Qatari mediators told Israel that Hamas has "agreed in principle" to resume talks on a new deal to secure the release of more than 40 hostages held in Gaza in return for up to a month of a halt in fighting, three Israeli officials said.
The big picture: Israeli officials are treating the message with extreme caution and say they hope to get more clarification over the weekend in order to know if Hamas is indeed serious.Hamas has for weeks publicly demanded that Israel stop the war and pull out its forces from Gaza before any serious discussions on a new hostage deal begin.
Beijing is taking U.S. sanctions head-on with its latest round of restrictions targeting U.S.-based firms that gather open source data about business links to Xinjiang.
Why it matters: The sanctions expand on Beijing's previousefforts to criminalize certain kinds of research, intimidate individual researchers, and make it harder for companies to comply with U.S. sanctions against China. The escalating sanctions fight between the U.S. and China risks forcing companies to choose between the world's largestmarkets.
American Paul Whelan said he is concerned that "diplomatic efforts have failed" and "not enough has been done at the very top" to ensure his release from a Russian prison.
The big picture: The former American Marine was arrested on Dec. 28., 2018, on espionage charges that the U.S. State Department has denounced as baseless. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
President Biden held a difficult conversation last weekend with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's decision to withhold part of the tax revenue it collects for the Palestinian Authority, according to two U.S. and Israeli officials and a source with knowledge of the issue.
The big picture: A U.S. official said this part of last Saturday's call between the two leaders was one of the most difficult and "frustrating" conversations Biden has had with Netanyahu since the beginning of the war in Gaza. It's a sign of the growing tensions between Biden and Netanyahu.
Maersk is sending more than 50 vessels via the Suez Canal in the coming days and weeks despite earlier postponing operations due to attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the Danish shipping giant announced.
Why it matters: The schedule Maersk released Wednesday suggests confidence in the ability of the new U.S.-led international maritime security force to protect vessels passing through the area.
