November 21, 2025

MIDDLE EAST | Update from regional conflicts:

• Reports say Israel’s Civil Administration has announced plans to take control of more than 400 acres of Sebastia, a major archaeological and historical site in the West Bank that has traditionally been seen as belonging to Palestinians. [more]

UKRAINE | Today is day 1,364 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Here are your updates:

• The full 28-point draft peace proposal for Ukraine developed by the U.S and Russia, which has faced criticism from Ukrainian and European leaders, includes requirements that Ukraine enshrine in its constitution that it will not join NATO, that the Ukrainian territories of Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk be recognized as de facto Russian, and that all parties involved in the conflict receive full amnesty for their actions during the war. [full draft proposal] [more]
• Reuters cites unnamed sources as saying the U.S. has threatened to cut intelligence sharing and weapons supplies for Ukraine as part of efforts to pressure it into agreeing to a U.S.-brokered peace framework as early as next week. [more]
• Local authorities say a Russian glide bomb strike hit a residential district in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing five people and injuring ten others. [more]

U.S. POLITICS | After six members of Congress – all veterans of the armed services and intelligence communities – released a video earlier this week calling for members of the U.S. military to uphold the Constitution and refuse illegal orders, President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers on social media yesterday of being traitors and of being guilty of sedition – a crime he noted that is punishable by death. Reports note that military service members have a specific legal duty to reject unlawful orders but that they can also face criminal charges for failing to follow an order later determined to be lawful. [more]

U.S. TARIFFS | In an expansion of recently reversed import tariffs on various commodities, President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday removing an extra 40% tariff on goods from Brazil, including coffee, fruit, beef, and other goods. [more]

U.S. MILITARIZATION | Saying the Trump administration usurped powers granted to Washington, DC, under the Home Rule Act, a federal judge said yesterday that President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to the District exceeded his statutory authority. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb blocked further deployment of troops to DC without the mayor's approval but put her order on hold until December 11 to give the administration time to appeal the ruling. [more]

U.S. IMMIGRATION | A federal judge this week ordered the release, pending court hearings, of 16 immigrants jailed following a recent raid at an Idaho racetrack, saying that detention without bond violated their due process rights. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill noted in his ruling that it is a "long-recognized distinction in our immigration laws and the Constitution that due process protections apply to noncitizens residing within the country but not those stopped at or near the border." [more]

U.S. HEALTH INFORMATION | In a move criticized by physician and advocacy groups, including the Autism Science Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modified its "Autism and Vaccines" web page this week to include a statement that "the statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.” The page does still include a header of "Vaccines do not cause Autism," but with a corresponding footnote that the header has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the website. [more]

U.S. OIL DRILLING | Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced Trump administration plans yesterday for the sale of new oil drilling leases off the coasts of Florida, California, and Alaska. Reports note that the California and Florida leases would be the first in those locations in decades and that both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have criticized the lease plans. [more]

IRAN | According to Iranian state media, Iran's foreign ministry today rejected a resolution from the International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday demanding that Iran fully cooperate with the agency, provide “precise information” about its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium, and grant IAEA inspectors access to Iranian nuclear sites. The officials IRNA news agency cited Iranian authorities as threatening unspecified retaliatory actions for the IAEA resolution. [more]

SUDAN | The European Union's Foreign Affairs Council announced new sanctions yesterday on Abdel-Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, a top leader of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, over "grave and ongoing atrocities" committed by RSF forces in the African country's civil war. [more]

CANADA | Eleven people were injured yesterday, two of them critically, when a grizzly bear attacked a group of schoolchildren and teachers on a walking trail in British Columbia, Canada. Local officials say police and conservation officers are attempting to locate the aggressive bear. [more]

EUROPEAN ANTIQUITIES | Seven countries working with Eurojust and Europol carried out coordinated raids in seven countries this week, dismantling a criminal trafficking group that authorities say has sold more than $1 billion in cultural goods and antiquities stolen from museums across Europe for over 16 years. [Europol press release] [more]

GERMANY | Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said today that Germany plans to classify date rape drugs as weapons in its prosecution of sexual assault cases, allowing for significantly stricter prosecutions, clear consequences, and consistent enforcement. [more]

COP30 | The entire venue for the ongoing COP30 U.N. climate summit in Brazil was evacuated and remained closed for several hours yesterday after a fire broke out in an area hosting various nations' pavilions on the sidelines of climate talks. Preliminary reports say a generator failure or a short circuit in a booth may have started the fire. [more]

JAPAN | In coordination with recently installed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Japan's Cabinet approved plans today for a 21.3 trillion yen (or $135.4 billion) economic stimulus package aimed at helping consumers amidst cost-of-living increases. Measures in the package include subsidies for energy costs, reduced gasoline taxes, one-time per-child cash handouts for families, rice vouchers, and other various coupons. The stimulus package will require parliamentary approval by the end of the year to take effect. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1920, on Bloody Sunday, the Irish Republican Army killed 15 Englishmen suspected of being intelligence agents, and the Black and Tans constabulary took revenge the same afternoon, attacking spectators and players at a Gaelic soccer match in Croke Park, Dublin, killing 14 and wounding 60. [more history]