Israeli forces recovered the remains of three Israeli hostages during an operation in Gaza last night, the Israeli military said today, but officials did not say where they were found. The three were taken captive by Hamas as they fled a music festival during the Oct. 7 attack.
The Israeli military spokesman identified them as Amit Buskila, Shani Louk and Yitzhak Gelernter. The recovery of the remains highlighted a growing anxiety over how many hostages are still alive after seven months of war. Roughly 125 living and dead hostages remain in Gaza, including several U.S. citizens, according to the Israeli authorities.
Separately, trucks of humanitarian aid began moving ashore into Gaza today through a temporary pier built by the U.S. military.
But the aid shipment falls far short of what humanitarian groups said was needed to meet the staggering levels of hunger and deprivation in Gaza. This is how the pier works.
A Ukrainian drone attack targeted Russian energy
A series of explosions today struck fuel depots, oil facilities and a power station in southwestern Russia and Crimea. Russian authorities reported that an electricity substation was hit in Sevastopol, leading to rolling blackouts. Yesterday, Ukrainian missiles hit an airfield in Crimea, destroying at least three jets.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones today, in one of Ukraine’s largest air assaults against Russia in months.
Ukrainian officials maintain that targeting Russian assets and operations in Crimea is critical to their war effort. That objective appears to be even more important now that Ukrainian troops are losing ground on the battlefield.
Storms battered Houston, leaving at least 4 dead
At least four people were killed and nearly a million customers along the Gulf Coast were without power today after intense thunderstorms swept through Texas.
The storm last night blew out windows, destroyed the wall of a building and downed power lines across Houston. School officials canceled classes. Mayor John Whitmire said it could take several weeks for power to be restored for some customers.
TikTok tries to rein in weight-loss posts
TikTok rolled out new policies today that are intended to remove dieting and weight-loss content from its “For You” page, which serves as the main content feed. The company said it would work to remove posts about drugs like Ozempic, extended fasting, excessive exercise and other “potentially harmful weight management behaviors.”
Some experts said that the policies offered more specificity on the types of content that would be removed than guidelines set by other platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. But others were skeptical. “The ‘For You’ feed is still designed to be able to boost their revenue, to increase engagement,” one expert said.
More top news
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Nancy Pelosi: The man who broke into the former speaker’s home in 2022 and attacked her husband was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
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Space: The Pentagon is rushing to expand its capacity to wage war in space, convinced that advances by China and Russia pose a threat.
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Sean Combs: CNN published footage showing the hip-hop mogul assaulting and kicking Casandra Ventura in the same way she described in a lawsuit she filed and settled last year.
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Trump: John Eastman, a lawyer and adviser to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, was arraigned in Arizona on charges that he tried to keep him in power after he lost.
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Jan. 6: Leo Brent Bozell IV, the son and grandson of influential right-wing figures, was given nearly four years in prison for playing a central role in the Jan. 6 attack.
Francis Ford Coppola has no regrets
“Megalopolis,” the first film from Francis Ford Coppola in 13 years, premiered at Cannes last night and was met with wildly mixed reviews. Coppola financed the $120 million production himself and has yet to score a distributor.
Still, Coppola said today that he had no regrets about financing the project. He raised the cash by taking out a line of credit on his winery. “I never cared about money,” he said during a news conference.
How kite surfing changed a boy and his village
Though kite surfing isn’t native to Cabo de la Vela, Colombia, or to the Wayuu Indigenous group which governs the area, the windy season there lasts nine months, and the waves are flat.
As a result, the sport has turned Cabo de la Vela into a budding travel destination, and one of the town’s residents, Beto Gomez, is now the world’s only professional kite surfer with Wayuu roots. Amateur kite surfers, drawn by his social media activity, travel to Cabo de la Vela for his classes.
Exploring a fantasy world, live onstage
You don’t have to know the difference between a druid and a wizard to enjoy the play “Dungeons and Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern,” but it certainly helps.
Practically speaking, the New York City show is a theatrical performance of a typical D & D play session: Three actors role-play as adventurers trying to pull off a mission. Improv features heavily.
The performance can take many narrative forks, and the audience can use their phones to vote on what should happen next.
Have an imaginative weekend.
Thanks for reading. Matthew Cullen will be back on Monday. — Justin
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