• A North Korean soldier was captured by Ukraine, per South Korean intelligence.
• The soldier later died from his injuries, the National Intelligence Service said.
• It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to hide North Korean losses.

A North Korean soldier captured by Ukrainian forces has died from his injuries, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said on Friday, per Yonhap news agency.

The NIS had earlier confirmed reports that an injured North Korean soldier had been taken prisoner by Ukraine.

"Through real-time information sharing with a friendly nation's intelligence organization, (we) confirmed the capture of a wounded North Korean soldier and plans to thoroughly examine the subsequent development," the NIS said in a statement.

The incident marked the first reported case of a North Korean combatant being taken alive during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The soldier was reportedly seized on December 26 in Russia's Kursk region, into which Ukraine launched an offensive in August.

It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Russia was trying to "conceal losses" of North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine.

"After first combats with our warriors, Russians are trying… to literally burn the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in battle," Zelenskyy wrote on X, sharing a video seemingly showing the alleged act.

"There is not a single reason for North Koreans to fight and die for Putin. And even after they do, Russia has only humiliation for them," he continued. "This madness must be stopped—stoped by a reliable and durable peace, as well as Russia's accountability for this cynical war."

Pyongyang reportedly began sending troops to Russia in October, with up to 11,000 thought to have arrived in Kursk so far.

North Korea's elite "Storm" Corps have reportedly been at the forefront of the fighting in the region.

The NIS said more than 100 "Storm" troops had been killed and 1,000 more injured in their first battles for Russia.

The agency reportedly told lawmakers earlier this month that the elite troops — thought to be Pyongyang's best-trained and most heavily indoctrinated — are ill-prepared for drone attacks and the local terrain.

Zelenskyy said in December that preliminary estimates suggested over 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been killed or wounded in Russia's Kursk region.

• The CDC randomly inspects and scores cruise ships to prevent the spread of stomach viruses.
• 27 cruise ships received a perfect score in 2024.
• Norovirus can spread quickly on packed vessels.

Not all cruise ships are created — or operated — equally.

In 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 13 bacterial and viral outbreaks (mostly norovirus) on ships. However, not every floating resort is damned to become a floating petri dish.

Quite the opposite — in 2024, the public health agency awarded perfect sanitation scores to 27 vessels.

Norovirus, also known as the stomach flu, is the most common virus to afflict cruises. Crowded ships provide an ideal setting for the highly contagious bug to spread fast, often through contaminated water, food, surfaces, and people.

Just as quickly, it can ruin your vacation — the four predominant symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain.

To help mitigate these incidents, the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program regularly inspects cruise liners and scores them from zero to 100.

The reviews — which include checking heavily trafficked areas like pools and children's activity centers — are random and unannounced.

Vermin and improperly stored food are big no-nos. In addition to the obvious, inspectors also look behind the scenes for more nuanced details, such as the dishwasher's water temperature and the frequency at which the pool's hair and lint strainer is disinfected.

The CDC has performed 151 inspections in 2024, including repeat inspections on 23 ships. The majority scored above 95, and 27 (listed below) have received perfect marks:

• Celebrity Apex — Celebrity Cruises (inspected November 10)
• Seven Seas Grandeur — Regent Seven Seas Cruises (inspected October 23)
• Norwegian Jade — Norwegian Cruise Line (inspected October 21)
• Carnival Magic — Carnival Cruise Line (inspected October 13)
• Star Pride — Windstar Cruises (inspected September 29)
• Jewel of the Seas — Royal Caribbean International (inspected September 28)
• Serenade of the Seas — Royal Caribbean International (inspected September 10)
• Carnival Spirit — Carnival Cruise Line (inspected September 3)
• Zuiderdam — Holland America Line (inspected August 24)
• Viking Orion — Viking Ocean Cruises (inspected August 18)
• Seabourn Odyssey — Seabourn Cruise Line (inspected August 16)
• Norwegian Jewel — Norwegian Cruise Line (inspected July 24)
• Oceania Regatta — Oceania Cruises (inspected July 24)
• Radiance of the Seas — Royal Caribbean International (inspected July 21)
• MSC Meraviglia — MSC Cruises (inspected July 9)
• Norwegian Bliss — Norwegian Cruise Line (inspected June 22)
• MSC Seashore — MSC Cruises (inspected May 26)
• Norwegian Sky — Norwegian Cruise Line (inspected May 23)
• Brilliance of the Seas — Royal Caribbean International (inspected May 16)
• Viking Polaris — Viking (inspected April 2)
• Celebrity Equinox — Celebrity Cruises (inspected February 25)
• Norwegian Breakaway — Norwegian Cruise Line (inspected September 22)
• Norwegian Escape — Norwegian Cruise Line (inspected January 27)
• Explora I — MSC Cruises (inspected January 25)
• Disney Fantasy — Disney Cruise Line (inspected January 24)
• Celebrity Ascent — Celebrity Cruises (inspected January 7)
• Norwegian Gem — Norwegian Cruise Line (inspected January 2)

