Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon joins The Takeaway from the BBC's offices in Washington D.C. to share his perspective. He's also the former Israeli Ambassador to the United States.

Israel and Hamas reached a cease-fire agreement that took effect at 9 p.m. local time (2p.m. Eastern). Both Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr formally announced the deal after negotiations took place in Cairo. The conflict has been escalating for the last week, with news of overnight air strikes on Gaza and a bus bombing in Tel Aviv earlier today preceding the announcement. Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt, explains the significance of the cease-fire.

Every year thousands of soccer balls are donated to the developing world by relief agencies. But they often go flat, so Tim Jahnigen, with the help of Sting and others, created a new type of ball that never wears out or needs a pump.

It's the day before Thanksgiving but here in New York City and just miles away in New Jersey, there is a looming feeling that thousands of people may not have a home, a dining table, or a kitchen to celebrate the holiday. Cindy Rodriguez, a reporter for WNYC, has been covering the story.

Big-money politics and Thanksgiving have a lot more in common than the presidential turkey pardoning. Todd Zwillich, Takeaway Washington correspondent, explains.

For this Thanksgiving's box office releases, Kristen Meinzer and Rafer Guzman, our Movie Date team, review four movies, including "Life of Pie."

A new film, “The Central Park Five,” tells the story of how the police, the media, and the justice system upended five lives. Ken Burns wrote, produced and directed the film, along with his daughter, Sarah Burns, and son-in-law, David McMahon.