Good morning.
The US has said “very serious” negotiations are taking place in Egypt on a new Gaza ceasefire and for the release of more Israeli hostages, but prospects for a deal remain uncertain as Hamas has reportedly insisted it will not discuss anything less than a complete end to Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian territory.
The ongoing negotiation came as a vote in New York on a UN resolution calling for a lengthier ceasefire and more aid deliveries was delayed for a third time.
The diplomacy rolled on as the official estimate of the death toll in Gaza passed 20,000, according to the Hamas government media office, with 8,000 children and 6,200 women among the dead, and many more missing. Hunger and disease now threaten to add to the death rate significantly.
The arrival in Egypt of Ismail Haniyeh, a Qatar-based Hamas political leader, on Wednesday was seen as a positive sign for a possible truce: the last time he came was before the first deal, which involved the release of 110 hostages and a week-long ceasefire.
How many Palestinians are being held in Israel? More than 8,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli jails, according to human rights groups.
What has the French president said about Israel’s actions? Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, referring to its response to Hamas’s attack on 7 October. “We cannot let the idea take root that an efficient fight against terrorism implies to flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately,” Macron told the broadcaster France 5.
Trump lashes out after Colorado ruling removing him from ballot
The Colorado supreme court ruling on Tuesday that bars Donald Trump from the state’s presidential ballot has kicked off a firestorm among Republicans and legal scholars, and provoked fury from Trump himself.
Though the former president did not address the decision during a rally in Iowa – where he went on abusive rants against immigration – he posted about it on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Wednesday. “What a shame for our country!!!” Trump wrote. “A sad day for America!!!”
Noah Bookbinder, the president of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which brought the suit on behalf of Republican and independent voters, praised the decision. It was, he said, “not only historic and justified, but is also necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country”.
Meanwhile, in the federal 2020 election interference trial, lawyers for Trump have urged the US supreme court to reject a request to expeditiously decide whether he was immune from prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
What has Joe Biden said about the Colorado ruling? The president said it was “self-evident” that Donald Trump was an insurrectionist, adding he would not comment on the legal arguments or any likely intervention of the US supreme court.
Rite Aid facial recognition misidentified Black, Latino and Asian people as ‘likely’ shoplifters
Rite Aid used facial recognition systems to identify shoppers “likely to engage” in shoplifting, without customer consent, and misidentified people – particularly women and Black, Latino or Asian people – on “numerous” occasions, according to a new settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.
As part of the settlement, Rite Aid has been forbidden from deploying facial recognition technology in its stores for five years.
The FTC said Rite Aid used facial recognition technology in hundreds of stores from October 2012 to July 2020 to identify shoppers “it had previously deemed likely to engage in shoplifting or other criminal behavior”. The technology sent alerts to Rite Aid employees either by email or phone when it identified people on its watchlist entering the store. Employees would then put those people under increased surveillance, ban them from making purchases or accuse them in front of friends, family and other customers of previously committing crimes.
What have critics of this kind of software said? The civil liberty and digital rights group Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic) said facial recognition could be harmful in any context but that Rite Aid had failed to take even the most basic precautions. “The result was sadly predictable: thousands of misidentifications that disproportionately affected Black Asian, and Latino customers, some of which led to humiliating searches and store ejections,” said John Davisson, Epic’s director of litigation.
In other news …
Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, has managed to free Alex Saab, a key collaborator, from US custody after agreeing to release 10 Americans and 20 Venezuelan citizens from jail. Saab, a Colombian-born businessman, was extradited to the US in 2021 while transiting through Cape Verde.
Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global are reportedly in talks about a merger that could bring two of the world’s largest media companies under one roof with a combined market value of $38bn. A tie-up could also bolster their main streaming services, Paramount+ and Max, helping them compete with streaming rivals such as Netflix and Disney+.
Narendra Modi has said India would investigate any evidence it is provided regarding an alleged plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the US. The US justice department last month charged an Indian citizen with plotting to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader on US soil.
Macron has said Gérard Depardieu, who is accused of rape, has become the target of a “manhunt”, as the actor faces fresh scrutiny over sexist comments. Depardieu, an icon of French cinema with more than 200 films to his name, was charged with rape in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women.
Stat of the day: Toyota recalls 1m cars over defect that could cause airbags to fail
Toyota Motor Corporation said yesterday it was recalling 1m vehicles over a defect that could cause airbags not to deploy, increasing the risk of injury. The recall covers a range of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the US with model years from 2020 to 2022. Included are Toyota Avalons, Camrys, Highlanders, RAV4s, Siennas and Corollas, plus some hybrids of those models. The Lexus models in the recall include the ES250 sedan and the RX350 SUV, among others.
The vehicles being recalled have sensors in the front passenger seat that may have been manufactured improperly. Those sensors could potentially short-circuit, causing the airbag system to fail to determine the occupant’s correct weight and possibly not deploy in certain kinds of crashes.
Don’t miss this: The couch-surfing predator
When Anna Ackerman met Dino Maglio, the man who was to host her in Italy, at Padua airport, her first feeling was unease. It was only later that she would learn just how right her instincts had been. Maglio was a serial predator, a rapist who used couchsurfing.com to prey on young, inexperienced female travellers from across the world. He hosted 230 women in just two years. His modus operandi was to drug them with wine or tea laced with benzodiazepines, which incapacitated them and wiped out their memories. Many victims reported his actions – to couchsurfing.com, to police, to prosecutors – but Maglio continued unhindered. It was only when some of these women found each other and began to apply collective pressure that some justice was won.
Climate check: If carbon markets aren’t working, how do we save our forests?
Keeping the world’s remaining forests is one of the most important environmental challenges of the 21st century, writes Patrick Greenfield. Humanity will not limit global heating to safe levels or stem the ongoing loss of wildlife without them. From the boreal forest that stretches around northern Europe, Siberia and Canada, to the Amazon, Earth’s forests are some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, home to species found nowhere else. Yet all too often, forests are worth more money dead than alive – despite promises from global leaders to halt deforestation. Their exploitation has pushed many plants, animals and fungi to the brink of extinction, while slowly degrading their ability to generate rainfall, sequester carbon and cool the planet.
Last Thing: Risk of penile fractures rises at Christmas, doctors find
It may be the season of loving and giving, but doctors have warned against embracing this spirit too enthusiastically – at least where sexual relations are concerned. They have discovered that the Christmas period is associated with a significantly increased risk of penile fractures – a medical emergency in which the erection-producing regions of the penis snap, usually as a result of forceful bending during over-enthusiastic sexual intercourse.
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