Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
A damaged and degraded Hezbollah wages guerrilla campaign against Israel Yemen missile interception sparks fire near Jerusalem; 4 drones launched from Iraq New York Sun’s Rebecca Sugar: Israeli rescuers are an example for the West Iranian agents plotted to kill Donald Trump, Justice Department says Trump to renew ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran JPost’s Neville Teller: How Iran’s attacks on Israel backfired, escalating regional conflict Ukraine launches biggest drone attack yet on Moscow Israel Defence Minister Katz says Israel has defeated Hezbollah Qatar pauses efforts to mediate stalled Gaza cease-fire North Korea ratifies mutual defence treaty with Russia Calls for ‘Jew hunt’ preceded attacks in Amsterdam After Hamas rejection of hostage deal, US asked Qatar to expel the groupIn The News
Israel
The two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, are coalescing around a plan for Gaza’s reconstruction when major fighting stops. Its main selling point: Neither will be in charge. – Wall Street Journal
Four Israeli troops peered into a tunnel shaft in southern Lebanon that they expected to be empty. They were wrong. – Wall Street Journal
Israel’s finance minister on Monday welcomed President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and said it meant “the time has come” to exert full Israeli sovereignty over parts of the occupied West Bank. – Washington Post
Israel’s military said on Monday that it had expanded a humanitarian zone it created in southern Gaza. The move came just before the expiry of a Biden administration deadline for Israel to deliver more aid to the enclave or risk a cutoff of military supplies. – New York Times
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has requested to delay testifying at his ongoing corruption trial, fueling criticism that he is seeking to drag out the case in order to delay a verdict and, if convicted, a jail term. – New York Times
The International Criminal Court will commission an independent investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct by its chief prosecutor, the court announced Monday. – New York Times
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar met Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel and far-right leader Geert Wilders in Amsterdam on Friday afternoon to discuss the assaults on Israeli soccer supporters in the city. – Reuters
Israel said on Monday it had met most demands by the United States to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza but was still discussing some items as a deadline looms to improve the situation or face potential restrictions on U.S. military aid. – Reuters
The Israeli military said on Friday it was planning to reopen the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza to increase the flow of aid into the southern end of the Gaza Strip. – Reuters
Israel’s Defence Ministry has begun coordinating joint preparations with the German Federal Ministry of Defence for the initial deployment of Israel’s Arrow-3 missile interception system on German soil in 2025, it said on Sunday. – Reuters
Israel rejected on Saturday a group of global food security experts’ warning of famine in parts of northern Gaza where it is waging war against Palestinian militant group Hamas. – Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confidant Ron Dermer met President-elect Trump in Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, according to two Israeli officials and two U.S. officials with knowledge of the meeting. – Axios
An Israeli military spokesperson on Saturday condemned a group of soldiers for burning a Lebanese flag during operations in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah. – Agence France-Presse
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is expected to visit Washington Monday to discuss the terms of a ceasefire between the IDF and Hezbollah, a source confirmed to The Jerusalem Post. – Jerusalem Post
A ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen was successfully intercepted before it entered Israeli airspace, the military said Monday morning. – Times of Israel
The partial U.S. arms embargo on Israel is affecting the battlefield in Gaza and Lebanon and could pose a risk to IDF soldiers. The U.S. is silently halting various arms shipments to the country but continues to support Israel in other ways, including a large-scale deal to acquire around 1,000 new APCs. – Ynet
Editorial: Hamas’s brutality has never seemed to trouble the conscience of the student or activist left in the West. In the same way Bashar al-Assad’s slaughter of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Syria, many of them starved and bombed indiscriminately in Damascus’s Yarmouk district, made no impression. No one gets worked up when Israel can’t be blamed. That’s one reason the movement that calls itself “pro-Palestine” is better termed “anti-Israel.” Another is its demand that Israel leave Gaza to Hamas rule. When you hear the shout “Free Palestine,” understand what’s left implicit: “for a larger Hamas dictatorship.” – Wall Street Journal
Rebecca Sugar writes: Jews aren’t the only infidels. Can the people trust such a government to come to their defense when the next mob attacks bystanders at a Christmas parade? Seeing what it looks like when a country protects its population might inspire the Dutch to demand that their leaders take care of them too. The entire Western world needs to see Israel’s show of strength. French, Germans, Americans, Australians—they don’t need to see more pictures of Jews lying in the streets. They need to see them soaring through the air. Maybe the sight will inspire them to a little self-preservation of their own. – Wall Street Journal
