Israel Will Pause Combat for Hours Each Day, the U.S. Said
Israel has agreed to put in place regular daily four-hour pauses in its relentless assault on Hamas in northern Gaza to allow civilians to flee, according to the White House.
The agreement is the culmination of days of pressure from President Biden as the casualty toll in Gaza mounts. A senior administration official told Congress that the number of deaths in the territory might be “even higher than are being cited,” and the W.H.O. said that disease was surging. Videos of the fighting offer glimpses of brutal urban battles.
The combat pauses, which will include at least three hours of advance notice, expand on what Israel has been doing in recent days. Its forces have allowed people to evacuate northern Gaza for several hours at a time along a single corridor leading south.
Senior American officials expressed concern this week that Israel has only a limited amount of time to carry out its operations before concerns over the spiraling civilian death toll constrain its goal of eradicating Hamas. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said he was worried that each civilian killed in Gaza could generate future members of Hamas.
The U.S. opened its first air capture plant
In an open-air warehouse in California’s Central Valley, a facility that vacuums greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and seals them permanently in concrete opened today. It is the country’s first commercial plant to use direct air capture technology, which is considered an expensive but potentially effective way to fight climate change.
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A bumpy new chapter in the Marvel universe
“The Marvels” will become the 33rd entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe when the film arrives in theaters tomorrow, starring Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. If you’re a veteran of the genre then you know what’s coming: a feel-good action spectacle that reminds us that heroes are just like us. Similar to its precursors, the movie will also most likely dominate the box office.
But unlike Larson’s first film as Carol Danvers, this one is expected to fall short of Marvel Studios’s expectations. That could be because of so-called superhero fatigue, but it may also have to do with the movie’s unfavorable reviews: Our critic wrote that “it’s almost as if the suits at Marvel Studios know it doesn’t matter if their movies are any good.”
On the small screen, “The Curse,” Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s breathtaking, uncomfortable series, takes home-renovation TV into the heart of darkness this weekend.
Can a smart pin replace your smartphone?
There’s a decent chance that you are reading this newsletter on an Apple device. The company’s iPhones helped make screens ubiquitous and, for many people, addictive. Now two former employees are trying to liberate the world from its smartphones.
Their solution: an A.I.-powered pin that uses a voice assistant and lasers to tackle just about any task that your phone can do. To tech insiders, it’s an ambitious but promising bet. To outsiders, it’s a sci-fi fantasy.
My colleague’s first impression: It’s equal parts magical and awkward.
Dr. Ruth wants to cure loneliness
Last year, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who at 95 is America’s most famous sex counselor, decided she wanted a new job. The isolation of the pandemic had been difficult, but it also gave her time to read a childhood diary describing her friendless escape from the Holocaust.
Westheimer’s new goal, she determined, would be using those experiences to try to solve the country’s growing loneliness problem. And after many months of lobbying, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York named her the state’s Loneliness Ambassador.
Have a hopeful weekend.
Thanks for reading. James Gregg was our photo editor today. We’ll be off tomorrow for the holiday. I’ll be back on Monday. — Matthew
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