Israel's political drama is entering yet another unprecedented stage. The Knesset, Israel's parliament, dissolved itself tonight, and the third election in under a year was set for March.
Why it matters: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing three corruption indictments, and the March election could be his last. Netanyahu and his top rival, Benny Gantz, both failed to form a government during 80 days of negotiations following September's vote.
China imprisoned at least 48 journalists in 2019, more than any other country in the world, Reuters writes, citing a new Committee to Protect Journalists report.
Why it matters: The CPJ attributed China's arrests to its government media crackdown in Xinjiang province, where it's holding more than 1 million ethnic Muslim minorities in internment camps.
A Republican senator is blocking bipartisan legislation meant to counter foreign election interference, saying it is more anti-Trump than anti-Russia.
The big picture: The Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines (DETER) Act of 2019 is sponsored and supported by both Republicans and Democrats. But efforts to counter Russian election interference have often run afoul of the Trump administration, which has frequently downplayed Russian meddling in the 2016 race and pointed a finger (without evidence) at Ukraine instead.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said at a hearing Wednesday that his investigation into the origins of the Russia probe found "no testimonial or documentary evidence" for the assertion that there was a "deep state conspiracy" within the FBI to take down candidate or President Trump.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was accused of hiding in a refrigerator to avoid a live television interview on Wednesday, the final day of campaigning before the country's general election.
What happened: Johnson was approached by a reporter for "Good Morning Britain" while visiting Modern Milkman, a local business in Yorkshire, who asked to speak to him on live television, setting off a confrontation, per The Guardian.
China's aggressive focus on prescription drugs includes developing its own version of CAR-T, one of the most ambitious therapies on the market, Bloomberg reports.
Why it matters: Chinese scientists are attempting to develop CAR-T therapies — which genetically engineer a patient's own immune cells to destroy cancer cells — much faster and with a much cheaper price tag than those in the U.S.
Chinese recipients of World Bank loans tried to secure funding for the purchase of facial recognition technology for use in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang, according to documents obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The World Bank's loan program in Xinjiang demonstrates the extreme moral hazard that is now facing any organization with operations in the region, where China has constructed a surveillance state and detained more than a million ethnic minorities.
Below are more than 8,000 pages of documentation about efforts by Chinese schools to secure funding from the World Bank to support surveillance programs in the country's Xinjiang region.
Why it matters: A World Bank spokesperson told Axios the June 2017 procurement documents had not been translated into English, meaning only Chinese-speaking staff could read them.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party is projected to win a majority of 28 seats in Thursday's high-stakes election, down from a 68-seat majority forecast by the same poll in late November.
Why it matters: YouGov's MRP poll of 100,000 voters was the only one to accurately predict that Theresa May would lose her majority in the shock 2017 election. With just two days left in what's been a brutal election campaign, the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat parties will be doing everything they can to block Johnson from earning a majority and passing his Brexit deal through Parliament.
Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Tuesday for violating the Privacy Act by "unlawfully" releasing text messages between her and the bureau's former deputy assistant director Peter Strzok — with whom she was having an affair.
Why it matters: The lawsuit cites the Justice Department's inspector general report, which was released earlier this week and concluded that political bias did not influence the FBI's Russia investigation. Despite this, Page claims that Trump and his allies have used the text messages to attack her over allegations that she and the FBI sought to take down a president they didn't like, "fueling unwanted media attention that has radically altered her day-to-day life."
Since falling to its weakest level in more than three decades against the dollar on Sept. 3, the British pound has been on a tear. It has risen by nearly 10% to its strongest level against the dollar since May and its highest against the euro since May 2017.
What's happening: Currency traders are shaking off fears of a no-deal Brexit. Polling ahead of Thursday's election shows the Conservatives in the lead and they are expected to gather behind Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit plan.
President Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Tuesday during Lavrov's first trip to Washington, D.C., since their controversial oval office meeting in 2017.
Why it matters: Lavrov met with Trump in the Oval Office in 2017 when Trump reportedly divulged classified information to the foreign minister and Sergey Kislyak, who was then the Russian ambassador to the U.S., the day after he fired then-FBI Director James Comey as the Bureau probed ties between Trump associates and Russia.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to be steaming toward the parliamentary majority he desperately desires to pass his Brexit deal and end the gridlock in Westminster.
Why it matters: Thursday’s vote is the culmination of three years of intense efforts to deliver Brexit, and to block it. The rocky road Johnson has plodded along since replacing Theresa May in July would become much smoother with a resounding electoral mandate.
