Al Jazeera / Syria opposition fighters push towards Hama as gov’t forces launch assault

• Syrian opposition fighters say they are pushing towards the northern city of Hama after taking control of nearby Aleppo in a lightning offensive that started last week.  

• The attempted southern advance on Sunday comes on the fifth day of the surprise rebel offensive as Syrian and Russian forces have launched counterattacks, reportedly pounding opposition-controlled Idlib province and Aleppo with air attacks since Saturday.

• On Friday, opposition fighters led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) entered Aleppo, prompting government forces to withdraw from the strategically significant city of more than 2 million people. 

• In his first public comments since the start of the offensive, released late on Saturday, al-Assad said his forces would continue to defend the government’s “stability and territorial integrity against terrorists and their supporters”.

    
Bloomberg - Akayla Gardner / Biden Pardons Son Hunter in Reversal With Weeks Left in Term

• President Joe Biden signed a sweeping pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, reversing his previous stance that he would not use his executive powers to aid his oldest-living child.     

• Biden justified the pardon by saying that the case against his son was politically tinged, excessive and designed to “break” him and Hunter. Biden issued the statement as he was set to leave for Africa. 

• Trump has pardoned people close to him and has vowed to pardon those convicted of involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol in his second term. Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, his daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law, in his first term and nominated Kushner recently as US ambassador to France. 

• “I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” Hunter Biden said in a statement. “I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”.

Financial Times / Chinese exporters front-load shipments in bid to dodge Trump tariffs

• Exporters from China, Canada and Mexico are seeking to front-load shipments to the US after president-elect Donald Trump pledged to impose new levies on goods from the three countries on his first day in office. 

• At a giant supply chain expo in Beijing last week, logistics company representatives said the number of customers asking about bringing forward shipments had increased following Trump’s threat to impose an extra 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods.

• Signs of front-loading were already emerging just days after Trump won the US presidential election last month. During the campaign, Trump threatened tariffs of 60 per cent on goods from China — which he blames for the US trade deficit — and up to 20 per cent from all other countries.

• China’s exports rose 12.7 per cent year-on-year in October, the quickest pace in more than two years, but some economists questioned how much front-loading there was that month in shipments to the US, which saw its trade deficit shrink on lower imports.

               
Politico - Victor Goury-Laffont / Barnier’s government hangs by a thread in France as Le Pen’s ultimatum looms

• It’s deadline day for French Prime Minister Michel Barnier.Hanging over him is an ultimatum delivered by far-right leader Marine Le Pen: If he doesn’t cave to her budget demands, she could topple his government within 48 hours. 

• Monday will be a day of drama. Lawmakers are set to gather in the National Assembly to vote on next year’s social security budget. Barnier, who has only been prime minister since September after President Emmanuel Macron called a gratuitous election, desperately needs the budget to pass to avoid a crisis that will be as much political as financial.

• The aim of the budget is to regain control over France’s spiraling deficit, which is projected to hit 6.1 percent of the size of the economy this year. Barnier had initially planned €40 billion in spending cuts and €20 billion in tax hikes, but has already been forced to make some concessions on those numbers.

• Aware of their kingmaker role, Le Pen and her National Rally party have put forward an ever-growing list of pre-Christmas demands they expect Barnier to meet in exchange for their cooperation. The party has listed a series of “red lines” — policies it says will automatically lead to a vote of no confidence if they are included in the budget.

   

Our opinion reads for today:

Foreign Affairs - Mohammad Javad Zarif / How Iran Sees the Path to Peace
Project Syndicate - Daron Acemoglu / The World Needs a Pro-Human AI Agenda