The United Nations adopted a ceasefire resolution supported by the United States.
As the US tries to pressure Hamas and Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution tabled by the US calling for an immediate ceasefire, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel yesterday for consultations.
Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after meeting earlier in the day in Cairo with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who brokered the talks.
It has been more than two weeks since Israel offered the deal to Hamas, but the Israeli government has not formally accepted it and there has been no official response from Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, facing pressure from far-right elements in his government, has said attacks should continue until Hamas’ military and governance are destroyed.
UN Vote: Fourteen of the 15 Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution, with veto-holding Russia abstaining. In passing the resolution, the Security Council handed a diplomatic victory to the United States, which had previously rejected ceasefire resolutions three times.
What’s next: Blinken is also due to visit Qatar, another intermediary between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Hostage Mission: Gaza residents described heavy shelling during the raid, which resulted in the rescue of four Israeli hostages and the deaths of dozens of Palestinians. “The whole hospital has become like a giant emergency room,” a Gaza doctor said.
Despite the victory of the right, the centre remains in Europe
Europe’s mainstream conservative European People’s Party won strong support in the European Parliament elections, coming in first and gaining several seats, according to preliminary results, while the right performed well in the EU27, remaining center-center.
This was a sign that the party’s strategy of consolidating more right-leaning policies to keep voters from drifting to its far-right rivals was working. Here are the most important trends to emerge from the election:
Green Party: They were the biggest losers: They had performed well in the 2019 election and emerged as a significant progressive force in Congress, only to lose a quarter of their seats.
AfD: Germany’s far-right party won a record percentage of the vote despite its two leading candidates being banned from running after a series of public scandals.
France: Analysts are still analyzing President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call early elections after his crushing defeat, a move that could be seen as a way to stifle opposition organizing and force voters to make a stark choice between him and the far right.
Apple Enters the AI Race
Apple has catapulted itself into the generative AI race with plans to roll out the technology to its more than 1 billion iPhone users around the world. The company announced new features and also highlighted its plans to integrate the technology into its products in a privacy-conscious way.
The company revealed yesterday that it plans to use generative AI to power a system it’s calling Apple Intelligence, which will prioritize messages and notifications, provide a writing tool that can proofread and suggest text, and also lead to a major upgrade to Siri, which the company has been neglecting.
Apple has signed a deal with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, to support some of the company’s AI features.
Other top news stories
The US once turned to modular construction as an efficient way to build large numbers of homes quickly. The idea had little impact in the US, which couldn’t build enough homes to stay competitive. But the idea had a dramatic impact on countries like Japan and Sweden, which are now leaders in industrialized home construction.
In this video, Times contributor Francesca Mari gives a tour of the Lindbacks factory and details the process of building a house in 30 minutes.
25 years ago, Hannibal was a new kind of blockbuster.
Published in 1988, “Silence of the Lambs” introduced millions of readers to the murderous psychiatrist and gourmet. Hannibal Lecter. Three years later, the book was adapted into a movie and fans were eager for a sequel.
But author Thomas Harris threw himself into a slow, methodical writing process, finally publishing Hannibal in 1999. The book’s release sparked a publishing frenzy: fans cleared their schedules, retailers prepared their shelves, and critics sharpened their knives.
It was also one of the first major publications in the internet age, where opinions fly at lightning speed, and the hype only added fuel to the fire and helped immortalize the character.
