Our first story on the last day of the week concerns Syria. For almost 3 years now, Syria has been torn apart by civil war. It involves government forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It involves rebels who want that government overthrown and it involves terrorists who are trying to increase their power in Syria. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. Millions had to leave their homes. Last Spring, it appeared that chemical weapons had been used in the conflict. After pressure from other countries, the Syrian government agreed to get rid of its chemical weapons. One step in that process was taken on Tuesday.

Dangerous cargo, a Danish ship has set sail carrying the first batch of Syria\'s chemical weapons due for destruction.

\"It\'s an unprecedented situation, unprecedented effort and also, unprecedented in the fact that chemical weapons are actually destroyed outside of the stat party\'s territory.\"

The toxic materials were removed under a UN back deal arranged by Russia and the US. In an effort to eliminate Syria\'s chemical arsenal by the middle of the year. The departure of this first shipment was delayed more than a week due to fighting in Syria\'s civil war, logistical problems and bad weather. The head of the UN back disarmament mission tells CNN: This is a milestone but much work remains to be done.

\"The process of accumulating and consolidating all the other priority on chemicals is still ongoing. More movements need to take place within the Syrian Arab Republic to Lat., the Danish vessel will have to do many trips, multiple trips rather to Lat.\"

For each of those trips, the vessel carrying chemicals relief from the Syrian port of Lat. escorted by ships from China, Denmark, Norway and Russia headed for an undisclosed port in Italy where the chemicals will be transferred to a US ship capable of destroying them at sea. Workers put the finishing touches on that ship, the Kape Rae, just days ago at its own port in Virginia.

The world health organization says that one out of every three cigarettes smoke worldwide is smoked in China. It might make sense that the country with the most smokers would be the country with the highest population. According to a global adult tobacco survey in 2010, more than half of Chinese men smoke. Chinese health officials say more than a million people die from tobacco related diseases every year. So, China is putting a ban on smoking, specifically indoor smoking in public areas, restaurants, buses, hotels will be illegal in China by the end of the year. Smoking is both a health problem and an economic one when you factor in the medical and health care costs for tobacco users and their families. The Christmas season may be over but NASA says it just got a tremendous gift from the White House. The Obama administration wants to keep the International Space Station running until at least 2024. Without the extension, the laboratory would be expected to crash into the South Pacific in about 6 years. For the deal to be done, though, Congress has to approve it. Part of the reason for that, it\'s expensive. Though China, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency contribute to the station, it costs the US government alone about 3 billion dollars a year to operate. It\'s taking 100 billion dollars to build. A White House science advisor and a NASA official say that\'s worth it because the station, \"offers enormous scientific and societal benefits\". Many Republicans and Democrats agree. Congress is expected to approve the move and the money.