Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
The Gaza cease-fire is beginning to take shapeRelief spread across the region as Israel and Hamas moved closer to formalizing a cease-fire agreement that would lead to the release of all of the remaining hostages and potentially pave the way for an end to two years of devastating war. Songs and dances broke out on the streets of Tel Aviv. Palestinians marched through Khan Younis with glee. President Trump, who brokered the deal, said today that he expected the remaining Israeli hostages to be released from Gaza on Monday or Tuesday in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. He also said he was planning to travel to Egypt for a ceremonial signing of the agreement, which he described as a “momentous breakthrough” that “ended the war in Gaza.” Many details of the agreement remained unclear. Here’s what we know: Both sides have agreed on a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange, the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops and the reopening of the Rafah crossing from Egypt to allow more aid into Gaza. But other thorny issues, like the governance of Gaza, appear to have been left for later negotiations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel met this afternoon with his security cabinet to seek approval of the agreement. A hard-right minister said his party would not support it, but the cabinet could approve the deal without that support. A top Hamas official echoed Trump’s confidence that the deal was “an agreement to end the war.” But that much is not yet clear. Israel’s foreign minister described it as “the implementation of the first phase.” Though more conditions must still be met, he added, “We don’t have any intention to renew the war.” For more:
New York’s A.G. was indicted after pressure from TrumpA prosecutor handpicked by Trump indicted New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, on a charge of bank fraud. The president had publicly demanded that James — a Democrat who won a major civil suit against Trump — be charged. The indictment of James came two weeks after the same prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, indicted another high-profile critic of the president: James Comey, the former F.B.I. director. In both cases, the career prosecutors who conducted the investigations reported that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. The Trump administration’s effort to charge James began in April, when the president publicly called her a crook. A day later, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a criminal referral letter to the Justice Department saying James “appears to have falsified records” related to properties she owned.
Blue states faced off with Trump officials in courtLawyers representing Illinois and Oregon argued in court today that protests against federal immigration authorities were not enough justification for the president to deploy National Guard troops into their cities. Both cases centered on the limits of a president’s power. Follow here for the latest updates. In the Oregon case, a three-judge panel appeared inclined today to let Trump proceed with sending troops into Portland and pause an earlier ruling that had halted the deployment. Troops from California and Oregon are outside the city, waiting for a ruling. In Chicago, a federal judge is considering whether to block the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to guard an immigration facility in suburban Illinois. The judge seemed skeptical of the deployment’s “limited mission,” saying, “I am very much struggling to figure out where this would ever stop.” For more: The Republican governor of Oklahoma criticized Trump’s troop deployment to Chicago.
A.I. video is bringing an end to the idea that seeing is believingOpenAI, the artificial intelligence giant, released an app this month that allows users to instantly generate realistic-looking videos by simply typing a sentence — say, “a dog being arrested for stealing rib-eye at Costco.” The technology is impressive. But we probably weren’t ready for it, our tech columnist Brian Chen wrote, because it undermines our notion of visuals as proof. “Society as a whole will have to treat videos with as much skepticism as people already do words,” Brian said. He’s got advice for what to look out for. More top news
And the Nobel Prize in Literature goes to …The Hungarian novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. Hailed as a “master of the apocalypse” by Susan Sontag, Krasznahorkai (pronounced CRAS-now-hoar-kay), has long been revered by fellow writers for his epic sentences and slyly humorous dystopian narratives. Read an essay from Krasznahorkai that we published back in 2013 in a series on anxiety, and his 2022 piece in which he tried to answer the question: What is reality?
Tips for haunting your neighborhood this HalloweenIf you think it’s too early to be talking about ghosts and jack-o’-lanterns, you’re probably not the type to go all out for Halloween. But if you want to be, we got advice for people who pull out all the stops. Some tips: stick to a theme, monitor the voltage you might need and consider a storage plan before you go shopping. Check out all of their advice.
Dinner table topics
Cook: This white skillet lasagna is quick, creamy and comforting. Watch: Kathryn Bigelow’s “A House of Dynamite” is a propulsive thriller about potential nuclear catastrophe. Read: Let us help you find your next children’s book. Listen: These new classical albums are worth checking out. Plan: We put together an itinerary for a short trip to Madison, Wis. Hunt: Which California home would you buy with a budget around $1.6 million? Test yourself: Take our quiz to test your knowledge of horror books adapted for the screen. Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here. |
