Good morning.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said she fears talks between the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will pile pressure on Ukraine to make concessions.
Witkoff, the property developer turned envoy recently exposed for coaching Russian officials on how to win Trump’s favour, is arriving in Moscow after leading a US delegation in talks with Ukraine at the weekend.
European leaders have been alarmed by a US plan, heavily tilted in Russia’s favor, which originally included granting Moscow territories in eastern Ukraine it did not yet control, while forcing Kyiv to cap the size of its army and abandon its ambition to join Nato.
What did Kallas say? “I am afraid that all the pressure will be put on the victim,” she said. “In order to have peace, we shouldn’t lose focus that it’s actually Russia who has started this war [and is] targeting civilians”.
What’s happening today? Witkoff is meeting Putin in Moscow. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, continues his diplomatic push to rally support from European allies, visiting Ireland today after France on Monday.
This is a developing story. Follow our live blog here.
Trump reportedly gave Maduro ultimatum to relinquish power in Venezuela
Donald Trump reportedly gave Nicolás Maduro an ultimatum to relinquish power immediately during their recent call – but Venezuela’s authoritarian president declined, demanding a “global amnesty” for himself and allies.
Sources told the Miami Herald that the US president on 21 November sent a “blunt message” to Maduro, who is the focus of a pressure campaign. Trump has ordered a massive naval deployment off Venezuela’s northern coast.
What did Maduro say? He reportedly refused to step down immediately and allegedly made a series of counter-demands, including worldwide immunity from prosecution and being allowed to cede political control but keep control of the armed forces.
What is the context? The US has undertaken three months of deadly airstrikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats that have killed at least 83 people – attacks the UN and other humanitarian organisations have described as extrajudicial executions. The US accusees Maduro of involvement in drug trafficking.
Is Venezuela a major drug-trafficking route to the US? No. A 2020 report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration estimated 74% of the cocaine reaching the US had arrived via the Pacific, and only 8% on fast boats from the Caribbean islands.
Sri Lankans relive the devastation of Cyclone Ditwah after many lost everything
The scale of the damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah is still unclear, but in a speech on Sunday night, Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, described it as the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history”.
Villages across the island were decimated and many homes, schools and businesses still remained under water on Monday, including across the capital, Colombo. Helicopters were dispatched to the worst-affected areas to try to drop food and other essential supplies to those stranded.
“My family is in shock. We have to rebuild from scratch,” one survivor said.
How badly hit was Sri Lanka? According to the country’s Disaster Management Centre, more than 1.1 million people had been affected by the cyclone. As the country’s emergency and rescue services were overwhelmed, the military was deployed to help rescue efforts. The devastating flooding has killed more than 1,100 people across four countries in Asia.
In other news …
Luigi Mangione was kept under tight supervision in a Pennsylvania state prison last year because officials “did not want an Epstein-style situation”, a corrections officer said during Manhattan state court testimony on Monday.
Police in Spain have arrested three people on suspicion of belonging to the Base, a global neo-Nazi terrorist group promoting race war.
Senior military figures tried to cover up concerns over extrajudicial killings by the British army’s SAS units in Afghanistan, according to a whistleblower.
Stat of the day: Further blow to affordability as US household gas prices expected to rise by 4% this year
American households will pay 4% more for gas power this year on average, compared with 2024, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Electricity bills have increased by 11% since Donald Trump retook the White House.
Don’t miss this: The forgotten workers who built the Empire State Building
They wrestled steel beams, hung off giant hooks and tossed red-hot rivets – all while “strolling on the thin edge of nothingness”. Now the 3,000 unsung heroes who raised the Empire State Building are finally being celebrated, writes Catherine Slessor.
Climate check: ‘We’re true guardians of the forest’ – quilombola community near Belém demand land rights and recognition
Close to Belém in Brazil, the country that hosted Cop30, the quilombola community of Menino Jesus say they are in a struggle for survival, battling against powerful interests who want to turn their land into a vast dump for trash. Damien Gayle went to meet the forest community that says its voices are being ignored.
Last Thing: Conch shells found in Spain could be among oldest known musical instruments
A paper for the journal Antiquity argues that 12 large shell trumpets found in Neolithic settlements and mines in Catalonia may have been used as long-distance communication devices – and as trumpet-like musical instruments. Researchers were granted permission to test the ancient conch shells. “The closest instrument today in terms of tone is the french horn,” one co-author said.
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