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Warner Bros Discovery’s board could announce a decision as early as Dec 17 on Paramount Skydance’s US$108.4 billion (S$139.7 billion) takeover bid, with the board likely to advise shareholders to vote against the offer, according to sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported. 

The decision to recommit to Netflix’s buyout offer would mark the latest twist in the race for assets that include Warner Bros’ storied film and TV studio, and its extensive film and television library.

Its portfolio includes classics from Casablanca and Citizen Kane to contemporary favourites like Harry Potter and Friends, HBO and the HBO Max streaming service, according to Reuters. 

Pakistan's most powerful military chief in decades faces the toughest test of his newly amassed powers as Washington pushes Islamabad to contribute troops to the Gaza stabilisation force, a move analysts say could spark domestic backlash, Reuters reported. 

Field Marshal Asim Munir is expected to fly to Washington to meet President Donald Trump in the coming weeks for a third meeting in six months that will likely focus on the Gaza force, two sources told Reuters, one of them a key player in the general's economic diplomacy.

Trump's 20-point Gaza plan calls for a force from Muslim nations to oversee a transition period for reconstruction and economic recovery in the war-torn Palestinian territory, decimated by over two years of Israeli military bombardment, according to Reuters. 

United States President Donald Trump has ordered “a total and complete” blockade of all US-sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, Aljazeera reported. 

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Tuesday evening.

“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” Trump said, according to Aljazeera. 

Amid reports of serious impacts on critical sectors such as health and education in developing and least-developed countries following cuts in U.S. aid, senior State Department officials have said that Washington has not pulled back assistance but is instead recalibrating it.

Speaking at a conference on U.S. foreign assistance in the Indo-Pacific held in Washington, the officials said the United States continues to provide support in the Indo-Pacific region in line with U.S. national security interests and President Donald Trump’s foreign policy priorities.

Allison Hooker, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said the administration’s aid strategy in the region represents a calibration, not a pullback. “The U.S. is a Pacific power, and the future of the Indo-Pacific is directly tied to our core national interests,” she said, highlighting that Washington’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific remains unwavering.

In his second term as president, the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a move that has stressed the health and education systems of scores of countries that had long relied on American aid.

“Our foreign assistance needs to be a force multiplier as we safeguard our national security with the greatest military in the world, along with our allies and like-minded partners,” Hooker said.

Speaking at the same conference, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael DeSombre said, “We never got out of the foreign assistance business as some media narratives have claimed. During the review period of foreign aid, however, we saw an opportunity to fundamentally reimagine how foreign assistance is done, which required us to step back and examine the underlying principles that would guide our work.”

The resulting principles, he said, form a strategic framework aligned with the core tenets of the National Security Strategy and will guide U.S. efforts to ensure programs remain focused and effective. The statements by senior officials clearly indicate that the U.S. will continue to provide support in selective and narrow areas that align with its national interests.

The Trump administration issued a new National Security Strategy in November that places the Indo-Pacific region high on its list of priorities.

The document states: “The Indo-Pacific is already the source of almost half the world’s GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP), and one third based on nominal GDP. That share is certain to grow over the 21st century, which means the Indo-Pacific is already—and will continue to be—among the next century’s key economic and geopolitical battlegrounds.”

“To thrive at home, we must successfully compete there—and we are,” the document says, noting that President Trump signed major agreements during his October 2025 travels that further deepened ties in commerce, culture, technology, and defense, reaffirming U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The strategy also emphasizes improving commercial and other relations with India to encourage New Delhi’s contribution to Indo-Pacific security, including continued quadrilateral cooperation with Australia, Japan, and the United States under the “Quad.” It further states that the U.S. will work to align the actions of its allies and partners to prevent domination by any single competitor nation.

In Nepal, as in other countries, more than 80 percent of USAID assistance has been cut, though Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) investments have continued. Nearly a year after Trump returned to power, no senior U.S. officials have visited Nepal, even as there have been frequent visits to other smaller South Asian countries, notably Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. Similarly, following the Gen Z movement, the U.S. has maintained a low-key profile in Nepal.