UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump discussed Ukraine and Gaza during a pre-Christmas phone call on Sunday, according to a statement released by Downing Street in London.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated the first Christmas since his election by denouncing the suffering of people of Gaza – taking shelter in tents from the “rain, wind and cold” – and by calling for the guns to fall silent in Ukraine.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is weighing in on Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas peace efforts and defending the Trump administration’s increasing military pressure on Venezuela during a rare, end-of-