Today In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
The Must-Reads
Hamas returns the body of a hostage, one of the last in Gaza IDF kills five terrorists who evaded troops for hours after emerging from Rafah tunnel Iran to raise fuel prices under limited conditions Ukraine open to signing newly drafted peace deal, U.S. officials say WINEP’s Khairuldeen Makhzoomi: Pro-Iran militias are the big winners in Iraq’s election ICT’s Ely Karmon: Erdogan’s Turkey poses an immediate strategic threat to Israel WSJ Editorial: Trump takes on the Muslim Brotherhood China warns it will 'crush' foreign efforts to interfere over Taiwan Taiwan’s President to seek an extra $40 billion for military Members of US-targeted Antifa group go on trial in Germany Neither of Sudan's warring factions has accepted truce plan, Trump adviser says Bolsonaro out of appeals, will start 27-year sentence for coup attemptIn The News
Israel
Hamas said on Tuesday that it had handed over the remains of an unidentified hostage found in central Gaza, which would bring the militant group and Israel a step closer to resolving a major flashpoint of the cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave. – New York Times
A vehicle used by the late Pope Francis during a visit to Bethlehem more than a decade ago has been transformed into a mobile health clinic that Christian leaders hope will soon be used to provide care to Palestinian children in Gaza. – Reuters
Researchers in Israel are hoping to make new discoveries about Jewish history by loading a digital database of manuscripts stretching back a thousand years into a new transcription tool that uses artificial intelligence. – Reuters
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel had identified the latest remains returned from Gaza as hostage Dror Or, leaving the bodies of two hostages in Gaza as the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement nears a conclusion. – Associated Press
Israeli forces launched a wide-scale counterterror operation in the northern West Bank overnight, the military and Shin Bet security agency announced on Wednesday morning. – Times of Israel
The Israel Defense Forces failed in its mission to defend Moshav Yated during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, but fast and determined action by the local security team and residents ultimately prevented a massacre and halted further terrorist infiltration into the Gaza border community, according to an internal IDF investigation cleared for publication Wednesday. – Times of Israel
The IDF completed the General Staff’s Magen Oz drill, the military announced on Tuesday. The training was initiated after the killing of Hezbollah’s chief of staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai. – Jerusalem Post
The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, is set to arrive in Israel in the second week of December for his first official visit since taking office, at the invitation of Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon. – Jerusalem Post
Soldiers from the IDF’s Nahal Brigade killed five terrorists who had emerged from tunnels and initially evaded them in eastern Rafah, the military said Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post
A section of the security fence in the Hebron area of the West Bank collapsed earlier on Tuesday morning due to severe weather and flooding. – Jerusalem Post
Editorial: Israel needs to invest heavily in its citizens. Whether it is children who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or adults who have lost their businesses. Israel needs to rebuild itself, post-October 7, 2023, post-war. If Israel continues to treat the “day after” as secondary rather than central to its national agenda, it risks emerging from this war with the same vulnerabilities that defined it on October 6 – only now, with additional layers of trauma and division. – Jerusalem Post
Iran
An Iranian professor at the University of Oklahoma has been released from immigration detainment, three days after his weekend arrest at an airport in Oklahoma City, according to a statement he posted online and a colleague at the university. – New York Times
Iran will raise the price of its heavily subsidised fuel under certain limited circumstances, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday, as the OPEC member seeks to control increasing fuel demand without triggering public anger. – Reuters
Iran on Tuesday publicly executed a man convicted of raping two women in the northern province of Semnan, the judiciary said. The execution was carried out in the town of Bastam after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, the judiciary’s official outlet Mizan Online reported. – Agence France-Presse
Iran has lost control of the Houthis in Yemen and is struggling to hold together what is left of its “axis of resistance” forces around the Middle East, Iranian officials say. – The Telegraph
Russia and Ukraine
