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MIDDLE EAST | Updates from regional conflicts:

• Following yesterday's White House meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria has agreed to join the now-90-member international coalition aimed at eliminating remaining elements of the so-called Islamic State militant group. [more]
• In an undated letter to Hamas posted online, Yemen's Houthi rebel group says it will reinstate its "ban on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas" if Israel "resumes its aggression against Gaza." Analysts say the statement, while not a formal acknowledgment that their anti-shipping campaign in the region has halted, is the clearest sign yet that the Houthis have suspended such attacks. [more]

U.S. GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN | The Senate voted, 60-40, last night to give final approval to a measure that advances three bipartisan annual spending bills and extends federal government funding through late January, with eight Democrats joining all Republican members of the chamber in exchange for a promised vote on extending healthcare subsidies by mid-December. The House, which has been in recess since mid-September, is expected to vote on the funding measure Wednesday. [more]

U.S. PRESIDENCY | President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday to review and overturn the 2024 civil judgement in which a jury found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll and ordered him to pay a $5 million penalty. [more]

UTAH | State Judge Dianna Gibson ruled last night that a Utah congressional districting map drawn by Republican lawmakers unduly favors Republicans and disfavors Democrats and ordered the adoption of an alternate proposal that keeps Salt Lake County almost entirely within one district, instead of dividing the heavily Democratic population center among all four districts, as was the case previously. [more]

U.S. FAST FOOD | Ohio-based fast food chain Wendy's has announced plans to close hundreds of its restaurants across the U.S. later this year as part of cost-saving and modernization efforts. [more]

GLOBAL CLIMATE | Organizers of the ongoing COP30 U.N climate summit in Belem, Brazil, have framed this year's conference as an "implementation COP" and note that the talks are not expected to produce ambitious new agreements. Reports note that of 199 nations around the world only four chose not to send official delegations to the summit: San Marino, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and the United States. [more]

PAKISTAN | Authorities in Pakistan's capital Islamabad say at least 12 people were killed, and 27 others were wounded, today in a suicide bombing outside the gates of a district court in the city. No claims of responsibility for the attack have yet been made. [more]

CANADA | Experts from the Pan American Health Organization say Canada has lost its nearly 30-year-old measles elimination status after analysis showed that outbreaks of the disease have spread continuously for a full year in the country. Reports note that government data shows measles vaccination rates in Canada have fallen below the 95% coverage rate needed to stop outbreaks. [more]

NEW ZEALAND | Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today that New Zealand's near-total ban on semi-automatic weapons – put in place following the 2019 killing of 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch – will remain in place but that police officers will no longer be involved in the gun licensing process. [more]

TAIWAN | More than 3,000 people have been evacuated from at-risk areas, and dozens of flights have been cancelled, today in Taiwan ahead of tomorrow's arrival of Typhoon Fung-wong. [more]

ECUADOR | Officials with Ecuador's state prison service say at least 31 inmates have been found dead, including 27 who had been hanged, following weekend clashes between rival gangs at the El Oro prison in the southern city of Machala. [more]

INDIA | Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed unspecified "conspirators" today for a car explosion in Delhi, India, yesterday in which eight people were killed and 20 others were injured. Reports note that government buildings, train stations, and a nearby airport have been put on high alert as investigations into the blast continue. [more]

LITERATURE | David Szalay was named the winner of this year's Booker Prize for fiction yesterday for his novel "Flesh," which prize judges describe as " a propulsive novel centered on an emotionally detached man who is unravelled by a series of events beyond his grasp." [more]

BASEBALL | Oakland Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz and Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin have been named this season's winners of Major League Baseball's Rookie of the Year awards in the American League and National League, respectively. [more]

TODAY IN HISTORY | On this date in 1918, the Allied powers and Germany signed an armistice document in the railway carriage of Ferdinand Foch, the commander of the Allied armies, ending World War I. [more history]