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Gaza cease-fire hopes, Jack Smith's final accounting and Greenland grab

 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Israel, Hamas and US say cease-fire deal close

What happened
Qatari and Egyptian mediators yesterday gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement to end the war in Gaza, as U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials expressed optimism that a cease-fire deal could be finalized by the end of the week. One official told Reuters the deal came together after a late "breakthrough" in ongoing talks in Doha attended by envoys from President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump.

Who said what
"We're on the brink" of "finally" bringing to "fruition" an Israel-Hamas peace "proposal that I laid out in detail months ago," Biden said in a valedictory foreign policy speech. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said there was a "distinct possibility we can get this deal done this week," before Biden leaves office. Trump told Newsmax he understood "there's been a handshake and they're getting it finished, and maybe by the end of the week."

Two Israeli officials yesterday "said a draft agreement was awaiting Hamas' approval, with the next 24 hours seen as being critical," The New York Times said. A Hamas official "said in a text message that progress had been made on all issues and that a deal was possible in the coming two days as long as Israel does not change its position at the last minute." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces "fierce opposition to a potential deal from within his governing coalition," the BBC said.

What next?
Trump's "Jan. 20 inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline for a cease-fire agreement," Reuters said. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told MSNBC that Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff have "been a terrific partner in this," and Witkoff's participation in negotiations "has been critical" to ensure there's a deal "the Trump administration will continue to back."

 
 
Today's NATIONAL story

DOJ releases Trump Jan. 6 special counsel report

What happened
Attorney General Merrick Garland early this morning released special counsel Jack Smith's final report on his efforts to prosecute President-elect Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Garland submitted that portion of Smith's report to Congress after a court-imposed deadline expired at midnight.

Who said what
Smith, who resigned Friday, said in the 174-page report that he had to drop his case after Trump won in November due to the Justice Department's "categorical" view that presidents cannot be prosecuted. But his team "assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial" if Trump had come up short. 

When Trump lost in 2020, the report said, "he resorted to a series of criminal efforts to retain power." Smith blamed the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol "squarely on Trump," The Wall Street Journal said.

The report "amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of a president-elect," charging him with "crimes that struck at the heart of American democracy" days before he regains power, The New York Times said. Responding to the report, Trump claimed he was "totally innocent" and called Smith a "lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the election."

What next?
Garland temporarily withheld the second volume of Smith's report, pertaining to Trump's retention of highly classified documents, and Trump's picks to head the Justice Department are widely expected to ensure it is never released.

 
 

It's not all bad

An invasive plant in Africa is being transformed into biodegradable shopping bags and planters. The water hyacinth, a destructive aquatic plant in Kenya's Lake Naivasha, has devastated native species and damaged livelihoods. To combat it, HyaPak Ecotech has begun employing locals to harvest the hyacinth, turning it into eco-friendly alternatives to single-use plastics. This innovation, which both supports conservation and creates jobs, will soon expand to India and El Salvador, countries also struggling with the water hyacinth.

 
 
Under the radar

In North Carolina, state elections have entered uncharted territory. The state's Republican-led Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the certification to reseat incumbent Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat, overruling the Democratic-majority Board of Elections, which affirmed her 734-vote win over Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin after two recounts.

Now, the court will not only hear Griffin's challenge to tens of thousands of votes cast, but could very well "decide a winner in the race," said North Carolina's News & Observer — all while providing "scant comment about its reasoning" for blocking Riggs' certification to begin with.

Griffin's argument centers on his claim that around 60,000 ballots across North Carolina's 100 counties were cast by voters who had not "provided election officials with their driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number," The Washington Post said. His request to reject those ballots is largely "based on a theory that has been dismissed by both the state election board and a federal judge," ProPublica said, with officials finding "many legitimate reasons for that information to be missing, including voters registering before state paperwork was updated about a year ago to require those details."

The battle over Riggs' seat is "part of the power struggle that has long animated North Carolina politics," said Vox. It follows "congressional gerrymandering meant to favor the GOP, legal maneuvering weakening the power of incoming Democratic officials and the establishment of a GOP supermajority in North Carolina’s legislature in 2023."

 
 
On this day

January 14, 2005

The Huygens space probe landed on Saturn's moon Titan, marking the farthest-away landing on a celestial surface by an Earth object. The probe, operated by the European Space Agency, sent data back for about 90 minutes after landing. It remains the only object to successfully land in the outer solar system.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

After a weekend respite in the Los Angeles County fires, "strong winds bring new anxiety," the Los Angeles Times says on Tuesday's front page. "Experts say it could be weeks" until the two largest L.A. blazes are out, the San Francisco Chronicle says. The New York Times went on a "hunt for clues at 'crime scene' of Palisades Fire." As "middle-class dream goes up in flames" for L.A.-area homeowners, "wildfires stir political storm around mayor," The Wall Street Journal. In Washington, this week's confirmation hearings pose "a tough test for Pentagon nominee" Pete Hegseth, The Washington Post says. "Hegseth scrutiny targets character," USA Today says.

â–º See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

It's better than Beelzebub

The parents of a baby named Lucifer are pushing back against criticism from friends, family and strangers, asking them not to "dwell" on the moniker's "devilish connotations," The Northern Echo said. Jess Bell and Stefan Wake of Redcar, England, said they chose the name because it means "light bringer." Still, little Lucifer was born earlier this month in delivery room 6 before being moved to bed 6 in room 6, and Wake acknowledged that "the 666 was a fairly strange coincidence."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Amir Levy / Getty Images; Drew Angerer / Getty Images; Emil Stach / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images