In 2023, 24 vessels racked a perfect score.

• Tim Miller was paid $225,000 for directing the first "Deadpool" movie in 2016.
• The superhero movie raked in $782 million at the box office.
• It launched a huge franchise, which is worth $2.9 billion after 2024's "Deadpool & Wolverine."

Back in 2016 Tim Miller directed "Deadpool", launching a lucrative global superhero franchise — work he said earned him a relatively small $225,000.

The violent, R-rated movies star Ryan Reynolds as the titular foul-mouthed superhero. According to TheNumbers.com, the franchise is now worth over $2.9 billion after the riotous success of the third film, "Deadpool & Wolverine."

Collider reported that Miller discussed his salary during a recent panel at the CCXP convention in Brazil, which took place from December 5-8.

He said: "You guys might not know, but it's not really a profitable thing to be a first-time director in Hollywood, and I'll tell you exactly. I got $225,000 to direct 'Deadpool.' I know it sounds like a lot of money, but for two years of work, that's not a ton of money."

Miller said he was grateful for the opportunity, but joked that at the time, his agent told him: "'Dude, you make more on an episode of 'The Walking Dead!'"

The director went on to say that there's a misconception about typical salaries in Hollywood. "I think a lot of people think that everyone's getting paid millions and millions in Hollywood. It's just not the case, not always," he said.

The minimum salary for members of the Director's Guild of America in 2024 is $237,670 for a guaranteed shoot of 10 weeks.

In July 2024, Reynolds said he "let go of getting paid" for "Deadpool" because it was a passion project for him and he wanted to see it on the big screen. The film was a risk because of its violence and profanity, which meant that younger fans and families couldn't go see it.

Regardless, it still made $782 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. For Miller, that success overrides the small salary.

He said: "You know what I feel? Nothing but pride. I mean, I feel like every time I walk down the aisles out there on the floor of CCXP and I see all these Deadpool figurines, I think they wouldn't be here if we hadn't made that film. And I feel uniquely fortunate that I could be part of it."

Miller's work on "Deadpool" propelled his career forward. He directed 2019's "Terminator: Dark Fate" as well as episodes of Netflix's "Love, Death, and Robots." He also created the animated anthology video game series, "Secret Level," for Amazon Prime Video.

He also joked that he should've negotiated a merchandise deal into his contract.

"Then my second thought is, I wish my director deals had a piece of the merchandising so that I could get some money from all of that."

Rob Mitchell, the director of theatrical insights at Gower Street Analytics, told Business Insider that backend and merchandise deals allow actors and directors to take on "riskier" projects that earn more if the project is successful.

He said: "The most famous one is Jack Nicholson's deal on the original 'Batman' film that he got a huge payday out of. He took a salary cut, but took a backend and made an absolute fortune of it. That isn't uncommon, that would happen with big stars in riskier projects."

• Pro-Trump tech leaders and MAGA loyalists are feuding over how to overhaul US immigration.
• A debate over high-skill immigration intensified between the two groups in recent days.
• The debate came after Trump's appointment of an Indian-born tech leader as a senior policy advisor.

President-elect Donald Trump's backers in Silicon Valley are at odds with his MAGA loyalists over a key issue: immigration.

In recent days, Elon Musk and others in the tech sector have increasingly shared support for visas that allow companies to hire highly-skilled workers from overseas. The move has riled up Trump backers in favor of stricter immigration rules in the process.

The recent debate came after Trump offered Sriram Krishnan, a Chennai-born, Indian-American investor, a role as a senior policy advisor for artificial intelligence — a move that triggered heated criticisms online.

Krishnan, who was recently in London leading an expansion of venture capital firm A16z's — previously lived in the US, where he completed stints at Microsoft, Twitter, and Meta from 2005.