Zina Rakhamilova writes : UNRWA has to go. Israel cannot work with an organization that enables Hamas activities, aids and abets terrorism, and provides shelter to those holding civilians hostage. While it’s essential for Israel to develop an alternative strategic plan for Palestinians to prevent regional instability and security concerns, Israel has every right to proceed with this decision. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
Iranian agents plotted to assassinate Donald Trump before he was re-elected as president, the Justice Department revealed Friday in a case that underscores the barrage of security threats Trump faces even before he takes office. – Wall Street Journal
President-elect Donald Trump plans to drastically increase sanctions on Iran and throttle its oil sales as part of an aggressive strategy to undercut Tehran’s support of violent Mideast proxies and its nuclear program, according to people briefed on his early plans. – Wall Street Journal
Leaders from across the Arab world gathered on Monday in the capital of Saudi Arabia for a summit that came at a delicate moment for the kingdom, which has signaled a rapprochement with Iran after a violent, decades-long rivalry. – New York Times
A British soldier accused of passing sensitive information to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps pleaded guilty on Monday to escaping from prison while awaiting trial. – Reuters
Iran’s foreign ministry is aware of reports about the arrest of Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh in Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday. – Reuters
The chief of staff of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, visited Tehran on Sunday to meet with his Iranian counterpart and discuss defence ties, state media reported the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff as saying. – Reuters
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi denied U.S. charges that Tehran was linked to an alleged plot to kill Donald Trump and called on Saturday for confidence-building between the two hostile countries. – Reuters
A militant attack near the Pakistani border with Iran left five Iranian forces dead, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday. – Associated Press
Iran on Saturday urged US President-elect Donald Trump to reconsider the “maximum pressure” policy he pursued against Tehran during his first term. – Agence France-Presse
International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi will visit Tehran starting Wednesday, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported. – Bloomberg
Iran is set to enforce scheduled power cuts as it moves to limit electricity production from power plants that use polluting fuels, according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency. – Bloomberg
Neville Teller writes: In short, Iran’s leaders want to destroy the world as we know it. They want to achieve political dominance in the Middle East, overthrow Western-style democracy of which America is the prime exponent, wipe out the State of Israel, and impose Shi’ite Islam across the globe. Whether the West wishes to acknowledge it or not, in combating Iran, Israel is fighting for the free world as a whole. – Jerusalem Post
Russia & Ukraine
For months, workers battled to keep the decades-old power station in Ukraine’s front-line city of Kurakhove functioning as advancing Russian forces hammered it with artillery. – Wall Street Journal
A Biden administration push to send billions of dollars of military equipment to Ukraine before it leaves office is facing major logistical hurdles and is raising concern that the transfers will deplete already-stretched U.S. stockpiles, officials said. – Wall Street Journal
Russia has launched a barrage of attacks over the past 24 hours, pummeling cities in Ukraine’s east, south and center with missiles, glide bombs and waves of drones — the latest onslaught in a deadly aerial campaign that intensified two months ago. – Washington Post
Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Moscow and five other Russian regions Sunday, officials here reported, injuring one person and forcing three airports to temporarily halt operations. – Washington Post
The Kremlin denied Monday that President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week, saying there are no specific plans for the two leaders to communicate yet. – Washington Post
A court in Russia has sentenced two Russian soldiers to life in prison for killing a family of nine after breaking into their home in occupied Ukraine, a rare legal case against atrocities committed by Moscow’s soldiers in the war. – New York Times
Old Soviet tanks have been borrowed from museums to help train Ukrainian troops on what a commander of the EU training mission for Kyiv says are booby-trap tactics used by Russian soldiers on the battlefield. – Reuters
Russian attacks on Monday killed three in Ukraine’s central-east Dnipropetrovsk region and injured at least 19, with more people likely trapped under rubble, officials said. – Reuters
Russian glide bombs, drones and a ballistic missile smashed into cities in southern and eastern Ukraine on Monday, officials said, killing at least six civilians and injuring about 30 others. – Associated Press
Hezbollah
