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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
President Trump yesterday announced on social media a “complete blockade” on sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela, adding that “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.” Trump said the operation would continue until Venezuela returned “all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” but he did not define what he meant by those assets. Chevron, the only U.S. oil company still operating in Venezuela, said yesterday that its operations were not affected. Edward Wong, Simon Romero, Charlie Savage, and Julian E. Barnes report for the New York Times; Aaron Pellish reports for POLITICO.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said yesterday that the Pentagon would not publicly release the video showing a second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2. “Of course we’re not going to release a top secret full unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters, adding however that both the House and Senate armed services committees will view the full video. Dave Lawler reports for Axios; Filip Timotija reports for The Hill.
Two non profit groups, Defiance.org and Whistleblower Aid, yesterday launched an ad campaign, offering legal information and confidential advice to help U.S. troops who believe they may have received unlawful orders. Billboards, posters and online messages will be focused in particular on military communities near U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, and U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, organizers said. Dan De Luce reports for NBC News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR – INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
U.S. and European diplomats have mostly signed off on two documents with Ukrainian leaders, which outline the security guarantees set to deter future Russian aggression, according to officials. The plan calls for a stronger Ukrainian military, the deployment of European forces inside Ukraine, and increased use of U.S. intelligence, officials familiar with the drafts said.“We would secure a demilitarized zone between the warring parties and, to be very specific, we would also act against corresponding Russian incursions and attacks. We’re not there yet,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday. Michael D. Shear, Steven Erlanger, and Christopher F. Schuetze report for the New York Times; Thomas Escritt reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – CEASEFIRE
Flooding in Gaza over the last week and collapsing buildings, damaged during the war, have killed at least 12 people, including a two-week-old baby, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Wafaa Shurafa and Melanie Lidman report for AP News.
WEST BANK VIOLENCE
An Israeli settler yesterday shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian in the town of Tuqu’ in the occupied West Bank after the funeral of another 16-year-old who was killed on Monday by Israeli forces, Tuqu’ Mayor Mohammed al-Badan told Reuters.
Israel yesterday blocked a private Canadian delegation, including six members of Parliament, from entering the occupied West Bank because of its links to Islamic Relief Worldwide, according to the Israeli Embassy in Canada. The embassy’s statement said Israel “will not allow the entry of organizations and individuals who are associated with designated terror entities.” AP News.
SUDANESE CIVIL WAR
Drone strikes in Sudan’s Kordofan region since Dec. 4 have killed at least 104 people, including 43 children, the U.N. Human Rights office said yesterday. Emma Farge reports for Reuters.
The Sudanese Rapid Support Forces paramilitary (RSF) engaged in widespread and systematic mass killing in El Fasher upon gaining control of the city in October and subsequently engaged in a systematic multi-week campaign to destroy evidence through burial, burning, and removal of human remains on a mass scale, according to a report published yesterday by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab and its analysis of satellite images. The report says that this pattern of body disposal is ongoing. Stewart Maclean reports for BBC News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
India’s counterterrorism agency on Monday charged militant groups in Pakistan and six individuals in the terror attack in Kashmir that killed 26 people in April. The six individuals include two people who were arrested and accused of harboring terrorists, a Pakistani national who was charged with being a handler and three people who were killed by Indian security forces weeks after the attack and were charged posthumously. Pranav Baskar reports for the New York Times.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The United States has designated Colombia’s Clan del Golfo gang as a terrorist organization, according to a notice posted on the Treasury Department’s website yesterday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the group “a violent and powerful criminal organization,” whose main source of income is cocaine trafficking. The Clan del Golfo is currently Colombia’s largest illegal armed group and is holding talks with Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Qatar to end the ongoing violence. Costas Pitas and Susan Heavey report for Reuters.
U.S. foreign aid funding cuts, imposed this year, have led to an increase in forced marriages and child exploitation in Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp, home to 1.2 million members of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority in Bangladesh, according to a report by AP News. Patrick Halton, a child protection manager for UNICEF, said, “armed groups … are operating in the camps, using the camps as a fertile ground for recruiting young people,” adding “obviously, if children are not in learning centers and not in multipurpose centers, then they’re more vulnerable to this.” Kristen Gelineau reports.
South African authorities yesterday raided a center processing applications by white South Africans for the United States refugee program and arrested seven Kenyan nationals who were working there illegally, South Africa’s Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement today. The statement said no U.S. officials were arrested in the raid, adding that South Africa’s Foreign Ministry had started “formal diplomatic engagements with both the United States and Kenya to resolve this matter.” Rebecca Beitsch reports for The Hill.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
Trump yesterday expanded travel restrictions to 20 additional countries under a revised policy set to take effect on Jan. 1. Travel will be fully blocked for individuals from Syria, South Sudan, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and for people with documents issued by the Palestinian Authority. Partial travel restrictions will be applied to individuals from 15 additional countries, predominantly in Africa. The new policy also applies to spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens. With this expansion, there are now 35 countries with U.S. travel restrictions. Tyler Page and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times.
The United States has transferred 22 Cuban migrants to its Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, sources said. The 22 men arrived on an ICE air charter from Louisiana on Sunday, before which the base had been empty since mid-October. The weekend transfer was also the first since a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration exceeded its authority in holding migrants designated for deportation at the base. Carol Rosenberg reports for the New York Times.
Reuters yesterday witnessed Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino in a convoy of agents conducting immigration raids in Chicago, following a month-long slowdown. “As we said a month ago, we aren’t leaving Chicago and operations are ongoing,” Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. Renee Hickman reports.
TECH DEVELOPMENTS
India has become the largest market by daily users for both ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini chatbot, driven by free subscription offers, according to Sensor Tower market intelligence firm. In November, Google started giving its $400 Gemini AI Pro subscription for free for 18 months to 500 million customers of India’s largest telecom network; OpenAI also offered its ChatGPT Go plan, which was set at $54, for free. Five AI analysts said that the freebies strategy would help companies gain from India’s linguistic diversity to secure crucial data for AI training. Munsif Vengattil reports for Reuters.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
“The [Vanity Fair] article published early this morning is a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history,” White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles wrote yesterday. Wiles and other administration officials came out to criticize the articles, with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance offering explanations of Wiles’ comments as reported, defending both her and the administration. Isaac Arnsdorf and Maegan Vazquez report for the Washington Post.
Trump has nominated Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd, a career Special Forces officer and current deputy commander of Indo-Pacific Command, to be the next head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, according to two sources. Rudd would formally replace Gen. Timothy Haugh, who was fired by Trump in April. Speaking in general terms about Rudd’s nomination, a former U.S. official said, “Why would we think it’s a good idea to make someone without cyber experience head of Cyber Command?” Ellen Nakashima and Alex Horton report for the Washington Post.
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