Propaganda page for former Syria spy chief Kamal Hassan. Via REUTERS
Special Report: Bashar al-Assad may be largely resigned to exile in Moscow, but former loyalists who fled Syria after the dictator’s fall are spending millions of dollars on competing efforts to stir uprisings against the new government.
Middle East: The head of an armed Palestinian faction opposing Hamas died of a gunshot wound as he mediated a family dispute. It is a setback for Israel’s goals in Gaza. Israel’s military said its forces killed 40 Hamas militants who were trapped in tunnels below Rafah in the southern part of the strip.
Caution: Vladimir Putin offered India an uninterrupted supply of Russian oil on his trip to New Delhi. Narendra Modi must balance that with India’s talks with the U.S. on trade. It wants to free itself of the tariffs that Trump imposed over those Russian oil imports, which Washington sees as Moscow’s way of funding the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Europe: ICC arrest warrants for Putin will remain in place even if a blanket amnesty is approved during U.S.-led peace talks, prosecutors said. Europe faces “civilizational erasure” and the EU is anti-democratic, the Trump administration said. Europeans compared it to the rhetoric of the Kremlin. Drone damage has left the Chornobyl nuclear plant’s radiation shield unable to perform its main function, the IAEA said.
‘Boom, boom, boom’: Footage of the attack ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shows the final confused moments of two survivors before the U.S. military obliterated them. Did the U.S. commit a war crime? And who is responsible? “Elements within the Cuban regime” want to know what a world without Nicolas Maduro would look like, sources say.
And in the U.S.: Vaccine advisers scrapped a long-standing recommendation that all children receive the hepatitis B shot at birth. It’s a win for Robert F. Kennedy and a source of major worry for disease experts who say this will reverse decades of public-health gains.
One step, two steps: Fierce fighting continued in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with Rwandan-backed AFC/M23 rebels, who are not bound by the agreement. Violence in northern Mozambique has displaced more than 107,000 people in the past two weeks, the U.N. said. Cameroonian opposition leader Anicet Ekane died in detention after he was arrested in October.
All but guaranteed: Netflix’s $72 billion offer for Warner Bros Discovery raised criticism among Republicans who warned that the absorption of HBO Max and multiple content rights would reduce consumer choice and give Netflix too much control of the streaming market. Hollywood unions smell job cuts. Here’s how Netflix won Hollywood’s biggest prize.
