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No Achieved Goals for Gaza Peace Plan; Vladimir Putin Fabricates Another Lie Against Ukraine; CIA Launch Drone Strike Against Venezuela; Khaleda Zia Dies at Age 80; Anthony Joshua Spared from Vehicular Accident; U.S. Trade War Affects Allies and Foes. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired December 30, 2025 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made no clear progress on the next phase of the Gaza peace plan. During that meeting the president told reporters the U.S. blew up a dock in Venezuela used to store and ship out drugs.

And if you're looking for a new job in the new year, we've got some tips from a top recruiter.

UNKNOWN: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

Our top story this hour, President Trump's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two leaders held a private lunch at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort on Monday, where Netanyahu announced Trump would receive the Israel Prize for Peace. It's the first time the country's highest civilian excellence honor will be awarded to a non-Israeli citizen. President Trump called Netanyahu a strong leader.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The relationship has been extraordinary and Bibi is a strong man. He can be very difficult on occasion, but you need a strong man. If you had a weak man, you wouldn't have Israel right now. Israel would have been, you know, Israel with most other leaders would not exist today.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I think Israel is very blessed to have President Trump leading the United States and I'll say leading the free world at this time. I think it's not merely Israel's great fortune, I think it's the world's great fortune.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: But President Trump downplayed the lack of progress with the Gaza ceasefire agreement, saying the plan's success hinges on Hamas agreeing to disarm.

CNN's Matthew Chance is in Jerusalem with the latest on where the Gaza peace plan stands.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I certainly think it's an important part of it. But remember, in that second phase of Trump's peace plan for Gaza, there are difficult concessions that would have to be made by both sides. And yes, on the side of Hamas giving up their weapons, essentially surrendering their power was always going to be a very difficult step that they were going to be reluctant to take. And indeed, that's where we seem to be right now.

And President Trump standing next to Benjamin Netanyahu saying that there will be consequences if they don't do that. They'll have a short time to disarm but there'll be consequences. But let's not forget that there were difficult concessions that would have to be made in the second phase by Israel as well. Things like withdrawing from territory in Gaza like handing over control of the Gaza Strip to an international stabilization force, which is not yet been put together but about which there is a great deal of skepticism with Benjamin Netanyahu and the right-wing coalition which he oversees.

So, it's like both Hamas and the Israeli government of Netanyahu had this shared interest in the second stage of the peace process not advancing because they both would have had to make incredibly difficult concessions, neither actually wanted to make and so yes, it's not all on Hamas. Israel has been dragging its feet as well, despite what we heard in that shoulder-to-shoulder press conference.

He actually seemed, from what I heard, he seemed a little unsure about what Iran was up to, whether it was up to something or not. He said it wasn't confirmed. But what we do know is that Benjamin Netanyahu has traveled to Florida to meet with President Trump. And one of the main things that Netanyahu wanted to talk about was the emerging, re- emerging threat of Iran, which says has been rebuilding its ballistic missile program, which he insists has been rebuilding its nuclear program to make sure President Trump was on side with him in case or for the possibility of more military action against that country.

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Because that, Benjamin Netanyahu, is one of the great bonuses of having such a close relationship with President Trump that his arch enemy in Iran can be struck with American backing.

CHURCH: So, let's bring in Mairav Zonszein, senior Israel analyst with the think tank International Crisis Group. She joins us live from Tel Aviv. I appreciate you being with us.

MAIRAV ZONSZEIN, SENIOR ISRAEL ANALYST, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Thanks for having me. CHURCH: So, President Trump said many times on Monday that we have

peace in the Middle East, but that's not quite the case just yet with the ceasefire in place and efforts to move to the second more difficult phase yet to be achieved. What's your view of what all was said?

ZONSZEIN: Well, I think there was a lot of buildup to this Trump/Netanyahu meeting. They've met several times now in the last six months. And every time we hear that there's going to be friction and that Trump's people are frustrated with him, then ultimately, they come out and they have a very warm, amicable, and outwardly very positive united front.

But I do think that you could hear in Trump's words in the presser that there are certain things that they don't agree on, mainly on Turkey and Syria. And I think the real question here is what is happening behind closed doors? Where is Trump, Witkoff and Kushner on the actual steps that need to be taken? So that's really the question here.