Ukraine told the Trump administration it would sign a U.S.-drafted peace deal to end the war with Russia, U.S. officials said, despite Washington and Kyiv signaling remaining diplomatic hurdles and Moscow weighing how to respond. – Wall Street Journal
Clad in military fatigues, President Vladimir Putin last week visited a Russian military command post, where commanders presented Russia’s brilliant advances, claiming to have conquered the Ukrainian city of Kupyansk — a view contradicted by open-source analysts reporting on the front line — and almost all of Pokrovsk. – Washington Post
Russia launched a deadly barrage of missiles and drones on the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday, as Kremlin officials signaled they would resist changes negotiated by Ukraine to President Trump’s peace plan. – New York Times
It is that time of year in Russia again, when a special type of popular, celebrity pinup calendar for the coming year can be bought at newspaper kiosks, bookstores and the like. The leading man? Why, it’s President Vladimir V. Putin, of course, starring in his multifaceted role as father of the nation — strong leader, religious believer, extreme sportsman, historian, dog lover and lifestyle coach. – New York Times
The leaders of the European countries supporting Ukraine, the so-called coalition of the willing, on Tuesday insisted to keep pressuring Russia with sanctions in a video call with U.S. Secretary of Marco Rubio, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. – Reuters
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday told a Coalition of the Willing meeting that London was “ready to move” with the European Union on providing financial support to Ukraine based on the value of “immobilised” assets. – Reuters
Investigators in Ukraine could bring new charges in a sweeping probe into high-level graft that has fuelled the country’s worst wartime political crisis, the country’s top anti-corruption officer said on Tuesday. – Reuters
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and a host of other key U.S. officials would come to Moscow next week for talks on a possible peace plan for Ukraine. – Reuters
Russian forces staged a mass drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia late on Tuesday, triggering fires, injuring 19 people and badly damaging buildings and vehicles, the regional governor said. – Reuters
Russia’s government is discussing different ways to prop up Russian Railways, the country’s biggest commercial employer, which has built up a 4 trillion rouble ($50.8 billion) debt pile, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. – Reuters
In a matter of days, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll vaulted from being the leader of a military bureaucracy — where he’s been cutting red tape to quickly buy inexpensive drones — to a key negotiator in the Trump administration’s push to end the Russia-Ukraine war. – Associated Press
President Donald Trump said Tuesday his plan to end the war in Ukraine has been “fine-tuned” and he’s sending envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to meet with Ukrainian officials. – Associated Press
The soil surrounding the gas facility in Ukraine was once pitch-black before it was burned to a rusty red by a massive Russian drone and missile assault. Scattered remnants of Shahed drones littered the reservoir designated for storing tanks of liquefied propane gas. Nearly a month after the Oct. 30 attack, several tanks lay empty and in ruins. – Associated Press
President Donald Trump dispatched top negotiators for additional high-level meetings with both Russia and Ukraine but said he would only be willing to meet the leaders of those countries if talks yielded a so-far elusive pact to end the war. – Bloomberg
The prisoners of war come from all corners of the world: Kenya, Nepal, Tajikistan, to name a few. Speaking different languages and coming from diverse cultures, they have one thing in common – they say they were deceived by Russia into joining a war they did not want to fight. – CNN
After the shock and confusion surrounding the leak of a 28-point peace plan containing some of Russia’s most maximalist demands, and the marathon weekend talks to revise them, the US and Ukraine struck a similarly cautious, yet hopeful tone Tuesday. – CNN
A Russian research ship recently pointed lasers at Royal Air Force patrol aircraft and is believed to have attempted to jam GPS signals while operating in the vicinity of the U.K.’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). – USNI News
Ryan Evans writes: If Washington rushes to front-load concessions simply to entice Moscow to the table, it will confuse inducement with unilateral concession and undermine the very compellence that gives diplomacy a chance to work. The tragic tradeoff is that compellence itself carries costs, especially for Ukrainians who continue to fight and suffer while pressure builds. The alternative, however, is a process that treats negotiations as a favor to Russia rather than as the least bad option it is forced to accept. – War on the Rocks