Hezbollah has not received any proposals on a truce for Lebanon, a spokesperson said Monday, as Israel’s foreign minister said diplomatic efforts had made “progress” and amid Israeli media reports that the cabinet had approved a ceasefire proposal. – Reuters
Israel Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that his country has defeated Hezbollah and that eliminating its leader Hassan Nasrallah was the crowning achievement. – Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved pager attacks that dealt a deadly blow to the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in September, Omer Dostri, spokesperson for his office, said on Monday. – Reuters
Taiwan on Monday said it had closed a probe into pagers that exploded in Lebanon in September and caused a deadly blow to Iran-backed Hezbollah, saying no Taiwanese citizens or companies were involved. – Reuters
Gilad Ach writes: However, this can only be achieved if Israel’s leadership demonstrates the same courage and commitment in the corridors of power as our soldiers show on the battlefield. With the right actions, we can bring stability to Lebanon and lasting peace to Israel’s North. This moment calls for decisive steps and visionary leadership that will secure the legacy of those who defend Israel and guarantee the safety of generations to come. – Jerusalem Post
Yaakov Lappin writes: The IAF has struck numerous convoys in Syria suspected of carrying weapons, including systems bound for Hezbollah’s caches in Lebanon. […] Even as some 80% of its firepower has been neutralized, Hezbollah’s potential to disrupt life in Israel’s northern regions remains. Following any future truce, it will be critical for Israel to ensure that Hezbollah’s ability to rebuild its deadly arsenals with the assistance of Iranian military technology and supply networks remains severely disrupted or non-functioning and under continuous surveillance and attack. – Arutz Sheva
Turkey
Turkey is pressing the United States to reconsider its support for Kurdish militants in Syria, according to comments by its leaders including President Tayyip Erdogan, who has again floated the possibility of a new cross-border offensive. – Reuters
Turkish drone strikes killed five members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service and security sources said on Sunday. – Reuters
An Istanbul court late on Saturday formally arrested a Turkish journalist over his social media posts on prosecutors investigating a mayor from Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), his lawyer said. – Reuters
Greece and Turkey still disagree on the extent of issues needing to be tackled over the designation of their maritime boundaries but talks will continue, the Greek and Turkish foreign ministers said after meeting on Friday. – Reuters
Saudi Arabia
Two members of the Saudi-led coalition forces were killed in an attack by a Yemeni defence ministry employee in Yemen’s Seiyun on Friday, the coalition’s spokesperson Turki al-Malki was quoted by the Saudi state news agency as saying on Saturday. – Reuters
A soldier for Yemen’s exiled government opened fire on Saudi troops as they exercised in eastern Yemen, killing two of them and wounding another in a rare insider attack during the kingdom’s nearly decadelong war there, officials said Saturday. – Associated Press
Yoel Guzansky writes: Israeli-Saudi normalization is again on the table. Saudi Arabia anticipates that a Trump 2.0 administration would be more generous than Biden in terms of incentives offered to the kingdom in exchange for normalization with Israel, adopt a tougher line on Iran, and pressure Netanyahu. – Jerusalem Post
Middle East & North Africa
Qatar said Saturday it has paused its efforts to mediate a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, citing a failure by Israel and Hamas to make progress in the talks. – Wall Street Journal
The United States and Britain launched raids on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the Amran governorate and other areas, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement, reported on Sunday. – Reuters
Enas Al Hinti has cut staff pay in half and asked workers to take unpaid leave in an effort to keep her hotel in ancient Petra open as Western holidaymakers fearful of conflict shun destinations in the Middle East. – Reuters
Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have returned to their country since Israel launched a massive aerial bombardment on wide swathes of Lebanon in September. Many who fled to Lebanon after the war in Syria started in 2011 did not want to go back. – Associated Press
US warplanes staged multiple strikes Saturday night on Iran-backed Houthi advanced weapons storage facilities in Yemen, the Pentagon said. – Times of Israel
Korean Peninsula
Ryu Seong-hyeon doesn’t need to imagine what the thousands of North Korean soldiers deployed to the Russian front lines might now be thinking. Not long ago, he was one of them. – Wall Street Journal
North Korea has ratified a mutual defence treaty with Russia signed by the two countries’ leaders in June, which calls for each side to come to the other’s aid in case of an armed attack, state media KCNA said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a treaty on the country’s strategic partnership with North Korea which includes a mutual defence provision, according to a decree published on Saturday. – Reuters
North Korea staged GPS interference on Friday and Saturday, affecting the operations of ships and private aircraft, South Korea’s military said on Saturday. – Reuters
