December 6, 2024

MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Hamas political official Bassem Naim said yesterday that international negotiations aimed at ending the nearly 14-month Israel-Hamas conflict have resumed after being suspended last month due to lack of progress. [more]
• Reuters cites an unnamed senior Iranian official as saying that, amidst recent advances by rebel forces in Syria, Iran will provide missiles, drones, and military advisors to support President Bashar al-Assad's government and military. [more]

U.S. ECONOMY | Data firm FactSet predicts that the latest Labor Department jobs report, due out later today, will show that employers added about 208,000 jobs in November, which would be a significant rebound from the 12,000 increase seen in October. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | Reports say outgoing President Joe Biden is considering preemptive pardons for outspoken critics of President-elect Donald Trump as a means of shielding them from potential Trump administration legal retribution after he takes office. [more]

MORE U.S. POLITICS | Members of the House of Representatives voted yesterday, largely along party lines, to block the release of an ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was the subject of a years-long investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. House Republican leaders said Gaetz’s resignation from Congress last month made releasing the report inappropriate. [more]

CALIFORNIA | Damage assessments are continuing today in California following a magnitude-7 earthquake that shook a large portion of the state's northern region yesterday. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an emergency declaration following the quake to move resources to impacted areas. [more]

SOUTH CHINA SEA | The U.S., Japan, and the Philippines are conducting joint naval patrols and exercises today in a disputed region of the South China Sea. The joint maneuvers come just two days after Chinese coast guard vessels were reported to have harassed Philippine patrol ships in the region. [more]

FRANCE | More than 1,500 guests, including dozens of heads of state and government, are expected to attend re-opening ceremonies this weekend for the iconic Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which was severely damaged by fire in 2019. [more]

MEXICO | Health officials in central Mexico say intravenous feeding bags contaminated with a multidrug-resistant bacterium are thought to be responsible for the recent deaths at least 13 children in the region. The country’s federal health department ordered doctors across the country to stop using IV nutrition bags made by the company Productos Hospitalarios, though the exact cause of the infections has not been confirmed. [more]

U.K. | Rail service across Britain, including for trains servicing London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, is facing widespread disruptions today due to what officials say are issues with the radio system used by train drivers and signalers. Restoration of the service is ongoing. [more]

IRAN | Iran claimed today to have conducted a successful launch of its Simorgh satellite-carrying rocket, placing an “orbital propulsion system” and two research platforms into Earth orbit. Western nations have long criticized Iranian space launches as violations of a U.N. Security Council resolution limiting Iran’s space program due to concerns over potential use in the country’s ballistic missile program. [more]

SOUTH KOREA | The head of South Korea’s ruling People Power Party expressed his support today for suspending the constitutional powers of President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose short-lived imposition of martial law earlier this week upended the country’s political landscape. [more]

NEW ZEALAND | Authorities in southern New Zealand say three mountain climbers – one from Canada and two from the United States – who went missing earlier this week while climbing the country’s Aoraki, or Mount Cook, mountain peak are believed to have died in a fall. [more]

INDIA | Farmers taking part in a march to New Delhi to demand guaranteed crop prices clashed with Indian police today, with police using tear gas to disperse the protesters. [more]

SPACE | U.S. space agency NASA said yesterday that its next lunar mission, which had been scheduled for September 2025, has been postponed to April 2026 due to apparent issues with the heat shields used to protect spacecraft during reentry into the atmosphere. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1917, Finland declared itself independent of Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution. [more history]