🇫🇷🇦🇺⚡️- French anti-terrorist intelligence (DGSI) have opened their own investigation into the Sydney terror attack as a French-Jew was among the victims.

"The main objective of this investigation is to enable victims and their relatives who may reside in France to have access to information regarding the progress of the investigations conducted by the French and Australian judicial authorities and, on the other hand, to provide support, assistance, or technical expertise to the Australian judicial authorities." - Official statement by the Anti-Terrorist National Prosecutor.

🇹🇷🇨🇾🇮🇱⚡- Cypriot Defense Minister Vasilis Palma has arrived in Tel Aviv to meet his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz.

🇸🇦⚡️- AFP has recorded 340 executed individuals in Saudi Arabia in 2025, the highest amount to date.

🇮🇷🇦🇪⚡- Esmail Baghaei, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, has rejected UAE's "baseless claims" over the three disputed islands, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa.

The islands are administrated by Iran, with the UAE laying claims to all three. The islands sit at a vital and strategic point of the Persian Gulf, essentially providing the owner of the islands control over the Hormuz Strait. Iran has airbases on Greater Tunb and Abu Musa, and has a major ballistic missile base on Lesser Tunb.

The US, the UK and the EU support the UAE's claim over the three islands. Russia and China have both called for 'talks' over the islands, which involve UAE-led initiatives for a "peaceful resolution." Moscow and Beijing's attitude towards the islands has not sat well with Tehran, with Iran responding in similar fashion to the Russia-Japan dispute over the Kuril Islands.

🇺🇸🇻🇪⚡- Venezuela's national oil company accuses the United States of launching cyber attacks on its infrastructure, but reports its operations were not affected.

🇹🇭🇰🇭⚡- In the past few hours, Thai forces have launched a major offensive in the Preah Vihear direction, northern Cambodia.

Thailand's military have captured all of the Cambodian positions north of the Sam Tae Channel, and have even crossed the international border into Cambodia.

Just west of the Sam Tae crossing, Thai troops are also attacking from Prasat Doun Tuan, likely targeting a Cambodian observation post (at 14.40126, 104.75341 – marked on the map).

Some of the most violent clashes of the current phase of the conflict are reportedly ongoing in the area.

🇺🇸🇺🇦⚡- Reuters confirms AFP's report that the US-Ukraine talks were "fruitful," and "real progress" was made.

🇵🇰⚡- Scenes from Panjgur, disputed region of Balochistan, southwest Pakistan, earlier today.

🇵🇰⚡- "BLA have besieged Panjgur and have taken control over government institutions within the town," - Khorasan Media.

🇾🇪⚡- "Aidarus al-Zoubaidi [Chairman of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council of Yemen] reaffirms his forces' readiness to participate in any military operation to liberate northern regions from Houthi control," - Sky News Arabia.

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- "Article 5-like guarantee is something Trump believes he can get Russia to accept," - US official tells Reuters.

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- "90% of the issues regarding the peace plan have already been resolved in the US-Ukraine talks in Berlin. Trump was pleased with the results of the meeting," - The Guardian.

🇸🇾⚡- Light clashes between the Syrian government backed forces and the Druze separatists north of As Suwaida city, southern Syria.

🇩🇪🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡- German Chancellor Merz has requested Russia accept a Christmas ceasefire.

🇺🇸⚡- President Trump has classified fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.

🇺🇸🇹🇷🇮🇱⚡- 45 countries will participate in a CENTCOM-led meeting on the Gaza ceasefire deal tomorrow in Doha, Qatar.

Turkey has been barred from attending, as Israel vetoed their participation, Israeli Channel 11 and Haaretz report.

🇨🇿🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- Czech Republic has announced that they will move their embassy to Jerusalem, effectively recognizing the city as Israel's capital.

The announcement was made by the new Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, of the eurosceptic and 'pro-Russian' bloc led by Babis' ANO, that assumed power today.

🇺🇸⚡️- Providence PD has released new footage of the potential Brown University shooter and is asking anyone who might recognize this person to come forward with details.

It should be noted that the footage is zoomed out and shows a person wearing a black hoodie walking on the sidewalk, you can’t see anything else about the person.

🇺🇸🐊⚡️- James Fishback has doubled down on comments made praising supporters of Nick Fuentes, in a post made on X.

James Fishback is the CEO of an investment firm and is running to challenge Congressman Byron Donalds in the 2026 Florida gubernatorial elections. Donalds has been endorsed by virtually the entire Republican establishment, including by President Trump himself, in the race to succeed Ron DeSantis as Governor of Florida.

Despite the massive endorsements for Donalds and the sweeping personal as well as political attacks on Fishback, Google Trends indicates that Fishback has far more interest among the Florida population than Donalds, and online polls show Fishback with an 8% lead over Donalds in the Republican primaries; incredible considering the primaries are more than 9 months away.

Fishback is running on a campaign of "Florida First," with a heavy focus on reducing immigration and the number of H1-B visas that Florida allows.