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The sounds of celebration replaced those of explosions in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, as a fragile ceasefire took effect after 470 days of war, allowing some hostages to return home to Israel, Palestinians imprisoned in Israel to be released and the displaced people of Gaza search for what remained of their homes. Under the terms of the hard-won deal, fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas militants stopped at 11:15 a.m., raising hopes of a more lasting end to a war that has plunged the Middle East into fear and uncertainty .The first hostages – three women seized when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 – were released shortly after. Early Monday morning, the Israeli Prison Service said it had released 90 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, where they were welcomed by emotional ...

Putting that argument aside, there are certainly some diplomatic opportunities Trump can seize, although history and ominous recent warnings suggest he could mollify his adversaries and allies with the threat of military action if he doesn't get his way . (See: Iran, Greenland, Panama.)Here's a scorecard to keep handy in the first few months.In the fog of war, a potential deal with UkraineThere is very little evidence that Putin is eager to reach a deal that would get him out of a war that has already cost Russia nearly 200,000 dead and more than half a million wounded. But the assumption is that he is looking for a way out. Since his televised debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump has promised just that: a deal “in 24 hours,” or even completed before he was sworn in.Now, it's no...

TikTok will be blocked in the US after the Supreme Court upheld a law effectively banning the app. TikTok, a Chinese-owned social media platform, has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers for its national security risks and its ties to China. New York Times business reporter Sapna Maheshwari examines security concerns and reactions to the news.

While Kennedy's adoption of salvage farms may be new, the concept dates back nearly a century. In 1935, the government opened the United States Narcotic Farm in Lexington, Ky., to research and treat addiction. Over the years, residents included Chet Baker and William S. Burroughs (who described the institution in his novel "Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict"). The program had high relapse rates and was contaminated by drug experiments on human subjects. In 1975, as local treatment centers began to proliferate across the country, the program was shut down.In America, therapeutic communities for addiction treatment became popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Some, like Synanon, have become notorious for abusive and cult-like environments. There are now perhaps 3,000 around the worl...

The mediating country, Qatar, announced on Saturday that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas will take effect the following day, kicking off final preparations for a truce that much of the world hopes will end 15 months of destruction in Gaza.The deal is expected to take effect on Sunday at 8.30am local time, said Majed al-Ansari, spokesman for Qatar's foreign ministry, which has spent months alongside the United States and Egypt fighting to broker a deal.The Israeli cabinet approved the deal early Saturday morning, after hours of deliberations and amid rifts within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition. The approval cleared a final hurdle, raising the hopes of Israelis who want to see their loved ones returned and Gazans who survived one of the most intense ...

Russia attacked Ukraine's capital with drones and ballistic missiles before dawn on Saturday, officials said, killing at least three people in central Kiev as part of a broader assault that targeted towns and cities in the whole country.Air raid warnings sounded as emergency crews raced to search for the dead and wounded - a sadly familiar routine in a nation that has been battered by relentless Russian bombing for nearly three years. Moscow called the attack a retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, which appear to have intensified in recent weeks.The Ukrainian Air Force said that four ballistic missiles and 39 attack drones were launched during the assault, and that two ballistic missiles were shot down in the Kiev region. Although the city is attacked by drones almost ev...

TikTok said late Friday that its service will “go dark” on Sunday for its 170 million American users due to a ban in the United States over concerns that its Chinese ownership poses a threat to national security.The company said in a statement that "unfortunately, TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19" unless the Biden administration assures Apple, Google and other companies that they will not be punished for providing TikTok services in the United States.The statement was TikTok's latest attempt to pressure the administration to grant it an extension from a law, upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday, that would effectively ban its service starting Sunday.The law states that app stores and major cloud computing providers cannot provide TikTok to U.S. consumers unless the company i...

Howard Buten, a college dropout from Detroit, juggled three extraordinary lives.In one, he was a cuddly, clumsy, speechless red-nosed clown named Buffo. It sold out in theaters around the world. Critics have compared him to Charlie Chaplin and Harpo Marx.In another, he volunteered as an assistant with autistic children, went back to school to earn a doctorate in psychology, helped create a pioneering therapy for autism and opened a treatment center.He has made a third life as a novelist. "Burt," written in the voice of a disturbed 8-year-old, failed in the United States but incredibly achieved "Catcher in the Rye" status in France, where it sold nearly a million copies and became, to his amusement, and a slight displeasure, a cultural sensation.“Howard Buten is a kind of walking poem,” wro...

Since the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel was announced on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes have continued across the Gaza Strip, with northern Gaza facing the heaviest attacks, officials said Friday morning emergency in the area.The Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency services organization, said more than two dozen children were among the victims and that more than 200 people were injured across the territory. The highest toll was in Gaza City, where more than 80 Palestinians were killed, Civil Protection said.The group's figures cannot be independently confirmed. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.Wafa, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency, said Israeli warplanes hit houses in northeast Gaza City, causing deaths and injuries. Rescuers and ambulance...

Shortly after Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, was arrested by police in France last summer and accused of failing to prevent illicit activity on the app, a French law professor specializing in cybersecurity received online messages from a man name Isaac Steidl.“I would like to talk to you,” said an email signed by Mr. Steidl, who introduced himself as the founder of the online chat site Coco. "My case is very similar to Telegram's, as are the charges."Michel Séjean, the professor, who shared copies of the messages with The New York Times, said he did not know Mr. Steidl, had no interest in helping him and never responded. However, he was familiar with Coco, a website where anonymous users could chat without leaving a trace of the conversation.French law enforcement had linked the sit...