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As Chileans vote on Sunday, even detractors of ultra-conservative former lawmaker José Antonio Kast say the candidate whose radical ideas lost him the past two elections is likely to become the country’s next leader.

Kast’s commanding lead in the polls over his rival in the presidential runoff, communist Jeannette Jara, shows how the hard-liner agitating for mass deportations of immigrants has seized the mantle of the traditional right in a country that once defined its post-dictatorship democratic revival with a vow to contain such political forces.

Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy party voted Sunday to dissolve after more than 30 years of activism, marking the end of an era of the Chinese semiautonomous city ‘s once-diverse political landscape.

Democratic Party chairperson Lo Kin-hei said the political environment was “one important point” among the factors they considered, and about 97% of members’ ballots were in support of its liquidation. He said it is the best way forward for its members.

Party veterans had earlier told The Associated Press that some members were warned of consequences if the party didn’t shut down.

US Central Command reports an ambush on Saturday, the first attack to inflict US casualties since fall of Bashar al-Assad

Two US army soldiers and one American civilian interpreter have been killed and several other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by the Islamic State group in central Syria, the Pentagon said.

The attack on US troops in Palmyra is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of the former Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, a year ago.

The US has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State.

A psychologist might diagnose what Europe’s envoys in America are experiencing as psychosocial disorientation, a state of confusion about one’s very identity or future triggered by the administration’s emphatic break with the post-1945 order that Harry Truman first shaped and that’s been nurtured by every successive U.S. president — that is until Donald J. Trump.

There are several stages of transition if one wants to cope with disorientation, starting with accepting the loss of what’s familiar. Those suffering from upheaval should focus on what’s small and manageable to anchor themselves, like organizing, say, a Christmas party, and then shift from trying to resist change and slowly learn to adapt. Recovery in highly transformative times requires a readiness to embrace uncertainty.

"As far as we know, no coordination or deconfliction with existing satellites operating in space was performed, resulting in a 200 meter close approach between one of the deployed satellites and STARLINK-6079 (56120) at 560 km altitude."

Donald Trump failed to end the renewed fighting between Thailand and Cambodia despite his claims to the contrary, as cross-border clashes between the Southeast Asian neighbors continued on Saturday.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he had "very good" conversations with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and his Cambodian counterpart, Hun Manet, and that they were "ready for PEACE."

He said the Southeast Asian leaders "have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim."

Neither Anutin nor Hun Manet confirmed this in statements made after the calls, and Thai F-16 fighters conducted airstrikes on at least two sites in Cambodia on Saturday morning, the seventh day of renewed fighting.

The decision is a significant step towards using the cash to aid Ukraine’s defence – but Moscow is threatening to retaliate

The EU has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russia’s sovereign assets in the bloc, as Moscow stepped up its threats to retaliate against Euroclear, the keeper of most of the Kremlin’s immobilised money.

The decision by the EU to use emergency powers to immobilise €210bn (£185bn) of Russia’s central bank’s assets marks a significant step towards using the cash to aid Ukraine’s defence.

European Council president António Costa confirmed on Friday that EU leaders had delivered on a commitment, made in October, to “keep Russian assets immobilised until Russia ends its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates for the damage caused”.

The European Commission has demanded Hungary address non-compliance issues with EU media laws. The bloc says Hungary fails to protect journalistic independence and that national media ownership and oversight are murky.

Ukrainian president says plan would not be fair without guarantees that Russia would not simply take over zone

The US wants Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the Donbas region, and Washington would then create a “free economic zone” in the parts Kyiv currently controls, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

Previously, the US had suggested Kyiv should hand over the parts of Donbas it still controlled to Russia, but the Ukrainian president said on Thursday that Washington had now suggested a compromise version in which Ukrainian troops would withdraw, but Russian troops would not advance into the territory.

“Who will govern this territory, which they are calling a ‘free economic zone’ or a ‘demilitarised zone’ – they don’t know,” said the Ukrainian president, speaking with journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.

The Trump administration is proposing to ask visitors from several dozen nations that enjoy visa-free travel to the U.S. to submit additional personal information before entering the country, including five years of their social media history, the Department of Homeland Security said in a notice this week.

Citizens of 42 countries enrolled in the visa waiver program can generally come to the U.S. for up to 90 days for tourism or business travel, without needing to apply for a visa at an American embassy or consulate, a process that can take months or even years.

The list of countries in the visa waiver program includes many European nations like the United Kingdom, Germany and France, as well as some U.S. allies around the world, including Australia, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

The show of force highlights growing regional tensions as China asserts its military presence.

US nuclear-capable bombers joined Japanese fighter planes for a flight over the Sea of Japan, Tokyo said Thursday.

This comes a day after Chinese and Russian forces completed coordinated drills encircling Japan and South Korea.

"We confirmed the strong resolve of Japan and the United States not to allow any unilateral change of the status quo by force, as well as the readiness of the Self-Defense Forces and the US military," Japan's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Two US B-52 bombers joined three Japanese F-35 stealth fighters and three F-15 jets in the operation on Wednesday.