should the President determine that he needs to introduce US Armed Forces into hostilities in major military operation in Venezuela, he would seek congressional authorizations in advance (circumstances permitting),” Rubio wrote.

Legal questions about the Venezuela attack

The latest war powers resolution arrived in response to a surprise announcement on January 3 that Trump had launched a military action to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Explosions were reported in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and nearby military bases, and Trump appeared in a broadcast hours later to announce that the US had abducted Maduro and transported him to the US to face criminal trial.

Maduro’s wife Cilia Flores was also captured as part of the operation.

Two US service members were injured in the attack, and as many as 80 people in Venezuela were killed, including Cuban security personnel involved in guarding Maduro.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said in his speech announcing the attack.

He and Rubio then fielded questions about whether Congress had been notified about the operation. They acknowledged they did not notify lawmakers in advance.

“This was not the kind of mission that you can do congressional notification on,” Rubio said. “It was a trigger-based mission.”

Trump, meanwhile, argued that congressional notification had been a liability to the mission’s security. “Congress will leak, and we don’t want leakers,” he said.

Normally, the US Constitution divides up military authority between the legislative and executive branches. While the president is considered the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, only Congress has the power to declare war and authorise military action.

But that division of power has become gradually eroded, as the executive branch has exercised greater authority over the military.

In recent decades, presidents have often justified unilateral military action by referring to authorisations of military force (AUMFs) approved by Congress in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

But military action in Venezuela falls outside of the purview of those authorisations, raising questions about the legal justification for the January attack.

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice published a 22-page memo it originally wrote in December to justify the forthcoming attack. That memo argued that, since Maduro’s abduction was an act of “law enforcement”, it fell short of the legal threshold that would have required congressional approval.

In addition, the document asserted that, since the planned military operation was not expected to trigger a war, it also landed outside of Congress’s powers.

“The law does not permit the President to order troops into Venezuela without congressional authorization if he knows it will result in a war,” the memo explained. “As of December 22, 2025, we have not received facts indicating it will.”

A Republican breakaway

But not every Republican agreed with that explanation, and several sought to claw back Congress’s power to oversee US military action.

They included senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine, all seen as pivotal swing votes in Congress’s upper chamber.

Young and Hawley joined the three rogue Republicans for an initial vote to advance the war powers resolution on January 8. But afterwards, all five came under acute pressure to switch sides and rejoin the Republican caucus for the final vote.

President Trump, in particular, denounced the five Republicans on his social media platform Truth Social.

“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America,” he wrote in a post.

“This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief.”

Reports emerged that Trump even called some of the senators in advance of Wednesday’s vote, in an effort to gain their support. But the publication The Hill indicated that Trump’s conversation with Collins devolved into a “profanity-laced rant”.

Paul, another Republican who has also courted Trump’s ire, was among the senators to speak before Wednesday’s final vote.

He defended his decision to back the war powers resolution, calling his vote a necessary act to uphold the Constitution’s separation of powers.

“This isn’t really and shouldn’t be Republican versus Democrat. This should be legislative prerogative versus presidential prerogative, and it should be about the Constitution,” Paul said.

“The Constitution — specifically, thoughtfully — vested the power of initiating war and declaring war to Congress,” he added.

“The spectrum of our founding fathers concluded they didn’t want the president to have this power.”

Risking Trump’s ire comes at a higher cost for some Republicans than others. Of the three Republicans who joined Democrats on Wednesday to vote for the war powers resolution, only one is up for re-election this year in the US midterm races: Collins.

Former world number one overcomes Brandon Nakashima in straight sets to stake his claim as an Australian Open contender.

Three-time Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev has warmed up for an assault on this year’s opening Grand Slam in perfect fashion by winning the Brisbane International final.

The Russian world number 13 was too strong for American Brandon Nakashima on Sunday and ran out a 6-2, 7-6 (7/1) winner in 96 minutes at Pat Rafter Arena for his 22nd ATP Tour title.

Medvedev broke a shell-shocked Nakashima twice in the first set and looked on course for a quick victory.

Nakashima rallied in the second to force a tiebreak, but the towering Russian raced to a 5-0 lead in the breaker, and the match was as good as over.

“I started pretty strong, but then Brandon found his way back, saved some match points, then almost got it to a third set,” Medvedev said.

The Australian Open begins in Melbourne on January 18.

“It’s been a great start to the year,” said Medvedev, who made the final in Brisbane in 2019.

“I said then that I would try and come back and win it. I came back seven or eight years later, and I’m happy to hold the trophy.”

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Carson Beck scrambled for a three-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left, and Miami will head back home for a shot at its first national championship since 2001 after beating Mississippi 31-27 in an exhilarating College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday night.

