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• Strong winds calmed somewhat Friday, allowing Los Angeles firefighters to contain some of the wildfires ravaging the area.

• As of Saturday morning, the Palisades Fire is 11% contained, while the Eaton Fire is 15% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

• Firefighters have contained 80% of the Kenneth Fire, 76% of the Hurst Fire and all of the Lidia Fire.

• The ferocious blazes have destroyed more than 12,300 homes and buildings and left at least 16 dead in their wake, a number officials expect to rise.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Saturday evening that he had decided to send a high-level delegation to Qatar to join efforts to seal a hostage-ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group.

The team departing Saturday night will include Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet director Ron Bar, IDF hostage point man Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and Netanyahu’s political advisor Ophir Falk.

The decision was made after Netanyahu held a situation assessment on the ongoing hostage talks. He was joined at the meeting by Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel’s security chiefs, and officials from the Biden administration and incoming Trump administration. He met with Trump’s incoming US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Jerusalem earlier in the day.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, an Israeli official said, amid efforts to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza.

A second Israeli official said some progress had been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a deal in Gaza.

The mediators are making new efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Israeli fighter jets hit Houthi terror targets on Yemen’s western coast and inland in the country on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces stated.

“The Houthi terrorist regime has repeatedly attacked the State of Israel, its citizens and civilian infrastructure in Israel,” including using drones and surface-to-surface missiles, the Israeli military stated. “The State of Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Friday afternoon that “just as we promised, the Houthis are paying, and will continue to pay, a heavy price for their aggression against us,” according to an English translation of his remarks provided by his office.

Arab media outlets reported an unprecedented military operation Friday, marking the first coordinated strikes by US, British, and Israeli forces since the escalation of regional hostilities. According to international sources, the operation comprised three waves of strikes targeting critical infrastructure across Houthi-controlled territories.

Has God sent us not 1, not 2, not 3 – but FOUR dramatic signs on New Year’s Eve as a warning of things to come, of America’s future, and what we need to do now? And can we afford to ignore them? Check out the new prophetic message by Jonathan Cahn.

Lightning bolts struck the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the Empire State Building, and the World Trade Center on New Year's Eve 2024.

President-elect Trump and former President Obama had an extended friendly exchange as they sat next to each other at the funeral services for former President Carter on Thursday.

Cameras captured Trump and Obama at Washington National Cathedral exchanging pleasantries, with Obama laughing at something the incoming president was saying. They appeared to chat for several minutes before the funeral services began.

Iran’s former top general in Syria has revealed that Tehran pushed the since-deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to open an additional front against Israel as it battled terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah over the past 15 months.

In a recording cited by the New York Times on Wednesday, Brig. Gen. Behrouz Esbati said ties with Assad had been strained prior to the Syrian regime’s collapse at the beginning of December, over his refusal to let Iran-backed militias open a new front against Israel from Syria.

Iran had presented Assad with detailed plans to use Iranian resources in Syria to attack Israel, but despite multiple requests, he refused to let them go ahead, Esbati said.

Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, commander of the Israel Defense Forces’ Northern Command, has expressed doubts about the ability of the Lebanese Armed Forces to uphold the truce agreement and warned that Hezbollah’s influence and rocket fire near the border remain a significant threat, Channel 12 News reported on Wednesday.

Despite plans for northern Israeli residents to return home by March 1, Gordin admitted that while efforts are underway, the IDF cannot prevent Hezbollah operatives and other Lebanese citizens from returning to villages near the border.

Earlier this month, Jerusalem unveiled a 3.4 billion shekel ($928 million) plan to encourage the return of around 60,000 residents who were evacuated from at-risk areas near the Lebanon border after Hezbollah joined the war in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, 2023.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Monday that Iran’s nuclear program is rapidly approaching the “point of no return.”

Speaking at the annual conference of French ambassadors in Paris, the French president described Iran as “the main strategic and security challenge” for the European Union.

He emphasized the shrinking window for Western nations to act and called for the swift implementation of broad sanctions against Tehran.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was scheduled to be in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday to advance multilateral negotiations aimed at securing the release of the hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

During a press conference on Tuesday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Witkoff, a Jewish businessman and longtime friend of the president-elect, expressed optimism about the ongoing discussions.

The U.S. military on Wednesday said its forces struck weapons depots used by the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen to target naval warships and merchant vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. 

"U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted multiple precision strikes against two Iranian-backed Houthi underground Advanced Conventional Weapon (ACW) storage facilities within Houthi-controlled territories of Yemen," CENTCOM said in a statement. 

The military command confirmed there were no injuries to U.S. personnel and no U.S. equipment was damaged in the strike. It did not confirm whether any Houthi terrorists were killed or injured in the attack

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump again issued a stern warning regarding American hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, saying in a recent podcast that there will be “hell to pay” if they are not released by the time he returns to office in two weeks. 

