The U.S. has authorized a new military aid package for Ukraine worth more than $3 billion, the Department of Defense announced Friday.
The big picture: The Biden administration has now sent $24.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion last February, per the DOD.
The new Israeli government on Friday announced a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority over its latest push for the International Court of Justice to issue a legal opinion on the Israeli occupation.
Why it matters: Although some of the Israeli sanctions are only symbolic and others include immediate implementation of steps that were already in the works, Friday's move will likely further escalate tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.
The arrest in Mexico of Ovidio Guzmán, a son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, sparked deadly riots in the northern state of Sinaloa Thursday, ahead of President Biden's visit to the country next week.
Details: Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya said clashes left at least seven security force members dead and 21 others injured, along with eight civilians, following the arrest of the 32-year-old Guzmán, described by the U.S. State Department last month as a "high-ranking member" of the Sinaloa Cartel that his father previously led, per Reuters.
Four years after dozens of countries backed Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate president, the Venezuelan opposition has dissolved his "interim government," replaced him as National Assembly leader, and entered a new era of uncertainty.
Why it matters: Guaidó never truly held the levers of power in Caracas, and his support with the public and within the fractured opposition had been slipping for years. But U.S. policy and, crucially, the opposition's claim to billions in Venezuelan assets overseas, were still based around the premise of Guaidó's legitimacy.
President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Thursday that they would send armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine, following a similar announcement Wednesday from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Why it matters: As the war has carried on, Ukraine's western backers have slowly crossed new thresholds by agreeing to send heavy artillery, longer-range rockets, advanced air defense systems, and now more lethal armored vehicles, which Kyiv has been requesting for months to aid its counterattacks.
Latin America in 2022 saw the dramatic ouster of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo and Nicaragua's ongoing descent into autocracy — and 2023 is expected to have no shortage of stories about political instability, major elections, and the first year in office for new leaders.
The big picture: The U.S. has complex and critical relationships with key Latin American countries, several of which are major sources of migration to the U.S.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian armed forces to hold a 36-hour ceasefire along its front line in Ukraine starting on noon Friday to observe the Orthodox Christmas, the Kremlin announced Thursday.
State of play: Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, dismissed the order as "hypocrisy," tweeting that Russia's forces "must leave the occupied territories - only then will it have a 'temporary truce.'"
Thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square Thursday to mourn the loss of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI as Pope Francis presided over the funeral proceedings.
The big picture: Benedict became the first pope in six centuries to resign the post atop the Catholic Church. His decision to step down in 2013 marked the start of an unprecedented period with a current and former pope living at the same time, the Associated Press reports.
