📌 Ceasefire Talks, Tariff Vows, More

Israel looks set to approve a US plan for a ceasefire with Lebanon's Hezbollah today, a senior Israeli official said.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib shared this optimism, expressing hope at a G7 meeting in Italy that a ceasefire would be reached by Tuesday night.

The official said Israel's security cabinet is expected to convene later on Tuesday to discuss and likely approve the text at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This would pave the way for a ceasefire declaration by US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, four senior Lebanese sources said Monday.

In Washington, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Monday: ”We’re close, but nothing is done until everything is done.” The French presidency said discussions on a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah had made significant progress.

The agreement requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon's army to deploy in the region — a Hezbollah stronghold — within 60 days, officials say. Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.

President-elect Donald Trump will raise tariffs by 10% on Chinese goods entering the US, he said on social media site Truth Social.

The post immediately followed one in which Trump said his first of “many” executive orders on Jan. 20 would impose 25% tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada. Such a move would end a regional free trade agreement. He cited illegal immigration and illicit drug trade as reasons for the tariffs.

“Drugs are pouring into our country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before,” Trump said. “We will be charging China an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”

Mexico is the US’ largest trading partner, followed by Canada and China. China and the US still have a “really important commercial and economic relationship,” Andy Rothman, investment strategist at Matthews Asia, said, adding that China is unlikely to take reciprocal action for now.

NASA scientists surveying arctic ice sheets in Greenland found an abandoned “city under the ice” built by the US in the Cold War.

During a scientific flight in April 2024, a NASA Gulfstream III aircraft flew over the Greenland Ice Sheet carrying radar instruments to map its depth and the layers of bedrock below it. The images revealed a new view of Camp Century, a Cold War-era US military base with tunnels carved directly into the ice sheet.

As it turns out, this abandoned "secret city" was the site of a secret Cold War project known as Project Iceworm. It called for the construction of 2,500 miles of tunnels that could be used for nuclear intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) at the Soviet Union.

“We were looking for the bed of the ice and out pops Camp Century. We didn't know what it was at first,” said NASA's Chad Greene, a cryospheric scientist at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). “In the new data, individual structures in the secret city are visible in a way they've never been seen before.”

Construction on Camp Century began in 1959, but the base was abandoned in 1967 due to the costs and challenges of keeping the tunnels from collapsing in the ever-shifting ice sheet. Project Iceworm sought to use Northern Greenland as a launch site due to its proximity to the Soviet Union and its remote location.

Weapons, sewage, fuel and other contaminants were buried at Camp Century when it was abandoned. The US government said in 2017 that it “acknowledges the reality of climate change and the risk it poses” and will "work with the Danish government and the Greenland authorities to settle mutual security.”

Artificial intelligence can help you research travel destinations and simplify tasks, but can AI plan a trip or vacation better than you?

To answer that question, a travel reporter used Google's Gemini bot to explore travel options to Las Vegas, while a seasoned traveler relied on more conventional online tools to compare deals across flights, hotels and activities.

Using Google's Gemini AI app, the reporter spent under a minute on his mobile phone to generate a potential itinerary. The seasoned traveler spent about 45 minutes comparing deals and reviews across websites, including Expedia, Kayak and Tripadvisor.

The upshot? The reporter saved time, and the cost of a flight and three nights at a five-star hotel totaled $741.48, compared to $780.05 for the same itinerary the seasoned traveler rustled up. On the ground, the reporter tasked Gemini with creating an itinerary of free activities and events.

It directed him to the Bellagio Resort & Casino and suggested he visit a free botanical garden. “It didn't tell me they seasonally tear it down for a holiday display.” It also advised him that its morning fountain shows are less crowded than afternoon shows. “They are less crowded because there are no morning shows.”

The seasoned traveler, guided by her research, had fewer problems. The report concluded AI was a clear winner on speed but required human surveillance to check its accuracy. One AI travel tool company, GuideGeek, said its tech is 98% accurate but continually upgrades its information to advise users better.

Over 30 pilot whales stranded on a beach in New Zealand were safely returned to the ocean by lifting them onto sheets.

Conservation workers and residents helped to refloat them with the sheets, but four died. New Zealand's Indigenous people consider whales a taonga — a sacred treasure — of cultural significance, and a Māori ceremony took place on Monday.

New Zealand has recorded over 5,000 whale strandings since 1840. According to the Department of Conservation, the largest pilot whale stranding was of an estimated 1,000 whales at the Chatham Islands in 1918.

It's often unclear why strandings occur, but the island nation's geography is believed to be a factor. Both the North and South Islands feature stretches of protruding coastline with shallow, sloping beaches that can confuse species such as pilot whales, which rely on echolocation to navigate.

A South Korean man received a suspended sentence for gaining over 44 pounds to avoid a tougher military role.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men must serve in the military for 18-21 months, but individuals with health issues can instead carry out their duties at non-military facilities such as welfare centers and community service centers. If their problems are serious, they are exempted from their military duties.

The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the man to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for violating the country’s military service act. The court said an acquaintance of the man received a suspended one-year prison term for aiding his crime.

An exam in 2017 found the man suitable to become an active-duty soldier at 5 feet 6 inches and weighing 183 pounds. But on the advice of an acquaintance who said he could get a social service grade if he were overweight, he doubled his daily food consumption, eating high-calorie food.

In three physical exams from 2022–2023, the man weighed 225–231 pounds, which made him fit for social service. According to the court, he drank a lot of water just before the exams. The court said the man promised to fulfill his military duty faithfully.

With the help of a security camera, police caught a shoe thief stealing kids' footwear from a kindergarten in southwestern Japan.

A weasel with a tiny shoe in its mouth was spotted on the video footage after police installed three cameras in the school in the prefecture of Fukuoka.

Japanese customarily take their shoes off before entering homes. The vanished shoes were all slip-ons the children wore indoors, stored in cubbyholes near the door. The shoe-loving weasel only took the white indoor shoes made of canvas, likely because they’re light to carry.

The weasel scattered shoes around and took 15 before police were called. Six more were taken the following day. The weasel returned Nov. 11 to steal one more shoe. The camera footage of that theft was seen the next day.

Although the stolen shoes were never found, the remaining shoes are now safe at the kindergarten with nets installed over the cubbyholes. The weasel, believed to be wild, is still on the loose.