The Trump administration is concerned Chinese investments in the Israeli tech industry could harm Israeli and U.S. national security, assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs David Schenker said Monday at a conference organized by the SIGNAL think tank, which focuses on Israeli-Chinese academic cooperation.
Why it matters: The Trump administration has previously raised concerns in private about Chinese involvement in Israel’s booming tech sector. This is likely the first time the administration has done so in public.
The European Commission on Monday granted market authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine, hours after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended approval.
Why it matters: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that vaccinations will begin in the EU's 27 countries on Dec. 27, 28 and 29. The vaccine has been found to be 95% effective with no serious side effects.
Attorney General William Barr on Monday announced new charges related to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988, which killed 270 people, including 190 Americans.
Why it matters: The Lockerbie bombing was the single deadliest terrorist attack ever carried out in the U.K.
One of the Russian agents who tailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny before his poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok in August was duped into revealing how the botched operation was carried out in a 49-minute phone call with Navalny himself, CNN and Bellingcat report.
Why it matters: Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that the Kremlin had any role in Navalny's poisoning, calling the anti-corruption activist a pawn of Western intelligence and claiming that Russian agents "would have probably finished the job" if they were responsible.
At least 31 countries, including 18 in the neighboring European Union, have banned travel from the United Kingdom after the British government warned that a new variant of the coronavirus could be up to 70% more transmissible.
Why it matters: Supply chains are being disrupted just days before the U.K. is set to end the Brexit transition period without a free trade agreement with the EU — its largest and closest trading partner. A no-deal Brexit could cause massive damage to a British economy that's already been ravaged by the pandemic.
Thailand has begun testing tens of thousands of people following a massive COVID-19 outbreak that prompted officials to enact restrictions including school closures and the lockdown of a coastal province Sunday.
The big picture: Thailand was the first country outside China to report a coronavirus case, but it largely kept the virus in check. Last Thursday, a shrimp market vendor in Samut Sakhon tested positive for coronavirus. By Sunday, Thai officials reported a record 689 new cases. They confirmed another 576 Monday. Most cases are migrant workers from Myanmar.
Yes, but: The population of over 69 million has reported fewer than 5,000 cases — 4,907 as of Monday. Its virus death toll stands at 60, according to government data.
Saudi Arabia has closed its borders and suspended international flights for a week, citing a new variant of COVID-19 first detected in England, per the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
The big picture: Several countries have halted flights from the U.K. as a precaution against this new variant, which British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said "may be up to 70% more transmissible" than the original version. Saudi Arabia has confirmed over 361,000 cases and more than 6,100 deaths from the virus, per Johns Hopkins. It hasn't enacted any restrictions since it began lifting them in May, Bloomberg notes.
Sydney residents now face travel bans across Australia as states and territories enacted restrictions Monday following a growing COVID-19 outbreak in the nation's most populous city, per the BBC.
Why it matters: News South Wales went 13 days with no local coronavirus cases before the virus resurfaced on the northern beaches of state capital Sydney and in the city's west last Wednesday. The cluster has now grown to 83 cases and spread to Sydney's central business district.
Canada on Sunday evening became the latest country to suspend travel from the United Kingdoms after the U.K. and World Health Organization said they'd identified a new variant of COVID-19 in England.
Driving the news: Dutch officials were first to impose the restrictions after they identified at least one case of the same variant in the Netherlands. France, Germany, Italy, the Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria have announced similar U.K. travel bans.
About 21 million people entered full lockdown restrictions in London, southeast and eastern England and Wales Sunday to curb the spread of a highly infectious new strain of COVID-19.
For the record: The World Health Organization tweeted that it's in"close contact" with British officials on the variant, as the Dutch government introduced a ban on passenger flights from the United Kingdom, effective Sunday morning through Jan. 1, after finding a case with the same strain in the Netherlands.
President-elect Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador discussed in a phone call Saturday working together on a "new approach" to migration that "offers alternatives to undertaking the dangerous journey" to the U.S.
Why it matters: The statement from Biden's transition team on the call details represents a key part of the president-elect's plans to overhaul President Trump's aggressive border policy.