South Korea’s ruling party introduced legislation on Monday to give chipmakers subsidies and an exemption from a national cap on working hours, to tackle potential risks from measures threatened by incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. – Reuters
South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol said the country was prepared in its alliance with the United States to strike back if North Korea attempted a nuclear attack against it, Newsweek reported on Friday. – Reuters
Robert C. Blitt writes: This reality must finally register with those states that have to date avoided imposing sanctions against the Russian church’s hierarchy and its associated agents. If the import of North Korean troops tells us anything, it is that challenging Moscow’s actions against Ukraine is the necessary and correct response. As part of this, none of the war’s enablers — including the Moscow Patriarchate, which has evaded any real responsibility for nearly three years — should be allowed to continue its support without paying a price for it. – The Hill
Lee Hee-ok and Sungmin Cho write: U.S. efforts to drive a wedge between China and North Korea could backfire, potentially strengthening their autocratic alliance. To secure meaningful cooperation from China, it would be more effective for Washington to keep its requests specific, realistic, and geared toward achieving shared interests. A more focused approach is likely to yield better results. – Foreign Affairs
China
With President-elect Donald Trump promising to inflict pain on the Chinese economy by shutting out Chinese goods from the U.S. market, Beijing is looking at ways to peel American allies away from Washington in response. – Wall Street Journal
The Chinese intelligence agency accused of likely steering vast cyberattacks on the U.S. has made rapid gains in power and profile, driven by leader Xi Jinping and the protégé he put in charge of China’s espionage efforts against the West. – Wall Street Journal
China on Friday announced a $1.4 trillion stimulus program to help local governments deal with debt, as Beijing grapples with a struggling economy and the possibility of a new trade war with the United States after Donald Trump’s election victory this week. – Washington Post
Indonesia said on Monday it does not recognise China’s claims over the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing, as some analysts warned the pact risked compromising its sovereign rights. – Reuters
Taiwanese businessman Robert Tsao said on Monday he would sue in a Taiwan court senior Chinese officials over sanctions they had placed on him, saying he was seeking to counter China’s intimidation of lawful activity. – Reuters
China rejected Philippine maritime claims on Sunday, saying new legislation “severely infringes on” Beijing’s territorial sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea, and vowing to protect its own interests. – Reuters
China and Indonesia signed deals worth $10 billion at the Indonesia-China Business Forum in Beijing on Sunday, spanning sectors including food, new energy, technology, and biotechnology, Chinese state media reported. – Reuters
Peru and China will sign an updated free-trade agreement during President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to the Andean nation that would boost commerce by at least 50% between the countries, Peru’s foreign minister said on Friday. – Reuters
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the country’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. – Associated Press
Minxin Pei writes: As dangerous as this scenario is, it has received surprisingly little attention. Trump, who has pledged to “stop wars,” surely wants to avoid military conflict with China. If he handles the Taiwan issue with insufficient care, though, he may find himself in a crisis that could consume his presidency. – Bloomberg
South Asia
At least two dozen people were killed and more than 40 others wounded in a suicide bombing at a train station in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Saturday morning, officials said. – New York Times
Afghan Taliban officials will attend a major United Nations climate conference that starts next week, the Afghan Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, the first time they have attended since the former insurgents took power in 2021. – Reuters
The International Monetary Fund’s Pakistan mission chief Nathan Porter held an initial meeting with the country’s finance minister in Islamabad on Tuesday, the finance ministry said in a statement. – Reuters
Rivals of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday thwarted a plan by her Awami League party to hold a rally in Bangladesh’s capital, seen as a potential first effort to make a comeback on the streets since she fled the country in August amid a mass uprising. – Associated Press
The U.N. children’s agency on Monday warned that the health of 11 million children in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province is in danger because of air pollution that experts say has become a fifth season in recent years. – Associated Press
Myanmar’s Rakhine state, home to the Rohingya minority and engulfed in conflict between government forces and a powerful ethnic group, could face an imminent acute famine, the United Nations development agency warned in a new report. – Associated Press
Pakistan’s railways suspended all train services on Monday to and from a restive southwestern province where a suicide bombing at a train station over the weekend killed 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff. – Associated Press
Asia