When pressed by American political commentator Hugh Hewitt on the specific meaning behind his warning, Trump elaborated with characteristic intensity: “If those hostages aren’t released by the time I get into office, there will be hell to pay.

“I don’t think I have to go into it. … But it won’t be the word ‘don’t,’ you know. I heard the word ‘don’t,’ you can add that into it, but that would just be a small part of it. … Those hostages have to get out. They have to get out now.”

Christian leaders in Syria meet with the country's new head of government but remain uncertain about its intentions, according to reports, which say no firm commitments emerged from the gathering, leaving the community uneasy about its role in a rapidly changing political landscape.

Church representatives, including Franciscan friars and other clergy, met with Ahmad al-Sharaa–also known by his wartime alias Abu Mohammed Al Jolani, who leads the transitional administration that overthrew the previous regime on Dec. 8, 2024, at the People's Palace in the capital last week, Catholic New Agency reported Saturday.

The attendees included Fr. Ibrahim Faltas, deputy custodian of the Holy Land, and Father Rami Elias, SJ, and they deliberated on matters concerning the Syrian Constitution, democracy and equality.

Congress officially certified President-elect Trump’s 2024 election victory on Monday, taking him one step closer to assuming the Oval Office at the end of this month.

Tellers for the Senate's vote counting were Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and those on the House side were Reps. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and Joe Morelle, D-N.Y.

The 312 electoral college votes for Trump were counted and presented by the tellers, in addition to the 226 votes for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Kamala Harris is readying on Monday to certify the 2024 election results, affirming President-elect Trump’s victory as well as her decisive defeat to him after a whirlwind run for commander-in-chief.

After spending much of her campaign warning of Trump’s threat to democracy, Harris, in her role as vice president, will now lead the final step in the election process that will send Trump back to the White House.

She is expected to perform her duty with little fanfare but ultimately, the position puts her in an awkward spot in which her election loss will also be in the spotlight. 

Harris, however, is not alone in history. Two vice presidents in recent decades have faced the same predicament — Richard Nixon who was vice president when he lost to John F. Kennedy and Al Gore when he lost to George W. Bush.

A major winter storm that has been breaking snowfall records in the midwest is moving east, bringing with it a heavy mix of snow and ice.

Snowfall totals had topped a foot in several places, including Chapman and Topeka, Kansas, where the storm has dumped 18 inches and 14 inches respectively.

Topeka has had the largest snowfall it's experienced since 1993, as has Kansas City, Missouri, which has a total of 11 inches so far. The 5 inches of snow that fell in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sunday is the city's new single-day record for Jan. 5.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that he intends to resign as party leader and prime minister after pressure from within his own Liberal Party increasingly grew amid heightened criticisms over his handling of the economy and threats levied by President-elect Donald Trump. He said he will resign once the party selects a new leader. 

"I intend to resign as party leader, as Prime Minister, after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide competitive process," Trudeau told reporters. "Last night, I asked the president of the Liberal Party to begin that process. This country deserves a real choice in the next election, and it is become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election."

"As you all know, I am fighter and I'm not someone who backs away from a fight. Particularly when the fight is as important as this one is. But I have always been driven by my love for Canada, by my desire to serve Canadians, and by what is in the best interests of Canadians and Canadians deserve a real choice in the next election," Trudeau added. "And it has become obvious to me with,, the internal battles that I cannot be the one to carry the liberal standard into the next election."

Israel will likely soon notify the United States that it does not intend to withdraw its forces from Lebanon when the 60-day ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah expires, Hebrew media reported on Friday.

According to the terms of the truce, which went into effect on Nov. 27, the Lebanese Armed Forces was to have deployed south of the Litani River. The ceasefire also bars Hezbollah from reorganizing in Southern Lebanon.

However, the Lebanese military has been slow to mobilize its troops and Hezbollah is attempting to rebuild its capabilities, according to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to South Korea, Japan and France from Jan. 4-9, the State Department said on Friday, amid a political crisis in Seoul.

South Korea's presidential guards and military troops on Friday prevented authorities from arresting impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, under criminal investigation for insurrection over his Dec. 3, 2024, martial law bid.

Blinken will meet with senior South Korean government officials and will discuss how they "can strengthen key efforts to promote a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, as well as trilateral efforts with Japan," the State Department said.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday announced his decision to appoint former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus as his deputy Mideast envoy.

Ortagus will work under Steve Witkoff, who was one of the first appointments Trump made following his election in November. Both of them are Jewish.

Trump was far from effusive in his Truth Social post announcing the decision.

He didn’t get into specifics, but Ortagus criticized Trump’s “isolationist foreign policy approach,” in the 2016 presidential primary. She shifted to support Trump once he secured the nomination and was rewarded with the job of spokesperson of the State Department for much of his first term.