Zelensky Open To Elections, Brazil Parliament Chaos, Gaza Christmas Tree

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Brazilian daily Folha de S.Paulo features on its front page the chaos that broke out in Brazil’s parliament on Tuesday ahead of a successful vote on a sentence-reduction bill for former president Jair Bolsonaro. The 70-year-old far-right leader began a 27-year jail term in November for attempting to plot a coup following his 2022 election defeat. If the bill is ratified by the Senate, Bolsonaro could see his sentence cut to just over two years. During the heated debate on the proposal, left-wing lawmaker Glauber Braga was forcibly removed by police officers after trying to disrupt proceedings. Braga said afterwards he was exercising his right “not to accept as a done deal an amnesty for a group of coup plotters.”

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Zelensky responds to Trump criticism, says he’s “ready for elections” under conditions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine could be ready for elections within months if allies ensure security, pushing back after Donald Trump accused him of using the war with Russia as a pretext to cling to power. Meanwhile, EU leaders say they are close to a deal to fund Ukraine for the next two years, using frozen Russian assets. They are expected to zero in on the details at a summit in Brussels on Dec. 18. Read more about the Ukraine-EU economic dynamics in this recent article by Veronica Rossa for Die Zeit, translated and adapted from German by Worldcrunch.

• Storm Byron hits Gaza. The powerful weather system is dumping days’ worth of rain across Gaza, with gale-force winds that some fear could tear through makeshift shelters and turn war-torn streets into fast-moving flood channels. The storm, which has already inundated several displacement camps and made key roads near Gaza CIty impracticable, is expected to last until Friday evening.

• Venezuela’s Machado to skip Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Opposition leader María Corina Machado will not attend today’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo due to security risks, although organizers added that she would be coming to Norway at an unspecified date. Her daughter will accept the award instead. Subjected to a government-imposed travel ban for nearly a decade, Machado has been living in hiding for more than a year. Read more about the current state of Venezuela in this analysis by Andres Izarra for Confidencial, translated and adapted by Worldcrunch: Portable Country, Corrupt State: The Venezuelan Dilemma.

• Thai-Cambodia border fighting enters third day, Trump responds. The neighboring countries are trading blame for renewed clashes that have triggered air-raids, cross-border shelling and killed at least 13 in just 72 hours. An estimated 500,000 civilians across the contested border provinces on both sides have been forced to flee. Meanwhile, the U.S., which helped broker the ceasefire in October, condemned the escalation — with President Donald Trump saying he would “make a phone call” to stop the fighting.

• At least 19 die in Morocco building collapse. Two four-floor buildings collapsed in Fes, a historic city in northeastern Morocco, killing at least 19 people, including children. This comes after deteriorating living conditions in the country sparked demonstrations in September over poverty and failing public services. In February 2024, a house collapsed in Fes’s old city, killing five people.

• Australia officially starts enforcing youth social-media ban. As of Wednesday, major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, or YouTube are required to block users under 16, in a landmark law hailed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a win for parents’ and children’s “peace of mind” in an increasingly volatile online environment. 

• News Quiz! UNESCO just added a major Indian cultural tradition to its Heritage list. What was honored?

A. Holi color-throwing celebrations
B. Traditional Indian curry
C. Diwali “festival of lights”
D. Bollywood dance routines
[Answer below]

📣 VERBATIM

“It’s broken a very stubborn glass ceiling.”

— British-Nigerian artist Nnena Kalu has won this year’s Turner Prize for her “bold and compelling” sculptures and drawings, making history as the first artist with a learning disability to claim one of the world’s top art awards. The Glaswegian born artist, who’s 59 and has limited verbal communication, is known for her brightly colored sculptures made from recycled materials, including parcel tape, cling film, fabric and rope. “This is a major, major moment for a lot of people. It’s seismic,” said Charlotte Hollinshead, Kalu’s studio manager and artistic facilitator, on stage at the ceremony on Tuesday.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🇵🇸 The Israeli army chief of staff has described the separation between the two areas of Gaza as a “new border,” raising fears that the situation will become permanent when it was only supposed to be temporary pending the second phase of the “Trump plan.” But that plan may be destined to go nowhere.
— FRANCE INTER

💧 As Iran faces one of its worst droughts in decades, President Masoud Pezeshkian has revived a long-debated plan to move the capital city Tehran. But the country needs to address first the root causes of its water bankruptcy.
— THE CONVERSATION

🤝 Former German government ministers and lobbyists have been meeting Putin associates in the Gulf, preparing reciprocal visits that could undermine Berlin’s official Russia policy.
— DIE ZEIT