Japan’s finance minister has issued a fresh warning to the currency market in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory, which sent the dollar sharply higher against the yen. – Wall Street Journal
Australian political leaders are extolling their alliance with the United States and its importance in maintaining the “stability and security of the Indo-Pacific” amid fears that Donald Trump could disrupt the AUKUS defense partnership after he takes office as president next year. – Washington Post
Hundreds of people on Monday set out on a nine-day march to New Zealand’s capital of Wellington in protest over legislation that would reinterpret a treaty at the heart of race relations in the Pacific country. – Reuters
Russian and Indonesian ships practiced freeing a vessel captured by terrorists and fought unmanned boats during the first joint naval exercises between the two countries in the Java Sea, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported on Monday. – Reuters
Japanese lawmakers voted for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to stay on as leader on Monday, after his scandal-tarnished coalition lost its parliamentary majority in a lower house election last month. – Reuters
Taiwan has set up a “war room” to watch the live stream from next week’s COP29 climate summit given it is not allowed to attend for political reasons, Environment Minister Peng Chi-ming said on Friday. – Reuters
Vietnam’s Communist Party head To Lam has congratulated Donald Trump on his U.S. presidential election victory in a phone call and the two discussed ways their countries could boost economic ties, the communist party said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) arrived on Sunday with their warship docking at Banyuwangi in East Java, Indonesia for a joint military exercise, which will involve 2,000 personnel from both countries. – Reuters
A deputy German economy minister is in Taiwan this week for talks with officials and executives and will visit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., according to the government in Berlin. – Bloomberg
Australia is better prepared for a return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House than it was in 2016 following a concerted effort to build ties with his allies and supporters, according to former Ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos. – Bloomberg
Japan’s Democratic Party for the People will nominate its head Yuichiro Tamaki for the premiership vote as planned following a report about his personal life. – Bloomberg
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said his nation’s relationship with the US is a longstanding one and he expects that it will continue under Donald Trump’s presidency. – Bloomberg
Europe
Israeli financial adviser Ofek Ziv had just emerged from the metro, heading to the Dutch capital’s central Dam Square with a group of Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans, when he says he was struck in the back of the head with a rock. A firecracker exploded near him. Men in ski masks later appeared, wielding knives and bats. – Wall Street Journal
European leaders have quietly launched talks on how to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion without Washington’s support, even as they try to persuade President-elect Donald Trump not to cut aid to Kyiv. – Wall Street Journal
Amsterdam police are holding four people suspected of committing “open violence” in the attacks this week on Israeli soccer fans, the Dutch public prosecutor’s office said Saturday. The Dutch prime minister, meanwhile, canceled a trip to U.N. climate talks following the clashes, which were condemned by Dutch and Israeli officials as “antisemitic attacks.” – Washington Post
Olaf Scholz’s remaining coalition partner said on Monday it was open to an earlier parliamentary vote to open the way to a snap election, joining with opposition parties to urge Germany’s chancellor to provide clarity on the matter this week. – Reuters
The Netherlands will impose controls on its land borders, all of which are with fellow countries in the EU’s Schengen border-free zone, and some flights from within the Schengen zone from Dec. 9, the Migration Ministry said in a statement on Friday. – Reuters
France’s foreign minister said on Monday that a new round of sanctions targeting violent Israeli settlers could happen soon. – Reuters
Sweden has selected Embraer’s C-390 Millennium as the country’s new military cargo aircraft, the Brazilian planemaker said on Saturday. – Reuters
Italian President Sergio Mattarella met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping Friday on an official visit to China that came as Russia’s full-on invasion of Ukraine pitted Rome’s NATO allies against Beijing’s support for Moscow. – Associated Press
European nations should not repeat the mistake of creating a barrier between them and President-elect Donald Trump but instead cooperate on issues of common interest, Lithuania’s defense minister said Saturday. – Associated Press
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said he spoke with Donald Trump late Sunday, inviting him to visit the Balkan country while pointing out that in Serbia the U.S. president-elect had the highest level of support of all European states during the election campaign. – Associated Press
Thousands of opposition supporters rallied Monday in Georgia’s capital in continuing protests against the ruling party’s declared victory in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election amid allegations that Russia helped rig the vote. – Associated Press