Criticisms have largely come from anonymous accounts online — one X post asked if anyone had voted "for this Indian to run America," prompting a defense from Trump's AI and crypto czar David Sacks.

They also prompted a wider debate on the merits of the H-1B visa commonly used to employ skilled workers from other countries.

Tech leaders such as Musk, who have been deeply critical of illegal immigration, have used the saga to defend immigration that prioritizes the transfer of high-skilled foreign workers into American companies.

On Thursday, Musk said his priority was bringing in top engineering talent legally — saying it is "essential for America to keep winning."

"Thinking of America as a pro sports team that has been winning for a long time and wants to keep winning is the right mental construct," he wrote on X.

Musk's co-lead at the Department of Government Efficiency, Vivek Ramaswamy, also took to X on Thursday. He argued that tech companies often hire foreign-born engineers, saying it allowed them to avoid what he called an American culture that has "venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long."

"A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers," he wrote in an almost 400-word post.

In a later post, he said immigration rules should be reformed more effectively to funnel talent to the US. The H-1B system was not effective, he said, and "should be replaced with one that focuses on selecting the very best of the best."

Marc Benioff, the boss of Salesforce, also weighed in, offering a solution to keep the "best and brightest" foreign students in the US after graduation: "Can we staple a US green card to every degree earned at an American university?"

The pro-immigration messages haven't gone down well with everyone in the Trump pack.

Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who Trump briefly put forward to be his Attorney General, wrote an X post on Thursday saying that tech figures should butt out.

When Republicans embraced them, he said, "We did not ask them to engineer an immigration policy."

Meanwhile, far-right activist and Trump supporter Laura Loomer used several posts to express strong opposition to H-1B visas and her concerns over the "replacement of American tech workers by Indian immigrants."

Where Trump will land on the issue remains to be seen. Immigration lawyers have warned tech workers that a "storm is coming" with the arrival of a second Trump term, and suggested those who have left to get back before it's too late.

The debate signals a deep divide between different groups of Trump supporters as he prepared to take office.

It’s that quiet, end-of-December period for tech news. Still, alongside our usual retrospectives on tech in 2024, the Russian government is cracking down crypto, and final seasons of hit Netflix phenomena are on their way.

First, according to reports by the state-owned news agency Tass, the Russian government banned crypto mining in ten regions for six years. Russia has cited the industry’s high power consumption rates as the primary reason behind the ban. Crypto mining operations already account for nearly 2.5 percent of US energy use. The Russian ban takes effect on January 1 and lasts until March 15, 2031. The currency has only been fully legal in Russia since November.

— Mat Smith

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Squid Game will have a third (and final) season in 2025

Netflix released the second season yesterday.

No, I don’t know what cliffhanger shenanigans wrapped up season 2 (it just came out!), but you won’t have to wait too long to see how it all concludes. The Netflix-owned blog Tudum announced that the South Korean drama will return for its third and final season next year.

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Engadget's Games of the Year 2024

From Animal Well to Vendetta Forever.

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After a bumper year in 2023, the last 12 months still offered plenty of amazing new releases. Whether you love a good indie or a big-budget production, there was something for you. And don’t worry: we shifted our Balatro essays into their own dedicated story.

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LG found a new job for your standing lamp

The "indoor gardening appliance" is a mood lighting and grow light all in one.

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The latest high-tech lamp from LG pulls double-duty as a plant pot. LG says the lamp with a circular lampshade shines LEDs in five different intensities on whichever plants you want to grow. Then, at night, the lights fire upwards to create cozy mood lighting. The taller, standing lamp can hold up to 20 plants at a time and you don't need to worry about watering. There's a 1.5-gallon tank built into the base of the lamp.

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There is now a genetic excuse not to bother cutting carbs. Humans have genetically adapted to eating starchy foods, and our ancestors may have been carb-ivores even before modern Homo sapiens emerged.

The salivary amylase gene, known as AMY1, is already known to have helped us adapt to eating carbs. It encodes amylase, an enzyme that breaks starches found in pasta and bread down to glucose—and may have given us a taste preference for them. Humans have multiple copies of the gene, which may help us produce high levels of the enzyme.

Researchers from the University of Buffalo and the Jackson Laboratory have now found that, while most copies of this gene arose with the advent of farming, modern humans and our closest relatives had accumulated extra copies long before agriculture.

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