Source

Israel to free up to 1,904 Palestinians in 1st stage of hostage deal, including killers

Figures comprises 737 jailed Palestinians, 1,167 Gazans detained in ground op; notorious terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, others responsible for the murder of dozens, to be freed.

The government approved the hostage and ceasefire deal after an eight-hour full cabinet meeting.

Among the Palestinians to go free are 737 jailed detainees and security prisoners, some of whom are serving life sentences for murder.

They include members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah movement, along with women and children being held in Israeli jails. Some prisoners were released in 2011 in return for captive soldier Gilad Shalit later and re-arrested.

The Justice Ministry had, as of Saturday morning, published the names of 735 Palestinian prisoners to allow petitions against their release to be submitted to the High Court.

Israel will also be releasing 1,167 Palestinians detained in the Gaza Strip during the IDF’s ground offensive, who did not participate in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel.

The numbers could fluctuate depending on how many of the 33 hostages are alive. Hamas has not yet provided the information, although Israel believes that most of them are.

On Sunday, the first three female hostages from the 33 humanitarian cases — a category made up of women, children, elderly individuals, and the infirm — are set to be released.

The other 30 hostages on the list are to be released each Saturday until the end of the deal’s 42-day first phase — four on January 25, and then three each week until a final group of 14.

The hostages will be released in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners detailed in the terms of the deal.

For each of the living women, children and elderly, 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released; for all nine sick hostages, 110 prisoners will be released; for each of the female IDF soldiers, 50 prisoners will be released; for hostages Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza for a decade, 30 prisoners will be released for each, in addition to 47 Palestinians released in the 2011 Shalit deal and re-arrested; and for the bodies of hostages in the first stage, Israel will release the 1,000+ Gazan detainees.

Beyond the 33 on the list, 65 more people are held by Hamas, many of them no longer alive. These are to be returned as part of a second phase of a deal, if it comes to pass, that would also see a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

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Ign.com

It’s bigger and the Joy-Cons now attach magnetically, but the form factor, function, and usability remain largely unchanged from the first Switch.

As a sequel to Nintendo’s most popular console of all time, the company opted to offer a bigger, more powerful version of the system millions of people already own.

And this, I think, is for the best. It might not have a gimmick, but maybe, for the first time in a long while, there doesn’t need to be one.

The increase in power alone allows Nintendo to lean even deeper into what made the Switch such a success: games.

Nintendo’s first party output during the Switch era — between Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — has been some of the best in the company’s history.

And between the Super Mario Bros. Movie and attractions at Universal Studios, the Nintendo brand is perhaps bigger than it’s ever been. So releasing a system that will help the games shine even brighter is perhaps the best thing Nintendo can do right now.

In the past, Nintendo’s hardware updates were defined by some kind of new, usually quirky feature or hook.

The Wii’s motion controls, the DS’s double screen, the 3DS’ glasses-free 3D, the Wii U’s tablet, and the Switch’s hybrid nature. Even unpopular consoles like the Virtual Boy still offered a unique spin on hardware.

The whimsy and fun of each new piece of Nintendo hardware usually makes up for the lack of power compared to PlayStation or Xbox; well, that and the Nintendo first-party exclusives.

And for the Nintendo Switch, the big hook of the system — the ability to play console games on the go, or on the TV — combined with some of the best Zelda and Mario games ever released on a Nintendo console were enough to propel the Nintendo Switch to record sales, becoming the second-best selling console of all time behind the Nintendo DS. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

But here’s the thing. There was something about the Switch that needed a fix.

One glaring issue seemingly fixed by the Switch 2: The horsepower.

The post Nintendo has officially announced the Switch 2, and perhaps the biggest surprise is how unsurprising it is appeared first on RawNews1st.

WCVB5

A big blast of snow, then cold air is set to sweep across the Northeast this holiday weekend.

Named Winter Storm Demi by The Weather Channel, it will bring a quick round of snow to some of the country’s largest cities, which could impact everything from travel to playoff football.

W​inter storm watches have been added from the northern Virgnias to the interior portions of southern New England. This is where snow may make roads tricky to navigate by later in the holiday weekend.

