Newscoop: Long Stories Short

World In Brief

The presidential inauguration ceremony for Donald Trump will begin today at 11:30 am ET. He will become president at about noon.

An inequality report by the charity Oxfam indicates that the wealth of the world's billionaires in 2024 grew at a rate of $5.7 billion a day, three times faster than in 2023. Close to 44% of the global population still lives under the World Bank poverty line of $6.85 a day.

BREAKING As part of the Gaza truce deal with Hamas, Israel has released 90 Palestinian captives, most of them women and children from the West Bank.

President-elect Donald Trump has pledged "close to 100" executive orders his first day in office. They are to include orders on mass deportation of immigrants, rescinding federal diversity policies, and oil drilling.

Thousands took to the streets in Washington, DC today for the People's March to protest Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday.

The TikTok app was offline in the US for about 12 hours until president-elect Trump, early Sunday morning, pledged to delay enforcement of the ban by way of an executive order on Monday.

The first 3 Israeli captives held by Hamas have been handed over to Israel, as UN World Food Program aid trucks began crossing into Gaza with wheat flour and food parcels. They're calling for more humanitarian staff and "urgent funding to reach everyone in need, quickly.”

BREAKING The Gaza truce between Hamas and Israel has finally come into effect. A Red Cross team is on its way to pick up the first 3 Israeli captives, while displaced Palestinians begin to return to their cities and neighborhoods.

Israel’s ultra-nationalist settler minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir resigned on Sunday from Netanyahu's governing coalition, along with two other ministers from the religious Jewish Power party. Ben-Gvir has pushed for continuing Israel's assault on Gaza, and then allowing Israeli settlers to move into the Strip.

The TikTok app has gone dark in the US market. After the US Congress passed a law in April requiring parent company ByteDance to either sell the US operation or shut down, billionaire allies of Donald Trump lined up to buy it. But TikTok said that divestment “is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.”

A statement from former First Lady Michelle Obama indicates that she will not be attending Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday.

The "People's March" on Saturday (rebranded from the 2018 Women's March) will bring tens of thousands to Washington, DC to protest the return of Donald Trump to the White House on the 20th.

BREAKING In the early hours of Saturday, the Israeli government approved the Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas. The ceasefire and start of captive exchange will begin at 8:30 am local time on Sunday.

President Biden announced on Friday that he was commuting the sentences of 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses. He said he "will continue to review additional commutations and pardons."

On Friday, Iran and Russia signed a 2-decade "strategic partnership" treaty on defense, technology, energy and trade, pledging cooperation on military and security threats.

MENA

What to Know About the Gaza Ceasefire Deal

Zeteo

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MENA

Jake Sullivan’s Mental Prison (A Sequel)

Substack

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MENA

Gaza ceasefire: After 15 months of brutality, Israel has failed on every front

Middle East Eye

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MENA

The Gaza ceasefire likely won't last

Responsible Statecraft

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MENA

A deal too late: Israel agrees to the ceasefire it rejected months ago, thousands more died

The Intercept

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MENA

UNRWA Preparing to Shutter Gaza, West Bank Operations Over Israeli Laws

Common Dreams

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MENA

With Gaza war and Trump’s return, Silicon Valley embraces a military renaissance

+972 Magazine

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Newstream

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The Palestinians that were released today were women and CHILDREN. Israel is an occupying force that regularly detains children and holds Palestinians without charge, but they’re never called hostages. The difference in language is by design.

🇮🇱: Hostages 🇵🇸: Prisoners pic.twitter.com/fJfafnDZXV
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) January 20, 2025

Great to speak with @IsaCNN about the contours of the proposed ceasefire deal on CNN earlier this evening. The fact is that unless there is a binding mechanism to move from phase 1 to phase 2, the likelihood of any ceasefire, instead of just a pause, is pretty much nil. pic.twitter.com/MYuIKEub3R
— ᴅʀ ʜ.ᴀ. ʜᴇʟʟʏᴇʀ 🖖🏾 ⚜️ (@hahellyer) January 14, 2025

