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Our top stories.

Olaf Schultz, Germany's Chancellor, lost a confidence vote.

It came about after Mr. Schultz ended his dysfunctional three-party coalition last month,

leaving his Social Democrats leading a minority government.

The outcome is not a surprise. Mr. Schultz had asked the Bundestag to kick him out of the job.

Germany now faces a snap election in February.

Justin Trudeau, Canada's Prime Minister,

will reportedly replace Christia Freeland, the finance minister who abruptly resigned on Monday. With Dominique LeBlanc, the public safety minister, Ms. Freeland said she had rejected the

Prime Minister's attempt to move her into another

cabinet role, adding that they were at odds over the path forward for Canada. Mr. Trudeau

faces probable defeat in next year's general election. A social media account connected to the

Syrian presidency posted a statement reportedly authored by Bashar al-Assad.

In the unverified message, the ousted dictator claimed he had not planned to leave Syria

and said the country had fallen into the hands of terrorism.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, vowed to expand Israeli

settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. Masayoshi's son, SoftBanks founder, said in a joint

...