Syria
Members of Syria’s Alawite minority on Tuesday staged one of the largest public protests against the government since the fall of the dictator Bashar al-Assad, after the community came under attack in a new outbreak of sectarian violence. New York Times
The UN Security Council will visit Syria and Lebanon next week, the Slovenian mission said Tuesday, as it looks to chair the council starting in December. – Agence-France Presse
The Islamic Jihad terror group is secretly working to establish a significant military presence on Syrian soil, Reshet Bet reported Wednesday morning. – Arutz Sheva
Iraq
The Iraqi government has arranged the payment of delayed salaries for local staff at the Lukoil-operated West Qurna-2 oilfield, to ensure production continues despite U.S. sanctions on the Russian company, three Iraqi energy officials said. – Reuters
Khairuldeen Makhzoomi writes: For many Iraqis who dreamed of a state built on the rule of law and robust institutions, the 2025 election feels like a setback of historic proportions. The parliament, once envisioned as an arena for national representation, risks becoming a stage for regional power plays. The country is edging closer to a model where the state exists in form but not in function, caught between rival armed groups whose loyalty lies beyond Iraq’s borders. – Washington Institute
Mina Al-Oraibi writes: Left to their own devices, Iraqi political forces will try to maintain power and the status quo and push back on any substantial change. But in a changed region, and more importantly in a dynamic country in need of real reforms, change may become imperative. Whether that change is possible has less to do with who the next prime minister is. Rather, it requires locking known militants out of office and pushing for a truly civilian government. Only once that first step is taken can greater challenges, such as corruption, chronic unemployment, and a fractured security landscape, be tackled. – Foreign Policy
Turkey
After 26 years in a Turkish prison, Abdullah Ocalan is carving out a key role for himself as Ankara tries to end his outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party’s four-decade insurgency. In an event that was unimaginable a year ago, three Turkish lawmakers visited Ocalan on Monday to further the peace process following the PKK’s announcement in May that it would disarm and disband. – Reuters
Turkey’s spy chief met with his Egyptian counterpart and Qatar’s foreign minister in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss transitioning to the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal and increasing joint efforts in coordination with the U.S., a Turkish source said. – Reuters
Ely Karmon writes: The Turkish threat is becoming an immediate problem that requires short-term operational decisions and may even surpass the Iranian threat in importance. Due to its geographical proximity to our border and the sheer weight of the Turkish army, the largest among NATO countries; due to the assistance and probably also the planning of the attack of the opposition forces in Idlib, which led to the rapid collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024; and due to the political and financial support and freedom of action of the Hamas leadership and its terrorist wing, which have been based in Turkey since 2006. – Times of Israel
Lebanon
The U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday that at least 127 civilians had been killed in Lebanon in strikes by the Israel military since a ceasefire nearly a year ago, and called for an investigation and for the truce to be respected. – Reuters
Haytham Ali Tabatabai, the Hezbollah military chief of staff killed by Israel on Sunday in a Beirut airstrike, was a key part of the terror group’s efforts to rebuild following the devastating losses it suffered in its recent war with the Jewish state. – Times of Israel
Brian McDonald writes: But with possible US strikes on Venezuela looming any day now, Hezbollah could be faced with losing it’s most important area of operations in South America,.It would significantly reduce the money flowing from its south American operations making it even harder to recover from Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon. and by extension it would also be a blow to Iran’s power projection in the Middle East as it would further weaken their prime proxy. – Times of Israel
Middle East & North Africa
Just shy of seven months into his papacy, Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, will take off on his first international trip on Thanksgiving Day, traveling to Turkey and Lebanon for a six-day tour. – New York Times
Tunisian President Kais Saied summoned the EU ambassador to protest what he called a diplomatic breach after the EU official met the head of a powerful union this week, amid rising tensions with the country’s largest civil-society group. – Reuters
