Axios

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Tuesday he'd sent a letter to President-elect Joe Biden congratulating him on his victory in the U.S. presidential election, shortly after the Electoral College affirmed his win.

Why it matters: López Obrador was one of the last holdouts among major world leaders who had refrained from immediately acknowledging Biden's victory as Trump's legal challenges played out, seeking to avoid friction with Washington.

A senior U.S.-Israeli delegation will travel to Morocco next Tuesday to begin talks on resuming diplomatic relations between Israel and Morocco, traveling on the first-ever direct flight of an Israeli airline from Tel Aviv to Rabat, U.S. officials told me.

Why it matters: The trip will take place 10 days after President Trump announced that the U.S. would recognize Western Sahara as part of Morocco, a historic and controversial decision that paved the way for Morocco to begin the process of normalizing diplomatic ties with Israel.

A man claiming to be a leader in Nigeria’s Boko Haram claimed in an unverified audio message released on Tuesday that the armed group was responsible for the kidnapping of over 330 students from an all-boys school in the northwestern state of Katsina last week, the Associated Press reports.

The big picture: Boko Haram have been terrorizing Nigeria and its neighboring countries for years. The group has carried out several mass abductions, including the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in 2014.

The national security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong is playing out in line with the worst-case scenario its critics feared.

Driving the news: A slew of arrests under the draconian law culminated last week with charges against pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a message of congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden, the Kremlin announced Tuesday.

Why it matters: Putin was one of the few world leaders to refrain from congratulating Biden for his election win. But after the Electoral College affirmed his election victory, the Kremlin released a statement saying Putin looked forward to having "interaction and contact with" Biden, per Russia's TASS news agency.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday declined to open an investigation into allegations of genocide against Uighur Muslims in China, but it left the file open.

Why it matters: This means that more evidence can be submitted on claims of genocide by Chinese authorities against Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, northwest China, and the ICC could still open an investigation.

The revelation that hackers tied to Russia managed to penetrate the Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security departments — at least — will be giving U.S. officials nightmares for a long time.

The big picture: News of the Russia-linked hack, which Reuters broke Sunday, has shaken the government and larger cybersecurity world and led some policymakers to call for retaliation against Russia.

On New Year's Eve 2019, China notified the World Health Organization of a cluster of cases of "pneumonia of an unknown cause."

The big picture: The year since then has been defined all over the world by the struggle against a virus that has now claimed at least 1.6 million lives. But its toll has been unevenly distributed.

The Netherlands will enter a tough lockdown this week in one of Europe’s most restrictive attempts to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a televised address Monday.

Why it matters: As COVID-19 continues to make a comeback in Europe, countries have taken measures to reduce travel and risk of contact ahead of the holiday season.

Leaders of a farmers' protest in India held a day-long hunger strike on Monday and reiterated their calls for nationwide protests over new laws to deregulate Indian agriculture, Al Jazeera reports.

Why it matters: Farmers say the laws will drive down crop prices and benefit big corporations. They've taken the government by surprise with large demonstrations in New Delhi, which have now continued for 19 days.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions against Turkey for purchasing the Russian S-400 air defense system in 2017, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday.

Why it matters: The sanctions are likely to heighten tensions between the two NATO allies just as President-elect Joe Biden, who has called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan an "autocrat," is set to take office.

Bars and restaurants in London and surrounding areas will be forced to close beginning Wednesday as the region is placed under England's highest alert for coronavirus restrictions, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday.

The big picture: Although Europe has beaten back a steep rise in coronavirus cases, several countries are issuing strict lockdowns over the holidays. London is seeing "very sharp, exponential rises" in coronavirus cases, and will be forced to enter the strictest of England's three-tier lockdown system, Hancock said.

An undercover team working for Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) followed opposition leader Alexei Navalny on more than 30 trips to and from Moscow starting in 2017 before he was poisoned in August, according to a bombshell investigation led by Bellingcat.

Why it matters: The Kremlin has denied having any role in the poisoning of Navalny, who is one of the most prominent domestic critics of President Vladimir Putin. But an analysis of "voluminous telecom and travel data" by Bellingcat suggests the poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok “was mandated at the highest echelons of the Kremlin."

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an "emergency directive" late Sunday requiring all federal civilian agencies to review their networks and immediately disconnect SolarWinds Orion software products, following a suspected Russian hack on the Treasury and Commerce Department.

Why it matters: It's only the fifth time since 2015 that the Department of Homeland Security has issued such a directive, per AP, underscoring the concerns officials have about an operation that one cybersecurity expert warned could turn out to be "one of the most impactful espionage campaigns on record."