- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in Hawaii today to visit Pearl Harbor [1] with President Obama. The two are commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack. Abe is the fourth Japanese head of state to visit the naval base but the first to honor the USS Arizona Memorial. The battleship sunk during the attack and accounted for more than half of the casualties that day with 1,177 men lost [2]. Abe and Obama met in March when the president visited Hiroshima.
- Hollywood has lost two beloved actors: Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in Star Wars, and comedian Ricky Harris. Fisher suffered a heart attack last week on a flight from London to Los Angeles and died on Tuesday morning [3]. She was 60. Harris passed away on Monday, [4] also from heart attack. The 54-year-old was known for his roles on Everybody Hates Chris and Poetic Justice, which he costarred with Tupac Shakur and Janet Jackson [5].
- The population of the world's fastest animal, the cheetah, is dwindling. As of this year, only 7,100 cheetahs remain in the wild. Activists are calling for the species to be reclassified from 'vulnerable' to 'endangered' of extinction [6].
- The plane carrying members of the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer team crashed due to human error. According to a report from the Colombian Civil Aviation Authority [7], the plane ran out of fuel at least two minutes before it crashed into the Colombian hillside on Nov. 28. The plane was also carrying 1,000 pounds more weight than was safe to carry and was flying over 30,000 feet, which the aircraft was not built to sustain.
- Avril Lavigne [8] is releasing a new album. The Canadian rockstar announced on Instagram [9] over Christmas that she will release a new album in 2017. Lavigne, who is battling Lyme disease, has not released an album since being diagnosed in 2013.