Qatari telecoms company Ooredoo plans to invest more than $500 million on new international cable projects, state news agency QNA reported, citing the company’s CEO. – Reuters
Shipping group Maersk will take steps to resume navigation through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal as soon as conditions allow, CEO Vincent Clerc said on Tuesday. – Reuters
US President Donald Trump was left “disappointed and angry” after a “tense” exchange with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over normalization with Israel during their White House meeting last week, Israeli television reported Tuesday. – Times of Israel
Editorial: This Trump decision will be cheered in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia but raise hackles in Qatar and Turkey, which support the Brotherhood and fund some of its branches. Qatar’s Al Jazeera has been a Muslim Brotherhood megaphone. Those thorny issues remain, but the Trump advance is to get the legal wheels turning. It is an important start of U.S. enforcement against a poison that has spread across the Middle East and even to corners of America. – Wall Street Journal
Jim Shalom writes: Since many Middle Eastern nations harbor growing resentment towards Iran’s hegemonic ambitions, not just in relation to Hamas and Israel, but also concerning Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq, mobilizing pan-Arab opposition to Iranian influence could constrain Iran’s power and support for Hamas. Ultimately, without backing from its allies, Hamas may be compelled to reconsider its current position. Along with US pressure and Israeli support, the ceasefire plan can only succeed if support for Hamas by its major allies is curtailed. – Times of Israel
Korean Peninsula
South Korea’s special prosecutor on Wednesday sought a 15-year jail term for former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on allegations he abetted ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched bid to impose martial law last December. – Reuters
South Korea’s Finance Minister vowed on Wednesday to stabilise a weak won, but stopped short of introducing specific policy measures to address the situation, amid growing worries about the persistent weakness of the currency. – Reuters
South Korea’s ruling party has proposed a special bill to implement the country’s $350 billion investment pledges to the US, paving the way for American tariffs on Korean automobiles to be lowered to 15% starting this month. – Bloomberg
China
In an unusual diplomatic move, Chinese leader Xi Jinping initiated a phone call with President Trump on Monday to discuss Taiwan, a flashpoint that has surged to the forefront in recent days as Japan takes a more assertive stance on the island’s autonomy. – Wall Street Journal
China warned on Wednesday it would “crush” any foreign attempts to interfere over Taiwan, after Japan announced plans to deploy missiles on an island near democratically-governed Taiwan. – Reuters
China bought at least 10 cargoes of U.S. soybeans in contracts signed since Tuesday, two traders with knowledge of the deals said, extending a surge in buying after the recent thaw in U.S.-China trade relations. – Reuters
China’s government is turning to a well-used playbook to express its displeasure with Japan for refusing to retract a statement by its new prime minister on the hot-button issue of Taiwan. As with its tariffs on Australian wines in 2020, and restrictions on Philippine banana imports in 2012, Beijing is using its economic clout to pressure Tokyo while also hurling a torrent of invective at its government. – Associated Press
China launched the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft on Tuesday to help bring back a team of astronauts after a damaged spacecraft left them temporarily stranded on China’s space station. – Associated Press
Gearoid Reidy writes: Having stoked anti-Japanese sentiment through the education system for over a generation, it might be that a pressure valve needs to be released once in a while. Such sentiment also helps to bolster China’s claims over Taiwan. Instead of focusing on the furor, pay attention to the broader strategic moves. After periods of tension, Beijing often goes quiet — and as attention turns elsewhere, moves to normalize the abnormal, such as its decade-long program of Coast Guard vessels entering Japanese territorial waters. History is indeed a useful mirror — one that works both ways. – Bloomberg
South Asia
A volcano that erupted in Ethiopia spewed an ash cloud that drifted deep into Asia on Tuesday, prompting delays and cancellations of flights in India. – New York Times
India said it had registered a strong protest with China over what it said was the arbitrary detention of an Indian citizen at Shanghai Airport. – Reuters
Sri Lanka’s central bank kept its policy interest rate unchanged on Wednesday as it awaited approval of the country’s budget and the latest loan review from the International Monetary Fund. – Reuters
