🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️- An RC-135W Rivet Joint is headed to the Middle East for the first time in months. Before the June strikes against Iran, this reconnaissance plane conducted intelligence-gathering operations on Iran for several days prior to the strike.

It will presumably do the same now, and after a few days the United States would have completed its intel preparations to strike Iran.

🇰🇷🇯🇵🇰🇵⚡- "Several unidentified ballistic missiles were detected launched from an area north of Pyongyang, North Korea, into the East Sea.

All of the North Korean ballistic missiles are believed to have landed outside Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone," - South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

🇪🇺🇮🇳⚡- The European Union and India announce a Free Trade Agreement, after nearly two-decades of talks. The deal was signed between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

The deal is set to boost the European car manufacturing industry, with current Indian duties as high as 110% are set to be slashed to under 10%.

🇸🇩🇶🇦⚡- Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Chairman of Sudan, has arrived in Doha, Qatar.

🇨🇳⚡- Chinese military convoys were spotted heading towards Beijing. The General Staff Department has barred all other Chinese military movements across the country.

🇨🇳⚡- Chinese media reports an increase of Te-Jing forces in Beijing, in particularly around the Forbidden City.

🇮🇷🇮🇱⚡- "The additional countries that may assist Israel in defense and attack, in addition to the United States and Britain, are Jordan and Azerbaijan, which will come to our aid in a scenario of confrontation with Iran," - Israeli Channel 12.

🇺🇸🇮🇹⚡️- “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel will help protect U.S. delegations at the Winter Olympics in Italy.” - Reuters.

🇬🇧🇨🇳⚡️- Keir Starmer is set to land in China tomorrow to negotiate a new era of diplomacy between the UK and China.

He is the first british PM since Theresa May in 2018 to conduct a state visit to China.

🇺🇸⚡️- “The chief federal judge in Minnesota says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear before him Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt.

In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear personally in court. Schiltz took the administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for immigrants it has detained.” - AP.

🇸🇾⚡- BREAKING: Damascus-SDF sign an integration deal. The deal will see the Interior Ministry's Public Internal Security forces enter al-Hasakah and Qamishli, SDF-controlled northeast Syria.

SDF units will also begin integrating into the Ministry of Defense's armed forces.

🇺🇸⚡️- Retired Army Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, the former National Security Council aide who began Trump's first impeachment, is running for Senate in Florida as a Democrat.

🇺🇸⚡️- President Trump says that Kristi Noem will not be fired from DHS.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️- Iranian reconnaissance drone is currently operating off the coast of Oman, likely gathering intelligence on the USS Lincoln and its carrier group.

Interestingly enough, a U.S. drone is active in the Strait of Hormuz at the same time.

🇺🇸⚡️- President Trump held a 2 hour meeting with Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and Karoline Leavitt to discuss Minneapolis. Stephen Miller was notably absent from this meeting.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- "I believed we would bring all the hostages back. I thought that through a combination of military and diplomatic pressure, we could bring all our captives home. What is most important in war, above all else, is to ignore the background noise, ignore the pressures from inside and outside, and achieve the goal," - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- "The absolute victory rests on three things - the return of all our abductees, the disarmament of Hamas, and the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. Yesterday we completed the first," - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- "We are focusing on disarming Hamas. It will be done either the easy way or the hard way. But in any case, it will happen," - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- "We will not allow Turkish and Qatari soldiers into Gaza. I will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza - rather, Israel will have security control from the Jordan River to the sea, and this is also true in the Gaza Strip," - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister.