BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, prime minister of Israel.

Israel has approved a cease-fire agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Associated Press is reporting.

However, minutes after that announced. Israeli jets bombed the capital city of Beirut, killing at least 24 people including three Lebanese journalists

The cease-fire is scheduled to take hold “in a matter of hours” and could end over a year of combat between Israeli forces and those of the Lebanon-based Muslim militia.

Continung the attacks is believed to be a signal from Israel that it intends to keep hitting Hezbollah until the cease-fire is set to go into effect at 4 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

Under the terms of the agreement, Israel would withdraw its forces from Lebanon, Hezbollah would move north – further from Israel – and the Lebanese Army would be positioned between them to enforce the cease-fire.

The cease-fire, even if it is successful, doesn’t directly affect the fighting in the Gaza area between Israel and Hamas. The AP reports that President Joe Biden would be making new efforts to gain a stop in the fighting on that front.

Tariff war between nations?

President-elect Donald Trump’s announced plans to slap heavy tariffs – perhaps as high as 25 percent – on products from Canada, China and Mexico could bring a similar response from those nations.

The New York Times is reporting that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum indicated Tuesday that her nation would respond in kind to American products sold south of the border.

On the other hand, Canada doesn’t have the same issues with border security as does Mexico, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons that his government could work with Trump in an effort to protect jobs.

There’s been no early response from China.

Disney offers equal-pay deal in California

DISNEYLAND CASTLE

A proposed wage settlement in California would pay Disney workers $43.25 million to drop their class action lawsuit alleging gender pay differences.

United Press International is reporting that 14,000 current and former female workers for The Walt Disney Company would benefit from the settlement. The settlement originally asked was for $300 million.

Alleged is that many female workers at Disney were paid less than their male counterparts having the same experience.

As part of the proposed deal, Disney will agree to hire a full-time labor economist to examine whether pay discrepancies exist and how to deal with them.

Weather: Rainy, then warmer

The cooling trend in the West Orange County area should peak on Wednesday with a 19 percent chance of rain in our West Orange County cities and a high of 67 and a low of 49. Temperatures are expected to start rising on Thursday to 75 (49) with partly cloudy skies. Friday is expected to go to 74 (55) and 76 (54) on Saturday, with both days having mostly cloudy skies.

Great thoughts

“Hesitancy breeds hesitancy, and if you go into something with one foot, it’s going to fail.”
– Kacey Musgraves, musician