Keir Starmer said he’s not planning to call in on Donald Trump at his home in Florida next week, when the British prime minister will be traveling to Brazil for the Group of 20 leaders’ summit. – Bloomberg
Bulgarian lawmakers failed to elect a parliamentary speaker on Monday, exposing political gridlock after the Black Sea nation held its seventh election in four years in a bid to resolve the turmoil. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Mayor Halsema called the assaults a cause for “shame” and described emergency measures including some restrictions on demonstrations and a ban on face coverings. Better late than never, but Amsterdam’s Jewish residents and visitors are justified in asking why more wasn’t done to prevent this modern example of humanity’s ancient hatred. – Wall Street Journal
Editorial: That said, there’s at least a chance that the gravity of the situation will compel a new government to act in the country’s and Europe’s best interests. If so, Scholz’s sacrifice may end up being the most consequential accomplishment of his chancellorship. – Bloomberg
Leon de Winter writes: Dutch society is shell-shocked. Friday’s violence proves that the Netherlands has imported the cultural-religious problems of North Africa and the Middle East. Few politicians—with the exception of populist Geert Wilders—are willing to call it out. Two Dutchmen who spoke up about the dangers of large-scale Muslim immigration into Western Europe were murdered: Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and Theo van Gogh in 2004. As history tells us, a pogrom never comes alone. – Wall Street Journal
Africa
Ghana’s main opposition leader John Dramani Mahama looks set to win December’s presidential election, an opinion poll showed on Monday, placing him ahead of his main challenger, ruling party candidate Muhamudu Bawumia. – Reuters
Mauritius’ incumbent Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said on Monday his political alliance was headed for a major defeat to a rival coalition led by a three-time former premier following Sunday’s parliamentary election. – Reuters
Botswana’s Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe will double as finance minister, new President Duma Boko said on Monday, announcing the first ministerial positions in his cabinet. – Reuters
The United Nations Security Council is discussing a British-drafted resolution that demands Sudan’s warring parties cease hostilities and calls on them to allow safe, rapid and unhindered deliveries of aid across front lines and borders. – Reuters
Nigeria’s military has said a new Islamist insurgent group from Niger and Mali, known as Lakurawa, was operating in the northwest and officials and residents said it killed 15 people last Friday in its most high profile attack to date. – Reuters
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu will call for an immediate ceasefire and peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict when he attends the upcoming Arab-Islamic summit in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, his office said on Saturday. – Reuters
At least 15 Chadian soldiers were killed and 32 others wounded in clashes between the army and Boko Haram fighters on Saturday, the army’s spokesman said, adding that 96 Boko Haram members were also killed. – Reuters
South Africa’s border authority said on Saturday it had partially reopened its main crossing with neighbour Mozambique, where last month’s disputed election sparked protests, raising safety concerns. – Reuters
The United States is “gravely concerned” by ceasefire violations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by M23 rebels, the State Department said on Friday. – Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the need to stop the fighting in Sudan and the need to support efforts to form a civilian government during a Friday call with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the State Department said in a statement. – Reuters
The Americas
U.S. airlines have canceled flights to Haiti after a Spirit Airlines plane appeared to be hit by gunfire while attempting to land in the country, which is currently embroiled in political unrest. – Wall Street Journal
Haiti’s ruling council swore in a new acting prime minister Monday, despite claims from the previous premier that his ouster was illegitimate, as escalating violence forced the main airport in the gang-beset country to halt flights. – Washington Post
An agreement aimed at ensuring more regular water from Mexico to the United States has been reached, both governments said on Saturday, following a long period of tension over a decades-old treaty. – Reuters
Brazil announced details of its new climate change pledge late on Friday night that sets a target to lower the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, which it will present during the United Nations climate summit COP29 in Azerbaijan, according to a government statement. – Reuters
Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Monday named Planning Minister Sariha Moya to fill in for Vice President Veronica Abad, who was suspended from office last week until April. – Reuters
Cuban authorities said late on Saturday they would not tolerate “public disorder” as the island’s emergency workers cleared debris and worked to restore power to parts of western Cuba still in the dark four days after the passage of Hurricane Rafael. – Reuters
Haitian activists on Thursday demanded that other countries temporarily stop deportations to their country due to a surge in gang violence and deepening poverty. – Associated Press
