First Thing: More Israeli hostages and Palestinians freed as ceasefire extended

Hamas releases 11 hostages from Gaza in exchange for 33 Palestinians in Israeli jails as truce extended by two days. Plus, can we solve our addiction to consumerism?

Good morning.

Eleven more Israeli hostages have been freed from Gaza in return for dozens of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, as the two sides agreed to extend the ceasefire by two days.

Hamas released the hostages – nine children and two women – late on Monday, with all of them from the Nir Oz kibbutz, according to officials from the community. A further release in return for Palestinian prisoners is scheduled to take place later on Tuesday.

The Israeli hostages released on Monday evening included three with French citizenship, two with German citizenship and six Argentinian citizens. Their return to Israel after 51 days in captivity brought “a sigh of relief to our community, however we remain deeply concerned about our loved ones that are still held hostage,” Osnat Peri, a kibbutz official, said.

Shortly afterwards, a release of a further 33 Palestinian prisoners – 30 children and three women – was confirmed by Israel’s prison authority. It was the last exchange under the initial ceasefire deal.

How are the hostages? Itai Pessach, the head of the Safra children’s hospital said: “Seeing the hostages reunited with their families and the fact that they are recovering physically gives a sense of optimism, but given their difficult, complex stories of captivity, they will have a long way to go until they are [fully] healed.”

What will happen after the extension ends? Aid agencies have voiced concern that the anticipated resumption of Israel’s attack on Hamas will lead to an even deeper humanitarian crisis among Palestinians. A particular concern is the impact on people in the crowded south of the Gaza Strip, where it is estimated by Israel and aid agencies that about 2 million people are now living.

Georgia prosecutors oppose plea deals for Trump, Meadows and Giuliani

Fulton county prosecutors do not intend to offer plea deals to Donald Trump and at least two high-level codefendants charged in connection with their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, according to two people familiar with the matter, preferring instead to force them to trial.

The individuals seen as ineligible include Trump, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Aside from those three, the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, has opened plea talks or has left open the possibility of talks with the remaining codefendants in the hope that they ultimately decide to become cooperating witnesses against the former president, the people said.

The previously unreported decision has not been communicated formally and could still change, for instance, if prosecutors shift strategy. But it signals who prosecutors consider their main targets, and how they want to wield the power of Georgia’s racketeering statute to their advantage.

Former world leaders seek $25bn levy on oil states’ revenues to pay for climate damage

The bumper revenues of oil-producing states should be subject to a $25bn levy to help pay for the impact of climate disasters on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, a group of former world leaders and prominent economists has said.

Seventy international figures led by the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown signed a letter calling for the measure before the crucial Cop28 climate summit, which begins in Dubai on Thursday. The signatories include 25 former prime ministers or presidents.

Such a levy would shave off only a fraction of the bonanza that oil-producing countries have made in recent years, and would help to fill a fund for the “loss and damage” to poor countries afflicted by the effects of the climate crisis.

Brown told the Guardian: “The deadlock on climate finance has to be broken if Cop28 is to succeed. After more than a decade of broken promises, a $25bn oil and gas levy paid by the petrol states and proposed by the UAE as chair of Cop would kickstart finance for mitigation [reduction of greenhouse gas emissions] and adaptation in the global south.”

Who signed the letter? Signatories include the former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon; the former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark; the former president of Malawi Joyce Banda, and the former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet, as well as scores of leading economists.

In other news …

Indian rescuers have drilled through rocks and debris to reach 41 workers trapped for 17 days in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas, and plan to pull them out one by one to safety, officials said. The men have been stuck in the 3-mile (4.5km) tunnel in Uttarakhand state since it collapsed on 12 November.

North Korea has claimed its recently launched satellite has sent back “detailed” images of the White House, the Pentagon and US nuclear aircraft carriers that have been viewed by the regime leader, Kim Jong-un. The existence of the images has not been independently verified.

A southern California man has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison after he and his younger brother scammed more than 40 people out of $7m in investments. Their fraud targeted victims from the San Fernando Valley’s Orthodox Jewish Israeli community.

Ron DeSantis’s chief elections fraud official collapsed after abruptly leaving a “contentious” meeting in the Florida governor’s office, then lay dead or dying for almost half an hour in the hallway outside until he was found, an investigation published yesterday has revealed.

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Stat of the day: Levels of toxic PCB chemicals found at 30 times ‘safe’ limits in stranded whales

Nearly half of the whales and dolphins found in UK waters over the past five years contained harmful concentrations of toxic chemicals banned decades ago, an investigation has found. Among orcas stranded in the UK, levels of PCBs, a group of highly dangerous and persistent chemicals that do not degrade easily, were 30 times the concentration at which the animals would begin to suffer health impacts, researchers said. Scientists described the findings as a “huge wake-up call” that should ring alarm bells not only for the future of marine mammal health but for human health, too.

Don’t miss this: Too much stuff – can we solve our addiction to consumerism?

Mass consumption has brought numerous benefits: jobs and financial wealth, physical safety and security. New ways of connecting, talking and thinking. Easy travel to nearly anywhere in the world. Lights that keep the dark nights at bay. Music constantly available. But the costs have also been staggering. Economic inequality and wars over non-renewable resources have killed untold numbers. The steep increase in products in recent decades has accelerated pollutant emissions, deforestation and climate breakdown. Even if we accept the positives of mass consumption to date, we must acknowledge that the situation is unsustainable. And yet, we can’t seem to stop ourselves.

Or this: The buddy boost – how ‘accountability partners’ make you healthy, happy and more successful

The idea of a friend who helps you commit to your goals is growing in popularity. They can be used to help a person to get fitter or achieve career and personal goals, for example. Indeed, one US study found that you have a 65% chance of completing a goal if you tell someone else you’re committing to doing it. And if you have specific check-ins with a partner, your chance of success increases to 95%.

The practice has its origins in Alcoholics Anonymous and related 12-step addiction support groups which have always utilised the positive power of having a designated “sponsor” to help members navigate the daily path to sobriety outside structured meetings.

Last Thing: ‘It’s amazing’ – scientists analyse 4.6bn-year-old dark dust from Bennu asteroid

A teaspoon’s worth of dark dust and granules scooped from an asteroid 200m miles from Earth has arrived at the Natural History Museum in London, where scientists are preparing to unlock its secrets. Researchers at the museum received 100mg of the pristine material, which at 4.6bn years old dates back to the dawn of the solar system, after Nasa’s Osiris-Rex mission stopped at asteroid Bennu in 2020 and returned samples to Earth in September.

The spacecraft briefly touched down on Bennu, an asteroid that has a 1-in-1,750 chance of colliding with Earth in the next 300 years, and gathered more than 60g of untouched material, the largest amount brought back from space since the Apollo programme.

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