🇺🇸🇷🇺⚡- Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

🇲🇲⚡- The two junta pockets in Bhamo city, northern Myanmar, continue to merge together into a single front. Myanmar's junta forces have driven the Kachin Independence Army from the residential areas south of Bhamo Airport.

🇱🇧🇮🇱⚡- Heavy Israeli drone activity over Lebanon, including Beirut. Israeli military activity in Lebanon has increased ever since the Gaza ceasefire.

🇺🇸🇦🇺⚡- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is welcomed into the White House by President Trump.

🇺🇸⚡- "26% of Republicans and independents would back Donald Trump Jr. over JD Vance and other contenders in the 2028 Presidential race," - Center Square.

🇺🇸🇦🇺⚡- BREAKING: US and Australia sign a mega $8.5 billion rare earth mineral deal. The deal will see 30 critical metals flow from Australia to the US.

🇺🇸🇦🇺⚡- "In about a year from now, we'll have so much critical mineral and rare earths that you won't know what to do with them," - President Trump.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- Hamas found and have delivered to Israel the body of another deceased Israeli hostage, leaving 15 within the Gaza Strip.

🇺🇸🇧🇴⚡️- Bolivia’s newly elected president, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, has vowed to restore ties with the United States, severed in '08 under Evo Morales, and to seek fresh lithium partnerships.

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- "At the Trump-Zelensky meeting, Zelensky refused to cede any territory with President Trump stating it's preferred to end it along the current front-lines," - Politico.

🇺🇸⚡️- The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that President Trump is allowed to deploy National Guard to Portland, Oregon.

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- "Russia is preparing for a winter military offensive campaign," - Ukraine's Defense Ministry Intelligence, GUR.

🇧🇴🇻🇪⚡- Bolivian President-elect Rodrigo Paz spoke over the phone with Venezuelan opposition and the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado.

🇧🇴🇻🇪⚡- "Have hope, we are ready to join the fight to restore democracy in Venezuela," - Rodrigo Paz, Bolivian President-elect.

🇧🇷⚡- "In Latin America and the Caribbean, we are also experiencing a time of growing polarization and instability. Maintaining the region as a zone of peace is our priority. Foreign interventions can cause greater damage than anticipated," - Lula da Silva, President of Brazil.

🇺🇸🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- "Trump currently believes Hamas leaders are willing to continue negotiations in good faith. But there is concern within the Trump administration of Netanyahu withdrawing from the Gaza agreement," - The New York Times, citing a White House official.

🇸🇩⚡️- AFP reports a drone attack in the vicinity of the Khartoum International Airport in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

🇯🇵⚡- BREAKING: Sanae Takaichi becomes the new and first female Prime Minister of Japan.

Takaichi, of the right-wing nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, won a majority in both of Japan's houses – 237/465 in the Lower House, and 125/248 in the Upper House.

🇺🇸🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent met with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Bessent encouraged Smotrich to embrace President Trump's Hamas-Israel peace deal.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- "Israeli Prime Minister has told the White House Tel Aviv strongly opposes any Turkish or Qatari presence in Gaza post-war, calling it a red-line.

The White House, worried Israel may walk out on the deal, insists the role of Turkey and Qatar would be purely humanitarian and civilian. A position rejected by Tel Aviv, as the Israelis believe it will give Ankara and Doha expanded influence," - Israel Hayom.