First Thing: Putin warns US over using long-range missiles by signing new nuclear doctrine

Kremlin ups rhetoric over decision to allow Kyiv to use US long-range missiles inside Russia. Plus, dozens of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists jailed

Good morning.

Vladimir Putin has signed a decree lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons, as the Kremlin intensified its rhetoric over Joe Biden’s decision to permit Kyiv to use US-made long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia.

The revised nuclear doctrine declares that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country.

The Kremlin said its purpose was to outline the certainity of retaliation for an attack on Russia or its allies. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “The use of western non-nuclear missiles by Kyiv against Russia, under the new doctrine, could provoke a nuclear response.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine today marks 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion – with weary troops fighting on multiple fronts, Kyiv besieged by frequent drone and missile strikes, and officials preparing for Donald Trump’s return.

• What does the new nuclear doctrine say? It outlines the conditions under which Russia’s leadership might consider launching a nuclear strike.It states that an attack using conventional missiles, drones, or other aircraft could be seen as justification for a nuclear response.

• What is the humanitarian cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? The UN said in August, that at least 11,743 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, and president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, in February, that 31,000 Ukrainian service members had been killed.

Trump says he will utilize US military to conduct mass deportations

Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration would declare a national emergency and use the US military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

In an early morning social media post, Trump responded “TRUE!!!” to a post by Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative group Judicial Watch, who wrote on 8 November that the next administration “will use military assets to reverse the Biden invasion through a mass deportation program”.

Since his decisive victory, Trump has said he intends to deliver mass deportations, beginning on the first day. However, many aspects of what he has described as the “largest deportation program in American history” remain unclear.

• The plans: Federalize state national guard personnel and deploy them for immigration enforcement, including sending troops from friendly Republican-governed states into neighboring states with governors who decline to participate.

• The cost: According to an estimate by the American Immigration Council, deporting 1 million people a year would cost more than $960bn over a decade.

• The criticisms: The American Civil Liberties Union has attacked Trump’s immigration plans as “inhumane”.

Dozens of pro-democracy activists jailed in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial

Dozens of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy figures have been jailed – one for 10 years – in the territory’s largest national security trial, following a prosecution that has been widely criticized as politically motivated.

The jailed are among 47 people, known as the “Hong Kong 47”, who were charged in 2021 under the punitive national security law with conspiracy to commit subversion over their involvement in pre-election primaries held in 2020 ahead of the Hong Kong general election.

• What does the trial mean? Observers say the current trial of the group symbolizes the death of the city’s civil society and is an extension of Xi Jinping’s crackdown on their mainland Chinese counterparts.

• Who was sentenced? Benny Tai, a legal academic and activist who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for his role as an organizer. Joshua Wong, one of the most public faces of the 2019 protest movement, was sentenced to four years and eight months after being given a one-third reduction for pleading guilty.

In other news …

• Tens of thousands marched on New Zealand’s parliament in protest against the Māori treaty bill, which would radically change the interpretation of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

• The mayor of Barcelona, Spain, defended a ban on tourist flats, saying that “drastic” action is needed to cut housing costs.

• Joe Biden condemned a march of neo-Nazis in Columbus, Ohio, saying it was “hostile to everything the United States stands for.”

• Germany’s defense minister said Baltic Sea cables were “sabotaged” after two fiber-optic comms cables were damaged.

Stat of the day: ‘Unprecedented’ 171 Palestinian children killed in West Bank and East Jerusalem since 7 October 2023

In the year after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Israeli troops and settlers killed 171 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, equivalent to one death almost every other day, according to UN data. More than 1,000 others have been injured. The youngest victim was a four-year-old girl, shot dead when she and her mother were sitting in a taxi near a checkpoint in January.

Don’t miss this: What the Gladiator films tell us about 21st-century-men

Paul Mescal’s thoughtful Lucius is worlds away from Russell Crowe’s stony Maximus 24 years ago. What does it mean, and why, Zoe Williams asks, have our masculine ideals changed so much?

Climate check: Pollution in Delhi hits record high

Pollution levels in India’s capital, Delhi, have soared to their highest levels this year, forcing schools and offices to close and cloaking the city in thick brown smog. In some parts of the city, a live air quality ranking by IQAir puts pollution levels at more than 30 times the maximum level deemed healthy.

Last Thing: ‘Osci, the cat who rescued me when I needed him most’

“A month after I adopted Osci, my best friend died. It was sudden and unexplained,” writes Bethan L Evans. “Back home, Osci was waiting. I scooped him up and sobbed into his ruff. He didn’t leave my side in the coming weeks.”

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