China started extensive military exercises off the coast of Taiwan on Monday. The eastern command of the Chinese military announced that live ammunition would also be used in the large-scale exercise “Justice Mission 2025”. According to Chinese information, a blockade of Taiwan’s ports and the shelling of “maritime targets north and southwest of Taiwan” are being simulated.
According to the US military, two people were killed in an attack on an alleged drug boat in the Pacific. According to intelligence information, the ship was traveling on known drug trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was involved in drug trafficking, the US Southern Command said on Monday (local time) in the online service X. Two men were killed. It was not initially stated where exactly the attack took place.
Since September, US forces have repeatedly attacked boats belonging to alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific. At least 107 people have been killed in the new attack so far. Critics describe the attacks as extrajudicial executions and contrary to international law.
The US government has pledged two billion dollars (around 1.7 billion euros) in humanitarian aid to the UN for the coming year. The commitment was made on Monday at the US mission in Geneva in the presence of the head of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), Tom Fletcher. US aid is significantly lower than in previous years.
With its commitment, the USA wants to fundamentally change the nature of its support for the UN’s humanitarian work. Instead of making payments to individual U.N. agencies, the U.S. will pay its contributions to the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs, which Fletcher leads. The U.S. aid will then be directed to 17 selected countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan and Ukraine. The UN’s Central Emergency Relief Fund, which provides rapid assistance in the event of new emergencies or a rapid worsening of existing crises, is also supported with US money.
The United States remains the world’s largest donor of humanitarian aid, according to UN data. However, the amount fell significantly this year to 2.7 billion dollars (around 2.3 billion euros). In 2022 it was more than 14 billion dollars, in the two following years US aid amounted to 11 billion dollars each.
Donald Trump is postponing the nomination of the new head of the US Federal Reserve Bank into the new year. Trump told reporters in Florida on Monday that he planned to announce his candidate sometime in January. Trump actually promised a decision by the end of 2025. The term of current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell ends in May 2026.
