An ABC News graphic shows the weather forecast for Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — A new winter storm is moving east on Monday, bringing dangerous wind, snow and ice to millions.
Wind gusts up to 45 mph are possible in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.
Gusts up to 65 mph are possible in Cleveland, Ohio, Michigan and parts of Pennsylvania, where high wind warnings are in effect.
A blizzard warning is in effect across parts of Iowa, Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. Heavy snow and wind gusts up to 50 mph are creating whiteout conditions. Minneapolis was under a winter weather advisory Monday morning due to the blowing snow.
Marquette, Michigan, has reported a foot of snowfall, and parts of Minnesota already reported 6 inches as the snow continues to fall Monday morning.
In Northeast, the main danger Monday morning is ice.
An ice storm warning is in effect from New York through much of Vermont, where 4 to 7 tenths of an inch of ice is possible. This amount of ice makes travel extremely dangerous and can down trees and powerlines.
By noon on Monday, the snow will be moving east, impacting Michigan, Ohio, western Pennsylvania and western New York.
Rain will be impacting Boston to Maine on Monday afternoon as the icing continues in upstate New York and Vermont.
By 6 p.m. Monday, the rain will be ending in Boston and the lake effect snow will kick off across northeast Ohio, northeast Pennsylvania and upstate New York.
That lake effect snow machine will continue through much of this week.
Places like Orchard Park, New York, outside of Buffalo, could see 1 to 3 feet of snow this week, and wind gusts up to 65 mph could create whiteout conditions at times.
A large flash is seen in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 13, 2025. (ABC News)
(LONDON) — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Tehran is in a “full-scale” war with the U.S., Israel and Europe, describing the country’s diplomatic situation as “complicated and difficult.”
“In my opinion, we are in a full-scale war with America, Israel, and Europe; they do not want our country to stand on its feet,” Pezeshkian said in a lengthy interview posted to the official website of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
“This war is worse than the war in Iraq with us; if one understands well, this war is much more complicated and difficult,” Pezeshkian added, referring to the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
Pezeshkian said that despite sanctions and foreign pressure, Iran remains steadfast and capable of defending its national interests.
The interview was published ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S., where he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the latter’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Iran is among the topics expected to be under discussion.
The meeting is expected to be on advancing the Gaza peace plan, disarming Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza and the fate of the last hostage still remaining in the Strip, a spokesperson for the Israeli foreign ministry said before the Israeli delegation departed on Sunday for the U.S. The spokesperson added that Netanyahu’s agenda is expected to include the “danger Iran poses” to both the Middle East and United States.
The U.S. and Israel combined to attack Iran in June during a 12-day conflict that killed some 1,100 Iranians and saw strikes against Iran’s key nuclear facilities, its air defense network and prominent military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sites around the country.
Senior military, IRGC and nuclear research personnel were among those killed. Retaliatory missile attacks by Iran killed 28 people in Israel.
In the lead up to and during the June conflict, Netanyahu repeatedly hinted that Israel may pursue a regime change strategy in Iran, seeking to topple the Khamenei-led theocracy there. “This is your opportunity to stand up,” Netanyahu said in an address to Iranians during the war.
Trump even raised the prospect of killing Khamenei in the days before the U.S. joined Israel’s campaign. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote on social media. “He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.”
The months since the conflict have seen little progress on a new deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program or cap its ballistic missile arsenal — two goals long expressed by Trump.
Earlier this month, Trump said that Iran “can try” to rebuild its ballistic missile program, but “it’s going to take them a long time to come back.”
“But if they do want to come back without a deal, then we’re going to obliterate that one, too,” Trump said. “You know, we can knock out their missiles very quickly, we have great power.”
Netanyahu will meet with Trump on Monday shortly after Iran conducted a major military exercise involving ballistic missiles. Referring to recent Iranian activity, Netanyahu warned last week that “any action against Israel will be met with a very severe response.”
At home, the Iranian regime faces serious economic challenges as the country’s currency — the rial — edged lower over recent weeks, causing widespread dissatisfaction and protests.
Over the weekend, groups of shop-owners closed their businesses in two large malls in downtown Tehran protesting the rapid drop in the value of the rial.
