Venezuela

• Pres. Maduro's government announced a bounty of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Edmundo González, who the opposition claims defeated Maduro in July's election.
• González fled to exile in Spain during the government's post-election crackdown on the opposition, but he has vowed to return to Venezuela to be inaugurated on Jan. 10 (Maduro also claims - but without proof - that he won the election, and he also intends to be inaugurated on Jan. 10).
• This bounty will complicate González's efforts to return.

• Ukraine shut off a pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to Europe, angering the handful of countries that still rely on Russian fuel - and especially Hungary and Slovakia, who together currently import Russian gas at an annualized rate of 4 billion cubic meters per year.
• Slovakia's Prime Minister Fico - who was already a vocal critic of Ukraine - called the pipeline closure "sabotage" and complained that it would cost Slovakia €500 million ($518 million) in foregone transit fees.
• Fico also threatened to retaliate by severing electricity exports to Ukraine and cutting off financial support for the estimated 130,000 Ukrainians in Slovakia.

• Despite bursts of optimism for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, negotiations appear to have stalled again. Though both sides agreed to send negotiators to resume talks, the odds of finalizing a deal before the U.S. presidency changes hands on Jan. 20 are slimming.
• Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced Gazans killed the head of Gaza's police force and a top aide. Hamas said nine others - including several children - died too.
• Israel published data on its military casualties for 2024: 363 of its soldiers died last year - mostly during combat operations. That's a slower pace of casualties than in 2023, when Israel lost 558 soldiers - mostly in the Oct. 7 attacks and their immediate aftermath.

• The man who killed at least 14 in a New Year's Day truck-ramming attack in New Orleans carried with him an Islamic State flag, raising concerns about a resurgence in terrorist attacks in Western countries.