Latest news for 1 December 2025

HONDURAS

Tense election.

Millions hit the polls Sunday amid not just mutual fraud recriminations, but also a last-minute intervention by President Trump — he warned of aid cuts if his preferred conservative didn’t win, then moved to pardon that party’s last president who’d just started 45 years in a US prison on drug trafficking charges! (CNN)

Comment: That sentence alone could inspire a seven-part Netflix series, but somehow the more remarkable angle here might be the fact the two front-runners both want to reverse the leftist incumbent’s 2023 switch to Beijing, re-establishing ties with Taiwan! That’d be a big upset for China, which (according to those frontrunners) didn’t fully deliver on its big trade and investment promises. So the most nervous person in Tegucigalpa might not be any candidate, but Yu Bo (China’s ambassador).

ISRAEL

Pardon?

Prime Minister Netanyahu has now formally asked President Herzog for a pardon in his own long-running corruption case, arguing it’s in the public interest to achieve national unity. Bibi’s request follows last month’s Trump letter in which the US president reiterated his own calls for Herzog to pardon the Israeli leader. (CNN)

VENEZUELA

No skies ahead.

President Trump cryptically warned airlines to consider Venezuela’s airspace "closed in its entirety" over the weekend. (President’s socials)

Comment: The US leader didn’t offer any further details, though it was presumably another attempt to rattle local autocrat Nicolás Maduro, who reportedly then dismissed Trump’s latest ultimatum to leave immediately or be forced out.

KAZAKHSTAN

Please stop?

Kazakhstan has protested after Ukrainian naval drones hit a Russian oil terminal in the Black Sea — it’s part of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which handles ~80% of Kazakhstan's oil exports and ~1% of global oil. Ukrainian drones also hit two sanctioned tankers headed for the very same terminal. (NBC)

Comment: Hitting the sanctioned tankers is meant to send a message to the murky owners behind Russia’s shadow fleet: skirt the rules for a quick buck, and you might lose your entire tanker instead.

INDONESIA

Deadly flooding.

Wild weather has left at least 900 dead across Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka in recent days, with rescue efforts still underway. A weakened Cyclone Ditwah has now pivoted away from Sri Lanka and is now battering southern India. (Guardian)

GUINEA-BISSAU

Coup.

Guinea-Bissau’s former president (Embaló) has arrived in neighbouring Senegal after military officers deposed him in last week’s coup. In a move condemned by South Africa, France, the UN, and the African Union, generals seized control amid duelling claims of victory in last month’s presidential elections (which excluded the main opposition party). (Al Jazeera)