Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Gaza no longer in famine after aid access improves, hunger monitor says ISIS, Iran escalating global campaign against Jews, Israel spy chief says Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel, judiciary's news outlet says Israel warns US that missile exercises by IRGC might be cover-up for surprise attack Report: Hezbollah rebuilds weapons‑smuggling network through Syria US envoy Witkoff calls Ukraine, Russia talks productive WSJ Editorial: Another half-measure for Ukraine IDF says it targeted 2 Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon strikes U.S. strikes dozens of sites in Syria in retaliation for troops’ deaths Lebanon close to completing disarmament of Hezbollah south of Litani River, says PM UN chief condemns Houthi detention of another 10 UN staff in Yemen Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison: The Labor Party made Australia safe for AntisemitismIn The News
Israel
There is no longer famine in Gaza, a global hunger monitor said on Friday, after access for humanitarian and commercial food deliveries improved following a fragile October 10 ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that a new governance structure for Gaza — made up of an international board and a group of Palestinian technocrats — would be in place soon, followed by the deployment of foreign troops, as the U.S. hopes to cement a fragile ceasefire. – Reuters
Israel’s national intelligence chief warns that Iran, ISIS and other jihadist actors remain determined to target Jews worldwide, as senior intelligence officials sound the alarm on a sharp global rise in terrorism. – Fox News
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that Hamas is “absolutely not” ready to disarm, raising concern that the U.S. and Israel are not doing enough to advance the ceasefire deal agreed to in October. – Politico
An Artificial Intelligence Division for the IDF was established by the C4I and Cyber Defense Directorate, under the command of Maj. Gen. Aviad Dagan, and was done in response to the military’s security failure on October 7. – Jerusalem Post
In three incidents on Sunday, the Israel Air Force targeted terror suspects in northern Gaza who attempted to cross the Yellow Line and approach IDF troops, the military said. – Jerusalem Post
Security sources have denied claims that the terrorists from Gaza who were arrested on Saturday entered Israel illegally during the October 7 massacre, KAN News reported on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
The IDF killed two terrorists who attempted to attack Israeli soldiers across the West Bank in separate incidents, the military said on Saturday. – Jerusalem Post
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned Sunday that the military will strike Israel’s enemies “wherever required, on near and distant fronts alike,” apparently hinting that Israel may again need to attack in Iran. – Times of Israel
Brian Eglash writes: This is a war, whether we wanted it or not. And wars are not won by scattered committees and good intentions. What we need now is achdut – not unanimity, but unity of purpose. The kind of unity that has carried our people through crisis after crisis, transforming fragmentation into strength. Only through coordinated action can we secure a proud, safe, and thriving Jewish future in the diaspora, anchored by a strong and enduring Israel. – Jerusalem Post
Neville Teller writes: If the international force never deploys, or deploys in a limited, ineffective way, there is a real danger that the ceasefire will become a “frozen conflict” – and Gaza is subjected to a prolonged stalemate, a hark back to the “managed instability” that marked the pre-October 7 period. History has already demonstrated what that situation finally leads to. And if Hamas refuses or delays disarmament, or Israel is unwilling to withdraw fully, the underlying structural problems – the vacuum in governance and security, and the humanitarian crisis – will remain, and the truce could collapse. In those circumstances, the ceasefire may only delay, not end, the conflict. – Jerusalem Post
Divya Malhotra writes: Israel and Armenia are bound by more than geopolitical convenience. They are nations whose identities are anchored in memory, whose diasporas influence global conversations, and whose cultural footprints stretch across millennia. As the South Caucasus undergoes a profound transformation and the Middle East enters a new diplomatic era, Israel has a rare chance to convert dormant affinities into durable strategic capital. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Iran executed a man on Saturday who it said was convicted of spying for Israel and having ties to Iranian opposition groups, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported. – Reuters
Iran’s renewed push to rebuild its ballistic missile arsenal now poses as grave a threat as its nuclear program, US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R – South Carolina) warned in an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
The Iranian-linked Handala hacking group issued a new threat on Saturday, claiming it had uncovered the identities of Israeli engineers allegedly involved in the development of drone programs, according to posts published on social media. – Jerusalem Post
Israel warned the United States that a missile exercise by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could be used as a screen to prepare a possible missile strike against the country, Axios reported on Sunday. – Jerusalem Post
Yonah Jeremy Bob writes: Rather, Israel needs to stick to the real numbers, which are scary enough on their own. This may also mean that Jerusalem cannot make a case for attacking Iran in the coming months or even before the upcoming election. Maybe the real redline date is 12 or 18 months from now. If so, the election should not influence the timing. Israeli intelligence credibility and real security concerns are too large to play games with. – Jerusalem Post