Qatar's🇶🇦 PM: "This framework that we signed two days ago, is the same framework that we agreed on in December 2023, which is basically 13 months of a waste of negotiating details that wasn't worth any single life that we lost in Gaza"

Biden, Blinken, and Harris allowed a… pic.twitter.com/KSmf6xm3KZ
— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) January 18, 2025

📣 MARCH this Saturday 1/18! 📣 Join the People's March in Washington, DC or a city near you and remind our elected officials that they work for the people. We are more united than we are divided, and we must show our elected leaders that we will not stay silent in the face of… pic.twitter.com/OaHt8opok8
— Ben & Jerry's (@benandjerrys) January 15, 2025

Wow the latest twist in the TikTok ban saga — “approved content creators” (aka those contracted by the Pentagon) will still be allowed to post on TikTok in order to shape the perception of the US to foreign audiences abroad. 🫠

From leaked document obtained by @kenklippenstein pic.twitter.com/7TsCw4xDhL
— James Li (@5149jamesli) January 15, 2025

Unofficial draft of emerging ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel https://t.co/zMfJXZ1zMK
— Newscoop (@newscoop) January 15, 2025

Mike Johnson thinks there should be "conditions" on aid to California but not on aid to Israel.🇮🇱🇺🇸 https://t.co/d7sX9a7DN9
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 13, 2025

Here another absolute irrefutable shocking evidence: The TikTok ban had been proposed under Trump but lacked support.

Then the horrors in Gaza started getting exposed on TikTok and the Israel lobby backed it, and it immediately passed with full bipartisan support. pic.twitter.com/JVq6prbYO2
— Furkan Gözükara (@GozukaraFurkan) January 12, 2025

The Lancet estimates long term deaths to be 311,904 pic.twitter.com/E4dz7vGa1K
— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) January 10, 2025

How @realDonaldTrump could succeed with Iran where other U.S. presidents failed:

1- Avoid basing policies on narratives and analyses that portray Iran as weak or vulnerable.
Underestimating Iran’s resilience and power will lead to miscalculations, with serious consequences for…
— Reza Nasri (@RezaNasri1) January 6, 2025

Scenes from the massive rally that healthcare workers staged outside the US embassy in London to demand Free Dr Hussam AbuSafiya. pic.twitter.com/OFgSy66bUt
— Sara Rey (@SaraReyi) January 5, 2025

Ta-Nahesi Coates is not equivocating on Israel’s treatment of Palestinians#Palestine #FreePalestine #Israel #humanrights pic.twitter.com/X91oO4qHcL
— Newscoop (@newscoop) January 5, 2025

Forests are our shields against the climate crisis. They are unique, irreplaceable ecosystems that are home to millions of people and billions of species.

Nature is vital to survival. Protect it.#ActOnClimate #climate #biodiversity #rewilding #conservation pic.twitter.com/tqp7xNtCrq
— Mike Hudema (@MikeHudema) January 4, 2025

The last photo of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, detained after refusing to abandon his colleagues and patients.

In just one image, we see both the power of Palestinian humanity and the moral weakness of all those complicit in genocide.

End all arms sales to Israel, now. pic.twitter.com/zxDqgUt1S9
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 29, 2024

The more repressive Israel grows, the more important groups like @btselem--which fight occupation and apartheid—become. Please consider supporting them. https://t.co/g2kciRsPYQ
— Peter Beinart (@PeterBeinart) December 30, 2024

Healthcare staff across the world call for the immediate release of Kamal Adwan Hospital chief Dr Hussam Abu Safiya #FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya pic.twitter.com/fqPrgKHlmZ
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) December 31, 2024

This is not just great progress for Zimbabwe, it is also a beacon of hope for the abolitionist movement in the region, and a major milestone in the global collective pursuit for an end to this ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment.https://t.co/B4wrU1pb4A
— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) December 31, 2024

Jimmy Carter:

"The word 'apartheid' is exactly accurate…they are absolutely & totally separated…the Israelis completely dominate the life of the Palestinian people."

"There are powerful political forces in America that prevent any objective analysis…"pic.twitter.com/58qIJBWcmy
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) December 29, 2024