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A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
President Trump said on Friday that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed “to cease all shooting,” adding “both countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America.” However, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Saturday that Thailand would “continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people.” Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said that some of Trump’s remarks didn’t “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.” Trevor Hunnicutt and Panarat Thepgumpanat report for Reuters; Jintamas Saksornchai and Grant Peck report for AP News; Panu Wongcha-um reports for Reuters.
Fighting is continuing in at least nine locations along the Cambodia-Thailand border, a spokesperson for the Thai defense ministry said today. Thailand has restricted the movement of fuel supplies through the Chong Mek border crossing into Laos after receiving intelligence that they were being diverted to Cambodia,the spokesperson added. The Cambodian defense ministry said, “It is… noteworthy that the number of fighter jets and cluster bombs used by the Thai military to attack Cambodia has been increasing significantly.” Panu Wongcha-um reports for Reuters.
A Hong Kong court today found Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy campaigner and media tycoon, guilty of sedition and colluding with foreign forces. Lai has been detained since 2020 and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Rebecca Falconer reports for Axios.
Two gunmen yesterday killed at least 15 people at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Australian officials have described the attack on the Jewish gathering as an act of terrorism. Katrin Bennhold reports for the New York Times.
Myanmar’s military junta yesterday called on the international community to take back hundreds of foreigners who have been detained in a crackdown on scam centers near the Thai border. Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Maj-Gen Aung Kyaw Kyaw said that 13,372 foreigners from 47 countries had been detained since the start of the operations in January, adding that while most have been deported, 1,655 are still in detention. AP News reports.
A joint Saudi-Emirati military delegation arrived in Aden, Yemen, for talks to defuse tensions in southern Yemen, a Yemeni government source told Reuters on Friday. At least 32 military personnel were killed, and 45 others wounded, in attacks in Hadhramaut by groups affiliated with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, state media reported on Friday. Timour Azhari and Mohammed Ghobari report.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR – INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that Ukraine would give up its hopes to join NATO if it received strong security guarantees from the United States, ahead of a meeting in Berlin with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Yesterday’s meeting lasted more than five hours and is set to continue today, according to Zelenskyy’s office. Witkoff said, “A lot of progress was made” yesterday, but he did not provide further details. Kim Barker reports for the New York Times; Friederike Heine, Matthias Williams, and Olena Harmash report for Reuters.
Russia’s central bank said on Friday that it had filed a lawsuit in Moscow against the Belgium-based depository that holds about €185 billion ($217 billion) in frozen Russian assets. Separately, EU member states on Friday agreed to indefinitely maintain the freeze on Russian assets held in the bloc, a move that eliminates the need for periodic renewals and could facilitate plans to extend a loan to Ukraine using those funds. Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, and Malta urged the European Commission to continue exploring alternative options. Paul Sonne and Jeanna Smialek report for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR – CEASEFIRE
Israel killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saad in Gaza on Saturday, the Israeli military said. Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya confirmed Saad’s death in a televised address, saying that “the continued Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement… and latest assassinations that targeted Saed and others threaten the viability of the agreement.” Israel said that killing Saad did not violate the ceasefire because the agreement allows it “to strike targets actively engaged in terrorism.” Yeganeh Torbati and Lior Soroka report for the Washington Post; Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Menna Alaaeldin, and Dawoud Abu Alkas report for Reuters.
SUDANESE CIVIL WAR
A drone strike on Saturday killed six U.N. peacekeepers and wounded eight others in the city of Kadugli, Sudan, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, adding that “attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law.” The Sudanese Armed Forces blamed the attack on the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary. Samy Magdy reports for AP News.
The RSF has allowed a trickle of aid into El Fasher for the first time since the city was captured in late October, according to the Malam Darfur Peace and Development organization. The group said that it brought food to 1,200 families in shelters in two deliveries last week. El Fasher has been inaccessible to journalists and aid groups since it was seized, with the RSF also imposing a communications blackout. The U.N. has been negotiating for weeks with leaders of the RSF to bring in aid, but has not been able to secure conditions for safe access. Pranav Baskar reports for the New York Times.
