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Today's top stories
The Israeli security cabinet meeting to vote on a ceasefire deal with Hamas is set for today. The agreement would halt more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza. The meeting comes two days after mediators announced the deal and a day after some ministers in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet delayed the vote.
- 🎧 After the cabinet vote, it will still need to be approved by the larger government and it could still be challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court, NPR's Kat Lonsdorf tells Up First. It could be several days until the ceasefire actually goes into effect. It was supposed to begin on Sunday, but it could be Monday. Netanyahu's office said Hamas had last-minute changes to the deal that needed to be worked through, but Hamas denied that. With no ceasefire currently in place, Israeli airstrikes have continued in Gaza. Over 100 Palestinians have been killed since the deal's announcement Wednesday night, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the looming TikTok ban. The law banning the app nationwide, passed by Congress and signed by President Biden, will take effect in two days. TikTok users, backed by the company, want the Supreme Court to weigh in, saying the ban is unconstitutional.
- 🎧 NPR's Bobby Allyn says when he was covering the Supreme Court's oral arguments last week, Justices seemed skeptical of TikTok's argument that a ban violates free speech. TikTok has asked the court to stay the ruling until President-elect Donald Trump is in office. Trump has promised to save the app and there are a number of ways he could do that. He could push off the ban's start date and cut a deal for selling the app off or just tell his administration to back off the law.
- ➡️ American TikTok users are flooding the Chinese social media app RedNote. Here's what we know about it.
A polar vortex will usher in frigid temperatures and life-threatening conditions for millions of Americans this weekend and into next week. During the winter, the polar vortex, which is an area of low pressure and cold air that surrounds the Earth's poles, can expand. Areas like the South and Mid-Atlantic, which are unaccustomed to freezing, will not be spared. Trump's second swearing-in on Monday will feature the coldest air of the season in Washington, D.C. It is expected to be the coldest Inauguration Day since President Ronald Reagan's in 1985 when, by noon, temperatures only reached 7 degrees, according to historical data.
25 goals for 2025
Can't decide on a resolution for 2025? NPR's Life Kit has expert guides to make any goal a reality. We'll share a few of them every week this month. View all 25 guides here.
When our homes are at their messiest, we can feel shame. Remember that this is not a moral failing. You don't exist to serve your space; it is the contrary, says KC Davis, a licensed therapist and author of How to Keep House While Drowning. Davis has a "Five Things Tidying Method" to restore a messy room.
- 🧽 In any space, there are only five things: trash, dishes, laundry, things that have a place, and things that don't. Tackle them in this order.
- 🧽 Grab a trash bag or can and move around the room collecting garbage, but don't take it out yet. Continue to work on this until the space is livable again.
- 🧽 Gather all the dirty dishes and find a place to pile them. It can be a sink or even a laundry basket without holes in the bottom.
- 🧽 Collect laundry that's lying around. Try not to get stuck on this step and put it aside to be washed later.
Check out the rest of the steps to help you declutter before cleaning.
Life Kit has several more guides to help you navigate life skills in 2025. Check out some of them here:
- ➡️ Here are some science-backed strategies to help improve your memory skills.
- ➡️ Kevin Curry founded FitMenCook, a meal-prepping community with over 1.6 million followers on Instagram. These are some of his favorite meal-prepping hacks.
- ➡️ Do you want to get a tattoo but are not sure what to expect in the process? Check out this advice from Noemi Barajas, who works at The Original Goodfellas Tattoo and Piercing in Orange, Calif.
- ➡️ You might not be a morning person, but here are some tips to help you get up earlier.
Weekend picks
Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend:
🍿 Movies: Make room for these eight underseen and off-the-beaten-path movies from 2024 that didn't have big names, big studios and big marketing departments behind them.
📺 TV: Betty Gilpin plays a mom determined to get her and her son across the frontier in the Western series American Primeval. Along the way, they get caught up in a brewing war between the federal government and a Mormon militia.
📚 Books: Here are 12 books that, once you finish, you just have to tell someone about. They could make a great addition to your book club's lineup.
🎵 Music: In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr., pianist Lara Downes examines how musicians have followed in his footsteps. Listen to the playlist featuring many of them, including Bob Dylan, Odetta and Sam Cooke.
🎮 Games: Check out NPR's 25 most-anticipated games to be released this year.
❓ Quiz: Wow! Another week, another perfect score for me. Do you think you can match that?
3 things to know before you go
- President Biden announced that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug crimes, who are serving significantly longer sentences than they would receive today.
- Hino Motors, a Toyota subsidiary that produces commercial trucks, has pleaded guilty to submitting false emissions data to regulators for more than 100,000 heavy-duty trucks. The company will pay $1.6 billion in fines and penalties.
- Conan O'Brien will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in March. Past recipients of this award include Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Lily Tomlin, Whoopi Goldberg and Kevin Hart.
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
Copyright 2025 NPR
