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You may opt out at any time.<\/p>\n \n Enter your email<\/p>\n Sign Up Trump Confirms Strike on Venezuelan Dock<\/p>\n U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (not pictured) in Florida.<\/p>\n U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (not pictured) at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on Dec. 28.Joe Raedle\/Getty Images <\/p>\n U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed<\/a> on Monday that U.S. forces had hit and destroyed a dock facility in Venezuela last week that he said was used by alleged drug traffickers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,\u201d Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. \u201cWe hit all the boats, and now we hit the area\u2014it\u2019s the implementation area. \u2026 And that is no longer around.\u201d<\/p>\n Such an attack marks the first known land strike<\/a> on Venezuela since the White House began its pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in September. Details of the operation remain hazy, as Trump refused to comment on potential CIA involvement or give specifics regarding the strike\u2019s exact location.<\/p>\n Trump authorized the CIA to begin planning covert operations<\/a> inside Venezuela months ago, according to sources familiar with the plans. The ongoing campaign, which the White House has said is aimed at tackling narcotrafficking in Latin America, was reportedly developed to be conducted in two parts\u2014with the second being direct strikes.<\/p>\n Over nearly four months, the U.S. military has launched more than 25 attacks on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing more than 100 people and eliciting accusations of war crimes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Alongside a massive military buildup<\/a> in the region, the designation of Venezuela\u2019s Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization, and a \u201ctotal and complete blockade<\/a>\u201d on all sanctioned oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude<\/a>, the Trump administration has signaled its desire to enact regime change in Caracas.<\/p>\n Trump \u201cwants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle,\u201d Susie Wiles, the president\u2019s chief of staff, told Vanity Fair<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n Trump has previously threatened attacks inside Venezuela, and last Friday, he appeared to suggest that one had occurred, telling New York\u2019s WABC radio<\/a> that U.S. forces had \u201cknocked out\u201d a \u201cbig facility\u201d in Venezuela. However, Monday was his first confirmation of such a strike.<\/p>\n Venezuelan officials have yet to publicly respond to the attack, but Maduro has previously said<\/a> \u201cpowerful sectors in the United States\u201d are fabricating a false reality to justify covert intervention.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Most Read<\/p>\n What We\u2019re Following<\/p>\n Trump-Netanyahu meeting. Trump hosted<\/a> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Monday to discuss issues concerning the second phase of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement. Although his opening words began with praise, Trump pressured the Israeli leader to stop stonewalling the truce deal.<\/p>\n The White House has accused Israel of slow-walking progress<\/a> under the guise of waiting for the remains of the final hostage in Gaza to be released. Netanyahu has resisted U.S. efforts to halt an Israeli standoff with isolated Hamas fighters in southern Gaza. Since the cease-fire went into effect in October, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians<\/a>, according to local officials.<\/p>\n The Trump-Netanyahu summit comes at a critical moment for Gaza, where regional leaders warn that the truce is at risk of collapse. It could also influence Israel\u2019s upcoming elections, which polling indicates<\/a> could result in Netanyahu\u2019s defeat. Still, Netanyahu used Monday\u2019s meeting to push Trump to take more aggressive action<\/a> against Israel\u2019s enemies\u2014namely, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria.<\/p>\n Security guarantees for Ukraine? The Trump administration has offered to provide Kyiv with security guarantees<\/a> for a 15-year period, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, as part of a proposed U.S.-drafted peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war. \u201cWithout security guarantees, realistically, this war will not end,\u201d Zelensky said, adding that Kyiv would prefer a commitment of up to 50 years.