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MIDDLE EAST WAR | Day 255.

• Qatar's prime minister, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, is scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House today amidst efforts to bridge differences over Iran's nuclear program and the terms for ending the war. [more]
• The U.S. military's Central Command announced Saturday that it has formed Task Force Iron Gate to help prevent Iran from moving advanced weapons, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illegal revenue across its land borders and the Caspian Sea, which the command says will reinforce its naval blockade of Iran. [CENTCOM press release] [more]
• A St. Kitts-flagged commercial ship that had visited an Iranian port was fired on and disabled by U.S. forces in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday after it ignored multiple warnings and attempted to breach the U.S. naval blockade, according to U.S. Central Command. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,717 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine, the first since February, are scheduled to begin tomorrow in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with security guarantees for both countries expected to top the agenda. France said yesterday that it and other European countries will take part, while the Kremlin says European envoys will not be admitted to the negotiating room. [more]
• Ukrainian authorities say a Russian drone struck rescue crews yesterday in the village of Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, where Russian bomb strikes on a humanitarian aid distribution site killed at least 55 people a week ago. Regional officials say 45 people remain missing from the earlier attack. [more]
• Amidst intensified Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy system as winter sets in, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that Russian strikes have left more than 600,000 people in the Dnipropetrovsk region without power. [more]

U.S. GUN VIOLENCE | Police in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, arrested a man yesterday and charged him with murder in connection with a shooting late Saturday during homecoming weekend at Winston-Salem State University that killed one person and injured another. Authorities say they are investigating whether a second campus shooting less than an hour later, in which two people were injured, is connected. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Responding to requests by Democratic lawmakers that administration officials and companies cooperate with potential investigations once Democrats take control of Congress in January, President Donald Trump said in a social media post Saturday that he is ordering the Justice Department to look into what he called "threatening letters" from Democratic leaders. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an interview yesterday that investigations of Democrats "could be" opened, and that he "would be very worried" if he were a member of the House Oversight Committee, whose top Democrat has said "the Trump crime family" and others need to "lawyer up." [more]

WHITE HOUSE | Days after Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress in the mid-term elections, President Donald Trump announced Friday that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has resigned and will be replaced, effective today, by Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has led the administration's immigration agenda. In an interview taped the same day and aired yesterday, Trump said his deportation policy "might be too tough" and was part of the reason for Republican election losses. [more on Miller] [more on the interview]

U.S. MILITARY AND CONGRESS | As Congress returns today for a five-week lame-duck session, Republican Representative Thomas Massie is expected to reintroduce a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which would force a House vote within two legislative days. [more]

MISSISSIPPI | Democrat Scott Colom reportedly holds a narrow lead over Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's U.S. Senate race, which remains too close to call. Absentee ballots received by tomorrow can still be counted, and counties in the state have until Friday to certify their results. [more]

NORTH CAROLINA | One person was killed and 22 others were injured Saturday when a car crossed the center line of a road in Wake County, southwest of Raleigh, and struck a group of cyclists, according to the state highway patrol. The driver was arrested and faces charges including driving while impaired and hit-and-run causing serious injury or death. [more]

U.S. AND CHINA | Ahead of an expected meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, the Chinese government today effectively extended its trade truce with the U.S. by two months, a day before it was due to expire. [more]

GLOBAL CLIMATE | The U.N.'s annual climate conference, COP31, opened today in Antalya, Turkey, with the implementation of past pledges to transition away from fossil fuels expected to be among the main topics of discussion. The United States is skipping the talks for the second year in a row. [more]

G7 | Top diplomats from the Group of Seven nations – the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan – are scheduled to begin a two-day meeting in Paris, France, today, with the Russia-Ukraine war, the Middle East war, energy, and artificial intelligence expected to be among the main topics of discussion. French officials say the meeting is not expected to produce a joint statement. [more]

POLAND | Six people were killed, and at least 15 others were wounded, Saturday when a gunman opened fire in the main square of the Polish city of Krakow, in what prosecutors are investigating as a terrorist offense. Police say the attacker, whose parents and sister were later found dead at the family's home, died in the hospital today. [more]

EUROPEAN SOCIAL MEDIA | In preliminary findings released Friday, the European Commission said TikTok's "For You" feed breaches the E.U.'s Digital Services Act through a "rabbit hole" effect that repeatedly exposes users to content that can harm their mental health. TikTok, which could face a fine of up to 6% of its total annual revenue, called the findings "fundamentally inaccurate." [European Commission announcement] [more]

PARAGUAY | Prosecutors in Paraguay charged former President Santiago Peña on Saturday with two crimes linked to the collapse of the private Ueno Bank, a day after the Senate removed him from office over allegations that he steered public funds into the bank. Peña, who has denied wrongdoing, is being held at a military base by court order while the investigation continues. [more]

ISRAEL | Following consultations with the parties in Israel's newly elected parliament, President Isaac Herzog yesterday gave opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form the country's next government. Eisenkot has up to six weeks to form a coalition, after which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be given the chance. [more]

EGYPT | Authorities in Egypt say seven people were killed, and more than 100 others were injured, yesterday when a passenger train crashed into the rear of a stationary train in Giza province, south of Cairo. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has ordered an investigation into the crash. [more]

SAUDI ARABIA AND YEMEN | The Saudi-led coalition says its air defenses intercepted two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels at Riyadh and other areas yesterday, with falling debris damaging a building owned by state oil company Aramco in the capital's financial district. [more]

SENEGAL | Authorities in Senegal say at least 21 people died after a boat carrying migrants bound for Spain's Canary Islands sank off the country's northern coast over the weekend. Search and rescue operations related to the incident are ongoing. [more]

IRAQ | A drone attack late yesterday on the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region left more than 70% of the region without power, according to Iraqi and Kurdish officials. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which Kurdish authorities have blamed on "pro-Iran armed factions operating inside Iraq." [more]

COLOMBIA | Authorities in Colombia say three soldiers were killed, and at least 16 others were injured, Saturday in a drone attack on a military base in the northern town of Santa Rosa del Sur. Officials have not said who carried out the attack, which comes amidst a rise in violence since President Abelardo de la Espriella canceled peace talks with the country's rebel groups. [more]

TECH INDUSTRY | Chipmaker Nvidia's board of directors said yesterday that it is investigating reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the "target of a foreign intelligence effort," after Huang acknowledged a relationship with a business executive who, according to The New York Times, U.S. intelligence determined was gathering information for China. China's foreign ministry today called the spying allegation "unsubstantiated" and a smear. [more]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL | Following weekend games, Georgia is back at No. 1 atop the AP Top 25 college football poll, followed by Utah, Notre Dame, UCLA, and Miami. [full poll] [more]

WEEKEND MOVIES | "Godzilla Minus Zero" topped the North American box office over the weekend with an estimated $31.6 million in receipts, followed by "The Cat in the Hat" and "Drummer Boy." [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1989, the Berlin Wall, long a symbol of the Cold War, erected in 1961 and eventually extending 28 miles to divide the western and eastern sectors of Berlin, was opened by the East German government. [more history]