Luke Vargas
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Podcast Appearances
In other trading, gold and silver futures slipped today but remain on course for the strongest gains since 1979.
dollar, meanwhile, is on pace to drop more than 6 percent on the year against a basket of other major currencies, which would be its steepest slide since 2017.
President Trump is closing out 2025 with his pressure campaign against Venezuela at a fever pitch.
According to several U.S.
officials, the CIA was behind a strike on a Venezuelan dock earlier this month, marking the agency's first known operation inside the country since Trump authorized covert activity there.
He began to pull the lid off the operation last week, first mentioning it on a radio show and revealing more details in subsequent days.
The CIA declined to comment.
The Kremlin is doubling down on claims that Ukrainian drones targeted a residence of Vladimir Putin's and is using the allegation to justify a hardened stance in peace negotiations.
Russia's defense ministry today published a video of what it said was a downed Ukrainian drone.
The footage shot in a snowy forest at night couldn't be independently verified.
Ukraine has strongly denied the attack.
And the Trump administration says it's stopping child care funding for Minnesota because of a fraud scandal in the state.
Deputy Health Secretary Jim O'Neill announced the freeze on social media yesterday.
Federal prosecutors say dozens of people stole public funds through sham social services operations.
Charges were first filed in 2022 under the Biden administration, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, said the Trump administration was, quote, politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.
The Administration for Children and Families, an HHS department, sends about $185 million a year to Minnesota in child care funding.
Coming up, it's crystal ball time as we ask Journal Bureau chiefs about the developments they'll be keeping an eye out for next year.
That's after the break.
Every December, we ask journal bureau chiefs around the world a question.