Jared Kushner will travel in the coming days to Saudi Arabia and Qatar in a last-ditch effort to resolve the dispute between the Gulf countries.
Why it matters: Fixing the rift between Saudi Arabia and Qatar would bring a sense of stability back to the Gulf and notch a last-minute achievement for Kushner and the Trump administration before Jan. 20.
Details: "No land is shownon the map, only the locations where people actually live. ... The higher the spike, the more people live in an area. Where there are no spikes, there are no people (e.g. you can clearly identify ... the Sahara Desert)."
Scores of bushfires are threatening parts of Australia during a record heat wave — including an out-of-control blaze that prompted evacuations in Sydney Sunday and another fire ravaging the popular Queensland tourist destination of Fraser Island.
A massive protest in Paris against a security bill descended into clashes between police and demonstrators Saturday, as tens of thousands of people rallied across France against the measure, per AFP.
Why it matters: The bill, if signed into law, would bolster government surveillance and restrict the sharing of images of police officers, which critics say would erode civil liberties including the freedom to report on police brutality.
Ethiopia’s military took “full control” of the capital of the Tigray region on Saturday, the army announced — a major development following more than three weeks of unrest in the area, AP reports.
Driving the news: Ethiopia's military launched an assault in the Tigray region earlier on Saturday following a collapse of diplomatic negotiations and in an effort to arrest the region's rebelling leaders, according to local media and regional government officials.
London police arrested at least 155 people during protests against coronavirus lockdown measures Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said.
Driving the news: Protesters, including many who were not wearing masks, marched through parts of London, chanting "freedom" and holding signs that read: "no more lockdowns," per Sky News. The country has been under a national lockdown since Nov. 5.
Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., became the first Black American to earn the rank of cardinal on Saturday.
The big picture: His appointment comes during a time in which the country continues to examine the role of race relations, and as the world endures the many-month stretch of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei pledged to retaliate one day after the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the nation's top nuclear scientist.
What he's saying: Khamenei wrote on Twitter Saturday to call on "relevant administrators" to prosecute the "brutal mercenaries" behind the attack and continue the "scientific efforts" of Fakhrizadeh, who Khamenei referred to as a "martyr."
