U.S. President Donald Trump said that land strikes in Venezuela are starting. "It’s going to start happening".

Satellite imagery from Vantor shows the oil tanker Skipper in the southern Caribbean Sea, two days after U.S. forces seized the vessel off the coast of Venezuela.

The U.S. Treasury Department lifted sanctions on Brazil Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes as the nations continue to repair ties that frayed over the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro earlier this year. - Bloomberg

U.S. President Donald J. Trump said he held a “very good conversation” this morning with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, announcing that the two leaders have agreed to a ceasefire taking effect this evening and will return to compliance with the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord signed in October.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee today released 19 images from a collection of roughly 45,000 photos provided by the Jeffrey Epstein estate. The newly released photos include images of President Donald J. Trump with Epstein and several individuals believed to be Epstein’s victims, as well as photos depicting sex toys and related objects. The collection also contains images of Epstein alongside a number of prominent figures, including Bill Clinton, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, actor and director Woody Allen, economist Larry Summers, attorney Alan Dershowitz, entrepreneurs Richard Branson and Bill Gates, and Prince Andrew.

Ukrainian special forces have successfully struck two key Russian oil platforms in the Caspian Sea, reportedly disabling both installations. The footage shows Ukrainian attack drones on their final approach toward platforms at the Filanovsky and Korchagin oil fields.

Footage released by the PryMary Unit of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence shows multiple drone strikes carried out Wednesday against Kacha Airbase near Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea. The strikes reportedly destroyed a 64H6E “Big Bird E” S-band search and acquisition radar for the S-300 air defense system, a Nebo-M multi-band radar system, and an Antonov An-26 military transport aircraft that was preparing for takeoff. Reports indicate significant casualties aboard the An-26.

A U.S. Navy E-2D “Hawkeye” AEW&C aircraft, along with several F/A-18E Super Hornets from Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), are currently operating over the southern Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela.

The Trump administration has announced it will end Temporary Legal Status for an estimated 1,500 to 3,500 Ethiopians living in the United States. In a notice published in the Federal Register, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that after reviewing conditions in Ethiopia and consulting relevant U.S. agencies, the department determined the country no longer meets the requirements for Temporary Protected Status.

Tulsi Gabbard criticized Rep. Bennie Thompson for describing the attack on the D.C. National Guard as “an accident.” “This exchange highlights a deeply troubling and longstanding problem — leaders refusing to call this Islamist terrorist threat what it truly is,” she said. “This was a terror attack on our own soil, targeting our National Guard, whose mission was to protect the American people right here on the streets of Washington, D.C.” View quoted note →

A U.S. Air Force B-52 flying over Fort Worth, Texas, accidentally deployed its drag chute mid-flight on Monday. The crew released the chute and landed the bomber safely without incident. Officials said the mishap likely would have gone unnoticed had it not been captured on video.

Based on the geolocation of the video recorded today, President Zelensky was approximately 500 meters from the active front line in the city of Kupiansk.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin were seen holding brief informal talks on the sidelines of a multilateral summit in Turkmenistan on Tuesday, exchanging views ahead of their scheduled sessions.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said Britain threatened to cut funding to the International Criminal Court if it moved forward with arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a court filing dated December 11, 2025. Khan stated that during an April 23, 2024 phone call, an unnamed British official warned that issuing the warrants would be disproportionate and could prompt the UK to withdraw funding and exit the Rome Statute. The allegation was first reported by *The Guardian* on December 12, 2025. The UK has not publicly responded to the claim. Khan made the disclosure while defending his decision to pursue the warrants over alleged war crimes in Gaza, emphasizing that the move was taken independently and following legal consultation.

As her announced resignation in early January draws closer, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been quietly sounding out House Republicans to see whether there is support for a motion to remove Mike Johnson as Speaker, according to three sources familiar with her efforts who spoke to MS NOW.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is reportedly exploring ways to maintain his hold on power regardless of the outcome of the April election, as polls currently show the opposition with a significant lead. According to Bloomberg, Orbán is considering a move to assume the presidency and rewrite laws to transform the role into the country’s most powerful office — an idea he reportedly raised during a meeting with U.S. President Donald J. Trump at the White House last month.

Cambodia has resumed launching multiple-rocket attacks toward Thailand, reportedly firing from positions embedded within civilian areas.

President Donald J. Trump posted a confusing message on Truth Social claiming he had pardoned Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk who was convicted by the *state*—not the federal government—in August 2024 on seven of ten charges related to a security breach carried out to promote false election-fraud conspiracies and attempt to overturn the 2024 presidential election in Trump’s favor. Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison and taken into custody in October 2024. Today’s “pardon attempt” comes as the Justice Department, under Trump’s direction, has so far failed to secure her release from Colorado authorities, despite public threats against the state and its governor from both Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Do Kwon, the South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur whose two digital currencies collapsed in 2022, wiping out an estimated $40 billion, was sentenced Thursday in New York federal court to 15 years in prison for fraud and conspiracy.

The Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on three nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a businessman close to the regime, and six companies involved in shipping Venezuelan oil, Axios reported. The U.S. is also preparing to intercept additional vessels transporting Venezuelan oil following this week’s tanker seizure, according to Reuters, which cited six sources familiar with the plans.