U.S. CARIBBEAN AND PACIFIC OPERATIONS
The Trump administration carried out its seizure of the Skipper tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week just as the judge-signed warrant was set to expire, according to a document which was unsealed on Friday. “The seizure of this vessel highlights our successful efforts to impose costs on the governments of Venezuela and Iran,” FBI Director Kashi Patel said on Friday. Jasper Ward reports for Reuters.
A JetBlue flight from Curaçao, off the coast of Venezuela, on Friday halted its ascent to avoid colliding with a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker. “We almost had a midair collision up here,” the JetBlue pilot said, adding “they passed directly in our flight path. … They don’t have their transponder turned on, it’s outrageous.” Christopher Rugaber reports for the Washington Post.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
A Syrian gunman on Saturday infiltrated a U.S.-Syrian meeting on how to combat ISIS, killing two U.S. Army soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter in the city of Palmyra. According to U.S. and Syrian officials, the gunman was a member of Syria’s security forces who was slated for dismissal on account of his extremist views. Three other U.S. service members and two members of the Syrian security forces were also wounded in the attack. The Syrian government has detained five people suspected of having links to the attack, the Syrian Interior Ministry said yesterday. Abdi Latif Dahir, Christina Goldbaum, John Ismay, and Eric Schmitt report for the New York Times; Reuters reports.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Friday filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order against efforts to redetain him after a judge ordered his release on Thursday. The judge granted Abrego Garcia’s motion, temporarily blocking the administration from taking him into custody again until a hearing can be held on the issue. Zach Schonfeld reports for the Hill.
The Trump administration is providing the names of all air travelers to ICE through a Transportation Security Administration program, according to documents obtained by the New York Times. It is unclear how many arrests have been made as a result of the collaboration, but documents show that it led to the arrest of Any Lucía López Belloza, the college student picked up at Boston Logan Airport on Nov. 20. Hamed Aleaziz reports.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer on Friday threatened to pursue contempt charges against former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if they do not sit for depositions in Congress’ probe of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Aaron Pellish reports for POLITICO.
A federal judge ordered the Justice Department on Friday to return data it seized and obtained in 2017 from Daniel Richman, the friend of former FBI Director James B. Comey, finding that prosecutors had violated Richman’s constitutional rights and misused his material in their attempt to indict Comey. However, the judge also ordered that a copy of all the data obtained be deposited with a federal court in Virginia, a provision which means that prosecutors could seek to regain access to the material. Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Department of Veteran Affairs plans to cut as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, according to an internal memo and U.S. officials. The agency hopes that the cuts will reduce the health care workforce by around 10 per cent, according to the memo. A VA spokesperson said that the “move will have no effect on VA operations or the way the department delivers care to Veterans, we are simply eliminating open and unfilled [positions].” Thomas Dargon Jr., deputy general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees, said the union had not been consulted by the agency about the cuts, adding that “the VA has been chronically understaffed for years, and employees are obviously going to be facing the brunt of any further job cuts.” Meryl Kornfield, Hannah Natanson, and Lisa Rein report for the Washington Post.
The Trump administration ordered the National Park Service to remove any merchandise related to diversity, equity, and inclusion from its gift shops by Dec.19, according to an Interior Department memo last month. The memo did not provide any examples of which merchandise should be removed. The Interior Department said in a statement on Friday that the review of retail items would “ensure our gift shops remain neutral spaces that serve all visitors” and “do not promote specific viewpoints.” Ashley Ahn reports for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a district court decision from earlier in the week ordering the Trump administration to remove California National Guard troops from Los Angeles by Monday. However, the appellate panel temporarily blocked the part of the lower court’s order that would return control of the troops to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA). Shawn Hubler reports for the New York Times.
A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily paused a contempt investigation into whether the Trump administration willfully violated a judge’s order to stop the deportation flights of over 100 Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador earlier this year. The Justice Department’s emergency petition on Friday alleged that Judge James Boasberg “is engaged in a pattern of retaliation and harassment, and has developed too strong a bias to preside over this matter impartially.” Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.
20 states on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its policy to increase fees on new H1-B visas to $100,000, arguing that the increase is illegal because it exceeds what Congress has authorized and undermines its intent in establishing the program. Christine Mui reports for POLITICO.
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