<\/p>\n Trump insisted on Sunday that the two sides were \u201ccloser than ever<\/a>\u201d to a peace settlement. He spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone for more than two hours on Sunday before hosting Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago; Trump spoke with Putin again on Monday. Moscow still remains opposed<\/a> to the deployment of any NATO troops, leaving U.S. or European security guarantees in contention<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s continued demands for Ukraine to surrender its territory in the Donbas further complicate negotiations. On Monday, Putin said<\/a> Russian forces were advancing into Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donetsk region while pressing ahead with their offensive in the southern Zaporizhzhia area.<\/p>\n Performative aid. The United States announced<\/a> a $2 billion humanitarian aid package for the United Nations on Monday, to be used to create a pool of funds for specific crises or countries, such as Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Syria, and Ukraine.<\/p>\n While Washington\u2019s pledge is just a fraction<\/a> of the amount of funding that it has traditionally provided\u2014with some years seeing upwards of $17 billion given\u2014the White House has painted its offer as generous in an effort to maintain the country\u2019s status as the world\u2019s largest humanitarian donor.<\/p>\n \u201cThis humanitarian reset at the United Nations should deliver more aid with fewer tax dollars\u2014providing more focused, results-driven assistance aligned with U.S. foreign policy,\u201d U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz said.<\/p>\n However, experts estimate that the support is not enough to reverse the detrimental effects of Western aid cuts<\/a>, which have driven millions of people toward hunger, displacement, and disease. Under Trump, the United States has shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development<\/a> and slashed foreign aid<\/a> to key organizations. On Monday, the White House warned U.N. agencies to \u201cadapt, shrink, or die<\/a>\u201d to these new financial constraints.<\/p>\n The World This Week<\/p>\n Live-fire drills. China launched<\/a> extensive war games near Taiwan on Monday, cutting into Taiwanese maritime territory for the first time since 2022, when then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi<\/a> visited the island. The exercises, including live-fire drills<\/a> across a record-setting seven zones on Tuesday, aim to demonstrate Beijing\u2019s ability to isolate Taipei from foreign support in the event of a Chinese invasion.<\/p>\n The Chinese drills come less than two weeks after the United States announced its largest-ever arms package<\/a> for Taiwan, worth $11.1 billion. Taiwan\u2019s foreign ministry denounced<\/a> the exercises, saying, \u201cSuch actions once again challenge the rules-based international order and will unilaterally inflict grave damage to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the region.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Taiwan\u2019s transport ministry, more than 100,000 airline passengers<\/a> are expected to be affected by Tuesday\u2019s drills.<\/p>\n Disarmament in doubt. The deadline for Hezbollah to fully disarm expires on Wednesday, per a U.S.-backed cease-fire deal<\/a> signed between Israel and Lebanon in November 2024. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has said confiscation of weapons south of the Litani River\u2014the de facto buffer zone\u2014is nearly complete<\/a> and that Beirut will soon be ready to implement phase two of the deal, focused on disarmament north of the river.<\/p>\n However, Israel remains skeptical as to whether Lebanese authorities will actually force the Iranian-backed proxy group to relinquish all of its armaments, particularly following recent pushback from Hezbollah and its allies.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared that Tehran was in a \u201cfull-scale war<\/a>\u201d with Israel, the United States, and Europe. And on Sunday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem called the disarmament deal an \u201cIsraeli-American plan\u201d that was not in Lebanon\u2019s \u201cbest interest<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Keep an Eye On<\/p>\n Wednesday, Dec. 31: Argentine President Javier Milei\u2019s sweeping public emergency declaration, first announced in December 2023, expires.<\/p>\n Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026: Bulgaria adopts the euro currency.<\/p>\n France assumes the rotating G-7 presidency, while Cyprus takes over the six-month leadership of the Council of the European Union.<\/p>\n Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026: Eight OPEC+ countries hold a virtual meeting.<\/p>\n Odds and Ends<\/p>\n German locals are demanding that authorities restore wave-making conditions in the Eisbach river in Munich\u2019s Englischer Garten park. Surfers have long enjoyed the strong current, which creates 3-foot-high waves. But when city workers cleared out the riverbed\u2019s accumulated sediment, gravel, and debris in October, these conditions all but disappeared.<\/p>\n
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