Pezeshkian was elected to replace late President Ebrahim Raisi — who died in a helicopter crash in 2024 — with the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s presidential election history. He was widely seen as a moderate alternative to hardliners aligned with the IRGC.
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) welcomes President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) at his Mar-a-Lago residence for a meeting and closed-door lunch afterwards in Florida, United States on December 28, 2025. (Photo by Ukranian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s “peace efforts” after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the White House on Sunday to discuss a possible peace deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.
“The whole world appreciates President Trump and his team’s peace efforts,” Dmitriev, who also serves as the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and has been closely involved in negotiations with U.S. representatives, said in a post to X.
Dmitriev also posted criticism of what he called “UK/EU warmongers” for their continued backing of Ukraine, echoing the established Kremlin narrative that seeks to frame U.S. diplomatic efforts as being undermined by NATO and European allies.
Trump and Zelenskyy met at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
Before the meeting, Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. The call was “organized at the initiative of Trump,” Ushakov said, as quoted by Russia’s state-run Tass news agency.
After his meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump told reporters that the negotiating teams are “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to achieving a peace deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion, which Moscow launched in February 2022.
“We had a terrific meeting. We discussed a lot of things. As you know, I had an excellent phone call with President Putin that lasted for over two hours. We discussed a lot of points, and I do think we’re getting a lot closer,” Trump said.
The president said the two leaders covered “95%” of the issues needed to end the war. Trump then detailed a call with European leaders after his bilateral meeting with Zelenskyy, indicating that it went well.
The thorniest negotiating issues still appeared unsettled following the White House meeting. Both Trump and Zelenskyy said the question of Ukrainian territorial concessions — specifically regarding the eastern Donbas region — was yet to be agreed upon.
Russia wants Ukrainian forces to withdraw from the entirety of the Donbas — which is formed of Donetsk and Luhansk regions — in exchange for a peace deal. Zelenskyy has instead proposed a “demilitarized zone” covering the area.
Trump also again dismissed the idea of an immediate ceasefire to facilitate subsequent peace negotiations, which Ukraine has repeatedly proposed. Instead, Trump indicated sympathy with Putin’s demand for a full peace deal before any halt to the fighting.
“He feels that look, you know, they’re fighting and to stop and then, if they have to start again, which is a possibility, he doesn’t want to be in that position,” Trump said of Putin. “I understand that position.”
Zelenskyy nonetheless gave a positive readout of his White House visit in subsequent posts to social media.
“Thank you to President Trump and his team for the negotiations,” he wrote on Telegram. “Thank you to the United States for their support. Together, we have and can implement our vision of a series of steps towards peace.”
Zelenskyy described the talks as “a wonderful meeting,” which included “a meaningful discussion on all issues and highly appreciate the progress made by the Ukrainian and American teams over the past few weeks.”
Zelenskyy also thanked presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have been fronting the White House’s recent shuttle diplomacy.
“We discussed all aspects of the peace framework and achieved significant results. We also discussed the sequence of further actions,” Zelenskyy said.
“We agree that security guarantees are key to achieving lasting peace, and our teams will continue to work on all aspects. We agreed that our teams will meet next week to finalize all discussed issues,” he added.
Trump, Zelenskyy said, agreed to host Ukrainian and European leaders in Washington, D.C., in January for further talks. “Ukraine is ready for peace,” Zelenskyy said.
Trump said if things go “really well,” a peace settlement could be reached in “a few weeks.” It’s also possible that a breakthrough never comes.
“But you know, in a few weeks we will know one way or the other,” Trump said, adding, “It’s been a very difficult negotiation.”
On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Trump will speak over the phone again “in the very near future.” Peskov said the Kremlin did not yet know the outcome of the Sunday talks in Florida, but said Moscow agrees with Trump’s statement that peace is “significantly closer.”
As to a possible call between Putin and Zelenskyy, Peskov said, “There is no talk of such a conversation at this time.”
Responding to questions from journalists while traveling back from Florida on Monday, Zelenskyy gave more details on the ongoing peace talks.
Asked by ABC News whether Ukraine has a plan B, Zelenskyy said, “Ukraine has always had plan A, which is peace.”
