5 things to know for Dec. 21: Holiday travel, Israel, Prisoner swap, Nuclear fusion, Toyota recall

By Alexandra Banner, CNN

(CNN) — Still need to send a few presents? Holiday shipping deadlines are quickly approaching for UPS, USPS, and FedEx if you’d like your items delivered in time for Christmas. Post offices are also facing their annual surge in mail volume in addition to inclement weather, so the sooner you send those packages the better.

Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.

1. Holiday travel

Some of the largest airlines in the US have entered their peak travel windows as millions of passengers take to the skies for the holidays. American Airlines, the country’s largest carrier, expects Friday, December 22, to be its busiest of the holiday travel period that began Wednesday. In all, the airline plans to serve 12.7 million passengers. Delta is expecting to serve around 9 million people in total, including 600,000 customers each day on December 21 and 22 as well as from December 26 to 30. The FAA also said holiday air traffic overall will peak today with the agency’s air traffic controllers handling nearly 49,000 flights. This comes as both the East and West coasts are facing poor weather conditions that could trigger travel delays and road closures ahead of the busy holiday weekend.

2. Israel

President Joe Biden said the US is still working through whether to support a UN Security Council resolution that calls for a suspension of hostilities in Gaza to allow more aid into the enclave after a much-delayed vote on the matter was pushed to today. Multiple UN agencies are backing calls for a halt in fighting as they warn of the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The wider UN General Assembly voted last week to demand an immediate ceasefire but the US has repeatedly blocked ceasefire calls in the Security Council. Meanwhile, a new survey of hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank suggests they back Hamas in its decision to go to war with Israel, seeing no alternative to armed struggle.

3. Prisoner swap

The US has reached an agreement to secure the release of 10 Americans held in Venezuela after months of high-level negotiations between the two countries. The deal will also include the extradition of Leonard Francis, the former military contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who orchestrated the largest corruption scandal in US Navy history. Biden reacted to the agreement Wednesday saying he was “grateful that their ordeal is finally over, and that these families are being made whole once more.” He went on to say that Francis would “face justice for crimes he committed against the US Government and the American people.” In exchange for Francis, Biden made what officials cast as a “difficult” decision to grant clemency to Alex Saab, an alleged financier to Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.

4. Nuclear fusion

Scientists have successfully replicated nuclear fusion at least three times this year — a process which, if mastered, could provide the world with a near-limitless source of clean power. Nuclear fusion is a reaction that involves smashing two or more atoms together to form a denser one in a process that releases huge amounts of energy — and leaves no legacy of long-lived radioactive waste. Last December, a group of California scientists managed, in a world first, to produce a nuclear fusion reaction that released more energy than it used, in a process called “ignition.” Now they say they have successfully replicated ignition at least three additional times in 2023. This marks another significant step in what could one day be an important solution to the global climate crisis, driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels.

5. Toyota recall

Toyota is recalling around 1 million vehicles over a sensor glitch that could cause the passenger airbag to fail to deploy in a crash. The recall involves 15 different 2020 and 2021 model year Toyota and Lexus models including the Toyota Camry, Rav4, Sienna and the Lexus RX350 and ES350. Specifically, the Occupant Classification System sensor that detects when someone is sitting in the front passenger seat could short circuit. In some of these vehicles the sensor was improperly manufactured and could fail to deploy in incidents when it should. Owners of the vehicles involved in the recall will be notified by February 2024, Toyota said.

BREAKFAST BROWSE

The good news generator of 2023
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2,300-year-old banquet hall found completely untouched underground in Rome
Archeologists recently discovered an intact Roman mosaic made of shells and coral that could be around 2,300 years old! See photos here.

Tinder expands pricey paid membership
The dating app company wants serious users to pay a whopping $6,000 a year to unlock features promising increased odds of meeting a partner.

Scooter-sharing company Bird files for bankruptcy
Bird became a global brand when it started stocking its scooters on city sidewalks in 2017. But after facing some bumps along the road, the company filed for bankruptcy this week and is now working to sell its US operations.

TODAY’S NUMBER

12
That’s how many astronauts have walked the surface of the moon. NASA plans to prepare more members to join that elite group in late 2024 as part of the Artemis II mission, which will pave the way for the first woman and first person of color to visit the lunar surface. On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announced plans to also send an international astronaut to the moon by the end of the decade as part of the Artemis program. No one has visited the moon since the final Apollo mission in 1972.

TODAY’S QUOTE

“The situation in the Suez Canal will result in delays and may cause availability constraints.”

— IKEA, announcing Wednesday that some furniture shipments will be delayed due to continued attacks on its commercial ships in the Red Sea. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants have said they are striking ships in the region as revenge against Israel for its ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

TODAY’S WEATHER

Check your local forecast here>>>

AND FINALLY …

Man decorates his home with 5 million lights
Meet a man who turned his family property into a holiday theme park. This year, he’s set to attract an estimated 100,000 visitors! Watch the video here.

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