‘Breakthrough’ raises hopes for Gaza ceasefire deal

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US-led mediators have sent the final draft of a ceasefire proposal to Israel and Hamas after a “breakthrough” in talks over a deal to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages.

People familiar with the matter said it left the warring parties the closest they have been to ending the 15-month conflict since at least July, when an earlier push to secure an agreement broke down.

“The final deal is now with all sides for approval,” a diplomat briefed on the Doha-based talks said, adding a “breakthrough” had been made around midnight on Monday. “The next 24 hours will be pivotal to reaching the deal.”

The optimism came after a flurry of diplomacy involving US president-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli spy chief David Barnea and Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani. Here’s the outline of the deal being discussed.

And here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• California fires: Weather forecasters warn that near “hurricane force” winds are expected to hit the region until tomorrow morning, fanning the devastating wildfires that have swept across Los Angeles.

• TikTok: Chinese officials are in preliminary talks about a potential option to sell TikTok’s operations in the US to billionaire Elon Musk, according to media reports.

• Congress: The US Senate armed services committee holds a confirmation hearing for former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of defence.

• Monetary policy: Jeffrey Schmid, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, speaks on the economic and monetary policy outlook. Federal Reserve Bank of New York president John Williams will make remarks at an event on affordable housing.

Join the FT in Davos as we provide live, on-the-ground analysis at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting next week. Register here for updates.

Five more top stories

1. Donald Trump faced “sufficient” evidence to have been convicted at trial for seeking to overturn the result of the 2020 US presidential election, according to special counsel Jack Smith who led the case against the president-elect. Read more on Smith’s final 137-page report.

2. Amazon is gearing up to relaunch its Alexa voice-powered digital assistant as an artificial intelligence “agent” that can complete practical tasks, as the tech group races to resolve the challenges that have dogged the system’s AI overhaul. But several hurdles remain, including its response speed and “hallucinations”.

3. Donald Trump’s plan to ramp up liquefied natural gas exports could provide a $1.3tn boost to the US economy, with the oil and gas industry poised to get the green light to build new export facilities and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico. The forecast from S&P Global is based on expectations the industry will double LNG export capacity over the next five years. 

4. Klarna is seeking buyers for a portfolio of US “pay in four” instalment loans in a bid to unlock capital for growth ahead of a public listing in New York. People familiar with the matter said the Swedish ‘buy now, pay later’ group was in talks about a sale of the loan book, including with banks such as Citigroup and Société Générale. Read the full story.

• Robinhood: The online broker yesterday agreed to pay a $45mn fine, one of a series of penalties levied by US regulators against financial groups.

• Goldman Sachs: The Wall Street bank is to build a new unit to expand its financing operations as it looks to combat mounting competition from private credit funds.

5. Mexico’s government yesterday launched a plan to shrink its yawning trade deficit with China and attract investment, in an olive branch to Donald Trump’s incoming US administration. Members of Trump’s team have expressed concern about China’s growing role in Mexico’s economy. Read more on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s “Plan Mexico”.

The Big Read

In a mirror image of the 2020 corporate rush to support social justice causes after the murder of George Floyd by a policeman, US corporate executives are reshaping the way they interact with customers, staff and society at large by scrapping diversity, equity and inclusion departments, cutting their support for racial diversity charities, and dropping out of climate change groups. Here’s more on how companies across America are hurrying to adjust to the new conservative zeitgeist.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Age isn’t just a number: When it comes to policymaking, how long people have been alive is not a good yardstick for judging who is “old”, writes Sarah O’Connor.

• ‘Donald of Dubai’: Meet Hussain Sajwani, the Emirati real estate mogul who built swaths of the Middle East’s glitziest commercial hub and made an ally of Trump.

• Pope Francis’s Hope: The pontiff’s mould-breaking memoir leaves questions unanswered, writes Henry Mance, but its humour and enthusiasm are hard to resist.

• A new Syria: The country where Sarah Dadouch grew up was a factory of fear. But now, she writes, Syrians everywhere are saying words they have not dared to for years.

Chart of the day

Once ignominiously labelled the “PIIGS” by some analysts, the tables have turned for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. Some 15 years after their debt crises once pushed the euro area close to breaking point, these European countries are now experiencing an unexpected economic boom.

Take a break from the news . . . 

A lot has changed in shopping in the past decade. Once, the ultimate New York City fashion experience was a Carrie Bradshaw-inspired trip to Barneys (now closed). Today online dominates. But in New York there is one type of fashion retail having an IRL moment: second-hand clothing. FT Globetrotter rounds up the best vintage and retro shops in the city.