“We never wanted war. And in Russia plan A was the war. Therefore, in my opinion, Russia should already think about plan B, about ending the war,” he continued.
Zelenskyy also said he was open to a phone call with Putin, as well as “any options” that can help end the war.
Talks are ongoing as to U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. The current term of the proposed guarantee is 15 years with the possibility of extension, he added. Kyiv is pushing to extend that term to 30 to 40 years, Zelenskyy said.
Kyiv and Moscow continued their exchange of nightly long-range strikes overnight into Monday, though their scale was somewhat muted compared with major attacks in recent days.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 25 drones into the country overnight, of which 21 were shot down or suppressed. Four drones impacted at two locations, the air force said.
Sunday night’s attack was the smallest since the one launched on the night of June 27 to 28, according to air force data analyzed by ABC News.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said it downed at least 112 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Flight restrictions were introduced at airports in Krasnodar, Kaluga and Pskov during the overnight attacks, said Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya.
ABC News’ Natalya Kushnir, Nataliia Popova, Yulia Drozd and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
Waters of Monterey Bay, Monterey, California, August 5, 2025. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
(MONTEREY, Calif) — A body has been discovered near where a swimmer who may have been attacked by a shark went missing last week, officials in California said in an update on Sunday.
The woman’s body was recovered from the ocean south of Davenport Beach, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
Due to the close proximity to the recent shark attack victim in Monterey County, the agency said it is working closely with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and the Pacific Grove Police Department regarding the recovery.
The swimmer — who was identified by officials as 55-year-old Erica Fox — was reported missing just after noon on Dec. 21 at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove in Monterey Bay, according to a joint statement from the Coast Guard and the cities of Pacific Grove and Monterey.
Fox’s father confirmed to ABC’s Santa Cruz affiliate KSBW on Sunday that family members identified the body as Fox, based on the clothing she was wearing.
Fox was wearing a shark deterrent anklet when she disappeared, family members said, according to KSBW.
After her disappearance, two witnesses said the swimmer “may have encountered a shark,” the statement said. One person reported seeing a shark with a body in its mouth before it submerged, a Coast Guard official said.
A decision to suspend the search last week was made following a total of more than 15 hours of search operations covering an area of more than 84 square nautical miles, according to officials.
Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove and McAbee Beach and San Carlos Beach in Monterey were closed through Tuesday, the officials said.
ABC News’ Tristan Maglunog and Amanda Morris contributed to this report.
2025 will go down as the year of Morgan Wallen, not just in country music, but across the board, as Billboard declared him the most successful music maker of the year.
Hefinishes 2025 at #1 on Billboard‘s Top Artists ranking for the first time, on the strength of his I’m the Problem album. The record debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on May 31, going on to spend a dozen weeks at the top.
Along the way, Morgan also staged a massive stadium trek, starting in Houston in June and playing 20 shows in 10 cities before wrapping in September in Edmonton, Alberta.
Appropriately, the title track of both the album and tour came together on an earlier run.
“[Producer] Charlie [Handsome] had sent me probably 10 or 12 instrumentals while we were out on the road,” Morgan recalls. “And that one stood out to me for whatever reason, you know.”
“And [ERNEST] was opening up for me,” he continues, “and after he got done with his set, I called him over to my bus and said, ‘Hey, let’s mess around with this track.’ So me and him wrote the majority of the song, probably in like 30 minutes on my bus before I was going to go play a show.”
Morgan’s I’m the Problem comes in at #2 on the year-end Billboard 200 albums ranking, right behind Taylor Swift‘s The Life of a Showgirl. He also charted more titles on the Hot 100 than any other artist, with an incredible 41 making the list. Nine of those reached the top 10.
December would bring more impressive news about Morgan’s career, as the RIAA declared him the top-selling country artist of all time, moving 265.5 million units. That also makes him the third-most-certified artist in any genre, behind Drake and Taylor.
Morgan will be back to be the problem again in 2026, as he launches his Still the Problem Tour April 10 in Minneapolis. He’ll play more than 20 shows before wrapping Aug. 1 in Philadelphia.
