US sees ceasefire in Congo holding through country’s presidential elections (www.politico.com)
The Biden administration is increasingly confident that a pact it brokered to deescalate fighting in eastern Congo will hold through the country’s elections — a key step toward preventing a larger conflict between Congo and Rwanda....
Red Sea Maritime Coalition Much Bigger Than Originally Disclosed - Ten nations who joined Operation Prosperity Guardian, the international effort to protect Red Sea shipping, don’t want to go public. (www.thedrive.com)
The newly minted international maritime effort to defend against ongoing attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen is much larger than originally announced....
Zelensky: Military proposed to mobilize 450,000-500,000 soldiers (www.ukrinform.net)
Israel still holding bodies of 17 dead Palestinian detainees, says prisoners group (www.newarab.com)
Security Council searching for Gaza resolution that U.S. won't veto (www.washingtonpost.com)
Archived link: archive.is/…/israel-gaza-united-nations-ceasefire…
French MPs pass controversial immigration reform (www.bbc.com)
The French parliament has passed legislation toughening France’s immigration policy....
Mainland China suspends tariff cuts on 12 Taiwanese imports from January in response to ‘discriminatory measures’ (www.scmp.com)
Chinese Spaceplane Trailed By Six Mysterious Objects Transmitting Repeating Pattern (www.iflscience.com)
Hamas leader Sinwar said to narrowly evade capture by IDF two separate times (www.timesofisrael.com)
China reportedly suspends US$6.5 billion currency swap agreement with Argentina (www.scmp.com)
‘I feared for my life’: three women in mental distress say they were further traumatised by NSW police (www.theguardian.com)
Venezuela expected to release up to 36 people, including Americans, in prisoner swap (www.reuters.com)
'The Wedding': Iranian spy plot to kill two news presenters in London uncovered by double agent (www.itv.com)
Iranian spies offered a people-smuggler $200,000 (around £158,290) to assassinate two news presenters codenamed “the bride and the groom” outside their London studio, to show critics of the regime they “could do harm to them at any time”....
Israel offers Hamas one-week pause in fighting as part of a new hostage deal (www.axios.com)
Asylum Hostel Torched As Anti-Immigrant Unrest Spirals in Ireland (www.vice.com)
Company tells employees to run miles each month if they want their bonuses (www.techspot.com)
Mexican cartels are accessing a database used by the government to monitor their victims in real time: report (www.businessinsider.com)
Venezuela to hand over ‘Fat Leonard,’ mastermind in U.S. Navy scandal (www.washingtonpost.com)
Germany to seize more than $790 mln from Russian financial group (www.reuters.com)
War on Gaza: Important archaeological site 'mostly destroyed' by Israeli invasion (www.middleeasteye.net)
Ukraine military seeks extra 500,000 soldiers - President Zelensky (www.bbc.com)
Ukraine’s military wants to mobilise up to 500,000 extra people, President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed, as the war with Russia nears a two-year mark....
Blocked by Polish Truckers, Ukraine Turns to the Black Sea to Boost Trade (www.nytimes.com)
The blockade at the border with Poland has crippled Ukraine’s land trade. But a new Black Sea route is providing an economic lifeline....
Polish government dismisses public media chiefs in reform start (www.saltwire.com)
WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland’s new government dismissed executives from state media to restore “impartiality”, the Culture Ministry said on Wednesday, while a public news channel went off the air as Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s reform drive faced its first big test....