WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration has approved a massive new series of arms sales to Israel totaling $6.67 billion and to Saudi Arabia worth $9 billion. The State Department announced the sales to America’s allies in the Middle East late Friday as tensions rise in the region over the possibility of U.S. military strikes on Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump says President Vladimir Putin has agreed to temporarily halt the targeting of the Ukrainian capital and other towns as the region suffers under bitterly cold temperatures. The Kremlin confirmed Friday it agreed to hold off striking Kyiv until Sunday, but refused to reveal any details.

Jan. 19 – The Washington Post says Congress has dropped the ball regarding oversight of ICE, DHS. Geraldo Lunas Campos died at a Texas detention center on Jan. 3 while pleading for air as guards choked him, according to a fellow detainee. The local medical examiner’s office is considering classifying his death as a homicide, The Post reports.

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. wholesale prices rose a hotter-than-expected 0.5% in December. The Labor Department reported Friday that its producer price index – which measures inflation before it hits consumers – rose from November to December at the fastest pace in three months and faster than the 0.3% economists had forecast.

BRUSSELS (AP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping has had a busy few weeks receiving Western allies seeking warmer ties with the world’s second-largest economy.  Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney struck a trade deal slashing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian canola oil. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer landed in Beijing this week to repair ties.

BEIJING (AP) – U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in the Chinese financial center of Shanghai on Friday in his bid to boost business opportunities for British firms in the world’s second-largest economy, just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a possible opposition to any deal between Beijing and London.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The new documentary “Melania” opens on a close-up of the trademark stilettos of first lady Melania Trump as she walks the halls of Mar-a-Lago, her Palm Beach home, in early January 2025, following her as she climbs into a dark SUV for the short drive to the airport and a flight aboard her husband’s personal plane to New York and their Trump Tower penthouse home.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – The terms of a Russian commitment to U.S. President Donald Trump to temporarily halt its bombardment of Ukraine during one of the country’s bleakest winters in years remained unclear Friday, as Ukrainians braced for even worse conditions to come next week.