Russia and Ukraine
When the U.S. rolled out its 28-point Ukraine peace plan this fall, leaders in Kyiv saw a series of traps laid by the Kremlin. The document, which was devised with Russian input, included points which Kyiv would never accept without more security guarantees—from giving up land and holding immediate elections to making a constitutional pledge not to join NATO. – Wall Street Journal
When a self-described patriotic, middle-aged Russian soldier was released from a prisoner-of-war camp in Ukraine earlier this year, he called his family to tell them he was alive, free and back on Russian soil. As the phone was passed around, he told them he might be back in time for his son’s birthday in a few weeks’ time. – Wall Street Journal
Vladimir Putin was interested in meeting Witkoff—so interested that he might consider releasing an American prisoner to him. The invitation came from a Kremlin moneyman named Kirill Dmitriev, using the de facto Saudi ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, as an intermediary. – Wall Street Journal
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Europe it was out of step with the new priorities of the United States which no longer sees Moscow as an adversary, during his marathon year-end call-in show Friday. – Washington Post
Ukraine has used drones four times in the past few weeks to hit oil tankers from Russia’s shadow fleet, escalating the war in the seas and showing that Ukraine’s security services agency feels increasingly emboldened to launch audacious attacks and claim them publicly. – New York Times
Talks held between U.S., European and Ukrainian officials over the last three days in Florida aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine focused on aligning positions, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday, calling those meetings and separate talks with Russian negotiators productive. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide said on Sunday that changes made by the Europeans and Ukraine to U.S. proposals for an end to the war in Ukraine did not improve prospects for peace. – Reuters
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Ukraine would back a U.S. proposal for three-sided talks with the United States and Russia if it facilitated more exchanges of prisoners and paved the way for meetings of national leaders. – Reuters
Ukraine and Portugal agreed on the joint production of Ukrainian sea drones, the Ukrainian president’s aide said on Saturday. – Reuters
Ukraine thanked the European Union on Friday for deciding to provide it with 90 billion euros ($105.46 billion) of support over the next two years – even if the bloc failed to agree on an ambitious plan to finance it using frozen Russian assets. – Reuters
A Russian general was killed Monday morning after an explosive device detonated underneath his car in southern Moscow, investigators said. – Associated Press
Two NATO-nation intelligence services suspect Russia is developing a new anti-satellite weapon to target Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation with destructive orbiting clouds of shrapnel, with the aim of reining in Western space superiority that has helped Ukraine on the battlefield. – Associated Press
A Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa in southern Ukraine killed eight people and wounded 27, Ukraine’s emergency service said Saturday, as a Kremlin envoy was set to travel to Florida for talks on a U.S.-proposed plan to end the nearly four-year war. – Associated Press
Editorial: Russia had threatened retribution if the EU went ahead with the reparations loan, and one risk is that the Kremlin will conclude it succeeded with its intimidation. Suspicious drones have been spotted over Belgian military sites and infrastructure, and a possible Russian intermediary reportedly issued violent threats to Euroclear executives. It’s hard to believe Vladimir Putin can wreak four years of bloody havoc in Europe and still may get his money back. President Trump sees the frozen assets as a lure to get Russia to agree to a cease-fire. That means Ukraine will have to make do with the loan and whatever weapons it can buy to survive. – Wall Street Journal
Marc Champion and Lionel Laurent write: The EU is learning its limitations the hard way. Credit where credit is due: Merz was willing to get his hands dirty and commit political capital to supporting Ukraine, which can at least hope to access Russia’s sequestered central bank reserves to fund reconstruction at the end of the war. The German chancellor has been impressive in his willingness to rhetorically stand up to Trump on one side and Putin on the other. Nor is the war decided: The possibility, however remote, remains that the US acts to change Putin’s calculations before Ukraine runs out of money and manpower. – Bloomberg
Can Kasapoğlu writes: Ukraine also has work to do. The Armed Forces of Ukraine should intensify de-Sovietization across doctrine, command, procurement, ranks, high command, and tables of organization and equipment. Military and political figures like General Kyrylo Budanov and First Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov represent the future: young, adaptive, tech-driven leaders who understand algorithmic warfare and modern intelligence fusion. Kyiv also needs to hardwire anticorruption safeguards into defense contracting to maintain the confidence of foreign partners that fund Ukraine and share sensitive technologies. A twenty-first-century Ukrainian military cannot operate on twentieth-century Soviet frameworks. – Hudson Institute
Hezbollah
Lebanon’s government made a commitment a year ago to disarm Hezbollah, after a cease-fire ended a yearlong conflict between Israel and the powerful Lebanese paramilitary group. But the pace of disarmament has frustrated Israeli and American officials, and despite the truce, the Israeli military has bombed what it says are Hezbollah targets on a near-daily basis. – New York Times
