Father of youngest hostage among three men to be released on Saturday, Hamas says
Raffi Berg
The Palestinian armed group Hamas has released the names of three hostages it says it will free on Saturday under the ceasefire deal with Israel.
They are Israelis Ofer Kalderon, 53, and Yarden Bibas, 34, and American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65.
Mr Bibas is the father of Kfir, the youngest hostage who was 10 months old when he was kidnapped by Hamas. His wife Shiri and their other son Ariel, four, were also captured.
WhatsApp says journalists and civil society members were targets of Israeli spyware
Messaging app said it had ‘high confidence’ some users were targeted and ‘possibly compromised’ by Paragon Solutions spyware
Fri 31 Jan 2025 14.46 GMT
Nearly 100 journalists and other members of civil society using WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by Meta, were targeted by spyware owned by Paragon Solutions, an Israeli maker of hacking software, the company alleged today.
The journalists and other civil society members were being alerted of a possible breach of their devices, with WhatsApp telling the Guardian it had “high confidence” that the users in question had been targeted and “possibly compromised”.
Experts said the targeting was a “zero-click” attack, which means targets would not have had to click on any malicious links to be infected.
‘The flood of the century’: How well prepared is Paris for a natural disaster?
It has been more than 100 years since Paris’s last great flood, meaning the city is well overdue another mammoth deluge that authorities predict could leave hundreds of thousands of people without water or electricity. How prepared is the French capital for the next “flood of the century”?
The waters will rise slowly when the next great flood comes to Paris. There will be no flash flood that sweeps away infrastructure in an instant. Instead, the River Seine will creep up at a rate of about 2cm per hour.
It will take 10-15 days for water to reach the same levels as the capital’s last centennial flood in 1910, during which the river reached a depth of 8.62 metres.
Forecasts show a flood of this scale submerging vast swathes of the city underwater. Hundreds of streets in proximity to the riverbanks will be deluged, but flooding could also extend as far north as Saint Lazare station in the 8th arrondissement (district). The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre-Dame Cathedral will all be inundated, as will thousands of homes.
Punitive labour conditions tied to cycling’s big-name brands
The bicycle industry’s dirty secret
Cycling may be green but Taiwan, the global centre of bicycle manufacturing, has built an industry on migrant labour and dodgy employment practices.
We all know that cycling is healthy and virtuous; millions of Europeans burn calories instead of petrol when they hit the road on their daily trips to school and work. Globally, the bicycle market is big business, valued at $66bn in 2024.
But for the workers who make our bikes in Taiwanese factories, conditions are often dirty, dangerous and demeaning. For years, debt bondage, passport retention, abusive living conditions, withheld wages, threats and intimidation have been common practice – all indicators of forced labour according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). And for years, many of the world’s biggest brands – including Bianchi, Canyon, Centurion, Giant, Merida, Pinarello, REI, Scott, Specialized and Trek – have had bikes or components made in Taiwan.
Japan and U.S. confirm security treaty covers Senkakus
By MIZUKI SATO/ Staff Writer
January 31, 2025 at 16:42 JST
Japan received reassurances of continued close ties with its U.S. ally including confirmation that a security treaty covers the disputed Senkaku Islands from new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Jan. 31.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani spoke in a 40-minute phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart and for now there appear to be no major changes regarding Japan’s defense.
After the conversation, Nakatani met with reporters and said, “It was very meaningful that we agreed upon the significance of the Japan-U.S. alliance and that persistent effort by our two nations to strengthen deterrence capabilities is indispensable to the peace and stability of the region.”
‘Like the drug trade’: Argentina debates limiting online gambling for teens
Experts say reform is needed to stop teens from betting online, but Javier Milei has threatened to veto a recent bill.
It is December in the capital of Buenos Aires, and the summertime temperatures have soared to 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).
The sun beats relentlessly on the corrugated metal roofs of Villa Fiorito, a working-class neighbourhood south of Argentina’s capital city.
Teenagers in flip-flops ride their motorbikes through the dirt streets. Other kids look for shady spots to rest and rinse their feet with a garden hose.
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