Hours after police in Indian-controlled Kashmir released shopkeeper Bilal Ahmed Wani but kept his son in custody in this month’s deadly New Delhi blast investigation, Wani set himself on fire, members of his family said. – Associated Press
Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Tuesday accused Pakistan of launching deadly overnight strikes in three eastern provinces, but Pakistan’s military dismissed the claim and said no such strikes were carried out. – Associated Press
Asia
With sushi lunches and chocolate bars adorned with the face of Japan’s new prime minister, Taiwanese businesses, officials and citizens are rallying to support their neighbor as it faces pressure from Beijing over remarks that Tokyo could intervene militarily to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack. – New York Times
If anyone needed evidence that a critical moment is developing in Asia-Pacific diplomacy, look no further than the phone call on Monday between Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, and President Trump. – New York Times
Australia’s senate on Tuesday suspended a right-wing lawmaker for wearing a burqa in Parliament, a political stunt she staged for a second time to push for a national law banning the garment from public spaces. – New York Times
President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan said his government would introduce a $40 billion special budget for military spending that will focus on acquiring more of the nimble, mobile weapons from the United States that it needs to deter and outsmart China’s far larger military forces. – New York Times
Japan has dismissed a Chinese letter to the United Nations accusing Tokyo of threatening armed intervention over Taiwan as “inconsistent with the facts and unsubstantiated”. – Reuters
Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai said on Tuesday he had “no information” about any cooperation with South Korea on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on semiconductors, adding that Taiwan was conducting talks only with the United States – Reuters
A Malaysian court will decide on December 22 whether jailed former prime minister Najib Razak can serve his sentence under house arrest, just days before delivering its verdict in another major case he faces over the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. – Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is negotiating a deal that could commit Taiwan to fresh investment and training of U.S. workers in semiconductor manufacturing and other advanced industries, according to five people familiar with the matter. – Reuters
Malaysia’s anti-graft agency will investigate bribery allegations made against a former senior aide to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who has faced questions over his commitment to tackling corruption since coming to office three years ago. – Reuters
The Southeast Asian regional bloc will find it difficult to re-engage with Myanmar even after its upcoming election, the Thai foreign minister said on Tuesday, calling for the release of the country’s detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi. – Reuters
Lai Ching-te writes: This is underscored by the pace of our defense reforms and my firm determination to uphold the cross-strait status quo. While we will continue to pursue opportunities for cross-strait dialogue, with the understanding that our democracy and freedom remain nonnegotiable, we remain grounded by more than wishful thinking, as some have suggested. We will ensure that Taiwan’s security and sovereignty are defended not just by rhetoric but also through robust, decisive action. – Washington Post
Europe
Two men and two women were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the brazen heist at the Louvre, according to a statement from the prosecutor overseeing the investigation. – New York Times
The European Union’s highest court ruled Tuesday that all member states should honor the civil status of same-sex couples married anywhere else in the bloc, regardless of domestic laws on same-sex marriage. The ruling does not force member states to legalize same-sex marriages. – Washington Post
Seven members of a left-wing group designated as a terrorist organisation by the U.S. government went on trial in Germany on Tuesday for charges including attempted murder in several attacks on the country’s right-wing scene. – Reuters
French police has placed in custody three people, two of which of Russian nationality, and is investigating a fourth man on suspicion they colluded with a foreign power, the Paris prosecutor said on Wednesday. – Reuters
Sweden’s military wants long-range cruise missiles able to strike targets deep inside other countries, a deterrent which the defence minister said on Tuesday was needed to match Russia’s own long-range capabilities. – Reuters