On Saturday, a cold front will sweep through the area, bringing mainly rain to coastal areas and the Interstate 95 corridor. Some light snow will sweep through interior sections of the Northeast, northern New England and the Ohio Valley.

A soggy Saturday is expected across much of the Southeast.

However, this is not the main event.

The headliner for this weekend’s system is the area of low pressure that will shoot out of the South and head north along the Atlantic coast. This will strengthen as it moves northward and wring out the snow across the Northeast and New England.

There are still model discrepancies as to how much snow will fall; much of this depends on how close to the coast the low tracks.

If the low hugs the coast, then there will be more snow for the big cities. But if the low tracks farther west, then the snowfall amounts will be smaller along I-95.

FOOTBALL note:

The Rams vs. Eagles playoff game in Philadelphia on Sunday could get interesting. With the potential for snow moving in, there could be issues with travel getting to and from the game. Right now, the forecast calls for generally up to 5 inches of snow in and around Philadelphia, with the highest totals along I-95 and westward.

(​Divisional Playoffs: Forecast For Snow And Cold Games)

T​he rest of the Northeast and New England could see several inches of snow, but there are still uncertainties. Regardless, there will still be travel trouble Sunday evening into Monday morning, with slick roads and possible airport delays.

T​he mid-Atlantic, including Washington, D.C., is also forecast for snowy conditions much of Sunday. The forecast calls for a couple of inches of snow, but the snow will be pushing out well ahead of the Presidential Inauguration on Monday.

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Source

This is exactly the kind of thing we should be using AI for — and showcases the true potential of artificial intelligence.

Scientists created an AI system called AsymMirai. It’s a streamlined deep-learning algorithm that can detect breast cancer up to five years in advance.

Researchers at Duke University used AsymMirai to analyze differences between left and right breast tissue visible in mammograms — a factor previously underutilized for long-term cancer prediction. With this approach, the AI could achieve nearly the same accuracy as previous systems while being acutely simpler for radiologists to understand and more reliable.

The study involved over 210,000 mammograms and underscored the clinical importance of breast asymmetry in forecasting cancer risk.

Lead researcher Jon Donnelly emphasized the potential public health implications of AsymMirai, noting that its insights could shape recommendations for mammogram frequency and improve early detection strategies.

One in eight women, or approximately 13% of the female population in the U.S., will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime and one in 39 women (3%) will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

Having regularly scheduled mammograms can significantly lower the risk of dying from breast cancer. However, it remains unclear how to precisely predict through screening alone which women will develop breast cancer.

Mirai, a state-of-the-art, deep learning-based algorithm, has demonstrated proficiency as a tool to help predict breast cancer but, because little is known about its reasoning process, the algorithm has the potential for overreliance by radiologists and incorrect diagnoses.

“Mirai is a black box—a very large and complex neural network, similar in construction to ChatGPT—and no one knew how it made its decisions,” said the study’s lead author, Jon Donnelly, BS, a PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at Duke University in Durham, NC.

“We can, with surprisingly high accuracy, predict whether a woman will develop cancer in the next 1 to 5 years based solely on localized differences between her left and right breast tissue,” he said.

“This could have public impact because it could, in the not-too-distant future, affect how often women receive mammograms.

The post Researchers have developed a new, interpretable model to predict five-year breast cancer risk from mammograms appeared first on RawNews1st.

LiveUpdate

Israel’s cabinet will vote Friday on a Gaza ceasefire and hostages deal, after earlier blaming Hamas for reneging on parts of the agreement, which the group denied. A key party in Israel’s governing coalition threatened to quit if it does not return to war after the first stage of the ceasefire.

• The agreement to pause the war in Gaza, and release Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, was made on Wednesday. Here’s what we know about it.

• Israeli bombardments killed at least 83 people in Gaza since the announcement of the ceasefire and hostages deal, marking the highest daily death toll in over a week.

• The three-phase deal is set to begin Sunday, but many of its details and the timeline remain unclear. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he won’t comment until all details are finalized.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza have killed 83 people since the announcement of the ceasefire and hostages deal, a spokesperson for Gaza’s civil defense said Thursday.

Of those killed, 23 were children and 27 were women, Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense, said.

Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces said it struck approximately “50 terror targets” across the Gaza Strip.

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Engadget

DJI continues its streak of innovative (and highly leaked) drones with the launch of the Flip, a lightweight and people-safe model that folds in a new direction — downward — to accommodate the large, shrouded propellers.

The new model should appeal to beginners and experienced users alike with features like a large sensor, 4K 100p video, safety features, a three-axis gimbal and an affordable price.

The company says the Flip “combine[s] the simplicity of the DJI Neo with the stunning photo capabilities of the DJI Mini,” but in many ways, it’s better than both. It borrows a LiDAR system from the Air 3S for obstacle detection and the Flip’s propellers are protected on all sides, making it all but impossible to hurt someone with them.

DJI says the support structure for the guards is made of carbon fiber string that’s 1/60th the weight of polycarbonate material and just as strong.

That made it possible to keep the weight under 249 grams, so buyers will be able to fly it without a permit in most countries.

For beginners, the Flip is just like the Neo in that users can place it in their hand and select from one of six intelligent shooting modes like Dronie or Boomerang. Then, it’ll take off automatically and perform that flight mode, capturing high-quality video at up to 4K 60p while avoiding obstacles using the LiDAR sensor.

That’ll help creators who are new to drones safely grab quick and interesting aerial shots.

More advanced users can also fly it with a controller, either the RC 2 with a screen or the RC-N3 without one. That allows full manual control and also unlocks DJI’s FocusTrack tech (with ActiveTrack 4.0, Spotlight 2.0, and Point of Interest 3.0), letting you track yourself or another subject automatically.

At the same time, it’ll avoid forward obstacles using the LiDAR and objects below with the 3D infrared system. However, the Flip can’t track obstacles behind it, so users need to beware when flying backward.

If you’re hoping to use the Flip as an FPV drone, you can forget about that. Unlike the Neo, it doesn’t support the Goggles N3 and Motion 3 controller combo, and there’s no word if it’ll do so in the future.

The Flip can fly forward at up to 26 MPH in sport mode (with object detection disabled) — pretty fast for such a small drone. Given the light weight and large surface area when unfolded, though, it’s not going to be the best drone in high winds. However, the large propellers also mean the Flip is far quieter than the Neo in flight, meaning it’ll be more practical to use at events like weddings or concerts.

The post DJI’s Flip combines the best of its lightweight drones for $439: LiDAR obstacle detection, 4K 60p video appeared first on RawNews1st.

CBS

Vice President Kamala Harris has not extended an invitation for a formal sit-down or tour, multiple Democratic and Republican sources told CBS News.

In November, Usha Vance, via intermediaries, reached out to staff for the home’s current occupants, Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, seeking details including what they would need to childproof it. Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel Vance are all under the age of eight.

The questions were initially rebuffed by a Harris political appointee. But there has since been communication between the Vance team and Navy aides who oversee the residence. 

Before Christmas, Navy officials provided an overview of the house to discuss the layout of the residence, logistics and practicalities of the move-in, and to help answer any questions the Vances had, a person familiar with the call said.

Usha Vance spoke with Emhoff for about 40 minutes last week, sources said. Harris sources said that arrangements are underway to accommodate the Vance children.

Spokespeople for Vance and Harris declined to comment.  

But people close to Harris say she was never afforded an opportunity to visit the home before she was sworn in in 2021. However, she took office during the COVID outbreak, just after the Capitol riot — and Donald Trump had refused to admit he had been defeated in the election.

Advisers to then-Vice President Mike Pence dispute that an invitation was never offered. They say he quietly gave Harris and Emhoff a chance to visit in the waning days of the Trump administration. The invitation came discreetly because Trump resisted accommodating the incoming administration. 

No formal sit-down between Pence and Harris ever took place, Democratic and Republican sources said.  

People close to Harris defended her decision not to invite Vance to visit, a tradition that was broken during the Trump-Pence administration. Harris’ team has been focused on an overseas trip that was canceled and on the California wildfires.

In 2016, then-Vice President Biden and his wife Jill hosted the Pences at the Northwest Washington residence not long after the election. 

“We’re just very grateful for the hospitality today of the vice president and second lady,” Pence said at the time. 

