Russia delivers ‘ominous warning’ following Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied missiles; Kim Jong Un renews calls for limitless expansion of military nuclear program, and four West Pointers among Rhodes Scholars selection.
1. President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles was met with ominous warnings from Moscow, a hint of menace from Kyiv and nods of approval from some Western allies. Biden’s shift in policy added an uncertain and potentially crucial new factor to the war on the eve of its 1,000-day milestone. News of Biden’s change came on the day a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy, a city in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people, including two children, and injuring 84 others.
2. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un renewed his call for a “limitless” expansion of his military nuclear program to counter U.S.-led threats in comments reported Monday that were his first direct criticism toward Washington since Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election. At a conference with army officials on Friday, Kim condemned the United States for updating its nuclear deterrence strategies with South Korea and solidifying three-way military cooperation involving Japan, which he portrayed as an “Asian NATO” that was escalating tensions and instability in the region.
3. China’s leader Xi Jinping met for the last time with U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday but was already looking ahead to President-elect Donald Trump and his “America first” policies, saying Beijing “is ready to work with a new U.S. administration." During their talks on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru, Xi cautioned that a stable China-U.S. relationship was critical not only to the two nations but to the “future and destiny of humanity.”
4. The U.S., Australia and Japan agreed to broaden a series of drills and trainings Sunday, the next step in preparing their militaries to work together in crisis. To announce the changes, the three countries’ top defense official gathered at a base in Darwin, which sits on Australia’s northern coast and, in a sign of how much their relationship has grown, was once bombed heavily by Japan during the second world war.
5. A group of 32 students from the United States have been selected to attend the University of Oxford as part of the prestigious Rhodes scholar program in the coming year among an international class representing more than 70 nations, scholarship officials announced. Nearly 3,000 U.S. students began the application process for the scholarship covering all expenses at the storied university in Oxford, England, to pursue graduate degrees beginning in October 2025. Four of the recipients are from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, the most selected from the service academy in one year since 1959.
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