Israel’s military is continuing to bomb southern Lebanon and the capital Beirut, even as Israel’s security cabinet meets to discuss a ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah. On Monday, a massive explosion rocked residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, following an Israeli warning on the social media site X for people to evacuate or face death. Similar Israeli attacks killed at least 31 people across Lebanon in just 24 hours. The continuing assault came as Lebanon’s foreign minister said he hoped Israeli leaders would agree to a ceasefire proposal later today. Under the deal, the Israeli military would withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days, while Lebanon’s army would deploy to border areas from which Hezbollah has launched rocket attacks on Israel. 

In Italy, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for more pressure on extremist members of the Israeli government who are unwilling to forge a ceasefire.

Josep Borrell: “On Lebanon, there is no excuses for a ceasefire. On the proposal agreement brokered by the U.S. and France, Israel has all security concerns. There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart.”

Josep Borrell also called on EU member states to honor the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Gaza. Borrell cited widespread support for an ICC arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin over war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Josep Borrell: “You cannot applaud when the court goes against Putin and remain silent when the court goes against Netanyahu.”

Syria’s government says Israeli airstrikes on Monday injured at least two people and damaged several bridges in Homs province near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it had targeted Iranian weapons smuggling routes through Syria to Hezbollah.

In Gaza, health officials report Israeli strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians and wounded 108 others over the latest 24-hour period. One strike hit a family home in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya. Another tore through a crowd of people gathered near a bakery in Gaza City.

The latest killings came as Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told a conference of Israeli settlers that Gaza’s population of more than 2.1 million should be drastically reduced. In remarks translated by Haaretz, Smotrich said, “It is possible to create a situation where Gaza’s population in two years will be less than half its current size.” Smotrich has called for Israel to effectively annex the West Bank and Gaza Strip and has called for the establishment of large new Israeli settlements.

Here in the United States, special counsel Jack Smith has dropped all federal charges against Donald Trump for illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and for attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. In a six-page motion, Smith wrote that the Justice Department cannot prosecute a sitting president. He added, “That prohibition is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Government stands fully behind.” Smith asked to dismiss the charges “without prejudice,” leaving the door open to a future prosecution of Trump after he leaves office in January 2029. Smith asked that the classified documents case against Trump’s co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira be allowed to continue. A Washington Post investigation in 2023 found Attorney General Merrick Garland allowed more than a year to pass before prosecutors and FBI agents jointly embarked on a formal probe of Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 election.

President-elect Trump vowed on Monday to impose a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada and to add a 10% tariff to all goods from China on the first day of his second presidential term. The move could undo Trump’s own 2018 trade deal, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Economists warn such tariffs could severely hamper trade and industry and result in higher costs for consumers already struggling to make ends meet. 

In immigration news, Trump’s pick for so-called border czar, Tom Homan, threatened to cut off federal funding for “sanctuary” states that refuse to comply with the Trump administration’s plan for mass deportations. He spoke on Fox News.

Thomas Homan: “And, look, I’ve seen — I’ve seen some of these Democratic governors say they’re going to stand in the way, they’re going to make it hard for us. Well, I, you know, suggested, 'If you're not going to help us, get the hell out of the way, but we’re going to do it.’” 

A new report on Trump’s Cabinet picks estimates their combined net worth at a whopping $344.4 billion — more than the gross domestic product of 169 countries. Elon Musk, who Trump named to head up his planned “Department of Government Efficiency” is worth $332 billion.

Meanwhile, one of Trump’s top advisers, Boris Epshteyn, was found by Trump’s legal team to have solicited bribes from potential political appointees in exchange for promoting them in Trump’s orbit.

Russia’s military says it has captured the village of Kopanky in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, adding to Russian forces’ largest advances in Ukraine since the early days of the 2022 invasion. Overnight, most of Ukraine’s territory was under air raid alerts as Russia launched its largest drone attack of the war. In the city of Kharkiv, a Russian missile attack injured 23 people, causing fires and widespread damage to residential buildings. Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones reportedly hit a fuel depot in the Russian region of Kaluga more than 100 miles from Ukraine’s border. This comes as the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service reported the number of Russian soldiers who have died in Ukraine has topped 78,000 — though the journalists estimate the true toll could be double that number. A similar analysis found 65,000 Ukrainian combat deaths.

In Romania, the far-right nationalist Călin Georgescu shocked pollsters as he gathered the highest number of votes — around 23% — in the country’s presidential election, knocking Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu out of the race. He’ll stand in a runoff vote on December 8 against center-right candidate Elena Lasconi. Georgescu is a hard-right critic of NATO who has praised Russia. His popularity soared in recent weeks as he rallied hundreds of thousands of followers on the social media site TikTok. On Monday, Romanian students in Bucharest rallied against Georgescu and the rise of the far right in Romanian politics.

Alexandra: “I’m here because I believe in democracy. I believe that people should have a say in what’s happening in their country. And I believe that going back to 35 years ago is not a solution to the problems we are facing right now.”

In Pakistan, security forces have fired live bullets and tear gas as thousands of supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan breached barriers and defied a lockdown to rally in the capital Islamabad demanding Khan’s release. Pakistan’s army has been deployed in parts of the city. Four paramilitary rangers and two police officers were killed in clashes. Ahead of the planned rallies, police detained over 4,000 supporters of Imran Khan and his PTI party.

Back in the United States, ProPublica has reported on another pregnant woman in Texas who died after she was denied appropriate treatment. Health providers say it’s clear 35-year-old Porsha Ngumezi needed emergency dilation and curettage, or D&C, after she started bleeding heavily at 11 weeks pregnant, but was instead given the pill misoprostol. While many doctors in states with abortion bans have started avoiding D&C — a common and lifesaving procedure — the Houston Methodist Hospital also abides by its own religion-based ethics guidelines that restricted abortion procedures even before Roe v. Wade was overturned. It’s the fifth case ProPublica has reported in which pregnant women died after being refused the most effective emergency care following state abortion bans. Three of those cases were in Texas. Porsha Ngumezi leaves behind her husband and two young sons.

In France, prosecutors are requesting the maximum 20-year jail sentence for Dominique Pelicot, a man who for over a decade drugged his wife Gisèle Pelicot and invited dozens of men to rape her while she was unconscious. Some of the other defendants in the case, including those accused of raping Ms. Pelicot, could receive sentences from 10 to 17 years. Gisèle Pelicot, who chose to reveal her identity to give a voice to other survivors, has emerged as a symbol of courage and women’s rights in France.

A new study finds one in three women in the European Union has experienced gender-based violence in their lifetime. In Spain, thousands of protesters, some donning white masks, marched through Madrid Monday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Lucía Nistal: “We’re here to denounce the male chauvinist violence we suffer, which of course are the femicides — we’ve had more than 80 in the Spanish state throughout the year, regrettably — but also the wage gap. We suffer job precariousness and many other things that we are denouncing today — for example, the military budgets and the militarization of borders or the genocide in Palestine. We have that in mind, too, at this demonstration.”