Harris did not move into the Naval Observatory residence until April 2021, about three months after being sworn in, because the house was in need of repairs.

The post Kamala Harris refused to invite JD Vance to the Vice President’s residence prior to President Trump’s inauguration appeared first on RawNews1st.

Antiwar.com

The minimum age for conscription in Ukraine is 25

President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security advisor, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), said Sunday that the Trump administration will ask Ukraine to lower the age of conscription so more troops can be sent to the frontlines.

Under Ukraine’s current mobilization laws, the minimum age for conscription is 25. The Biden administration has been calling for Ukraine to lower it to 18, and Waltz made clear the next administration will do the same thing.

“The other thing we are going to need to see is really stabilizing things on the battlefield. And one of the things we’ll be asking of the Ukrainians is, they have real manpower issues,” Waltz said in an interview with ABC News .

“Their draft age right now is 26 years old [25], not 18. I don’t think a lot of people realize that they could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers,” Waltz said.

“So, when we hear about morale problems when we hear about issues on the front line. Look, if the Ukrainians have asked the entire world to be all in for democracy, we need them to be all in for democracy.”

Waltz framed the call to conscript younger Ukrainians and the need to “stabilize” the front as necessary to end the war.

He said Trump will be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin soon, possibly in the coming days and weeks, and will be working to form “relationships” needed to end the conflict.

The post Mike Waltz: Trump Administration Will Ask Ukraine To Lower Conscription Age appeared first on RawNews1st.

Special counsel David Weiss said in the report that the president could not “rewrite history,” suggesting that Biden’s criticism of the case against his last surviving son when he announced his pardon decision had maligned “the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.”

Biden described the prosecution of his son as a “miscarriage of justice” in the official White House statement announcing the pardon, which prosecutors working for Weiss disputed in a later court filing.

“Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,” Weiss wrote.

“The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.”

Biden pardoned his son early last month, not long before Hunter Biden was expected to be sentenced in connection with his conviction for violating a statute rarely used by federal prosecutors, which makes it unlawful for drug users to possess weapons.

Biden had repeatedly said during the 2024 campaign, including after he dropped out of the race over the summer, that he would not pardon his son.

In a statement provided to NBC News, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said that Weiss’ report “conveniently omits his proposal to resolve this investigation in 2023 with a pair of misdemeanors and a diverted gun charge recommended by career prosecutors.”

“What is clear from this report is that the investigation into Hunter Biden is a cautionary tale of the abuse of prosecutorial power,” Lowell added.

Weiss, who had bipartisan support when he was named U.S. attorney in Delaware during President Donald Trump’s first term, stayed on at the Justice Department at the beginning of the Biden administration. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed him as a special counsel in 2023.

The Justice Department is also expected to issue a report on Jack Smith’s special counsel investigation into Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

The post Hunter Biden made millions off this last name: Special counsel update appeared first on RawNews1st.

Express.co.uk

The latest threat – which was discovered by the team at Check Point last month – is using Google Calendar alerts embedded within messages that can steal personal data.

There’s a worrying new email attack targeting Gmail users and you’d be wise to follow the latest advice from Google to make you stay safe. 

To make the scam appear more convincing, hackers send out messages and calendar alerts that appear to come from well-known firms with some 300 brands thought to have been imitated to date.

Google is now aware of this new risk and is urging users to switch on the “known senders” setting in Google Calendar.
“This setting helps defend against this type of phishing by alerting the user when they receive an invitation from someone not in their contact list and/or they have not interacted with from their email address in the past.”

Firstly, hackers send out an email which includes a calendar file (.ics) with a link to Google Forms or Google Drawings. Users are then asked to click on another link, which is often disguised as a fake reCAPTCHA or support button.

After clicking, the user is forwarded to a page that looks like a cryptocurrency mining landing page or bitcoin support page.

These pages are actually intended to perpetrate financial scams. Once users reach said page, they are asked to complete a fake authentication process, enter personal information, and eventually provide payment details. It’s at this point hackers get access to accounts where they can steal money.

It’s a growing threat that shouldn’t be ignored, with Check Point saying researchers have spotted around 4,000 of these phishing emails in a four-week period.

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