On December 17, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a $35 billion deal to sell natural gas to Egypt in what officials describe as the largest energy export agreement in Israel’s history. The natural gas will be produced from Leviathan, a massive field west of Haifa. “On this day,” Netanyahu wrote in a statement that day, the third day of Hanukkah, “we’ve brought another jug of oil to the nation of Israel. But this time, the flame will burn not just for eight days, but for decades to come.”
The gas export permit for Egypt came after months of delays and behind-the-scenes disputes between Tel Aviv, Cairo, and Washington. The decision is expected to reinforce the Camp David peace framework between Egypt and Israel—an arrangement strained by the Gaza genocide—while cementing Israel’s emergence as a major natural gas supplier in the eastern Mediterranean and beyond.
The deal has been more than a decade in the making—and one unlikely individual played a small, but essential role in laying its groundwork: Jeffrey Epstein. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak consulted extensively with Epstein on financial deals around Leviathan for years, as Barak searched for international backers for Leviathan’s development.
Epstein and Leviathan: How the Financier Opened Doors to Netanyahu and Ehud Barak Amid Israel's Offshore Gas Fight
Russia again appears to throw cold water on hopes for a Ukrainian peace deal
The Kremlin vowed Monday to ramp up hostilities on Ukraine in response to what it alleged was a “terroristic attack” on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s property — just a day after President Donald Trump said he was close to producing a deal that would bring peace to the region.
Trump, after a Sunday meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago, sounded optimistic about getting closer to a peace agreement. But it was clear Monday that very little has changed as the war — both on the battlefield and in the information space — raged on.
Yuri Ushakov, a top Putin aide, said Monday that an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian president would trigger “the most serious response.” He also said Putin informed Trump of the attack by phone Monday morning.
The White House, when asked for comment, only pointed to a social media statement from press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying “President Trump has concluded a positive call with President Putin concerning Ukraine.”
5 takeaways on Trump-Netanyahu meeting at Mar-a-Lago
President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were in lockstep on Monday during a press conference following their lunch meeting at Mar-a-Lago, ramping up pressure on Hamas to disarm and threatening to renew attacks on Iran if it seeks to build up its ballistic missile program.
Trump said Israel had lived up to its commitments in the Gaza ceasefire plan “100 percent,” despite the U.S. reportedly scolding Netanyahu for killing a top Hamas military leader in Gaza earlier this month.
And the president sought to ramp up pressure on Israel’s adversaries, telling Hamas to disarm quickly or be “wiped out,” and even suggesting that Arab countries might intervene militarily if Hamas refuses to abide by the contours of a peace deal signed in September.
Trump said it was unclear if Iran was seeking to “build up again,” apparently referring to reports of ballistic missile testing, but he warned the U.S. could deploy its B-2 bombers if necessary, as it did to launch strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June.
Trump also discussed the latest developments in his push for peace in Ukraine, ongoing efforts to bring stability to Syria and China’s military drills around Taiwan.
Here are five key takeaways from the meeting:
Donald Trump in his own words – the year in racism and misogyny
Donald Trump’s actions and incendiary remarks in the first year of his second presidential term have left many women, people of color and their allies in a tailspin.
Shortly after re-entering office, he released executive orders that attacked diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, and transgender rights. His January orders that called for an end to DEI and affirmative action led to thousands of cuts in the private and public sectors – and shake-ups within the journalism industry. One directive that banned access to gender-affirming care for youth under the age of 19 sent families into a flurry as they scrambled to ensure that their trans kids continued to receive treatment.
Another executive order directed his vice-president, JD Vance, to prohibit federal spending on Smithsonian programs or exhibits that focused on race. He also worked to suppress Indigenous history by again changing the name of the mountain Denali in the Athabascan language to Mount McKinley. And his mass deportation operations have torn families apart.
Along with his federal policies, Trump also shared racist, xenophobic and sexist comments during speeches, press meetings and on his social media platform, Truth Social, throughout the year.
Here’s Trump – in his own words – as year two of his second term looms.:
Case dropped against TikTok streamer who was shot by US immigration agents
A federal judge has dismissed an indictment against a Los Angeles TikTok streamer who was shot by an officer during an immigration enforcement operation and accused of assault against a federal agent, citing constitutional violations.
Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a TikTok creator who streams local breaking news, was accused in October of ramming his car into immigration agents’ vehicles after they surrounded him during an operation. Body-worn camera footage obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows that an agent fired his gun during the incident, shooting Parias in the elbow. A ricochet bullet also hit a deputy US marshal in the hand.
He was indicted by a grand jury and scheduled to go on trial on Tuesday.
But on Saturday, US district judge Fernando Olguin ordered the indictment dismissed, saying that the government deprived Parias of his rights when it decided to detain him at the Adelanto ICE processing center – an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center about 90 miles (145km) east of Los Angeles – immediately after he was ordered released from jail on bond. Olguin also said that once at Adelanto, Parias’ defense team were unable to schedule any legal visits.
Trump says US hit facility in Venezuela ‘very hard’
Asked about Venezuela during a Friday appearance on the “Cats & Cosby” show on New York’s WABC radio, Trump lauded the U.S. military’s attacks against purported drug-smuggling vessels in the region and added that U.S. forces hit a facility two days earlier.More...
“We just knocked out — I don’t know if you read or you saw — they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” the president told hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”
It is unclear where the facility is located, how the attack was carried out, what damage was done or whether there were any casualties.
On Monday, Trump shed some more light on the attack, saying the U.S. personnel hit an “implementation” area.
A growing American crisis is affecting more than 1 million students
After T’Roya Jackson discovered the paint in her apartment gave her daughter lead poisoning, she and her children moved out.
They couch-surfed for a while before moving into a homeless shelter over the summer. The hair stylist began looking for a rental that will accept her hard-won housing voucher – all while caring for her five children, including a newborn.
“It’s been extremely difficult,” she told USA TODAY, recounting how she’s tried to keep her oldest children – ages 14, 9 and 8 – in school, paying for taxis to take them to class and ensuring they have some quiet study time, a challenge in their cramped one-bedroom unit.
Jackson and her family are not alone: Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of homeless students are in hotels, doubled up in apartments or living in shelters. Most of them are with at least one parent or guardian, though many are unaccompanied.
The number of students grappling with unstable housing has jumped in recent years, a continuation of a decadeslong trend, and a troubling sign that a deepening housing crisis is hurting the country’s youngest and most vulnerable people.
Zohran Mamdani to be sworn in at old subway station below City Hall
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in, not inside City Hall on New Year's Day, but dozens of feet below it.
The incoming Democratic mayor will be sworn in at the Old City Hall subway station during a private midnight ceremony, according to a Dec. 29 news release. New York Attorney General Letitia James will administer the oath of office, and the underground ceremony will be attended by Mamdani's family.
In a statement, Mamdani said the station is a "physical monument" to the city and called its subway system a lifeblood of New York.
“When I take my oath from the station at the dawn of the New Year, I will do so humbled by the opportunity to lead millions of New Yorkers into a new era of opportunity, and honored to carry forward our city’s legacy of greatness," Mamdani said in the news release.
Airstrikes, shootings, hypothermia: The harsh reality of life in Gaza under US-backed ceasefire
Babies are still being buried in Gaza.
A five-month-old infant was wrapped in a small shroud of white cloth after an Israeli strike on a school shelter in a so-called safe zone beyond IDF control.
A 29-day-old baby was declared dead on the cold stainless steel of a table in a morgue after suffering hypothermia in his family's tent.
Children as young as 8 years old are called "suspects" by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and killed for venturing close to the shifting yellow line demarcating their control.
These are the scenes of devastation and despair during what is called a ceasefire in Gaza.
International journalists have been barred from independently reporting from the strip for more than two years. The drone footage of vast areas of ashen rubble is still shocking through a screen.
"It is one of the most devastated places on earth to date," says Alessandro Mrakic, the head of the United Nations Development Programme's Gaza office.
"85% of the buildings have been, either partially or totally damaged, with almost 2 million people being currently displaced."
Israel does not permit the entry of reconstruction material and heavy machinery required to rebuild homes in the current phase of the US-led peace plan.
Page 1 of 1165
