Here’s the biggest news you missed this weekend

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after a face-to-face meeting Sunday that they are close to a possible peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine but has not announced any major progress.

At a news conference following their meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the two leaders struck an optimistic tone while acknowledging that challenges remain.

“You can say 95%, but I don’t like to talk about percentages. I just think we’re doing very well,” Trump said. “There are one or two very thorny issues, very difficult, but I think we’re doing very well. We’ve made a lot of progress today.”

Asked by reporters what the issues were, Trump said it was “the land,” referring to the Donbass region, which Russia has demanded Ukraine cede.

Zelensky echoed these positive sentiments.

“We had a very good discussion,” he told reporters. “We discussed all aspects of the peace framework.”

He added that the agreement as a whole had been accepted by 90%, saying that security guarantees from the United States, Europe and Ukraine were “almost accepted.”

As for the timeline for finalizing a potential deal, Trump said the best-case scenario is “a few weeks.”

Hours before his meeting with Zelensky, the US president told Truth Social that he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday morning in what he called a “good and very productive phone call.”

Russia continues its offensive relentlessly. The meeting takes place just over a day after its launch a massive missile attack on the Ukrainian capitalkilling at least one person and injuring at least 20 others, according to the mayor of kyiv.

Brigitte Bardot, French actress and animal rights activist, dies at 91

The screen siren Brigitte Bardot, whose portraits of free-spirited ingénues made her an international sex symbol and the pride of France and who turned her back on movie stardom in 1973 to become an animal rights activist, has died, according to French media and the Associated Press.

She was 91 years old.

As a tribute, French President Emmanuel Macron said Bardot “embodied a life of freedom” and lived a “French existence.” Jordan Bardella, of the far-right National Rally party, which Bardot publicly supported in her final years, called her a “passionate patriot” who represented “an entire era in French history.”

The Bardot Foundation paid tribute to his animal rights legacy, from his trips to Arctic ice floes to help baby seals to his lobbying for animal welfare legislation and winning convictions for animal abusers.

Politics in brief

• Fighting for young men: Winning hearts and minds young men have been at the center of politics over the past year, and it is intensifying as the 2026 midterm elections approach.
• Future : Next year’s hotly contested primaries will serve as early battlegrounds in the fight for the future of both parties. Here are the key themes to watch out for.
• The fate of the Senate: Democrats still face an uphill battle to take control of the Senate but see a path forward amid Trump’s poor ratings on the economy and concerns about health care. These are the 10 races that will determine the balance of power.
• Faith and politics: The election of Zohran Mamdani as New York’s next mayor has become something bigger than a historic first for many Muslim New Yorkers: it is a rare event. moment of visibility and unity within the city’s Muslim community.

2026 will be the year NASA astronauts fly around the Moon again – if all goes according to plan

If everything goes as planned by NASA, 2026 will finally be the year when astronauts launch to the Moon again.

In a few months, four astronauts will prepare to fly around the moon for a mission of around 10 days – humans will have come the closest in more than half a century.

The flight, known as Artemis II, which could take off as early as February, would be a long-awaited boost to America’s lagging return to the Moon program. The mission is designed to usher in a new era of space exploration, with the goal of eventually establishing bases for long-term stays on the Moon before astronauts one day venture to Mars.

The Palisades fire destroyed senior living communities, but many are determined to return.

Pacific Palisades seemed like the perfect place to start again after Victoria Escalante lost everything she owned in the horrific 2018 Camp Fire in north-central California. The quaint village was exactly what she was looking for in retirement: family, community and a sense of security.

Escalante never imagined she would watch another one the neighborhood she called home turns to ashes.

The Palisades Fire was one of two infernos that ravaged large swaths of Los Angeles County in January. Among the hardest-hit places were assisted living facilities and retirement communities where seniors planned to spend their final years. Hundreds of patients and residents have been deprived of essential services.

Rebuilding has been slow across the Pacific Palisades burn scar. But nearly a year after the tragedy, senior living communities say returning home has given them a new sense of possibility.

“I believe everything will be fine again,” Escalante said.

Remarkable quote

There remains a humble shelter operating under a tent the last glimmer of hope for the injured and starving animal population in the war-ravaged Gaza Stripeven as its workers and volunteers face their own impossible conditions. With veterinary supplies in short supply during the conflict, the rescue project relied on expired medicines, human medications and its own food to a desperate extent to keep the cats and dogs alive.

In case you missed it

• A huge $400,000 worth of lobster stolen as he was headed to Costco stores, according to the lobster company’s president.
• Father of teenage girl who deputies say was kidnapped on Christmas Day found her use parental controls on your phoneaccording to Texas authorities.
• An Oklahoma man has been charged with first-degree manslaughter, accused of shooting a woman just blocks from her home. while shooting at a target in his backyard.
• The San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Bears will battle for first place in the NFC on “Sunday Night Football.” We cover all the action.
• At least one person is dead and another is seriously injured after the crash of two helicopters in Hammonton, New Jersey.
• A powerful storm system continues to disrupt travel, place 52 million people under winter weather alert from the northern plains to New England.