The Israeli military said Sunday that it targeted Hezbollah operatives in strikes in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese health ministry reported one person was killed and another wounded. – Agence France-Presse
The Israel Defense Forces on Friday revealed new information on a raid carried out by naval commandos last year, during which a “significant” Hezbollah operative was nabbed. – Times of Israel
Syria
The U.S. military on Friday night launched strikes against dozens of sites in central Syria, U.S. officials said, following an attack last weekend that killed two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter. – Washington Post
Britain imposed sanctions on Friday on individuals and organisations it said were linked to violence perpetrated against civilians in Syria, including some who financially supported former president Bashar al-Assad’s government. – Reuters
Jordan confirmed Saturday that its air force took part in strikes launched by the United States on Islamic State group targets in Syria in retaliation for the killing of three U.S. citizens earlier this month. – Associated Press
Israeli military forces arrested a man suspected of being an Islamic State operative during a week-long operation in southern Syria, the IDF said on Saturday. – Jerusalem Post
Veysi Dag writes: Inviting SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi to Washington to engage directly with US President Donald Trump and senior policymakers would signal a meaningful change in strategy. Such a revised strategy could protect minority rights in Syria, enhance long-term regional stability alongside Israel’s security, and establish a reliable and sustainable partnership with the West. This vision can only be sustained by a disciplined, reliable, and loyal partner like the SDF, one that has consistently cooperated with the Western forces, defied both Sunni and Shi’ite jihadism, and remains committed to inclusive governance.” – Jerusalem Post
Amed Martin writes: If the international community does not act now, the Middle East’s future will be divided among sectarian authoritarian regimes. There will be no room left for democracy, pluralism, women’s rights, and minority security. Protecting Rojava is not merely solidarity with the Kurds. It is defending that a democratic future is still possible in the Middle East. It is showing that values Gulf petrodollars cannot buy – freedom, equality, and human dignity – still matter. History will record who stood by democratic values at this critical moment and who sacrificed these values for short-term interests. – Jerusalem Post
Iraq
Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO said on Sunday international producers in Kurdistan were still obliged to send it their crude under a September export agreement, after Norway’s DNO said it would not take part in the agreement. – Reuters
Political factions in Iraq have been maneuvering since the parliamentary election more than a month ago to form alliances that will shape the next government. – Associated Press
The head of Iraq’s highest judicial body said Saturday that the leaders of armed factions have agreed to cooperate on the sensitive issue of the state’s monopoly on weapons. – Agence France-Presse
Editorial: Shortly after the first Gulf War in 1991, the U.S. and its allies launched Operation Provide Comfort, a humanitarian relief mission to defend Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq. This included enforcing a no-fly zone, which helped prevent another massacre of the Kurds by Saddam and seeded the creation of the autonomous Kurdistan region, a success story. Iraq still faces many challenges, not least sectarianism, paramilitaries and Iranian meddling. But it so far hasn’t succumbed to these forces. In Mr. Salih, Iraqi democracy now has a proud representative on the world stage. – Wall Street Journal
Turkey
A high-level Turkish delegation will visit Damascus on Monday to discuss bilateral ties and the implementation of a deal for integrating the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) into Syria’s state apparatus, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said. – Reuters
Authorities on Friday opened an investigation into an unmanned aerial vehicle that crashed in northwest Turkey, just days after the country shot down another drone that entered its airspace from the Black Sea. – Associated Press
Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Saturday with a delegation from the Hamas terrorist organization in Istanbul to discuss the ongoing Gaza ceasefire agreement, reported the Anadolu news agency. – Arutz Sheva
Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Giora Eiland writes: The Iranian threat, on the one hand, and the potential Turkish threat, on the other, are considered the most significant dangers at the strategic level. These threats, and the need to prepare for them, explain why Israel must avoid renewing the war in Gaza and in Lebanon. In these arenas, Israel has the upper hand, and therefore it is right to direct its resources toward much greater risks. – Jerusalem Post
Lebanon
Lebanon is close to completing the disarmament of Hezbollah south of the Litani River, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Saturday, as the country races to fulfil a key demand of its ceasefire with Israel before a year-end deadline. – Reuters
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Friday the government had put forward a draft law to address a financial crisis that has crippled the economy for six years, saying it conforms to International Monetary Fund standards and would restore faith in Lebanon. – Reuters
The committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israel truce in Lebanon focused on Friday on how to return displaced people to their homes, addressing civilian issues to help prevent renewed war if a year-end deadline to disarm Hezbollah is not met. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has quietly expanded access to its only store that sells alcohol, allowing wealthy foreign residents to buy booze in the latest step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom’s experiment in liberalization. – Associated Press
Saudi Arabia has awarded its highest national honor to Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, during his visit to Riyadh, Pakistan’s military said Monday, underscoring deepening ties between the two countries, including cooperation on counterterrorism. – Associated Press
A total of 347 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2024, according to a report published by the British organization Reprieve, which monitors executions in the country annually. This is the highest number ever recorded in a single year in Saudi Arabia and marks the second consecutive year in which the execution record has been broken. – Arutz Sheva
Middle East & North Africa
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday condemned the Houthi detention of another 10 U.N. personnel in Yemen, taking the total to 69, his spokesperson said. – Reuters
Egypt is doing all it can to prevent further escalation between Lebanon and Israel amid tension between the two neighbors over the disarmament process of the militant Hezbollah group, the country’s prime minister said Friday during a visit to the Lebanese capital. – Associated Press
Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday reiterated calls for structural changes in the U.N Security Council to grant Africa a larger role in shaping global decisions. – Associated Press
Danish shipping company Maersk said on Friday that one of its vessels had successfully navigated the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time in nearly two years, as shipping companies weigh returning to the critical Asia-Europe trade corridor. – Times of Israel
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s parliament passed a bill on Monday to launch an independent probe into the Jeju Air plane crash in December 2024 that killed 179 people in the deadliest air disaster on the country’s soil. – Reuters
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is moving the presidential office back to the country’s traditional Blue House compound, departing from the defence ministry complex where his ousted predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol had set up his office. – Reuters
North Korea said Japan’s ambition for possession of nuclear weapons should be “thoroughly curbed,” state media KCNA reported on Sunday. – Reuters
The Trump administration’s investment in a US zinc development has thrust it into the middle of a South Korean proxy fight, an example of how the government’s push for equity stakes in critical industries is facing free-market blowback. – Bloomberg
China
In 2016, Beijing launched a new aerospace conglomerate called Aero Engine Corp. of China. It had a challenging mandate: to develop top-line aircraft engines, a technology China had long struggled to master. – Wall Street Journal
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s unflinching response to President Donald Trump’s trade war this year has paid off: Tariffs have been dramatically reduced, new export controls and port fees have been suspended, and China can even now buy the more advanced Nvidia chips that will help its AI ascendancy. – Washington Post
It was October 2023, and F.B.I. agents told Hui Bo not to come to their office. For his own safety, it would be better to meet in public, he recalled them saying, so he waited near a park in Los Angeles. He was warned that he was being watched by agents of the People’s Republic of China after he commissioned sculptures in protest of China’s government. – New York Times
In early October, they were all detained, alongside nearly 30 other pastors and church members across China, as the police rounded up people affiliated with Zion Church, one of the country’s largest unofficial Protestant congregations. It was the most wide-ranging crackdown on Chinese Christians in years, according to activists and supporters. And many fear it is just beginning. – New York Times
The U.S. on Friday dropped its effort to deport a Chinese national who helped document Beijing’s alleged abuses against Uyghur Muslims to Uganda, the man’s lawyer told Reuters. – Reuters
China’s special envoy for Asian affairs visited Phnom Penh this week to push for Cambodia and Thailand to de-escalate their fierce border fighting, Cambodia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday. – Reuters
Those eyes have served as a symbol of sanctuary for generations of Tibetans fleeing the Chinese crackdown in their homeland. But today, Tibetan refugees are also watched by far more malevolent eyes: Thousands of CCTV cameras from China, perched on street corners and rooftops to monitor every movement below. – Associated Press
Kathleen Parker writes: Lai’s only crimes were fealty to freedom, commitment to the Catholic Church and the unflinching courage to remain in Hong Kong with fellow freedom fighters to face his jailers rather than jump ship when he could have. Today, his only hope for release comes, ironically, from a man who shares China’s disdain for the press. Trump and China still have a few trade details to work out. Let’s hope one of them is Lai’s freedom. – Washington Post
South Asia
Pakistan’s military is tightening its grip on the country with sweeping legal changes that critics say are centralizing power in the hands of army chief Gen. Asim Munir. – Washington Post
Indian H-1B visa holders who traveled back to India this month to renew their American work permits are now stranded far from home after their appointments were abruptly canceled by U.S. consular offices and rescheduled for months later, according to three immigration lawyers who specialize in H-1B cases. – Washington Post
Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi mourners, including the country’s interim government leader, attended the funeral on Saturday of a slain youth leader and election candidate amid tight security. – Reuters
A Pakistani court on Saturday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 17 years in prison each in a corruption case involving the under-priced purchase of luxury state gifts, the court and Khan’s lawyers said. – Reuters
The World Bank said on Friday that it has approved $700 million in financing for Pakistan under a multi-year initiative aimed at supporting the country’s macroeconomic stability and service delivery. – Reuters
India and New Zealand announced Monday they have reached a free trade deal, seeking to deepen economic ties and shore up growth at a time of mounting global trade uncertainties. – Associated Press
Pakistan’s deputy prime minister on Friday accused neighboring India of “weaponizing water” by releasing water from Indian dams without warning, saying the move violates a World Bank-brokered water-sharing treaty and threatens peace and stability in the region. – Associated Press
A suicide car bomber and three gunmen attacked a military post near a village in northwest Pakistan on Friday, triggering an hourlong gunbattle that killed four soldiers and wounded at least 15 civilians, including women and children, authorities said. – Associated Press
Asia
Responding to a deadly terrorist attack, the authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales promised on Friday to introduce a law that would give officials enormous powers to restrict speech and assembly. – New York Times
Three people were killed and at least six others were injured on Friday in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, when a man threw smoke grenades in a crowded train station and lunged at bystanders with a large knife. The attacker later died after fleeing and then falling or jumping from a building, the police said. – New York Times
A Malaysian court on Monday denied a bid by jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, in the first of two key rulings the ex-premier faces this week over his role in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. – Reuters
Southeast Asian foreign ministers met in Malaysia on Monday to try to restore a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia after two weeks of fierce fighting that has killed at least 60 people and displaced more than half a million. – Reuters
Senior officials of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party began a two-day meeting on Monday that is set to select candidates for the country’s leadership positions for the next five years. – Reuters
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday that the country’s Jewish community was “completely unbreakable” after attending a memorial at a Sydney synagogue for the victims of a mass shooting attack on a seaside Hanukkah celebration. – Reuters
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was booed by an angry crowd gathered at the famous Bondi beach on Sunday to honour the victims of a gun attack a week earlier that targeted a seaside Jewish Hanukkah festival event. – Reuters
Singapore’s government said Friday that scammers will face mandatory caning of up to 24 strokes from Dec. 30, under changes to criminal law to deter surging fraud cases. – Associated Press
Taiwan stepped up security at transport hubs across the island after knife attacks in the capital killed three people and injured several others — a rare violent spree that shocked the democracy of 23 million people. – Bloomberg
The US can maintain close ties with Japan while pursuing productive engagement with China, even as tensions rise between Asia’s two largest economies, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. – Bloomberg
Analysts have pointed out that the US arms packages to Taiwan approved last week are more asymmetric in nature than in previous years, focused on countering an amphibious assault, according to Nikkei Asia. – Taiwan News
Editorial: Another unknown is how Japan’s slow normalization will affect global capital flows. Japan’s foreign portfolio (financial) investments total $4.5 trillion or so, several hundred billion of which are short-term carry trades that can and often do turn on a dime. Rising Japanese rates, and a narrowing gap between the rate-raising BOJ and its rate-cutting peers, could cause investors to rebalance their portfolios with unpredictable effects. Tokyo’s long period of negative interest rates and mega-quantitative easing count as the largest monetary experiment in history. The BOJ’s challenge now is to wind down that experiment without blowing up the laboratory. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Bondi Beach was not just a tragedy. It was a test of seriousness and honesty. Australia failed the test on the night of the attack. It is now failing again in daylight. An internal review is not accountability. It is concealment dressed up as governance, and it tells Jewish Australians, and the nation as a whole, that the government still does not grasp the scale of its failure. – Jerusalem Post
Scott Morrison writes: Such an inquiry must examine not only the events of Dec. 14, 2025, but the broader trajectory since Oct. 7, 2023, and the wider challenge of antisemitism in Australia. It must draw on expertise in security, counterterrorism, social cohesion, immigration and intelligence—not only law. Australians are an optimistic people. Like our friends in Israel and the U.S., we believe in democracy and in the future. We have suffered a grievous blow, but we will recover. Above all, we must again honor the promise Australia made to its Jewish community and ensure this country is once again the safe haven and steadfast friend it once was. Am Yisrael Chai. – Wall Street Journal
