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Israeli troops have overrun much of Gaza since their ground invasion began in late October. But they managed to save only seven living hostages in three separate military operations, with around 120 prisoners remaining in Gaza. Several proposed rescue missions did not go forward for fear that hostages or law enforcement would die in the process, according to two Israeli defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation.In December, Israeli special forces attempted to rescue a hostage from Hamas captivity, according to the two defense officials. Sahar Baruch, an Israeli hostage, was killed during the firefight and two Israeli officers were seriously injured.According to one of the defense officials, Israeli intelligence first learned that Ms. Argam...

President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron stressed Saturday how much they agree with each other on world affairs, including the war in Ukraine, even as their countries expressed sharply different views on the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.Appearing briefly together before reporters after two days of D-Day reminiscences and hours before a lavish state dinner at the Elysée Palace in Paris, the two presidents refused to answer any questions and hid their sharp differences on the Middle East. Instead, both affirmed the enduring strength of the Franco-American partnership on climate, the economy, European security and cultural ties.“Today I proudly stand with France to support freedom and democracy around the world,” Biden said, as the two men emerged from a closed-door ...

Days before gadget reviewers opined on the Humane Ai Pin, a futuristic wearable powered by artificial intelligence, the company's founders gathered their employees and encouraged them to prepare. Reviews could be disappointing, they warned.Humane founders Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri were right. In April, reviewers brutally panned the new $699 product, which Humane had marketed for a year with ads and at glitzy events like Paris Fashion Week. The Ai Pin was "totally broken" and had "glaring flaws," some reviewers said. One declared it “the worst product I have ever reviewed”.About a week after the reviews were published, Humane began talking to HP, the computer and printer company, about selling itself for more than $1 billion, three people familiar with the conversations s...

Four hostages kidnapped from the Nova music festival and held by militants in Gaza over the past eight months were rescued by Israeli forces on Saturday.Since the Hamas-led terrorist attack on October 7, Israel has freed only a small number of hostages through military force. Saturday's rescue efforts occurred in Nuseirat in central Gaza, where health officials said dozens of Palestinians had been killed.Here's what we know about the four hostages brought back to Israel.Noah ArgamaniNoa Argamani, 26, was taken hostage in the October 7 attack along with her boyfriend, Avinatan Or. Viral footage showed Ms Argamani being driven into Gaza on the back of a motorbike as she screamed in despair.Ms Argamani and her boyfriend were kidnapped during the Nova music festival in southern Israe...

Surgeons removed a genetically engineered pig's kidney from a critically ill patient last week after the organ was damaged by inadequate blood flow related to a heart pump, according to officials at New York University's Langone Transplant Institute. which the woman had also received.The patient, Lisa Pisano, 54, still hospitalized, has returned to renal dialysis after the removal of the pig's organ. She lived with the transplanted organ for 47 days, said Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the institute. The kidney showed no signs of organ rejection.“Lisa is in stable condition and her left ventricular assist device is still functioning,” Dr. Montgomery said, referring to the heart pump. “We hope to bring Lisa home to her family soon.”“Lisa is a pioneer and a hero in the eff...

In 2011, Rupert Murdoch's media empire, News Corporation, faced a major threat in Britain. Journalists at one of its tabloids were reported for hacking into the phones of celebrities, private citizens and, in one case, a murdered child to obtain information.More misdeeds soon emerged, including the revelation that tabloid journalists had paid for information from police officers and government officials for years.Desperate to stop the scandal and appease prosecutors in Britain and abroad, News Corp asked Will Lewis, former editor of the Daily Telegraph, to clean up the mess.He did just that. In his telling, he cooperated with authorities, revealed wrongdoing and helped set the operation on a new course. Some former colleagues and hacking victims, however, have long believed he helpe...

Last month, Meta announced that it would expand its AI services around the world, and the company let users in Europe know that it would use their public information to train its AI services starting June 26 .Notifications sent to Facebook and Instagram users in Europe informing them that their public posts could be used to train artificial intelligence services, including Meta's chatbot, raised privacy concerns and backlash as users wondered where it would be the policy change came into effect.But for those who live in the United States, where online privacy laws aren't as strict, Meta AI has already used public posts to train its AI. It's unclear where else Meta might expand the program.Privacy watchdogs have raised concerns about the use of data and the lack of details abou...

The Israeli army continued its offensive in central Gaza on Friday, saying it had killed dozens of militants, including some who had holed up on the premises of a former United Nations school that had been turned into a shelter in the area.The army said it targeted Hamas fighters at a school compound in Shati, a coastal neighborhood northwest of central Gaza City. The number of victims was unclear.“Hamas systematically, intentionally and strategically positions its infrastructure and operates from within civilian areas in full violation of international law and putting the lives of civilians in Gaza at risk,” the Israeli military said in a statement after the attack .Friday's attack came a day after a strike at a similar school complex near Nuseirat, where displaced civilians had take...

One of the nation's leading medical advisory organizations has weighed in on long-term Covid with a 265-page report that recognizes the severity and persistence of the condition for millions of Americans.More than four years into the coronavirus pandemic, long Covid continues to harm many people's ability to function, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a nongovernmental institution that advises federal agencies on subject of science and medicine.“Long Covid can impact people across the lifespan, from children to older adults, as well as across sex, gender, racial, ethnic and other demographic groups,” he said, concluding that “the Long Covid is associated with a wide range of new or worsening health conditions and includes more than 200 sympt...

If ever there was any question about what a Three Tenors concert might be like on steroids, the hundreds of performers belting out opera's greatest hits at the Verona Arena on Friday night might offer a good answer.Under a starry sky, there were rousing overtures, including crowd-pleasing “William Tell Overture,” heart-rending arias, and a large-scale orchestra and choir accompanying first-rate soloists in that which was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime event. lifetime concert on the occasion of the inclusion, last December, of the "practice of opera singing in Italy" in the Representative List of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity drawn up by the United Nations. The concert was a public recognition of opera's cultural impact around the world, broadcast across the globe f...