France and Germany are ratcheting up pressure on their industrial champions to rescue Europe’s next-generation fighter as the 100-billion-euro ($115 billion) project teeters on the brink of collapse, sources close to the matter said. – Reuters
The British government’s decision to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation will be challenged in court on Wednesday, with lawyers representing a co-founder arguing it is a misuse of anti-terrorism laws. – Reuters
Britain will include stockpiling of critical minerals in its defence procurement plan and expects lithium processing projects in northern England to break ground within the next few years as it seeks to reduce its reliance on China. – Reuters
Romanian and German NATO fighter jets were scrambled on Tuesday near Romania’s border with Ukraine to respond to a drone incursion that penetrated deeper than ever into Romanian airspace, in what Bucharest called a Russian provocation. – Reuters
Italy’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that introduces femicide into the country’s criminal law and punishes it with life in prison. – Associated Press
Romania’s defense chief said the NATO member state will soon be able to deploy a US-supplied anti-drone system to thwart a rising number of airspace breaches by Russia. – Bloomberg
Poland’s deputy prime minister said he expects Russia to escalate its sabotage activities in the country following an explosion on a busy rail route to Ukraine for which authorities blame Moscow. – Bloomberg
Police bodycam footage that was played Monday at the trial of six Palestine Action members who broke into a UK subsidiary of Israeli arms firm Elbit last year showed one of the intruders striking an officer on the back with a sledgehammer as she knelt on the floor during the break-in, fracturing her lumbar spine. – Times of Israel
A boycott by European colleges against Israel has intensified in recent months and the cease-fire agreement has neither stopped nor slowed its momentum, a report by Israel’s Association of University Heads found on Monday. – Haaretz
A Russian research ship recently pointed lasers at Royal Air Force patrol aircraft and is believed to have attempted to jam GPS signals while operating in the vicinity of the U.K.’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). USNI News
Africa
Angola will roll over a $1 billion debt facility with JPMorgan that is close to maturity, a senior official at the finance ministry told Reuters on Tuesday. – Reuters
Medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres said on Tuesday it has withdrawn its staff from a Darfur hospital after a stretcher-bearer was shot dead, calling on a paramilitary group to guarantee the safety of staff there. – Reuters
Neither of Sudan’s warring factions has formally accepted a “strong” plan for a truce put forward by the United States, senior U.S. envoy Massad Boulos said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Security forces in Uganda have detained more than 300 supporters and officials from the party of opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine since campaigning for a January election kicked off last month, his party’s spokesperson said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court told judges on Tuesday that a suspected Seleka militia leader in the Central African Republic had complete control over a prison where inmates were arbitrarily detained and abused over a decade ago. – Reuters
All 24 schoolgirls held by assailants following a mass abduction last week from a school in northwestern Nigeria have been rescued, the country’s president announced Tuesday. – Associated Press
Amnesty International on Tuesday said that atrocities committed by a Sudanese paramilitary group in a Darfur city constituted war crimes, the latest such accusation in the country’s devastating war. – Associated Press
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court on Tuesday began presenting closing arguments against an alleged commander of a rebel group from Central African Republic facing multiple counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. – Associated Press
The International Criminal Court in the Hague has been asked to investigate alleged mass killings during a crackdown on post-election protests in Tanzania last month. – Bloomberg
In the chaotic aftermath of Tanzania’s disputed presidential election last month, police and gun-wielding men on patrol shot at groups of protesters, many of whom appeared unarmed or were holding only rocks and sticks, a CNN investigation has found. – CNN
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan writes: The Sudanese people have suffered enough. The world should stand with them, not with those who seek to tear their country apart. Sudan stands ready to work constructively with President Trump’s administration and with all who genuinely seek peace. Peace cannot be built on illusions. It must be built on truth. And in this moment, truth is Sudan’s strongest ally. – Wall Street Journal
The Americas
