John Kerry lands in AntarcticaMCMURDO STATION, Antarctica — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry became the highest-ranking American official to visit Antarctica today when he landed for a two-day trip during which he’ll hear from scientists about the impact of climate change on the frozen continent.Kerry left from New Zealand after being held up for about a day by bad weather. Kerry and his entourage left the Christchurch airport at 6 a.m. aboard a C-17 Globemaster military cargo plane and landed in Antarctica about 11 a.m.Kerry, an experienced pilot, spent much of the flight in the cockpit of the huge jet, chatting with the pilots. After a smooth trip of about five hours, the group landed on the Pegasus Ice Runway, the strip of ice that serves McMurdo. The large base is the hub for U.S. operations.In Antarctica, Kerry’s plans called for his entourage to transfer immediately at the airstrip to a smaller military transport plane for a three-hour flight to the research station the U.S. government operates near the South Pole. Kerry planned to visit that station for about two hours before returning to McMurdo for the night.

Iraqi troops inch ahead in MosulBAGHDAD — Iraqi troops inched ahead in their battle to retake the northern city of Mosul from the Islamic State group today, as the U.N. revealed fresh evidence that the extremists have used chemical weapons.Exchanging small arms and mortar fire with IS positons, the special forces entered Mosul’s Qadisiya neighborhood, advancing slowly to avoid killing civilians and trying to avoid being surprised by suicide car bombers, said Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil.Regular army troops control 90 percent of the Intisar neighborhood, said one officer, but progress had slowed because “the streets are too narrow for our tanks.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.Iraqi troops are converging from several fronts on Mosul, the second-largest city and the last major IS holdout in Iraq. Kurdish peshmerga forces are holding a line north of the city, while Iraqi army and militarized police units approach from the south, and government-sanctioned Shiite militias guard western approaches.

China e-shoppers spend billions BEIJING — In a bright spot for China’s cooling economy, online shoppers spent billions of dollars today on “Singles Day,” a quirky holiday that has grown into the world’s busiest day for e-commerce.The country’s biggest e-commerce brand, Alibaba Group, said sales by the thousands of retailers on its platforms passed $13.4 billion in the first 15 hours of the event. That is four times the $3 billion research firm comScore says Americans spent in total last year on Cyber Monday, the country’s biggest online shopping day.