Good morning.
Officials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands.
The discussions include the possibility of a one- to three-day ceasefire, although nothing has been agreed, sources with knowledge of the negotiations have said.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has repeatedly said there will be no ceasefire in Gaza until hostages – believed to number more than 240 – are released. Hamas says hostages will not be released until a ceasefire is agreed.
Netanyahu said last night: “I want to put to the side all sorts of idle rumours that we are hearing from all sorts of directions, and repeat one clear thing: there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages.”
What’s happening in Gaza? Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza yesterday, the Israel Defence Forces said, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of “worrying trends” in the risk of disease in the territory after weeks of Israeli airstrikes. The accelerating exodus came as Israeli forces closed in on the centre of Gaza City, launching intense bombardments, and claimed that Hamas had lost control of the north of the territory.
Support for Israel and verbal sparring propel fiery third Republican debate
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and other foreign policy issues dominated last night’s fiery third debate of Republican presidential hopefuls in Miami. Candidates pledged wholehearted support for Israel’s military response after last month’s Hamas attacks, and clashed over Ukraine, China and immigration.
The debate, minus Donald Trump, the runaway favourite for the party’s 2024 nomination, who was hosting his own private rally elsewhere in the area, was more bitter than its predecessors in Wisconsin and California. Lively verbal sparring sometimes regressed into insults, with Nikki Haley at one point calling one of her rivals “scum”.
The candidates grappled with questions of immigration, as well as the party’s staunchly anti-abortion stance that analysts say was the reason for the devastatingly bad night for Republicans in Tuesday’s elections.
Who is performing best in the debates? Haley performed well in the first two debates, and has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity. She had painted DeSantis as an isolationist at a time when, she said, the US needed to work with global partners, and their feud continued on Wednesday with bickering over China, each accusing the other of operating policies favorable to one of the US’s foes.
What did the candidates say about Trump? Haley and DeSantis were united in tearing strategically into the absent former president, who they trail by a significant margin in the race for the nomination. Trump, DeSantis said, “owes it to you to be on this stage”.
Hollywood actors’ union reaches tentative deal with studios to end strike
Hollywood actors are to end their nearly four-month strike, the Sag-Aftra union announced yesterday, closing a historic work stoppage that brought the film and television industry to a standstill for months.
Sag-Aftra and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday, ending film and television actors’ longest strike roughly a month after writers signed their new contract. The deal came after partiesresumed talks last week following stalled negotiations in early October.
“In a contract valued at over $1bn, we have achieved a deal of extraordinary scope,” the union said in a public statement. Among its wins, the union said, were larger-than-expected increases in minimum compensation, a first-time “streaming participation bonus”, and “unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI”.
What was the union fighting for? The union had fought for increased base pay for residuals, and guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence in film and television, concerns shared by writers who fought for similar protections in their contract.
Did they get everything they wanted? While the full details of the agreement were not immediately released, local news outlets reported that the actors had scored important wins, including new compensation for shows that appear on streaming services, gains in health insurance, and new rules for the use of AI technology to replicate actors’ images and likenesses.
In other news …
Japan has gained another island to add to its already impressive collection, after an undersea volcanic eruption 1,200km (745 miles) south of Tokyo created a new landmass. Experts said the tiny island emerged after a series of eruptions that began in October.
Russian forces reinforced by reserves continue to attempt to encircle Avdiivka, Ukrainian military officials have said. Anton Kotsukon, the spokesperson for the 110th separate mechanised brigade, said a Russian force of 40,000 was massed on three sides of the town.
LA Reid, the music executive known for helping develop superstars Mariah Carey, Pink, TLC and Usher, was sued yesterday by a former music executive who accused him of sexually assaulting her more than two decades ago. Drew Dixon said Reid, 67, derailed her once promising music industry career.
Eight people died yesterday when the driver of a 2009 Honda Civic, suspected of carrying smuggled migrants, tried to outrun police and smashed into an oncoming vehicle on a south Texas highway. The crash happened about 6.30am.
Stat of the day: Sámi call to protect reindeer in Sweden after 10,000 road deaths in five years
Sweden’s Sámi parliament is calling for more protection for reindeer after more than 10,000 were killed by motorists in the past five years, turning roadsides into “animal graveyards”. According to police, between October 2018 and October 2023 there were more than 10,000 road collisions in northern Sweden involving at least one reindeer, meaning the number killed is likely to be far higher.
The Sámi people are recognised by the Swedish government as Sweden’s Indigenous people, and their elected parliament – which advocates on behalf of Sámi culture – is based in Kiruna.
Don’t miss this: Ivanka Trump’s poise at trial differs from family but playbook is the same
When Ivanka Trump took the stand at her father’s New York fraud trial yesterday, it appeared she was following the advice she gave to readers in her 2009 book The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life. “Perception is more important than reality,” Trump wrote. “It is more important than if it is in fact true.” In stark contrast to her father’s often angry performance on the stand just two days earlier, Ivanka Trump was calm and amiable. Her brothers, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, also visibly lost patience on the stand. The eldest Trump daughter maintained her poise throughout, delivering her testimony like a swan gliding across a lake. But beneath the surface, she was furiously paddling.
Climate check: Texas produces twice as much methane as its better-regulated neighbor, study finds
Oil and gas production in Texas is spewing out double the rate of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, than in the more regulated state of New Mexico, new satellite data shared with the Guardian shows, prompting calls for tougher curbs of “super-emitter” sites that risk tipping the world into climate breakdown. Satellite imaging of methane leaks across the Permian basin, a vast geological feature at the heart of the US oil and gas drilling industry, show that sites in Texas have emitted double the amount of the gas than in New Mexico, per unit of production, since 2019.
Last Thing: Going ‘delulu’ – being delusional is the new manifesting
In the 1950s, Norman Vincent Peale called it “positive thinking”. In the 00s, Oprah promoted it through her talkshow as “manifesting”. Just six or so months ago, TikTok called it “lucky girl syndrome”. The belief that “if you think it, it will come” has long been popular. Now it has another name: delulu – as in delusional.
If you ask TikTok, “delulu is the solulu” to make one’s dreams come true. The idea is to set unrealistic expectations for yourself and earnestly believe you will achieve them. This applies to your career, relationships, mental wellbeing – anything can make you delulu if you want it badly enough. It is an attractive, if erratic, premise, which may be why the hashtag has been viewed more than 4.3bn times on the app.
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