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Take a look at the week in politics from December 18 through December 24.

A major typhoon is gaining strength as it draws closer to the Philippines, where it's expected to make landfall on Christmas Day.

A dramatic vote Friday at the United Nations Security Council likely marked the final chapter in President Barack Obama's troubled relationship with Netanyahu.

Israel slammed the Obama administration on Friday for failing to voice opposition to a draft UN resolution condemning settlement construction.

Trump transition officials have asked for the names of State Department officials working on efforts to counter violent extremism, two State Department officials familiar with the questionnaire confirmed to CNN.

A quintessential rocker with tight blue jeans and long hair, Britain's Rick Parfitt died of an infection just two months after quitting Status Quo, the band that launched him into stardom.

The 2-year-old son of a Cleveland police officer accidentally shot and killed himself with his father's service weapon. Footage courtesy WJW.

A Florida man has been arrested over Facebook posts that federal authorities claim included threats to kill or physically harm President-elect Donald Trump.

The Minnesota Vikings' trip to play the Green Bay Packers got off to a rough start when their plane skid off the runway in Appleton, Wisconsin. A fire ladder had to be called in to get the players off the plane.

The Nigerian army has captured Boko Haram's "last enclave" in Sambisa Forest, President Muhammadu Buhari said Saturday as he warned the militant fighters they "no longer have a place to hide."

A New York Republican who served as Donald Trump's campaign co-chair in the state is under fire for saying he hopes President Barack Obama will die of Mad Cow disease and making racist comments about first lady Michelle Obama.

Tiger Woods can add President-elect Donald Trump to his power list of golf partners.

Russian President Vladimir Putin depicts the Democratic Party as "sore losers," claiming that they are looking for someone to blame for their defeat.

Thousands of protesters, including some dressed as Santa Claus, took to the streets of Seoul on Saturday to urge South Korea's Constitutional Court to rule quickly in the case of impeached President Park Geun-hye.

Authorities in Malta are dealing with the "potential hijack" of a Libyan airliner said to be heading to the country, its prime minister said Friday.

The binge just begins at Thanksgiving. First, it's food. Then, it's shopping. It continues straight through Christmas, almost regardless of your religion, and explodes in a finale of champagne, more food and staying up late on New Year's Eve. Whew. It's been one hell of a month and a half.

At a press conference, University of Oklahoma football player Joe Mixon apologized for a 2014 altercation where he punched a woman in the head after she accosted him. The incident was caught on surveillance video.

Nearly six months after a homemade bomb blew off the foot of a visiting college student in New York's Central Park, investigators have run out of leads.

Nigerian authorities have seized 2.5 metric tons of reportedly fake rice during the holiday season.

A group of 13 dinosaurs that died in a mud pit in China has yielded an unprecedented discovery.