Monday Morning Briefing: Inside Iran’s plot to attack Saudi Arabia

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Special Report: Four months before a swarm of drones and missiles crippled the world’s biggest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia, Iranian security officials gathered in Tehran. The main topic that day: how to punish the U.S. for pulling out of the nuclear treaty and re-imposing economic sanctions on Iran - moves that have hit the Islamic Republic hard.

As Vietnamese Communist forces closed in on Saigon in April 1975, a desperate Nguyen thi Dep gave up her three-year-old child to Operation Babylift, the U.S. government’s mass evacuation of 3,000 Vietnamese babies and children to western countries for adoption. After spending four decades apart, they were reunited this month in Ho Chi Minh City.

After months of sometimes-violent unrest in Hong Kong, an election with record turnout handed a big victory to pro-democracy local district council candidates, posing a new conundrum for Beijing and adding pressure on the city’s leader.

Australia’s domestic spy agency is investigating whether China tried to install an agent in federal parliament in what Prime Minister Scott Morrison called “deeply disturbing” allegations.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said that Britain was in a dangerous mess and that neither his own Labour Party nor Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives deserved to win a Dec. 12 election. Blair said that a UK-U.S. trade deal would be very difficult to agree, saying protectionist sentiment worldwide was making trade agreements harder to negotiate.

U.S.

First-term U.S. congresswoman Cynthia Axne, back home in her rural Iowa district for the Thanksgiving break, faced a room full of farmers on Saturday who made clear their opposition to the impeachment investigation of Republican President Donald Trump.

A Chinese national faces sentencing in a federal court after she was convicted of bluffing her way into U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, sparking fears she could pose an intelligence threat.

When American vegetarians, pescetarians and flexitarians sit down at the Thanksgiving table this week, there’s one thing many agree they would be thankful for: a tasty, plant-based alternative to turkey. Wildly popular for their taste and texture, Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger and other plant-based alternatives have revolutionized the fake meat market, and now account for about 5 percent of U.S. meat purchases.

Business

LVMH aims to restore Tiffany's sparkle with $16.2 billion takeover

Louis Vuitton owner LVMH has agreed to buy Tiffany for $16.2 billion in its biggest acquisition yet as the French luxury goods maker bets it can restore the iconic U.S. jeweler’s luster. Acquiring Tiffany will lift LVMH’s operating profits by 500 million to 600 million euros ($661 million) in the first 12 months, the luxury goods group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Bernard Arnault said.

5 min read

'Unfit' Uber stripped of London license after safety failures

Uber was stripped of its London operating license for the second time in just over two years after the city’s regulator said a “pattern of failures” on safety and security meant the taxi app was not fit and proper. Uber will appeal the decision by London’s transport regulator, saying it has taken steps to change its business model and sets the standard on safety.

4 min read

Musk suggests Tesla has 200,000 orders for Cybertruck

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk indicated in a tweet on Sunday that the electric carmaker received 200,000 orders for its electric pickup truck within three days of its launch.

2 min read

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