Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday he apologized after the Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed en route to Grozny, Chechnya, killing 38 people and injuring 29 others on Christmas Day.
The big picture: Putin apologized in a phone call with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev "for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace," but the Russian president did not accept responsibility for the crash itself in a translated government news release.
Israeli and U.S. officials involved in the negotiations for a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal tell Axios they are concerned that the odds of an agreement before President Trump takes office are slim.
Why it matters: Trump threatened that there would be "hell to pay in the Middle East" if Hamas did not release the hostages held in Gaza by Jan. 20. President Biden also made mediating a deal a top priority for his final months in office.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday vehemently denied President-elect Trump's claims of Chinese interference in the Panama Canal.
Why it matters: Trump has accused Panamanian authorities of charging "exorbitant" shipping rates and cited the increasing dominance of China's government in trade throughout the Americas as a reason to take control of the Panama Canal, one of the world's most crucial pieces of infrastructure that the U.S. ceded in 1999.