It’s always sad to say goodbye to our favorite musicians when they pass away, and 2025 was certainly a tough year.
The music world lost a true legend on June 11 when Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson died in his sleep at the age of 82. He was living with dementia at the time and had been placed under a conservatorship in early 2024 following the death of his wife, Melinda Wilson.
Another influential artist we lost in 2025 was Sly Stone, of Sly and the Family Stone, who passed away June 9 at the age of 82. A statement revealed that he died “after a prolonged battle with COPD and other underlying health issues.”
The rock world was in shock when news broke that Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne died on July 22 at the age of 76. His death came barely three weeks after he made his final onstage appearance at the 10-hour all-star Back to the Beginning concert in his hometown of Birmingham, England. He was laid to rest in Birmingham, with fans lining the city’s streets to pay their respects.
And Ace Frehley, guitarist and founding member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band KISS, died on Oct. 16 at the age of 64. His death came just weeks after he canceled the remainder of his 2025 tour due to health issues.
Here are some of the other music figures who died in 2025, in chronological order:
Jan. 7: Peter Yarrow, of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, 86.
Jan. 10: Sam Moore, the tenor half of the iconic soul duo Sam & Dave, 89.
Jan. 21: Garth Hudson, keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist who was the last surviving member of The Band, 87.
Jan. 30: British singer Marianne Faithfull, best known for her hit “As Time Goes By” and for her association with The Rolling Stones, 78.
Feb. 23: Chris Jasper, a member of the R&B group The Isley Brothers, 73.
Feb. 24: R&B singer Roberta Flack, best known for such songs as “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “Where Is the Love,” 88.
Feb. 24: Robert John, best known for the #1 single “Sad Eyes,” 79.
Feb. 28: David Johansen, lead singer and last surviving original member of the New York Dolls,who also found fame in the ’80s and ’90s as the throwback crooner Buster Poindexter, 75.
March 16: Jesse Colin Young, the voice heard on the Youngbloods‘iconic hit “Get Together,” 83.
April 6: Clem Burke, drummer and founding member of Blondie,70.
April 29: Mike Peters, frontman of Welsh rock band The Alarm, 66.
June 18: Lou Christie, best known for the 1966 #1 hit “Lightin’ Strikes,” 82.
June 23: Mick Ralphs, guitarist and founding member of Mott the Hoople and Bad Company, 81.
June 24: Former teen idol Bobby Sherman, 81.
July 16: Connie Francis, singer of such hits as “Pretty Little Baby” and “Who’s Sorry Now?,” 87.
July 22: Chuck Mangione, Grammy-winning jazz bandleader best known for 1978’s “Feels So Good,” 84.
Aug. 4: Terry Reid, the British musician who’s most famously known for turning down offers to front Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, 75.
Aug 10: Bobby Whitlock, pianist, guitarist and songwriter who formed Derek and the Dominoes with Eric Clapton,77.
Sept. 5: Mark Volman, founding member of the rock band The Turtles, 78.
Sept. 6: Rick Davies, founding member of Supertramp who wrote and sang lead on their top-40 hit, “Goodbye Stranger,” 81.
Sept. 19: Sonny Curtis, a member of Buddy Holly‘s Crickets,who also wrote The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song, 88.
Sept. 25: Chris Dreja, a co-founder of the Yardbirds,78.
Oct. 10: John Lodge, bassist and vocalist of the progressive rock band Moody Blues, 82.
Oct. 22: David Ball, the multi-instrumentalist who, along with singer Marc Almond, rose to fame as the ’80s synth pop group Soft Cell, 66.
Nov. 2: Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, vocalist for the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979, 78.
Nov. 5: Gilson Lavis, former drummer for the band Squeeze,74.
Nov. 24: Jimmy Cliff, Grammy Award-winning reggae singer and actor, 81.
Dec. 3: Steve Cropper, guitarist for Booker T. and the M.G.’s, 84.
Dec. 14: Carl Carlton, singer of hit tracks “Everlasting Love” and “She’s a Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked),” 72.
Zoe Saldaña stars as Neytiri in ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash.’ (20th Century Studios)
Avatar: Fire and Ash has burned up the box office again.
