Morocco will normalize relations with Israel under a deal brokered by the Donald J. Trump administration, making it the fourth Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in recent months.
 
The two countries will establish full diplomatic relations (Al Jazeera), open liaison offices, and allow direct flights between them. Morocco follows the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan in striking such a deal. Palestinian factions have criticized the normalization agreements, with a Hamas spokesperson saying they allow Israel to “increase its aggression.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “a very warm peace” (Haaretz) between Israel and Morocco. As part of the deal, the United States agreed to support Morocco’s sovereignty (NYT) over the disputed region of Western Sahara, where Algeria-backed separatists known as the Polisario Front have sought independence for decades.

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a prominent critic of the Chinese Communist Party, was charged with colluding with foreign forces (NYT) under Hong Kong’s national security law. Lai, the highest-profile person to be formally charged under the law, was arrested in August.
 
South Korea: The United States agreed to hand over twelve military sites (Yonhap) it has held since the Korean War to South Korea. Half are in the capital, Seoul. Talks on the sites began in the early 2000s and have been hampered by disagreements, including over who is responsible for environmental cleanup.
 
CFR’s Scott A. Snyder writes about new challenges and potential in the U.S.-South Korea alliance under President-Elect Joe Biden.

Officials are preparing to bring back to Tajikistan (RFE/RL) about eight hundred people who are stranded in Syrian camps. Most are wives and children of fighters of the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The first group could be repatriated within weeks.
 
Bhutan: Parliament voted to decriminalize same-sex relations (CNA), amending a law that penalized gay sex. The amendment now needs to be approved by the country’s king.

A judge charged caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers with criminal negligence (Al Jazeera) over the massive explosions at a Beirut port that killed hundreds and injured thousands in August. Diab’s office said in a statement that the judge had violated the constitution in bringing the charges.
 
This CFR In Brief looks at whether Lebanon is a failed state.

The country’s High Court ruled that the government must pay damages (Thomson Reuters Foundation) to four survivors of sexual violence, saying that officials failed to investigate their cases. Rights groups say hundreds of people were sexually assaulted during election-related violence that broke out in 2007 and 2008.
 
Ethiopia: International aid groups said at least four staffers were killed (AFP) in the conflict in the northern Tigray region. The Danish Refugee Council said three of its staffers were killed last month, and the International Rescue Committee said it lost one staffer.

After weeks of deadlocked negotiations, EU leaders reached a historic $2.2 trillion budget agreement (NYT) that includes coronavirus recovery funds, breaking through a veto by Hungary and Poland, who had blocked the package because access to the funds was tied to respecting the rule of law. The bloc also agreed to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions (Politico) by 55 percent by 2030, raising the target from 40 percent. 
 
UK: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU leaders today that there is a “higher probability” (FT) that Brexit trade talks with the United Kingdom would fail, echoing a warning from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The lower house of Congress passed a draft bill (Buenos Aires Times) backed by President Alberto Fernandez that would legalize abortion in most cases. The bill now heads to the Senate, which is expected to debate it before the end of the year.
 
Ecuador: Members of the Huaorani indigenous group in the country’s northeastern Amazon region filed a lawsuit (LAHT) against Chinese state-owned oil company PetroOriental, saying the company’s operations contributed to climate change and affected the community’s way of life. 

An advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted 17-4, with one abstention, in favor of granting emergency authorization (WaPo) to a COVID-19 vaccine created by Pfizer and BioNTech. The FDA could authorize the vaccine within hours or days, which would allow vaccinations to begin.