Europe
Across Germany, railcar factories are being retooled to build military vehicles, auto suppliers are joining with defense contractors, and former soldiers are suddenly hot commodities in the jobs market. – Wall Street Journal
Just days ago, Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was blindfolded, bundled into a car and driven from a notorious penal colony in his native Belarus to Lithuania’s border. There, his blindfold was untied. Mr. Bialiatski had been serving a 10-year sentence on charges of “smuggling” and “financing public disorder,” charges widely seen as politically motivated. Suddenly, he was free. – New York Times
President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Sunday plans to build a new, larger and more modern aircraft carrier to replace the ageing Charles de Gaulle carrier and strengthen France’s maritime power. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday announced he is appointing Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as a special envoy to Greenland. – Reuters
NATO militaries currently lack the resilience for a protracted conflict, the alliance’s top maritime commander warned, reinforcing concern that Europe isn’t yet prepared for a long-term confrontation with Russia. – Bloomberg
Ursula von der Leyen was supposed to sign the European Union’s largest free-trade agreement on Saturday, proving the bloc’s standing as a geoeconomic force. – Bloomberg
France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart may be heading for bilateral talks on Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin “expressed readiness to engage in dialogue” with Macron on the issue, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday, according to media reports. – Politico
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Saturday called for “peaceful coexistence” as the country marked the first anniversary of a deadly car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in eastern Germany. – Agence France-Presse
British pro-Palestinian activist Moazzam Begg described Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” as a “voice of freedom” last week in Glasgow, hours after news of the Bondi Beach Hanukkah terror attack in Sydney began to emerge, the Telegraph reported. – Jerusalem Post
Carlo Stagnaro writes: The EU climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, admitted that the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism was “too broad” and “too clunky.” Making it even broader and clunkier won’t help. Carbon pricing is the most efficient tool to abate emissions; its pain may be alleviated by pragmatic fixes, such as recycling revenues to reduce other taxes or distributing free allowances to industries exposed to foreign competition. Economic historian Carlo Maria Cipolla defined stupidity as causing losses to others while gaining nothing. It’s time for Europe’s climate policies to become smarter. – Wall Street Journal
Martin Ivens writes: The PM still boasts of his unique deal with Washington, and he has some foreign friends. Germany, as ever, is more sympathetic to Britain than France. The volatile Trump’s ardor may turn hot again, having gone cold on Britain. In the meantime Starmer is off to China soon to visit President Xi Jinping. Perhaps the ever-so-humble approach will pay off this time in a trade deal that benefits both parties. On past performance, I wouldn’t count on it. – Bloomberg
Africa
Gunmen opened fire at a bar near Johannesburg on Sunday, killing nine people, the police said. The episode adds to the growing list of mass shootings in South Africa, many of which have been linked to organized crime. – New York Times
The capture of the city of El Fasher in late October marked a bloody milestone in the nearly three-year conflict in Sudan. The Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group battling the Sudanese Army in a catastrophic civil war, took control of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State in western Sudan, handing the R.S.F. almost total control of the region. – New York Times
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama held talks with a global delegation seeking reparations for transatlantic slavery and colonialism, who urged him to rally other African leaders to choose “courage over comfort” and support the growing movement. – Reuters
The remaining 130 Nigerian schoolchildren abducted in November from a Catholic school in Niger state have been released, President Bola Tinubu’s spokesperson said on Sunday, following one of the country’s biggest mass kidnappings of recent years. – Reuters
The U. N. Security Council on Friday condemned an offensive by M23 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, demanded Rwanda stop supporting the rebels and withdraw its troops, and renewed the mandate for U.N. peacekeepers. – Reuters
Conflict in Congo has sent over 84,000 refugees fleeing into neighbouring Burundi this month in the second major influx this year, overwhelming the country’s ability to respond, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said Washington’s immediate goal on Sudan is a cessation of hostilities going into the new year that allows humanitarian organizations to deliver assistance. – Reuters
A United Nations staff member was found dead in South Sudan days after being taken into custody by security personnel, the world body said in a statement. – Associated Press
Beninese President Patrice Talon played down the threat posed by plotters of an attempted coup this month and declared that they lacked army or popular support. – Bloomberg
The Americas
The U.S. Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker involved in transporting oil from Venezuela, according to three U.S. officials, part of an accelerating effort by the Trump administration to block ships from moving the country’s crude. – Wall Street Journal