Antigua and Barbuda is seeking help from authorities in London to solve the killing of a member of Parliament in the Caribbean island nation who was found stabbed to death this week. – Associated Press
Gunmen on Friday killed a navy rear admiral in Mexico, one of the highest-ranking officers slain in the country in a decade. – Associated Press
Peruvian authorities are keeping a wary eye on conditions in neighboring Bolivia, where a potential economic collapse could unleash a new wave of regional migration. – Bloomberg
United States
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as secretary of state and has asked Rep. Mike Waltz, a Green Beret veteran, to be his White House national security adviser, according to people familiar with his thinking. – Wall Street Journal
With the world a more dangerous place than when President-elect Donald Trump first took office, current and former advisers expect he will navigate widening conflicts by building deterrence against foreign rivals while favoring transactional policies with U.S. allies. – Wall Street Journal
A State Department office that uses high-level U.S. intelligence to combat Russian and Chinese information operations abroad faces a possible shutdown at the end of the year, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. – Wall Street Journal
The Pentagon will appeal a military judge’s ruling that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did not have the power to throw out plea deals reached earlier this year in the long-stalled cases against the accused planners of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, intensifying an unusual standoff over a seminal terrorism case. – Washington Post
President-elect Donald Trump has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do what you have to do” to “finish the job” in the Middle East. The incoming U.S. leader campaigned on restoring “peace” to the region and wants Israel to wrap up its military objectives in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon ahead of his January inauguration, according to Israeli sources. – Washington Post
The U.S. has told Qatar that the presence of Hamas in Doha is no longer acceptable in the weeks since the Palestinian militant group rejected the latest proposal to achieve a ceasefire and a hostage deal, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday. – Reuters
A Chinese national was ordered held Friday on trespassing charges after police say he tried to enter President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in violation of a court order that he stay away following previous attempts. – Associated Press
President-elect Donald Trump is poised to pick two men with track records of harshly criticizing China for key posts in his new administration, a sign relations between the superpowers are likely to fray in the coming years. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Mr. Trump can do much on immigration by executive action, but a durable solution needs legislation. Maybe Democrats, after the electoral haymaker they got last week, will be willing to compromise more than they have in the past. Mr. Trump missed a chance for a bipartisan deal in 2018 to permanently change the border incentives on asylum and more. He’ll have a narrow window again next year, if he’s willing and has the heart. – Wall Street Journal
Louis Rene Beres writes: With a resolutely pro-Putin Trump back in the White House, Jerusalem will need to take seriously the prospect of American “nonintervention.” This realistic prospect would mean nothing less than witting Trump abandonment of Israel to nuclear harms being threatened by North Korea. Though counterintuitive for those Israelis who gratefully regard President-elect Trump as “pro-Israel,” such an abandonment would still be plausible (and perhaps even expected) were Putin to be involved. – Jerusalem Post
Cybersecurity
A key supplier for oilfields said a ransomware attack last week has caused disruptions and limited access to certain systems. In a regulatory filing on Thursday evening, Newpark Resources said it discovered the ransomware attack on October 29 that affected internal information systems. – The Record
Pro-Russia hacker groups have ramped up attacks on South Korean organizations following Seoul’s decision to send observers to Ukraine after North Korean troops joined Russian forces on the frontlines. – The Record
Devices used across Israel to read credit cards malfunctioned on Sunday due to a suspected cyberattack that disrupted the communications services underpinning them. Customers at supermarkets and gas stations were reportedly unable to make payments due to the incident, which reports suggest lasted around an hour. – The Record
Defense
The Pentagon said Friday that it will send “a small number” of U.S. defense contractors to Ukraine, where they will repair advanced American-made weapons, including F-16 fighter jets, Bradley fighting vehicles and air defense systems, donated by Western allies amid Russia’s invasion. – Washington Post
A number of NATO countries are pursuing new naval concepts based on sea drones programmed to keep adversaries out of allied waters, a nod to Ukraine’s pursuits with such weapons against Russian ships. – Defense News
Pan-European missile maker MBDA is pursuing an “aggressive” development schedule for its future cruise and anti-ship missile program, with the assessment phase being finalized and plans to move the long-range strike weapon project known as FC/ASW into development next year. – Defense News