Our daily journey around the world

💥 Israel-Hamas war update: On the US side, President Biden announced a deal with Egypt and Israel to send $100 million worth of humanitarian aid into Gaza, while a US warship shot down several drones and missiles that may have been launched towards Israel by a pro-Iranian militant group in Yemen. In the Gaza Strip, roughly half of the region’s 2+ million residents have been displaced over the past two weeks, while the official Palestinian death toll stands at more than 3,785. Israel’s death toll has remained at ~1,400 since health officials earlier this week updated numbers from Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7.

🇪🇺 The EU is tightening security over “golden passports.” A new EU report found five Caribbean countries have converted golden passports into actual gold, selling them at $100,000 per head to 88,000 individuals from areas including China, Russia, and Iran since the late 2000s, with such sales accounting for up to half of some Caribbean nations’ annual budgets. In response, the EU is seeking to suspend visa exemptions for countries selling citizenship to buyers without a “genuine link” to said nation, voicing concerns over organized crime, money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption.

🇳🇮🇻🇦 Nicaragua released 12 Catholic priests accused of supporting a coup. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s government has aggressively pursued Catholic residents – who make up nearly half of the country’s 6.3 million people – since mass anti-government protests in 2018, which Ortega maintains was a coup attempt backed by the Catholic Church. Pope Francis and Nicaraguan clergy have denounced Ortega’s campaign as totalitarian and unfair persecution of their religion, while the US added Nicaragua to its list of countries violating religious freedom in 2022.