U.S. officials said Tuesday they had not been able to expel Chinese government hackers from telecommunications companies and internet service providers, warning concerned users to turn to encrypted messages and voice calls and giving no timeline for securing carriers.
The downbeat press briefing came more than three months after the first report of Chinese spies deeply penetrating major carriers for espionage, and after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) met with scores of companies to help them shore up defenses and hunt for hackers in their networks.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on Tuesday against 35 entities and vessels it says have shipped petroleum to Iran.
“Iran continues to funnel revenues from its petroleum trade toward the development of its nuclear program; proliferation of its ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology; and sponsorship of its regional terrorist proxies, risking further destabilizing the region,” stated Bradley Smith, acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Various countries—including Turkey, Iran and Russia—have welcomed Hamas members in recent weeks after the terror group’s leadership was asked to leave Qatar, Israel’s Kan News reported on Monday night.
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, once the deputy of now-slain terrorist mastermind Yahya Sinwar, has settled in Ankara, while others were said to be considering a move to Malaysia.
Malaysia, a country with a Muslim majority and sizable Buddhist and Christian minorities, does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday for the latter’s “strong statement” calling on Hamas to release the 101 hostages it has held in Gaza for 424 days.
“It is a forceful statement, which makes it clear that there is only one responsible for this situation, and that is Hamas,” the Israeli premier said.
Netanyahu addressed the president-elect’s remarks ahead of an Israeli government meeting in Nahariya, a northern city that has often been the target of cross-border attacks by Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon over the past 14 months.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña will travel to Jerusalem next week to attend the reopening of the South American country’s embassy in the Jewish state’s capital, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said on Tuesday.
The delegation will also include the speaker of Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies—Raúl Luís Latorre Martinez—and other senior officials.
Peña is scheduled to address the parliament on the morning of Dec. 11, followed by a Knesset ceremony with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.
The reopening of Paraguayan’s diplomatic mission will take place the next day at the Har Hotzvim industrial park in northwestern Jerusalem.

After air-raid sirens sounded in Kibbutz Erez in southern Israel, the Israeli Air Force intercepted one rocket launch that crossed from the northern Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces reported on Tuesday.
While Hamas rocket fire has significantly decreased since the early days of the war as the IDF has consistently and severely degraded the terror group’s capabilities, it has not been eliminated.

A staffer for New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been “suspended without pay indefinitely, pending further investigation” following the exposure of a video in which she tore down a poster intended to raise awareness for the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in southern Israel.
Nallah Sutherland, 25, a special event coordinator for the Mayor’s Office of Special Projects and Community Events, was seen on Nov. 2 tearing down a hostage poster at the corner of York Ave and East 84th Street before smacking the phone from the anonymous individual who filmed her actions.
The watchdog group StopAntisemitism and the social media platform Jews of NY shared the video.

The earliest known Chinese inscription in Israel from about 500 years ago has been uncovered in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday.
The rare 16th century CE Chinese inscription, unearthed in a dig on Mount Zion and discovered on a porcelain bowl fragment, reads: “Forever we will guard the eternal spring,” the state-archaeological body said.
Ancient Chinese porcelain vessels were previously found in Israel, but this is the first to bear an inscription.

President-elect Donald Trump offered billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg the job of deputy defense secretary, said people familiar with the matter, a decision that could elevate a longtime political supporter with investments in defense companies that maintain lucrative Pentagon contracts.
A spokesman for Feinberg declined to say if the private equity investor has accepted the potential nomination. Trump made the offer in recent days, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the incoming administration’s personnel moves. The offer has not been previously reported.

South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has said he will lift martial law in the coming hours, after mass protests and the country’s parliament voted to block the measure.