Cubans are going hungry, suffering from spreading disease and sleeping outdoors with no electricity to power fans through the sweltering nights. A quarter of the population has fled during the island’s most prolonged economic crisis. – Wall Street Journal
The oil company is clinging to its role as the largest foreign investor in Venezuela, where it has operated for more than a century, as President Trump ratchets up his effort to squeeze strongman Nicolás Maduro. – Wall Street Journal
In 1976, the government of oil-rich Venezuela assumed control of the country’s petroleum industry, nationalizing hundreds of private businesses and foreign-owned assets, including projects operated by the American giant ExxonMobil. – Washington Post
An escalating standoff between the United States and Venezuela has led both countries’ militaries to jam satellite navigation signals in the Caribbean to guard against a potential attack, data show, putting air and sea traffic in the region at greater risk of a collision or accident. – New York Times
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that an “armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe” in the face of escalating actions from the United States toward regional neighbor Venezuela. – Reuters
The Venezuelan government rejected the seizure of a new vessel transporting oil, it said in a statement on Saturday, describing it as a “serious act of international piracy,” after the United States seized another tanker near the coast of the South American country. – Reuters
The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on family members and associates of Nicolas Maduro and his wife, as Washington ratchets up pressure on the Venezuelan president. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday told reporters that the United States is not concerned about an escalation with Russia when it comes to Venezuela, as President Donald Trump builds up military forces in the Caribbean. – Reuters
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Saturday he hopes the massive free-trade deal between South American bloc Mercosur and the European Union will be signed in January. Protests on Friday by European farmers and opposition from France and Italy threatened to quash an agreement that has been under negotiation for more than 26 years. – Associated Press
North America
A Toronto man has been charged with working with the Islamic State to support and commit terrorist acts after he and two other men were arrested over episodes that the police described as “offenses motivated by hate” directed at the Jewish community, Canadian authorities announced Friday. – New York Times
Nearly 100 bullets tore into the night, many striking a nearby supermarket and homes. It was a miracle no one was killed or injured, the police said. When the dust settled, officers recovered 16 guns tossed into trash bins, dumped in the alleyway and shoved under a couch — each one smuggled across the southern border, the police said. – New York Times
After a pack of assailants shot Omar García Harfuch three times in 2020, he began sleeping in his office. He was Mexico City’s police chief at the time and said a powerful cartel tried to assassinate him. Now Mr. Harfuch is Mexico’s top security official, tasked with dismantling those very groups. – New York Times
CBS News pulled a “60 Minutes” report on El Salvador’s CECOT prison just hours before its scheduled Sunday broadcast, saying it would air at a future time. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday the State Department has refused the visa application of Marlon Ochoa, a member of the Honduran National Electoral Council, and revoked. Reuters
The United States has received pledges of up to 7,500 security personnel for a gang suppression force in Haiti, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday. – Reuters
United States
Before Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, he was readying for JD Vance to become the next president of the United States. Now, Erika Kirk is determined to make that happen. – Wall Street Journal
A top Justice Department official said Sunday that the agency temporarily removed some newly public Jeffrey Epstein files to address complaints from victims about the agency’s failure to redact their images or information. – Wall Street Journal
While President Trump’s MAGA coalition wrestles with a deepening split over U.S. support for Israel, his ambassador to the country, Mike Huckabee, knows exactly where he stands. – Wall Street Journal
The day after President Donald Trump declared he had ended 94 percent of all seaborne drug trafficking to the United States and reduced illegal migrant border crossings to “zero,” he announced an entirely new rationale for his escalating campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. – Washington Post
The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump’s “America First” priorities. – Associated Press
Editorial: The same standard should apply here as well. Calling for a globalized Intifada is not an innocent critique of Israeli policy; it is the invocation of a violent past to encourage future action. Protecting free speech does not require tolerating language that normalizes violence against a minority already under assault. The question is not whether societies can draw this line – they demonstrably can. The question is whether leaders, in Sydney, London, New York and beyond, are willing to do so before the next attack. – Jerusalem Post
Cybersecurity
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday signed into law a new bill aimed at regulating artificial intelligence companies and requiring them to write, publish and follow safety plans. – Wall Street Journal
South Korea’s consumer agency said on Sunday it would order SK Telecom to compensate 58 users who filed a class action against the company over a recent hacking incident. – Reuters
British trade department minister Chris Bryant said the government had been hacked in October, partly confirming a report in the Sun newspaper, which said a Chinese group had breached systems to access Foreign Office data. – Reuters
Russian technology companies working on air defense, sensitive electronics and other defense applications were targeted in recent weeks by a cyber espionage group using AI-generated decoy documents, according to a cybersecurity analyst. – Reuters
Russia carried out cyberattacks against infrastructure and websites in Denmark in 2024 and 2025, Danish authorities say in a new assessment published this week describing new cases not previously reported. – Associated Press
The FBI said that unknown actors have continued to deploy AI voice cloning tools in an ongoing effort to impersonate U.S government officials and extract sensitive or classified information or conduct scams. – CyberScoop
One of the alleged developers behind the RaccoonO365 subscription phishing kit was arrested by Nigerian police this week. The Nigerian police’s National Cybercrime Centre said they conducted two raids in Lagos and Edo states, resulting in three arrests, after receiving tips from Microsoft, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service. – The Record
Defense
The Department of Government Efficiency’s mission at the Pentagon now includes not just cutting wasteful programs, but buying thousands of small drones for the U.S. military. – Wall Street Journal
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday nominated the vice commander of Special Operations Command, Lieutenant General Frank Donovan, to lead the U.S. military’s Southern Command overseeing U.S. troops in Latin America after the previous commander retired early. – Reuters
The US Navy has successfully launched a one‑way attack drone from a ship at sea for the first time, a development that comes as Washington accelerates its deployment of low‑cost unmanned strike systems. – Jerusalem Post
The Pentagon failed its financial audit for the eighth consecutive year, the Defense Department said Friday, highlighting the ongoing systemic challenge the nation’s largest federal agency faces in fully accounting for its assets. – Defense News
The Air Force is upgrading its experimental, autonomous X-62 VISTA aircraft with new radar and other mission systems to expand its ability to conduct complicated tests of artificial intelligence technology. – Defense News
The U.S. Navy is pursuing a new class of smaller, more agile combatant ships that the service says will become a “critical component of the Navy’s fleet of the future.” – Defense News
President Donald Trump has released a new executive order (EO) setting national space policy across the civil, commercial and defense sectors — setting a goal of establishing an “initial” Moon base by 2028 and reiterating the administration’s Golden Dome plans for a comprehensive air and missile defense shield over America. – Breaking Defense
Ryan C. Berg and Joseph Ledford write: The new NSS has identified the direction. Now, the Trump administration must execute this much-needed course correction. In drawing on the Monroe Doctrine, the 2025 strategy reveals a fundamental truth about U.S. power: The United States cannot persist as a superpower without securing its hemisphere. Redressing Washington’s neglect of the Americas will have global implications, not the least of which is extirpating the malign influence of the United States’ adversaries from its neighborhood. Can the Trump administration turn this well-grounded strategy into a successful set of policies? The next three years will tell us. – Foreign Policy
John Venable writes: Without NGAP, the two NGAD programs and upgraded F-35s will rely on decades-old propulsion, effectively fielding sixth-generation fighters constrained by 1980s-era engine technology. Facing an adversary with a massive capacity advantage and near-peer technological capabilities, America’s airmen will depend on every additional pound of thrust, mile of range, and megawatt of power and cooling available to prevail. The Donald Trump administration’s vision for a renewed and dominant industrial base demands bold action—particularly for the military. Accelerate NGAP now and secure America’s edge in airpower for generations to come. – National Interest
Long War
The father-and-son attackers accused of carrying out the deadly shooting on Australia’s famous Bondi Beach appeared to have met with local Muslim religious leaders during their sojourn to the Philippines last month, intelligence authorities said on Sunday. – New York Times
When the two gunmen accused of attacking a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach travelled to the Philippines last month, they kept to themselves most of the time and barely left their room, a hotel staff member said. – Reuters
Australian police say homemade pipe and tennis ball bombs were thrown at a crowd at Bondi Beach before a mass shooting but failed to detonate, according to court documents released on Monday. – Reuters
Dov Zakheim writes: This might be a lesser issue with respect to the merger of the European and African commands, whose headquarters staff are both located in Germany. Adding Central Command, however, is another matter, since the region remains exceedingly unstable, given Iran’s nuclear challenge and the possible resumption of Houthi attacks on shipping. Moreover, as the ISIS attack in Syria demonstrates — and for that matter terrorism by Somalia-based al-Shabab — remains a major threat to American personnel and interests inside and outside the region. […] There is a strong case for retaining Central Command, even as the rest of the plan rightly reflects the need for revision both to promote efficiency and to address ongoing changes in both the international environment and America’s strategic priorities. – The Hill