Zelensky and Netanyahu Go to Mar-a-Lago, and Student Loan Borrowers Face New Reality

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, December 29th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13President Trump is closing out the year with a pair of high-profile foreign policy meetings at Mar-a-Lago. We discussed a lot of points, and I do think we're getting a lot closer, maybe very close. Yesterday, Trump hosted Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky for talks about ending the war in Ukraine. There are one or two very thorny issues, very tough issues, but I think we're doing very well. We've made a lot of progress today. The two were discussing a 20-point peace plan they've been hashing out, and Trump said he'd talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than two hours as well. Russian officials, however, have been downplaying any peace talks.

0:50And over the weekend, the country's military carried out an hours-long drone and missile assault on Ukraine's capital. Now, today in Florida, President Trump is set to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The meeting comes as there have been growing tensions between the U.S. and Israel on at least three fronts. The Israeli military's ongoing attacks in Lebanon and Syria seem to be at odds with the Trump administration's efforts to stabilize both of those countries. Also in the West Bank, Netanyahu's right-wing political base is pushing him to annex the territory, despite warnings from Trump not to do that.

1:29And in Gaza, the fact that Israel has continued to carry out attacks there during the ceasefire with Hamas appears to have angered the White House. Since the truce went into effect more than two months ago, Palestinian officials say Israel has killed over 400 people, including more than 150 children. Israel says it has targeted only militants.

1:54Also, in one other foreign policy update. They have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard. President Trump said in a radio interview that the U.S. carried out a new strike last week that may be the first known attack on land in his escalating military campaign against Venezuela. U.S. officials the Times reached out to said Trump was referring to a drug facility, but declined to specify any details, and there have been no public reports of an attack from authorities in the region. Trump has been promising strikes on Venezuela for weeks as he turns up the pressure on the country's authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, who he's accused of being a narco-terrorist.

2:48Starting next week, the Department of Education says it's going to notify some student loan borrowers who are in default that the government will garnish their wages. That could mean having up to 15 percent of their take-home pay withheld. It's a return to standard practice of sorts after years of pandemic-era relief on student loans. Payments were paused entirely from 2020 to 2023. Even after the payments resumed, borrowers who defaulted weren't immediately penalized. But in the last year, those penalties have kicked back in. The first group to be notified about garnished wages will be small, roughly 1 ,000 people.

3:26That number's expected to go up on a monthly basis. About 5 million borrowers are in default total, and millions more are expected to be close to missing payments. Meanwhile, the longtime wisdom about student loans has been that there's no way to get out of them, even in bankruptcy, which can wipe away credit card and medical debt. Trying to erase student loans requires filing a separate lawsuit and undergoing a costly process with no guarantee of success. Most people don't even try. But a Biden-era change streamlined the process and provided clearer guidelines on who could qualify. Now, a new study shows that borrowers are succeeding.

4:08They must still show that their student loans are an undue hardship, a legal standard that Congress never defined, so courts across the country interpret it differently. But people who go through the process now have an 87 % success rate in dismissing most or all of their loans, more than double the rate two decades ago. A researcher behind the study told The Times, quote, quote, that's strikingly high when you think about the narrative being it's impossible.

4:42Across the country this weekend. We know this really could not have come at a worse time for those traveling for the holidays. Winter weather has been wreaking havoc as snow and winds have made travel difficult or impossible in many areas. You're taking a live look at LaGuardia and Newark airports. Hundreds of flights have been canceled. In New York this weekend, the city got its heaviest snowfall in nearly four years. Central Park saw more than four inches pile up and other parts of the region got as much as a foot or more. Meanwhile, in the Midwest, we are under a next weather alert, kind of obviously because it is messy out there.

5:20Forecasters are warning about a dangerous and potentially life-threatening storm that was set to bring blizzard conditions to the region through this morning. Images from the Weather Service show nearly white-out conditions on roads in Minnesota, causing portions of the interstate there to be shut down. The state patrol told residents to push back or scrap travel plans for now. Overall this weekend, tens of thousands of flights were delayed and several thousand were canceled.

5:50And finally. If you didn't know, IHOP sells protein pancakes. In 2025, the food world hit peak protein. Apparently this matcha place is like the best in San Diego. Matcha was everywhere. Oh man, look at all the lobster and shrimp. And classic chain restaurants like Chili's and Red Lobster proved they had staying power. Now the Times is looking ahead to 2026 food trends. Checking in with market researchers, industry executives, restaurant owners, etc. to see what we'll be eating next year. They say the ingredient of 2026 may be vinegar. Chefs and bartenders are embracing it for all kinds of things, whether it's pickling or mixing it into non-alcoholic drinks to give them more character or spritzing thyme-flavored vinegar on warm cookies, which is apparently a thing.

6:42Another trend? Grandma core cooking could be coming your way, with people looking to tap into traditional home-crafted foods like sauerkraut and things jarred and canned in small batches. 2026 could also be all about texture. Crunchy has been all the rage for a while, but food insiders now think Chewy is on track to be the new Crunchy. The full list of predictions is up at nytimes.com, including one that I'm truly trying to wrap my head around. And celery may start showing up everywhere, including in desserts.

7:22Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.