Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Wednesday that President-elect Trump has invited him to attend the inauguration — but it may be difficult for Bolsonaro to attend amid his ongoing legal troubles.
The big picture: Bolsonaro — like Trump — had refused to concede his election loss while his supporters rioted. Now Bolsonaro is taking inspiration from the president-elect's impending White House return to plan his own political comeback.
Why it matters: The response, using a troubled history of the U.S.-Mexican War in 1846-8, signaled that the Sheinbaum administration would not be intimidated by Trump's antics and threats.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has launched a new multimedia campaign in southern border states highlighting the stories of asylum seekers who have fled Mexico, El Salvador and Cameroon.
Why it matters: Immigrant rights and civil liberties groups are preparing a public relations and court challenge blitz ahead of President-elect Trump'smass deportation plan in hopes of slowing down immigrant removals.
Expanding the AUKUS model of cooperation would benefit other likeminded countries and militaries, according to Thales North America CEO Alan Pellegrini.
"I would say the biggest challenge is how to scale up capacity to meet the challenges we face," he told Axios in an interview.
The debut of Chinese military hardware on the heels of Christmas — or, more poignantly, Mao Zedong's birthday — shows Beijing can pump out futuristic-looking tech and still catch outsiders off guard.
Why it matters: It takes only a few grainy photos, a batch of aggressively zoomed-in cellphone videos and some state-media pomp to ignite Cold War fever.
State Departmentofficials told the Trump administration transition team there could be a humanitarian "catastrophe" in Gaza when a new Israeli law barring contact with the UN refugee agency for Palestinians takes effect at the end of the month, three U.S. officials told Axios.
Why it matters: The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is the primary aid agency operating in Gaza. U.S. officials say there's no serious backup plan for providing humanitarian supplies and services to Palestinians.
The Prime Minister of DenmarkMette Frederiksen said on Tuesday that Greenland is not for sale after President-elect Trump refused to commit to avoiding use of military force to take control of Greenland.
Why it matters: Trump's remark, which he also applied to the Panama Canal at a press conference on Tuesday, is an escalation of his rhetoric regarding Greenland and the Panama Canal.
President Biden is infuriating critics in the twilight of his term, unburdened by optics as he resorts to raw instincts — and seemingly a bit of trolling — to write the final pages of his polarizing presidency.
Why it matters: Biden's legacy will be defined, in many ways, by Donald Trump's reelection. But the 82-year-old president appears too proud to allow MAGA's rising tide to sweep him into premature irrelevance.
President-elect Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will join negotiations over a Gaza hostage-release and ceasefire deal on Wednesday in Doha.
Why it matters: Witkoff's trip is part of a last-minute effort by the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration to reach a deal to release hostages held by Hamas and establish a ceasefire in Gaza before Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.
A rise in cases of human metapneumovirus in China is stoking fears of a new health crisis, though authorities and experts say prospects for a sequel to the COVID-19 pandemic are remote.
The big picture: HMPV is similar to respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and thought to account for about 1 in 10 respiratory illnesses in children. Though most cases are mild, some patients can develop a lower respiratory tract infection like pneumonia, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
President-elect Trump confirmed his son Donald Trump Jr. is visiting Greenland in a Monday evening post that renewed his call for the U.S. to take ownership of the autonomous territory that's part of of Denmark.
The big picture: Greenland's government was told the president-elect's elder son was due to arrive Monday in the capital, Nuuk, per a statement from the territory's Ministry for Independence and Foreign Affairs that noted he wouldn't meet with anyone from the government because the "visit is not official."
Hill leaders are setting up the first votes of the 119th Congress this week — on a bill at the center of a heated political debate over illegal immigration.
Why it matters: The expected votes in both chambers on the Laken Riley Act make clear Republicans plan to keep hitting the border issue — putting pressure on vulnerable Democrats trying to find their post-election footing.
President Biden has signed a bill that renames the U.S. Courthouse in Los Angeles after the Latino parents who helped end legal school segregation in California and set up the 1954 landmark Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.
The big picture: Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez U.S. Courthouse comes decades after Latino activists tried to draw attention to the pre-Brown case, which set the stage for racial desegregation nationwide.
