Efforts to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages are gaining momentum as Hamas has reportedly agreed to two major Israeli conditions, Arab mediators revealed to the Wall Street Journal. The developments mark a potential breakthrough after months of stalled negotiations, raising the possibility of hostages being released within days. For the first time, Hamas has signaled it would accept a deal allowing Israeli forces to temporarily remain in Gaza during a ceasefire. Additionally, the group has provided a list of hostages it is willing to release, including U.S. citizens. This marks a big shift in Hamas’s position, which previously rejected these demands. The proposed plan, backed by the U.S.

Only about 2 in 10 Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter after earlier promising he would do no such thing, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That displeasure tracks with the bipartisan uproar in Washington that ignited over the president’s about-face. The survey found that a relatively small share of Americans “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the pardon, which came after the younger Biden was convicted on gun and tax charges. About half said they “strongly” or “somewhat” disapprove, and about 2 in 10 neither approve nor disapprove.

Mohammad Chaeeb spoke softly into his phone, telling a relative the grim news: He found his brother at the morgue. “I saw him and said my goodbyes,” he said. His gaze lingered on the blackened body of Sami Chaeeb, whose teeth were bared and whose eye sockets were empty. It looked as if he had died screaming. “He doesn’t look normal. He doesn’t even have eyes.” The dead man was jailed five months ago, disappearing into a dark prison system under the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. His body is just one of many found in Syrian detention centers and prisons since Assad’s government fell last weekend. Some of the prisoners died just weeks ago. Others perished months earlier.

French president Emmanuel Macron is seeking a political deal that would allow him to both name a new prime minister and “guarantee the stability of the country,” following the resignation of ousted Prime Minister Michel Barnier, a spokesperson for the outgoing government said Wednesday. Maud Bregeon, the spokesperson, said Macron insisted there was at the moment no “broader” political alliance than the current one between his centrist allies and conservatives from The Republicans party, which does not have a majority at parliament. She was relaying comments made by Macron during a weekly Cabinet meeting. Last week, the French president vowed to stay in office until the end of his term, due in 2027.

Taiwan demanded Wednesday that China end its ongoing military activity in nearby waters, which it said is unilaterally undermining peace and stability and disrupting international shipping and trade. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that it was responding in part to the activities of a “large number” of Chinese ships in the first-island chain, the Pacific archipelago off the Asian continental mainland that includes Japan, Taiwan and part of the Philippines. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs solemnly demands that the Beijing authorities immediately stop military intimidation and all irrational activities that endanger regional peace and stability,” the statement said.

Fueled by pricier used cars, hotel rooms and groceries, inflation in the United States moved slightly higher last month in the latest sign that some price pressures remain elevated. Consumer prices rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier, up from a yearly figure of 2.6% in October. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices increased 3.3%, the same as in the previous month. Measured month to month, prices climbed 0.3% from October to November, the biggest such increase since April. Core prices also rose 0.3% for a fourth straight month. Wednesday’s inflation figures from the Labor Department are the final major piece of data that Federal Reserve officials will consider before they meet next week to decide on interest rates.

President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It’s the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press. Biden said he would be taking more steps in the weeks ahead and would continue to review clemency petitions.

About six months ago, Donald Trump was sitting in a courtroom in lower Manhattan listening to a jury make him the first former president convicted of a crime. On Thursday, he will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange just blocks from that courthouse and as he was recognized by Time magazine as its person of the year. The honors for the businessman-turned-politician represent the latest chapter in his love-hate relationship with New York. They’re also a measure of Trump’s remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November.

Under fire from congressional Republicans about one of the darkest moments of Joe Biden’s presidency, Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended the administration’s handling of the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying Democrats struggled to make the best of a bad pullout deal struck by Donald Trump. Blinken testified Wednesday before the Republican-led House Foreign Affairs Committee, facing questions from lawmakers for the last time. He said much of the blame for the sudden collapse of Afghanistan’s U.S.-allied government and the chaotic August 2021 evacuation of Americans that followed rested with a withdrawal deal President Trump had reached with the Taliban in 2020 before leaving office.

A Jewish mother has shared her harrowing account of antisemitism at Broadway Barber Shop in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, where her 11-year-old son’s peyos were forcibly shaved off against explicit instructions. The mother, who initially selected the barber shop based on its stellar online reviews, described the incident in a heartfelt and deeply disturbing Facebook post that has since gone viral. According to the mother, she carefully explained to the barber how she wanted her son’s haircut, stressing that his peyos should not be trimmed or touched. She even provided a picture for clarity. However, moments after the haircut began, the barber reportedly ignored her instructions, cutting off one peyah entirely while her son began to cry.