The 10th-ranked Hurricanes (13-2) had their vaunted defense picked apart by the sixth-ranked Rebels (13-2) in a wild fourth quarter, falling into a 27-24 hole after Trinidad Chambliss threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Dae’Quan Wright with 3:13 left.

Beck, who won a national title as a backup at Georgia, kept the Hurricanes calm amid the storm, leading them down the field for the winning score — and a shot at a national title on their home field at Hard Rock Stadium on Jan. 19. Beck is 37-5 as a starter, including two seasons at Georgia.

The sixth-seeded Rebels lost their coach before the playoff, but not their cool.

If anything, Lane Kiffin’s decision to bolt for LSU seemed to harden Mississippi’s resolve, pushing the Rebels to the best season in school history — and within a game of their first national championship game.

Ole Miss kept Miami within reach when its offense labored and took a 19-17 lead on Lucas Carneiro’s fourth field goal, from 21 yards.

Malachi Toney, the hero of Miami’s opening CFP win over Texas A&M, turned a screen pass into a 36-yard touchdown that put Miami up 24-19.

Chambliss’ TD pass to Wright put the Rebels back on top, but the improbable run came to an end when the defense couldn’t hold the Hurricanes.

But what a run it was.

With Pete Golding calling the shots after being promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach, and most of the assistants sticking around, the Rebels blew out Tulane to open the playoff and took down mighty Georgia in the CFP quarterfinals.

They faced a different kind of storm in the Hurricanes.

Miami has rekindled memories of its 2001 national championship team behind a defense that went from porous to nearly impenetrable in its first season under coordinator Corey Hetherman.

The Hurricanes walled up early in the Fiesta Bowl, holding Mississippi to minus-one yard.

One play revved up the Rebels and their rowdy fans.

Kewan Lacy, the nation’s third-leading rusher, burst through a hole up the middle for a 73-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter — the longest run allowed by Miami’s defense since 2018.

The Hurricanes seemed content to grind away at the Rebels in small chunks offensively, setting up CharMar Brown’s four-yard touchdown run and a field goal.

Miami unlocked the deep game just before halftime, taking advantage of a busted coverage for a 52-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Keelan Marion.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Lauren Betts had 18 points and 16 rebounds as No. 4 UCLA extended its winning streak to six games with an 82-75 win over No. 19 Ohio State on Sunday.

Kiki Rice added 16 points and Angela Dugalic scored 15 as UCLA (12-1, 2-0 Big Ten) beat the Buckeyes for the fourth straight time, dating to December 2023.

Jaloni Cambridge led all scorers with 28 points, and Elsa Lemmila added 13 points and seven rebounds for Ohio State (11-2, 1-1) which had its nine-game winning streak halted in its conference home opener.

The Bruins built a 76–60 lead midway through the fourth quarter before Ohio State closed the gap behind strong defense and key late baskets from Cambridge, T’yana Todd and Chance Gray. The Buckeyes closed within six points with about two minutes remaining, but got no closer.

UCLA outrebounded Ohio State 47–33, including a 19–10 edge on the offensive end that led to a 35–10 advantage in second-chance points. Betts anchored the Bruins in the paint as UCLA outscored the Buckeyes 50–32 inside.

Ohio State struggled from three-point range in the first half, missing its first 11 attempts before Lemmila connected with 3:43 left in the second quarter. The Buckeyes found some rhythm in the third quarter, hitting six three-pointers, and finished seven of 30 (23%) from beyond the arc.

Up next for UCLA: at Penn State on Wednesday.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka showed flashes of the emotion she demonstrates in competitive matches, bearing a mischievous grin when she won points.

“I felt great. I think I put up a great fight. He was struggling, he got really tired,” Sabalenka said afterwards.

“I think it was a great level, I made a lot of great shots, moved a lot to the net, drop shots. I really enjoyed the show. Next time when I play him, I already know the tactics, his strengths and weaknesses, and it will be a better match for sure.

“I love to challenge myself and I’d love to play again.”

Critics had questioned Kyrgios’ suitability as the male protagonist in the match, given he admitted assaulting an ex-girlfriend in 2021 and has made a series of comments which have been considered misogynistic.

The Australian, who was ranked 13th in the world at his peak, played with an air of insouciance throughout. His movement was limited as he worked to shorten points where possible.

He will be delighted to have secured victory in little over an hour as he looks to build fitness for what he hopes will be a fuller return to the ATP Tour in 2026.

The pair, whose friendship appears genuine and was demonstrated by their japes throughout the match, shared an affable embrace at the net.

“Honestly, it was a really tough match, she is a hell of a player and such a great champion,” said Kyrgios.

“I didn’t really know what to expect. Whatever role I was to play, it was just another great opportunity to go out here.”