A Saudi court has sentenced five men (WaPo) to death and three others to a total of twenty-four years in jail for their involvement in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, the country’s public prosecutor announced. The court exonerated two senior aides to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the CIA found ordered Khashoggi’s assassination.
 
Observers of the trial were sworn to secrecy (NYT). The Saudi prosecutor said the court found “no premeditation to kill” (BBC) Khashoggi at the start of a mission intended to return him to Saudi Arabia from the country’s consulate in Turkey, while Turkish officials insisted the killing was planned. A UN investigation earlier this year found credible evidence that high-level Saudi officials, including bin Salman, were individually liable. UN investigator Agnes Callamard denounced today’s announcement as the “antithesis of justice.”

Afghanistan’s election commission announced long-delayed preliminary results (TOLO) of a September vote in which President Ashraf Ghani won 50.4 percent of votes and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah won approximately 39.5 percent. Abdullah denounced the results as “fraudulent.”
 
India: Amid nationwide protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended India’s new citizenship act (Mint) at a Delhi rally, saying the law did not affect current Indian citizens and daring his rivals “to find anything discriminatory” in his work.
 
In Foreign Affairs, Pratap Bhanu Mehta describes how the new law pushed Indians to revolt.

Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaid Salah, who was seen as Algeria’s de facto leader after the president resigned amid mass protest earlier this year, has died of a heart attack (AP), state media reported.
 
CFR looks back at the year’s biggest protests, including the upheaval in Algeria.

The union renamed its currency from the CFA franc to the Eco, and will not require West African countries (Reuters) to keep half their foreign currency reserves in the French treasury.
 
Sudan: The country has launched a probe (Al Jazeera) into crimes committed in the Darfur region since 2003 by former President Omar al-Bashir’s government, the state prosecutor announced.

The country will hold a presidential runoff election (AP) on January 5 between left-wing former Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic after none of Sunday’s eleven candidates won an outright majority. Croatia will take over the presidency of the European Union within days.
 
France: President Emmanuel Macron announced he would give up (FT) special presidential pension benefits amid ongoing protests over pension reform, but some rail and metro strikes are expected to continue through the holiday period.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said during a Facebook Live video that U.S. President Donald J. Trump has decided not to proceed (WSJ) with a threat to impose new tariffs on Brazilian steel and aluminum after a phone call between the two leaders.
 
Cuba: Cuba’s president has appointed (BBC) Minister of Tourism Manuel Marrero Cruz as the country’s first prime minister since 1976, when the position was scrapped by former leader Fidel Castro.

The Trump administration is reportedly preparing a task force to address insecurity in West Africa’s Sahel region, according to a Foreign Policy report. A new special envoy is slated to lead the team of diplomatic, intelligence, and military officers.
 
For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR’s John Campbell looks at the foreign troops currently fighting jihadists in the Sahel.