President Trump will be watching another political contest this week: The U.K.'s Dec. 12 general election will decide what happens to Brexit and if Prime Minister Boris Johnson — aka "Britain Trump" — remains in charge.
Why it matters: If Johnson's Conservatives win the majority in Parliament, Brexit clears the way for the bilateral U.S.-U.K. trade relationship that Trump favors over negotiating with the European Union.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn is pushing for all member states of the European Union to recognize Palestine, a reaction to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement that the U.S. doesn’t see the Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal, European officials tell me.
Why it matters: Luxemburg is one of the smallest countries in the EU, but Asselborn — who has served in his position for 15 years — has significant standing and influence among Europe's foreign ministers.
In a Sunday tweet, President Trump doubled down on an argument that North Korea should not take denuclearization talks off the table — as the country stated it would on Saturday — because it could be seen as interfering in the upcoming presidential election.
What he's saying: "Kim Jong Un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way," Trump tweeted. "He signed a strong Denuclearization Agreement with me in Singapore. He does not want to void his special relationship with the President of the United States or interfere with the U.S. Presidential Election in November."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has found himself in a battle of narratives with the Trump administration over whether he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed Israeli annexation of the West Bank's Jordan Valley during a meeting on Wednesday in Lisbon, Portugal.
Why it matters: There has been virtually no daylight between the Trump administration and Netanyahu's government for three years. This back-and-forth comes with Israel likely headed for its third election campaign in less than a year, in which annexation of the Jordan Valley will again be a prominent talking point for Netanyahu.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hong Kong on Sunday for some of the largest anti-government demonstrations in weeks, timed to coincide with international Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: The marches, which continue to be aimed at pressuring Chief Executive Carrie Lam into accepting democratic election reforms and an amnesty for arrested protesters, mark the sixth month of pro-democracy demonstrations. The notably peaceful protest was organized by Civil Human Rights Front, the first time the group has received police authorization to hold a march since August.
North Korea insisted that denuclearization has "already gone out of the negotiating table" on Saturday, in a statement from the country's ambassador to the United Nations.
Brian Hook, the State Department special representative for Iran, boarded a military plane at Andrews Air Force Base Friday night and flew to Zurich, where Saturday he swapped an Iranian scientist for an American student who'd been captive in Iran.
The latest: Iranian officials handed over Chinese-American graduate student Xiyue Wang, 38, detained in Tehran since 2016 on what the U.S. says are false charges, for scientist Massoud Soleimani, who faced a federal trial in Georgia.
An American graduate student imprisoned in Tehran since 2016 was released on Saturday in exchange for an Iranian stem cell researcher held in the U.S., the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: Iran may have released American Xiyue Wang to distract from its recent wave of protests and the government's harsh response, the Times writes. The U.S. estimates around 1,000 Iranians died as a result of the mass clashes.
Reddit said that accounts that shared sensitive U.S.-U.K. trade documents on its platform acted as part of a suspected Russian-based disinformation operation, in a post on Friday.
The big picture: The platform believes that the accounts that shared the leaked documents are tied to the same Russian disinformation campaign reported by Facebook in May, which focused on Ukraine, the Syrian civil war and "political news in Europe."