I think we know that Netanyahu and Trump will always present kind of an amicable forward, you know, positive kind of presentation. So, the question is what's happening uh in real time behind closed doors and how much is Trump going to push given that he's put so much political capital into this Gaza ceasefire plan specifically?

CHURCH: Right. And of course, to get to this peace deal, to get this peace deal to the second phase, Hamas needs to disarm, a peace council needs to be set up with President Trump at the head of it, as well as an interim security force. How difficult could all of this prove to be, do you think?

ZONSZEIN: I mean, think it's very difficult and I think that they haven't been able to put any of those things forward yet. And that's partially because all of those issues are difficult, but also because I think Israel and Netanyahu specifically have a certain incentive to keep things as they are. If you look at the region in general, Israel wants to keep its military presence in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria. And I think Netanyahu is telling Trump, because of Iran specifically, that it needs to maintain all of these achievements.

And in Gaza specifically, Israel's position is that it won't withdraw or really change much of anything on the humanitarian front either until Hamas disarms. But I think anybody who understands disarmament, decommissioning of weapons, dealing with a terror group, that this is a process, that there has to be buy-in, and that Hamas cannot be forced to disarm.

So, there's going to have to be some kind of give and take for this to move, and there's going to have to be serious pressure from Trump on Netanyahu. And we don't see that from the press conference, but the question is what is going to come out in the next few weeks. And again, both sides have both incentives and hesitations about moving to the next phase. So, it really, in many ways, the onus does fall largely on Trump and the people working on this. CHURCH: And on that point, you raised on the united front that we all

see, President Trump gave Netanyahu his full backing Monday, saying Israel has lived up to its side of the peace plan 100 percent, but hinted there was disagreement over the West Bank.

And that's notable because many in the administration, including Trump himself, thought that Netanyahu had been slow-walking phase two of the peace plan, certainly according to multiple reports. So, what changed that view, do you think? Did it change?

ZONSZEIN: Well, I think your mention of the West Bank is important because the Palestinian people live under occupation in the West Bank and now under a destroyed Gaza and in Jerusalem. And Trump in his first term and until now as well has basically allowed Israel to continue with its annexationist policies, with settlement policies, you know, destroyed Gaza under his watch as well, even though he got the ceasefire.

But if you want some kind of longstanding ceasefire, and right now what we have is a partial ceasefire. It's not a genuine permanent ceasefire in Gaza. If you want this to work, if you want regional stability, if you want all the things that Trump talks about, then you need to also put up the brakes on what Israel is doing in the West Bank. And this doesn't get enough attention because of what's happening in Gaza.

So, I think the fact that Trump, there is a report in Axios that Trump put, told Bibi he has to change his policies in the West Bank. This is coming from a president who recognized Israel's stake in Jerusalem, its annexation of East Jerusalem and its annexation of the Golan Heights. So that is quite significant.

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I think it means that the people working with Trump understand that the Palestinian Authority, which has nominal power in the West Bank, is going to have to be a part of the future in Gaza. And he understands that he's going to have to put pressure on Netanyahu, also because of his Arab partners, because the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and others are not going allow Israel to annex the West Bank and then play some kind of role in the future of Gaza.

CHURCH: Mairav Zonszein, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.

ZONSZEIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: U.S. President Trump says he held a productive phone call with Vladimir Putin amid continued efforts to end the war in Ukraine. And he says during that call, the Russian leader told him that a Ukrainian drone attack had targeted one of his residences, a claim Kyiv immediately denied.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has more details now from Berlin. FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As the

Trump administration continues its efforts to stop the conflict in Ukraine, a major incident is threatening to make things all the more difficult. The Russians accusing the Ukrainians of launching a massive drone attack on a residence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now, this residence is located about two-thirds of the way between Moscow and St. Petersburg in a place called Novgorod, the Novgorod region.

And the Russians are saying that in the night between the 28th and 29th of December that Ukraine launched some 91 drones towards that place. The Russians say they took all of them down. There were no injuries, but they're also saying that there will be retaliation on the part of Russia, and also that they are rethinking, as they put it, their stance on Ukraine as those negotiations to end the conflict move forward.

