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The Israel Prison Service says it is taking measures to prevent any “public displays of joy” when Palestinian prisoners are released as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The escort from ‘Shikma’ Prison will not be handled by civilian buses of the [International Committee of the] Red Cross,” the statement says.

Instead “special units” from the prison service would handle transport, the statement says.

Yakobi also tells prisoners earmarked for release to “refrain from expressions of joy within Israel.”

Vincent Oriedo, a biotechnology scientist, had just such a question. What lessons have been learned, he asked, from Harris’s defeat in this vital swing county in a crucial battleground state that voted for Joe Biden four years ago, and how are the Democrats applying them?

“They did not answer the question,” he said.

“It tells me that they haven’t learned the lessons and they have their inner state of denial. I’ve been paying careful attention to the influencers within the Democratic party. Their discussions have centred around, ‘If only we messaged better, if only we had a better candidate, if only we did all these superficial things.’ There is really a lack of understanding that they are losing their base, losing constituencies they are taking for granted.”

“We have set ourselves up for generational loss because we keep promoting from within leaders that that do not criticise the moneyed interests. They refuse to take a hard look at what Americans actually believe and meet those needs.”

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister, has said that he was given assurances that the war on Gaza would continue and Israel would launch a "gradual takeover of the entire Gaza Strip".

Smotrich said that Gaza was currently "ruined and disintegrated, uninhabitable" an that it would "remain that way".

He added: "Don't be impressed by the forced joy of our enemy. This is an animalistic society that sanctifies death. Very soon, we will erase their smile again and replace it with cries of grief and the wails of those who were left with nothing."

Netanyahu said in a video address on Saturday that Israel would continue its war on Gaza in "new, forceful ways" if the second stage of the ceasefire agreement proved to be "futile".

"President [Donald] Trump and President Biden have given full backing to Israel's right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile."

The Israeli army claimed on Saturday that it successfully intercepted a missile launched from Yemen with air raid sirens going off in the greater Tel Aviv area and Jerusalem following the attack, Anadolu reports.

The Israeli ambulance services reported dealing with several cases of panic and injuries as residents rushed to shelters following the activation of the sirens.

In addition, flight operations at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv were temporarily suspended following the missile launch, according to Israeli Channel 12.

The hashtag “Your turn, dictator” has been widely shared on Egyptian social media in the past two weeks. Modeled after the 2011 rallying cry “your turn, doctor” used against then-Syrian President Bashar al Assad, the latest hashtag was coined by Ahmad al Mansour, an Egyptian national who recently served in the ranks of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) in Syria. Since HTS took control of Syria in December, Mansour has posted videos threatening Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi. “Listen, stupid,” Mansour routinely begins his videos.

On Tuesday, January 14, the X account for the “The 25 January Revolutionaries Movement” announced that Mansour and several of his associates were arrested and went missing after he was invited to meet with HTS officials, including Syrian Minster of Defense Murhaf Abu Qasra.

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption, another setback for the beleaguered leader who has already spent over 18 months in jail and is facing more than 100 cases.

Khan, who remains the country’s most popular political figure, has maintained that the cases against him are part of a “political witchunt” to keep him out of power. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) governed from 2018 to 2022 but he was toppled from office after losing the support of the country’s powerful military. He subsequently embarked on a public spat with the army leadership, accusing them of involvement in a plan to assassinate him.

Since his arrest he has faced a mounting number of cases, including murder, terrorism, and breaching national security. Khan was convicted in three cases, including for selling state secrets and illegal marriage, but they were later overturned or suspended last year. However, he has remained in prison.

The European Commission has asked X to hand over internal documents about its algorithms, as it steps up its investigation into whether Elon Musk’s social media platform has breached EU rules on content moderation.

The EU’s executive branch told the company it wanted to see internal documentation about its “recommender system”, which makes content suggestions to users, and any recent changes made to it, by 15 February.

X has been under investigation since December 2023 under the EU’s content law – known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) – over how it tackles the spread of illegal content and information manipulation. The company has been accused of manipulating the platform’s systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibility over other political groups.

This week, the Wall Street Journal released an alarming report on how the Biden administration may have suppressed dissenting views supporting the lab theory on the origin of the COVID-19 virus. Not only were the FBI and its top experts excluded from a critical briefing of President Biden, but government scientists were reportedly warned that they were “off the reservation” in supporting the lab theory.

The problem was that FBI researchers had concluded that the lab theory was the most credible explanation. But their lead researcher, Dr. Jason Bannan, was kept out of the key meeting, and their opposing research was discounted or ignored.

They were not alone. The Journal reported that Defense Department experts John Hardham, Robert Cutlip and Jean-Paul Chretien conducted a genomic analysis that found evidence of human manipulation of the virus. It also concluded that it was done using a specific technique developed by the Chinese at the Wuhan lab. They suggested that the Chinese appeared to have altered the “spike protein” that enables the virus to enter the human body in a “gain of function” operation.

They were reportedly told to stop sharing their work and warned that they had to effectively get with the team. Later, the three wrote an unclassified May 2020 paper that was prevented from being shown outside the medical intelligence center.

At the same time, letters and articles that dismissed the lab theory were organized for public consumption. The government worked with social media companies to censor those with opposing views.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A mysterious airstrip being built on a remote island in Yemen is nearing completion, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show, one of several built in a nation mired in a stalemated war threatening to reignite.

The runway is likely built by the United Arab Emirates, which has long been suspected of expanding its military presence in the region and has backed a Saudi-led war against the Houthis.

While the Houthis have linked their campaign to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, experts worry a ceasefire in that conflict may not be enough to see the rebels halt a campaign that’s drawn them global attention. Meanwhile, the Houthis have lobbed repeated attacks at Israel, as well as U.S. warships operating in the Red Sea, raising fears that one may make it through and endanger the lives of American service members.

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program.

SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites but no crew, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 5:38 p.m. EST (2238 GMT).

Video shot by Reuters showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind.