The longest government shutdown in history is now over, but not for long. It’s just another in a long series of band-aid fixes to keep the government going for a few more months without a real budget. Most of the compromises agreed upon will only last through the end of January, and then the failure to enact a budget due to the two-party stalemate will clutter the congressional agenda all over again. The most interesting observation behind the actions and motives of the eight Democrats that finally agreed to this compromise over the objections of the Senate “supreme minority leader” Chuck Schumer was by Utah Representative Blake Moore. You’ll enjoy reading his comments in this week’s brief. To receive a free, one-time sample of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a sample on the left.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced Tuesday that an investigation at the scene points to two Ukrainian citizens who have "long worked for Russian intelligence" as the prime suspects in the case. A train track linking the Polish cities of Warsaw and Lublin had been destroyed in an "unprecedented act of sabotage". Tusk described the damaged railway is as crucially important for delivering aid to Ukraine.
After the Yinhe incident and later exclusion from Europe’s Galileo programme, Beijing built the BeiDou navigation system, now a 64-satellite network used over a trillion times daily. This move from dependence to autonomy now defines its national strategy. Recent five-year plans highlight deep-sea, polar and aerospace projects as “forward-looking and strategic,” and aim to make China a “major space power,” including an “ice Silk Road” to strengthen its polar role.
Things were a bit rough during a Q&A with the White House press pool as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) was at the White House Tuesday. One ABC reporter asked MbS point blank what he's for many years tried to avoid being asked - about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Trump was none too happy about the question, and said it sought to 'embarrass' a guest of the White House.
President Trump said Monday that he will approve the sale of F-35s to Saudi Arabia, making the kingdom the first country in the Middle East other than Israel to obtain the advanced fighter jets.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows that little has changed. According to the Telegraph, the agency declared that releasing the data would lead to the “distress or anger” of bereaved relatives if a link were to be discovered. It also suggested that the data might stress or undermine the mental health of the families and friends of people who died.
However, Kast is favored in the run-off election given that the vote on the right was divided among several candidates, while Jara was the only one on the far Left. But now the lone contender representing the Right, Kast is expected to sweep up these additional votes in December.
China and Japan are experiencing their most intense diplomatic tensions in years after Beijing issued economic warnings in response to recent comments by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about a potential Taiwan conflict. As we featured previously, Takaichi had suggested that any Chinese use of force against Taiwan could be considered a "situation threatening Japan’s survival" - which could justify Tokyo supporting allied nations in defense of the self-ruled island.
Less than 24 hours Days after President Donald Trump called Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene a traitor and mocked Thomas Massie's dead wife - because they were among four Republicans pushing for a House floor vote to force the DOJ to release the Epstein files, Trump - likely sensing he dun goofed, big time, reversed course Sunday night and now supports their release.
One year ago, Goldman's precious metal analyst Lina Thomas made the case that gold would rise to $3000 by the end of 2025 (it ended up rising more than $1000 higher) as a result of relentless central bank purchases in general, and thanks to China's ravenous appetite for gold in particular. The bank promptly got pushback on this thesis, with skeptics countering that it is unlikely that gold will manage to keep its ascent at the same time as the dollar rises to new record highs, one of the largest consensus Trump trades.
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For example, Zohran Mamdani's campaign promises are drying up on the vine like grapes in the desert sun. His supporters are now realizing that his 4-year rent freeze policy faces serious obstacles, with the new mayor relying on full support from the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) appointed by Mayor Adams (which he is unlikely to get until a new board is appointed). The reality is, a rent freeze would result in an immediate selloff of rental properties and landlord flight from NYC, meaning, there will be an even worse housing shortage.
The U.S. House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol cost almost twice as much as previously reported, including spending taxpayer funds for TV news producers and documentary filmmakers to create videos dramatizing its case against President Donald Trump, an investigation by The Center Square found.
After a long period of relative quiet, the Strait of Hormuz is flaring up again as on Friday Iranian forces are reported to have seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker.
This is a first in a long time, but the Iranians are saying it is a somewhat 'routine' instance of intercepting a ship for "smuggling fuel", according to state IRNA. The Iranians are now claiming to be acting within the laws of the Islamic Republic.
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, one of the country’s most significant oil export hubs, triggered renewed fears of supply disruptions.
All but two Indian refiners have skipped placing orders for Russian crude for December after the U.S. sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, sources with knowledge of the purchases told Bloomberg earlier this week.
In China, major state-owned refiners have reportedly suspended purchases of Russian crude oil, but the independent refiners in the Shandong province, the so-called teapots, are unlikely to halt imports of the cheap crude that has become a staple for their refineries.
The Trump administration is dipping its toe—barely—into refilling the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), announcing plans to purchase one million barrels of crude for delivery in December and January. The move, while symbolically significant, amounts to little more than a rounding error in a reserve that once held 700 million barrels.
In June, Syria’s government annulled a 2019 agreement between Bashar al-Assad’s administration and the Russian company Stroytransgaz to manage Tartus.
Damascus said the deal was terminated due to the Russian company breaching its contract, including by failing to invest a promised $500m in modernising that port’s infrastructure.
Earlier this week, the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group entered U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility. Southern Command is the primary combatant unit for operations in the Caribbean and South America.
The Ford joins a flotilla of destroyers, war planes and special operations assets that are already in the region.
Federal government agencies terminated and descoped 67 wasteful contracts over the past five days, which had a ceiling value of $1.4 billion, while saving $648 million in taxpayer funds, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced in an X post on Nov. 8.
The lead up to a Turning Point USA event on Monday night at UC Berkeley was filled with violence and mayhem, as aggressive protesters banged against barriers, set off a smoke grenade, and screamed at attendees waiting in line as law enforcement worked to keep things from spiraling into uncontrolled chaos.
Aluminum prices in the U.S. climbed to new record highs on Monday as domestic inventories tightened sharply, driven by the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs designed to bolster and revitalize America’s industrial base.