Now, the Ukrainians themselves are denying that any of this happened, saying that they did not attack this residence. In fact, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy came out and accused the Russians of looking for a pretext to further attack Ukraine.

All this comes as both the U.S. and Ukraine say that major progress has been made towards ending the conflict. This, of course coming after that meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying about 90 percent of the way has been achieved so far. However, some thorny issues still remain.

First and foremost, the question of possible on the part of Ukraine towards the Russians. The Ukrainians now saying that it is something that might be possible. However, Ukraine's president says that a referendum would have to be held in Ukraine, and for that referendum to be held, there needs to be a temporary ceasefire. However, the Russians are saying as far as they are concerned, a temporary ceasefire is not possible.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

CHURCH: Now to CNN's exclusive reporting. Sources are telling us that earlier this month the CIA carried out a drone strike on a Venezuelan port facility. If confirmed, this marks the first known U.S. attack inside the country.

On Monday, President Trump was mostly tight-lipped when asked about the strike as he welcomed the Israeli Prime Minister to Mar-a-Lago.

CNN's Alayna Treene has the latest.

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ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: So, the president first brought this up during a radio interview with Republican donor John Catsimatidis on Friday, telling him that the U.S. had just knocked out what he called a big facility where the ships come from in Venezuela. And the White House and Trump administration did not offer any more details beyond that. But then CNN's Kevin Liptak pressed the president on this.

TRUMP: There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. They load the boats up with drugs. So, we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. It's the implementation area. That's where they implement. And that is no longer around.

TREENE: But it wasn't exactly clear what facility the president was referring to, nor where it was located. And then pressed whether it was the U.S. military or an entity like the CIA behind the operation, Trump would not say.

Now, one U.S. official did tell CNN that the president was describing a drug facility, but declined to provide further details about it. And there have been no reports from Venezuela of a major facility like the one the president described being destroyed. So depending really on what took place, this could be a major escalation of the president's ongoing military campaign against Venezuela and its leader, Nicolas Maduro.

I'd remind you that in recent months, the U.S. has amassed thousands of troops in the region. They've carried out a series of strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. And they've also issued a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers. And Trump, for his part, has repeatedly threatened strikes on land in Venezuela for weeks, even though he and some of his top officials, like the chief of staff, Susie Wiles, said that they would alert Congress before doing so.

Now, Trump administration officials have also previously told me that targets could include drug production facilities or known trafficking routes should they strike land targets in Venezuela.

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We also know that the president has authorized covert CIA action inside the country as part of its campaign to increase pressure on Maduro. The CIA did not comment on Trump's remarks today. But look, there's still a lot we don't know about this operation that Trump is referring to. And the administration is being very tight-lipped on the specifics. What we do know is that the president is looking for more ways to put even more pressure on Maduro.

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CHURCH: And in the Eastern Pacific, the U.S. military has carried out yet another deadly strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters. U.S. Southern Command says two men were killed in the attack on Monday. The total death toll under Operation Southern Spear now rises to at least 107 as the U.S. continues to expand its campaign against alleged narco-trafficking.

British boxer Anthony Joshua is lucky to be alive after a deadly car crash that killed two colleagues on what's considered to be the most dangerous road in Nigeria. What police say caused the fatal accident. That's next. [03:20:00]

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CHURCH: Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has died at the age of 80. Her death comes right before her potential political comeback in February's general elections.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery has more on the story.

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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Khaleda Zia came to power as Bangladesh's first female Prime Minister in 1991, serving another term from 2001. Her arch-rivalry with Sheikh Hasina, whose recent rule was toppled by student protests in 2024, defined the country's politics for a generation. Zia was married to Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated during an attempted coup in 1981.

Following his death, Zia helped build a mass movement against a military dictatorship that later came to power, finally ending in 1990. She then took office as prime minister, beating out Hasina, her then political against military rules.

Zia worked to reestablish the country as an electoral democracy and replaced presidential rule with a restored parliamentary system. Over the years she faced corruption cases that she claimed were politically motivated. Bangladesh's Supreme Court acquitted her of the last of those in January, which would have freed her to run in the country's next election in February.

