Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The on-again, off-again ceasefire is on again: “Top diplomats from Thailand and Cambodia kicked off two days of talks in China on Sunday as Beijing seeks to strengthen its role in mediating the two countries’ border dispute, a day after they signed a new ceasefire. The ceasefire agreement calls for a halt to weeks of fighting along their contested border that has killed more than 100 people and displaced over half a million in both countries.”
* At the United Nations: “The United States on Monday announced a $2 billion pledge for U.N. humanitarian aid as President Donald Trump’s administration slashes U.S. foreign assistance and warns United Nations agencies to ‘adapt, shrink or die’ in a time of new financial realities. The money is a small fraction of what the U.S. has contributed in the past but reflects what the administration believes is still a generous amount that will maintain America’s status as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.”
* All eyes on Taiwan: “China launched major military exercises in the waters and airspace around Taiwan Monday in what it called a ‘stern warning’ against outside interference in Chinese affairs, as tensions grow with the U.S. and Japan over the security of the island. The drills follow the Trump administration’s mid-December approval of one of the largest packages of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.”
* At Mar-a-Lago: “President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday told reporters after their meeting at Mar-a-Lago in Florida they had a productive discussion. Mr. Trump said reconstruction in Gaza would begin ‘soon’ and declined to rule out future Israeli or American attacks on Iran.”
* On a related note: “Trump says he and Netanyahu talked about Hamas disarmament. Hamas will be given a ‘very short period of time to disarm,’ Trump said. He added that there will be ‘hell to pay’ if they don’t disarm, arguing it’s a necessary component of peace in the region.”
* In California: “A federal judge in California dismissed an indictment against a Los Angeles TikTok creator who was shot by an ICE agent during an arrest attempt earlier this year, citing a violation of the man’s constitutional rights by the federal government.”
* Rampant incompetence: “Portions of some files released from the Justice Department’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, were not properly redacted digitally, with some censored information easily revealed by copying and pasting blacked-out text into a separate file.”
* Keep a close eye on this one: “The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is buying millions of dollars’ worth of new surveillance tools at the same time President Donald Trump has scaled back protections for use of civilian data — a combination that could lead to a vast expansion of domestic surveillance that goes far beyond immigrants.”
See you tomorrow.
