NASA's Parker Solar Probe will make history during a flight around the Sun on Christmas Eve.
Why it matters: "No human-made object has ever passed this close to a star, so Parker will truly be returning data from uncharted territory," said Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Maryland, in a statement.
President-elect Trump demanded Panamanian authorities either lower fees for U.S. ships to transit the Panama Canal, or return its control to the United States.
Why it matters: The U.S. ceded one of the world's most crucial pieces of infrastructure in 1999, and China has become increasingly influential in its operations since.
President-elect Trump suggested Sunday that he might let TikTok stick around in the U.S., boasting his success on the app.
Why it matters: The popular short-form video app could be banned in the U.S. in less than a month — but Trump, who threatened to boot the app during his first term, has suggested he'd offer TikTok a lifeline.
