Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said that his cabinet had approved the Gaza ceasefire deal by 24 votes to eight on Saturday, paving the way for the agreement to take effect on Sunday. Hamas is expected to release the first hostages that day. Hard-right members of Mr Netanyahu’s parliamentary coalition oppose the deal and have threatened to resign in protest.
TikTok said it would “go dark” in America unless President Joe Biden assured it that he would not enforce a potential embargo on his last day in office. On Friday the Supreme Court upheld a law forcing the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell it by Sunday or face a nationwide ban. Donald Trump, who takes office the next day, said he needed time to review the situation.
Mr Trump’s inauguration will be moved indoors due to freezing weather, the first time in 40 years that the swearing-in ceremony has been relocated inside the Capitol. Mr Trump cited safety concerns for attendees, with forecasters warning of wind chills as low as -13°C (9°F). The change will deprive him of the large outdoor crowds that he so prizes.
Russia launched a wave of drones and missiles at Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, killing at least four people. Ukraine’s armed forces said its air defences shot down 24 drones and two missiles. Russia also struck Zaporizhia, a town in the south, injuring ten people. Meanwhile Ukraine attacked industrial sites inside Russia, igniting fires at fuel storage sites in Kaluga and Tula, in the west.
A Russian court jailed three lawyers who had defended Alexei Navalny, one of the Kremlin’s fiercest critics. The men were convicted of participation in an extremist community—in effect for relaying Mr Navalny’s messages while he was locked up on spurious charges of fraud and extremism. He died in jail in February
America’s Federal Aviation Administration grounded SpaceX’s Starship programme while an investigation into why one of the firm’s rockets exploded is conducted. The vessel burst into flames shortly after launch in Texas, possibly following an oxygen or fuel leak. The upper stage came to earth over the northern Caribbean, disrupting flights. Despite the failure, SpaceX successfully landed the rocket’s reusable booster.
Goldman Sachs said it would hand David Solomon, its CEO, $80m-worth of stocks to keep him at the bank for the next five years. It also said it had bumped up his pay by a quarter in 2024, to $39m. Following a turbulent few years—which included a disastrous attempt to launch a consumer bank—Goldman posted net income of $14.3bn in 2024.
Word of the week: chanoyu, a Japanese tea ceremony that contributed to the spread of matcha. Read the full story.
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