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro is facing unprecedented American military and diplomatic pressure to resign and leave his country peacefully. He is unlikely to take the offer. – Wall Street Journal
Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has exhausted his appeals, the country’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, and will begin his 27-year sentence for plotting a military coup to stay in power after his 2022 election loss. – Washington Post
Cuba on Tuesday accused the U.S. of seeking a violent overthrow of the Venezuelan government, calling the increased presence of U.S. military forces in the region an “exaggerated and aggressive” threat. – Reuters
A top U.S. military official on Tuesday met with Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to reaffirm partnership and discuss priorities for regional security and stability, the Pentagon said. – Reuters
Cuba is considering a raft of measures to attract foreign investment by creating a “simpler, more agile and more transparent” business climate, a minister said on Tuesday, as the island nation faces a severe economic crisis. – Reuters
Bolivia is negotiating multilateral financing that will exceed $9 billion for public and private projects, Economy Minister Jose Gabriel Espinoza said Tuesday in the first major policy announcement since centrist President Rodrigo Paz took office this month. – Reuters
Thousands of Cubans remain without power, water or proper shelter almost a month after Hurricane Melissa pummeled the island’s eastern region as one of the strongest Atlantic storms in history. – Associated Press
A brother of former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was sentenced Tuesday to 28 years in prison for his alleged role in an illegal paramilitary group linked to hundreds of killings during the peak of Colombia’s civil war. – Associated Press
The Trump administration’s latest attempt to isolate Nicolás Maduro’s government further complicates day-to-day operations for foreign oil companies in Venezuela, experts say. – Bloomberg
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have voiced support for Venezuelan ally President Nicolás Maduro amid escalating tensions with the United States. – Newsweek
North America
Mexico’s lower house of congress approved a bill on Tuesday to prevent, investigate and punish extortion with prison terms of up to 42 years. – Reuters
Hundreds of women marched through Mexico City’s streets Tuesday to protest violence against women in a country where gender violence remains pervasive. Among the hundreds of marchers clad in purple or with green bandanas, some beat drums and others carried signs. One read: “Today I am the voice of those who are asking for help.” – Associated Press
Statistics Canada has delayed another release of international merchandise trade data due to the US government shutdown. The agency said it will not publish October trade data as was scheduled on Dec. 4. Statistics Canada had previously confirmed September numbers would be postponed. – Bloomberg
Editorial: Postmedia’s Warren Kinsella has reported extensively on the Canadian network of so-called charities, paid protestors, professional organizers, lobbyists, NGOs, unions, and other associations working together to promote Hamas propaganda in Canada through the relentless vilification of Israel and Jews, resulting in an explosion of antisemitism. We ignore what is happening at our peril. – Toronto Sun
United States
The White House is defending special envoy Steve Witkoff over a reportedly leaked conversation in which he told a Russian official that praising President Trump would help smooth over a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the war in Ukraine. – Wall Street Journal
A federal judge has ordered the University of Florida to reinstate a law student it expelled for making controversial statements about race and religion, including a post on X that said “Jews must be abolished by any means necessary.” – Reuters
Inoperable pistols gifted by FBI Director Kash Patel to senior New Zealand security officials, who had to relinquish them for destruction because they were illegal to possess, were revolvers inspired by toy Nerf guns and popular among 3D-printed weapons hobbyists, documents obtained by The Associated Press show. – Associated Press
Jose Lev Alvarez writes: Still, Trump deserves credit. He acted faster and harder than any administration before him. Arab states did not wait. They saw the Brotherhood rot early and cut it out. Washington debated for twenty years. Trump pulled the trigger in months. And if he maintains this pace—dismantling extremist networks, neutralizing the Venezuelan axis, forcing an end to the Ukraine–Russia war, halting the slaughter in Sudan, undermining China’s push toward Taiwan, and eventually confronting the last unresolved flashpoint on the global ledger, Israel–Palestine—he won’t simply adjust U.S. foreign policy. He will redefine it altogether. – Times of Israel