The 80-year-old had advanced cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, diabetes, and chest and heart problems, according to her doctors. She had returned to Bangladesh in May after undergoing medical treatment in the United Kingdom. Despite years of ill health, Zia had promised to campaign in the upcoming election in which her Bangladesh nationalist party is expected to perform well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: British boxer Anthony Joshua is recuperating from minor injuries after being a passenger in a car crash in Nigeria that killed two of his associates. Authorities say the driver lost control of the SUV on a highway that's considered the most dangerous road in the country.

Larry Madowo has more.

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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anthony Joshua has called Ibadan one of his favorite cities to go to in Nigeria because his granddad lives there. And now there's a painful memory to go with it. The British boxer of Nigerian descent involved in a tragic accident while driving on the Lagos Ibadan Expressway. Joshua was on the back of this Lexus SUV that authorities say was speeding on that highway and lost control while overtaking, crashed into a stationary truck that was well parked on the side of the highway.

Two people were killed in this accident. The driver of the car Anthony Joshua was in and a passenger. Joshua survived with minor injuries and one of the passengers survived as well. Social media video shows Anthony Joshua getting pulled out of the wreckage of this car, which is in a bad state. He appears to be in pain in a daze, is walked across the road and into the passenger seat of a police vehicle and driven away for treatment.

It's an accident that has shocked Nigeria and the world, especially Anthony Joshua has recently been in the news after having knocked out Jake Paul in this well-publicized Netflix bout just a week ago. Hours before this accident, he had posted a video playing ping pong with one of his team members. And then this accident, people paying attention to it because Anthony Joshua is much beloved in that country, here in the U.K. and around the world. One of the most famous boxers out there, but a lot of people sending support, including President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria sending sympathies, many leaders, many in the country praying for him and sending condolences to those who were killed in this accident.

Larry Madowo, CNN, London.

CHURCH: Three people are dead following an avalanche in Spain's Pyrenees mountains. Authorities say they were part of a group of six who were cross-country skiing when the snow collapsed down the western face of the mountain, burying them. Two men and one woman were killed. A fourth person was injured while two others managed to escape and called for help.

One of the biggest stories of 2025 was Donald Trump's trade war. We will look at how his tariffs impacted three countries, in particular. That's just ahead.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Rosemary Church.

I want to check today's top stories for you.

The U.S. military has carried out another lethal strike on an alleged drug boat in the Eastern Pacific. U.S. Southern Command says Monday's operation killed two men in international waters. They say no U.S. forces were harmed in the strike.

The Israeli prime minister announced Monday that U.S. President Trump will receive the Israel Prize for Peace. It marks the first time Israel's highest civilian excellence honor will be awarded to a non- Israeli citizen. A source told CNN President Trump is considering attending the ceremony which is held on Israel's Independence Day.

President Trump says he held a productive phone call with Vladimir Putin amid efforts to end the war in Ukraine. And he says during that call the Russian leader told him that a Ukrainian drone attack had targeted one of his residences. A claim Kyiv has emphatically denied. Ukrainian President Zelensky said the alleged attack is a complete fabrication by Russia.

This year's big story for the global economy was Donald Trump's trade war. The U.S. president issued a series of punishing tariffs on countries around the world in April.

CNN's Anna Cooban looks at the impact on three countries, in particular.

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMICS REPORTER: Twenty-twenty-five has been a momentous year for global trade. When President Donald Trump took office again for the second time in January, everybody was scared of tariffs. And then on his liberation day, his so-called liberation day came in April, and he announced a lot of these reciprocal tariffs. It was a lot worse than expected, a lot higher than expected.

Now, this trade war has had far reaching implications, but to really get into it, I'll just focus on three countries to try and explain to you just how significant this has all been. So firstly, we've got the U.S. and China, two major trading partners. Well, second largest economy is China.

Now, after this reciprocal tariff debacle, we see China yanking up tariffs on the United States and then the United States responding in kind. We're now in this tit for tat trade war. But the impact on China has actually been fairly mixed. In fact, you might say in some cases it's been quite positive.

Now, China is the only country in the world that has logged a trade surplus. That's when people buy more things from China than China buys from them. It logged a surplus of a trillion dollars in just the first 11 months of the year. No other country has ever achieved that milestone. And we can see here that Chinese exports to many parts of the world, Europe up 10 percent, Africa up nearly 30 percent in that same time, that more than offsets this over 18 percent drop in Chinese exports to the United States.