The third film in James Cameron‘s epic sci-fi series retained its #1 spot over the Christmas holiday weekend, taking in an additional $64 million, according to Box Office Mojo. So far, the film has earned $760 million worldwide. Disney’s animated sequel Zootopia 2 returned to the #2 spot with $20 million.
Of the new films making their debuts in wide release over the holiday weekend, A24’s Marty Supreme, featuring Timothée Chalamet as an aspiring ping pong champion and con artist, did the best, taking the #3 spot with just under $15.6 million.
Another new film, Anaconda, starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black, came in at #5 with just under $14.6 million, while a third new wide release, Song Sung Blue, arrived at #8 with $7.6 million. That film, based on the true story of a real-life couple who form a Neil Diamond tribute band, is generating Oscar buzz for Kate Hudson, who co-stars opposite Hugh Jackman.
Here are the top 10 films at the box office:
1. Avatar: Fire and Ash — $64 million 2. Zooptopia 2 — $20 million 3. Marty Supreme — $15.59 million 4. The Housemaid –– $15.4 million 5. Anaconda — $14.55 million 6. David –– $12.7 million 7. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants — $11.2 million 8. Song Sung Blue — $7.6 million 9. Wicked: For Good — $5.3 million 10. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 — $4.4 million
Disney is the parent company of 20th Century Studios and ABC News.
Robin Roberts returns to recap the biggest moments of the past 12 months in The Year: 2025. This marks the 15th year of the ABC News special, which Robin says has become a meaningful way for many families to reflect on the year that was.
“It’s really become a tradition for a lot of families,” she tells ABC Audio. “They sit down with their kids, and they’re like, ‘It is the holidays … Let’s remember all that happened this year and what we’re gonna look forward to in the new year.’”
For those who haven’t yet made the show part of their annual tradition, Robin says it’s worth adding because “ABC News is the best.”
She notes David Muir “will give you all the moments that were so important, both here in this country and abroad,” while special contributors will highlight “pop culture moments,” including a breakdown of the six-seven viral phrase.
“I really appreciate the breadth of what we do, the seriousness of what do,” she says. “But also how we can find the joy, the pop culture, those moments that bring people together.”
Reflecting on her 15 years hosting The Year, Robin says it’s allowed her to reflect on her own life, reminding her that “this too shall pass.”
“[I’ve learned] to realize that everybody’s got something and to recognize the something that people are going through” she says, noting stories in the special can resonate deeply with viewers.
“They can go like, ‘Okay, that person got through it. It’s not exactly what I’m going through, but I’m gonna get through it too’,” she adds. “It’s really, really helped me to understand something that a dear friend, Pat Summitt,the legendary coach at [the University of] Tennessee [said]: ‘Left foot, right foot, breathe. Keep moving, keep believing.'”
Brigitte Bardot in 1963. (John Kisch Archive/Getty Images)
Brigitte Bardot, the French movie icon and sex symbol and animal rights activist, has died. She was 91.
The news was announced on the website of her Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals, with a banner reading, “Thank you Brigitte. A lifetime and a foundation dedicated to serving animals.”
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its Founder and President, Mrs. Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to give up her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her Foundation,” read a statement.
A spokesperson for the Foundation told the Associated Press that Bardot died Sunday at her home in France. No cause of death was announced.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, wrote on X, “Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals … Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom. French existence, universal brilliance. She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
Bardot initially studied ballet, but then became a model, which led to her being cast in a number of films. Her breakthrough was 1956’s And God Created Woman, written and directed by her then-husband, Roger Vadim. Her portrayal of a hedonistic young woman made her a worldwide star, sex symbol and style icon, while the film was credited with paving the way for French filmmakers and movies to find a global audience.
Bardot became so revered in France that from 1969 to 1972, she became the model for “Marianne,” the female figure who has personified the country since the French Revolution.
Bardot went on to work with directors like Jean-Luc Godard and Louis Malle, earning acclaim and the French Legion of Honor. She retired from acting in 1973 and devoted her life to protecting animals, establishing her Foundation in 1986.
Later in life, Bardot became controversial for her right-wing politics and was convicted and fined multiple times by French courts for “inciting racial hatred.”
