Tom's #mailbag, Jan. 27, 2017

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I prepaid for two nights in a hotel through Booking.com. But when I arrived, an employee said their confirmation system was down, and there was no record of the reservation or an ability to accept any reservations from Booking.com. So, I was unable to use this reservation. Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter I immediately contacted Booking.com and asked for a refund.

By JOSH BOAK and MATT O’BRIEN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is proposing a new framework for the exporting of the advanced computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence, an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries. But the framework proposed Monday also raised concerns of chip industry executives who say the rules would limit access to existing chips used for video games and restrict in 120 countries the chips used for data centers and AI products.

By YURI KAGEYAMA, Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 has hit southwestern Japan, the country’s Meteorological Agency said Monday, while warning the public to stay away from coastal areas because of a tsunami threat. Tsunami advisories were issued for Miyazaki Prefecture, where the quake was centered, in the southwestern island of Kyushu, as well as nearby Kochi Prefecture, in Shikoku island, shortly after the quake struck at 9:19 p.m.

By VICTORIA EASTWOOD, SAMY MAGDY and JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press CAIRO (AP) — U. S. and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but a deal hasn’t been reached yet, officials said Monday. Four officials acknowledged that progress has been made and said the coming days would be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilized the Middle East.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My dog is a great conversation starter. Strangers who stop to admire him will often share a story or two about their own pets, or their own memories of dogs they’ve known. As much as I enjoy this, I’ve noticed that these strangers will often — with no prompting from me and with no obvious conversational cues leading toward this topic — tell me about how their pets or pets belonging to their friends died. These stories are often detailed accounts of how they, or someone close to them, caused the death of their beloved animals, usually by accident, leading to years of emotional fallout and sad memories. I understand that losing a pet is difficult.

By AAMER MADHANI and ZEKE MILLER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by President-elect Donald Trump’s team, according to a U.