However, it's not all so rosy for other countries. Switzerland, we see Switzerland here has got the, well, logged the steepest fall in its GDP and its economy during the third quarter this year since back in the pandemic, since the height of COVID. Now, many people were quite confused when President Trump announced a 39 percent tariff on Switzerland. Many people asking what did Switzerland ever do to the United States? That's now reached -- they're now reaching an agreement to lower that down to 15 percent. But as you can see, some of the damage has already been done.

Now to Canada, closest trading relationship with the United States. We saw the United States say they're going to put a 25 percent tariff on most Canadian goods, earliest year, a 50 percent tariff on aluminum and steel imports into the U.S. And this has had an impact on Canada's manufacturing sector. So, we've seen that since the start of the year, the sector has lost

over 36,000 jobs. In fact, the workforce in this sector is now the smallest. It's been since September 2021, again, when the country was reeling from the impact of the pandemic.

So, this year has been pretty big, a pretty big one for trade. Now we don't know what's going to happen in the next few years, how this is all going to play out. It could be that the Supreme Court overturns some of these reciprocal tariffs. They're currently looking into that right now. But whatever happens, we know that in many cases, the damage has already happened.

Anna Cooban, CNN, London.

CHURCH: Looking for a new job in the new year? Just ahead, a recruiting expert shares advice on how to stand out in the competitive job market. Back with that and more in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, here's a look at the business headlines. Iranians are protesting after the country's currency plummeted to a record low. Large crowds across Iran joined in the largest demonstrations in three years. Iran's rial plunged to 1.42 million to the U.S. dollar on Sunday. Iranian state TV is reporting the resignation of the head of Iran's central bank.

Former Lululemon CEO Chip Wilson has nominated three new directors amid a fight for control of the active wear company. Lululemon stock has lost more than 40 percent of its value this year. Wilson says new leadership is needed for the company to thrive, but another investment firm is also moving to assume control of the athletic brand.

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Beyonce is now a billionaire. According to Forbes, the milestone for the megastar comes after her record breaking 2023 world tour brought in nearly $600 million. Her success continued with her Grammy winning country album, Cowboy Carter. She's now the fifth musician to join the list, along with her husband Jay-Z, as well as Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, and Rihanna.

As we head into 2026, the new year means new beginnings and for some people, possibly a new career. In this installment of Consumer Watch, CNN's Jenn Sullivan sat down with a career expert to find out what it takes to stand out to recruiters.

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JENN SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Bringing in a new year means self- reflection and setting new goals. For some that may mean looking for a new job. In many career experts say January is a good time for job seekers.

DAWN FAY, RECRUITING EXPERT: In the new year you often see hiring opportunities increase out in the marketplace.

SULLIVAN: Dawn Fay with recruiting from Robert Half says a new year means a new annual budget for most companies, so they have more financial flexibility to add positions. But this is a tough climate for job seekers. The latest jobs report shows 105,000 jobs were lost in October and 64,000 jobs were added in November, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, a four-year high.

FAY: The jobs are there. It's more competitive to find the opportunities you're looking for.

SULLIVAN: Fay recommends broadening your job search. If you work in marketing, don't just apply to other marketing firms. Look for a marketing job in other industries.

FAY: Certainly, things are picking up in the energy sector because there's all talk about power and how are we going to power all these data centers to keep the A.I. work running.

SULLIVAN: Fay says tailor your resume and cover letter to each job you apply for. She says A.I. can be a useful tool to help you save time. Use the job description to help you come up with a rough draft.

FAY: You might again just want to tweak it to highlight your skills and the results that you've had from the work that you've done that could be really particular to that role that you are applying to.

SULLIVAN: Don't just apply through the company's website. Try and track down the hiring manager and email them directly as well. If you're currently unemployed, consider contract or temporary work. Take a class to develop new skills or even volunteer. Fay says that helps you explain any resume gaps.

For Consumer Watch, I'm Jenn Sullivan.

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CHURCH: As countries around the world prepare to celebrate the New Year, the party has already started in Scotland. This is Edinburgh's famous Hogmanay celebration. Bagpipers and drummers come to parade down the streets of the city. The procession even includes a group that celebrates Viking traditions.

I want to thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. World Sport is up.

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