Happy Friday! We were sad to learn of the death of legendary baseball play-by-play announcer and former player Bob Uecker, who died at age 90 Thursday. Uecker—whose voice was the summer soundtrack to many a Brewers fan through the decades—was the rare non-national commentator who transcended not just his own team but the sport itself. Over the decades he racked up plenty of pop culture highlights, but this TV ad for Miller Lite in 1983 will remain one of our favorites. Farewell to a legend.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• After an eleventh-hour crisis threatened to derail the U.S.-announced deal between Israel and Hamas yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Friday that the agreement will go forward as planned. The phased ceasefire and hostage release deal was signed in Doha, Qatar, Thursday night and is scheduled to take effect on Sunday afternoon. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir—a far-right member of Netanyahu’s coalition—formally threatened on Thursday to withdraw his party from the government if the deal goes through, but the move alone wouldn’t topple the ruling coalition. The Israeli security cabinet is set to meet on Friday to hold a vote on the deal, but the full cabinet is not expected to convene until Saturday night.
• China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported Friday morning that the country’s gross domestic product grew by 5 percent last year, bolstered by rising exports and robust investment. Economic activity was particularly strong in the final months of the year—the statistics agency said that the Chinese economy grew 5.4 percent year-over-year in Q4 2024, exceeding economists’ expectations. But the top-line figures, if accurate, belie other indicators pointing toward a weaker economic performance, including low consumer spending and continued fallout from the country’s real estate crash. 
• The Treasury Department on Thursday leveled sanctions against the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, over his military’s alleged indiscriminate attacks on civilian sites and denial of food aid as a war tactic. Also on Thursday, the New York Times reported that al-Burhan had, according to U.S. officials, used chemical weapons on at least two occasions during his forces’ ongoing civil war against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group. The revelations followed Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s announcement last week formally accusing the RSF of committing genocide in Sudan for ethnically motivated attacks in Sudanese territory under its control. 
• President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Thursday aimed at bolstering federal agencies and contractors’ safeguards against cyberattacks. The new rules require software firms selling to government agencies to demonstrate that their products meet basic cybersecurity requirements and give the federal government more authority to sanction hackers who attack critical infrastructure, among other things. The action followed news last month of a major hack targeting the Treasury Department, in which—Bloomberg News reported Thursday—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s computer was breached.
• Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani reached a settlement on Thursday in the $148 million defamation lawsuit against him, avoiding trial. The former Trump attorney was ordered in October to turn over personal assets to two Georgia election workers who won a defamation suit against him after he falsely claimed they committed election fraud in the 2020 elections. Details of the settlement have not been disclosed, but Giuliani said on X that he would retain his New York and Florida properties and personal belongings. “This resolution does not involve an admission of liability or wrongdoing by any of the Parties,” he added. “I am satisfied with and have no grievances relating to the result we have reached.”
• Firefighters continued to make slow progress against wildfires in and around Los Angeles on Thursday, as high winds abated. The Palisades and Eaton fires—which combined currently cover roughly 38,000 acres—have been 27 percent and 55 percent contained, respectively. At least 27 people have died in the natural disaster that began last week.