Cybersecurity
TikTok said Tuesday it had named former Boeing government affairs chief Ziad Ojakli as the short video app’s head of public policy for the Americas as it works to complete a deal to separate its U.S. assets from its parent company. – Reuters
Singapore has ordered TikTok and Meta to block access in Singapore to the accounts of an Australian man authorities say has contributed to the radicalisation of two of its citizens, the ministry of home affairs said on Tuesday. – Reuters
A constitutional challenge against Australia’s social media ban on children younger than 16 has been filed in the nation’s highest court, two weeks before the world-first law is set to take effect. – Reuters
Italy’s antitrust authority said on Wednesday it had broadened the scope of its investigation into Meta Platforms over allegations the company abused its dominant position through the use of its artificial intelligence tools on messaging service WhatsApp. – Reuters
US-China collaboration in technology research has fallen steadily to the lowest in 20 years, a shift an Australian think tank warns could reshape global innovation vital to security and economic growth. – Bloomberg
Poland is drafting legislation to tax online platforms, seeking to level the playing field for local firms whose foreign competitors aren’t subject to levies in the east European country. – Bloomberg
Lawmakers in the European Parliament voted on Tuesday to pursue legal action against the European Commission for spiking a highly disputed bill to regulate the licensing of patents. – Politico
A second wave of the Shai-Hulud supply-chain attack has struck the npm software ecosystem, affecting more than 25,000 projects and hundreds of developers, Israeli tech firm Sola Security announced on Tuesday. – Jerusalem Post
Defense
The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday that it was trying to recover an MQ-9 Reaper drone that fell into the Yellow Sea off South Korea’s west coast a day earlier. – New York Times
Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a social media video urging U.S. troops to defy “illegal orders” say the FBI has contacted them to begin scheduling interviews, signaling a possible inquiry into the matter. – Associated Press
The US Navy’s beleaguered shipbuilding program took a major hit on Tuesday as Navy Secretary John Phelan announced he was cancelling plans to buy Constellation-class frigates, once heralded as a key part of US strategy to keep up with China’s rapidly expanding naval fleet. –CNN
The US Space Force awarded multiple small contracts to develop prototypes for space-based interceptors, looking for progress with a technology that has yet to be proven but forms a crucial part of President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile-defense umbrella. – Bloomberg
The United States has tested a new way to expand its military drone operations in the western Pacific, as an MQ-9 Reaper launched and landed without a runway at Kadena Air Base in Japan, a front-line American air power hub near China and Taiwan. – Newsweek
In a future war against China or other advanced adversary, Air Force units may have to keep operating for days, weeks, or longer, while being cut off from reinforcements, resupply or even communications. – Air Force Times
The U.S. Army is looking for companies that can manufacture the new XM1208 155mm cluster shell — and a number of them. – Air Force Times
The Navy is walking away from the Constellation-class frigate program to focus on new classes of warships the service can build faster, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan announced Tuesday on social media. – USNI News
Elizabeth Samson writes: The United States cannot afford a contradictory F-35 strategy that penalizes Turkey for behavior it implicitly tolerates in Saudi Arabia. Nor can it maintain regional stability while undermining Israel’s technological edge. Consistent standards would enhance American credibility, strengthen deterrence, stabilize alliances, and safeguard advanced U.S. technology. Without a coherent policy, the U.S. risks avoidable security dilemmas and undermines the strategic principles guiding its most critical defense relationships in the Middle East. – The Hill
James Holmes writes: More likely the cruise of the Ford carrier group is a political flourish with a practical bent. Ships of war are political implements. Presidents habitually reach for the aircraft carrier when they want to make a statement about power and purpose. In this case, apart from the symbolism manifest in the carrier and its escorts, the Ford deployment gives Washington the firepower to strike at the cartels ashore while at the same time threatening to impose pain on—or potentially even unseat—the Maduro regime. It provides concrete options to accompany the messaging. And casting doubt and fear into a dictator’s mind, all while thwarting drugrunners, is an accomplishment on its own merits. – National Interest